Mobile is king in Singapore, so who was leading the e-commerce industry as of Q1 2019?

When it comes to smartphones, Singapore is ranked as one of the highest globally for smartphone penetration. Various mobile app continued to rise in popularity – with the usage and need of shopping online that have become ubiquitous.

We can’t deny how essential mobile phone to be used for almost every aspect of our lives. In fact, a report stated that Singaporeans downloaded 245.4 million apps in 2018 spending approximately US$399.3 million on apps alone.

Although mobile apps today play an important role, a number of Singaporeans still prefers to browse for product and conduct purchases on desktops. This was evident in our previous study on theState of E-commerce.

We conducted astudyto portray who were the mobile e-commerce shopping apps with the highest monthly active users in Southeast Asia in Q1 2019 with the help of App Annie Intelligence.

This data comprises combined iPhone and Android phone averaged monthly active users, Q1 2019 in selected countries – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

We also analysed the top most visited e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia in Q1 2019 obtained through SimilarWeb. The companies selected for this study were amongst the top 50 most visited platforms – on desktop and mobile web – in Singapore.

Lazada

Lazada juxtaposed its annual anniversary event to offer a varied range of products and prices that took place from 21 to 27 March 2019. The platform received a tremendous amount of trafficover week-long celebration that came to its peak with a 24-hour shopping extravaganza on 27th March.

Through the app itself, on average shoppers would log on as often as six times a day to play in-app games. On top of that, Lazada live streamed performances artistes on its app to attract consumers.

More importantly, Lazada has strengthened its position as a key e-commerce player in Singapore asRedmartwas integrated into Lazada’s app and website on 15 March 2019. Customers now are able to browse to more than 400,000 retailers in Lazada’s ecosystem – within the same app as what users have been using and at redmart.lazada.sg.

Nonetheless, Lazada requires a series of app updates over the next few months as well as launching the Redmart features and functionalities which is hoped will be ready by end-June 2019. These include; order amend, delivery slot incentives, my list features, search functionality, delivery slot reservation, and order rescheduling.

Furthermore,Chinese New Year 2019that fell on February 4th to 5th – coincides with the February new moon and the year of the pig – was celebrated by people in Southeast Asia countries as a time to honor deities and to be with family.

In conjunction with this Lunar New Year, Lazada Singapore celebrated its CNY campaign with huge promotions, such as 888 flash deals, up to 88 per cent off, and up to $88 vouchers.

It is a celebration sale period as consumers will actively go through the Internet and e-commerce to find what they need for the preparation of the occasion.

Qoo10

Qoo10 remains as a strong competitor in Singapore with the 2nd highest in monthly active users on its mobile app in Singapore in Q1 2019. The Singaporean-based e-commerce company in 2018 stated that the company will continue to focus its progress on the city-state and remains as a strong competitor in the mobile shopping app arena.

Among the possible drivers of its performance in Q1 2019 could be the introduction of its partnership with Grab Pay that provides consumers the option to pay later for rides, food delivery, and for shopping on Qoo10.

Ku Young Bae, the CEO of Qoo10 is optimistic of its company’s future as there is much room for improvements such as in its diverse product selection, more cross-border merchant sources, a predominantly domestic vendor base, self-owned cross-border shipping network, and price competitiveness to drive further growth in Singapore.

Shopee

Shopee – as the third most actively used app – is amongst the fastest growing e-commerce apps as compared to others in the list of the most active users in Singapore.

Shopee was founded in 2015 where the trend in Southeast Asia had a tendency towards users were to purchase through their smartphones. Founded since 2015, the e-commerce company has considered itself as a mobile-first platform, prioritising its developments on the mobile app, which has made them amongst the most actively used apps in Singapore.

In terms of its overall ranking, Shopee’s mobile app was ranked at 2nd place amongst other apps.

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In its past months, prioritised a ‘hyper-localised’ user experience approach by having a different app for each country. This was part of their strategy to focus on taking a highly localised approach to each market. Sea – the parent company of Shopee – in March 2019 stated it aims to raiseUS$1.5B in an effort to drive further growth for Shopee.

It also has become the most visited e-commerce platform (on desktop & mobile web) in Southeast Asia during the quarter, which garnered a total traffic increased by 5% from website and app combined as compared in Q4 2018 to 184.4 million visits.

Taobao

As the fourth most actively used app in Singapore in particular, TaoBao seemed to be performing well in countries where there were more consumers proficient in Mandarin.

As such, Taobao although usable in other countries in Southeast Asia, was most actively used in Singapore and Malaysia. Taobao was actively used in Singapore as most sellers would provide delivery services to Singapore as well as attractive deals and products that are sometimes not available in the country.

Beyond its mobile app, Taobao products are also available to Singaporeans via a Taobao agent or third-party platforms such as EZBuy, SGShop, Peeka, and Oops.

Nevertheless, if users are to prefer Lazada as their platform to shop through Taobao, it is still feasible to purchase the items from there asLazada recently excelled cross-border business across Southeast Asia.

The Most Visited E-commerce Platforms on Desktop & Mobile Web in Singapore and Southeast Asia

Qoo10 remains as the most visited e-commerce platform in Singapore, garnering an average of 7.9 million visits on desktop and mobile web in Q1 2019. Subsequently, Lazada was the second most visited at 7.4 million visitors and Shopee at 2.5 million visitors in the same period.

Totaling the overall traffic garnered in Q1 2019 across Southeast Asia, Shopee is the most visited e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia (six countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, & Singapore) in Q1 2019 with a total average of 184.8 million visitors.

In terms of ranking, Lazada remains as the most visited platform (on desktop and mobile web) in Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand. Overall, Lazada obtained 179.7 million visitors in Q1 2019 (six countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore).

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Please click on one of the links below to view the data in detail for each country. More findings in the overall Map of E-commerce Report for Q1 2019.

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Financial literacy content provider Hive Up and wealth service platform Wealth in Asia will now be called WealthUp moving forward

Seeking to provide a more accessible financial literacy content for audiences in Southeast Asia, Hive Up and Wealth in Asia announced their merger into WealthUp. They hope it becomes a one-stop financial literacy platform.

The merger brings the content provider and the wealth management service together with the mission to support individuals and enterprises in Asia.

WealthUp will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Privé Technologies, a wealth management technology company in Asia and Europe that has acquired Hive Up and Wealth In Asia.

“Until now, the right tools to lead Asian-based individuals and enterprises to financial freedom has been reserved for high-net-worths. Our vision with WealthUp is to democratise this for all by tapping into Hive Up’s financial literacy resources and Wealth In Asia’s digital platform to efficiently find and connect investors with the right wealth service providers,” said Qiuyan Tian, the Head of WealthUp.

Users will be given access to financial content, advisory matching wealth services and a new line of financial literacy workshops and webinars. The latter can also be optimised for compliance training and continuing education purposes for enterprise clients and their employees.

Tian added that the challenges in financial and wealth management sector remain the heavy and unrelatable jargons in the existing content online.

“We want to bring in an accessible, comprehensive, and easy-to-understand resources to each person to be with them on the wealth-improvement journey,” said Tian.

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The workshop and webinar schedule will include topics such as Investing 101, Fundamental Analysis, Bonds, and Options that will serve a community of over 7,000 individuals.

It will continue to utilise Wealth In Asia’s proprietary technology that connects people to an investment advisor based on their individual needs. It will also feature the latest investment news, wealth management ideas, and information, as well as expert insights for consumers to continue to grow their wealth.-

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The Philippine-based insurtech aims to “meet the health insurance needs of millions of Filipinos”

tryb Group announced that it has invested an undisclosed amount of seed funding into Phiippine-based insurtech MariaHealth. tryb Group is said to be joining investors like Gobi Partners, Wavemaker, Hustle Fund, and Grand Metro Holdings.

In its statement, Maria Health said it will use the additional funding to scale in the Philippines and to increase their advantage, claiming to be the first-mover in the market.

Maria Health is the digital platform for distribution of health insurance products that aggregate SME, individual, and family health plans. It also provides education and comparison shopping from twenty of the top health insurance providers, primary care clinics, and ambulatory service providers in the Philippines.

The company claims that their digital approach enables sales and account management to scale, which in return helps SMEs and individuals make the right choice in coverage.

On the decision to invest in Maria Health, tryb shared that health expenditures in the Philippines  has grown at almost 12 per cent compound-annual-growth-rate over the last ten years. It expects the trend to accelerate as wellness becomes a more important part of daily life in the Philippines.

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“Maria is a great addition to the tryb portfolio. The investment aligns with our thesis that financial services in Southeast Asia need to catch up with technology adoption, digital commerce, and mobile penetration,” said Jason Strimpel, Principal at tryb.

Philippines’ government also reportedly has created a universal insurance plan with the goal of covering all Filipinos. Maria Health is coming in with the hopes to fill this gap in education and access that are still lacking.

“Filipino SMEs are excited to offer group health insurance coverage to their employees. The process to do so is cumbersome, to say the least,” said Vincent Lau, Maria Health Co-founder, and CEO. “Our mission is to provide simple, easy to access health insurance online for the Philippines. Our platform offers the right mix of education and convenience, backed by technology.”
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The legal charges against Joe Cho Seunghyun were filed by Chun Yong Beom, who had invested US$183K in his firm Marvelstone Partners in 2015

Joe Cho Seunghyun, Chairman of Singapore-based Marvelstone Group and Founder of now-defunct fintech hub Lattice80, is facing legal suit in his home country South Korea for allegedly failing to pay promised returns to investors, says a The Business Times report.

The legal charge were filed by South Korean investor Chun Yong Beom, who had invested S$250,000 (US$183,000) in Marvelstone Partners in 2015. As per the documents reviewed by BT, Marvelstone Partners had guaranteed a 33 per cent interest per annum on the capital, with the funds meant to go into another project that was later listed. The contract further guaranteed a profit on exit.

According to Beom, this guaranteed return due end-March 2018 never arrived, and he questioned fund redemptions from Marvelstone Partners since 2017. Boem had also filed a police report against Seunghyun in South Korea in 2018.

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The case has however been temporarily put on hold, with Beom saying that it is because Seunghyun has not filed a counterclaim with the South Korean court.

The Business Times claims that it reviewed the documents filed in South Korea and Singapore relating to the Marvelstone Group.

Marvelstone Group have told BT that the claims are “untrue”.

Seunghyun, who is a Singapore permanent resident, is also involved in a legal dispute with Hong Leong Holdings over the breach of a licence agreement. The property group accuses that Seunghyun and Lattice80 failed to deposit revenue receipts that should have gone into designated bank accounts.

In November 2017, e27 reported that Marvelstone neglected to pay Hong Leong the utility bills, internet services and other rental fees, leading to a major fallout between the two firms. Following this, Seunghyun had been dropped as a brand ambassador for the Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) ‘Passion Made Possible’ campaign.

 

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Merkle Science works with government agencies and blockchain companies in detecting and preventing illegal use of digital assets

Singapore-based blockchain monitoring startup Merkle Science today announced a S$1.1 million (US$804,000) seed funding round led by LuneX Ventures and SGInnovate.

Digital Currency Group, Kenetic, and Entrepreneur First also participated in the funding round.

For LuneX, which is a dedicated fund for blockchain investments by Golden Gate Ventures, the funding round is the first lead investment it concluded since its appointment to SGInnovate’s panel of co-investors, under the Startup SG Equity scheme.

For Merkle Science, the funding will be used to build their technology and expand their sales team across Asia.

“We believe that the co-investment by LuneX and SGInnovate would be synergistic for our growth and development, as we look to build Merkle Science as a global brand from Singapore. Kenetic, DCG and Entrepreneur First would further help us establish ourselves as a trust provider globally,” said Merkle Science Co-Founder and CEO Mriganka Pattnaik in a press statement.

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Merkle Science works with law enforcement agencies and blockchain companies to provide a risk-monitoring solution to detect and prevent the illegal use of digital assets.

The company combines both off-chain and on-chain data with the goal to provide for better analysis, and said to be the one of the first players to apply fraud sciences to analyse blockchain data.

Its co-founders have combined previous experience from Naspers-backed crypto exchange Luno, Paypal, Bank of America, and Instamojo.

“This space is quite attractive due to the increasing cryptocurrency AML regulations coming about worldwide. Due to this, new compliance tools for blockchain monitoring would be required not just by digital currency companies but also regulated financial institutions entering the space,” LuneX Ventures Partner Kenrick Drijkoningen commented on the investment.

LuneX Ventures’s partnership with SGInnovate was announced in late April. The partnership aimed to invest in early stage deep tech startups.

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A recent Global Startup Ecosystem Report by Startup Genome has revealed deep tech as the fastest growing category in the global startup industry.

“Nearly half (45 per cent) of startups being created globally now are in deep tech-related sub-sectors -twice the share they made up in 2010-20115. Moreover, the four fastest growing startup sub-sectors are all deep tech-related,” the report stated.

Singapore itself has become an attractive hub for corporate R&D and PhD research students, which has led to an abundance of deep tech talent.

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Image Credit: Merkle Science

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