The Chinese venture capital firm claimed that they manage a total of US$ 1 billion in assets

Chinese venture capital firm ZWC Ventures announced that it has closed its first fund for Southeast Asia and China at US$ 150 million, as reported by KrAsia.

Jason Jiang, who’s among ZWC’s largest limited partners (LPs), is the founder and chairman of Focus Media, which is one of China’s largest private media and advertising companies. ZWC’s other LPs include corporates, fund of funds, family offices, and high net worth individuals in mainland China and Hong Kong.

ZWC Ventures plans to invest in early to late-stage startups in the e-commerce, social commerce, fintech, and AI sectors. The amount of investment to be made will have an average size of US$500,000 to US$10 million for early-stage investments and US$10 million to US$60 million for growth-stage investments.

It plans to add another US$300 million into the region in the next three years, which will be a part of the US$500 million second fund ZWC wants to start putting together in Q3 this year.

So far, ZWC Ventures said it has directed a total of US$100 million to five investments in the region so far, including Singapore-based online tuition startup Tenopy and Indonesian media company Target Media Indonesia. The firm also confirmed that it invested in an unnamed Indonesian e-commerce platform and is currently examining potential investments in an Indonesian logistics first-mile provider and Singapore-based AI startup.

Also Read: InstaRem joins Thai bank to launch multi-currency payment feature

In an official statement, co-founder and partner of ZWC Ventures Terrance Lok said that the firm is also interested in sub-sectors, including those that enable e-commerce, like first-mile fulfillment logistics and supply chain fintech.

The firm has a partnership with a venture builder arm, Zynergy, who allocates US$500,000 to US$1 million initial seed funding for each selected startup which will have access to Zynergy’s network of entrepreneurs and investors in China. The firm plans to work with at least five Southeast Asian startups through Zynergy program this year.
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The localised initiative will have the dated public transportation bajaj to be boosted with the latest technology as a support to the government’s Langit Biru program

Grab has announced the launch of GrabBajay in Jakarta, teaming up with the Jakarta Transportation Agency. GrabBajay will offer the iconic transport as a new safe and comfortable option for travelling through roads that are difficult to reach with four-wheeled vehicles.

Tri Sukma Anreianno, Head of Public Affairs Grab Indonesia said, “As a technology company whose vision is to answer local transportation challenges, we’re thankful for the opportunity given by the Jakarta Transportation Agency to support their program in offering different options of transportation with GrabBajay.”

GrabBajay presence also seeks to support the government’s initiative to resolve the environmental pollution problem that is caused by motor vehicles through Langit Biru program. It aims to reduce air pollution from motor vehicles, which is why the registered bajay for GrabBajay is an eco-friendly gas-fueled vehicle.

All GrabBajay driver partners have passed the KIR (roadworthiness test) with a valid operating license, and passengers can access the bajay’s license plate number on the app.

GrabBajay’s benefits for driver partners and customers include the two-persons accommodation and with spare rooms to carry things.

Also Read: ZWC Ventures to pour US$150M fund to Southeast Asia and China

GrabBajay fleets are integrated into the Grab app and will allow customers to find GrabBajay on the road. Now users can access GrabBajay by tapping the “GrabBike” icon on the Grab app main screen.

GrabBajay service is currently available at five main points spread across Central Jakarta, including Jakarta Kota Station, ITC Mangga Dua, Mangga Besar Station, Sawah Besar Station, and Pasar Baru with a rate of IDR3000 (US$0.21) per kilometer.

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Image Credit: Grab

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Both Singapore-based CutQ and Malaysia-based FoodTime’s leadership team and product solution have been integrated into Fave’s platform

Mobile payments and rewards platform Fave announced that it has acquired two table and takeaway ordering solutions. The startups are CutQ in Singapore and FoodTime in Malaysia for an undisclosed fee.

With the acquisition, both companies will see its leadership team and product fully integrated into Fave’s regional platform.

The company announced the acquisition at Echelon Asia Summit 2019.

Fave said that the acquisitions will provide the company with a localised foothold to increase its market share in Singapore and Malaysia. The company also hopes it will help its position as a loyalty food and beverage system provider for merchants and their customers in Southeast Asia.

“As the cost to operate restaurants increases and business owners face challenges to hire staff and increase productivity, we wanted to provide Table Ordering and Take Away pre-ordering solutions which will reduce these hurdles,” said Joel Neoh, Founder of Fave Group.

Neoh highlighted that the technology the two companies have developed will be introduced as its next value-added service for the company’s merchants and users.

Founded in 2013 by entrepreneurs, Kevin Tan and Laura Chong-Tan, CutQ is a Singaporean food takeaway app that enables its users to skip queues and have their food ready for pickup. FoodTime is a mobile food ordering and delivery app founded by Ahmad Daleen in 2017.

Also Read: Indonesian “1000 Startups” initiative being renewed by the government

Merchants that have signed up on Fave’s table ordering solution include brands such as Gelare, Paulaner Brauhaus, Saboten, and Tingkat Peranakan in Singapore and Naughty Nuri’s, LOCO TTDI, and Murni in Malaysia.

This quarter, Fave noted that Favepay transactions crossed the six million mark with the app downloaded over four million times. More than US$6 million worth of cashback has been issued to Singaporeans and Malaysians.

In 2018, Fave raised US$20 million in Series B funding led by investors Sequoia Capital, Venturra Capital, and SIG Asia investment. Fave’s focus will be to increase its market share through continued partnerships, expansion of new services, and broader and deeper efforts in merchant acquisition.
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Image Credit: Fave

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Ecomobi, which offers a social selling platform, has won the second prize

Singapore-based H3 Dynamics, which offers a digital platform that fully automates and simplifies the use of security and industrial asset inspection drone operations, has been announced the winner of Echelon Asia Summit 2019.

Ecomobi, another Singapore company which provides a social selling platform, has won the second prize.

Both the winners will receive S$50,000 each in grants from Enterprise SG.

H3 Dynamics has also been awarded with the “Unicorn” chalice made by SIEGE. The startup will also be fast-tracked to the SLINGSHOT. Powered by Startup SG, SLINGSHOT is a startup competition launched by Enterprise Singapore in 2017.

SLINGSHOT will provide H3 Dynamics an opportunity to pitch in front of Southeast Asia’s dynamic tech ecosystem and win additional prizes. The event will take place from 11-13 November 2019.

Other TOP100 finalists were earlier awarded with mini chalices by e27 CEO Mohan Belani.

Founded in 2013, H3 Dynamics is a digital platform that fully automates and simplifies the use of security and industrial asset inspection drone operations, enabled by cutting-edge AI, robotics and energy storage technologies.

Ecomobi seeks to help e-commerce companies direct sales towards social networks. Its algorithm allows social influencers to monetise their traffic via access to e-commerce inventories and connect with brands instantaneously, optimising both cost-per-acquisition and revenue.

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The country also has a culture around corporate venture capital that is particularly active compared regional neighbors

Thailand is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia. It boasts 70 million people, a gigantic tourism industry and a world famous cuisine.

Unfortunately, it cannot claim to have produced a tech unicorn.

According to the e27 2018 Southeast Asia Startup Ecosystem Report, the most notable Thai investment from 2018 was an investment into Eatigo by TripAdvisor. The deal is rumoured to be about US$10 million.

So what can the country do to boost these numbers?

Also Read: How to approach startups from a radically different perspective

For Tarit Nimmanwudipong the Head of Commercial at True Digital Park, he wanted to focus on building an offline community. True Digital Park is a gigantic tech university set to open in the heart of Bangkok in the coming months.

At Echelon Asia Summit 2019, Nimmanwudipong elaborated to Thaddeus Koh, a co-founder of e27.

“People like you (Koh) and me usually meet at this kind of event (Echelon), which is great, but it’s only once or twice a year, which is not quite healthy. We build TDP, to put people under one roof. I can meet you every day and still have time to go back and work on my stuff. I think that is very important,” he said.

Portions of the park will be free to the public and True Digital Park wants to integrate events that will bring in people who don’t work there to try and build and ecosystem connected to the park.

This also includes residential buildings in the general area and Nimmanwudipong said True Digital Park is flirting with a plan that allows people to live and work in the campus.

Besides bringing together the tech community, Thailand has a couple of fairly specific traits that may help produce the next unicorn.

One of them is an active corporate engagement with the startup ecosystem. For years, some of the most notable accelerators and investments have come from telcos, banks and real estate conglomerates. While this happens across Southeast Asia, it is particularly prevalent in Thailand.

Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) is a very real part of the country’s startup ecosystem.

Another sign that corporates play an important role is the status of fintech as the most successful sector in Thailand. Banks have spearheaded the CVC culture in Thailand, which naturally means the put money into fintechs.

This creates a feedback loop whereby Thai people see fintech companies breaking into the market and associate the growth with the startup scene as a whole.

“Fintech startups are the first that the mass people of Thailand realize that startups are coming. Then other kinds of startups come a bit later,” said Nimmanwudipong.

Also Read: Singapore startup H3 Dynamics wins Echelon Asia Summit 2019

When asked by Koh which startup he thinks has growth potential to help lead the ecosystem.

He pointed to Eko, a mobile chatting app for companies.

“The reason I like it, is thinking about the potential of expansion. It can be in any industry. We are trying to connect people. Different industries have unique characteristics but they all want to communicate.” 

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Photo by Zach Inglis on Unsplash

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