Check out these stunning technologies firsthand before they blow up into the next big thing!

There are lots of great reasons for you to come to Echelon Asia Summit 2019! With more than 12,000 people attending from over 30 countries, the Echelon Asia Summit brings together a full-range of personalities across the field of tech: from tech enthusiasts, to up-and-coming startup founders, and even to leaders and experts! This makes Echelon Asia Summit 2019 the perfect opportunity for you to brush elbows with potential future partners, investors, colleagues, or other like-minded people who might appreciate your ideas!

More than 120 speakers will also be sharing key insights on emerging trends and disruptive technologies across four key stages, namely: Founder stage, Future stage, Capital stage, and the top 100 stage—where 100 of the most promising startups will be pitching live!

Also read: 9th set of exhibitors chimes in with 20 stellar companies at Echelon

And finally, one of the key features of Echelon Asia Summit 2019 is how it will showcase some of the most brilliant startup products in the region. With 300 exhibitors that will sprawl all over Singapore Expo, participants can witness firsthand how these companies are changing the world.

So without further ado, here is the tenth set of Echelon Asia Summit 2019 exhibitors!

ZERO BrandCard

ZERO BrandCards is a mobile-first, entirely digitised and environmentally friendly social and networking platform.

CRICHubs

CRICHubs is a vertical social network to unite active cricketers globally putting them in control of their own cricket identity.

Crossworks

Crossworks is a staffing and office solution for companies to hire from Myanmar remotely. It also allows startups/creatives to co-work and repatriate to return home.

Dining Butler Limited

Dining Butler is an AIO F&B system that streamlines and enhances the dining experience for customers and business owners.

Easywork Asia Sdn Bhd

Easywork is a mobile-focused HR SaaS that allows employees to work anywhere. It is intuitive and works by default, yet customisable for various industries.

Ecomobi

Ecomobi aims at lead performance marketing and buyer data service platform in South East Asia.

Ecquitas

Ecquitas provides solutions to unlock illiquidity and increase accessibility in private markets through a platform that enables the trading of secondary equity.

Edukasyon

Edukasyon is an EdTech startup that empowers Gen Z youth to make better-informed education, career, and life decisions through our platforms.

FantasyGG

FantasyGG is a fantasy league for Esports.

Ferosh

Ferosh is the first e-commerce website distributing high-class Vietnamese fashion designer clothing. Their focus is on high-end markets, with women fashion designer clothing and accessories.

Fontrip Technology CO., LTD.

Fontrip provides top resource management on destination travel platform in Asia.

GODY

Gody.vn is a Vietnamese Travel Social network connecting and recommending appropriate information and services for travellers.

Grivy

Grivy connects brands with mobile first consumers through offline stores.

H3 Dynamics

H3 Dynamics is an end-to-end automation of remote monitoring that uses drone charging & data stations connected to an AI-enabled marketplace of use-case specific digital services on cloud.

Hello Gabby

Hello Gabby is a virtual assistant agency the helps you tackle your to-do list whilst you focus on growing your business.

HQ EZFOOD DELIVERY SDN BHD

A gem of the untouched tech virgin land, pioneer startup of Sarawak Malaysia, HQ EZFood Delivery is the largest local food delivery platform.

iFull

iFull provides instant doorstep phone repair services by connecting users to a reliable and trained technician.

Indexalaw

Indexalaw is a legal-civic tech that focuses on legal analytic and integration law information for legal professional civil society, and government.

Infofed Co.,Ltd

Infofed is a one stop services for Esports solution provider both online and offline platforms based in Thailand.

Insense Private Limited

Insense Private Limited is the world’s first cross promotion network that enables brands to find brand partners and run cross promotion campaigns seamlessly.

The Ravenry

Ravenry is an on-demand desk research platform. They gather and generate information for businesses within 48 hours.

The Startup Buddy

The Startup Buddy is the online innovation, acceleration, and fundraising platform for Founders, Innovators and Teams. They provide mentoring, toolkits, tracking, and more when and where you need it.

Time Creation Limited (FindDoc)

Being the largest virtual medical network in Hong Kong, FindDoc offers online booking service and hosts professional curated content.

Toku World

Toku is a one-stop shop for smart customer engagement via audio, text, and video APIs.

Trasso

Trasso is a tech company that strives to innovate for a digital tomorrow.

Where to get tickets for Echelon Asia Summit 2019?

Catch this stunning set of companies showcase their brilliant work and more at the Echelon Asia Summit 2019! The event is happening from 23 – 24 May, at Hall 3A, Singapore Expo, 1 Expo Drive, Singapore. We don’t want you and your team to miss out on the important insights that will be shared by our speakers there, so get your Echelon Tickets today!

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The troubled grocery delivery startup reportedly will halt its food delivery service in Singapore as part of a strategic review of its business

Honestbee announced today that it will suspend food delivery and laundry service the company offered in Singapore, as reported by Channel News Asia.

The company will still operate its grocery delivery service and physical supermarket, habitat by honestbee.

Both services are confirmed to stop on May 20, just a few weeks after Joel Ng resigned from his CEO post.

With the decision, about 400 delivery staff, mostly part-time workers, will be impacted by the decision. However, Honestbee ensured that the full effect of this decision will not see its Singapore permanent headcount getting sacked.

“The decision was made to optimise the business structure, and to drive better focus and alignment with honestbee’s current strategic priorities,” said Honestbee.

Also Read: Singapore edtech startup Geniebook secures US$1.1M Pre-Series A funding

Joel Ng was replaced as CEO by Brian Koo, who had said that he would be working with the executive team to conduct an in-depth review of the business in order to align strategic interests across its various geographies and vertical.
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The goal is to show how crucial cybersecurity is for any startup

Already excited for Echelon? Buy your tickets here! Enter promo code ECHELONFUTURE for free tickets!

The importance of cybersecurity has never been more important than it today. What is more, it will just get more and more vital in the coming years.

One issue for startups in Southeast Asia is that cybersecurity is both expensive and necessary. Hacks are a fairly common part of growing a young company, but that doesn’t make it less devastating.

Dexter Ng is here to help. As the Co-founder of AntiHack.me, he is building a startup that makes cybersecurity services more accessible to startups.

The company is essentially a community of white-hat hackers, a term that refers to people who hack websites with permission from the owners as a means to test security and vulnerabilities.

The service is a pay-as-you-use model and companies can upload briefs to Antihack.me to give hackers direction about which vulnerabilities to pursue.

“Startups can’t really afford to hire white hat hackers on a full time basis. But they can make use of our platform to put their sites or mobile apps for white hat hackers to test their systems for a fee. Which would save them a lot of money,” he told e27.

Also Read: What are the hurdles hindering Taiwan’s fintech from becoming no.1 in Asia?

One strategy to drive home the importance of cybersecurity is to demonstrate how easy it is to get hacked.

At #Echelon2019, Ng is going to hack the audience! (By volunteer of course). Participants will find themselves unwillingly sending texts from their phones as well as making “phone calls” without pushing a button.

When asked about the audience reactions from previous events, Ng said,

“Everyone was shocked at how this can be done live in front of everyone. There is no other company that can perform this in front of a live audience.”

The point is, if a business owner can hack random cell phones during a public demonstration, imagine what a real hacker with nefarious intentions can accomplish.

Come get your phone hacked at #Echelon2019! It is sure to entertain.

Already excited for Echelon? Buy your tickets here! Enter promo code ECHELONFUTURE for free tickets!

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Pocket Money’s global system of lenders improves access to credit while enhancing ROI with a social repayment system

Statistically, two of three micro-loan applications are rejected. A rejected application usually ends up in a drawer and locked away with the applicant having no chance to apply again, often due to bad credit or lack of it altogether. In emerging economies, a loan applicant might need to travel to other cities, often quite distant, in order to apply again with another licensed lender. Some might take money from loansharks – along with exorbitant interest rates. It can be a discouraging experience for anyone seeking between US$100 and 1,000.

Those in the developed world might already have a negative stereotype of the “underbanked” or “unbanked”. These concepts are often paired with images of disparate poverty. However, the truth is that many underbanked or unbanked individuals – counting between 2 billion to 4.5 billion across the globe – think of the lack of access to traditional banking services might not necessarily be a bad thing.

In countries like Uganda for example, which has one of the youngest populations in the world, the youth have a negative image of banks, and they prefer to move funds around using mobile money. We could consider mobile money as underbanking, but in many cases it is very fast and efficient. See how tech-oriented countries like Singapore are already looking for ways to shift from physical money to cashless transactions.

In developing countries, established banks are often not too keen to tap into this market, given the risks involved with lending to unsecured borrowers. It is thus the purview of startups and telcos to take a step forward toward financial inclusion, in order to give an opportunity to anyone, anywhere to digitally store value in their local currency, safely linked to their mobile number. This industry has generally progressed in terms of giving access to credit, but there is often no viable solution for repayment.

e27 had the chance to interview Stefano Virgilli, Singapore-based Italian CEO of Pocket Money. “In an industry plagued with P2P scams, Pocket Money is bringing access to credit to anyone, anywhere, through Licensed Lenders, using the technologies that borrowers are familiar with,” he shares. “We don’t stop there. We help Borrowers to repay.”

Fintechs tend to be focussed on providing loans, but there is less focus on providing solutions for borrowers to repay. Pocket Money steps in with a solution that focusses on four different angles:

1. Giving an opportunity for rejected loan applications to be accepted by other licensed lenders located globally;
2. Developing tech tools for Lenders to simplify and make more efficient the processes of on-boarding new borrowers as well as managing existing ones;
3. Providing liquidity to small Licensed Lenders globally;
4. Helping borrowers to repay their loans through micro-tasks, in partnership with third party apps and services.

An ecosystem of credit

Pocket Money, which is currently seeking its fourth round of fundraising, does this by building an entire ecosystem for lenders and borrowers worldwide, keeping compliance as a centerpiece of its philosophy. Such a global ecosystem enables Borrowers to access credit from different sources all through a seamless interface. For instance, when a rejected application is accepted by a Licensed Lender from another country, the Lender who accepted the risk backs the loan to the Borrower on behalf of the Lender who rejected the application in the first place.

The settlement between Lenders happens in real time and automatically hedging on US dollar, while the disbursement of the loan to the Borrower, occurs in local currency, either in cash (tracked in Pocket Money Dashboard for Lenders) or directly on Pocket Money Wallet, integrated with the most popular local wallet in each country.

From the Borrower’s perspective, nothing changes. A loan application is immediately circulated among other Licensed Lenders globally. Pocket Money Dashboard allows Lenders to set automations based on amount, duration, repayment terms, borrower profile and currency.

Such steps, Apply – Reject – Circulate – Accept – Disburse, happens in a matter of seconds. Borrowers will not even realise that there had been a rejection in the first place. The best part is that the Lender who won the bid for the rejected application will now be the one offering the lowest repayment amount to the Borrower. Hence Pocket Money is effectively increasing access to credit and offering fair loan terms to Borrowers.

Also read: The financial forecast indicates fintech’s rising prominence

Innovation in access to credit

For Pocket Money, Borrowers and Licensed Lenders can connect on the innovative marketplace and through an innovative multi-currency wallet. The usual Borrower is an individual who has difficulties providing a credit score, and one who collaterals on proof-of-employment. “In a nutshell, they are unsecured borrowers,” shares Virgilli. “Lenders usually consist of low-tech mom-and-pop shops, who could not keep up with technology.”

While many other fintech startups are offering technology solutions that simplify the way operations are run, Pocket Money goes beyond this by focussing on the entire pipeline of the lending industry.

“Software might be great for on-boarding Borrowers, but offers no options to monetize rejected applications. Pocket Money does so,” says Virgilli. “Traditional loan tools are excellent at generating and managing loans, but none on the market offers micro-tasking to Borrowers, helping them to repay their debt.”

Social repayment system

One innovation that Pocket Money introduces is a social repayment system, wherein Borrowers are given the option to earn payment credits by accomplishing certain tasks. In the event that a Borrower fails to pay back at the end of the term, the Lender has an option whether to extend the loan or not. If the Lender extends, then borrowers can accomplish these tasks or requirements in exchange for small rewards.

“Currently we are partnering with a startup that offers 30 US cents for answering 5 questions about an ad. If the Borrower participates in the survey with family and friends, there is the potential for generating a small stream of income. The monetized data can then be used to pay back the loan, when extended,” says Virgilli.

He acknowledges that risks will never go away when it comes to micro credit, however. “We are not changing the industry, but rather we are adding tools to reduce risk.” The CEO adds that Pocket Money is conservative in saying only 25 per cent of rejected applicants will actually apply again, and out of that only 20 per cent would manage to get approved. “In other words, we are already quite happy with a 5 per cent chance of finding a Lender for a rejected Borrower.”

The company is confident that social credit and social repayment would provide a better means for Lenders to get their ROI and for borrowers to avoid default. “We believe that our Social Credit Score, integrating the spectacular work done by many other startups, is already offering higher chance of repayment,” Virgilli shares with e27. “We are sure that our Social Repayment Partnership would help Borrowers to pay back their loan.”

Also read: How fintech hubs will shape the future of our financial industry

“A better world for the future is built step by step”

Pocket Money would rather introduce small innovations that actually work, rather than radically disrupt the microlending industry. “Jack Ma said once that Fintech wants to reinvent the wheel, replacing traditional finance, whereas Techfin is integrating tools bit-by-bit, covering verticals that require innovation in the industry. Pocket Money sounds more like a Techfin in this perspective,” shares Virgilli.

Over the past few years, Fintech startups have created many ‘payment solutions’ that did not solve any problem, but rather added yet another option to a very crowded industry. Pocket Money has taken a different approach, strictly problem-solution based, in order to deploy innovation only when and where needed.

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BukaGlobal launches in Singapore, plans to connect the global market with over four million Indonesian sellers

Indonesian unicorn e-commerce Bukalapak announces BukaGlobal, a feature that seeks to connect the global market with more than four million Indonesian sellers. Bukalapak claims itself to be the first Indonesian e-commerce to do so, consistently carrying its mission in digitalising Indonesian SMEs.

BukaGlobal is currently available in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Brunei Darussalam, with more markets onboarded soon.

“BukaGlobal was designed to address logistics challenges in the region, such as high cost in postal and courier delivery. We want to break down barriers that hinder young and small entrepreneurs from competing on a global playing field, primarily on access, infrastructure, and connectivity,” said Fajrin Rasyid, Co-Founder and President of Bukalapak.

BukaGlobal aims to make Indonesian products readily accessible by consumers anywhere in the world.

Singapore is the first country that BukaGlobal is serving as it views the country to be a critical hub in the region. Ngurah Swajaya, Ambassador of the Republic Indonesia to Singapore, explains, “Singapore is the suitable market hub to introduce Indonesian products in the regional market field. This could be a proper strategy to advance the SMEs potential.”

Also Read: A look into one of the most active early stage VC firms this year

According to a report by Bain & Company(2), 50 million new consumers join the ranks of the middle class in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam by 2022, contributing to the region’s US$300 billion middle–class disposable income.

To prepare to join in the trend forecast, the Indonesian Government helps eight million Indonesian SMEs to transform their business model by supportingBukaGlobal.

“We feel that Bukalapak’s new initiative is aligned with what the Indonesian Government’s vision in both facilitating and accelerating the export market expansion such as vocational program, the development of Internet infrastructure, along with business and entrepreneur workshop,” said Rudiantara, Minister of Communication and Information Technology Republic of Indonesia.

All features in BukaGlobal can be accessed starting from May, 20, 2019. Consumers in Singapore, Malaysia, Hongkong, Taiwan, and Brunei Darussalam can order products starting from 0.5kg with delivery time approximately 6 – 11 days depending on the destination.

Also Read: Vietnam’s Abivin lifts Startup World Cup 2019, takes home US$1M prize money

At the moment, only qualified sellers in Jakarta and Tangerang are able to offer BukaGlobal as part of their service, with more sellers joining.
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The new hospitality brand focussing on co-living and co-working is based in two locations; Bali, Indonesia and Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Outpost, a co-working and co-living company based in Indonesia and Cambodia, announced that it has raised a US$1.3 million seed funding from EverHaus, Strypes Holdings, and Clarenberg Ventures.

The company said that it will use the funding to expand Outpost’s destination co-working, co-living, and travel services in APAC, including a fourth location to be announced soon.

The Economist has recently estimated that by 2035 there will be 1 billion remote workers.

“These remote workers are part of a greater value shift. They’re breaking new ground as they experiment with a life that is not dominated by industrial-era work hours and work weeks, but instead is built around flexible ways of working together, living together, and exploring the world,” says David Abraham, Outpost’s Cofounder.

Outpost provides a combination of co-living rooms, co-working spaces, and travel logistics — alongside community events and adventure activities. Outpost said that it operates with an asset-lite model, transforming underperforming hotel properties into boutique communal work and living spaces catering to the needs of location independent professionals.

Also Read: A look into one of the most active early stage VC firms this year

“We’re an Asia-based team with a global outlook. Being genuinely connected with the local communities we operate within is important to us in order to be both sustainable and profitable in the market,” said Abraham.

In 2018, Outpost claimed that it has sold a total of 3,440 Outpost memberships.
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Meet Outpost’s founders in the upcoming Echelon conference in Singapore on May 23–24, 2019 and learn more about Outpost experience.

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The launch of TokoCabang is meant to support Tokopedia’s ambition of becoming an IaaS platform

Indonesian e-commerce platform Tokopedia introduced fulfillment service TokoCabang to help merchants reach out to their customers without having to set up their own warehouses. The service is also a form of the company’s commitment to its goal of becoming an internet-as-a-service (IaaS) platform.

In a previous interview with DailySocial, Tokopedia Head of Fulfillment Erwin Dwi Saputra explained that the smart warehouse service can be used by merchants to place their supplies in areas with relatively higher demands.

Customers in the area can finally get their necessities in a more cost and time efficient way.

“We hope that this innovation can provide real solution for the online trade ecosystem, considering Indonesia’s status as an archipelago,” Saputra said.

The company has begun providing the smart warehouses in several cities in Indonesia, and the initiative will be officially announced shortly.

“We believe that these innovations will serve as a milestone to accelerate our mission of encouraging equal distribution of economy through digital platforms in Indonesia,” he stressed.

Also Read: Tokopedia, Universitas Indonesia launch AI research centre

TokoCabang’s business model

 

Saputra did not give further details on the location of TokoCabang facilities. According to information on the company’s site, the service is being run by PT Bintang Digital Internasional.

The partner is in charge of all fulfillment process, starting from booking management, chat and product discussion response, warehousing, packing, to product shipment through last-mile logistics services.

TokoCabang is not available for products that Tokopedia has banned from its platform. It is also not available for fresh food and beverage products, expired products, products with bigger dimensions than 40cm x 28cm x 28cm, as well as aerosol products.

Merchants that are able to use the service need to have at least a Gold 1 or Official Store status. Some merchants that have joined the programme are Audio Technica, EMPO, Jabra, Pioneer, and Ria Miranda.

Once a merchant has been shortlisted, they are able to place their supplies in the designated fulfillment locations. There are two components of fees for merchants who would like to use the TokoCabang service: An IDR3,000 (US$0.20) monthly fee per item for products to be kept in the warehouse for more than 60 days.

The fee is claimed to be more efficient compared to having to rent their own warehouse, considering workers’ fee, packing fee, and warehousing fee.

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The article Tokopedia Perkenalkan Layanan “Fulfillment” TokoCabang was written by Marsya Nabila in Bahasa Indonesia for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

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The programme will help each startup to raise funding of up to US$1M and an additional syndicated US$20M smart capital via Anthill’s co-investors network

Anthill Ventures, an investment and speed-scaling ecosystem for early-stage startups, today announced that 15 startups have been shortlisted for its Asian market access programme ‘A-Scale’, which was launched in March this year.

These 15 startups come from countries such as Singapore, India, Israel, and the US, and were selected from over 300 applications received from across the world. They were evaluated based on quality of technology solutions, growth potential, product readiness and scalable business model.

The selected startups are focused on building new technologies-based solutions across healthcare, smart cities, media tech, among others. The entrepreneurs have developed solutions using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), visual effects (VFX), cloud rendering, artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT) and big data.

The six-month programme aims at speed-scaling 18 startups every year by providing them with targeted mentorship on business model refinement and go-to-market strategies. Through A-Scale, the shortlisted startups will gain access to over 100 global subject matter experts, over 50 corporate partners and an opportunity to implement their smart products and solutions in the public sector via government organisations.

Also Read: The key ingredients for startup and corporate collaboration

The programme will help each of the selected startups to raise funding of up to US$1 million and an additional syndicated US$20 million smart capital via Anthill’s co-investors network.

The shortlisted media-tech and health-tech startups will benefit from Anthill’s existing market access programmes and speed-scaling ecosystem in India — Anthill Studio and Lumos — respectively.

This programme is supported by Enterprise Singapore. Anthill is part of the Enterprise Singapore’s ‘Startup SG Accelerator’ initiative providing mentorship and resources to support the growth of startups based here.

The 15 startups are:

Exelot  — Cloud

The Israeli Exelot is focused on resolving bottlenecks in last-mile delivery. With its cross-border platform, Exelot enables marketplaces and e-retailers to provide an affordable service to customers.

Abilisense — AI

Abilisense that offers a sophisticated way to analyse sounds in home, work, city and transport environments. Abilisense aids with life-threatening and unexpected situations based on sound analysis that use unique algorithms.

Vuulr — blockchain

Singapore-based Vuulr provides an online global content platform for the film, television and sports industry. Vuulr provides large-scale efficiencies for the global acquisition and distribution of content allowing buyers and sellers, to go from discovery to deal in days instead of months.

TrakitNow — IoT

Based in the US, TrakitNow is focusing on public health, public safety and connected vehicles. This is the first company in the world to have built a scalable solution to address the gaps in mosquito surveillance. It has created an IoT technology for smart mosquito control management to help control vector-borne disease.

KroniKare — AI

Singapore-based KroniKare leverages state-of-the-art AI and thermal imaging to automate the assessment and management of chronic wounds, thereby giving accuracy, efficiency and scalability to healthcare institutions.

Raybaby — AI

Raybaby‘s device uses radar technology to monitor vitals, breathing rate, sleeping habits and movement patterns to predict respiratory illness and heart-problem.

QuaQua  — AI, VR

India-based QuaQua offers a virtual travel platform that integrates 360-degree virtual reality content for the global travel and tourism industry. The startup translates world’s travel experiences into captivating 360 videos and AR/VR stories to provide real and immersive end-to-end travel experiences.

Grene Robotics — AI

Based in India, Grene Robotics  is a platform that helps in making workflow smarter and efficient. The startup has built an internet of everything (IOE) platform that helps in bringing people, process, data and things of an organisation into a single unified experience such that they can all communicate with each other seamlessly.

AdonMo — AI

AdonMo provides intelligent outdoor advertising solutions by mounting digital screens atop cabs and outdoor screens. Using a combination of proprietary hardware and patented software, ads can be controlled by location, time, and other factors; enabling AdOnMo to play contextual and relevant ads for their clients.

ACiiST — IoT

ACiiST converts the existing street light system into an urban internet of things (IoT) infrastructure. ACiiST’s technology makes IoT faster and up to 90 per cent cheaper. It helps in easy installation of cameras, Wi-Fi, sensors and other IoT devices.

Valor Humani — nanotech

Israel’s Valor Humani  develops plant-based natural drugs for cancer cell destruction. It uses nano-technology to produce a cancer curing product made from plant extracts that destroys Cancer Cells without causing any harm to vital organs.

Rooter — Sports fans engagement platform

Rooter is a live sports, engagement app that engages fans during live matches. This startup is the only sports technology platform in India that has managed to integrate live sports engagement with social interactions, fast live scores and data for eight sports.

HoloSuit  — AR, VR, MR

Singapore-based HoloSuit has developed HoloTainment that uses AR/VR/Mixed Reality technologies and tools to bring 10x improvement in time and cost of producing immersive, interactive and engaging content for media and entertainment industry.

SPACES — VR

US-based SPACES provides a ground-breaking service: transportation to new realities. This startup deploys cutting-edge technology and immersive, multi-player, highly sensorial experiences featuring original and globally recognised Hollywood and video game brands.

Zerone Microsystems –IoE, automation, AI

Zerone Microsystems has developed a Virtual POS machine for smartphones, based on ZPI, its patented proximity payment technology. ZPI allows payments from one smartphone to another by simply swiping the two. It does not use NFC and hence works on every smartphone on this planet, including the cheapest of phones. It also does not use sound and hence works in noisy marketplaces of developing countries.

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This is the story of how former Zynga Head Shan Kadavil saved the fish e-tailer SeaToHome from the deathbed and converted it to a multi-million dollar venture

Enticed by the opportunities offered by the multi-billion dollar Indian e-commerce sector, Alappuzha-based (South India) veteran Mathew Joseph launched an online platform to scale his fresh fish exporting business in 2012. However, little did he expect that the e-commerce venture, SeaToHome, will die an untimely death within just a couple of years of launch.

The reasons for the failure were aplenty. While Mathew was an astute businessman, he lacked the requisite technological know-how to run an e-tailing venture. Nor did he have the so-called startup mentor to groom the business or VC investor to infuse millions of dollars into its proposed processing unit.

However, despite all the hiccups, he managed to expand to a couple of cities, drawing around 4,000 customers, before the site was pulled down sometime in 2014.

Shan Kadavil, a serial entrepreneur and Head of Zynga India, was one of Mathew’s customers. When Shan sensed that the e-commerce platform, which he once trusted to purchase his favourite Seer Fish and Black Promfret, was closing down, he dialled Mathew.

Giving a new lease on life

“I was really pained to hear that SeaToHome was shutting down. I convinced Mathew not to shut down the venture. I knew SeaToHome had a bright future, as fish retailing in India is a US$50-billion market, which is more than the size of the Hollywood movie industry. Mathew and I worked together for a few months and eventually saved it out of the blue,” Shan recounted the story to e27. “We worked hard and added a few more items to such as poultry and mutton, and rebranded it to FreshToHome.”

Based out of Bangalore, FreshToHome has been an instant success — thanks to Shan’s expertise in technology and digital marketing and Mathew’s (COO) business acumen. “As we moved ahead, we roped in some of my former colleagues. Within no time, we saw the venture grow fast and the number of customers shot up from 4,000 to a whopping 85,000 in 15 months, with 80 per cent being repeat customers,” Shan smilingly recalled.

FreshToHome, as the name indicates, delivers fresh and chemical-free fish and meat at your doorstep. Started toward the end of 2015, FreshToHome currently lists over 200 products, including chicken, duck, mutton, fresh water fish, marine water fish, shell and ready-to-cook items. The chemical-free produce is delivered to customers’ doorsteps within 24 hours of being caught from the sea.

Most of the fish available in today’s market is caught by large mechanised trawlers that are in the sea anywhere between three days to three months. By the time the trawler reaches the coast, fish could be as old as three weeks to three months and already frozen.

To ensure that the fish remain fresh, the standard practice among many Indian fish suppliers is to apply chemicals such as ammonia, chlorine or formalin. These chemicals have long-term adverse health effects. Also, when your fish is so old, it can lead to unexpected food poisoning, allergies and even serious ailments.

“Fresh fish has a remarkably different and wonderful taste compared to the chemical-free fish but unfortunately the city population doesn’t get a chance to savour the goodness of fresh,” Shan continues.

When it comes to poultry, anti-biotic and other growth promoters are used to fatten chicken unnaturally. “FreshToHome follows the internationally accepted withdrawal method whereby antibiotic is not administered one to two weeks prior to the slaughter of the broiler chicken. No such substances are used in the case of other poultry either. We promise ammonia- and formalin-free fish, and anti-biotic- and hormone-free meats. We make sure only quality items are delivered to our customers,” Shan added.

“FreshToHome has partnered with a host of fishermen across coastal Kerala, besides meat exporters in various cities for procurement. The fishermen have been given a mobile application, wherein they can bid their produce in real time with us. This make sure they get good value for their hard work. We have representatives at all these coasts to check the quality of the produce before collecting and sending it to our Bangalore facility,” he added.

As of now, FreshToHome has around 15 trucks to procure the catch and poultry. The items are processed at its Bangalore processing unit. “The most important factor to note here is that we ensure the catch reaches the customer within 24 hours of the produce reaching the shore. We add no preservatives, other than high-quality ice,” said Shan.

All the produce are halal-certified, and there is no compromise on that, Shan stressed.

The startup processes six tonnes of meat and fish, and fulfils 2,000-3,000 orders per day. Shan claims the order volume doubles every three months. With plans to expand to eight cities in the coming months, the company aims to reach every nook and corner of India in future.

The venture is already operationally profitable, said Shan.

A few months ago, FreshToHome secured over “multi-million dollars” in angel funding from some of industry stalwarts: such as Facebook’s early investor Mark Pincus, David Krane of Google Ventures, Google India chief Rajan Anandan, Pete Briger of Fortress Investment Group, former SoftBank executive Pavan Ongole, and Mashreq Bank’s Abdul Azeez Al-Ghurair.

FreshToHome, which competes with startups like Licious and Zappfresh, is now planning to go to the market to raise Series A funding to scale the business further.

Golden lesson

A veteran entrepreneur, Shan has built around four startups, including Dbaux and SupportSoft. Prior to joining FreshToHome as a Co-founder and CEO, Shan worked as India Head of Zynga, the creator of Farmville, which once ruled the roost.

Like any other entrepreneur, Shan too had his fair share of failure in his entrepreneurial journey, but had the mettle to come out of the blue. “In my early days of career, I started a gold processing unit in Dubai, but the venture failed, thanks to steep fall in gold price sometime in 2007. My morale went low and I lost lots of money. Another venture I set up also faced similar problem. When a crisis hits me, I think of worst case scenarios — of mortgaging my home and other valuables. There is nothing worse than being pauper. It relieves some of the pain from me,” he laughed.

His advice to budding entrepreneurs: “Focus on key area. Funding should not be your primary target, good customer experience should be. Funding is a pain in the neck. But when you raise funding, be more prudent in spending. Be a responsible entrepreneur.”

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Image Credit: FreshToHome

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By May 2019, East Ventures have already announced 12 funding rounds in companies across Southeast Asia

In 2018, venture capital firm East Ventures was awarded the most active seed investor in the world by Crunchbase, and it is easy to believe that the firm might just repeat the achievement again this year.

By May, e27 noted that there are already 12 funding rounds involving the firm. In the month alone, it announced an investment into O2O analytics startup Advotics, Chinese language media startup 7.5 Degree, stock investing app Stockbit, and robo trading platform Lubna.id.

In a press briefing in Jakarta on Thursday, East Ventures Partner Melisa Irene stated that the firm is aiming to make a total of 24 deals by Q3 2019.

“We are in the process of closing another six deals,” she said.

In the past years, the firm had also made headlines through its notable exits such as the acquisition of Disdus by Groupon, Kudo by Grab, and Loket by Go-Jek.

But for this year, Irene said that there is no plan for another exit in the near future.

Also Read: Indonesian AI platform for natural language processing Bahasa.ai gets seed funding from East Ventures

In addition to investing in early stage tech startups, East Ventures have also been know to have launched several of its internal projects into a business of its own. These businesses are coworking space chain CoHive (formerly known as EV Hive), New Retail platform Warung Pintar, and digital coffee chain Fore Coffee.

These companies are being led by former East Ventures team members and have raised significant funding of their own.

In most cases, these companies are being founded “accidentally” within the firm.

“[Our priority] will continue to be in investing in an existing company, but there are some opportunities that we feel strongly about doing it ourselves,” Irene said.

She gave an example of CoHive, which was founded initially the fulfill the firm’s own needs for an office space. Another example is Warung Pintar, which started out when East Ventures helped renovate a stall that happened to be located in the same premise as their coworking space. The team then decided to develop it into its very own company.

In a previous interview with e27, Irene had explained about the firm’s vision of building Indonesia’s –as its biggest target market– tech industry by building an ecosystem of supporting infrastructure.

Also Read: Indonesian on-demand car repair platform Montir raises Series A funding from East Ventures

Once the infrastructure has been successfully built, it is going to enable other businesses to be built upon it. An example of such implementation is Warung Pintar, which utilises services from the firm’s other portfolio companies to support its business.

As with many venture capital recently, East Ventures has also begun investing in offline businesses that are attempting to add digital elements in their business.

One of such companies is The FIT Company, which is building an ecosystem of wellness products ranging from restaurants to gyms.

East Ventures was founded by Managing Partners Willson Cuaca, Batara Eto, and Taiga Matsuyama.

A sector agnostic investor, the firm puts emphasis in people and potential market when scouting for potential investment.

“There are companies that, since they have not been around for a long time, are impossible to be assessed through the results that their products have made,” Irene explained.

“We are very confident in our style of finding product-market fit … A phase where there is a proof of identified customers who are willing to use and pay for the products,” she added.

Though the firm focusses on early stage investment, it has also partnered with Yahoo! Japan and SMDV to launch EV Growth, which focusses on Series B investments.

The post A look into one of the most active early stage VC firms this year appeared first on e27.