Electric scooters are not only cheaper but they also are a more environmentally-friendly means of commuting

So you’ve made it in Southeast Asia! Your family is wealthy after years of economic growth and rising incomes! Sitting in your Mercedes S Class, you snap selfies dressed in designer clothes while listening to music on Spotify from your iPhone… life couldn’t be better? But wait, actually there are two big problems. Firstly, your Mercedes is stuck in gridlocked traffic. Secondly, you’re inhaling carcinogenic chemicals daily from polluted city air.

Such an experience represents the unfortunate irony of Southeast Asia’s economic success. While the region’s GDP and income levels have risen dramatically thanks to rapid economic development, it now suffers from crippling traffic congestion and cancer-causing air pollution even the wealthy can’t avoid.

The key culprit? Gasoline-powered transport. As family incomes rise, we all first buy motorcycles which we later upgrade to cars as we become even wealthier. Did you know that most of the Japanese motorcycles sold in Southeast Asia would never be allowed for sale in Europe, the US, or even Japan for that matter? They are too polluting; we get the dirtier motorcycles because emissions standards are much lower in most Southeast Asian countries for motorcycles (except Singapore).

Also, given Southeast Asia’s tendency to develop megacities with high population density, the transport lifestyle that works in less densely populated parts of Europe or the USA just don’t work out here. Everybody can’t own a car in Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila, or Ho Chi Minh without creating snarling traffic and horrendous pollution.

As shown in the tables below, residents of Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, and Hanoi waste about an hour or more in traffic every day. Even Singaporeans waste 30 minutes per day in traffic. Just searching for parking wastes another 20 minutes or more for most Southeast Asian city dwellers.

 

What’s the point of economic wealth if you have to breathe dirty air and waste hours a day stuck in traffic? It’s a disaster.

Thankfully, a confluence of two technology trends, electric vehicles (EV) and “micromobility”, is emerging to save the day.

Micromobility, a term coined by Apple analyst Horace Dedi, refers to travel of less than eight kilometres. As Uber’s CEO said recently, “During rush hour, it is very inefficient for a one-ton hulk of metal to take one person 10 blocks”. We don’t need to be driving cars designed for high-speed road trips through the Alps every day, because usually we just need to travel short distances to and from work, school, or shopping malls.

According to research by CB Insights, 60 per cent of trips in the USA. are less than five miles in distance and can be replaced by micromobility solutions such as electric bikes and scooters. Within Southeast Asia’s dense megacities, we imagine that this percentage is much higher.

Also Read: Grab launches GrabTukTuk Electric in Chiang Mai for greener transportation

This is why, while electric cars and AI-powered self-driven vehicles make for sexy headlines, it’s actually the humble electric scooter that will create the most meaningful impact for Southeast Asia within the next few years.

Electric scooters are inexpensive and can be easily charged at any electrical socket, or with cheap removable batteries. Falling battery costs and improved charging efficiency means that soon there won’t be any excuse why we can’t replace most gasoline motorcycles with EV, and even replace many of our car trips with an EV 2-wheeler alternative.

Micromobility solutions are magnitudes more efficient than their larger or gas-powered counterparts. Analysis by Wired found that one-kilowatt hour of energy can only get a traditional gas automobile 1.3 kilometres while electric automobiles can achieve a better 6.6 kilometres. E-scooters, however, can travel 133 kilometres on the same amount of energy – approximately 20x more efficient than electric cars and 102x better than traditional gas-powered cars. They also reduce traffic congestion due to their smaller form factor.

According to a recent study by Mckinsey, an electric scooter can make its cost back in just four months and represents the most cost-effective form of transport for short distances.

Micromobility solutions are rapidly being adopted globally. According to Lime public data from the US, 30 per cent of their riders recently replaced an automobile trip with an e-scooter ride, while 27 per cent of their riders in urban cities used an e-scooter to connect to public transportation on their most recent trip.

Countries in Asia are experiencing similar adoption trends. Shared bikes are now the third most popular mode of public transportation in China, while other countries in Asia like Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea have also seen strong traction, according to CB Insights.

Southeast Asia won’t be excluded from the global EV micromobility trend. We met with China’s Niu Technologies, a NASDAQ-listed producer of electric scooters, a couple of weeks ago to discuss their international ambitions and Southeast Asia in particular. According to data presented by Niu, Southeast Asia’s EV 2-wheeler market is indeed on the cusp of a massive expansion thanks to the factors outlined above. The company expects Southeast Asia’s EV 2-wheeler market size to expand by over 400% from 2017 to US$2.5 billion of annual revenue in 2022.

EV 2-wheelers thus represent a multi-billion dollar new market for Southeast Asian tech companies, and interestingly it’s a unicorn-sized near term revenue opportunity that does not yet have any established players.

Japanese incumbent motorcycle producers are way behind in EV and won’t be ready with anything significant in the next couple years, while Chinese producers have yet to establish a major foothold in the region and are yet to produce a 2-wheeler designed for Southeast Asia’s particular requirements (As compared to China, Southeast Asian consumers need higher speed and range, plus the ability for their vehicle to manage hot climates).

Hence EV micromobility not only represents a solution to Southeast Asia’s traffic congestion and air pollution but also represents a multi-billion dollar revenue opportunity for innovative new companies. In addition to Chinese companies, regional players such as Vinfast in Vietnam, Viar in Indonesia, and Scorpio Electric in Singapore (who we work closely with as an advisor) are all moving full speed to capture this massive revenue opportunity.

Also Read: Dyson confirms to develop electric vehicle in Singapore-based production facility

According to Joel Chang, COO of Scorpio Electric, “Electric two-wheelers in Southeast Asia represent a multi-billion dollar opportunity where EV companies such as ours can not only do good for society but also do well as a business. With our Singapore-made motorcycle designed specifically for Southeast Asia, we aim to be one of the early-movers converting the region towards mobility that’s not only cleaner and greener, but also tech-enabled, fun, and sexy like a Tesla.”

No matter which companies manage to win and capture Southeast Asia’s EV micromobility revolution, their success will not only create new tech unicorns for investors but also cleaner air and less traffic for us all. We see truly healthy profits ahead for the industry.

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Image Credit : Andrew Poplavsky

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Nandoo aims to redefine the wellness to fit into the modern routine of millennials and turn this experience into an actual lifestyle and community

Millennials prefer jobs that help boost their personal and professional skills. But when their work doesn’t allow that, it makes them dissatisfied and leads to stress.

A study by health insurance firm Cigna TKK reveals that nearly 95 per cent of Indian millennials admitted to being stressed primarily due to work. After logging long working hours, they find it hard to juggle work and personal life, finds this study.

“I have two sisters-in-law, one a professional and the other a student. They have no time to take care of their health or well-being when they get home,” says Mihir Shinde. “Their examples triggered me to think of developing a product that could help millennials enhance their mind and soul. This is when my friends and I decided to leverage our combined experiences and expertise in mobile app development and partnerships to create a unique wellness-based app.”

Nandoo, as the app is named, was launched in 2018 by Shinde and Yashika Shah, along with US citizens Han Lin and Jaime Cajamarca. With offices in New York and Mumbai, Nandoo helps Indian professionals enhance their mind, body and soul.

Also Read: Why sexual wellness is the next frontier for entrepreneurs

“All of us have at least once felt left out in a small talk conversation at work or had this like crazy passive aggressive enmity with that one colleague and we want do everything in power to stand out. We decided to create Nandoo to help you beat all such enemies. We help our users in developing an uber-enhanced mind, body and soul in terms of wellness,” says Shinde.

This is how the app works. The Mind Wellness feature on the app gives you a breakdown of what’s going on in the world with a fresh, fun take to strengthen the mind. Articles covered in the past include “Why you can’t listen to Cardi Ben & Bruno bhai on Spotify India” or “Why Norway is the cleanest & dirtiest country in the world”.

On the other hand, Soul Wellness helps in controlling and steadying your breathing to manage stress and strengthen the soul. It is a relaxing feature that helps you guide your breathing in a simplified format.

Body Wellness means you consistently walk for 10 minutes every day and compete against other users on leaderboards. The app has small rewards associated to keep the motivation up.

“We are redefining wellness to fit into the modern routine of our Nandoo-ers and turn this experience into an actual lifestyle and community,” he says

But there are quite a few life coaches and motivators around the world. How would you find a space among the crowd?

“Well, we have several features that help us stand out. One is localisation. This means the app is catered to make a typical Indian millennial feel he/she is speaking with a friend. The way we write and present things on our app, it is all in Hinglish (Hindi + English). Our name is extremely Indian. Our competitors are so focused on coming across as a global brand that they lose their Indian essence and thus, connection with the Indian millennial diaspora,” he elaborates.

“Secondly we keep an extremely chill approach and vibe to wellness and health. This can be seen in everything we do — from our UI, UX, voice to even our name. On the other hand, our competitors are focused on the tactic of using shame to making members stick around and use their apps,” he adds.

Nandoo’s goal is to utilise the power of a mobile phone to motivate people to further enhance themselves. “While in the future we are looking into incorporating interesting coaches, right now we want you to get hooked to the idea of it is okay (& not self-indulgent) to think about your wellness first before anything else. This is a tough nut to crack because we have grown up with the mindset of “I will work till I am super tired and rest when I retire”. Well, guess what, if you don’t take care of yourself right now, you are most certainly not going to enjoy life – forget about retirement! If you think about it, we are using the YOLO model but for the good,” he Shinde says.

The app is targeting only individual professionals and has no plans to cater to corporates, he adds. “This is because we have a counter culture persona – as in, we are cutting through the crap to tell you the real deal and motivate you in the same way to become the best you. Partnering and working with corporates dilutes our messaging. This is of course a longer process to get Nandoo-ers hooked, but we are in this for the long run so we are more than happy & patient to play the long game.”

Also Read: Meet Kaede Takenaka, the 10-year-old CEO of Thai blockchain startup KIDLetCoin

According to Shinde, if Nandoo can reach the 50 per cent of the stressed out millennials — which is around 200 million –that itself is a huge market. At the moment, Nandoo has 283,000 users, of which 82 per cent came through word of mouth, he claims.

Self-funded so far, Nandoo will start looking for VC funding once it has hit the internal metrics that it has set internally.

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The newly minted unicorn from Singapore continues to expand its retail portfolio with this latest addition

Singapore-based unicorn Trax has added another retail company to its portfolio with the acquisition of Shopkick, a California-based shopping rewards app. The value spent on the buyout is not disclosed, Bloomberg reported.

Shopkick will continue to operate as an independent unit.

Shopkick allows its users to shop and earn rewards and gift cards by browsing online offers, watching videos, walking into stores or scanning product barcodes on shelves.

Shopkick is owned by SK Telecom Co. after it acquired the company for US$200 million in 2014.

With its approach, Shopkick provides data and insights into customer behaviour and loyalty for clients such as EBay Inc., General Electric Co., Lego, and Unilever in what the company called “bringing together shelf and shopper data.”

“It will deliver new insights to consumer-packaged-goods brands and retailers,” said Trax CEO Joel Bar-El.

Also Read: P2P lending platform KoinWorks raises US$16.5M in Series B funding round

Trax has just finalised an additional US$100 million at a pre-money valuation of about US$1.1 billion, aiming it at financing acquisitions, including Beijing-based computer vision startup LenzTech Co.

Besides that, Trax is reportedly also in talks to buy a European competitor.

Trax has shared that it plans an initial public offering in 18 to 24 months to come as it is in talks with Singapore Exchange Ltd. for a potential dual listing after the local bourse approached the company.

Co-founded in Singapore by Bar-El and partner Dror Feldheim in 2010, Trax currently operates in more than 50 countries and has shareholders such as private equity firm Warburg Pincus, Chinese private equity firm Boyu Capital, and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte.

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These five startups have proved to the world  growth-stage funding can still be accessed with strong fundamentals and long-term plans

A major challenge facing growth-stage startups in Malaysia is lack of funding. While there are quite a few early-stage venue funds to cut cheques for startups in the seed stage, there are not many who are willing to inject money in their growth stages. This often discourages startups from aggressively pursuing scaling and expansion plans.

In a recent interview with e27, Raja Hamzah, Managing Partner of RHL Ventures, an active VC in Malaysia, admitted that there is still a big funding gap in the growth-stage startup space. Even though the previous government had set up a RM 1 billion fund to bridge this gap, it failed to materialise. The good thing is that many VCs including RHL Ventures are now seriously considering to launch funds to invest in growth-stage firms.

While many tech companies are struggling to raise growth funding, there’re a few who have bucked the trend and weathered all the odds to become a brand name in their respective industries.

Below is the list of five such startups in Malaysia.

Jirnexu

Founded in 2012, Jirnexu is a fintech startup that enables banks, insurance companies, and service providers to think mobile-first and innovate the way they generate leads online, turn those leads into customers, handle their fulfilment and keep them loyal. Jirnexu’s financial comparison tools enable consumers to save money and make better decisions.

The company was started in Kuala Lumpur when its co-founders met and realised that they share a mutual passion for giving individuals the financial advice and tools they needed to spend money wisely. In the Malaysian market, more and more people were applying for credit cards and loans than ever before, which was a boon for the financial services industry (FSI). What was missing for the banks and insurance companies was a way to move this application process online to expand the reach of their campaigns, reduce high acquisition costs, and differentiate themselves by offering customers a brand new level of convenience. Security was a concern and very few banks had a digital strategy at that point.

The Jirnexu co-founders identified this gap in the online market and set about creating a solution that would allow financial services providers to leverage the power of a digital acquisition channel, while simultaneously giving consumers an accessible system for keeping more money for themselves from each online financial service transaction they make.

Since inception, the startup has raised US$48 million over multiple rounds of funding, which include a US$11 million in Series B in December 2018 led by Experian and Japan-based SBI Group. Its other backers are Gobi Partners, Cento Ventures, SIG China, and Celebes Capital, among others.

Kaodim

Founded in November 2014 by Cheong and Choong Fui-Yu (Group CEO), Kaodim is an online platform to hire local services professionals such as house cleaners, home renovators and photographers. The firm operates as Kaodim in Malaysia and Singapore, Gawin in the Philippines, and Beres in Indonesia. It is currently operating in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bahru, Metro Manila, Singapore and Jakarta.

Since launch, the group has focused on expanding its presence in the Southeast Asian region. On the product front, the group introduced a new product called Kaodim Direct, which is aimed at providing an enhanced experience for selected services such as cleaning or air-condition servicing. Users are matched instantly to a highly rated service provider at a competitive fixed packaged price.

To date, the group has raised a total of US$11.6 million in funding over three rounds, including a US$7 million led by Square Peg Capital and an affiliate of SIG Asia Investment in November 2017. Its other invests include Venturra Capital, Beenext, 500 Startups, East Ventures and KK Fund.

Carsome

Established in 2015 by Eric Cheng and Jiun Ee Teoh, Carsome enables customers to sell their vehicles directly to dealers nationwide through an online bidding portal. It facilitates the car-selling process from inspection, valuation, bidding, payment and logistics, allowing customers to sell their cars within 24 hours. The company claims that a user can potentially get up to 20 per cent higher than average trade-in price via its proprietary nationwide bidding platform.

Since January 2017, Carsome claims to have experienced more than four-fold growth in total transaction value, with the number of car sales facilitated on the platform grew more than quadrupled with more than 70 per cent of the transactions being done inter-city.

In addition to Malaysia, it has operations in Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.

So far, Carsome has raised US$27.4 million in funding over several rounds. This includes a US$19 million Series B funding round led by Burda Principal Investments in March 2018. Its other investors are Indogen Capital, InnoVen Capital, Lumia Capital, Burda Principal Investments, Gobi Partners and 500 Startups.

iflix

In 2014, Catcha Group and Evolution Media Capital joined together to launch iflix, an entertainment service for emerging markets. The firm offers a wide selection of TV shows, movies, hyper local originals, premium live sports and up-to-the-minute news from around the world, to stream or download, on any internet connected device.

Created specifically for the more than one billion consumers in emerging markets, iflix now offers users two experiences through its iflixFREE and iflixVIP offerings.

iflix is currently available to consumers in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Maldives, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Cambodia, Nigeria, Nepal, Bangladesh and Morocco.

To date, the company has raised US$298 million over several rounds, including an undisclosed sum in corporate round from Yoshimoto Kogyo in April this year. Its other investors include Hearst Communications, Kwese, Jungle Ventures and K3 Ventures.

TheLorry

Founded in September 2014, The Lorry focusses offers a logistics platform that connects both individuals and corporate clients to lorry, truck, and van owners in their database across Southeast Asia.

Using the platform, individual customers can do, what it claims to be a house moving and furniture transport. TheLorry highlights that it also serves multinational corporations in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail, industrial, and e-commerce sectors with technology-enabled distribution and long haul transport solutions.

The company has raised US$7.4 million over several rounds, including a US$5.85 million Series B led by FirstFloor Capital in April this year.

Its other investors include Unilever Ventures, Cradle Ventures, SPH Ventures, Axiata, KK Fund.

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Photo by Deva Darshan on Unsplash

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In the second edition of Xero community, a panel of experts will shine light on the lifeblood of all businesses – funds

When it comes to fundraising, every startup founder has a basic understanding of these realities: the process is not a walk in the park, their impressive idea doesn’t guarantee immediate funding, and repeated rejection by investors is not an uncommon story.

For early stage startups, gaining access to funds is twice as hard. Not only are VCs looking at current trends suitability and several factors, they are also typically considering some 100 other companies at any given period.

So how do early stage startups get the attention of investors?

The first bump on the road: the fundraising pitch

Crucial to any investor meetup is the fundraising pitch. Remember, these investors can only allocate so much time, so they naturally expect your deck to pack a punch.

Due diligence is the key to your fundraising experience. In preparing for your pitch, you should do your homework on the ins and outs of your product and team. Also, know your numbers like the back of your hand and be sure to give accurate reports pertaining to your cash flow, financial plans, assumptions, and sales projections.

Also read: How to win on Shark Tank and survive the ‘Valley of Death’ 

At the end of the day, potential investors would like to know where their money is going, how it will be utilised, and who will take responsibility for its growth.

Beyond the pitch: other key factors investors weigh in on

It goes without saying that investors will first consider what business problem you’re solving and who your target market is. These two factors encapsulate the existence of every startup.

Next, investors would want to know more about your team. Who is making important decisions alongside you? Who is handling the books? Who is steering the ship? How is your team moving in terms of your initial vision as the founder? These questions may vary with each investor, but the underlying fact is the same: team dynamics is highly considered in every funding evaluation.

Furthermore, investors would scrutinise the financial aspect of your early stage startup. While their methods may vary, it’s apparent that how they value your startup has a major impact on your funding round.

In a nutshell, know your numbers, learn how to determine your valuation, and study how you can strengthen and communicate your value proposition.

Selecting the best fit for your team: not all investors are created equal

On the one hand, investors can catalyse a startup’s growth by providing much-needed funds and sharing their network and experience. On the other, they can destroy a founder’s dream. Getting access to cash isn’t the entire picture in one’s fundraising process. Founders must consider potential consequences that may arise as a result of their investor choice. For instance, expectations between founders and investors could be mismatched, or their core values differ from each other.

Startup founders should do their homework before getting an investor on-board their journey. As others have put it, signing an agreement with an investor is akin to getting married.

Also read: Digitalising cashflow management and what it means for businesses

Be equipped with the right knowledge by hearing from the experts

Learning about the entire fundraising process is important to every startup founder, especially when the startup is in its early stages.

On 23 July, in the second edition of Xero Community, a panel of experts will shine light on the lifeblood of all businesses – funds, and decipher the ins and outs of fundraising to help SMEs and startups build a successful and sustainable business amidst economic uncertainties.

Check out the panel highlights:

• Fundraising dos and don’ts
• Is money the answer to scale your business? What else should you look for in a potential investor?
• Post fund-raise – What’s next?
• Beyond fundraising – Building a culture that withstands the test of time

Learn from these distinguished panellists:

• Graham Brown – Founder, Pitch Media Asia
• Sam Gibb – Partner, Endeavour Ventures
• Junxian Lee – CEO & Co-Founder, Moovaz
• Kevin Fitzgerald – Managing Director Asia, Xero

The Xero Community – Startup Fundraising Edition is happening on 23 July from 9:30 am to 12 pm. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity to network with fellow entrepreneurs and gain insights into fundraising strategies. RSVP today! https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/xero-community-startup-fundraising-edition-tickets-63464621391

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image credit: 123rf.com / ID 22105594

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