Gigacover recently announced a partnership with Go-Jek to offer earnings protection to driver-partners

Gigacover, a Singapore-headquartered insurtech startup, has said it has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from led by Vectr Fintech Partners (Hong Kong), with participation from Quest Venture Partners (US) and Alto Partners (Singapore).

The startup will utilise the funds to expand into other Southeast Asian markets. Its vision is to distribute, administer and manage risk for more flexible coverage targeted at underserved and growing economies.

“We believe that, together with angel investor Wong Toon King (FarSight Capital), these investors’ collective expertise and networks in the region will be invaluable in helping Gigacover bring new distribution models and insurance solutions to Southeast Asia,” said Amerson Lin, Co-founder of Gigacover.

Meet the VC: Quest Ventures on why Chinese founders are tougher than Singaporean entrepreneurs

Established in 2017, Gigacover is a digital insurance company which aims to keep expense and loss ratios low using Machine Learning and analytics technologies. With an aim to meet the needs of the gig economy, it has launched a prolonged medical leave income protection product, as well as a suite of general insurance products backed by Etiqa and AXA.

Gigacover recently announced a partnership with Go-Jek to offer earnings protection to driver-partners.

Mark Munoz of Vectr Fintech Partners said: “In Southeast Asia, 60 per cent of employment is in informal employment and growing. The gig economy has governments and companies rethinking pay structures, health insurance and other incentives for their people. Given the trend we believe Gigacover bridges the gaps that currently exist in freelance worker protection, and will help avoid a systemic risk to these countries’ economies.”

Also Read: Singapore’s crypto exchange Bitrue loses nearly US$5M to hacking attack

“As more workers make their income from less formal employment; financial solutions need to provide these new informal workers with similar financial benefits to that of full-time workers. Gigacover’s platform allows for financial solutions to adapt and be offered to these informal workers,” added Maarten ‘t Hooft of Quest Venture Partners.

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In a Q&A with Dr. Lewis Chen, we learn how Taiwan Tech Arena is growing the ecosystem by giving startups a voice

Taking the perspective of the overall tech ecosystem into mind, Taiwan can be considered an early adopter, particularly compared to other countries in Asia. In the 1980s to the 1990s, the nation was able to establish itself as a hardware manufacturing hub, and many of the big names in semiconductor and computer manufacturing have headquartered in Taiwan.

Today, hardware is still one of Taiwan’s key strengths, in terms of manufacturing in the technology sector. With recent developments in artificial intelligence, the internet-of-things, fintech, decentralised technologies, and other emerging trends, Taiwan seeks to maintain an advantage by nurturing its startup and technology ecosystem.

e27 recently sought insights from Dr. Lewis Chen, Managing Director at Taiwan Tech Arena, where he discussed the TTA’s vision and how it intends to accomplish its mission by championing Taiwan’s startup ecosystem in terms of resource management, talent, and representation. Below are edited excerpts of our interview.

What are the thrusts of Taiwan Tech Arena, and how do these relate to the state of the startup ecosystem in Taiwan and the rest of Asia?

First of all, I consider people here in Taiwan to be keen in starting up a business – mostly the younger generation. It is what you can call an innovation economy. Now before we start any discussion, consider that Taiwan has a lot of manufacturing power. Since the 1990s, we had been a leader in semiconductor manufacturing and development, as well as advanced manufacturing processes. Now, given these resources, the key is how to better contribute to the international ecosystem.

The main vision and motivation behind TTA is to establish Taiwan as a startup nation. Toward this goal, we have three major missions:

First is to engage Taiwan’s deep tech and science resources. The key is to effectively administer science and technology management in Taiwan. We have at least 13 science parks with 100 to 200 companies in each. Managing can involve helping startups access these companies as customers or investors. We have universities and R&D institutions like ITRI, and we have a big network of angel investors and seasoned entrepreneurs from established startups.

There is need to integrate these resources in order to support startups in Taiwan.

Second is to establish Taiwan as an international hub that fuses both local and global cultures together. Taipei is an international city, for one. We are in a good position to recruit both domestic and international talent – every year we systematically produce around 5,000 AI talents in the country.

An open environment encourages discussion and getting to know each other’s concepts, thus helping entrepreneurs adapt their solutions to each other’s markets.

The third mission – which is actually the original goal of TTA – is to leverage these resources in establishing partnerships with other stakeholders in the global startup ecosystem. In essence, we expect ourselves at TTA to be the voice of startups from Taiwan. At TTA, we engage a lot of international teams, and this helps us gain much-needed visibility in the global arena.

To this end, we are actively trying to inject government resources into recruiting international accelerators to have a presence in Taiwan through TTA. As an example, we have partnered with tier-1 international accelerators, including 500 Startups, Techstars, and SOSV-MOX, who recruit and mentor startup teams based on their own criteria. We also hold regular events – some co-hosted with these accelerators – wherein startups can network and get to know other teams.

We also go to trade shows, such as CES, and we also participate in communities hosted by other accelerators globally, including French Tech in Paris, CTA in Canada, Skytech in Berkeley, and Blk71 in Singapore, among others. The key is cooperating with strategic partners, in order to achieve our goals.

Since our launch in June 2018, we have supported teams by subsidising their soft launch in Silicon Valley to learn from the communities there and engage. TTA has supported at least 99 startups with government resources, with a fundraise size reaching $90 million. Fifty-five of these startups are already funded.

Taiwan is a powerhouse in hardware development. What are current trends that Taiwan’s startup ecosystem needs to leverage to keep this advantage?

I can see the age of AI and internet-of-things dominating. We actually have such technologies in our production lines, and we can see a big amount of talent and manufacturing resources being invested into these technologies.

TTA counts more than 500 manufacturing companies as partners – these include system integrators, production partners, and mass-production companies. Our advantage here is in hardware manufacturing prowess.

We are currently in the AIoT era (or Artificial Intelligence of Things), which brings together technologies like AI, IoT, VR, AR, and other sorts of immersive technologies. If you consider AR and VR, you tend to think of algorithms and content. The same goes with AI, IoT, and the cloud. But consider that even as you deliver content in the cloud, there are the underlying devices, without which the networks and algorithms will not run.

There is a good opportunity for us to establish the capability of AIoT devices in Taiwan, especially when you consider data collection and accumulation from sensors and devices in different locations like the production line. Other opportunities lie in how we can integrate hardware, systems, software, and applications – particularly in identifying problems and in directing resources toward finding solutions.

Is this why your highlight technologies at the recently-held CES in Las Vegas were mostly in AI, smart devices, immersive tech, healthtech, and green tech?

In 2018, we brought 32 teams to CES, of which four won the innovation award. This year, we brought 44 teams, eight of whom won the innovation award. In terms of the difference between these two delegations, I can say that this year’s startups mostly showcased how to use deep tech in solving real-world problems.

For example, one of the startups we sponsored utilised lasers in analyzing pH value and other chemical compositions in water in real-time. In the past, such tests required mixing in different chemical reagents, and this would require at least seven days before results can be read. With real-time applications, such a technology can be used for practical applications in fisheries, industrial use, and environmental management. It goes beyond that, however. With the data being collected, companies can now correlate how chemicals present in water can result in diseases in other places.

Once you have identified a problem, startups can use our strong capability in AI, manufacturing, software development, and hardware systems – all integrated to solve a problem.

You mentioned your involvement in industry events like CES. How important is institutional support (from government, accelerators, incubators) in contributing to the success of a startup?

TTA is an ecosystem. As an analogy, I can describe it very much like a shopping mall that features different stores and brands. Our partner accelerators are much like these different brands, which market their own products by their own rules and capabilities. In this analogy, the startups are the products that these accelerators carry.

TTA is focusing on the ecosystem play, wherein we try to support our partner accelerators in building upon vertical ecosystems. For instance, we count at least 100 companies as partners, and this includes investors and startups, as well as universities and R&D institutions. Accelerators can recruit teams and talent in order to mentor and educate them according to spec, with the aim of creating products and value for their end-customers.

What is the prevailing culture in the Taiwan startup community, and how does this affect performance, competitiveness, and cooperation?

In my observation, the startup culture here in Taiwan is very much different from that in the US, for example. It is common observation that founders in the US – take Steve Jobs for example – usually get started in entrepreneurship outside the confines of their university or undergrad studies.

In Taiwan, it is not the same. The family culture here is that young people are encouraged to finish their studies. After graduating, not everyone is a “tiger” yet. People get immersed in industry for a few years. And if they have good entrepreneurial DNA, that’s the time they get started with their business.

Many of the startups in Taiwan have founders that are around 30, 40 years of age. It is quite important to stress work experience here. Many of these startups address pain points from the founders’ previous companies and industries. The advantage here is that with their working experience and tech knowledge, looking for support and funding at seed stage will be less difficult.

The disadvantage is that with very particular and local pain points being addressed, there is sometimes difficulty in scaling up or finding channels to address bigger markets – after all, the international setting might have different needs.

This is why I always stress the need to make a product marketable: know the market size, identify selling channels, and address problems and not just pain points.

What are your thoughts on the recent trends in funding and fundraising for startups, particularly ICOs and tokenization?

When you look at reports in 2018, you will see that token-based crowdfunding has already decreased dramatically, compared with angel fund investment. Before that, everyone had money – it’s easy to invest in good ideas.

Now, you have to prove that your product is actually market-feasible and workable. Not only do you have to prove your tech, but you also have to prove your business and build your customer base. If you can prove that your prototype can get significant revenue, and that your innovation is real, I will invest in you.

ICOs can be easily linked to being a “bubble” and perhaps 80 to 90 percent of ICOs are traps. There are of course other barriers, including the supposedly borderless nature of ICOs, which can hurt authentication. If the tokens deal with the service part of the business, then that’s probably ok. But if tokens are considered as securities or currencies, then there needs to be involvement by financial regulators.

Now, Blockchain is a different thing altogether, and applied in industry, I can see that it has very significant economic impact especially in fintech, particularly in auditing, proof, smart contracts, and such applications. The problem is that it is difficult to see the implications in other industries.

However, I can see the value in how Blockchain can significantly impact the way businesses manage and keep track of data – for instance coupled with IoT in the manufacturing chain.

There is a need to discuss more on the “killer application” of Blockchain.

What is the future for TTA and Taiwan’s startup ecosystem?

Currently, TTA represents startups and does everything we can do to help them, including injecting startup resources, manufacturing power, contributing to pilot production and helping with fundraising. We also help with scaling up, but the challenge is in you have to discuss mass production, cost reduction, international expansion, logistics, distribution, etc.

Our vision is in scaling up Taiwan as a startup nation, and this involves gathering resources and improving visibility. We hope to carry startups from zero to valuations of $1 million, 10 million, 100 million, 1 billion and perhaps produce a startup Unicorn from Taiwan.

 

Image credit: 123rf.com / ID 22460568

 

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India’s business communities are afraid of speaking out against state-sponsored violence because they are afraid they will be targetted by fringe elements

Dear startups and entrepreneurs in India,

Let me tell this to your face: your silence on the increasing lynching incidents in India is DEAFENING and extremely WORRYING.

I have often wondered — and felt disappointed — that how you people, who have navigated choppy waters in life and silenced your critics to become a brand on your own, cannot speak out against “state-sponsored” violences, which have been on the rise in the past few years? How can you be a mute spectator to the brutal and barbaric killings of our fellow human beings in the name of religion and ideology and for the crimes they have not committed? Why don’t you speak out against those who take law into their hands?

Is it that you are afraid that your business will be targeted by right-wing elements in our society? Or are you scared that you will be called anti-national and asked to go to Pakistan (which is perceived as our enemy) if you call out the complicity of the current dispensation, led by an authoritarian and ultra-nationalist prime minister?

If the answer is ‘yes’, let me tell you that you are a coward, or I would say you are no different from those who perpetrate attacks on innocent people.

Also Read: 8 common legal mistakes made by entrepreneurs

Tabrez Ansari, a 24-year-old from our neighbouring State, was very much like you and me with many dreams. He was recently married and was in the city of Ranchi to visit one of his relatives. He is no more with us. He was lynched by a few goons on the suspicions of theft. As per multiple reports, Ansari was tied to an electric post and brutally thrashed with sticks by a mob in the Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan district last Wednesday. He succumbed to injuries on Saturday. A video footage shows he was forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman” before being murdered — the very Gods that we invoke and pray to every day. And what is more disgusting is that the state machinery, which was supposed to protect him, did NOTHING to save his life.

And he left this world. He definitely is a victim of our hypocrisy.

Ansari’s was not the first incident, nor is it going to be the last. You may remember dairy farmer Pehlu Khan, who was beaten to death by a group of 200 cow vigilantes affiliated with right-wing Hindutva groups in Alwar in Rajasthan in 2017. You may also recollect Mohammed Akhlaq, a 52-year-old man who was killed by a violent mob for suspicion of slaughtering a cow in 2015. You may also not have forgotten the numerous incidents in which Dalits (those living in the lower stratum of the society) were killed by violent mobs in the recent years in the name of cow smuggling in the last five years.

Whenever I hear or read about such incidents, my head hangs in shame. And I cannot keep my mouth shut when people get killed for no reasons. Be it a terror attack or a mob attack, violence has no place in a civilised society.

I know it is tough to take a stand especially when an authoritarian government is always preying on us. I know that you and your business may be targetted for voicing out your opinion and calling out the government’s response to such issues, or lack of it. I also know you may be trolled and abused by right-wing or extremist elements for speaking against them. Worse, the government itself could abuse its power to target you, like what Snapdeal had to go through when its brand ambassador Aamir Khan spoke about increasing intolerance in the country (people boycotted and uninstalled the e-commerce app en masse and a Union Minister was seen boasting about this incident).

But, still, you need to take a stand. We cannot be cowards and bury our heads in the sand. To take a strong stand requires a lot of character and boldness.

It doesn’t mean, however, you should express your views on anything and everything that doesn’t really concern you, but lest we forget — that as a responsible citizen, it is our responsibility to question the government when it goes wrong or when it fails its people.

Maybe, your individual voice may not be heard but you can do a lot as a community. You should at the very least issue a press statement condemning such incidents. You have a lot of influential figures among you. Your condemnation will move them at least a few of them.

Once again, violence has no place in a civilised society. And being silent is amount to being complicit.

—

Photo by Alejo Reinoso on Unsplash

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In addition to Love, Bonito, we also have updates from Wizcounsel, Flipkart, and Goldman Sachs

Love, Bonito launches third physical store – Press Release

Singapore-based omnichannel fashion brand Love, Bonito today launched its third physical store in Funan, which the company said to be its biggest to date.

The store included facilities such as an Augmented Reality (AR) walkway, on-demand personal stylist, and infinity mirror room, and a community space that is meant for fashion, beauty, and eventually health and wellness events.

“Love, Bonito has always been about building a community for women and our physical stores present the biggest opportunity for us to do this. Beyond developing our omni-channel retail offering, we want to meaningfully connect our shoppers with our brand and with other like-minded women around them,” said Love, Bonito Co-Founder Rachel Lim in a press statement.

“In a world that has become increasingly dominated by convenience, consumers are looking for retail experiences that go beyond mere transactions. Community is the future of retail and the bedrock of our retail strategy,” she added.

India’s Wizcounsel raises seed funding round – Press Release

Wizcounsel, an India-based online marketplace to hire and manage freelance legal, tax, and accounting experts, announced that it has raised an INR1 crore (US$145,000) funding round led by Kapil Dev (Former Indian Cricket Team Captain), Sunil Kumar Gupta (Founder & Chairman, SARC Associates), and Manas Fuloria, (Founder & CEO, Nagarro).

The company plans to use the funding for marketing, sales, and to strengthen current operations.

“People still look for professional services the way they used to 15 years back and Professionals still develop a business the same way. This is a perfect ‘that’s how it has always been opportunity.’ It is a big industry that is outdated and badly in need of improvement for speed, convenience, affordability, and quality,” said Wizcounsel Founder & CEO Ranu Gupta.

Also Read: Be authentic in crowded industries says Love, Bonito Co-founder Rachel Lim

Flipkart to replace 40 per cent of delivery vans with EVs – Reuters

Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart announced that it plans to replace nearly 40 per cent of its current fleet of delivery vans with electric vehicles by March 2020, Reuters reported.

The company plans to start by deploying 160 vans by end of 2019, with some of these vans already plying in New Delhi.

The move was part of the company’s effort to cut down its carbon footprint.

Flipkart is said to be the first among “big online firms” in India to make the move.

Goldman Sachs explores creating a digital coin – Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon told Les Echos that the company is exploring the creation of digital currencies and is conducting “extensive research” on tokenisation, Bloomberg reported.

The statement followed a recent move by JPMorgan Chase & Co, who announced in February that it is developing its own stable coin for its clients to use in cross-border payments.

Facebook has also announced plans to launch its own cryptocurrency Libra.

Solomon declined to comment on whether his firm has had discussions with Facebook, though he commented that stable coins tied to real currencies are “the direction in which the payment system will go.’’

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Tokopedia highlights the importance of research validation and working with local partners for its localisation strategy

As a nation, Indonesia is so diverse that it is often said that expanding to Indonesia is equal to expanding to 34 different markets at the same time, as each province possesses its own unique nature and challenges.

Several Southeast Asian startups that had been aiming for Indonesia in their expansion plan have had to retreat and reconsider their strategy once they realised how big this market actually is.

Localisation itself has always been championed as a crucial part of a company’s expansion plan — and what better ways to learn about localisation strategy, particularly in marketing, than those who had done it well?

Enter Tokopedia, one of Indonesia’s four unicorns and the country’s leading e-commerce, fintech, and digital products platform.

By November 2018, the platform had secured over 90 million monthly active users and reached out to 93 per cent of districts in the archipelago.

As it enters its first decade, Tokopedia is being run by 2,800 employees, with over 100 million products listed on their platform. It is being used by four million merchants to facilitate promotions, sales, and transactions.

To get a better understanding of how the company builds its localisation strategy,  e27 sits down with VP of Brand and Marketing Andi Djoewarsa, who explains the idea and process behind their moves.

Also Read: Tokopedia reportedly raises fresh US$1 billion funding

Embracing changes

Djoewarsa begins our conversation by pointing out how the term artis ibukota — glamorous celebrity from the capital city of Jakarta — does not appear so often anymore in daily conversations among Indonesians.

“This is because every person, every city [in Indonesia] has their very own unique identities. Jakarta used to be the centre of fashion and entertainment, but nowadays youths in Bandung or Jogjakarta do not wish to be compared to Jakarta anymore. Even in Cirebon, [businesses] are selling different products than those in Jakarta. Their radio stations are playing the different Top 40 hits,” he said.

“Their preference has experienced an evolution, and it is thanks to the internet,” he stressed.

This is why, in building its localisation strategy, first and foremost Tokopedia puts an emphasis in identifying these changes, before the company can finally get to start developing a plan.

“Everybody is now connected to each other; what we thought we knew about people and their stereotypes has become a blur. You may not know who your next-door neighbour is, but you may know someone in Celebes who likes photography as much as you do. These changes make everything more complex and personalised, and it all happened because of technology,” Djoewarsa said.

Online and offline

Tokopedia’s localisation strategy is being divided into two fronts: the online through the platform, and offline through the initiatives that the company is making to reach out to its (potential) users.

Djoewarsa explains that the platform itself has already been able to localise on an individual level by implementing deep learning, and understanding the tastes and preferences of each users through their searches on their platform.

Also Read: Happened in Indonesia: Tokopedia launches new app, Sikumis raises follow-on funding

“When the platform is smart enough … marketing will be all about justifying why we are operating in Indonesia,” he says.

On the offline side, Tokopedia has been running MAKERFEST, a curated marketplace and exhibition of products and ideas by small businesses in eight cities in Indonesia.

Having received applications from 1,500 small businesses, Tokopedia then shortlisted them into 24 finalists, with three businesses representing each city. The event is set to peak on December 15-16, when Tokopedia is going to name the three winners. The first prize winner will receive an IDR1 billion (US$70,000) cash prize; all finalists will also receive a mentoring on everything that they need to know about starting a business — from marketing to products photography.

“We designed MAKERFEST in such a way that it is able to represent regions outside of Jakarta, enabling merchants to gain greater exposure,” Djoewarsa describes.

In running MAKERFEST, Tokopedia is working together with various local partners. Apart from local event organising companies, which helped Tokopedia identify local trends in running a successful event, the company also works with TopCommunity, a community of merchants who are selling their products on its platform.

“TopCommunity helps us by encouraging their friends to become part of Tokopedia. Two days before every MAKERFEST, we arrange a meeting with them to have a two-way dialogue about how to run a business better,” Djoewarsa says.

The DNA

So what are the processes that Tokopedia had to go through before coming up with initiatives such as MAKERFEST?

Djoewarsa explains that there are three points that are being considered as part of the company’s DNA: Consumer-centrism; make it happen and make it better; and growth mindset.

Also Read: Tokopedia, OVO team up to offer the payment service on the e-commerce platform

“Before we think about revenue, we need to think about which part of consumers’ pain points that we have managed to solve? The more problem we solve, the stronger our economy is, as we do not only care for our platforms,” he says.

“Localisation is aimed to solve this problem,” he adds.

He further explains the four points that startup founders need to consider before building their strategy.

1. Your positioning as a brand

“What are the things that you have promised to give to the society?”

2. Your differentiation

“What kind of differentiation do we need in order to build that positioning?”

3. Your competitor(s)

“What are the things that they offer that we have not managed to offer yet? How can we close this gap, in order to fulfill our customers’ needs?”

4. Your customers’ needs

“There are internal factors that we can get hold of, and external factors that we have no control of. Here are the things that are within our control: Our technology, marketing, distribution, our DNA. While the things that are beyond our control are the macroeconomy, political sentiments, competitors’ movement. You need to be able to look at these two things before coming up with a plan.”

Research is certainly a crucial part in building a company’s localisation strategy. Coming in both qualitative and quantitative forms, Djoewarsa warns against being too dependent on what is written on paper.

“It is still very important to get on the fields to validate the data,” he says.

“We are often being trapped in a system where we were led to believe that we know it all, just by looking at the numbers of PowerPoint,” he elaborates.

Also Read: Tokopedia expands fintech offering with the launch of gold trading service

Growing pains

When asked about the greatest challenge that the company has faced in building their localisation strategy, Djoewarsa says that the hardest part is actually in executing the plan itself.

“You can build strategy based on the things that you have done before, especially since we have been running for almost 10 years now. We already have all the data, as we happen to be an e-commerce company,” he says.

In building its localisation strategy, and running the business in general, Djoewarsa pointed out that there are three things that startup founders need to avoid: Getting tired to easily, having lack of grit, and discontinuing their own learning process.

“Realistically, if they have never made any mistake, then it would be impossible for them to make progress. It is all about how to learn from these mistakes,” he closes.

—

This article was first published on e27 on December 12, 2018.

Image Credit: Tokopedia

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