The new logo rolls out today, as the unicorn celebrates its three-year-long growth and considers what is next

Go-Jek, Indonesia-based ride-hailing unicorn, has officially rebranded by launching a new logo today.

An official statement said that the rebrand follows a 1,100 per cent growth in transactions over the past three years, as well as a hallmark for its next phase of growth.

The company also highlighted its regional ecosystem expansion since the app launched in 2015.

It has partnered with over two million driver-partners; 400,000 merchant partners; and 60,000 service providers across Southeast Asia to-date.

Go-Jek also stated that over the past three years, users have given over US$20 million in tips to the platform’s driver-partners and service providers.

Go-Jek’s next phase of growth will include further innovation and the strengthening of its integrated ecosystem of over 20 on-demand services.

The new logo features a nearly-rounded ring encircling a dot, a design that was meant to be recognisable and versatile, the company said.

The company meant it to be interpreted in a number of ways: a map pin, the bull’s eye, an aerial view of a motorcyclist, or a power button.

Also Read: soCash raises US$6M Series B to convert retail shops into virtual ATMs

This reflects Go-Jek’s proposition of its multitude of offerings, ranging from transport, payments, and food to logistics, entertainment, and lifestyle.

In Indonesia, Go-Jek has built three apps for each of its users: the consumers, driver-partners, and merchant partners.

Its driver-partners app included a feature to support financial planning while the merchant app includes features that can help with business expansion, including logistics and inventory management.

Kevin Aluwi, Co-founder of Go-Jek Group, says: “Today, we introduce a new brand that represents the evolution of Go-Jek from a transport company in Jakarta to a leading tech company in Southeast Asia. Go-Jek is now many things to many people – and our new logo reflects that. Even so, we remain committed to our founding principle and ethos of improving people’s lives through the use of technology.”

In Singapore, the update will also roll out today. Consumers who update their app will be able to see the new logo in place and a new user interface.

Also Read: Enterprise Singapore supports access to Vietnam tech ecosystem with GIA expansion

The app for driver-partners will also soon be updated with the new look, in addition to a number of new features, such as a seven-day income summary that gives them a clear overview of their completed trips in the past week.

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Image Credit: Go-Jek

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In addition to China’s STAR Market, we also have updates from India’s moon mission, iflix, and PayMate

China’s new board for tech shares starts trading – TechCrunch

China’s new stock market STAR Market began operating today with 25 tech companies listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, TechCrunch reported.

Operated by the Shanghai Stock Market, the report said that the board is an initiative by the government to encourage more Chinese tech companies to list domestically by addressing concerns about governance.

Many notable IPOs of Chinese tech companies, such as Alibaba or Tencent, have taken place in either New York City or Hong Kong.

Plans for the STAR Market were first announced in November.

Another report by CNBC said that the success of STAR market is “far from a sure thing” since China has previously launched two other equity markets.

They have been receiving lesser attention than its primary stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

India prepares second attempt at moon mission – Bloomberg

Indian officials announced that the country’s second attempt at moon mission is set to happen on 2:43PM local time on Monday, Bloomberg reported.

The liftoff followed last week’s aborted launch, which was postponed less than an hour before launch due to a technical problem.

The country is set to launch an unmanned satellite called Chandrayaan-2, or “moon vehicle” in Sanskrit, as part of its effort to become the first to land on the moon’s south pole.

Also Read: What you need to know about data privacy in China

Indian digital payments startup PayMate raises US$25M from Visa, others – Entrackr

Indian digital payment startup PayMate has raised US$25 million in a series D funding round from Visa, Recruit Strategic Partners, and Brand Capital, Entrackr reported.

The funding round also included the participation of existing investor Mayfair 101.

It is set to be completed within the next two months.

The startup plans to use the new funding to support growth and international expansion to markets such as the Middle East, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe.

The expansion will be done in partnership with Visa.

iflix raises over US$50M in new funding round led by Fidelity – e27

Southeast Asian video streaming service iflix today announced the closing of a new funding round led by global asset manager Fidelity International, with participation from existing investors Catcha Group, Hearst, Sky, and EMC.

The size of the funding was undisclosed though the company said that the total size is in ‘excess of US$50 million’.

The funding round will be used to drive growth ahead of a prospective IPO.

iflix will also aggressively pursue growth strategies and further increase its userbase.

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Image Credit: Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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Best SEO practices to help boost page rankings on search engines

SEO is in a constant flux. The search engines keep changing their expectations and hence what will decide the success of your SEO mission will keep changing.

Here are a few best SEO practices that can effectively improve search rankings .

Think on your own

You can achieve greater success by thinking uniquely, originally and on your own. You must aim for an uncontested market space rather than trying to fight head to head with the competitors.

Described as ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’, this method of finding your own unique road to travel is described as fishing in clear blue waters instead of struggling for dominance in the bloody waters infested by sharks.

The more the crowd in a given field, the more difficult it would be to reach there and establish your presence. For getting on top of the search engines, look beyond what your competitors do and contemplate on new topics that your competitors have not yet explored.

Also Read : Why we need to rethink how we measure SEO

Incorporate featured snippets

 

These days, featured snippets are highly popular among users.

They are a kind of box that pops up when you search answers to your questions. This feature rules out the need for the users to click a link.

Featured snippets are becoming a very important part of the user experience and make the user experience enjoyable and easy.

They rise into prominence while voice and mobile searches are fast growing. Content incorporated with featured snippets are found to double the click through rates.

Destroy your zombie pages

 

Zombie pages were sought after long back. They are no more useful these days.

Zombie pages provide no real value to your site’s traffic. They never provide any authority or web presence. They only add old and outdated content to your site.

They take the form of duplicate content. Usually every site has a few of them. If they grow to hundreds, they can be detrimental to the success of your site on the search engines.

Clustering content can do you so much good

 

Topic clusters can be a highly effective SEO tool that is yet to be explored by a lot of sites. These days, search engines have changed their algorithms to benefit the content that is structured as per topic clusters.

In this arrangement, your website will have to become a kind of single pillar with the pages serving as the primary hubs of information. From this hub, the subtopics will have connections via link.

You can compare this structure to that of the spokes in a wheel. Search engine indexing mechanism is interested in knowing how the pages are connected to one another. Pillar pages can provide you a great way to support this goal.

Also Read: How To Win at Google: A Crash Course on SEO

Facilitate voice search

 

Voice search has come to prominence in 2019. More than half of the search queries today happen via mobiles. More than 20 percent of the queries submitted via mobiles is today voice based.

Explore the queries inputted by users on voice search and incorporate them into your content  This can help significantly in your SEO mission.

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The fund is the second one the Singapore-based early-stage venture firm has raised

Cocoon Capital, the early-stage venture firm in Southeast Asia, has announced the second fund it has raised a US$22 million (S$30 million). The firm said that it plans to use the funding to back enterprise tech startups around the region.

Along with the funding announcement, the firm also announced its initiative of hosting public mentoring hours regularly in partnership with local accelerators and co-working spaces in Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta, and Yangon in a bid to help grow the local entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Cocoon Capital was founded by Michael Blakey and Will Klippgen, who both are early-stage investors in Asia. Both Blakey and Klippgen are also behind portfolios like PropertyGuru, Tickled Media, and iXiGO.com in their early-stage fundraisings.

A survey conducted by Econsultancy.com Ltd2 resulted in 68 per cent of Southeast Asia-based respondents said they have an omnichannel strategy that incorporates B2B ecommerce. However, only 7 per cent of venture capital has been channeled to B2B startups in the region.

Cocoon Capital’s second fund plans to back the enterprise tech market with medtech, fintech, insurtech, and general “deep” tech sectors as primary targets.

Also Read: iflix raises over US$50M in new funding round led by Fidelity

“Over the last three years, we at Cocoon Capital have seen a radical improvement in deal quality, in particular from the Southeast Asia countries outside Singapore,” said Michael Blakey, Managing Partner at Cocoon Capital.

“There is a continuing gap in the region when it comes to hands-on mentoring, in particular at the early stages of a company’s formation, and Cocoon Capital has operation that seeks to provide a support package to our founders, one that is in the same league as networks in Silicon Valley, London, or Shanghai,” added Will Klippgen, Managing Partner at Cocoon Capital.

Cocoon Capital’s second fund is supported by investors including Michelle Yong (Director of Singapore’s Aurum Investments), Jani Rautiainen (Co-founder of PropertyGuru), Parag Khanna (The author of “The Future is Asian”), Pierre Lorinet (Director at Trafigura Group), Matthew Chapman (Founder of ChapmanCG), Stein Jakob Øie (Former President at Lazada), hedge fund manager Steve Diggle’s Vulpes Innovative Technologies Investment Company, Martin Hauge (Partner in Creandum – streaming giant Spotify’s first financial investor), Martin Roll (Global strategy consultant), and Oliver Tonby (Chairman of McKinsey’s offices in Asia excluding Greater China).

Also Read: Go-Jek unveils new logo as it enters next phase of growth

Cocoon Capital’s portfolios are including cleantech company SensorFlow, stroke-predicting software medtech company See-Mode, ticketing company Hapz, Filipino e-merchant ​Poundit, and Vietnam-based automated influencer matching platform Hiip.

Logistics platform Kargo Myanmar was the first to be backed by Cocoon Capital with its second fund.
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Photo by Jakub Gorajek on Unsplash

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The startup said that the funding will be directed towards helping its clients sell online

aCommerce, a Bangkok-based startup that helps to establish product sales of brands announced that it has raised more than US$10 million from existing investors including KKR & Co, as reported by Bloomberg.

KKR’s Emerald Media, investment house Blue Sky, DKSH Holding AG, and an Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas, also took part in the company’s latest funding round.

“The six-year-old firm plans to raise another US$5 million by the end of this year as part of an extended Series B or early-stage funding round,” said Chief Executive Officer Paul Srivorakul

“We have ambitions for an IPO that forces us to grow a healthy, valuable business,” Srivorakul added.

Also Read: Go-Jek unveils new logo as it enters next phase of growth

aCommerce’s services include providing services from distribution and marketing to warehousing and delivery. Currently, it operates in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
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