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Indonesian digital payment startup Kredivo secures financing from Telkomsel’s VC arm, MDI Ventures

Kredivo provides different options of payment methods and terms to help customers break large payments into monthly, affordable, and safer payments

Indonesia telco Telkomsel announced today that it has invested an undisclosed amount into fitech startup FinAccel (Kredivo), through its venture arm Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi (TMI), along with MDI Ventures.

Kredivo is a digital payment startup that provides different options of payment methods and terms to help customers break large payments into monthly, affordable, and safer payments.

The fintech company claims that it uses data science in credit-scoring algorithms, combined with more traditional measures such as credit history and income, to determine creditworthiness, unlocking access to credit to a whole new set of consumers.

Also Read: Thai car listing platform SiamCarDeal raises US$300K led by 500 TukTuks

Kredivo has also been supporting payment transaction for big players in e-commerce, such as Tokopedia, BukaLapak, Shopee, and digital cashier system Moka to build and offer a more online payment method for their customers.

“Our objective is not only to provide a more flexible and feasible payment solution for the young professionals but also to advance thousands of Indonesian retailers by providing alternative financial service that allows them to reach wider customer segment,” said CEO of TMI Andi Kristianto.

“Telkomsel’s investment into FinAccel (Kredivo) is a clear-cut win in the fact that both parties can go-to-market together, tapping into Telkomsel’s consumer network and providing them with value-added services,” said CEO of MDI Ventures Nicko Widjaja.

According tio Kredivo, as of now only less than 10 per cent of applicants apply successfully for credit products using traditional methods. Kredivo’s mission is to broaden access to capital, which it believes can help build up Southeast Asia’s already growing economies.

Image credit: Kredivo

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A guide to marketing apps effectively through affiliate marketing

Here’s how you can maximise the reach of your app

Mobile apps have become a very powerful platform for business and marketing nowadays. Mobile internet usage has beat the desktop internet usage back in 2016. So, it’s clear that advertisers can’t disregard anymore the power of marketing through mobile apps.

Not only it provides the advertisers a great chance to promote their products and services but it is also an opportunity for the app publishers to make money from their apps.

However, mobile app marketing might not be as easy as it sounds. There is a vast range of apps available in the market and the developers are working on new app monetizing ideas every day. Well, nothing to get that disappointed.

There are many strategies that can help you to monetize your app(s) even if they are free of cost and you can actually generate a significant amount of revenue by using them efficiently. Marketing apps through affiliate marketing is one of the most effectual of them.

In this article, we will see how marketing mobile apps through affiliate marketing can give you a boost in promoting your app. You can check the other effective strategies and different sales techniques of affiliate marketing to monetize your app on how free apps make money.

Why affiliate marketing?

After developing an app when you are quite confident about its performance and getting the vibe that people may like it as well, your first task is to let people know that your app does exist on the earth. And you need a strong marketing strategy for that purpose.

Of course, affiliate marketing is a potent way for the marketization of your app but there are other options too. So, let’s have a brief look at the other available method to marketize your app before going to affiliate marketing.

If you have no experience in marketing the first thing you can do is to hire a digital marketing company who are experts in mobile app marketing and they will set it for you. They will identify a potential market where advertising your app will draw a good amount of traffic in your app. But the main obstacle here for you can be the charge it will take. These services are highly expensive. And it will be gamble to spend so much before even knowing how much return it will make you.

Also Read: The essentials of mapping a customer journey across digital assets

You can go for paid advertisements and featured or promoted listings in app stores and that can help a lot to increase the visibility rate of your app. But this can also be excessively expensive, and neither does it secure the fact that it will reach your target audience.

A significant number of good app reviews can boost your app’s ranking but being a beginner you cannot manage to get so many of it. That indicates you have to go for paid reviews which are not only costly but also run the greater risk for your app to get blacklisted if you’re found to manipulating your app reviews.

Considering the above-described facts, marketing mobile apps through affiliate marketing seems the best option in hand. It’s probably the best cost-effective method of marketization as you pay here only when an action has been taken place for your app- a click, download or purchase. Also you here you don’t need to take the burden of advertising your app by yourself.

How affiliate marketing works:

Marketing mobile apps through affiliate marketing have gained outstanding importance nowadays. Mobile app affiliate schemes follow the basic structure similar to other affiliate marketing schemes. You need to sign up with the scheme and a commission structure will be set that you will have to pay based on the actions you receive in on your application for the affiliate marketing scheme.

Then you will send relevant links and marketing materials to your partners for them to use those for promoting your app. You can also offer incentives to your affiliate partners to build a stronger bond.

Affiliate marketing gives you the opportunity to pay only when an action has been taken for your app through affiliate marketing. If you don’t get any result you are free not to pay a cent and this incentivizes your partners aggressively advertise your app on several platforms. After an action (a click, sign up, install or a purchase) has been taken place then only you will pay your partners according to the commission structure.

Affiliate marketing networks for mobile apps

There are mobile app affiliate marketing portals which specialise in affiliate marketing for mobile apps only. In case you can’t find a dedicated mobile app affiliate marketing program there are several comprehensive multi-portal schemes to offer services.

Try to get one affiliate marketing scheme which is devoted to mobile app marketing and especially which has already worked with similar content and working on with the affiliated partners who advertise corresponding contents. That way you will get an idea of who will be best suited for your app.

It’s better to try the new affiliate programmes along with the established ones in marketing your app through Affiliate Marketing. As you will only pay if you get any good results via these.  You never know a newcomer in this field might work out for you the best.

How to get affiliates for your app’s promotion?

If you are a newbie in app developing and nobody knows your company then it’s hard to pursue good affiliate networks. If your approach is not convincing enough then affiliates might not like to work with you as they only get paid when there is a conversion. And if your app does not sell they will not get any profit out of it.

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

So, you can make them take a chance on you by following these techniques.

  1. Offer them a commission structure that seems very lucrative to them and they agree to invest their time and effort on your app.
  2. Provide them with a large number of marketing materials such as links, promotions, and visuals to use them for your app.
  3. Also, offer them tempting incentives with special deals and offers. At least until you get established.

Following these, you will get a good start in marketing your app through affiliate marketing.

It might take some time and a lot of effort to market your first app. People who are unfamiliar with the domain of marketing can find it a little tough to dig the soil in this field. That’s why marketing mobile apps through affiliate marketing can prove to be a great help to you. Spend some time, do some research and choose your affiliate partners wisely. It’s easy and very cost-effective.

So if you are planning to launch your first app don’t burden up yourself with the extra labor of marketing your app. Try marketing your app through affiliate marketing and save a lot of time and money. Also, share with us your idea of marketization your app by commenting on the comment section.

Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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Antler pours US$2.4M into its second batch of 17 startups

The Antler Singapore Demo Day introduces new startups operating in sectors such as fintech, consumer technology, telco, AI, crypto, and healthtech

antler_asia-launch

Startup generator and early-stage VC ​Antler​ announced that it has invested US$2.4 million into its second group of companies originating from Singapore.

Antler said that its S​ingapore Demo Day  saw more than 500 investors, VCs, and people from the regional startup ecosystem attended the event. There were 3,000 applications, in which the program initially brought together 100 individuals from 22 countries. But only 40 founders made it into the next phase of the programme to get their company off the ground in three months.

The companies, Antler said, come from enterprise, telecommunications, fintech, consumer technology, and other sectors. They are:

Sama

A company that aims to reimagine the migrant workers recruitment process by starting with the construction industry. Their mission is to remove inefficiencies and barriers that stand in an individual’s way in pursuit of a better life by building a platform that matches workers with jobs overseas without the need to pay upfront fees to agents and other middlemen.

Eskwelabs

A platform that offers job-focussed training for in-demand skills. Eskwelabs combines the low-cost of online learning with the high engagement of offline training to produce job-ready students. Eskwelabs was launched with a data science bootcamps in the Philippines.

Base

A platform for personalised skincare regimen for the modern millennial Indonesian women, offering a fully digital direct-to-consumer (D2C) experience with high-quality products made from ​halal​ and vegan ingredients.

Hodlnaut

A platform that lets investors earn interest on their cryptocurrencies by lending it to margin traders, who would otherwise struggle to access crypto loans. This approach allows crypto holders to capture the untapped value of their portfolio while benefiting the margin traders simultaneously.

Soma Sketch

A platform that lets users journal and draw how their body feels, to help them understand and communicate their psychiatric symptoms better. The app will use patterns in their data to identify mental health risks and educate users on their physical aspects.

Zvook

A platform that matches brands with podcasts, enabling them to monetise through engine-based recommendation. The relevant results will enable brands to discover advertisement opportunities.

Also Read: Home caregiving services platform Homage adds two new senior hires

Airalo

A platform that aims to enable people to access more than a hundred eSIMs from around the world, with just a couple of taps from their phone.

Bubays

A platform that enables users to personalise their healthy baby food order based on their baby’s age and allergies. It also helps track the baby’s development.

Fast Science

A tech company that simplifies and summarises patents and research papers by leveraging on AI and machine learning to analyse, rank, and summarise the best scientific documents in a given field of research. It then matches the content with the user’s interest areas and pushes relevant content based on their watching behaviour.

Xanpool

An omni-channel solution to make the onboarding and offboarding infrastructure in crypto much more user-friendly, and resilient against single channel dependency.

Qashier

A point-of-sale (POS) solutions to help small merchants digitise their businesses. Its flagship product is the Qashier Smart Terminal– a connected, multi-purpose device that combines a POS software, payments hub, and an open platform for third party app integration at an affordable monthly subscription rate.

Journify

A personal coaching marketplace connecting millennials with a market of health coaches, nutritionists, and life and performance coaches.

Torre.ai

A democratisation of retail investor access to alternative investment opportunities, such as private equity and venture capital funds.

Also Read: Bruneian legacy planning startup Memori raises seed funding from Asian royals

Fiwi Market

An online wholesale marketplace that allows customers to freely return items within 60 days. Operating in the Philippines, they also help local makers expand the distribution of their business and get into multiple stores without having to cold call retailers again.

Mattrvest

A platform that enables millennials to plan, save, and spend in what matters to them by providing financial education and planning via a set of chatbots.

Maic

An AI productivity tool that enables construction sites to be more productive by synchronising staff and projects, task planning, real-time attendance tracking, and the correct management tools in place.

Ask Dee Dee 

A platform that combines telehealth, symptom diagnosis, and a health tracker to meet women’s sexual and mental health needs.

Since its first programme in Singapore in 2018, Antler has generated 44 new tech companies originating from Southeast Asia and the Nordics in a wide range of industries.

Antler’s approach is funding the founders from Day 1 and investing in them if they pass the evaluation of the Investment Committee after ten weeks.

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Today’s top tech news, July 04: Grab introduces new postpaid payment method in Singapore

Users need to activate the feature on the Grab app, after which they would receive a pre-approved monthly PayLater amount

Grab introduces new postpaid payment method in Singapore [The Star]

Grab has introduced a new payment method where consumers can use the multi-service platform first and pay later.

The postpaid feature dubbed PayLater works for Grab rides, food deliveries and more.

According to the website, users need to activate the feature on the app, after which they would receive a pre-approved monthly PayLater amount. However, it is not specified on the website if it is the user or Grab who sets the amount.

Users can then select the feature as their preferred payment method. No extra charges occur for choosing this method.

Ola secures US$11M from DIG Investment, Deshe Holdings and Jabbar Group founders [The Economic Times]

Ride-hailing giant Ola has raised US$11 million in fresh funding from a set of new investors, including Swedish DIG Investment, US-based Deshe Holdings and the two founders of Dubai-based Jabbar Internet Group.

Regulatory filings sourced from business intelligence platform Paper.vc showed that the investments are part of Ola’s ongoing Series J round. The company has so far received commitments of nearly US$470 million in investments in this round.

Earlier this year, Ola announced a US$100 million investment from Flipkart co-founder and former CEO Sachin Bansal, followed by a US$300 million investment announcement from Korean automotive giants Hyundai and Kia Motors. The full investments have not been received so far.

Dentsu Aegis Network acquires Ambient Digital Vietnam [DealStreetAsia]

Marketing agency Dentsu Aegis Network has acquired Ambient Digital Vietnam, an independent digital media agency, according to an announcement.

Post-acquisition, Ambient Digital Vietnam will be rebranded as iProspect Vietnam.

The acquisition combines Ambient Digital Vietnam’s adtech platforms, digital creative production and social management with iProspect’s global performance and search capabilities.

Validus Capital applying for digital banking licence in Singapore [press release]

Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) financing platform Validus Capital has announced that it is applying for a digital banking licence with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to help meet the unmet financing needs of SMEs.

This follows MAS’ recent announcement to offer five digital banking licences.

As part of the application, Validus is looking to collaborate with strategic partners who share the same synergy in creating strong governance, and complements its data and technology strengths in SME financing. With the licence, Validus intends to expand its product offering beyond lending, including deposits, payments, remittances and forex.

KFH Malaysia collaborates with MoneyMatch on cross-border payments [DigitalNewsAsia]

Fintech startup MoneyMatch and Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) on has announced a strategic collaboration to provide cross-border payments for its customers.

The collaboration, the first of its kind between a foreign Islamic bank and a local fintech startup, enables the bank to deliver cutting-edge, Syariah-based solutions to its customers. This partnership marks MoneyMatch’s maiden entry to provide enterprise solutions via its newest product BanKFH Malaysia collaborates with MoneyMatch on cross border paymentskFX, and ultimately to improve the cross-border payments experience for consumers regardless of platform.

MoneyMatch CEO Adrian Yap  said: “We are excited to have KFH Malaysia onboard as our first Bank FX customer. We at MoneyMatch strongly believe that everyone should have access to the best exchange rates regardless of platform.”

 

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Digital disruption at Innovfest Unbound 2019 with 30 Taiwan startups

What promoting Taiwan startup entrepreneurs in Singapore can mean for Taiwan’s plans to build an Asian Silicon Valley

In a bid to bridge the Taiwan startup ecosystem to the rest of the region, and by extension, to the rest of the world, the Institute for Information Industry (III) of Taiwan accompanied thirty emerging startups to Innovfest Unbound 2019 in Singapore.

Innovfest Unbound is Southeast Asia’s largest and most exciting innovation festival, an anchor event of Smart Nation Innovations. The festival was a week-long series of events that showcased Asia’s most disruptive technologies.

The 2019 edition of the event welcomed over 15,000 entrepreneurs, brands, corporates, investors, and tech startups from over 100 countries to meet and exchange ideas and insights, build networks, collaborate, and celebrate digital disruption.

Some of the key players who spoke at the week-long festivities included Jenny Lee, Managing Partner of GGV Capital, Yonatan Winetraub, co-founder of Spacell, and Rosaline Chow, founder and CEO of CXA group, among many others.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Institute for Information Industry (III) seeks to cultivate smart business innovation by looking to the future of smart businesses belonging to Taiwan. It is with this mission that efforts to bridge the gap between Taiwan and the world was borne, and one crucial step in doing that is to be well represented in the global tech ecosystem. This is why III accompanied thirty promising startups to Innovfest Unbound 2019.

III as a catalyst for Taiwan’s “Asia Silicon Valley Plan”

In order to promote the Taiwan government’s plan to restructure the country’s current position as a tech powerhouse in the world, and furthering that into becoming Asia’s Silicon Valley, the Department of Commerce, under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, enacted the “Promotion Project for the Smart Business Service of Asian Silicon Valley.” The initiative capitalizes on the joint resources of the Industrial Technology and Research Institute (ITRI) and III to promote the country’s emerging startups in the Singapore tech ecosystem.

The reason why III’s International Division encouraged smart retail startups to participate in Innovfest Unbound 2019 was to yield networking advantages and mutually expose the Taiwan startups and Innovfest Unbound’s global platform to the disruptive technologies of one another, while sparking friendships and close ties with other participating entities.

A total of 30 Taiwan startups were fielded into the event after going through a special screening process initiated by III that included a 2-day pitch sharing session with coaches and industry experts. The other Taiwan institutions involved in the project are the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), and NARLabs.

Of the 30 teams curated to participate in Innovfest, seven particular ones stood out because of their cutting-edge vision and their disruptive technologies. The seven startups include LuggAgent and Yallvend, both of which have garnered international recognition prior to the Singapore festival.

7 standouts in III’s roster of 30 Taiwan startups

In 2019, Yallvend was selected for the Unilever Startup Pitch Battle, while LuggAgent has been selected for Innovfest Unbound 50 also known as the 50 top startups that were awarded with extra booth space at the innovation festival.

The seven startups are as follows:

  • dipp Inc. – dipp’s Massimo is an artificially intelligent platform with a smart advertising designer whose data-driven design approach automatically creates any social media posts and displays banners across all digital marketing channels.
  • JustStar Information Co. Ltd. – JustStar is an AI based image recognition solution provider for shopping malls and theme parks. The image recognition system is a technique that can be used in a factory to improve factory safety and production line efficiency. With JustStar, the entire process of detecting, analyzing, and filtering can be done in seconds without any manual manipulations.
  • LuggAgent – LuggAgent is a global concierge that enables travelers to achieve more on every single trip by offering same day baggage delivery service to airports. Currently, they are building a travel platform with the objective to connect all stakeholders within the ecosystem, namely, Airports, Airlines, OTAs, Hotels, Banks, Shops, with third party service providers and travelers.
  • MyProGuide – MyProGuide is a professional tour guide center, connecting travelers and tour guides all around the world. You can find knowledgeable tour guides, customize private tours, or join group tours on the MyProGuide website. The benefits are that they have tour guides speaking multiple languages, and you can look through tour guide’s introduction profiles before you go.
  • OCard – OCard is a new generation CRM and marketing SaaS platform that uses big data and AI to help offline businesses manage and target their customers through LINE@ and FB Messenger. OCard provides various marketing tools such as a VIP loyalty program, point reward system, coupons, and questionnaire functions to assist stores to increase retention rates.
  • RushBit – RushPay can integrate various payments types into one QR Code with CRM and offers a benefits returning system. Greatly reduce the point of sales device costs to help shopkeepers serve as many customers as possible.
  • Yallvend – The Yallvend vending machine upgrade kit enables traditional vending machines to support an e-payment and inventory system. Operators have trackable transactions and real-time inventory data. We start from vending machines, but other coin-operated machines are welcome to customize their solutions as well.

What the participating startups think of the experience

In an attempt to better understand the positions that the seven above-mentioned startups are in, we spoke to them on what they think of this participation and the opportunities that are opening up.

According to Daniel Lu, CEO of JustStar, “JustStar was recruited by III to join this government initiative starting in March of 2019. We were interested in expanding our business to Southeast Asia and felt that III’s promotion events such as the Innovfest Unbound in June 2019 and Ignite Philippines, also last June, were ideal for us to get a better feel for these markets.”

While commenting about the Taiwan government’s plan to mount Asia’s Silicon Valley, Lu added, “It is a positive initiative because Taiwan’s startups need support and an ecosystem from likeminded partners.”

MyProGuide’s CEO, Jo Wong echoes this sentiment by saying, “the Taiwan government is doing their best to support our startup. They’ve helped us by checking our business plans and finding the right people to contact.”

Regarding further plans for Taiwan, they added, “It’s a mutually beneficial concept which is why we should be more open to accepting these changes. If you look at other companies like Uber, for example, government policies tend to work against them. Governments should be more open to working with startups for this to work.”

When asked about the benefits of participating in III’s delegation, dipp co-founder and CEO, Jennifer Chen said, “when building a startup, we face many different challenges along the way. Whether it is money, or talent, or business opportunities, and at some point, you simply need people outside your company that you can turn to. III, in that sense, has always been helpful and reachable.”

Additionally, Chen said, “we are in the AI advertising design space focusing specifically on consumer brands, and that on its own can be a rather limited market size. We are continuously looking for ways to expand our business roadmap, which is why when we were exploring countries to operate in, III came in at the right time and offered us better exposure to different markets and local contacts.”

“They provide boosts for us in the international arena like the Singapore Expo, and in Taiwan, they provide us with media exposure and potential customers to know us more,” expressed Vinek Chen, CEO of Ocard, who has accessed as much as 1,000 brands and clients in Taiwan.

More than that, he said III provides mentor-sharing sessions on business development, human resources and other topics that are important to mounting their startup.

Furthermore, the participating startups are looking at this initiative as an opportunity to bring something that can help improve their ideas in the future. Mr. Derayke Chen, CEO of RushBit, a mobile payments platform, explains, “first and foremost, we could use the funding opportunities to further our company. But what’s more important is learning about different markets and the marketing methods present in those contexts—how does the market look like, how are people using mobile payments here?”

“What we really want to do is improve our services,” said LuggAgent’s Business Manager, Mr. Zev Pan. They maintain, “the queues at airports, especially the big ones, are crazy and we shouldn’t be wasting our time on that. There’s online check-in for your boarding pass already, why can’t there be an online check-in for your luggage?”

Unilever Startup Pitch Battle finalist, Yallvend’s CEO, Duncan Huang, expressed through the multiple steps they are taking with the help of institutions like III and by participating in more global tech platforms, they will be able to penetrate Southeast Asia and bring their unique brand of payment solutions to everyday consumers.

Bringing Taiwan’s startup A-Game to Innovfest Unbound 2019

The rest of the 30 startups from III’s delegation offer formidable contributions to the representation of Taiwan’s tech ecosystem as well. The 23 other startups are as follows:

  • 3drens – an AIoT startup that aims to provide smart mobility solutions with their vehicle intelligence platform
  • BIG GOOD DESIGN CO., LTD. – Vago, the world’s smallest portable vacuum device can help you save more than 50% luggage space by compressing soft items automatically in your baggage.
  • Bovia – Bovia’s wearable device embodies its reliable video compression and transmission quality, compact design, as well as flexible mounting options.
  • Crypt-Arsenal – Cloud-based automated crypto-trading platform for quantitative strategy developers and traders.
  • Dapp Pocket – Provides a secure and easy way to manage cryptocurrency.
  • eTreego – An electric vehicle control module design company that is officially coached by the Industrial and Technological Research Institute in Taiwan.
  • FullRepair Biomed – F.Repair’s biomedical repair chest mask can effectively repair radiation-irritated skin.
  • IPPLUS – Iplus is devoted to transforming the way people discover new technology by linking intellectual property to related products and presenting such information in a visualized way.
  • Language Hero – a disruptive language app for iOS and Android, which gets beginning Mandarin and English language learners chatting confidently.
  • Magical Headlamp – To avoid glare from vehicles, Magical Headlamp designed their product so that headlights can switch between high beam and low beam automatically.
  • NADI System – A smart city solutions platform that gathers a seasoned group of veterans from different industries like security, automation, and 3D/AR/VR.
  • ShowHue – ShowHue provides a smart retail assistant based on Deep Learning technology.
  • Sounds Great – Sounds Great is the very first multi-diaphragm speakers by introducing semiconductor processes into the speaker industry.
  • TransferHelper – A startup that focuses on solving international money transfer problems (delays, over-cost, and inefficiency) using AI chat-bot for customer service, security databases, and a 24-hour Q&A.
  • ucfunnel – A team that focuses on developing electric vehicle control systems including charging systems, motor control systems, and vehicle control systems.
  • Applato – Applato (App + Plate) is a platform to link medical and nutritional needs together and provide solutions to help people with special dietary needs.
  • FaceHeart – Provider of total AI solution to different users that integrates AI, deep learning, vital sign measurement, smart healthcare, fintech, smart transportation, smart security, and so on.
  • LONGGOOD – An interactive rehabilitation system that provides medical services including gait analysis, physical fitness evaluation, and rehabilitation training.
  • MDS Health – A predictive health platform to optimize oral health related disease management to reduce risk and distraction in healthcare practices.
  • Neurobit – A portable, wireless, eye-movement/nystagmus recording and analysis device (Neurospeed).
  • Zoetek – Sleep manager achieved via professional measurements by a wearable device and questionnaire, analysis report, sleep knowledge sharing, and suitable product and service recommendation.
  • Chelpis Co., Ltd. – Chelpis is a Quantum-Proof Technology software company focusing on Cryptocurrency & Blockchain.
  • Astatek – Asta has a 360-degree photo/video platform, which offers a cloud showcase targeted for online retail shops.

How this will impact Taiwan’s goal to build an Asian Silicon Valley

As with any other field, the best way to put a country on a global map is by making sure that you fulfill a series of variables. Those variables include the quality of work that is present, the amount of support that that work gets, and the exposure of that work to the world that exists beyond it.

Innovfest Unbound 2019 is the perfect opportunity for Taiwan to help define its global legacy in the innovation space and in the grander tech startup ecosystem not only in Asia but around the world. With the 30 top-notch teams filling up III’s roster of startups, there’s no doubt that the country will make a mark in Innovfest Unbound — an influential annual event in Southeast Asia.

More importantly, at Innovfest Unbound, we can expect a vibrant exchange of ideas and insights to spill between and beyond the solid roster of Taiwan startups who gathered in Marina Bay Sands from 27 – 28 July, 2019, alongside 15,000 of the best and the brightest in the innovation space.

All of these are necessary steps towards achieving the Asian Silicon Valley that the great nation of Taiwan has envisioned.

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Thai car listing platform SiamCarDeal raises US$300K led by 500 TukTuks

SiamCarDeal works with official dealers in the country, who cars available for sale and willing to give a discount to customers

SiamCarDeal, an online car listing platform in Thailand, has received US$300,000 in seed funding led by 500 TukTuks, with participation from unnamed angel investors.

SiamCarDeal works with official dealers in the country, who have cars available for sale and willing to give a discount to customers. Once booked, the user can go to the show room with SiamCarDeal’s offer to get the discounts.

The service is free to use for consumers.

“We currently partner with over 100 car dealers across the country and provide more than 1,500 offers for consumers. When a potential buyer shows interest in the deal on our website, we will qualify the inquiry and send it in real-time to the showroom with our in-house developed software called LMS (Lead Management System). With this system, our partner showrooms can conveniently manage their database of prospects, and their salespeople can follow up more efficiently, resulting in an increased sales closing ratio. Now our LMS system is extensively used by our customers in Thailand and across CLMV,” said Damien Kerneis, Co-founder of SiamCarDeal.

Also Read: This 16-year-old social entrepreneur wants to be the change she wishes to see in the world

In 2018, SiamCarDeal supported its nationwide partners to sell over 3,000 cars, it said in a press release.

“When launching siamcardeal.com in 2016, we aimed to be a platform for those who wanted to buy a new car and search for the best deals. We received a lot of positive feedback from both consumers and dealers: consumers got their new car at a great price while dealers increased their sales with this new channel. As we went along, we saw opportunities to go deeper in the value chain and developed more products and services to support car dealers.”

Krating Poonpol, Venture Partner (Thailand) of 500 TukTuks said: “We believe that SiamCarDeal’s LMS software offers a forward-looking perspective for the industry since it can be used by all automotive businesses. With this end-to-end solution SiamCarDeal has developed, we see big market opportunities for them domestically and abroad where SiamcarDeal can further expand to the regional level.”

“In 2019, SiamcarDeal will embark on the journey of digital transformation for automotive businesses by expanding more services which will help the showrooms to improve their overall efficiency and increase their sales volume. In addition, we also have plans to bring technology to help support the used car market,” added Kerneis.

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Referral proptech platform UrbanAgents secures US$1.5M from FarSight Capital, APAC Realty

The company said it plans to use the funding to connect home sellers to top agents with AI-based commissions

Singapore-based property agent referral platform UrbanAgents announced that it has raised S$2 million (US$1.5 million) seed funding from FarSight Capital, APAC Realty and angel investors.

The company said that the investment it receives will be directed to maximise the use of AI to set commission guide for home sellers connecting to top agents in Singapore, making it fair for the home sellers to have a choice for performance-based commissions.

UrbanAgents.com describes itself as a referral platform that connects home sellers to a curated list of agents from various real estate agencies. In general, UrbanAgents only enroll licensed agents deemed to be within the top 5 per cent cohort based on past transaction and listing history data.

“Home sellers want one thing – sell their homes at a good price. However, in the traditional model, agents taking a fixed commission rate have little incentive to ‘go the distance’ in order to achieve a higher price for the home seller.” explains Michael Cho, CEO & Founder of UrbanZoom and UrbanAgents.

He continued, “Our machine learning team at UrbanZoom have built an auto valuation called Zoom Value, which is now being used in various capacities by banks such as OCBC, DBS, as well as other startups like MoneySmart, Ohmyhome, SoReal, etc. We decided to leverage on this and tie it to agents’ commissions.”

Also Read: Charle Charoenphan succeeds brother as CEO of HUBBA Thailand

This service is currently available for HDB and Condo homeowners. It allows “Target Price” to be pegged to the home’s Zoom Value, which is calculated based on an AI model with inputs such as recent transactions, relevant listings, and features specific to the unit as provided by the home seller.

“The idea here is that we peg the agent’s fees to his performance. If he only managed to sell at a price significantly below the target price, he’ll receive only a nominal commission of $1,888. Conversely, if he can help the client achieve a price significantly higher than the target price, he should receive higher commissions for his efforts, up to a maximum of 2.5 per cent,” Cho added.

UrbanAgents claims that its analysis also shows that the top 5 per cent agents in Singapore alone represent more than half of all home seller clients, at least in the HDB market. The company then use that as criteria for agents who wish to join the program, and in turn, giving end consumers assurance that they’re dealing with an experienced professional.

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Home caregiving services platform Homage adds two new senior hires

Singapore-based on-demand caregiving service Homage plans to scale up and build community with the new appointments

The Homage Team

The Homage Team

On-demand home caregiving services platform Homage announced today that it has appointed Melissa Chan as Head of Community and Outreach, and Honey Mittal as Chief Product Officer.

With the new additions to the team, Homage said it will focus on increasing partnerships with
ecosystem stakeholders and improving more features to Homage’s product to enhance the
delivery and standard of care for its customers.

As a Head of Community and Outreach, Chan will be responsible for forming collaborations with stakeholders in the care delivery sector, with the key aim to reach out to more community segments that can benefit from Homage’s solution by working with public and private sector partners in Singapore and Malaysia. This includes cooperating with voluntary organisations to support lower-income segments, as well as exploring partnerships with insurance and corporate HR departments to cater to middle-income groups.

On the other hand, Mittal’s appointment as Chief Product Officer is deemed timely as Homage is emphasising the scaling up of its proprietary platform to provide a more user-friendly, end-to-end care management experience for families as well as its community and enterprise customers. He is responsible for further developing and scaling Homage’s product delivery – overseeing matters including product strategy and road mapping, product engineering and automation, management advisory and market expansion.

“Since launching our platform three years ago, we’ve been working closely with families and
aged care stakeholders in Singapore and Malaysia to see how we can improve our solutions to deliver better quality care for seniors,” said Gillian Tee, the CEO, and co-founder of Homage, as she further detailed a plan to reach more underserved segments of aged care.

Also Read: 3 fintech startups win the chance to pilot project with UNCDF

Prior to joining Homage, Chan’s experiences included areas of social innovation, community growth, and building brand strategies for the hospitality, travel, technology and finance sectors.

Chan is also the acting Founder and CEO of Project We Forgot – a community for caregivers to persons with dementia that provides locally-relevant support, knowledge, and access to services, and also a Steering Group member of the World Young Leaders in Dementia (WLYD), a global network of professionals that works across disciplines to develop and innovate dementia solutions.

Meanwhile, Mittal has held similar roles with numerous Southeast Asian startups, where he has helped to build a global travel marketplace and various fintech products.

In Q2 2019, Homage underwent beta testing of its Singapore-focussed e-commerce marketplace that is integrated into Homage’s app. The marketplace has essentials needed by caregivers; such as wheelchairs, walking aids, hospital beds, and adult diapers.

Next, the marketplace will be expanded to include more products in Q3 2019 and launches in Malaysia in Q4 of this year. The firm also has long-term plans to expand its services in more markets across Southeast Asia.

Also Read: Thai car listing platform SiamCarDeal raises US$300K led by 500 TukTuks

Launched in 2016, Homage was founded by Gillian Tee and Lily Phang when they saw that
seniors require more personalised and holistic care that allows them to age with grace, control, and dignity.

Homage seeks to do so via its matching engine that pairs seniors with the best care professionals for their needs. By using the Homage app, family members can schedule, manage, and monitor care visits from anywhere, stay connected with the care professional, and get real-time information on the care their senior is receiving.

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Bruneian legacy planning startup Memori raises seed funding from Asian royals

The undisclosed amount of funding comes from members of an Asian royal family

Legacy planning startup based in Brunei Darussalam Memori has raised a further seed round investment from members of an Asian royal family, the company said.

Memori said that the investment will be used to grow the business in Brunei, Singapore, and Malaysia, where it is estimated up to 33.08 million adults miss out on having a will.

Memori was established just in August last year with the purpose of simplifying the process of preparing end of life and demystifying a topic that’s traditionally considered taboo in Southeast Asia. Memori’s mission is to “enable everyone to have a head start on leaving a legacy behind for their loved ones”.

Memori’s digital platform offers affordable and simplified will writing services, as well as digital asset storage (including social media and email account passwords). The site is being built using blockchain technology to ensure security.

The Memori platform will also be able to provide access to the digital asset storage to the user’s pre-selected beneficiaries when the user passes on, and eventually allow people to book bereavement services and buy insurance policies online.

Also Read: 3 fintech startups win the chance to pilot project with UNCDF

“It is estimated at least 80 per cent of Southeast Asia’s population do not have wills, because it is a social taboo to talk about end of life and the misconception about the complexity and cost of the process. With Memori’s technology, these issues can be addressed. The new social media era has increasingly made the ability to control your digital footprint important too,” said Queenie Chong, CEO and Co-founder of Memori.

Memori was one of the finalists for Echelon APAC TOP100, and most recently chosen as Crowd Favorite and Top 10 for Techsauce Global Summit Startup Pitch Championship.

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A word from your new Editor

Exciting days are ahead, and here is what you can expect

editor_announcement_e27

That was me. Middle row, third from right. Do not hesitate to say hello next time we meet!

Dear e27 Community,

You may recognise me as the face of e27‘s presence in Indonesia; the person you reached out to when you want to forward leads about a funding round or when you have questions about our annual Echelon Asia Summit event. You may have also seen me manning the Editor’s Note section of our Daily Digest.

But today I am writing to inform you that I have been appointed to the role of Editor at e27, your beloved online resource platform for Southeast Asian tech startups.

My journey at the company began in 2015. As a Junior Writer, my responsibility was to cover the Indonesian startup ecosystem from Jakarta. Following a promotion to Senior Writer position a year later, I have produced features, covered news, moderated panel discussions, and interacted with readers through various channels for the last three years.

Throughout this journey, I have witnessed firsthand how the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem evolved from being a promising rookie, to producing some of the most powerful giants you may ever heard.

But as changes continue to happen, new challenges also continue to arise.

Stakeholders have begun to call for better ways to understand the ecosystem. They want to be able to recognise trends before it happens, and to have an accountable way to answer the question, “Who’s the next big thing in the market?”

All of this can be achieved through the use of data.

As a company with the mission to empower entrepreneurs with the tools to build and grow their company, e27 recognised the importance of implementing the use of data in the products and services that we offer. More importantly, we also recognise this as an opportunity that we can tap into as a company, considering the wealth of data that we have on our platform.

So what can you expect next?

You will continue to enjoy news and features, the very thing that draw you into this platform. But we are going to take it up a notch by introducing a series of listicles that showcased the strength of the data available on the e27 platform.

Our Contribution Programme, which has given a space for community members and thoughts leaders to voice their opinion and show their expertise, will also continue to grow bigger and better.

Last but not least, the startup ecosystem report is also set to return this quarter –with a new face. So watch this space.

All of this would not be possible without the support that you have given to us. I would definitely love to hear from you! Tell me what your startup has been up to, what you would like to see more in our platform. I am looking forward to see your messages at writers@e27.co and the e27 Telegram Group.

Also, next time we bump into each other at events, do not hesitate to say hello.

Regards,

Anisa Menur Maulani

 

 

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