Carousell continues the string of high profile hires with a new CTO
Fast-growing classifieds Carousell appointed Igor Volynskiy as CTO.
Taking over from Lucas Ngoo, Carousell’s co-founder who had been serving as CTO to date, Volynskiy will be responsible for developing Carousell’s technology capabilities, including engineering, data science, and analytics, product and design. Volynskiy will oversee all technology-related functions in Carousell and will report to co-founder and CEO, Siu Rui Quek.
Formerly, Volynskiy was Technology VP at Lazada and VP of Operations and Marketplace Technology at RedMart. He has over 20 years of experience in leading cross-functional organisations of software engineers, product managers, data scientists and industrial engineers to drive business results.
Ngoo said, “With Igor joining us as CTO, we’re looking forward to leveraging his leadership experience within the rapidly evolving e-commerce space and extensive understanding of technology infrastructure, to build a world-class product and engineering team to accelerate our growth and monetisation efforts.”
Volynskiy’s appointment follows a string of high profile hires Carousell made in 2019, including VP of Operations Su Lin Tan, Chief Commercial Officer Lewis Ng and Managing Director of Ads JJ Eastwood.
A part of the company’s ongoing investment in deep technology capabilities and AI, Carousell has rolled out several product updates that aim to create personalised and intuitive experiences to help users buy and sell with ease. They rolled out an object identification feature, where an image taken for a listing is automatically provided with recommendations for the object’s name, product categories, and optimal selling price.
Singapore-based startup yup.gg launches its platform with 2,000 content creators, followed by 50 million fans
Left to Right: Tim Zhu, Raiford C. Cockfield III, and Nicholas Khoo
yup.gg, a Singapore-based e-sports and content creator marketplace, announced the launch of its platform, bringing 2,000 content creators with 50 million fans collectively.
The platform seeks to help brands access marketing opportunities in the games and e-sports industry. The company further noted that the yup.gg platform provides end-to-end campaign management tools to aid brands in planning, executing, measuring, and optimising marketing activity.
With that being said, video game IP owners, agencies, e-sports players/teams, and content creators can access new monetisation opportunities, organisational tools, and a network to connect and learn from their peers.
yup.gg mentioned that the launch of the platform is a way to address the US$77 billion games market in Asia Pacific and Latin America.
yup.gg is founded by Raiford C. Cockfield III, a former Head of APAC – Twitch, an Amazon Company; Nicholas Khoo, who brought 14 years of e-sports experience; and Tim Zhu, a former Head of Supply Chain Engineering – Applied Materials.
yup.gg has entered into several non-exclusive partnerships with companies such as Branded, Globe Telecom, and other regional partners. Some agencies, e-sports teams, and content creators based in Southeast Asia and Brazil have also signed up to monetise their offering through yup.gg.
“We aim is to create a home for passionate e-sports and game-loving content creators to find monetisation opportunities and feel safe and informed in the decisions they make to grow their careers. All this while helping brands discover and work with creators most effectively and efficiently possible,” said Cockfield.
yup.gg said it recently completed its seed round, led by Kickstart Ventures and global e-sports industry executives, including former Twitch founding team member and executive Jonathan Shipman.
It is recently incubated at Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) PIXEL innovation space in Singapore.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending fintech company PinjamWinWin is based in the second-largest city in Indonesia
PinjamWinWin, a P2P lending fintech company based in Surabaya, Indonesia, announces that it has raised funding from SOSV, a top 20 US venture capital fund, according to PitchBook. The number of investment made is undisclosed.
With the funding, PinjamWinWin said it will continue providing around 185 million unbanked Indonesians with insurance-backed loans. The investment from SOSV will enable the company to scale its operations and work towards financial inclusion in Indonesia.
“The investment from SOSV will accelerate our growth and help us focus on gathering more lender funds with a special interest in institutional funds. These funds would be the ammunition used to further dominate the US$60 billion P2P lending market opportunity in Indonesia,” shares James Susanto, founder and CEO of PinjamWinWin.
PinjamWinWin is a fintech P2P lending company founded in 2015 by James Susanto, banking, mining, and trading veteran and an alumnus of the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Its mobile app connects lenders and borrowers through its mobile app, offers a less than a day processing time with no collateral and great interest rates. The company claimed that the platform has been able to deliver short-term loans for small and medium-sized businesses.
MOX—which is operated by SOSV, a top 20 US VC fund (PitchBook)—has long been active in Indonesia’s startup ecosystem. The accelerator’s portfolio includes Achiko, a fintech provider for the unbanked, and ELSA, which raised funding from Google’s Gradient Ventures and recently announced its expansion into Indonesia.
PinjamWinWin finances personal loans of US$35-350 and invoice financing of US$3500-150.000. Through the platform, users also have the option of placing their funds and becoming lenders to enjoy a fixed annual interest of 12-48 per cent.
Recently, PinjamWinWin signed an insurance deal with an insurance company in Indonesia, making any funds placed guaranteed and secure.
“Indonesia is still lacing a credit rating infrastructure. Farmers couldn’t get enough financing and middlemen would buy for low and sell for high. I witnessed all this firsthand and wanted to find a solution,” Susanto added.
PinjamWinWin claims that it has successfully disbursed over US$9 million in loans.
In addition to LinkAja, we also have updates from Lee Fixel, AttainU, and Roots Venture
Indonesian e-wallet platform LinkAja to release sharia-based service – DailySocial
Indonesian e-wallet platform LinkAja (formerly known as TCASH) announced that it is ready to launch a sharia-based service in November, DailySocialwrote.
The announcement was made following the awarding of sharia-compliance certificate by the national sharia council of the country’s ulema council (DSN MUI).
With the certificate, LinkAja plans to start processing e-money license application to the central bank. This process may take 40 working days.
The company also announced that it has formed a sharia monitoring council as part of the requirement to run a sharia-based business.
Tiger Global’s Lee Fixel to launch US$1B new fund – Deal Street Asia
Former Tiger Global executive Lee Fixel is set to launch a new US$1 billion fund called Addition, Deal Street Asiareported.
Citing three anonymous sources, the report stated that the fund will be launched “as early as next month” and will be launched “as soon as a non-compete agreement with his former employer expires.”
The investor plans to actively look at startups in India and Southeast Asia.
As the head of Tiger Global’s private equity business, Fixel led the firm’s investment in Flipkart, which was later acquired by Walmart.
Bangalore-based edutech startup AttainU today announced a funding round from investors that include Shailesh Rao (ex-Google India Head), Nikhil Rungta (ex-Intuit India Head), Anil Gelra (Founder of SnapMint) and Manish Kumar (Founder of KredX and LetsVenture).
Founded by Divyam Goel and Vaibhav Bajpai in 2018, AttainU currently offers full-time, online seven-month-long software engineering courses for users looking to get into software engineering careers. It also provides career counselling as part of their student assessment process and connects graduates to industry partners for placement upon completion of the course
The company plans to use the funding to further strengthen faculty, development of courses, counselling teams, and build a semi-automated platform to cater to the huge inbound student demand they claimed to be receiving.
Roots Ventures invests in health food company Kaarya Naturals – Press Release
Multi-stage and sector-agnostic investment firm Roots Ventures today announced an undisclosed investment into Kaarya Naturals, a Mumbai-based health food company.
Founded by Kajal Bhatia, who is said to be India’s first certified whole food nutritionist and a diabetes educator, the company currently retails its range of protein and health bars under the brand eighty20.
It plans to expand its range of healthy snacks.
“We are what I call a snacking nation, but at the same time, we are increasingly witnessing a trend of eating healthy without compromising on taste. Consumers are focusing on nutrition and additionally, vegetarians looking for ways to overcome protein deficiency in their traditional diet. We are excited to be partnering with Kajal who brings her significant experience in health and nutrition to launch great tasting and healthy snacks, their association with TJUK will provide the company, ability to reach a wider audience in a short period of time,” Japan Vyas, Managing Partner of Roots Ventures, commented on the investment.
As of current, there are about 700,000 (not just of cats) active podcasts, with some 29 million episodes altogether!
This is an increase from 550,000 and 18.5 million, respectively just last year. Local English newspaper, The Straits Times, reported that it’s home podcast together with The Business Times saw a growth of 300 per cent in downloads since its first launch back in March 2018. The article also highlighted local Malay-language podcast, OKLETSGO, whose listeners tripled in a matter of six months! Talk about an evident rise.
Podcasts, or also known as audio blogging, have been around for more than a decade. The concept sees two or more individuals discussing specific topics, sharing their thoughts and opinions.
Coupled with influencers and YouTube content creators, the likes of Gary Vee, Casey Neistat, Alisha Marie and Remi Ashten adding podcast onto their credentials, brands have also begun flocking the platform.
They say businesses go where the demand calls, so why are consumers more into podcasts these days? And is the platform worth considering for your brand?
You can listen to what you want anytime, anywhere
With podcasts being available on our phones, cue Spotify and iTunes, seeking information and entertainment has never been more convenient. It is like the Netflix of audio. And the fact that it only requires listening, this makes information more accessible to consume than when you have to read and interpret text yourself.
Or even when compared to watching videos for that matter. With videos, there is always the need to fix the eyes on the screen.
Have you ever turned on a YouTube video and multi-task with something else? There is just that urge of needing to glance at the screen to see what is the next scene because deep down, you are concerned that you will miss something exciting.
The format of having a conversation on podcast enables topics to be thoroughly discussed for the listener, creating a deeper engagement between the receiver and the content. Brands are collaborating with podcasts for their ad campaigns because it is one of the ways to connect with the audience.
Sephora released a new range of 40-shades long-lasting lipstick back in 2017. They collaborated with Girlboss Radio on a podcast campaign and featured conversations with inspiring women.
Back in the day when podcasts were not popular, people most likely have their favourite DJ or radio station, especially for a particular segment. Unlike radio though, the content on podcasts are more niche, specifically in different categories.
So why would we not listen to content that interests us? With podcasts, listeners can pick and choose topics of their interests without having to follow a particular schedule. Even that itself is a valid enough reason why people are getting on the medium – merely living from being given that freedom of choice, at their preferred timing.
Hello, Alexa
The convenience of listening to a podcast continues with the proliferation of voice search. You wake up in the morning, and Alexa greets you with the morning news. You get in your car, and a word call gets Siri busy finding the episode of the podcast where you last left.
This format suits the current busy lifestyle of many who are always on the go. Getting educated or entertained has never been this convenient – whether we are commuting, getting ready for the day, or even handling a crying toddler – the hands-free sharing of information that is readily available with digital assistants makes it all the more irresistible as we continue to be reliant on technology.
Part of a community
In our article on brands finding a spot in the digital space, we highlighted the view of a marketing expert, Bianca Bass on how consumers are ‘no longer looking at products, but better versions of themselves’.
That usually means being able to resonate with a brand or one that they would not mind being associated with. The kind of participation that comes with believing in a brand usually leads to the formation of a community – something that brands are currently more aware of and recommended to achieve for the benefit of the business’ progress.
With podcast being a platform of niche conversations, its content almost seems personalised for the listener. When they subscribe to the podcast series, they are technically subscribed to a like-minded community of listeners.
Content creator, Aida Azlin, is known for her free motivational weekly newsletters subscribed by over 60,000 women all over the world, as well as her YouTube videos of which some had gone viral. When she launched her podcast, In Good Company earlier this year, as part of a bigger and more exclusive content package called AA Plus, it came with a minimal monthly fee.
The subscription for AA Plus was only open to the first few hundred. Despite the monthly fee, Aida Azlin continues to receive requests from women of their interest to subscribe to the program even after registrations were closed. This is when you know the community with a brand is solid.
One of the ways that led to the building of the community is the existence of an official Facebook page that provides her subscribers with a platform to share their reflection from the content that was shared. It, of course, in return, becomes a room for discussion, thus strengthening the bond of the community.
To podcast or not to podcast
The attraction to podcasts for creators and why they are conveniently meeting demands of listeners is because it does not cost much to produce a podcast. Anyone could come up with one.
All that you would most likely need is an audio recorder and a place to upload. And considering the “informal” style of podcast, many who have started were initially inspired by conversations they have with their friends.
Podcast works best when you know what you are searching for – be it the content, personality or brand – because then you will know where to begin. Your SEO is vital in this regard.
An example of a video recorded podcast. Source: YouTube (DOPStv)
That said, despite the rising popularity of podcasts, data still shows that audio is still weak in comparison to video when it comes to digital advertising.
It is also important to note that since podcasts require listening, the host has to be of someone with an expressive tone of voice. There is nothing like the ‘ultimate snore-fest’ when listening to a monotonous voice talking about the latest Hollywood gossip, for example.
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