Rajesh Grover will be Managing Director for 99.co Indonesia, and Vivek Kumar will be new Head of Product

Real estate platform based in Southeast Asia, 99.co, just announced the appointment of two executive hires of the position of Managing Director and Head of Products.

Rahesh Grover, who previously co-founded Lamudi and managed the company’s profitable market of Sri Lanka and Bangladeshi, has been appointed Managing Director of Indonesia-based 99.co.

Vivek Kumar, who takes the role of Head of Product in 99.co, used to lead one of the two product teams at MagicBricks, and was a product leader from Amazon and Snapdeal.

In 99.co’s official statement, the company noted that the new hires will help shape the trajectory of 99.co within the real estate classifieds market.

According to Darius Cheung, 99.co CEO and co-founder, both new additions have extensive experience within proptech and will form a part of 99.co’s move towards a young, entrepreneurial team, purpose-built plans.

Also Read: 99.co completes US$15.2M Series B funding round, reveals expansion plan

“The traditional classifieds portal model is a sunset business. Innovation within classifieds is not just about improving features step-incrementally but developing a new and futuristic model,” added Cheung.

Grover will be responsible for driving profitability of Indonesia operations while growing the business, while Rajesh will be responsible for managing a team across three countries; US, China, and Singapore to deliver seven commercial products for Asia Pacific, European, and Latin American markets.

Just last month, 99.co announced that it has raised a US$15.2M Series B round led by MindWorks Venture and Allianz X, with participation from existing investors East Ventures, Sequoia (India), and Eduardo Saverin.​

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Finance Asia stated that the valuation of OVO has reached US$2.9 billion or more than IDR40 trillion

Earlier this year, former OVO Director Johnny Widodo (now CEO of BeliMobilGue) stated in an interview with CNBC Indonesia that the digital payments platform has become one of the startups with more than US$1 billion valuations –a title commonly known as a unicorn. The narrative seemed to get toned down a bit as Indonesia continued to be known to have four unicorn startups: gojek, Tokopedia, Traveloka, and Bukalapak.

However, Finance Asia in its report last week cited a source that claimed OVO to have reached unicorn status through its latest funding round at US$2.9 billion valuations. A number that might have become obsolete today.

Commenting on the report, our source at OVO did not deny that the company –which has Lippo Group, Tokyo Century Corp, Grab, and Tokopedia– has reached unicorn status.

Also Read: Grab reportedly wants to merge OVO with Ant Financial’s DANA. What does it mean for the rest of us?

The 2018 Startup Report that DSResearch team has launched placed OVO as one of the candidates for unicorn status, amongst startups with more than US$100 million valuations.

Leading the Indonesian digital payments sphere with GoPay, it is obvious that the company is facilitating a massive amount of cash transactions in its platform, which might reach trillions of Rupiah each year. The fact that OVO has been chosen to become a primary online payments option on Tokopedia has helped push the average usage of the platform for each user.

Last week, a report has also circulated about the potential acquisition and merger between OVO and Dana, as part of the effort to defeat the domination of gojek in Indonesian digital payments sphere.

Certainly, having a unicorn status does not mean that it is the end of the road for a startup. Report of a recent layoff at Bukalapak, as part of its effort to balance between growth and profitability, proves that it is never as easy as it seems.

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The article Startup Unicorn Kelima Indonesia Memang adalah Ovo was written by Amir Karimuddin in Bahasa Indonesia for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

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The Singapore-based startup will use the funding to ramp up the production of chemical-resistant nanofilters and run pilots with potential customers across multiple industries

SEPPURE, the Singapore-based separation-tech startup, announces that it has closed a US$2.55 million (SG$3.54 million) seed round led by SOSV, a US-based hardware investor. Other participating investors include Entrepreneur First (EF), 500 Startups, SGInnovate, Koh Boon Hwee (Chairman of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Board of Trustees, Credence Partners, Yeo Hiap Seng, and Far East Orchard), Rekanext, Belmond Capital, and several other prominent investors.

The company said that it will use the seed funding to increase the production of chemical-resistant nanofilters. It will also run industrial-scale pilots with potential customers across multiple industries.

SEPPURE creates sustainable nanofiltration solutions to separate chemical mixtures at a molecular level with minimal energy use. Most of the current separation technologies such as evaporation and distillation, use heat for chemical separation.

These thermal processes use up to 15 per cent of the world’s energy, and. SEPPURE’s technology eliminates the need for heat, curbing the reliance on one of the most energy-intensive and polluting processes on the planet.

SEPPURE was founded in 2018, inspired by Dr. Mohammad Farahani’s Ph.D. program at the National University of Singapore (NUS) four years ago. With the help of a grant from the National Research Foundation of Singapore (NRF), Dr. Farahani and Professor Neal Tai-Shung Chung, who is now the acting technical advisor of SEPPURE and Provost’s Chair Professor at NUS, developed the core technology to separate chemicals sustainably.

Also Read: These 6 deep tech startups are set to compete for expansion opportunity in Suzhou

SEPPURE’s technology can be utilised across multiple markets including food, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, and oil & gas.

Duncan Turner, General Partner at SOSV and Managing Director at HAX program in Shenzhen, who led the round, said: “With SOSV focussing on early-stage deep-tech investments for the industrial and healthcare space as well as software-based investments across Southeast Asia, SEPPURE becomes a revolutionary portfolio in an often overlooked area, promises incredible impact in energy-saving through hardware-enabled material science.”

Alice Bentinck, co-founder, and CPO of Entrepreneur First, also commented on the investment: “Farahani and Amir are not only two exceptionally talented individuals but with their combined technical and academic experience in the area, we believe that there is simply no other team in the world more qualified to build a nanofiltration company like SEPPURE.”

The startup has previously won the President’s Innovation Challenge Award 2019 held at Tsinghua University by X-LAB.
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In addition to WeWork, we also have updates from Bitcoin Co, Binance, and Terafunding

WeWork expected to postpone IPO – The Wall Street Journal

The We Company, the parent company behind US-based office-sharing startup WeWork, is expected to postpone its IPO following concerns about its corporate governance and company valuation, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report detailed that the company was supposed to begin a roadshow to market the shares on Monday, ahead of its trading debut next week. But the IPO is likely to be shelved until “at least next month.”

The decision reflects the difficulty that the company and its co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann have been facing, even after “dramatically” slicing its valuation and revamping its governance.

Confusion ensues Bitcoin Co’s shutdown – Bangkok Post

Confusion amongst cryptocurrency users and enthusiasts ensues after Bitcoin Co, which is said to be Thailand’s largest digital asset exchange, announced its shutdown on September 2, Bangkok Post reported.

Bitcoin Co said that it plans to cease operations at the end of September to “focus on other business opportunities.” In addition to igniting price slump for digital assets traded on the exchange, the announcement also led to speculation over the real reason of the shutdown.

“The company will not seek to hold a Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] licence for digital asset exchanges for 2020, and we ask all customers to withdraw their funds before November 1, 2019,” the company announced.

It also stated that after November 1, the company will operate its bx.in.th as a platform to contact about outstanding issues. All deposits will also be disabled after September 6.

Also Read: What WeWork has taught me about people

South Korean P2P lending platform Terafunding raises US$18M in Series B – Press Release

Terafunding, South Korean real-estate-focussed P2P lending platform, announced the completion of a US$18 million Series B in August.

In a press statement, the company said that the funding round included investors such as KB Investment, Hana Ventures, and IBK Industrial Bank. It included the participation of Woomi Construction as a strategic investor.

The company has been focusing on providing reasonable financing solutions for local developers who have limited access to development loans from the financial institutions, forcing them to rely on private financing with high-interest rates that are often over 30 per cent per annum.

Terafunding plans to focus on acquiring talent from the real estate, finance, and IT sectors while working to accelerate its advancement on project screening systems and risk management processes.

Indian logistics tech startup Blowhorn raises funding from Venture Catalysts, others – Press Release

Catbus Infolabs Pvt. Ltd, the Bangalore-headquartered intra-city tech-logistics company that operates the Blowhorn platform, today announced that it has raised an undisclosed funding round led by a “prominent” undisclosed investor.

It included the participation from existing investors Chiratae Ventures and Dell Foundation as well as new investors that include Venture Catalysts, James Lee Sorenson, and Japanese VC firm Dream Incubator.

The startup aims to connect logistics service users to mini-truck drivers through a website and a mobile app.

It claimed to have grown its revenue over 500 per cent since its previous Series A funding round while enhancing its industry-leading margin. It also claimed to have expanded to over 30 cities and now has over 25,000 driver partners on its platform.

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If you’re looking for your next big career move, here are the best places to work and live as a FinTech expat

 

There are so many reasons to get a job in FinTech. With excellent job availability, ample funding, high salaries and plenty of workplace perks, FinTech careers can be advantageous. With large numbers of startups surfacing each year in top cities worldwide, employees can benefit from being immersed in different startup cultures while exploring amazing new places. 

The FinTech industry is one of the most vibrant spaces to work in right now. And it’s the perfect transition for those who are already working in traditional finance, or for experts in other technology sectors.

Silicon Valley

Home to Apple, Facebook, Netflix and many other tech giants, it makes sense that Silicon Valley is the place to be to begin your career in FinTech.

New financial startups are popping up all the time in San Francisco, and salaries are at an all-time high in this corner of the industry. This is the place where a six-figure household salary would be considered as ‘low income’, and where competitive packages far outweigh the high cost of living (something that can’t be said of other expensive cities).

Also Read: What Singapore can learn from Silicon Valley

As an expat in San Francisco, you will have so much to see and do at weekends. Just an hour away from the Napa Valley wine trail, and home to some of the most incredible gastronomy, your time here will be filled with fun, luxury and entertainment. 

London 

According to Tech Nation, there are more than 300,000 tech jobs in the UK capital. There are over 7,500 startup births, with 20% of all FinTech companies being ‘high growth’ firms, and over £56 billion in digital tech turnover. The average advertised annual salary is £61,803, and there are some great workspaces and amazing places to socialise. 

When it comes to being successful, this is the city to spur you on. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or looking for a job in a startup, you’ll be utterly inspired. London is home to 14 of the 47 ‘unicorn’ status companies in Europe, double the number of the next closest country.

China (Beijing or Shanghai)

China’s FinTech scene is another level when it comes to the size and power of its leading companies. Globally-recognised organisations like Beijing crypto-mining giant, Bitmain, is already one of the most successful startups in the world. It has already reached ‘unicorn’ status and is set to achieve ‘decacorn’ status (valued at US$10 billion or more) in just over five years. 

Also Read: How to start a business in China as a foreigner

In Shanghai, the online finance marketplace, Lufax (Lu.com) is headquartered there and is predicted to reach its ‘decacorn’ status in around four years’ time. 

Singapore 

Outside of China’s top cities, Singapore is perhaps the biggest and most important FinTech hub for expat workers in Asia. The city-state has invested over US$453 million in the first half of 2019 into developing and growing the industry, and there’s excellent job availability for those who are willing to move and start a new life here.

And with so many benefits of being an expat in Singapore, you’ll probably never want to leave.

Besides the amazing food, Singapore is a very clean and well-maintained place, with outstanding transport links, very low crime, political stability and zero corruption, and plenty of things to see and do at any time of day/night.

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Image Credit: Nigel Tadyanehondo

 

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