Day: October 10, 2019

Skolafund, an impact enterprise that crowdfunds scholarships to university students in need, has been wholly acquired by one of Asia’s leading donation crowdfunding platforms, as per a statement.

The details of the deal or the name of the acquirer were not disclosed.

When contacted, Skolafund’s Co-founder and CEO Tengku Syamil, said: “Unfortunately, these details cannot be disclosed due to an agreement with the acquirer.”

Post-deal, the Skolafund platform will be merged into the acquirer’s regional platform.

“With this significant development, we are on a sounder footing to continue serving the disadvantaged in our communities, whether through aid on education or other ways — like medical and humanitarian assistance. This also means we can reach more people and be more accessible across Southeast Asia,” he said.

Skolafund is a digital platform that provides matchmaking and mediation services to those who want to help fund tertiary education for students from low to middle-income families. The platform enables students to request for funds, filtered based on need, to campaign for funding. Skolafund filters and verifies the application, and provides transparency of financial transactions and the students’ progress reports to the sponsors.

Also Read: Ignored by VCs? You can still succeed with equity crowdfunding

To date, Skolafund has crowdsourced scholarships to the tune of RM1.6 million, benefitting 592 students from less-privileged backgrounds. It has acquired a total of over 29,000 registered donors with 11,119 of them actively contributing in a campaign.

In total, 350 campaigns were launched, and 189 of them were 100 per cent funded.

In May, Skolafund, along with a partner, launched Kitafund to help low-income individuals pay for medical services, as well as fund other humanitarian efforts, including animal aid. In total, the fund raised RM1.2 million from 42,233 donations, benefiting 155 individuals in need.

Skolafund itself had raised funding on the Ata Plus Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) platform in February 2017.

Elain Lockman, Co-founder and Director of Ata Plus, said. “It is Malaysia’s first exit story in ECF, and this augurs well for the future of this asset class. It also dispels the myth that investing in Impact Enterprises does not give a financial return.”

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Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined @ BLOCK71 (PIER71), a collaboration between Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and NUS Enterprise, has selected and announced 13 startups that will work together alongside PIER71 in providing solutions and support of the industry transformation plans for maritime.

The selection, the programme noted, was made based on their solutions for the given problem statements at the 2018 Smart Port Challenge, held in Singapore in November last year. Each start-up received US$36,000 in funds from MPA to further develop their prototypes and to address the challenges faced by maritime corporates in Singapore.

Singapore’s maritime eco-system comprises over 5,000 establishments contributing to about 7 per cent of Singapore’s GDP, and employs about 170,000 people.

According to the 2019 Leading Maritime Capitals Of The World Report, Singapore has also maintained its position as the maritime capital of the world in three pillars – Shipping, Ports and Logistics, and Attractiveness and Competitiveness.

Also Read: MPA and NUS Enterprise to inject US$479K seed funding to 13 startups

Out of the 13 startups who received the MPA funding, 11 are Singapore-based. Five of them are:

• Ocean Freight Exchange (OFE), a Singapore-based tech startup that won the 2018 Smart Port Challenge with its AI-driven marketplace for charterers, ship owners, and brokers in the dry bulk, tanker, and gas markets. OFE offers predictive analytics for supply and demand, vessel tracking, calculated vessel arrival times, comparing vessels and costings, and many others on one consolidated platform using AI and predictive analytics.
• SkyLab, 2018 Smart Port Challenge’s 1st Runners-up, is an AI-driven startup that offers deep technology software on the development of Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), data logistics, and edge cloud computing technologies, to tackle the issues of constant changing bandwidths, packet losses and latency, network congestion and retransmission hamper the smooth flow of internet traffic through wireless networks like satellite links.
• Claritecs, 2018 Smart Port Challenge second runner up, is a startup that offers its flagship solution -BunkerMaestro- an algorithm-based SaaS platform incorporating information services from MPA’s Maritime Data Hub and MarineTraffic to provide data-driven insights for bunker scheduling clarity. Claritecs recently secured a US$600,000 in pre-Series A funding from INNOPORT, the corporate venture capital unit of the globally operating ship owner and ship management company Bernhard Schulte
• Aeras Medical, a startup that aims to address the challenge of getting medical help when the crew is at sea. In 2016, Aeras Medical won the National Vital Signs Monitoring Project and operated the end-to-end solution for remote monitoring of post-operative patients.
• Portcast, a maritime logistics startup backed by Wavemaker Pacific, SG Innovate. and Enterprise First, amongst other investors. It uses proprietary machine learning and external datasets, including economic, satellite, and operational data, to predict global cargo flows and help companies in dynamic pricing, and to monetise their assets more effectively.

PIER71 recently saw the close of its application period for the third edition of the Smart Port Challenge; with 29 problem statements contributed by Jurong Port, PSA Unboxed, TATA NYK Shipping, Wärtsilä, Wilhelmsen, and Vopak for the contenders to address.

Following their shortlisting, startups will be put through a six-week programme and work with industry partners to fine-tune their solutions. This will culminate in a Grand Final on November 7, 2019 to showcase their solutions to various stakeholders.
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GrabKitchen launches cloud kitchens in Thailand, Vietnam [Press Release]

GrabFood announced the expansion of its cloud kitchen network, called GrabKitchen, beyond Indonesia. GrabKitchen launches today in Bangkok, Thailand and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and will soon launch in the Philippines and Singapore.

GrabKitchen offers users in particular geography with a variety of curated food selections by leveraging data from historical orders to address cuisine gaps. GrabKitchens are strategically located to bridge consumer demand and availability of food selections while reducing the time for food delivery.

By the end of 2019, GrabFood aims to operate a regional network of cloud kitchens totalling over 50 GrabKitchens in five countries. GrabFood currently operates in 221 cities across six countries.

Hong Kong’s PR startup Start PR secure US$127K from The Bees Group, joining the local marketing firm [Press Release]

Hong Kong-based PR agency Start PR has secured US$127K investment from The Bees Group, local marketing services group. The deal sees Start PR become the first and only PR company among the group.

Also Read: Malaysia-based Ethis Ventures launched charity crowdfunding platform GlobalSadaqah

Founded in 2018, Start PR provides marketing and public relations services for different brands that do not require retainer contracts from clients but offers what they called an “a la carte” marketing and public relations services with no consultation fee charges and fees are based on the key performance indicator.

Funds from this round will be used to further promote Start PR’s marketing and public relations services to different industries.

Islamic fintech Ethis Ventures join forces with fintech Souqa to provide end-to-end Shariah Compliance [Press Release]

Ethis Ventures Sdn Bhd, the fintech company focussed on the Islamic economy, announced that it has signed a Strategic Collaboration Agreement with Souqa Fintech Sdn Bhd, seeking to provide end-to-end Shariah Compliance.

This marks the beginning of Ethis adopting the use of PayHalal, the world’s first Shariah-compliant payment gateway, for its charity crowdfunding platform, GlobalSadaqah. This agreement involving GlobalSadaqah marks the two fintech companies timely joining efforts towards strengthening the Islamic Digital Economy in Malaysia and realising end-to-end Shariah financing.

Since its inception, Islamic finance has strived to be Shariah-compliant from within the conventional finance system. The practicing Muslim has unique needs which are often-times difficult to fully serve, especially when it comes to finance. Islamic fintech holds the promise to bridge such gaps.

Also Read: Fintech startup SuperAtom raises US$24M funding led by Gobi Partners, eyeing expansion to the Philippines

The new gateway facilitates an easier, faster and hassle-free user experience for GlobalSadaqah’s donors to donate to their favourite charities and circulate good towards building a better society.

The Strategic Collaboration Agreement was signed by PayHalal’s CEO, Dato’ Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, and the Chief Product Officer of GlobalSadaqah, Mohammed Alim, at the Ethis Ventures office in Petaling Jaya.

Rapyd obtains Singapore remittance licence to scale affordable APAC-targeted digital remittance services [Press Release]

Fintech-as-a-Service platform Rapyd has obtained a Remittance licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that will enable Rapyd’s corporate customers to extend remittance capabilities to their users. It will allow its customers to send and receive money to and from over 100 countries internationally.

Rapyd’s Fintech-as-a-service platform seeks to eliminate the resource-heavy infrastructure requirement and allow businesses to integrate remittance services through Rapyd’s API or Software Development Kit (SDK). This provides businesses with fully compliant access to remittance services that cover all stages of the remittance flow: funds top-up, identity verification, blocking of suspicious transactions, and sending money safely and quickly overseas to over 100 countries, in more than 160 different currencies.

The Rapyd Global Payments Network, a flexible network-of-networks that connects local payments providers globally, enables Rapyd to offer remittances into multiple local payment options around the world, local bank accounts, eWallets, such as Indonesia’s Doku wallet, Sri Lanka’s eZCash, Philippines’ GCash, local debit cards, cash pickup, or other local payments methods to receive funds.

This move signals Rapyd’s increasing focus on the Asia Pacific region. The announcement of the remittance licence follows its partnership announcements with OCBC Bank in Singapore and its collaboration with Hong Kong’s TNG Fintech Group.

Rapyd announced in October 2019 that the company received US$100 million in Series C funding, led by Oak HC/FT with participation from Tiger Global, Coatue, General Catalyst, Target Global, Stripe, and Entrée Capital.
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Blockchain is becoming the technology platform of choice of many newly-founded startups for a variety of reasons. The dazzling rise in the prices of bitcoin and ether has put the spotlight on cryptocurrencies and crypto activities.

The technology itself proves valuable to any task that requires transparent and immutable record-keeping. Initial coin offerings (ICOs) have also challenged venture capital and angel investment in the speed and ease by which companies could raise significant funding.

Also Read: A blockchain perspective: the irony of financial inclusion

However, aside from startups, governments should be among those looking to leverage blockchain’s capabilities. Forward-thinking governments have now started to experiment and integrate the technology into their e-government strategies.

Sweden has been testing the use of blockchain for its land registry. The UK is also using it to monitor the distribution of welfare and benefits. There are now even organizations that promote government adoption of the technology.

Blockchain brings three key features that make it ideal for government use: decentralization, transparency, and immutability.

Decentralization means the data and infrastructure doesn’t reside in a single centralized authority. This helps in breaking down bureaucratic siloes and promoting the sharing of information across governmental functions.

Security-wise this also eliminates the single point of failure that increases cyberattack risks. All transactions recorded in the blockchain are also publicly viewable by network peers and mechanisms are in place that verifies the integrity of data across the network. Any attempts to change the records are virtually impossible.

These features make blockchain a promising technology to fight the problems that ail many governments – corruption, bureaucratic red tape, and the lack of accountability to the people.

As such, blockchain adoption should be a welcome development in a region such as Southeast Asia (SEA) where governments still perform poorly in terms of accountability and oversight.

In Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index of 2016, only Singapore is the closest to being a “very clean” government among SEA countries. Though to be fair, no country got a perfect score.

The global average is 43 on a scale where 0 means “highly corrupt” and 100 means “very clean.” Most SEA countries score in the 30s and 20s. It has become all too common for SEA countries to be treated to news about corruption on a daily basis.

Just recently, the Philippine president has been embroiled in another scandal as he is now under investigation for allegedly having more than PhP1 billion flow through his bank accounts despite having only declared to have a net worth of PhP27.4 million in his 2016 net worth statement – a document Philippine government workers must complete under oath.

In the Philippines, large bank transactions have to be reported to the Anti-Money Laundering Council. If government data such as net worth declarations and anti-money laundering reports would be on a blockchain, it would simply be a matter of looking up and verifying historical data and information to know the truth behind the allegation.

However, one could only wish this would be as simple. Existing data privacy law and bank privacy law may be at odds with efforts striving for full transparency in government as these make it difficult to check and verify the charges against actual bank records.

Perhaps in irony, the Freedom of Information Order that guarantees all records except those related to national security under the Philippine executive branch to be made available by request to the public was signed by the same president early in his term.

Also read: Real estate industry ushers in a new Smart Nation era with Blockchain tech

Sadly, to change this, new laws have to be passed. However, legislative power rests upon bodies that have been accused of corruption themselves. In addition, the development of e-government services in the region moves at varying paces per country.

The Philippines, for instance, only held its first automated elections in 2010 and still, the accuracy and transparency of the system has been questioned since. One should also not forget and overlook that Philippine voter data containing names, dates of birth, addresses, and biometric information had been breached and leaked online.

Also Read: Blockchain have the potential to transform dubious relationships in the music industry

Blockchain development in the country has mostly been revolving around bitcoin and distributed ledger for businesses applications so creating a system for the government to use may also be a question of competency. Many e-government services rely on third-party providers. External help may be the only viable direction if such a project is undertaken soon.

Despite these, citizens must not overlook the potential a technology such as a blockchain brings to promote transparency and accountability to governments.

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For the past years, Filipino e-commerce is on the fast track of growth but also facing challenges of adequate network infrastructure. According to an article shared by Export.gov, e-commerce in the Philippines is predicted to soar to a US$10 billion in annual gross merchandise value (GMV) by 2025, implying 34 per cent average annual 10-year growth, according to projections from Google and Temasek.

Until now, Lazada and Shopee are still the big dogs that dominate the e-commerce markets in the Philippines, with Lazada taking a whopping 68 per cent of the market share last year, leaving only a fraction for other e-commerces players in the country.

In research published last year by e27, it is stated that Filipino consumer’s online shopping preference is primarily based on brand familiarity. In fact, according to Kantar Worldpanel survey, 84 per cent of Filipino consumers responded that they prefer to purchase from well-known and trusted brands despite the abundance of low-cost alternatives available in the market.

This specific Filipino consumer behaviour mainly affects the local players as the majority of it has just started their respective operations in the digital marketplace.

Despite the outlook, these five names emerge as legit contenders in the already crowded markets.

Argomall

Recently, an article by Inquirer shared that Argomall, the e-commerce that offers gadgets, has decided to turn down offers to be carried by such marketplaces. Such choice, the article noted, allowed the startup to “responsibly tailor their products and services to their consumers’ needs”.

Argomall was established in 2015, focussing on only carrying authentic consumer electronics such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, and accessories from official brand manufacturers and distributors, complete with warranty.

Also Read: 8 e-commerce trends to look out for in Southeast Asia 2019

Karel Holub, the company’s chief argonaut, stated that Argomall prides itself on the holistic approach.

“We aim to build trust between our customers and Argomall,” Holub explained.

With no mobile apps available and relying entirely on a mobile-friendly site, Facebook Messenger, and, soon, on Instagram, Argomall believes that the entire experience that builds on the consumer’s convenience in mind will result in loyal customers.

Post-sales customer service is another value the company offers. “If you buy an item for us and it needs repair while under warranty, we pick it up, ship it to the repair shop, and then return it to you once fixed—all for free. If it is no longer under warranty, we tell you the cost of the repair, then ship the item back and forth, which you can pay for by COD,” he added.

Down in the pipeline, Holub has stated that the company will soon diversify its product lineup to include large appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines, and simultaneously provide the installation service.

Just in April 2019, Argomall announced that it has received payment in cryptocurrencies, accepting Bitcoin and around 50 other cryptocurrencies as payment in partnership with CoinGate, Upgrade reported. CoinGate is an online trading platform for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, and other coins.

BeautyMNL

Championing the diverse beauty that the country has, BeautyMNL carries the brand of breaking the beauty mold. The social commerce reaches out to its target market -Filipino women- through an online lifestyle and beauty magazine where celebrity gurus will be the content ambassadors.

BeautyMNL’s shop offers curated beauty products ranging from makeup and skincare to haircare.

Last year, BeautyMNL emerges as the most visited local e-commerce, placing 5th overall with less than a million-traffic, putting it on the top alongside behemoths like Lazada and Shopee.

In 2017, BeautyMNL let go 20 per cent of its stake to Philippines’s multi-format retailer Robinsons Retail Holdings for an undisclosed amount.

Galleon

Galleon provides an online platform for Filipino shoppers to discover, share, and buy new products that are not available in the Philippines. By entering the name of the products in its search bar, customers can begin shopping immediately.

The company runs under Sterling Galleon Corporation, and all products offered in it are sourced directly from US suppliers.

Galleon sets itself apart by offering a value in which customers are guaranteed to be paying the all-in price of the item as well as shipping, customs, taxes, and delivery. Just enter the name of the products you have in mind in our search bar, and we will show you the product 90% of the time.

Galleon is inspired by the 1500 Filipino commodity and trading style. Back in those days, the Filipinos traded their own produce for goods that are not available in the country, which then being adopted by Galleon.

Also Read: Local vs. international: Here is a look at the Philippine e-commerce scene’s popular players

Galleon was founded by two young entrepreneurs, Jeffrey Siy, founder of group-buying site Awesome.ph, and by Chris Blanquera, founder of Openovate.com on December 2011. The idea was to leverage the excitement in discovering new innovative products such as gadgets, apparel, electronics, kid‘s toys, and more, and the platform was finally launched in July 2012.

In an article by Tech In Asia, Siy explained that Galleon in its business perspective is basically a payment gateway, logistics, and customer support built into one. With no inventory (full dropship model), the site relies on millions of supplier’s database of products.

Seek the Uniq

Seek the Uniq was founded by Mikka Padua, a Filipino fashion enthusiast who had years of experience in high-end jewelry, beauty and fashion world doing buying and merchandising.

According to an article by Preview Philippines, it was during her time as a senior buyer for accessories at a popular e-commerce site that she noticed that there weren’t a lot of highly curated online sites for a more affluent and sophisticated market. Thus, e-commerce for clothing and accessories Seek the Uniq was born in 2015, comprises of items sourced from Mexico to Bali.

Seek The Uniq is also present in India, but given the value of e-commerce lies in its “uniqueness” and “smaller quantities”, Padua mentioned that to scale, they have increased the volume of some styles together with increasing the variety of product offerings.

Kimstore

Kimstore self-described as “The Philippines’ most trusted one-stop-shop for the latest in tech stuff”. Kimstore was founded by Kim Lato when she was still a Marketing Management student at De La Salle University in 2006.

According to Business News Philippines, Lato got the idea of setting up a gadget store in a digital platform by taking advantage of the now-defunct social sharing website Multiply to sell mobile phones and gadgets. It was in 2013 when Kimstore launched its own e-commerce site.

Kimstore focussed in providing Filipinos with the latest in mobile technology through its range of pro-consumer products and services. Gadgets like mobile phones, laptops, cameras, gaming consoles, tablet PCs, and various accessories are available in e-commerce.

Also Read: International giants drive Philippine e-commerce activity, but local brands also stand to benefit

Being early in the e-commerce game, Kimstore keeps itself up to date with social media engagement with today’s generation customers.

The 2011 Multiply Philippines’ Best Online Store awardee boasts a community of three million on Facebook, over 10,000 Twitter fanbase, and over 180,000 Instagram followers.

It’s no small feat to be up against Lazada and Shopee riding purely on a so-called “uniques selling proposition”. All five e-commerces is leading the local scene in its own category, but without adequate plans to scale in the coming years, it’s hard to maintain without eventually giving up and getting acquired by the big names.

It remains interesting to see which e-commerce will stick it out like Argomall and eventually survive, and which will merge to be able to continue operation or to completely pull out of the race, especially in with 34 per cent e-commerce sector growth forecasted for the next 10 years.
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