Day: October 23, 2019

Following the resignation of Nadiem Makarim as gojek CEO to join President Joko Widodo’s cabinet, on Monday gojek has announced the appointment of Co-Founder Kevin Aluwi and Group President Andre Sulistyo as Co-CEOs.

In addition to that, the company today announced the appointment of gojek commissioner Garibaldi Thohir as President Commissioner to lead the company’s non-executive board.

It also stated that Makarim will no longer retain any executive or advisory role in the company.

In a statement, the Co-CEOs explained that while Sulistyo is going to focus on corporate functions and management of capital allocation, international expansion as well as payments and financial services, Aluwi will focus on the product development, marketing, organisational development and the transportation and food delivery businesses.

“We would like to conclude by thanking the government of Indonesia for recognising the significance our business has had on society. We will respect the process the Palace has set out by not going into too much detail before tomorrow’s inauguration. We would also like to wish Nadiem the very best of luck as he embarks on this very important mission,” they wrote.

Also Read: Indonesian edtech startup Zenius reportedly raised US$20M from Northstar Group, onboarding ex-gojek COO as its new CEO

Who’s who

As a co-founder of gojek, Aluwi is said to have held significant leadership roles across product and functional teams within the organisation.

He has used his background in Business Intelligence to pioneer the use of data for decision-making across the business. He has also assembled deep technology expertise across the data, engineering and product teams, with a focus on enhancing the platform’s overall user experience.

Prior to his role at Gojek, he spent time at Zalora Indonesia, Merah Putih Incubator, and Salem Partners.

Meanwhile, Sulistyo has overseen over US$4 billion of the company’s fundraising, which attracted key investors such as Google, Tencent, Astra, KKR and Warburg Pincus. He has also laid the foundation for the company’s business strategy for long term sustainability.

Prior to joining Gojek, Andre was an Executive Director at private equity fund Northstar Group and was previously the Head of Corporate Finance at Delta Dunia Makmur.

gojek stated that it now has over two million driver-partners across Southeast Asia and over 400,000 merchants, all of whom together process over two billion transactions annually.

Also Read: Indonesian small lender bank Artos says no tie-up with gojek, focussing on going digital

Entering the new era

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has been inaugurated for his second term on Sunday, in which he had promised to reveal candidates for his new cabinet the next day.

On Monday, several leading public figures, including chief justice Mahfud MD, have been seen entering the Merdeka Palace, leading to speculation of their possible appointment as ministers.

Makarim was one of the public figures who was invited by the President to the Palace. Speaking to the press during the event, the startup founder then announced his resignation from gojek to accept a position in the cabinet.

Details about the new cabinet, including Makarim’s new designation, is expected to be announced on Wednesday.

The appointment of Makarim into the cabinet is seen as part of President Joko Widodo’s effort to elevate the country’s digital economy into new heights, as part of a recognition of the impact that tech innovation has to the society.

Rumours of the appointment of an Indonesian startup founder as minister had circulated for months, prior to the announcement on Monday.

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Image Credit: gojek

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Driving is not so much about trying to open up on the expressway as it is about the experience while driving— listening to music, holding a meeting, or catching up on current events.

Technology is taking more of the judgment work out of operating a motor vehicle and letting people go on autopilot. And that means automakers need to focus on the experience as much as the mechanics.

Digitally-enabled ride-hailing is set to become a key driver of growth and profitability in tomorrow’s auto markets, far outstripping the profitability potential of traditional car-selling to buyers.

Also read: Is Southeast Asia ready for cannabis startups?

And car owners increasingly are seeking vehicles with a lower carbon footprint such as electric vehicles, or EVs—when they do decide to buy cars instead of simply using ride-sharing services.

Taken together, these trends—autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification, and the sharing economy—are fuelling a huge potential market for mobility services, appealing to the gradual shift away from “vehicle ownership”.

Accenture research shows that by 2030, globally traditional automotive sales will grow marginally to USD$2.2 trillion. In contrast, revenues from mobility services will soar to over half of that at $1.3 trillion during the same period.

Many new services will come from businesses that are pushing forward into this exploding market, challenging the automotive incumbent with creative, user-centric solutions. One example is Puppy Auto, which design affairs, part of Accenture Industry X.0, will demonstrate at the Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific (ITAP) this week.

Using technology from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off, this autonomous electric vehicle allows real estate developers and home sellers to offer transportation-as-a-service to residents of large gated compounds found in Chinese cities. Residents can use the vehicle to cover the last mile from their doorsteps to the gate—and vice versa.

Next-generation mobility service like this will ultimately change the auto manufacturing work in Asia-Pacific. Assembly plants from Thailand to Japan will still be building cars, but they may have opportunities to become the producers of new components, as well.

It should also impact the thinking of the national car makers who are trying to enter the market with low-cost niche cars. From Vinfast, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s Vingroup, which is making its first made-in-Vietnam automobile model, a combustion engine hatchback to Indonesia’s low-cost green cars or the China manufacturers looking to enter the Southeast Asian market.

All need to address the evolving expectations of customers while spurring the creative juices of entrepreneurs. In Japan, where digitizing the nation is part of its vision of “Japan 5.0” utilising sensors in industry and manufacturing is high on the agenda. Sensor technology is also increasingly a key part of self-driving cars and could be an area of focus that Japanese manufacturers seize to lead.

Also read: 4 key points to consider when scaling in Southeast Asia

Connectivity options are endless – as people drive less in their cars or their shared-vehicles they will expect to do more while commuting. The scope for inventing new services is open to all, which should be a reason for optimism in Asia-Pacific entrepreneurs who could be pitching their ideas to national and multinational auto manufacturers.

While there are new opportunities and the world is Asia’s automakers’ and entrepreneurs’ oyster – that doesn’t mean it’s easy pickings. Out of the 199 automotive companies with annual revenues in excess of USD$1 billion we studied, only a quarter are succeeding at scaling digital innovation. We call them the “Automotive Champions.” They not only have successfully scaled more than half their digital POCs, but also earned higher than average returns on their digital investment (RODI).

What sets them apart?

Automotive Champions are spending more time and money on design updates and reviews that would have looked counterproductive in the past.

Nissan, for instance, is hiring a team of engineers and scientists at its digital innovation hub in India. The goal is to innovate user experience and interfaces through the adoption of digital technologies such as AI, cognitive analytics, and machine learning.

To succeed, companies may have to leave their comfort zones and focus on new skills, platforms, technology, partnerships and different types of leadership.

What does that mean in practice? Take partnerships for instance. Regular companies continue to be wary of competition. Automotive Champions, on the other hand, partner with competitors with complementary competencies to neutralize disruptive threats from new entrants.

Toyota is one such example. In 2019, the company partnered with Chinese automotive major BYD to jointly develop electric vehicles in China. The two automakers will work together on electric sedans and SUVs, while also partnering on developing electric batteries.

These new ways of thinking about what works in the auto industry shouldn’t be viewed as hurdles. They should be seen as opportunities for executives in the Asia Pacific to go back to the drawing board and say: What can we offer that’s different?

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Image Credit:  lee attwood

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Cambodia-based Raintree, a co-working space and creative entrepreneurs hub, partners with SmallWorld Venture, a venture capital firm, to launch the first flagship co-working space of SmallWorld Realty, on the premises of the Raintree building.

The partnership, an official statement read, aims to provide support to the startup community in Cambodia.

SmallWorld Venture is an equity-based investment firm that was co-founded in 2011 by Rithy Thul with a mission to create a shared professional workspace, to facilitate business minds to “explore aspirations while transforming their ideas into reality”.

Raintree claims to be the first creative office development hub for creatives, entrepreneurs, technologists, young people, and professionals alike by providing space to collaborate through the Core (open plan office space), the Canopy (loft event space), and the Crown (open rooftop terrace). It was opened in 2016 by co-founders Zoë Ng and Cambodian architect Hok Kang.

“We felt that bringing SmallWorld and Raintree together was the perfect opportunity to catalyse further growth in the tech community. As Raintree is always on the lookout for partnerships with industry leaders, to fuel growth in the Cambodian economy,” said Ng, Managing Director of Raintree.

Also Read: Report: Cambodia saw 140 per cent rise in tech startup investment in 2018

According to Thul, SmallWorld looks to bring together tenants whose founders have some track record and are more established within the Cambodian tech community. “This is a space where entrepreneurs and founders can bring prospective investors to appraise their operations, as well as like-minded individuals and groups they want to collaborate with,” Thul added.

Tenants at Raintree in Cambodia include Microsoft, Viber, Grab, Havas Socialyse, Havas Champagne, and Saturday Kids/Coding Cats.

In the past, Raintree has been awarded the Best Office Development – Cambodia at the 2017 International Property Awards, Asia Pacific.

SmallWorld Realty will be located in the prime commercial development of Phnom Penh boasting seven private offices and 42 shared desks.
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Singapore-based data-driven venture investment platform Hatcher+ today announced the completion of the 100th investment from its H2 fund and the closing of a US$5.5 million seed funding round.

Describing the funding round as oversubscribed, Hatcher+ stated that it plans to use the investment to further develop its predictive analytics engine and business process automation platform.

“Over the past year, we’ve invested in startups at a rate of three a week, which is a fairly unprecedented rate of investment. And to date, these investments have mainly been in Australia, Europe, India, and the US,” said John Sharp, Co-Founder and Partner at Hatcher+.

“Our goal now is to aggressively expand our investment activity into China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and the Middle East in partnership with leading advisory firms and co-investment partners, and to expand our deal analysis footprint through tie-ups with leading service providers to the VC industry,” he continued.

Also Read: Venture platform Hatcher+ partners with accelerator BlueChilli to co-invest in 240 global startups

Hatcher+ co-invests in early-stage startups alongside accelerators and early-stage investors such as Antler, Blue Chilli, Blue Startups, Fashion Technology Accelerator, Innova, Plug&Play, Quake Capital, Sente, Standia Ventures, and Thinqbate.

It builds a platform that includes an AI-based predictive analytics engine build from a multi-year study of over 500,000 events from the venture world. The platform also includes a business process automation platform designed to enable construction and management of large, highly-diversified venture portfolios.

“Our platform allows emerging VCs to quickly and easily access high-quality deal flow from around the world, use our advanced data analytics to build diversified portfolios, manage the portfolio and reporting, and access our network of VC investors, worldwide, for the purposes of syndication,” Sharp said.

The company said it has analysed over 10,500 business plans over the past year on behalf of dozens of accelerators and venture capital funds around the world.

Also Read: Taizo Son’s Mistletoe leads US$3.5M funding in venture investment platform Hatcher+

It is planning to raise its Series A funding round in “the near future.” Seventy per cent of the capital will be allocated towards further research and development of its platform.

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Image Credit: Hatcher+

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Sources: SoftBank to take over WeWork – CNBC

In the latest development of the WeWork IPO saga, SoftBank is said to be in “very advanced talks” to take over coworking space giant WeWork, CNBC reported.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report wrote that the deal will value WeWork between US$7.5 billion and US$8 billion on a pre-funding basis and could be announced as soon as Tuesday (local time).

It also revealed that SoftBank executive Marcelo Claure will be involved in the company’s management while former CEO Adam Neumann’s stake will fall to low double digits.

Uber remains committed to India despite no concrete plan – TechCrunch

Ride-hailing giant Uber announced that it has partnered with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to deploy parking spots and introduce new products at 210 subway stations in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida, TechCrunch reported.

The company is also rolling out a software update to its app to include real-time public transportation options.

Neither of the parties offered clarification on how many years it would take for these deployments to materialise.

A DMRC executive also stated that Uber was not an exclusive partner for the subway system.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news: Tokopedia projects to contribute US$12B to Indonesian economy; WeWork India to raise US$200M

China has the world’s largest number of unicorn startups – South China Morning Post

China is now home to the world’s largest number of unicorn startups, according to a report by South China Morning Post.

The inaugural Hurun Global Unicorn List 2019 stated that of the 494 tech unicorns founded in the 2000s that have not yet gone public as of June 30, China had 206 such firms to move ahead of the US with 203.

The world’s unicorns are based in only 24 countries around the world, spread around 118 cities and have a total value of US$1.7 trillion.

India ranked third with 21 unicorns, followed by the UK with 13 and Germany with seven.

PropertyGuru said to lean towards lower end of IPO range – Dealstreet Asia

Southeast Asian proptech company PropertyGuru is offering shares at the lower end of the A$3.70 (US$2.53) to A$4.50 (US$3.08) indicated range as it takes orders for its Australian initial public offering (IPO), according to a report by Dealstreet Asia that cited two anonymous sources.

A book message by UBS and Credit Suisse also says institutional demand is oversubscribed.

Ahead of the deal, PropertyGuru had indicated the stock would be priced to institutional shareholders to raise up to A$380.2 million (US$260 million).

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