Day: November 20, 2019

Banks in Malaysia are keeping up with some of the most popular global trends in fintech, with compliance and lending being the two components that they are looking to tap into, according to Alvin Gan, Executive Director of Management Consulting for IT-enabled Transformation at KPMG in Malaysia.

In addition to those two sectors, regulation tech (regtech) is also gaining popularity among banks.

However, the technology that gained popularity among banks varied depending on the functionalities that the bank wants to focus on.

” … In the lending space, some banks are hoping to use Artificial Intelligence for quicker search functions. Alternative data scoring is also something financial players are looking at,” Gan explained as cited in the e27 Malaysia Fintech Report 2019.

Between 2015 and 2016, banks in Malaysia began its efforts to tap into the fintech community by running incubation programmes or hosting hackathons.

Also Read: Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPD Bank) holds the 3rd Global Fintech Competition in Singapore, stating a favorable fintech ecosystem

However, the report stated that as the fintech industry grew, banks “started worrying.”

“Regulatory uncertainty, pressure on margins, loss of market share and increased customer churn rate, and information security and privacy risks were some of their major concerns,” it detailed.

The report further explained that banks gradually realised that fintech can be a source of advantage and opportunity if played right. They started adopting various financial technologies to enhance their products and customer experience to the point where, today, all leading banks in Malaysia have embraced fintech.

Some of the most notable collaborations between banks and fintech startups in the country included Maybank and Grab, HongLeong Bank and WeChat as well as Kuwait Finance House and MoneyMatch.

To learn more details about fintech in Malaysia, including its history and leading companies, feel free to check out the e27 Malaysia Fintech Report 2019.

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Creating a website is not easy and takes lots of time, efforts and strategic planning.

However, if you are still not getting the desired flow of having continuous visitors, it is obvious to feel disheartened.

As a business owner, nothing could be worse than losing your visitors due to factors you can control. So, what are those reasons that make people leave your website? 

Do not be surprised if it is happening on your new website. Most people do not get it right for the first time that is bothering your visitors. As a business owner, our ultimate goal is to have a website that attracts more and more visitors and make them retain to our site. Once we have visitors, it is up to us how to retain them.  

Therefore here we have listed a few reasons why people are leaving your website. Let’s have a look:

1. Poor website design: This is the most common but foremost reason that makes people leave our website. The poor design will not only damage the quality of our site but also reflects our unprofessionalism towards our customers.

So, keep in mind that the design of the website should match our business message and capable enough to provide desired information in an eye-pleasing way.

2. Slow-loading website: Online visitors generally do not have to wait for loading our website to get the necessary information. If our website loads slowly, they would leave our website instead of waiting and search for another. The most common reasons for heavy websites are using heavy graphics and low bandwidth. So, make sure it loads faster.

3. Auto-playing videos: You often notice a sudden sound of a video playing automatically on a page when you are on a site. Your first reaction is to close the page immediately as you do not want to watch it.

As per Ph.D. assignment help, most users have the same reaction when they are forced to watch a video instead of providing the information they are looking for. So, you should be careful about these auto-playing videos.

4. Too many pop-ups: Though pop-ups are the great ways for conversions, it does not mean that you put them everywhere on your site. They annoy and irritate the visitors so use them merely as much as possible. Otherwise, the readers are likely to move away and never want to come again.  

5. Irrelevant content: Most of the visitors get on your sites by searching a keyword on Google and when they do not find necessary and desired information after landing your site, they just close the tab and move on.

The better idea is to post relevant and informative content on your site including the right keywords.

Wrapping up

Websites are the first face of your company and obviously, we do not want to lose them. So, pay attention to these reasons and start working on them immediately.

It is only through websites through which we can reach our maximum users and tell users more about you as a company effectively. 

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

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

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Coda Payments raises more than US$20 million – Press Release

Singapore-headquartered fintech company Coda Payments today announced that it has raised a more than US$20 million funding round led by Apis Partners, a private equity asset manager that backs growth-stage financial services and financial infrastructure businesses in Asia and Africa.

As part of this transaction, Apis and one of Coda’s existing angel investors Toivo Annus acquired shares from several of Coda’s seed-stage investors.

“We are delighted to partner with the Apis team, whose deep knowledge of the payments landscape in emerging markets will be invaluable as we grow our geographic footprint and product range to better meet the needs of our clients,” Coda Payments CEO Philippe Limes said in a press statement.

Since it began processing transactions in 2013, Coda said that it has tripled the total value of payments that it processes every year on average; customers now initiate up to 3.6 million transactions/day on Coda’s platform.

The company helps Tencent, Garena, Netflix, and other publishers monetise games and other digital content in more than twenty emerging markets.

Hong Kong-based Volt14 raises US$955K – Press Release

Hong Kong-based battery nanomaterial startup Volt14 today announced an S$1.3 million (US$955,000) seed funding round led by 500 Startups, HKSTP Ventures and Entrepreneur First.

The startup develops a novel material to replace existing graphite in Li-ion batteries, which aims to increase the energy stored in the cells by up to 70 per cent.

Since Li-ion batteries are used in phones, laptops and electric cars, the startup said that it effectively results in cars or smartphones having 60-80 per cent additional power stored after every full charge.

Volt14 plans to use the funding to further refine their material for consistent mass-production, and to support the production trials they have with battery cell manufacturers in the pipeline.

Also Read: Coda Payments announces new round of funding from IMJ Investment Partners and others

Uber’s chief product officer steps down – TechCrunch

Uber Chief Product Officer Manik Gupta announced that he is leaving the company, with his last day being December 13, TechCrunch reported.

His resignation was announced in a note to the company’s product team.

Gupta later spoke to TechCrunch that he felt “now is a good time” for him to take a break to be with his family before embarking on a new plan.

NIUM expands to Brazil with new partnership – Press Release

NIUM, the digital cross-border payments platform formerly known as InstaREM, today announced a partnership with Brazillian foreign exchange broker Frente Corretora de Câmbio that marks its entry to the Latin American market.

To start with, NIUM will conduct outbound money transfers to the US for Frente’s clients and will extend its services to other countries including Japan, Australia, and Canada soon.

Initially, the partnership will serve retail customers, and the service will be extended to the corporate and SME customers in the near future.

“Brazil is an important market for NIUM, and with Frente partnership, we are looking to expand our presence in Latin America,” said Prajit Nanu, co-founder and CEO of NIUM.

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Want to learn more about fintech in Malaysia? Get the e27 Malaysia Fintech Ecosystem Report 2019 here.

 

Image Credit: Swapnil Bapat on Unsplash

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We’ve known and used Spotify, Apple Music, Tencent-owned JOOX, and its fellow music services like Deezer and others. For music enthusiasts, Shazam -the app that also allows listeners to quickly find out what song is being played and add it into their playlist- may even come to play.

Just recently, we welcome YouTube Music from the giant video streaming to dedicate the platform for the music universe. Albeit being hailed as one of the hardest industries to break into, technology instantly paves out new ways for artists and music listeners to be involved in the sector.

According to We Be Social and Hootsuite 2018 digital report, consumers worldwide spent US$11.2 billion on digital music streaming in 2017.

In an article by The Asean Post, it is stated that the region has seen diverse music streaming apps due to the higher Internet penetration in Southeast Asia.

The same We Be Social and Hootsuite digital report shows that 81 per cent of Southeast Asia’s population uses a broadband mobile connection. Along with the increase in disposable income, people can pay more for entertainment which has also led to the growth of streaming services.

According to the 2016’s McKinsey report, JOOX accounts for more than 50 percent of all music streaming app downloads in Asian markets with over 50 million downloads. The article by The Asean Post further noted that JOOX’s localised content approach may play out well for Southeast Asian listeners, with its music curation based on its users and their locations.

When it comes to understanding its local players and listeners in the national music scene, these startups can offer something that’s more local-centric than the behemoths that try to penetrate the region.

Musiio, Singapore

Musiio is a music tech startup that uses AI to “classify any music track according to its features and patterns, which makes it easier to discover new tracks”.

With how Musiio works, new music tracks by different artists can get an equal opportunity to be heard. In an article published by KrAsia, the Entrepreneur First (EF) graduate claims that it offers a more efficient and timely tech-driven approach to be able to reduce the time required to plow through 100,000 music tracks to 5 seconds.

Also Read: Paktor’s parent M17 Group acquires MeMe Live, to expand its footprint in live-streaming space in Asia

In the past, Musiio has raised US$1 million in a seed funding round, with Wavemaker Partners and Exponential Creativity Ventures among the investors in the round. TechCrunch said it is the first venture capital-backed music AI startup in Southeast Asia.

Musiio’s co-founder Hazel Savage said that the company’s first big client is a Creative Commons-like free music site, Free Music Archive. Musiio helps to surface tracks that might otherwise remain undiscovered.

Fungjai, Thailand

According to The Asean Post’s article mentioning the Thai startup, Fungjai tries to fill in the gap that’s left open by how Spotify and Apple Music’s algorithms mainly target mainstream and international artists, dismissing local undiscovered artists.

In an article by KrAsia, Fungjai started off with the founder’s interest in small bands that can only go so far in digital media and bug music streaming platforms. The founder, Sarun Pinyarat, said to BK Asia City publication that Fungjai is trying to build a music community through facilitating things like Hed-Sod concerts and seminars.

Seeing how streaming service can become a solution for small artists, Fungjai was born with the very purpose.

“We are sure that others would see the value of being able to stream quality Thai music, so we kept at it,” said Pinyarat.

As of now, Fungjai is 100 per cent free of charge. Fungjai states that in the future, it might help with crowdfunding for rising artists.

KHhits, Cambodia

KHhits is a Cambodian startup with little to no elaborate presence online, but it has made names in startup community.

First, it was among the startups competing locally in Cambodia to represent the country regionally in TOP100 Echelon Asia Summit last year.

Second, it was the runner up in co-working space network Outpost’s startup sponsorship competition. It won a prize in a free co-working space for three months.

According to Geeks in Cambodia’s article, the startup consists of 6 people that aims to establish a ranking chart for Cambodian music using data mining technology. The company plans to launch a platform for fans to enjoy the music from major music corporations with the intent of collecting valuable information about fans’ opinions, music trends, demographics, and other kinds of data for the Cambodian market.

Me-Lody, Indonesia

Indonesian startup Me-Lody tries to leverage on the cover songs business and help cover artists to get a place in the music industry.

The app-based startup gambles on providing a launchpad for cover artists to help them get discovered by music labels and producers. Producers can cut the need to hold an off-air audition using the app.

As of now, the app is only available for Android.

NhacCuaTui (NCT), Vietnam

Self-described as the largest music site in Vietnam, NhacCuaTui which means “my music”, already amassed around 10 million monthly users. The startup is headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, headed by Nhan The Luan as president and CEO.

In 2012, Tech In Asia reported that the company received an investment with undisclosed terms from CyberAgent Ventures. It also claimed to have signed a profit-sharing agreement with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to allow them to stream to users’ copyrighted audio and video content from both labels.

Pleng, Cambodia

Pleng offers online and offline access to more than 1 million Cambodian and international songs using technology from Hungama, India’s leading digital entertainment company. Pleng is known to be the revamped version of Smart Axiata’s Smart Music app.

Also Read: Public, private-owned Cool Japan Fund invests US$50M in gojek, keep going despite reported loss

Smart Axiata claimed to be the first to launch a music streaming app in the Kingdom, promoting local artists and organising many international concerts, as Thomas Hundt, Chief Executive Officer of Smart Axiata told Geeks in Cambodia.

Using Pleng, Cambodian artists will receive royalties for their songs.

Volup, Indonesia

Indonesia, along with Thailand, is among the top three of the most active music streamers in the region. Riding on the trend, Indonesian local streaming service Volup tries to offer internet radio, on-demand music, full track download, and video channel for music enthusiasts.

Volup’s mastermind is Reza Ario Bimo, who’s a co-founder of the company and is known to be a drummer of a notable local band, as Selular.id’s 2015’s article reported.

According to Bimo, Volup differs from the other streaming service because it ensures that every digital music on its app coming from the correct sources, allowing both the creators and consumers getting quality music.

“We have a transparent, real-time, online reporting system where the music rights owner gets access to monitor how many times their works are being streamed, rented, or purchased,” said Bimo.

As far as the industry goes into the region, Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, and other giants remain reigning. An opinion piece published in e27 shared that piracy and lack of awareness create a society that is still yet to see the importance of paying for the music they listen to.

On the other hand, the reach of technology has made the video and music platforms a breeding ground for aspiring musicians hoping to break into the industry. The Asean Post noted that with how indie and underground bands rarely expand outside their borders, the market is wide open for regional and local music streaming platforms to onboard more users and present them with more audiences.

In the meantime, there’s no absolute answer for how these local music startups’ battle plan will keep them afloat against the big names, other than for their knowledge of the local scene.

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Want to learn more about fintech in Malaysia? Get the e27 Malaysia Fintech Ecosystem Report 2019 here.

Image Credit: Omar Prestwich on Unsplash

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“I don’t have a degree in IT,” admits Vincent Quah, a regional head at Amazon Web Services. During his tenure at university, he studied microbiology. 

Today, he works for one of the world’s top cloud computing companies. So how did he make the jump?

This event’s attendees are not only invested in tech – they’re invested in employment in general, to the effect of packing a convention hall on a Saturday afternoon to figure out how to get ahead at LIT ASEAN Careers, an event co-organised by Young NTUC and Temasek Foundation. The event is designed to help professionals, some still in school, to look beyond their borders to the region at a time when the world shifts more and more toward globalization.

Singapore has a reputation for being an advantageous place to do business is nothing new. However, as globalization continues to shift the way that the workforce operates, how can job seekers maximize their opportunities and knowledge? 

The answer poses several voices at the event, lies with an exchange – sending Singapore’s already-strong talent pool overseas to work in diverse environments to contribute to the growth of the region. The hope is that they’ll come back with stories and newfound experiences on cultures and economies to inspire others.

Also Read: The case of e-wallets: which e-payment apps do Singaporeans use the most?

But even as a broad range of ASEAN-related career topics arise – infrastructure and coal in Indonesia, textiles in Thailand, and machinery in Vietnam – the conversation returns to tech: how fresh graduates can break into it, how to grow a career in it, and how to work specifically within the ASEAN region, where successful tech companies tend to be able to both hyper-localize and execute business plans on a regional level.

The good news is that stories like Vincent’s aren’t uncommon in the tech world, which changes so quickly that employees often pick up skills on the job, rather than in the classroom. 

For Lien Choong Luen, general manager of Go-Jek Singapore, his position as country head at the regional unicorn followed a career in the army that took him on different missions around the world.  

“It requires you to work hard and try new things,” he says. At the end of the day, that would be enough translatable experience to propel him into the tech world.

Here, Choong Luen shares his experience from an interview he had in China for an internship, where he had to answer three questions: 

1. Why should I choose you instead of someone else?

2. What is your industry or market expertise?

3. What is your long-term commitment? 

It’s not that the job required exact answers for these questions, Choong Luen details, but it’s a useful framework around which to craft your approach to job hunting and interviews.

The industry needs people of all backgrounds in these areas that Lien Choong names as the areas where talent can make the most impact right now.

1. Data science

As globalization pushes companies to compete on larger and larger playing fields, being able to draw out stories and actionable insights from giant sets of data – customer data, lifestyle data, etc – has become a necessity. 

While data science degrees are available from universities, the world of data requires those working in it to keep on their toes and continue learning, as the field develops new applications every few months that stretch even into traditional industries like accounting. The field is growing rapidly within tech, and it requires talent globally.

Also Read:  6 effortless ways to grow your small business through social media

Data science is a field that can require its employees to have skillsets ranging from higher mathematics, Python coding, or the ability to tell stories with numbers.

2. Cybersecurity, trust, and safety

Depending on the company, gaining users’ trust on an app can look like stellar customer service skills or legal know-how when it comes to dealing with law compliance across Southeast Asian countries with slightly different regulations around national safety and a developing regional approach to privacy. 

Building customers’ trust with a brand, especially one that handles sensitive information like their credit card numbers, requires more than just developers. It requires marketers who know what tools to use to find their audiences and programmers who know how to work with teams – from customer service to lawyers.

That means that this is a field that has a wide range of opportunities. Those looking to break into cybersecurity teams can look to hone their developer skills for systems design or protection. 

However, this is also a field that requires communication – within companies, with customers, and with company policymakers – to help communicate that trust and move tech companies forward.

3. Leadership

Not every leader in tech has a background as adventurous as Choong Luen’s, or one that involves a pivot like Vincent’s. However, their careers are testaments to the number of different experiences needed to take tech companies to the next level. 

Also Read:  Great business leaders challenge their employees all the time, and on-the-job experiences can be a powerful way to master new things

But how does that translate into leadership? When one needs to lead a cross-discipline team where talent may span from product development to testing to developing, what kind of experience does that manager need to bring to the table?

Tech leadership is a field where several different backgrounds can apply – just be ready to talk about how and why your certain skills and experience apply to management in the interview.

Finding the right path is up to you

Many roads lead to tech, but it’s up to job seekers to steer themselves moving forward. When in doubt, take the harder choice, which often results in more growth. 

“Seek the path of most resistance as you are learning, and assume the greatest risk that is possible for you, given that you are young. There is no sort of perfect market opportunity. Within each market, find one that you love, and go for it,” Choong Luen concludes.

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

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or our e27 contributor Facebook page here.

Image Credit:  Kiyun Lee

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