China’s economy, especially the consumer internet segment, is slowing down, prompting investors to look for opportunities in Southeast Asia and India, according to Renchuan Chen, Vice President of TH Capital, a boutique investment firm which also makes startup investments occasionally.

“The whole Chinese economy, especially the consumer internet segment, is sort of slowing down. While the mobile penetration rate in the country is relatively high, it has started to drop when compared to the fast growth in emerging markets. We can hardly find many great opportunities in the consumer internet segment in China,” he said. “Not many investors are looking to back consumer internet startups anymore. They are now shifting their attention to industrial internet.”

The logic is quite reasonable, according to Chen. There are fewer opportunities in the consumer segment because of the dividend of the population. Plus, the overall industrial internet segment in China is under-developed. It is just five to 10 per cent, compared with 50 per cent in the US.

Also Read: Fashion tech startup Zilingo acquires software company nCinga Innovations for US$15.5M in cash, stock deal

“If you look at the industrial internet segment, it’s much more underdeveloped compared to the consumer internet. We are most developed or one of the most developed consumer internet economies in terms of e-commerce penetration, third-party mobile pay penetration and online population penetration. But we’re one of the least developed industrial internet economies,” he elaborated.

While similar trends are also happening in Southeast Asia and India, their TMT (tech, media and telecom) infrastructure is still in the early stages of development, which offers massive opportunities.

“If you look at Indonesia and Vietnam, these two countries have registered dramatic improvement in the past three to four years. The overall underlying GDP or economic development in these countries are growing fast, but there is still room for improvement. This presents great opportunities to investors,” he remarked.

Talking about the overall PE/VC investments in China, he said in 2018, it was US$200 billion, but this year, it dropped significantly to less than US$100 billion. True that the overall PE/VC investments were relatively lower in emerging markets (Southeast Asia, India, South America, East Europe, the Middle East and Africa) also; in 2018, the total volume was only one-seventh or one-fifth of China. However, because China has dropped to half, those markets are growing, he said.

TH Capital, which expanded to India and Southeast Asia in late 2018, is bullish about these fast-growing markets. In his view, Southeast Asia is a group of developing countries with high-density population and social structure like China. Their TMT is growing fast.

He rejected the notion that there is a lack of supply in terms of good startups for investors to invest in India. According to him, the absolute volume for the entrepreneurs in India is perhaps less, compared with China. But because of the stable economic growth, the supply of good entrepreneurs is booming. It is developing in much faster speed as compared to China and even compared to Southeast Asia, he said.

Also Read: A multi-disciplinary approach to product development requires collaboration

“When we came to India for the first time early this year, we talked to a data-driven early-stage investor. They had a database of about 1,000 to 2,000 SaaS entrepreneurs back then,” he noted. “When we came to India after six to seven months again, the total number had risen to 10,000 to 12,000. So it is booming and at a swift pace, supported by the TMT infrastructure. A lot of diversified investors are looking into this market right now. Given China’s stagnant consumer internet segment, there is a lack in China, not India,” according to Chen.

Since its launch in 2012, TH Capital has served 40-plus unicorns in China and helped 100-plus startups to raise more than US$15 billion in the primary market.

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Image Credit: TH Capital

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Access to funding and financial freedom are two of the most critical barriers that businesses fail to hurdle over, especially during their first few years in the market. When it comes time to expand, this hindrance can prove even more obstructive as lack of funding and investment in your business guarantees an untimely downfall. With more startups coming into the picture every day, it is essential to stand out and never limit yourself to a single locality.

Making the move abroad is a huge decision, but there are myriad ways to facilitate this transition and ensure further growth for your venture. After deciding on the foreign country in which you would like to market yourself, one of the first steps will be establishing a remote team of interpreters and business professionals to convey your message and offer your products on the foreign market.

Furthermore, in order to increase investment flow into your business, you must ensure that you are familiar with the rules of the foreign country in question. It would perhaps be wise to hire legal counsel and accounting experts to this effect. If your documents are not in order or foreign investors see that you are not complying with the relevant country’s laws, they will not take the risk of investing.

Lastly, seeking entrepreneur grant programmes (which are often equity-free and may even provide visas) both at home or abroad can give your company the boost it needs to succeed abroad while simultaneously aiding the local market and adding diversity to a previously unfamiliar culture.

Marketing team with interpreters

Hiring interpreters is paramount to any business venture taking their products and/or services to a foreign country where a different language is spoken. However, it should be considered that hiring interpreters specialising in marketing and business language could have a generous impact on your marketing capacity abroad.

Also Read: Top 6 newsmakers of 2019 in the startup world in Southeast Asia

Interpreting services will be critical to enabling clear communication of your company’s goals, message, and the products and services you provide. If this information cannot be provided to the general public in a language they fully understand, they will show no major interest. This also goes for investors and grant-providers abroad, which will likely be a priority for you in the first few years of your startup.

The power of language and marketing should not be underestimated as it will determine whether the customer or foreign investor will have their interest piqued by your overall business campaign.

Familiarise with foreign regulations and legal requirements

To put it plainly, a foreign investor will not provide financial support if they clearly see that your business venture abroad is unorganised or that you are not complying with local laws and regulations regarding business and marketing in the foreign country in question.

For this reason, it is not uncommon for businesses making the move abroad to hire legal counsel in the foreign country they wish to operate to ensure that their company does not cross any legal boundaries. When working between different currencies in an unfamiliar environment outside your native country, you must also consider the importance of accounting and bookkeeping to act as a safeguard in the case of any unforeseen financial dispute.

The importance of hiring legal counsel and accountants abroad is coupled with the overwhelming documentation and regulated requirements demanded by the regional justice systems. For example, every business must comply with employment regulations (including benefits, wages, fair labour laws, etcetera), banking and tax regulations, structural and organisational regulations, as well as norms that tend to be fairly consistent in the relevant region.

Also Read: Startups need to collaborate in order to build decentralised products that make an impact

Documentation is also key to maintaining a high standard of organisation and will help keep track of everything from prices to products to competition and more.

Entrepreneur grant programmes

Finding entrepreneur grant programmes abroad is not nearly as difficult as it may seem at first glance and can actually serve as the lifeline of your company’s success abroad. Such programmes can be found almost worldwide and vary in their levels of funding and support. To give you an idea of the global nature of these programmes, here is a shortlist of current entrepreneur grant programmes offering aid to startups taking their business abroad:

• SEED Brazil
• Colombia Startup
• French Tech Ticket
• Israel-Michigan Autonomous Technologies Collaboration Program
• Start-up Chile
• Start-up Mexico
• Start-up Peru
• Sirius Programme (UK)
• Arch Grants (US)

This is just to name a few, but there are thousands of these programnes present throughout major countries in the world, each catering to different business types, investment requirements, support systems, etcetera. This is an often-favourable option because these schemes, which are typically government-funded, tend to be equity-free and can even help guide you through the process of obtaining a visa in order to commence operations abroad.

Not only are you boosting the local economy by means of introducing your startup to the new region, but you are receiving free funding to do so! This allows you to live and work in a new, unique culture without the stress of having to worry about going under due to a lack of funding.

Also Read: How startups in APAC are tackling the last mile in-destination

As long as you properly market yourself and seek out the right help abroad, your startup will thrive and give the local economy of the foreign country you selected a major boost. Such a move also adds a new cultural element to the region and introduces new levels of diversity. The importance of taking your business abroad cannot be stressed enough and, through the right amount of planning, anybody can do it with success.

By breaking the language and cultural barriers, hiring competent teams everywhere you operate, and seeking beneficial opportunities both at home and abroad—such as the aforementioned entrepreneur grant programmes—you can be sure that you will leave a lasting impact on the new region while creating meaningful impressions and connections along the way.

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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 like e27 Facebook page here.

Image credit: Pixabay

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Over the past few years, Southeast Asia has continued to grow and advance digitally. In 2017, a study found that there 339.2 million internet users and 305.9 million active social media users, with more than 200 million of those people using their mobile devices to browse social media networks.

Unlike in the US, internet access is not something that was always so readily available. But with more than half of Southeast Asia’s population using the internet, it is no surprise that users have quickly picked up on social media platforms.

With continued growth in digital connectivity, it is expected that more and more people will begin to use and invest in social media tech in the region. Here’s what you need to know about social media tech in Southeast Asia.

A boom in influencer marketing

For years now, influencer marketing has experienced a huge uptick in popularity. These days, companies are always looking for the latest and greatest ways to best market their brand and image. In the US, influencer marketing has experienced amazing success, and the same stands true in Southeast Asia.

With influencer marketing, brands are able to depend on modern-day word-of-mouth in order to increase brand recognition, reach, and visibility as ways to drive more interest and sales.

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

According to a survey conducted by PwC Global Insights, social media is the top factor that consumers consider both online and off. In fact, the survey found that more than half of Malaysian consumers reported being influenced by social media networks.

So what does this mean for you? If you are a brand on Instagram or some other social media platform, you’ll want to place a heavy emphasis on not only getting Instagram followers and building a community but also identifying a well-known name in your industry that can serve as an influencer.

Mobile connectivity is on the rise

In terms of mobile social media use, Southeast Asia is ranked third worldwide. In fact, there are more than 376 million people that access social media using their mobile devices on a routine basis.

Just as mobile usage has become very popular in the US, it has become common in Southeast Asia for similar reasons, including:

• Ability to interact with content
• Instant and convenient online shopping
• Access to more information and connections

As more and more people become connected, it is expected that the middle class will grow and get stronger, which paves the way for new businesses that look to social media and mobile connectivity as a way to marketing and engage with consumers.

Also Read: Ex-Facebook execs think social media is destroying society, but is it really?

Facebook is extremely popular

More than 60 per cent of Southeast Asia’s population is active on social media, a number that has steadily increased over the years. While people in the region use many social media platforms, Facebook is one of the most popular.

In fact, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Taiwan make the network’s top ten largest advertising audiences. With almost 98 per cent of its population aged 13 and above, social media sites such as Facebook have become the goldmines of social media, allowing brands to reach millions of users on a regular basis.

For businesses, this means that Facebook should be the first platform to use as a way to digitally market your brand in Southeast Asia.

… and so are other social networks

While it’s not uncommon for people in Southeast Asia to use Facebook, Instagram, and other well-known social media platforms, the region also has a host of its own networks.

For example, people also use platforms such as WeChat, Sina Weibo, and others to stay connected and in the know. WeChat is the most popular social media network in China, serving more than one billion monthly active users.

Sina Weibo works very similar to Twitter in that users can share short messages, use hashtags, tag people, comment on posts, and even create polls.

Also Read: Developing your brand voice on social media: 5 mistakes to avoid

Online regulation is real

As the online space in Southeast Asia continues to grow, governments in the region have quickly learned that regulation is a must. There are all sorts of laws that have been passed in order to provide an online environment that promotes social harmony and respect for the government.

For example, there are anti-fake news laws as well as laws that allow the geo-blocking of certain platforms and apps in many of the Southeast Asia countries.

While these laws are designed to keep citizens safe, there are opponents of many of these laws, citing free speech and overly broad legislation that is open to interpretation by those enforcing said rules.

Similar challenges

For years there’s been an ongoing debate as to whether or not social media is more helpful than it is harmful. Have you ever looked at a photo on Instagram or Facebook and wish that you had that person’s life? You are not alone.

Many people use social media as a way to share an insight into their enviable lifestyles that seem to be nothing short of perfect. And while others don’t let lavish photos both them, studies have found that for some, these posts can have a damaging effect.

Indonesian researchers found that teenagers and young adults often feel resentment towards their richer friends after seeing their posts on social media. In a region where there is dramatic inequality, many agree that social media can lead to jealousy, bitterness, and envy.

Also Read: 5 ways to monetise social media technology for startup success

Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asian have a growing consumer class, but this class is a stark contrast between those who are unemployed or have less education.

Whether you are an everyday consumer or the owner of an upcoming business, it pays to know what is going on in the world around you. While you may be aware of how people in your country use and embrace social media tech, it is eye-opening to see the changes and statistics in other places throughout the world.

With Southeast Asian on the up-and-up, keep your eye on this region to see what newest social media tech innovations come about in the next few years.

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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 like e27 Facebook page here.

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We tend to say that about the year, that is about to end. But this time, we mean it when we say that 2019 is game-changing for the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem for things will never be the same after this.

There are at least two major reasons why this happened, which led us to decide to publish this article as a series.

Today, we are going to start by talking about money– and burning them.

Watching money goes up in flame

Years ago, when I was a young Padawan, I published an interview with two ride-hailing giants in the region: Grab and gojek. In the article, representatives of the two companies talked about subsidising their marketing and promotional efforts.

This is a move that remains popular among the major tech startups in Indonesia. Walk into a typical mall in Jakarta and you will see all sorts of cashback offers by leading e-payment providers, including OVO and GoPay. In some cases, the cashback can even go as breathtakingly high as more than 50 per cent.

Also Read: Tech powerhouse taps into the Southeast Asian ecosystem’s pool of startups

Indonesia is not the only place where burning cash for customer acquisition is common. Even top-of-mind US-based companies such as Uber and Airbnb have been known for burning cash; they are considered “generously rewarded” in this article by Inc as their market share and revenue also grow with every cent they burned.

But in the middle of the year, something exploded. WeWork and its failure to launch an IPO had led investors to be more critical of overvalued tech startups. Under this scrutiny, there is a growing pressure for startups to justify their large valuation. Perhaps for once in their life, startups are pressured to act like a ‘real’ business.

Closer home, the nail in the coffin hit when Mochtar Riady –the founder of OVO-backer Lippo Group– publicly commented about the company’s money-burning habit.

It was interesting to see how these turn of events led to changes in such a quick time. Or possibly, the startup community has long seen this coming and decided that it was now time to take action.

Profitability, which was once seen as a good-to-have bonus, is now the name of the game.

Also Read: How Southeast Asia can benefit from a new wave of Russian innovation

Recently, Indonesian e-commerce giant Bukalapak announced that Co-Founder and CEO Achmad Zaky is stepping down from his position. As a replacement, instead of promoting someone from within the company, Bukalapak appointed Rachmat Kaimuddin, who had a strong background in banking and business consultancy. We see this move as part of its effort to promote stronger financial management and most likely, profitability.

Carsome, who just announced a US$50 million Series C, also publicly declared its goal to be “operationally profitable” by the end of next year.

Another move towards profitability had become apparent since the end of 2018, particularly from the side of the investors. Newly launched venture capital (VC) firm Kinesys Group puts emphasis on having a path towards sustainability for its portfolio companies.

VC firms are investing in non-tech industries that have been known to have a more certain path towards sustainability such as F&B or hospitality, adding variety to their portfolio. In addition to growing their businesses, these F&B and hospitality companies are also looking forward to digitising their operations.

But I’m fundraising!

Yes, yes. We get how this can be scary for those who are in the process of fundraising. It is challenging enough to prove to potential investors that there is indeed a demand for your product; let alone having to show them how you can be profitable within a period of time.

So, how will this affect fundraising in 2020?

Our guess is that the scrutiny will be harder for companies that are in the later stage.

Basically, when considering a potential investment, VC firms are looking at different points between early-stage and later-stage startups. While investors tend to focus on the potentials and opportunities with early-stage startups, they would put more consideration on the growth aspect for later-stage startups. Yes, you have a product and people are using it.

But how fast is your growth? Any plans to expand to a new vertical or geographical region? Is there any sign of profitability? How can we work together to move this forward?

If anything, as confirmed by leading investors such as Vertex Holdings in this interview with e27, the early-stage investment will remain a “robust” asset class for next year.

In another interview with e27, the corporate VC arm of Salim Group also confirmed their preference for early-stage startups, which is seen as being more malleable or coachable.

If you are fundraising for a later-stage startup, this prediction is not meant to discourage you. In fact, these changes in the ecosystem are a trigger for startups to build a stronger, self-sustaining business.

In the end, we all want to see the companies that we are building thrive.

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Image Credit: Florian Wehde on Unsplash

The post Why 2019 is a game-changing year for Southeast Asian startup ecosystem – Part 1 appeared first on e27.

Asia Pacific’s largest and fastest-growing companies talk about how NetSuite’s integrated platform helped them expand quickly across continents and plan roll-outs efficiently.

Business, whether SMEs, mid-market, or large public-listed corporations, have faced the same challenges when expanding and scaling since time immemorial: hiring new teams, working around different regulatory environments, understanding different cultures and languages, and ensuring the financing can support all these new changes.

With the advent of Big Data and digital transformation, a new wrinkle has been added to the mix: putting all these data together and making sense of it.

In the digital age, expansion is now not a matter of years, but weeks or even months. NetSuite, the world’s first cloud computing software company, has been through that same journey of expansion with over 18,000 customers globally since it was founded in 1998.

Its suite of business software solutions on the cloud include enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), professional services automation (PSA), and e-commerce solutions.

Traversing countries, currencies

With cross-border expansion comes not just different cultures, but also costing in different currencies and taking into account different tax and regulatory regimes. Manila-based Jollibee Foods took on the Chinese market in 2009. The food chain brought in NetSuite OneWorld to run multiple subsidiaries and multiple currencies in one system.

NetSuite OneWorld gave Jollibee a fast and cost-effective way to automate reporting, perform real-time analytics, conduct audit trail analysis, operate an international supply chain, consolidate international financials, and enforce corporate governance standards in its subsidiaries and divisions.

Before rolling out NetSuite OneWorld in China, Jollibee first ran the solution in Vietnam — complete rollout for 10 stores took only two months. China was a go: NetSuite OneWorld was implemented across all 265 Jollibee stores in China.

The solution’s multi-language support allowed the China team to access systems in Chinese while global management saw the same information in English. Online supply ordering also helped cut store restocking costs, and shave order times from three days to one.

Another NetSuite OneWorld user is Singapore-based online property portal PropertyGuru, which leveraged the solution to accelerate its expansion across Asia Pacific. Replacing MYOB, Salesforce and numerous Excel spreadsheets, NetSuite OneWorld was deployed in 2012 to support financials, revenue recognition, subsidiary management, workflows to manage lead orders to cash and tax calculations across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

PropertyGuru co-founder and managing director Jani Rautiainen said: “We needed a solution that would scale with us and manage our business operations across multiple countries. NetSuite OneWorld allows us to consolidate financials from four different currencies in real-time, which has given us unprecedented insight into our operations, wherever and whenever we need it.”

Since deploying NetSuite OneWorld, PropertyGuru has tripled revenues and staff headcount across the region. At the same time, the solution has helped PropertyGuru slash the time it takes for month-end close reconciliation from over a month to an average of 10 days.

It also made the revenue recognition more efficient which resulted in a tripling of the portal’s online advertising revenue. NetSuite OneWorld’s audit and compliance reporting feature provides an always-on audit trail as well as built-in analytics and enhanced compliance support, to support the group’s compliance across all its markets.

Streamlining product rollouts

Phillipine media conglomerate ABS-CBN is a global behemoth with services as wide-ranging as content broadcasted to various platforms, cargo, money remittance, retail and telecommunications.

The group’s legacy systems were a patchwork of software applications across multiple operating regions (US, Canada, Middle East, Europe, Japan, Australia, and Asia Pacific), which hindered efficiency and growth, requiring constant and costly IT maintenance.

Reconciling all that data across different business divisions and markets led ABS-CBN to adopt a flexible, efficient two-tier NetSuite ERP model with integrated reporting into parent company’s SAP instance. This enabled greater speed and flexibility in rolling out different products whilst empowering hundreds of business users with self-service management capabilities, eliminating reliance on IT for everyday tasks.

“Our previous system was simply not fast enough for our people to be as proactive as we needed them to be. NetSuite provides the functionality and flexibility we needed, and a single version of the truth, with a reduced initial cost outlay,” said ABS-CBN project manager Marvin Sanchez.

Another company that used NetSuite to accelerate its expansion was Zimplistic, which is a Singapore-based product design company founded with the bold mission of simplifying lives, needed an integrated platform to consolidate its financial data for reporting and business strategy.

It can be argued that with the help of NetSuite, Zimplistic is able to connect its back-end systems to its e-commerce website and automate its back-office management, rendering a more agile platform that can help the company scale.

This increased visibility across the supply chain helped improve workflows, reduce lead times, and enabled the company to have better control of its inventory. Moreover, the fully integrated system made it easier for Zimplistic to know the company’s financial performance at any time.

“NetSuite has set us up for success — having up-to-date financial data at any time enables us to make better decisions for business growth and realize our vision of becoming a leader in the smart kitchen appliances market,” said Simon Chua, Finance Director, Zimplistic Pte Ltd.

NetSuite’s solutions not only retain the agility of scaling together with a customer across borders, but also are flexible enough to incorporate and streamline data from different tech software, analysing information to enable quick management decision-making.

Kickstart your business growth today with the help of NetSuite’s slew of services. Connect with them here to find out more.

 

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