Day: January 16, 2020

Prisync, an Istanbul-based competitive pricing intelligence and dynamic pricing solutions startup, has secured US$1.1 million in seed funding to double down on its growth initiatives in the Asia Pacific region.

Collective Spark led the round, which also saw participation from German VC fund ESOR Investments.

The company will also use the capital to fuel its product development and grow its global customer base.

“In the last two years, we have seen great interest, especially in the booming Southeast Asian e-commerce market, namely Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia,” Burc Tanir, CEO and Co-founder of Prisync, said.

“We see a huge and growing customer base for numerous online sellers/merchants. Consumers here are price-sensitive, so pricing is a real competitive factor in the online retail market,” he added. “We plan to double down APAC-focused growth initiatives with this round of funding.”

Also Read: Will the new digital banks sound the death knell for traditional banks?

The APAC region constitutes nearly 15 per cent of Prisync’s global sales.

Prisync helps e-commerce companies of all sizes by automating their competitor price tracking and pricing optimisation processes. It currently serves hundreds of customers in more than 50 countries, claims Tanir.

According to the company, automated pricing technologies are still not widely used across the global e-commerce market, especially in the small and medium-sized businesses segment, which constitutes the target market segment of Prisync.

These companies either conduct such competitive pricing analysis and optimisation manually or don’t even bother allocating resources on that front. Prisync emphasises this market condition as a significant potential for Prisync’s global growth.

Last year, Prisync formed partnerships with two major e-commerce platforms Magento and Shopify.

In March, it acquired its Australia-based competitor Spotlite.

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Hospitality chain startup OYO confirms staff layoffs in India [ET Tech]

Indian hospitality chain OYO Hotels and Homes confirmed that it has laid off part of its Indian workforce. CEO Ritesh Agarwal stated “sustainable growth and profit issue” as the reason behind the decision.

It is estimated that 1,200 employees have been cut in India, in addition to 500 job losses in China, Bloomberg reported last week. The layoffs were detailed in an internal email by founder Ritesh Agarwal to employees on Monday morning, focussing primarily in mid-management, business development, sales and operations roles, and in select technology teams that have become “redundant”.

An article by ET further noted that a top company executive also shared that the intention is to bring the headcount down by another 20 per cent at least and launch another resizing exercise by the end of March.

“As a result, we are asking some of our impacted colleagues to move to a new career outside of Oyo. This has not been an easy decision for us,” said Agarwal.

“Every ‘Oyopreneur’ is important to Oyo and ensuring their well-being both during and after their tenure is our number one priority. I want to thank them for their efforts and apologise for the impact this is causing,” he added.

Also Read: Turkish pricing intelligence startup Prisync to double down on APAC growth initiatives with US$1M funding

Nikkei Asian Review states that Oyo’s losses have widened more than sixfold to US$336 million during the financial year ended March 2019, even as revenues rose over fourfold during the period, with the majority of the company’s expenses attributed to operational expenses. Oyo also faces complaints from a group of hotel operators in the southern city of Bengaluru that has turned into criminal charges on the startup for allegedly withholding money due to unfair fee increases.

Indian B2B agritech startup TechnifyBiz secures US$2M funding from Omnivore [YourStory]

India-based B2B agritech startup TechnifyBiz announces that it has raised US$2 million seed funding from Omnivore, Razorpay founders, the Insitor Impact Asia Fund, and others, YourStory has learned.

The company was founded in 2017 by IIT grads Akash Sharma and Abhishek Agarwal. The B2B agritech startup organises “the non-perishable food commodity market by improving farmers’ linkages with food processors and wholesale buyers”.

The startup’s current investors include angels R Narayan, Founder of Power2SME, and Rajneesh Gupta, Director at Aakash Namkeen (wholesaler of snacks and savouries) as well as agritech incubator Indigram Labs.

The platform currently offers 10 commodities: makhana, cashews, almonds, raisins, walnut, quinoa, chia, pasta, sunflower seed, and watermelon seeds.

Google acquires the second startup co-founded by Irish entrepreneur Mark Cummins [Business Insider]

Google announces that it has bought Dublin-based Pointy, a startup that allows people to find out what their local stores have in physical stock with a small, physical box that plugs into local retailers’ barcode scanners, tracks what they sell, and then displays what they have to potential customers looking up the business online.

Also Read: Why Kubia is not in a rush to apply for Singapore’s digital bank license

The startup is co-founded by Mark Cummins, making it the second company that Google acquires from Cummins, who was once rejected from a job at Google before going on to found his first startup Plink, and selling it to Google in 2010.

According to an article by Business Insider, the deal is expected to close in the coming weeks.

SEED Ventures obtains Capital Markets Services Licence, to provide Venture Capital fund management services [Press Release]

SEED Ventures (SV), a venture capital firm headquartered in Singapore, announces that it has been granted a Capital Markets Services licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

With the CMS licence, SV will be able to invest in startups on behalf of its investors via its Venture Capital Fund Management service.

Ian Gan, founder and Chief Executive Officer of SV, said: “This licence is a significant milestone for SV and further entrenches our role in Singapore as a seed-stage VC company. We are delighted to be one of the few VCs to receive approval from the MAS. The licence will enable us to expand our investor base by managing funds from accredited and institutional investors.”

Founded in 2013, SV is heavily involved in entrepreneurship activities in Statutory boards and Institutes of Higher Learning in Singapore such as National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management University (SMU) and Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR).
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Picture Credit: OYO

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Akseleran, the P2P lending platform based in Indonesia, announces that it has raised a US$8.6 million in Series A funding led by Beenext, as reported by Tech In Asia.

Joining the round are investors include Access Ventures, Agaeti Venture Capital, Ahabe Group, and Central Capital Ventura, the corporate venture capital arm of Bank BCA.

Akseleran states that it will use the new funds to focus on scaling up the team, technology, and penetrating the underserved Indonesian market.

“We will keep developing tailor-made loan products that suit the needs of SMEs. We want to open more access for everyone to lend to and support the SMEs and get a higher return of investment through a safe and efficient platform,” said Ivan Tambunan, the CEO and co-founder of Akseleran.

Also Read: Akseleran raises US$2.5M funding, will focus on securing OJK licence

Akseleran was first established in 2017 as the equity crowdfunding platform. It claims to have disbursed more than US$71.4 million worth of loans to over 2,000 SMEs.

It raised US$8.5 million in a Series A funding round September last year, but no further details were revealed until it received a license approval from the financial services authority of Indonesia, or known as Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) in December 2019 to provide lending services.

Throughout 2018, Akseleran had channelled a total of IDR210 billion (US$15 million) of loan. By the end of 2019, the company aims to channel up to IDR1.2 trillion (US$85 million).

At the moment the company owns four lending products for businesses: Invoice financing (which contributed to a total of 85 per cent of loan on the platform), inventory financing, capital expenditure, and online merchant financing.

As a P2P lending service, Akseleran claimed to have been able to curb non-performing loan (NPL) rate to 0.5 per cent. The company was able to achieve this number by focussing on mid-size businesses such as oil and gas, retail, and construction.

Also Read: Akseleran launches as Indonesia’s first equity crowdfunding platform, aims to bridge funding gap for SMEs and startups

Teruhide Sato, the managing partner of Beenext, further noted that the majority of SMEs in Indonesia are still underserved by conventional lending providers, excluded from the growth and its benefits without the access to the financial services.

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Image Credit: Akseleran

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Singapore-based online real estate co-investment platform RealVantage has been officially launched. The platform was founded by a team with institutional investment experience to bring accredited investors offshore to be able to acquire, manage, and optimise offshore real estate portfolios.

It seeks to provide access to investment opportunities across various real estate classes and investment strategies that were previously limited to larger, institutional investors. It targets accredited investors and high net worth individuals (HNWIs) to let them get their hands on real estate opportunities in different countries, sectors, and investment spectrums.

Using the platform, investors will be able to select amongst multiple options, such as a stable income-producing office in the UK, a townhouse development project in Australia, or a multifamily asset repositioning project in the USA.

RealVantage was founded by Keith Ong and Mao Ching Foo. Both saw the synergies in bringing together their complementary expertise in real estate and technology as they are veterans in real estate fund management, technology, and data science. Ong and Foo technology to aggregate investors to access larger deals, and deliver investment decision making via data-driven insights.

Keith Ong, CEO, and Co-Founder of RealVantage, said, “We’ve always felt there was a gap in offshore real estate investment opportunities for individual investors; most investors will just buy residential units when they venture overseas. There is actually a myriad of investment opportunities that provide good risk-adjusted returns in different property sectors and investment modes.”

Also Read: Why proptech and real estate tech will be important in Asia

“With RealVantage, investors are allowed to customise their own portfolio of properties according to their individual risk appetites. Our goal is to ultimately unlock a world of institutional real estate investing for individual investors,” Ong added.

Ong has over 20 years in real estate fund management and has spent the bulk of his career at ARA Asset Management, one of the largest Private Equity Real Estate firms in the Asia Pacific, Foo, Co-Founder and CTO of RealVantage, was previously the CTO of Funding Societies, one of the largest P2P crowdfunding lending platforms in the region.

RealVantage said it offers “well-qualified and experienced real estate asset managers quantitative trading and private equity understanding” to maximise investment returns by actively managing cross-border property investments exceeding US$10 billion and has managed assets in excess of US$20 billion across different geographies.

The team applies international practices across the entire investment process, ranging from research, deal sourcing and assessment, as well as asset management, screening and identifying opportunities that fit investment criteria by employing proprietary AI engines to complement their deal origination and evaluation processes.

The deals are subsequently vetted by its internal investment committee made up of industry veterans comprising Anthony Ang, CEO of Sasseur REIT and the former CEO of Fortune REIT, and Richard Tan, an independent real estate advisor and former CFO of Suntec REIT.

Also Read: Proptech is changing the face of real estate in Asia Pacific

Approved deals then are put together into an investment memorandum detailing investment strategy, financial analysis, investment period, and deal terms. These are uploaded onto the platform and made available for investors in guaranteed transparency and disclosure, keeping investors fully appraised of their investments through regular updates on RealVantage’s digital platform, from co-investment until divestment.

RealVantage closed a funding round with angel investors last year. The company also claims to have a presence in Indonesia, with 30 per cent of their total number of investors coming from the country, while the other 70 per cent of investors concentrated in Singapore.

In 2020, RealVantage plans to widen its investor base in Singapore and Indonesia. The platform is also looking to expand its investment opportunities beyond the UK and Australia markets.
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In marketing, the power of influence knows no bounds. Having a celebrity put in a good word about your product or services is guaranteed to rake in sales regardless of the medium or the technology used.

Fast forward to 2018, social media has taken the power of influence into a whole new level. A quick search on your favourite search engine can help you find the right people who can bring your brand further out into your chosen demographic.

However, consumers have become smarter and more sceptical with marketing techniques to the point that they can instantly spot a fake endorser. Audiences now crave for a more intimate connection with the celebrities they look up to.

A study by Forbes showed that audience engagement slows down as soon as a media public figure reaches the 100,000 follower count.

This shows that people prefer to interact with someone who is more grounded and relatable instead of with a public figure who wouldn’t have time to connect personally to a massive crowd of followers.

Also Read: What makes Singapore the marketing hub of Southeast Asia

Nevertheless, influencer marketing takes a huge chunk of a company’s marketing budget because it is a genuine and non-intrusive way of connecting with consumers.

Huge brands have continuously recognised the importance of influencer marketing as 2017 showed a rise in the use of social media influencers by as much as 198 per cent. Getting endorsed by the right endorser would provide a company with a powerful, direct line to their target consumers. Here are some points on why you should still include influencer marketing in your 2018 marketing plans.

Help your brand reach out to your target audience

With influencer marketing, there would be no need to set aside an additional budget to identify your core audience. As long as you choose the right influencer who has already nurtured your target audience on social media, your brand automatically gets a front-row seat to the followers who are already interested in your niche market.

This also takes advantage of the fact that audiences spend a lot of time on social media. If an influencer features your product in one of his social platforms, it creates an instant connection with audiences on sites where the influencer spends the most time on.

Enhances brand awareness

Influencer marketing can exponentially expand your reach and enhance your brand positioning online. Influencers often act as the driving force behind movements and groundbreaking ideas. A mere mention by a social media influencer can expose your brand to new users and even incorporate your brand into hot trends.

Also Read: Influencer marketing is a tricky, sticky situation for small businesses

Most influencers possess the creativity to weave a story into your brand and ultimately introduces your identity and the solutions you offer. Hiring a trendsetting influencer to promote your brand can even show that your company is an innovative leader.

Provides value to your brand and influences purchasing decisions

Influencer marketing embraces the concept of delivering content that educates, inspires, and provides solutions. This aligns with the values of social media influencers whose goals are to provide content that is valuable to their audiences, influencers are already in tune with the needs of their audiences and they want to ensure that their create content that attracts users to their channels.

Online influencers can also drive your sales since consumers

Constantly look up to influencers for advice on what products and services to purchase. A study showed that roughly 40 per cent of respondents purchase a product after they found out that a social media influencer uses it.

Furthermore, 85 per cent of millennials discover new products through social media. Influence marketing is a guaranteed method that drives sales and return of investment.

Builds consumer trust

People respect the content and recommendation of social media influencers and this sense of connection and trust can also affect your branding strategy. Influencers spent years building relationships and credibility with their fans.

Sharing in an influencer’s content can gain the attention of your target audience and put your brand in front of an actively engaging crowd of potential customers.

Influencers are also regarded as experts by their legion of followers. Once a brand is mentioned by an influencer, it creates instant credibility for the company and promotes trustworthiness.

This even becomes more powerful in niche markets where an industry expert is looked up as an authoritative figure. Once an influencer shares your content, it creates powerful brand recognition.

Fills in loopholes in your content strategy

Influencers can improve your marketing strategy and fill in the gaps in your own content. Running out of ideas to put out on your own social media platforms? Then let a social media influencer do that for you.

In fact, working with a number of influencers will guarantee that you’ll never run out of quality content to publish and push to your audience. You reach out to several social media influencers who can create engaging content for you.

Also Read: The reality of influencer marketing in the age of digital content

Influence marketing can also cut through advertising blindness: the tendency of online users to ignore banner ads on websites and social media. Banner ads used to be the prime method of advertising on the internet but several softwares and browsers have been developed to stop them, such as anti-pop-up features.

Influencer marketing creates an opportunity to cut through this ad blindness and provide a non-intrusive way of advertising – by placing your brand in natural, native content.

Builds a winning partnership and a valuable marketing network

Connecting with an influencer doesn’t end with just the content sharing. It can open opportunities for live events and joint-projects that a social media influencer may concoct in the future. Influence marketing can create a long term marketing strategy for any brand and will even grow together with an influencer’s reach.

Take note that content made by influencers have unlimited sharing potential. Unlike a paid advertisement that has a limited reach and timeframe, shareable content provided by an influencer can attract attention repeatedly especially if it goes viral. Imagine such wide and permanent audience reach at a lower cost compared to traditional marketing campaigns.

Influencer marketing is stronger than ever

It has been almost a decade since social media sites took over and it has changed the online marketing landscape for the better. Influence marketing, no matter what form it takes, remains a relevant and important strategy in building brand recognition and raising sales.

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