Twenty years ago, the concept of a ‘data leader’ simply didn’t exist. Yet today, it has become a core function for many forward-thinking organisations.

With a series of industry bodies rolling out programmes to drive data best practices – last year, Singapore’s PDPC (Personal Data Protection Commission) launched its Trusted Data Sharing Framework, followed by its DPO Competency Framework and Training Roadmap – there is certainly a mounting case for executive teams across APAC to ensure they have their data in order.

Earlier this year, Singapore’s PDPC (Personal Data Protection Commission) launched its Trusted Data Sharing Framework, followed by its DPO Competency Framework and Training Roadmap.

These were aimed at providing guidance for Data Protection Officers as they embark on their new roles and focus on building a compliant yet compelling customer experience strategy. Elsewhere across APAC, we’ve seen the introduction of the IMDA’s voluntary Data Protection Trustmark, as well as an update to APEC’s Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR).

And with the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) now warning that companies are collecting and selling on consumer data via customer loyalty schemes, it seems that data regulations are only set to become tighter.

As data becomes arguably the most valuable asset for businesses, the message is simple – the customer (and therefore customer privacy and customer experience) – must come first.

So what three steps can companies take to become true masters of their data while remaining conscientious and compliant?

Adopt a privacy-first data collection model

The entire customer experience strategy of any business should focus on gaining, but also retaining, customer trust.

But with today’s multi-channel marketing approaches, meaning various functions within an organisation will have influences over a customer, it’s crucial that everyone across the organisation is responsible for the integrity of data collection practices as a whole.

Not just the C-Suite or Sales & Marketing, but anyone and everyone who handles sensitive customer information.

Also read: The Startup’s guide to securely handling data amidst GDPR and other privacy regulations

Customers are no longer willing to offer up their details without being sure of the tangible benefits of doing so. Therefore, regardless of who in the company may be conversing with a customer, they need to be explicit about which details are being collected; why and how they are being collected; and who they are being shared with.

And while it’s the DPO or CDO that is responsible for spearheading this initiative, everybody across the organisation should be aware of the need for transparency, and be mindful of the overall message being conveyed.

Implement a centralised data repository

With so many disparate teams collecting or accessing a variety of customer data (from different channels, devices and systems), governing and harnessing that data can be almost impossible.

Consolidation of data is by no means a new concept, although with over a third of APAC marketers still struggling with channel integration, it’s time data and executive teams consider the ways in which they can finally bring these sources and channels together effectively.

Integrating a solution such as a CDP (Customer Data Platform) will help to provide a single source of truth for the entire organisation, laying the foundation for teams to connect the dots between data touchpoints along the customer journey, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the customer experience.

Becoming familiar with data unification technology now will also prepare data professionals for a potentially more stringent regulatory landscape over the coming years.

Focus on first-party data

Unlike a Data Management Platform or Customer Relationship Management software, it’s easy to integrate other systems with a CDP to tap into behavioural insight, which enables teams to keep building and updating that all-important customer profile.

Once such a solution has been integrated, it can be used to extract quality data from a number of online touchpoints such as websites, mobile apps, and customer service systems; as well as offline touchpoints such as beacons or IoT devices.

Also read: How can privacy-focussed apps step up amid a world of data breaches?

Creating persistent profiles that can be accessed by everyone allows teams to get smart with their messaging. Customers finally begin to receive consistent and highly personalised content as they proceed along their path to purchase, and no longer endure the frustration of being offered products or services they have already purchased.

In twenty years, data has evolved from a nagging consideration to indispensable asset. It’s now up to DPOs to lead the way in mastering their data, by building a robust data foundation, embracing legislation, and paving the way for unrivalled customer experience.

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With only RM22 million (USD5.4 million) of venture capital invested to date, the startup ecosystem in Johor, Malaysia, has come a long way.

The local startups now boast a combined valuation of RM467million (USD115 million), with more than 400 jobs being created over the past 4 years, contributing an average of RM160 million per year to the local state GDP.  

There are also a staggering number of 46 coworking spaces, now, in Iskandar, Malaysia, combining for a total area of 300,000 square footage.

These figures were all taken from the Johor Startup Ecosystem Report which was officially published on 15 Jan 2019, in conjunction with IskandarSpace’s first year anniversary. 

Exactly a year after on 15 Jan 2020, the ecosystem reached another significant milestone by hosting the BASE Conference 2020, organized by START Malaysia. 

In his opening remarks, Feng Lim, CEO of START Malaysia, emphasized the significance of the inaugural event, as he aims to “create a platform as a testament to tell our people, our government, the (ASEAN) region and the whole world that there is serious innovation here in Johor, Malaysia.”

It was heartwarming to see ~900 fellow attendees across 15 cities flocking into Iskandar Malaysia Studios to witness the largest regional business & technology conference in the state to date for themselves.

Now hereon in this article, my job is to further amplify your FOMO by giving you a glimpse of what the event was all about.

Megatrends in emerging markets

The hot take from Riddhiman Das, CEO & Founder, TripleBlind, is that “the thought of Blockchain as a solution to solve societal issues in emerging markets is on the decline”. Russ Neu, Venture Partner, Impact, Quest Ventures believes that “A lot of new technology and innovation in the coming decade will be addressing the UN’s SDGs”.

 When should startup founders think/talk about an exit strategy

Paul Ark, Managing Director, Corporate Venture Capital, Digital Ventures, shared that, “It’s a delicate balancing act because as a founder, you don’t want to be seen as starting a company just to get out of it. But from a VC perspective, they have a horizon for their fund to exit.”

Also Read: START Mongolia merges with StartupJohor to form a united brand START

Ark added, “As you move aways from local funds in early-stage fundraising – who want you to move fast and break things – towards international funds/acquirers/stock exchanges, it is the administrative staff under the hood like your articles of association, employment contracts, and accounting practices that must be ironclad”.

On trade sales as an exit strategy

Koichi Saito, Founder & General Partner, KK Fund, believes that “To attract global investors and acquirers, you need to do so by showing a regional play and have a significant footprint in markets outside the startup’s domestic market. 

When we negotiate with potential buyers, we don’t start with the explicit intention to sell the company. It always starts with – we want to raise”

Sai Kit Ng, Chief Executive, Captii Ventures, added “As a founder, you cannot let someone who’s not active in the running of the company decide or dictate the trade sale. A typical VC’s metric is to look for the biggest returns, and they will wash their hands off the company once the deal is done.

(As a founder) you are in it for the long haul and there must be alignment in product, culture, legacy, with the potential acquirer so that you can continue to live with the deal moving forward.”

On tech startup IPOs

Ng feels that “IPOs are often over-romanticized and over-sensationalized. Founders must bear in mind that they will then be in for the long haul and be dealing with more stakeholders, including the regulators and the public’s interest.”

Ark added, “It’s not just about you wanting to go public. But why do you want to go public? That depends on where you want to be, where your market is, and how big that market is.

An entrepreneur who wants to list on a secondary board in Thailand is on a US$100m trajectory but another who wants to list on NASDAQ is probably on a multi-billion dollar trajectory, and those are two very different ambitions”

Ark also generously hinted that the IPO door has closed on all sharing economy business models that are not profitable, after the spectacular failure of WeWork. 

On the startup landscape in Malaysia

Jeffrey Paine, Managing Partner, Golden Gate Ventures pointed out that, “When it comes to government support, Malaysia is #1. (Korea is #2, while Singapore is #3). To continue doing what they do and do it well is extremely difficult, and they will continue to get better with more engagement with the private sector.”

Azman Hood, Vice President of Cradle, added “Since 2014, Cradle has iterated on its grants, set up an equity fund, and introduced complementary programmes such as the Ideas Bank and policies such as the Angel Tax Incentives. These efforts leverage on stakeholder partnerships to support the founding journey and continuing to build the ecosystem.”

On advice for Malaysian founders

Paine shared “If you are an introvert, find an extrovert to introduce 5 people to you. But only 5 conversations/meetings per week, because anything more and you will burn out”

In the same panel, Paine went on to share his candid perspective on the odds of Malaysian startups, with this anecdote “The Top 50 startups in Southeast are copycats, of which 80 per cent are consumer-facing, and 80 per cent of those have the word Indonesian in it. This will give you a sense of where the money is.”

Paine elaborated on his firm belief, that “99 per cent of startups should not take VC money and it’s perfectly fine to be a 20-person SME that runs a decent profit to feed all employees.

The no. 1 problem now – the 99% think that they are the 1%. The second problem is that – the investors think the same way. Overthinking leads to money being inefficiently allocated, and now the angels are scared to invest after being burnt before.” 

Paine’s final advice to Malaysian founders was that “Grants are important to give you a first short of getting towards a proof of concept. But the grant office is run by patent lawyers so getting it doesn’t mean you are VC ready.

If you are raising seed, also remember to talk to A and B VCs to get feedback first, before getting stuck in a particular direction only to realise you can’t raise the next round after 1.5 years in.”

Challenges for Malaysia’s startups

From Hood’s perspective, “The biggest challenge in Malaysia is the small market. It is a nice size as a testbed, but your business must have a regional play.

Singapore is the financial hub of the region that attracts global capital from (the likes of) Japan, China and the US. Rather than have a sentiment about it, be logical and systematic about having an office in Singapore to attract growth capital there as well”.

Paine echoed, “The idea cannot be a Malysian idea, it has to be a regional idea. So understand who’s doing the same Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and find out how they’ve figured it out. This is how startups that are based here should up their game over time. 

Sometimes you are just a 1-country play, then find out how you can make money 10 different ways. So even if the govt shuts down 3, you still have 7.”

Don’t miss out on Johor anymore

For the handful of Singaporeans who eventually decided against attending BASE Conference 2020 due to traffic – it’s actually not that bad to drive up or bus in on a regular weekday morning.

I live in the west of Singapore, and it took me less than 40min door-to-door via the Second Link.

In 2017, I was with Lim at a Startup Weekend event in IskandarSpace where he first shared his vision for Johor’s community and Malaysia’s tech startup ecosystem. Since then, he’s run a couple more hackathons, published a Johor Startup Ecosystem Report, got married, embraced fatherhood, and completed an M&A to form Start Malaysia.

Much inspiration and huge respect for the man and his team – for having the passion, conviction and dedication to walk the talk.

To sum it up, Lim promised, “We are committed to continue running the event and to continue to grow this ecosystem here. Malaysia is not just about Kuala Lumpur. You can create a great company in Johor, and anywhere else in the world.”

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Image Credit: Author

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Thailand-headquartered digital fashion brand Pomelo has appointed Anders Heikenfeldt, ex-Managing Director of an H&M venture, as its Chief Retail Officer (CRO).

The former H&M executive will be responsible for Pomelo’s retail expansion plans across Southeast Asia. This comes right after Pomelo’s Series C funding round where it managed to raise US$52 million.

He will also be in charge of growing the retail division, developing the company’s omnichannel strategy, and online platform.

“Anders is an exciting new addition to team Pomelo,” said David Jou, CEO and co-founder of Pomelo.

“His appointment reflects Pomelo’s commitment to redefining retail. He’s a great leader and we’re extremely happy to have him on board,” he continued.

Also Read: Pomelo appoints former Lazada CMO Jean Thomas as new CMO

Heikenfeldt has worked with H&M for over 10 years in developing and refining strategies to enhance the retail experience and prior to that, he has also served as COO of at 6ixty 8ight, an online Singaporean lingerie and nightwear store.

Bringing an executive of a multinational clothing-retail company such as H&M will definitely add more value to Pomelo’s current team.

As a fast-growing company, the fashion company has since hired 200 new employees and has opened 10 new stores locally in 2019.

“Southeast Asia is an incredibly fast-growing, unique market with so much potential. I’m excited to be a part of this journey as we continue to expand Pomelo’s retail footprint across the region and provide customers with an innovative, omnichannel shopping experience,” expressed Heikenfeldt.

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Image Credit:  Kai Pilger

 

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Vynn Capital, Southeast Asian early-stage venture capital firm, today released what is said to be the region’s first travel tech report Travelution. The venture firm focusses on selective industries, including tourism as well as synergistic verticals such as food and property.

Back in 2018, Vynn Capital jointly announced a partnership with the World Tourism Organisation of United Nations (UNWTO), which has been championing the effort of encouraging governments and companies to be innovative and adopt digital transformations.

Travelution was created with input from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (“PATA”) as well as UNWTO.

The report notes that the emergence of online booking solutions began in the 1980s before hotels and airlines partnership followed suit in the 1990s. The 2000s marked the different verticals in the travel tech sector, and the 2010s were the year of UX personalisation.

Noting further on the past decade’s trends of personalisation, the report pointed out that several sub-domains in the travel tech sector emerged, such as pre-trip, midway, and post-trip. Pre-trip involves information discovery served by companies such as Expedia, CTrip, TripAdvisor, and Airbnb. Meanwhile, midway entails support to travellers such as Triip, that offer personalised travel experiences for travellers who are exploring new destinations.

Also Read: Traditionally innovative: How Vynn Capital plan to bridge between startups and big corporations

Finally, post-trip involves the sharing of experiences and comparison of itineraries.

Entering 2020, the report shares that the major trend of this decade is still personalisation. The trend of personalisation in the travel tech sector expanded to the point where travel tech companies sell entire experiences across the value chain.

Travel tech companies invest to increase offerings such as food services, transportation, health and wellness, and activities operators. Furthermore, as travel tech companies expand into a vacation and short-term rentals, there has been a proliferation of property-related services.

Boundaries between industries are quickly breaking down and the ecosystem is flattening.

Looking at the bigger picture on the global travel industry, the report marks that it has grown to over US$1.6 trillion, over 10 per cent of world GDP. Tourism is recorded to employ two in 10 people in the global economy.

As for deals in the travel tech sector, 2019 saw an all-time high of 159 acquisitions and funding activity remains strong, with Asia leading the number of capital raising with 54 per cent. Indonesian startups took 70 per cent of funding, Singaporean companies tapped 28 per cent.

Online travel is the top sector in the internet economy with roughly US$30 billion in bookings and growing 15 per cent YoT.

Also Read: Asia VC Cast with Victor Chua from Vynn Capital

The firm further predicted that there will be more investments into travel tech startups in the region by larger traditional players as well as later-stage funds. At the same time, it is also expected that there will be more consolidations happening as an increasing number of smaller startups get bought out or absorbed by larger platforms and companies.

“Whilst many would view industries such as travel as a silo opportunity; we believe there is evidence of convergence – companies cutting across industries and people become savvier about industries that are deemed as a synergistic expansion from the one that they are in,” said Victor Chua, Vynn Capital’s Founding & Managing Partner.

“Investing into the right sectors is becoming more important and Vynn Capital believes that focusing on travel tech as well as the selected industries where we are investing is a competitive advantage over the long term, especially when Southeast Asia’s economies are converging,” he added.

The report can be requested from the firm or downloaded from the website.

Vynn Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm founded with the objective of bridging the gap between traditional industries and the new economies through the development of technology. Key industries of focus include Travel, Property, Food and FMCG, Female Economics as well as Business Enablers (including logistics and fintech).

Vynn Capital is currently active in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar.

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Field service automation startup Zinier raises US$90M led by ICONIQ Capital

Zinier, an intelligent field service automation company, today announced that it has raised US$90 million in Series C funding, led by ICONIQ Capital.

Tiger Global Management, Accel, Founders Fund, Nokia-backed NGP Capital, France-based Newfund Capital and Qualcomm Ventures also joined the round.

The funding will support global customer adoption and expansion of Zinier’s AI-driven field service automation platform, ISAC.

Zinier’s field service automation platform helps organisations work smarter — from the back office to the field — to solve problems quickly.

South Korean gaming company NPIXEL raises US$26M Series A

South Korean gaming company NPIXEL today announced that it has secured a US$26 million at a valuation of US$260 million, led by Saehan Venture Capital and Altos Ventures.

“This investment is meaningful in that NPIXEL was recognised by investors who have
handpicked unicorn startups and successful gaming companies in the earliest stages&quot,” said Bong-Gun Bae and Hyun-Ho Jung, Co-founders of NPIXEL. “We will focus on providing the best gaming experience to gamers all around the world, starting with GRAN SAGA.”

Founded in September 2017, NPIXEL has created GRAN SAGA, an MMORPG enchanted by the adventures of knights to save the kingdom and is set to be released in the first half of 2020.

The game is developed in a multi-platform that is not limited to just a single device but can be played across different types of devices including PCs, mobile devices and consoles.

AI and drone startup Clobotics bags US$10M from Tiger Investment to expand to Singapore [KrAsia]

Shanghai- and Seattle-headquartered computer vision technology company Clobotics has raised US$10 million in its Series pre-B+ round from Tiger Investment, 36Kr reported on Wednesday.

The new funds will be channelled toward research and development as well as the company’s expansion to Singapore. Clobotics closed its US$22 million pre-B round in August 2019 and scored US$21 million in Series A investment one year prior.

The company uses its fleet of drones to take precise photos for wind turbine blade safety inspections, sparing manual work and increasing efficiency by up to 10 times, according to its website. Clobotics’ clients include Europe-based GEV Wind Power and Shanghai Electric.

Betatron increases investment amount up to US$500K per startup [press release]

Betatron, a startup investment firm and accelerator programme based in Hong Kong, has announced it will be increasing the investment amount given to each startup up to US$500,000.

In addition, Betatron will be providing its startups with an investor roadshow across Asia and North America, including Demo Days in Hong Kong, Singapore and Silicon Valley in 2020.

The main focus of the Betatron programme is to help each startup raise the next round of funding and accelerate business growth. To date, Betatron has invested in 37 startups from around the world and brought them to Hong Kong for its programme.

Applications for cohort #6 close on 18th March 2020 with the four-month programme starting in Q2, 2020.

Startups don’t need to be in Hong Kong for the entire duration of the programme as it’s designed so they only need to be there for three two-week blocks.

Securemetric invests a 5 per cent stake in Indonesian digital startup [The Edge Markets]

Software company Securemetric has invested in a 5 per cent stake in Indonesian digital startup PrivyID for a cash consideration of 20.25 billion Indonesian rupiah (US$150,000).

The company signed a conditional share subscription agreement with PT Privy Identitas Digital today, it said in a statement.

PrivyID is Indonesia’s first non-government institution certified certificate authority (CA), as well as the first private company in Indonesia that was granted access to the National Identification database.

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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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