There will be no two opinions on the market dominance of Grab and gojek, especially in Southeast Asia. These two firms are based in two of the top-3 economic superpowers in the region — Singapore and Indonesia, respectively — and are both unstoppable in terms of innovation and service expansion.

In an article by The ASEAN Post, consumer adoption of ride-hailing services will “continue to quadruple from 2015 levels to eight million ride bookings daily with 35 million active users”. The optimistic numbers are not without loopholes, as there’s still headroom for the sector to grow further with more than 80 per cent of Southeast Asian internet users are still not active ride-hailing users.

The number itself was last recorded in December 2018, meaning the number of non-active users of ride-hailing service might have changed and become smaller, but still, leave quite an untapped space for ride-hailing startups other than the two head-to-head decacorns.

Factor the emerging markets in Southeast Asia that’s completely left out such as Laos and Timor Leste, and the opportunity is wide open for ride-hailing businesses to be duplicated in these countries.

e27 visits under-the-radar, locally-thriving ride-hailing startups around Southeast Asia and here they are.

MYANMAR

Oway Ride

In Myanmar, Oway Ride made headlines ever since it was first established in 2014 as an online travel agency. In an interview with e27, Oway CEO Alok Kumar explained how even as an online travel agency, the company was novel and advanced for a country that was just opened up to internet infrastructure in 2012, welcoming foreign telcos such as Ooredoo and Telenor.

Today, Oway has counted Northstar Group, an early investor of gojek, as one of its backers.

With operations in major cities in Myanmar, Oway now has plans to launch in Naypyidaw, a city that’s less dense in population than Mandalay and Yangon, creating access to more distributed transportation and possibly will help lower taxi fares to open up the city more.

Get Ride

Get Ride was officially launched in Myanmar in September 2018. Owned by the founder of Myanmar’s BOD Tech Ventures, this platform offers bike, tuk-tuk, and taxi-hailing as a part of ‘Get, the omnichannel digital commerce platform established in 2017 by early-stage tech investor Mike Than Tun Win and Nyein Chan Soe Win.

According to an article in DealStreetAsia, the startup started to charge a fee lower than its competitors based on a rate agreed upon by its community of drivers and customers in 2019 with a lifetime commission-free services to motorbike drivers.

CAMBODIA

PassApp

PassApp claims to have roughly the same number of drivers as Grab in Cambodia (around 10,000) and also has food delivery and e-payment services.

PassApp was founded by CEO Top Nimol as a ride-hailing app that helps passengers find a tuk-tuk or taxi. Developed in Phnom Penh, it is currently available in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, Battambang, Kampong Cham, and Kampot.

Also Read: Outpost, Geeks In Cambodia join forces to sponsor local startup

 

In terms of commuting, the access to tuk-tuks, rickshaws, and taxis are more in sync with the way the locals travel. Having tuktuks and rickshaws as options are also good for tourist attractions and that it also serves QR Code payment powered by Wing . Nimol claims two million people have downloaded the app nationwide, mostly in Phnom Penh.

Despite a huge number of downloads, Nimol still finds the market to be too small and competitive for the 11 or so ride-hailing companies to operate.

ExNet

Hailed as the first taxi-hailing firm ever existed in the Kingdom, ExNet was first established by Hor Daluch in April 2016, at a time when Cambodians still needed convincing of the benefit of using technology for their daily commutes.

Despite having been the first, ExNet recently admitted that it was forced to find a new source of revenue for the company, besides depending on commissions from drivers, such as generating advertising revenue from companies that wish to advertise their products and services because of the tight market competition.

According to Daluch, Exnet has about 2,000 registered drivers and the majority are car drivers. The app has clocked nearly 20,000 downloads.

LAOS

LOCA

In Laos, Grab is not available. Instead, local player LOCA dominates the ride-hailing services in the country.

Started off by co-founders Souliyo Vongdala, Jettana, and Johnny Sayasane, LOCA was their solution to the increasingly non-transparent taxi operation in the country, ripping off tourists and leaving a bad image about the country’s transportation. With both Uber and Grab neglecting the country, LOCA became the only ride-hailing service.

LOCA managed to take its business forward after struggling with just a small number of customers and only 15 trips per day. Now, Vongdala admitted in an interview with e27 that LOCA’s GMV has grown to 600 per cent with almost 17,000 customers after since its launch in 2018.

LOCA said it doesn’t provide just ride-hailing service but also tourist information. With the app, a tourist will be able to know where the interesting events are, which is the best restaurant, the hidden local foods and so on. Customers will also be able to book minivan ride as the company said it will finalise a partnership with minivan providers.

EAST TIMOR

Lais

A quick Google search will reveal that Lais is the country’s first and only ride-hailing service. For an otherwise untouchable area when it comes to Southeast Asian startup scene, Lais being mentioned as the first ride-hailing emerging from East Timor is a breath of fresh air.

We’re still looking forward to updates on its operation and performance locally.

MALAYSIA

Riding Pink

While the Malaysian market is packed with multiple ride-hailing options, Riding Pink’s emergence in 2016 gave passengers, particularly women, a safer option.

In an article by KrAsia, it is detailed that Riding Pink was conceived as “a network akin to a social movement of women drivers for women riders”. It matches riders with drivers manually via Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger, centralises bookings and matching riders with drivers systematically before developing an app.

Fast forward to today, the startup remains in operation with women around its narrative.

MyCar

Launched in April 2018, MyCar offers passengers an option to track the location of drivers and to make payment via cash or card.

According to a piece by Loanstreet, MyCar offers a fixed rate to the country’s international airport KLIA and KLIA2 for RM59, essentially beating the pricing of its toughest competition Grab. Being practically new compared to the established giant, MyCar still has a lot of potentials to explore and offer.

Dacsee

Dacsee associates itself to be the ride-sharing services that utilises the advantages of blockchain technology and decentralisation to reduce platform fees and to create a self-sustainable ecosystem.

Dacsee allows you to request rides from friends and family members if they’re already a part of the Dacsee community and fulfil the necessary requirements. Dacsee’s “Joy Locations” features recommend ongoing rewards and promotions with popular brands.

Also Read: Ride-hailing service FastGo prepares to launch in Indonesia and Myanmar

Launched in July 2018, Dacsee’s CEO Liem Chiew Shan told The Star Malaysia that it will expand its services to other Southeast Asian countries this year, including Thailand and South Korea.

The company’s valuation has reportedly exceeded US$100 million, with it recently signing an MoU with two companies, Hanryu AI Center Co and Sports Seoul Co, to start services in South Korea. According to The Star Malaysia’s report, the companies will also be developing a unique Artificial Intelligence solution to be embedded into Dacsee’s platform.

JomRides

JomRides provides ride-hailing services through a compact car, sedan, or MPV that can be booked in advance.

According to a The Borneo Post’s article, Jomrides utilises a profit-sharing concept to generate continuous income. Since its launch in January 2018, the company has garnered 14,000 registered drivers throughout the nation.

JomRides is developed by a Sarawak-based company USGA and has officially operated in Sarawak in March 2019.

MULA

According to its page, MULA was established in September 2016 as a tech-enabled company aimed to provide a wide range of passenger transportation network and logistics services via its mobile applications.

MULA is headquartered in Penang. The company offers “safe and comfortable ride-sharing services with a brand new fleet of premium, luxury MPVs, and compact cars”.

BRUNEI

Dart

According to The Scoop’s article, Dart was launched in May 2017 as an app-based taxi-booking service. Its plans to introduce a ride-hailing, however, faced several delays with the Ministry of Transport and Info-communications approving the DartCar service only after in March 2018, almost causing it to shut down.

Recently in 2019, Dart just introduced cashless payments through debit and credit card, and has also announced an airport pick-up service.

VIETNAM

FastGo

FastGo might have established in April 2018, but it’s already making waves in neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Singapore, and Indonesia.

FastGo Vietnam JSC launched its service after Uber’s exit from Southeast Asia last June. FastGo is part of Vietnamese technology startup NextTech Group and it reportedly has an ambitious plan to undercut big names like gojek and Grab with its counteroffer of charging only fixed US$5 out of US$30 the drivers made in a day compared to 20 per cent off drivers’ ride fares.

FastGo said in an article by VNExpress that its ride-hailing app will not charge peak period surcharges, and customers can tip drivers.

Be

Be entered the market by offering both car-riding and bike-riding in December 2018. Reuters reported that it secured “hundreds of millions US dollars” of investments ahead of its official launch.

The company is operating under BE GROUP and led by founder and CEO Tran Thanh Hai. The app also has food, delivery, e-payment, and financing services.

PHILIPPINES

Angkas

Angkas is one contender of the three most notable local ride-hailers affected by a recent policy change implemented by the Philippines’s market regulator. According to its website, Angkas is a motorcycle ride-hailing platform that seeks to “help tackle transport mobility for Filipinos where country traffic is some of the highest in the world”.

As reported by Rappler, after Angkas’s drivers took to the street to protest the government’s decision to cut motor taxis from 27,000 to 10,000, motorbike-based taxis were officially declared illegal in the Philippines. It followed a pilot run to test its practicality and safety that ends ahead of the scheduled March 2020 for Angkas, JoyRide, and Move It.

Also Read: Indonesian logistics startup Anterin opens new R&D centre in Jogjakarta

Angkas Singapore-born CEO, Angeline Xiwen Tham, was accused by Senator Aquilino Koko Pimentel of holding almost full ownership of the firm which is against the local law, which stipulates that Filipinos must own 60 per cent of public transport companies.

The Senator then moved a resolution to declare Tham as ‘persona non-grata’ for violating ownership law and defaming the government, as reported by e27.

JoyRide

Despite the uncertain future and recent ban of motorbike ride-hailing operations by the government, Rappler on February 11 reported that JoyRide has begun its operation in Metro Cebu. JoyRide has made news since signing an agreement with insurance giant Malayan Insurance, in a bid to prepare safety measures ahead of its official app launch.

JoyRide is led by Vice President for Corporate Affairs, Noli Eala, who was a former Philippine Basketball Association commissioner and ex-San Miguel Corporation sports director, according to an article by Rappler. The company said they would not have surge pricing, even during peak hours and promises an income of US$29.4 per day.

MoveIt

Also joining the previously mentioned trial phase, MoveIt has around 2,500 registered drivers and 500 riders already on the road, as reported in Philstar. It entered the now-clouded market around the same time as JoyRide after seeing the success and solutions provided by Angkas to tackle the worsening traffic in the country.

THAILAND

GoBike

GoBike claims itself to be the first and only “official and fully-legal motorcycle-taxi app” in Bangkok after Uber’s UberMoto and Grab’s GrabBike were both forced to suspend their operations in May 2015.

In 2016, GoBike closed a US$4.8 million pre-series A round from unrevealed backers, including private equity firms, family trusts, and high-net-worth individuals, mainly from East Asia and Europe.

In a Tech In Asia’s article, GoBike Malaysia-born co-founder and CEO Lian Wah Seng said that the funding followed a seed round of US$1 million in March 2016 from Hong Kong, Malaysian, Singaporean, and Thai investors, before officially launching in July.

To establish GoBike, Seng partnered up with Thai entrepreneur and GoBike Co-founder and Executive Director Attapon Sitichaiareekit to empower and utilise the established ecosystem of 100,000 registered moto drivers.

INDONESIA

Anterin

Serving the few numbers left untouched by either Grab or gojek, Anterin made waves enough to catch the attention of Indonesian conglomerate MNC Group. In January this year, through its subsidiary PT Indonesia Transport & Infrastructure Tbk (IATA), MNC Group announced that it had signed a term sheet to acquire a majority stake in local motorcycle ride-sharing firm Anterin.

The partnership, as reported by e27, was meant to drive the shift of Anterin’s current services towards newer avenues such as food delivery, taxi collaboration with fleet operators, as well as car and helicopter rentals.

Anterin currently has more than 300,000 drivers and 500,000 customers and operates in 100 cities in Indonesia. The company differentiates itself from Grab and gojek by offering a monthly subscription to drivers, instead of slashing fees from each ride they make, without having to give the company commission fees.

“We avoid the cash burn system. We use the auction concept. The drivers can decide their own prices. Customers also can have their own preferences, according to the price, vehicles, or drivers,” said Anterin CTO Rachmat Efendi.

AsiaTrans

AsiaTrans is a more modest ride-hailing option. Suhartoni Yonathan Salusu, President Director, started doing a trial run in a few cities in December 2018 to gauge public interest towards online motorbike Trans Jek and car ride-hailing Trans Car.

According to an atmago article, Trans Jek and Trans Car mostly cover big cities outside the Java island cities like Palembang, Balikpapan, Samarinda, Padang, Makassar, but also in the capital city of Jakarta.

Aside from Trans Jek and Trans Car, the company claims to have 16 online services such as Trans Send, Trans Box, Trans Pick Up, Trans Rent, Trans Food, Trans Clean, Trans Massage, Trans Mechanic, Trans Clean Trans Salon, Trans Market, Trans UKM, Trans Store, Trans Care, Trans Pay Trans Barber, dan Trans Ticket, which is a whole lot of ecosystem on its own just like gojek.

SINGAPORE

TADA

TADA, operated by MVLLABS, differentiates its operation by offering a blockchain-based zero-commission ride-hailing service.

Unlike other cab-hailing platforms, TADA takes zero commission from drivers. For riders, the platform matches them with a driver quickly using its matching tech and the user can choose to pay with cash or debit/credit card.

Recently, TADA raised US$5 million led by South Korean VC firm SV Investment with car parts manufacturers, Central and SIMWON, also participated in this funding round. It will use the funding to expand its service in Southeast Asia with over 50,000 drivers and more than 500,000 users that have used it in Singapore, Vietnam, and Cambodia as claimed.

Also Read: TADA raises US$5M to expand its blockchain-based zero-commission ride-hailing service in SEA

MVL is a mobility ecosystem based on the Mass Vehicle Ledger incentive-based blockchain protocol. Mobility data such as transactions, movements, accidents, and maintenance of vehicles are recorded and connected in a single MVL ecosystem allowing users to interact with MVL’s mobility data ecosystem on the blockchain through connected services such as TADA and other upcoming services.

Ryde

Ryde invites taxi drivers to join its RydeX feature and accept jobs at “dynamic pricing” to open up an additional source of income for them, while reducing their idle time waiting in between street hail jobs, according to an article by Vulcan Post.

In December 2019, Ryde introduced a new metered taxi service, RydeTAXI, offering this to taxi drivers at zero per cent commission with a potential income increase by US$40 each day through this new service. Ryde hopes to add more than 4,000 drivers to its current pool of 29,000 drivers.

With the new offer, passengers can get a ride with shorter waiting times, and avoid surge fares during peak periods.

Moving forward, the ride-hailing sector is projected to be worth close to US$30 billion by 2025. It only grows from strength to strength and is primed for further innovation to circle around the traffic issues and to lift the economy simultaneously. The only question remaining is: how will these startups stay ahead of each other and survive in the fierce competition. The answer also has to do with the government support and potential collaborations with each other.
–

Photo by Fikri Rasyid on Unsplash

The post Meet these 22 under-the-radar ride-hailing startups catering to Southeast Asia’s hustle and bustle appeared first on e27.

Asia’s digital payments ecosystem is worth US$2.5 trillion, and this accounts for various payment modes, including mobile and peer-to-peer transactions through cryptocurrency, according to Statista. A big percentage of this will be in digital commerce.

This market will grow with a CAGR of 15.2 per cent to US$ 3.86 trillion by 2023. China is, by far, the biggest market with an estimated US$1.93 trillion in transactions in 2020. 

There is certainly a big opportunity here, and fintech companies are in the best position to enable growth in the market, both for companies dealing with consumer or B2B payments, as well as platforms that facilitate digital transactions.

Even major global tech companies have started to leverage this opportunity with their own digital payment platforms, such as WeChat Pay, GrabPay, and the like.

Challenges in collaboration and scale

In a recent report, Getting Real with Digital Payments, Deloitte cited three big challenges that will shape how businesses tackle the future of digital payments in the region. First is the customer experience–retail companies have been leading in terms of innovation, but many of these are focused on proprietary solutions.

Second, there is fragmentation in the market across Southeast Asia, in terms of both technology and regulatory concerns, especially with emerging trends such as cryptocurrency payments. The third is the challenge of finding the right talent in the region to build into huge opportunities in the digital payments space.

Also Read: Grab announces US$850M+ investment from MUFG, TIS to boost fintech expansion

“The ecosystems that many of the players have built with their collaboration partners have resulted in fragmentation across the payments landscape in Southeast Asia, and interoperability between the different payment systems is quickly becoming an issue that needs to be addressed,” it reads.

The Deloitte report is optimistic that the region’s key players can collaborate toward growing the ecosystem. Victoria Krapivina, Head of Business Relations at Elevate Ventures, affirms this observation: “Both regulatory hindrances and technology concerns can be addressed by the various companies and startups that are focusing on innovation or improving digital payments in the region. This will require the ability to collaborate closely with other value chain players and even with new industry entrants,” she says.

Collaborating towards achieving growth

Fintech startups are aware of the importance of collaboration, especially in enhancing the capability of businesses in leveraging the growth opportunities in digital payments. “Our approach is to partner with great companies that understand the value of our solution,” says Felix Mago, Co-Founder at Dash NEXT and Dash Thailand, a global e-commerce platform for digital currency payments.

“Dash is offering the crypto payment solution, our partners offer the settlement,” he adds, citing the importance of partnering with different players in the ecosystem. This also addresses the third point of Deloitte’s concerns cited earlier, which refers to the talent gap in the region. By partnering with other solution providers, technology companies can leverage each other’s expertise in further enhancing the ecosystem.

In the case of the company, Mago says that Dash is partnering with retailers, payment processors, technology providers, and other stakeholders in the region in order to make payments more secure and convenient for both end-users and businesses that want to engage customers through digital payments. The company is also dealing with developers of decentralised apps (dapps), who can integrate payment capabilities into their applications without the need to build their own payments infrastructure.

Also Read: How fintech will revolutionise gold mining as we know it

A focus on data collaboration

In its Technology 2020 and Beyond report, PriceWaterhouseCoopers placed a highlight on application programming interfaces (APIs) as a key driver of collaboration across technology and financial companies. However, businesses will need a paradigm shift, in terms of how such interfacing is treated. PwC says that such data and meta-data may become commoditised in order for fintech to truly flourish. 

The report reads: “The global industry has been standardising the way it handles payments messaging and remittance meta-data. These standards will define consistent structures for individual messages, promoting interoperability and helping developers define API requirements.

But APIs require that financial institutions think differently about strategy, given that the transactions that call them may come from third parties. The payment transaction may become more of a commodity, but the data itself that is captured in the process could drive drastically different business models.”

Interfacing with data can be complicated when it comes to transactions on distributed infrastructure, however, which is another reason for collaboration. For one, Dash NEXT, the Asia-based business development unit of Dash, has announced a partnership with blockchain analytics company PARSIQ in providing real-time payment notifications to merchants, users, and dapp developers that use Dash for payments. 

This is perhaps but one of the many use cases that technology companies can leverage in order to have a bigger impact on Southeast Asia’s growing digital payments ecosystem. According to Anatoly Ressin, Co-Founder and Chief Blockchain Architect at PARSIQ, the ability to monitor transactions in real-time will also ensure better compliance with regulations–thus addressing the need for improved regulatory frameworks in the region.

For users and businesses, this will provide the comfort that their transactions are secure. “Notifications and additional transaction information can be provided in real-time, allowing deeper insights during the transaction process and potentially allowing to react to certain transactions accordingly when time is of the essence.”

Also Read: How is technology influencing Southeast Asia’s fintech industry in 2020

The takeaway

Deloitte reported one stark reality in the payments industry whether in Asia or across the globe: “Customers are used to seamless payments for most daily transactions – with ever-increasing expectations for integrated and secure ways to pay for any product or service.”

For many users and businesses, having to install, understand, and fund different sets of payment applications will only add to the complexity. Thus, interoperability will mean less friction from the perspective of businesses and users, and this can help increase the utilisation of digital payment platforms toward the projected multi-trillion-dollar goal.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page and sign up for our upcoming webinar on how to manage founder’s burnout. 

Image Credit: Unsplash

The post How collaboration will bring trillion-dollar opportunities for Asia’s fintech industry appeared first on e27.

When it comes to agriculture and allied industries, Indonesia is a leading market in Southeast Asia. It has a large growing population, with a fast-expanding middle-class. As the domestic market grows, it will have a higher domestic consumption of food.

The pace of the growth of the industry has opened up immense opportunities for tech startups — both hardware and software. Many companies are already tapping into these opportunities and have made their presence felt. Their revolutionary technologies also won them accolades in the form of funding from prominent VC investors and corporate.

Also Read: All you need to know about Indonesia’s agritech ecosystem

Below is the list of the top-funded startups, which are easing the lives of farmers in Indonesia.

(e27 has just released a comprehensive guide to Indonesia’s agritech ecosystem. Here is a basic version of the report. The full version is available only for our paid members. For any enquiry related to the paid membership, email us to engage@e27.co)

 

TaniHub (A platform connecting farmers to consumers)
Amount raised to date: US$10 million
Investors: Golden Gate Ventures, Intudo Ventures, Openspace Ventures, DFS Lab, Alpha JWC Ventures.

Kedai Sayur (Digitises vegetable hawkers)
Amount raised to date: US$5.3 million
Investors: East Ventures, Multi Persada, Triputra Group, SMDV.

eFishery (An integrated feeding solution for fish and shrimp farming)
Amount raised to date: US$5.2 million
Investors: InnoVen Capital, Triputra Group, 500 Startups, Unreasonable Capital, Aqua Spark, Wavemaker Partners, Social Capital, GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator, The Perase Lyons Accelerator.

Eden Farm (Delivers fresh produce to restaurants and cafes)
Amount raised to date: US$1.75 million
Investors: S7V, EverHaus, Soma Capital, Global Founders Capital, Y Combinator.

Crowde (A platform connecting small-scale farmers with retail investors)
Amount raised to date: US$1 million
Investors: Mandiri Capital, STRIVE, Crevisse.

iGrow (Building organic farm funded by urban people around the world)
Amount raised to date: US$175,000
Investors: Rekanext, Google Launchpad, 500 Startups, East Ventures.

MSMB (Its RiTx platform focuses on the records of activities to help farmers apply a proper cultivation practice)
Amount raised to date: Undisclosed
Investors: UMG Idealab.

Sayurbox (A web-based platform that offers vegetables and fruit for a healthy lifestyle)
Amount raised to date: Undisclosed
Investors: Patamar Capital, Insignia Ventures Partners.

Jala (Helps shrimp farmers manage their water quality to boost the yield and create a sustainable business)
Amount raised to date: Undisclosed
Investors: Hatch! Program, Conservation International, 500 Startups, Hatch Blue, Brinc.

—
Image Credit: 123RF Stock Photo

The post Top-funded agritech startups in Indonesia appeared first on e27.

Insurtech company Uncharted snags US$5.8M Series A investment

Singapore-based insurtech company Uncharted announced today that it has closed a US$5.8 million in Series A funding round with full participation and support from its foundation shareholders.

The funding followed the merger of its Shift Insurtech and Uncharted businesses, according to Nick Macey, Founder and CEO of Uncharted.

The funds, the company noted, will be used to drive its ongoing expansion into key markets across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America, and continue the development of its core insurance platforms as it expands its product, technology, and data analytics capabilities.

Intudo Ventures leads a US$3.25M Series A investment into Indonesia’s Visinema

Indonesia-based entertainment and IP development company Visinema announced today that it has closed a US$3.25 million Series A round of financing led by Intudo Ventures, with existing investor GDP Venture and Ancora Capital participating.

Visinema said it plans to use the funding to build capacity in animation production, enhance talent acquisition, and drive international expansion.

Founded in June 2008 by CEO Angga Dwimas Sasaongki, who is also a film director, producer, and scriptwriter, the entertainment and IP development company focusses on the production and distribution of a wide range of entertainment content for audiences in Indonesia and around the world. Visinema conceptualises, produces, and distributes content across several formats, including film, television, and digital.

Also Read: Uncharted acquires Shift to fulfill goal to become top 5 insurtech providers

Visinema’s core offerings include Visinema Pictures, which develops theatrical releases; and Visinema Content, producing serial content for brands and digital OTT/SVOD platforms such as Netflix, iFlix, and GoPlay.

In addition to its core business, Visinema has developed a studio ecosystem for music, talent recruitment, and scriptwriting for film development from conceptualisation, production, talent development and recruitment, distribution, and monetisation.

Prior to this round, Visinema had raised a US$2 million seed financing from GDP Venture.

People

Fraud detection startup Vesta hires ex-Visa veteran Shabab Muhaddes to lead APAC expansion

Vesta, a payment and fraud detection service provider, has expanded into the Asia Pacific region with a new office in Singapore and the appointment of Shabab Muhaddes as its Asia Pacific (APAC) General Manager.

Vesta seeks to address the many problems of fraud, such as account takeovers, transaction fraud, e-skimming, and brute force attacks driven by professional crime rings.

Ron Hynes, CEO of Vesta, said the appointment of Muhaddes has to do with his more than a decade of experience building relationships across the region, bringing to his role key local and global insights from the financial services, fintech, and payments ecosystems.

Muhaddes was previously Visa’s head of digital partnerships and ventures for APAC. Prior to Visa, he spent eight years with Mastercard in a range of roles focused on building strategic alliances to drive growth in emerging markets and product strategy development.

AI-based user retention platform CleverTap adds Julie Simon as its VP of Marketing for APAC

CleverTap, Singapore’s AI-powered customer lifecycle and user retention platform, today announced the appointment of Julie Simon as Vice President (Marketing) for APAC region.

In this newly-created role, Simon will lead all aspects of marketing for APAC, including go-to-market strategy, digital marketing, partner marketing, and branding and awareness programmes.

Simon’s appointment is part of CleverTap’s aggressive global expansion strategy following the completion of a US$35 million Series C funding round led by Tiger Global Management and Sequoia India. The company is using part of the funds to fuel team growth across Asia, the US, Latin America, and Europe.

Also Read: Success is a moving target: CleverTap Co-founder Anand Jain

Most recently, Simon served as Head of Marketing, APAC for Temenos, and has previously held marketing roles at Quadient and Neopost.

CleverTap helps digital-first brands maximise the value of their mobile apps by personalising customer experiences using real-time behavioural data and predictive modelling.

Business

Funding Societies, SGeBIZ join forces to provide financing solutions for underserved SMEs

Funding Societies, Southeast Asia’s SME digital financing platform, has announced a collaboration with Singapore’s E-Business Pte Ltd (SGeBIZ) to provide quick financing solutions to local SME suppliers and their buyers.

The platform offers a diverse range of loan products, accessible to SME owners via SGeBIZ’s e-procurement management system EzyProcure.

Funding Societies said that it views the partnership as another way to lower the barrier of access to working capital for small businesses. Small businesses on SGeBIZ will now be able to access funds from Funding Societies to improve and match their cash cycles.

SGeBIZ was launched in 2014 by two ex-Republic of Singapore Air Force aviators on a mission to simplify work processes for SMEs through automating data entry and digitising inventory, supply chain, and credit rails.

Its flagship product, EzyProcure, is now a PEPPOL (Pan European Public Procurement On-Line) compliant, and IMDA-approved access point provider supporting the E-Invoicing Initiative implemented nationwide last year.

—

Image Credit: Unsplash.com/@freetousesoundscom

The post Morning News Roundup: Uncharted, Visinema raise Series A investments appeared first on e27.

Temasek Holdings, others confirm salary freeze amidst COVID-19

Singapore’s Temasek Holdings is among the companies that have confirmed a company-wide wage freeze and voluntary pay reductions for senior management for up to a year amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to Vulcan Post.

This will come into action in April when the company will halt all raises and salary increases linked to promotions. With the amount saved, Temasek will donate to staff volunteer initiatives and support the community through unspecified measures.

The entity has a portfolio of a broad spectrum of startups which include Indian ride-sharing company Ola, coworking space giant WeWork, and Virtu Financial, Inc. amongst many others.

Singaporean deep tech startup Dathena names new CTO

Data security and privacy startup Dathena named veteran software engineer Lylian Kieffer as its new CTO, according to a press statement.

Kieffer was Executive VP for Engineering and Operations at App Annie; he brings in over 15 years of experience in building and operating large scale SaaS and data platforms.

“Leading large global engineering teams and managing large-scale analytics platforms, I’ve seen first-hand how challenging it can be to keep data safe while satisfying all the relevant regulatory constraints. Dathena is using cutting-edge technologies to deliver one-of-a-kind tools and functionalities that global businesses urgently need,” Kieffer said.

“I’m looking forward to leveraging my expertise in managing SaaS platforms in fast-growing environments to help Dathena bring its platform to brand new markets.”

Also Read:  Singaporean deep tech company Dathena eyes North America growth with new HQ launch

Kieffer will focus on developing the architecture required to support deployment and distribution of the platform via SaaS and other models.

Hong Kong-based Snapask raises US$35M for its on-demand tutoring app 

Hong Kong based on-demand tutoring app Snapask has raised US$35 million in Series B funding, according to a press statement. The round was led by Asia Partners and Intervest.

Aiming to open its headquarters in Singapore, the company will use the newly added funds to create educational videos as well as expand into Vietnam and other markets in Southeast Asia. The company claimed to have served over three million students across eight markets.

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: Uncharted, Visinema raise Series A investments

“We will continue to invest in both products and content to meet students’ learning needs, focusing on the promotion of self-directed learning and creating environments in which students can compete and cooperate with peers,” said Snapask Founder and CEO Timothy Yu.

Singaporean fintech startup Jungle secures lending licence in the Philippines

Jungle, a fintech lending platform that allows customers to pay their purchases at a later period, has obtained a licence from Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to DealStreet Asia.

The licence arrived five months after Jungle raised a US$125,000 pre-seed funding round, led by investors and serial entrepreneurs Roger Crook and Enrique Dubois.

The company said that it will continue to pursue partnerships with the country’s top brands and retailers in verticals such as consumer electronics, home appliances and furniture, dental and medical, travel, education, sporting goods, and apparel.

–

Image Credit:  wal_172619

 

 

 

 

 

The post Afternoon News Roundup: Temasek Holdings, others, confirm salary freeze amidst COVID-19 appeared first on e27.