Coronavirus has plunged many global businesses into a paralysis. Most of the labour-intensive businesses such as architecture and interior design firms, manufacturers, aviation operators, and travel agencies are hit the hardest.

Experts are suggesting a resilient approach to ensure longevity and surviving the crisis. This is not the time to use the situation and health hazard as an opportunity.

It is for community building and giving back in any way possible, to ensure, when this all is over, people invest in your brand.

Technology has been the biggest salvage in the given situation. Speaking from personal experience, while the design part of the business can be easily moved online using cloud tools such as Autodesk BIM 360, Graphisoft, BIMcloud, the execution and realisation of the designs in the physical world has come to a standstill for the greater good.

Parallell with mass quarantines and complete lock-downs, the epidemic has re-ignited and amplified the debate over the future of work.

Are we seeing the beginning of the end of the traditional office typology?

The short answer – No!

The virus definitely won’t kill the concept of working in standard office buildings. However, the new normal will have businesses come back with an open mind of alternative spaces for working.

This definitely isn’t the first time in history that structures and buildings will be reimagined or redesigned in response to an increased understanding of the disease.

Also Read: Coworking office spaces are a better investment for startups and entrepreneurs

Right now we are forced to staggering work schedule or working apart; But if virtual working is successful, and we’re in fact more productive, it will fundamentally change the value proposition of shared workspace.

The time and situation will speed innovation in the design industry, and we will see the advent of “deep-work pods”. The concept will be a balance of isolated concentration and productive and meaningful collaboration.

This, together with empathetic policies businesses will see designers advocate the use of antibacterial fabrics and finishes, carbon-neutral flooring and energy-efficient collaborative space for a more holistic form of employee engagement that looks beyond the hours of work and commensurate bonuses.

In addition to all types of touch-less technology—automatic doors, hands-free light switches, voice-activated elevators, and temperature controls, the future workspace will be immersive and put employee well-being and engagement in the forefront.

It sure is a rough start to the new decade, but difficult situations are also opportunities for businesses to go back to basics they may have let slip. So let’s concentre on our core missions, build products and spaces which will be needed and loved, be tenacious, practice good business sense, and most importantly act with empathy towards customers, employees, and community alike.

And beyond the precautionary quarantine, social distancing and pandemic, well, we still have a lot of work to do.

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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. We are discussing inclusivity at work and women all of March. Share your thoughts, tips and best practices on how we can make the startup ecosystem more inclusive, gender and culture diverse.

Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page.

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Financial institutions around the world are facing greater operational and compliance risks with the emergence of the recent pandemic, COVID-19.

Financial authorities and organisations everywhere are acknowledging these difficulties with the US Securities and Exchange Commission offering relief and guidance to registered funds and their investment advisers. In the EU, financial authorities have provided initial guidance to ensure continuity of business under financial stress.

In Singapore, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) has rolled out a US$5 million care package to provide support and relief measures amid the outbreak. The SGX care package will benefit Singapore-listed companies as well as SGX employees and contract staff. The move was introduced by the financial community to reinforce the city-state’s resilience as a global marketplace.

According to a Verint whitepaper, Financial Compliance in 2020: Asia Leader’s series, the Singaporean government is recognised by the industry at large as being particularly supportive of proven financial regulatory technology (regtech) offerings.

By contrast, the UK government was found to be comparatively reluctant to promote regtech offerings, tending instead to identify issues without offering specific solutions.

Also Read: Singapura Finance is the latest to join digital license race, partnering digital payment startup MatchMove

It is expected that Singapore will continue to live up to its reputation as a first-class financial hub during this time and is showing every sign of being committed to ensuring uninterrupted operations.

The city-state is taking the global lead to proactively manage the COVID-19 situation by supporting people who are putting their lives and jobs at risk, as well as helping companies survive while maintaining compliance with regulations, even when they are focused on unprecedented events that are changing operating business models forever.

Compliance in these troubling times

To cope with the current demands, Singapore banks have unveiled packages to help companies and other customers with relief assistance to help tide them over the impact of the outbreak. These packages are aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to ensure business continuity while maintaining their standard financial operations.

Banks such as OCBC are mitigating the fallout from the outbreak by helping their partners see through this challenging period in their business operations and by maintaining their quality and compliance.

Multinational banks such as Standard Chartered are currently introducing measures for clients who ask for financial assistance to cope with these challenges.

DBS also unveiled the second round of relief measures to help businesses in Singapore cope amid the virus outbreak, encouraging companies to go digital. These measures include financial relief packages and digital initiatives for companies to fast-track their digital adoption and rely less on physical processes.

Also read: Why there is no better time to upskill than this COVID-19 crisis

As workforces shift to remote-working, DBS has prepared its back office and deployed home agents to assist with the expected increase of more customers online.

The top concern for most companies is ensuring consistent cash flow to cover ongoing operating costs when revenues are under pressure. These measures include extending the due date of the affected business’ trade finance bills as well as extending bridging loans in the form of more working capital financing to affected businesses.

However, as the banking sector does what it can to mitigate the fallout from COVID-19, there are still many competing priorities for leaders to juggle. In all of this, compliance must not be forgotten.

Data quality, reporting accuracy and timeliness cannot be compromised no matter the circumstances. Centralised governance procedures must be in place, including documenting and clearly articulating decisions by authorised personnel if faced with potential variations from ordinary levels of monitoring and control due to the global crisis.

How can companies continue to champion compliance during times of crisis?

Leaders must navigate these challenging times without compromising a focus on compliance.

Here is our five-point action plan for any leader juggling business survival and compliance:

• Make compliance a centrepiece in your business continuity plans (BCP). As you build your BCP ensure that you factor in how you will manage compliance remotely, what security will look like and how you will continue to meet your obligations in these unprecedented times.
• Prioritise the compliance conversation even in times of chaos by engaging with compliance staff and understanding the processes instead of dismissing them as just another round of work or as something that can wait until later. Keep compliance visible.
• Adopt regulatory technology solutions (regtech) that can help your enterprise achieve and maintain financial compliance, better serve your customers while gaining your business a competitive edge.
• Embrace automation as it can ease the burden of expanding and often stringent and demanding regulations, freeing skilled staff from low-value, repetitive tasks improving reliability and performance. Automation is also key as businesses shift to remote workforces.
• Continue to train employees with the right skills, information, tools, and mindsets for them to understand compliance and what role they play according to their geographic boundaries now and into the future.
• Adopt a coordinated approach with clearly defined rationales and targeted timelines to effectively practice compliance and ensure it is not lost in the conversation. This is necessary for audits, regulator inquiries, market stability, and health crises.

The best way to protect your business from future compliance risk is to do everything that you can to ensure that compliance remains active, visible, and assertive during the current crisis. This way, you can ensure that your organisation is well-positioned to successfully tackle the post-COVID-19 wave of business activity.

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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. We are discussing inclusivity at work and women all of March. Share your thoughts, tips and best practices on how we can make the startup ecosystem more inclusive, gender and culture diverse.

Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page.

Image credit: Masaaki Komori on Unsplash

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Baby products e-commerce startup Kyarlay snags US$750K from EME, United Managers Japan Inc.

Kyarlay, a Myanmar-based baby products e-commerce and delivery provider, has raised US$750,000 in funding from Myanmar-based VC firm EME, United Managers Japan Inc., which marked its largest investment to date.

The company was co-founded by husband and wife Soe Lin Myat and Nang Mo while expecting their first child.

Both Soe Lin Myat and Nang Mo previously worked for SEA Group; they implement a balance between the tech giant’s standard and localised approach in their new business.

Through its app and contents, Kyarlay claimed to have created a strong community among young Myanmar parents. It recently started to develop their own branded products for the Myanmar market with the intention to offer quality items for a lower price to their customers.

Kyarlay marks EME’s eighth investment in Myanmar since launching in October 2018. EME is a VC firm based in the country and provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies to help them scale.

Singapore-based mobile ordering startup Eatsy halts operations

Singapore-based mobile ordering platform Eatsy has announced that it will halt all operations from April 1 until further notice in a push-notification to all users yesterday.

Also Read: Ex-Oway employee’s rural e-commerce startup Ezay secures investment from EME Myanmar

Claiming negative business impacts resulting from COVID-19, Eatsy informed all customers that they must redeem any cashback they have accrued by March 31.

Tim Davies, COO of Waitrr, another mobile ordering and payment service in Singapore, commented on the matter: “We are saddened to hear the news. This couldn’t have come at a worse time for Eatsy’s restaurant partners who we know are all suffering as a result of COVID-19.”

Waitrr allows the automation of order taking and payment processes that enables restaurants to increase the capacity of their staff so they can provide personalised, premium service to their guests.

Home interior startup Shadez receives US$100K funding from Inflection Point Ventures

Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) has invested US$100,000 in the Mumbai-based interiors startup Shadez.

Shadez claims to be India’s first paint company to deliver a painting job in a day’s time with the liberty to choose paint of your choice.

For the seed round, IPV said it will provide incubation support to the team with expertise in business strategy, expansion, and risk mitigation.

According to co-founders Adarsh Anand and Amit Tiwari, the funding will be used to expand to other metro cities and scale up operations by adding manpower and focussing on marketing and machinery.

Jignesh Kenia, an IPV investor said, “Shadez is changing the game with respect to painting services by considerably reducing the delivery time through efficiency, planning, and well-trained labour. They literally take away the pain out of the painting job with their one-day turnaround for repainting jobs.”

Robo-advisor startup Smartly shuts down operation, citing intense competition

VinaCapital, Vietnam-based asset management firm that owns Singapore-based robo-advisor Smartly, has shut down the latter’s operation due to “intense” competition in the digital investment advisory space, DealStreetAsia reported.

Founded in 2015, Smartly was acquired by VinaCapital in 2019. Through a notice on its website, the startup said its decision to wind down operations was guided by its parent company’s strategic considerations since weeks ago.

Also Read: Vietnamese VC firm VinaCapital Ventures officially debuts with US$100M

“After evaluating the investments that would be necessary to continue to build the platform in terms of both technology and talent, we arrived at the decision that this business in Singapore no longer aligns with our group’s strategic objectives,” the firm said late Wednesday.

Smartly’s portfolio includes more than 20 exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and the startup charges its customers annual management fees of 0.5-one per cent, and the underlying ETF fee charged by the ETF providers (0.1-0.25 per cent per year).

Smartly said it has arranged the return of all funds held in customers’ accounts and informed them of another service provider with whom it has negotiated a special arrangement, according to VinaCapital.

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Image Credit: Kyarlay

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What is evident is that technology has changed the way customers buy. However, before we delve deeper, let us first understand the typical customer journey of someone who is purchasing a product or service, regardless of whether it is a B2B, B2C, offline or online business.

Businesses need to evolve to adapt to changing customer behaviour brought about by the digitally evolving world. The traditional customer journey has been disrupted and although most companies know how crucial it is to evolve with technology and create digital processes and solutions, successfully implementing them is a different story. Regardless of the nature or set-up of the business, the most basic customer journey sees the customer go through four stages: awareness, consideration, purchase and advocacy.

The journey can be represented as what is known as a sales funnel.

Awareness

In the awareness stage, the prospective buyer learns about your product or service through exposure to your brand. This could have been through traditional marketing efforts like word of mouth, referrals, newspaper, magazine, television or radio advertisement, event participation and flyers.

Or, in today’s digitally evolving world, the prospect might become aware of your brand through a Google search, a photo posted on Instagram by someone they follow, a sponsored story on their Facebook feed or a targeted email you sent to them through an email list.

Also Read: The essentials of mapping a customer journey across digital assets

The hope is that with awareness comes interest, and the prospect is curious to learn more about your product by visiting your website or heading down to your retail store. By creating awareness, you are starting a relationship with the prospect. The more the prospect gets to know you, the more likely the prospect will buy from you. If you push your product or service from the beginning, you will turn off prospects and chase them away.

The goal here is to establish your expertise, offer to help them in any way you can and move the prospect from the ‘awareness’ stage to ‘consideration’ stage.
Consideration
At this stage, the prospect is evaluating whether she wants to buy your product or service.

She might also be considering other options, including competitor products or even the DIY route.

The prospect will be gathering as much information as she can by scouring your website to read product descriptions or watch demo videos, looking for online reviews, following you on social media or asking friends or family for opinions.

Well-timed attractive offers such as free shipping, a discount, bonus product, money-back guarantee or a 1-year warranty can tip the scales in your favour and convince the prospect to buy your product. Social proof like testimonials and reviews posted on a social media platform will also contribute to the decision-making process.
Purchase
At this stage, the prospect is becoming a customer by finalising the deal with you.

The purchase is formalised by signing a contract or clicking the ‘buy’ button. And, of course, making payment.

The customer’s journey should not end after making the purchase. You will want to move her from being a customer to be an advocate (supporter and evangelist of your brand).

Also Read: Two babies and US$45M Series A in tow: A female entrepreneur’s journey to dominating the global payroll industry
Advocacy
Advocacy is the stage where the customer is retained, and brand loyalty is built so that she comes back as a returning customer and skips the ‘awareness”’ or even ‘consideration’ stages and moves straight to ‘purchase’.

Your after-sales service programme and post-purchase marketing efforts are designed to keep her stay engaged with your brand. You want to focus on keeping her happy so that she returns as a repeat customer and becomes a brand advocate. Word of mouth is a powerful force, and no one can do it better than a happy customer.

Of course, this assumes your product or service solves the customer’s problem or fulfils her needs.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY (SALES FUNNEL)

Once you understand the journey of your customer, you must map out the typical journey for your business and how your business is set-up to attend to a customer’s needs at different stages of the journey.

Also, if you are an existing business, think about how different the customer journey was before and after the world digitally evolved. If your business is new, think of how your own buying journey has changed over time when buying a product such as a new pair of shoes, smartphone or insurance plan.

Let us have a look at two scenarios to put things into perspective.

Imagine that a customer wants to buy a vacuum cleaner soon as hers is starting to give problems. She does not have an immediate need for it but changing vacuum cleaners is on her mind.

The Customer Journey (Pre-digital Age)
Traditionally, a customer’s journey may look something like this:

Awareness
Annie first learns about the new Acme Appliances vacuum cleaner through an advertisement in the newspaper. The next day, she hears an advertisement on the new vacuum cleaner on the radio.

Consideration
Annie calls up the telephone number that was promoted in the advertisements and is invited to come down to the Acme Appliances store nearest to her for a demonstration.

Also Read: Collaborate to innovate: New age mantra for creating a sustainable startup journey

She heads down to the store and is introduced to a salesperson who explains all the new features of the vacuum cleaner, gives her a brochure and demos the product to show how silent and effective it is. Annie asks to see if other models or options are available. She even goes to another store nearby to compare similar products and prices.

Purchase
After looking at the options and evaluating the different features, the customer decides to buy the Acme vacuum cleaner. She fills in her information on an order form and makes payment.

Advocacy
Annie brings the vacuum cleaner home to use it and is happy with the purchase. She tells her friend about the Acme vacuum cleaner and recommends it as a worthwhile purchase.

A month later, the customer gets a printed brochure in the mail highlighting a new attachment for the vacuum cleaner that will be released soon. She is also reminded that she can bring in her vacuum cleaner for free servicing in six months.

The Customer Journey (Current)
Now, consider the customer’s journey for the same product today.

Awareness
Twenty years ago, Annie bought an Acme Appliances vacuum cleaner that served her well. Several years later, she bought an identical replacement, but now she needs a new vacuum cleaner, and Acme Appliances is no longer in business.

So, Annie does a Google search on the latest and most popular vacuum cleaner. She comes across the new vacuum cleaner from Stark Enterprises in several search results. Clicking the various links, she learns more about the product, its features and benefits.

Also Read: Why fintech companies should learn about customer retention from e-commerce companies

Consideration
After doing some online research, Annie narrows down her choices to the Stark vacuum cleaner and a competitor’s model made by Wayne Industries.

She does more research by watching reviews of both vacuum cleaners on YouTube and reading reviews on blogs. She also checks the ratings on popular online marketplaces. As she is re-reading the information on the Stark vacuum cleaner product page, a pop-out window opens at the bottom of her screen letting her know that a Sue from Mont Kiara had purchased the same product one day ago.

After comparing offerings from both brands, she decides to buy the Stark vacuum cleaner. While the features are similar to the Wayne model, she was attracted by Stark’s three-year warranty, free shipping and bonus dust-trap device that came with the purchase.

Purchase
Annie clicks on the “buy now” button, fills in her order info and makes payment through PayPal. She receives an order receipt in her inbox that informs her that the product will be delivered within five days.

Advocacy
A week later, a courier delivers the Stark vacuum cleaner. Annie tries it out for the first time and is happy with the results.

She takes a photo of the vacuum cleaner with her clean living room in the background, adds a filter and posts it onto her Instagram account, which is automatically shared on her Facebook account. She adds the hashtag #starkvacuumcleaner with a short positive review. Her post gets 29 likes, two shares and eight comments, one from Stark Enterprises community manager.

Also Read: Why reciprocity is key to building deep customer relationships

A day later, Annie receives an email thanking her for her purchase. She is given a referral code and the email states that if she shares the code with her friends or on social media, she will receive a US$20 voucher each time someone buys a Stark Vacuum Cleaner with her referral code. Every month, she also receives an email on tips on how to maintain the Stark Vacuum Cleaner and suggestions on how to keep an apartment dust-free.

I am sure you can relate to Annie’s customer journey that takes place in today’s digitally evolving world. If you are above the age of 35, you probably can relate to Annie’s journey from two decades ago.

While the scenarios given were for a B2C order, many B2B customers would follow a similar journey. If not, the experience would be a hybrid of both scenarios.

The fact is, the customer journey has changed and will continue to change as the world evolves digitally.

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This story has been excerpted by courtesy of the publisher from Evolve, Adapt or Collapse by J C Sum (Evolve&Adapt, 2020).

To purchase the book, please visit this site.

Image Credit: Cam Morin on Unsplash

The post Book Excerpt: In this digital age, customer journey as we know it may no longer exist appeared first on e27.

We have always kept our focus on our mission of empowering entrepreneurs with the tools to build and grow their companies. A couple of months ago, we began building a platform that we envision to do just that.

When we quietly launched e27 Pro, our community has been most supportive; offering encouragement and feedback that helped us design e27 Pro into what it is today: a membership programme that is designed to give you actionable insights, exclusive business-building programmes, and tools that enable your company’s success.

We’d like to tell you more about the early adopters of e27 Pro who have helped and are continually helping us make the platform better.

KK Fund

Founded in 2015, KK Fund is a venture capital investment firm based in Singapore. The firm invests in seed-stage internet and mobile startups across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Incubate Fund

Incubate Fund is the largest and best-known seed to early-stage focused venture capital fund in Japan. Incubate Fund (also known as ‘IF’) is run by four venture capitalists who specialise in Internet business and frontier tech investment, founded in 2010.

Incubate Fund is ranked within the top 5 best consistent performance venture capital firms globally in “Preqin Private Capital Performance Update: 4Q2018”.

Spiral Ventures

Spiral Ventures is a Japanese venture capital fund and headquartered in Singapore. SV has been investing in early-stage and tech startup in Southeast Asia, India, and Japan since 2013. SV has over 60 portfolio companies across 3 areas in various sectors today.

Monk’s Hill Ventures

Founded in 2014, Monk’s Hill Ventures is a leading Southeast Asia early-stage tech venture capital firm. The firm invests in companies that will transform millions of lives in Southeast Asia. With the vision to back the best founders in building iconic companies, its founding partners Peng T. Ong and Kuo-Yi Lim are seasoned entrepreneurs who have built and backed global companies in Silicon Valley and Asia. MHV has a presence in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Also read: Meet 4 VCs who are early adopters of e27 Pro

Golden Gate Ventures

Golden Gate Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing across Southeast Asia. Since 2011, the firm has invested in over 30 companies across more than 7 countries in Asia. The firm invests in internet & mobile startups across many sectors, including e-commerce, payments, marketplaces, mobile applications, and SaaS platforms.

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We’ll be sharing with you some more of e27 Pro early adopters soon! Watch out for them.

The post 5 more VCs who are early adopters of e27 Pro appeared first on e27.

Attracting the right customers is the key to success in business, whether you have a startup or you’ve been in business for years.

In my role as an adviser to entrepreneurs, I often see businesses make the mistake of trying to be too many things for too many people. For example, Xerox tried to broaden the use of “xerox” as the standard term for “photocopying” to extend the company’s existing customer segment into office automation and all kinds of computing. As Xerox watched its market share dwindle instead, it realised too late that these segments were already defined, and the company needed a new focused brand to attract customers from other segments.

These days, branding is less about products or solutions, and more about the overall customer experience and expectations. If the shopping process, delivery, and support level does not match customer expectations, no innovative product features will compensate. And the result will be less visibility and slower growth, with fewer delighted customers and little word-of-mouth marketing.

In my experience, it’s best to start by selecting your desired customer segment first and match it with a branding model that best fits those customers. After that, you’re ready to design your product, marketing, shopping environment, delivery model, and support around that model.

Don’t know which branding model is for you? Here are eight common models for you to start considering, ideally before you design your product or launch your service.

Also Read: 6 tried-and-tested branding tips for your startup

1. Premium or exclusive solution
The audience for this business model is limited, so make sure you can deliver to their expectations. Existing brands such as Tesla, Virgin Atlantic, Rolex, and Harvard University seek to appeal to this elite customer segment, implying prestige, exclusivity, and high customer personalization.

2. Lowest-cost solution with minimal customisation
At the other end of the spectrum, many startups and big companies, including Amazon and Walmart, expand their customer segment by being the most cost-efficient, with low overhead and little customisation. Don’t attempt this model without high automation and a big investment upfront.

3. Family or hometown business everyone can trust
Many customers are highly attracted to these local businesses, where they may know the owner and always enjoy the warmth and intimacy of a personal customer experience. This is by far the most common brand out there, but without rebranding, it has very limited potential for growth and scaling.

4. Tech-focused service that solves complex problems
Companies in this realm typically are thought of as a service business, even though they may offer product components as well. The customer experience is a function of satisfaction with the service, support, and usability of complex products. Examples would include ADT Security Services and IBM.

5. Service business to find the best solution
Examples of this business model and brand would include companies like Airbnb for finding places to stay, and Expedia for the best airline reservations. To be successful in this type of business, you need to satisfy two customer segments: the solution provider and the end-user customer.

6. Recognised expert and specialist in one domain
Depth of focus is both the strength and the weakness of this model. The message is easy to communicate, but there is always the temptation to move to a mass market for growth. You can find specialists in almost every industry, and their success is gated to customer experience and reviews.

Also Read: 6 simple tips for branding your website

7. Driven by purpose more than profits
For some market segments, there is no greater attraction than a worthy cause, where business success is a byproduct of the company focus, rather than the primary objective. Examples include Patagonia’s commitment to sustainability while selling clothing, and Whole Foods, the organic grocer.

8. Public utility required by all customer segments
Becoming a recognized brand as a public utility may be difficult and costly, since most of these positions are already occupied by large companies with long histories. You may be able to provide cheaper electrical power via solar, but bureaucratic regulations and credibility can be expensive.

In my experience with startups, brand positioning is often done last, after all the cost and quality tradeoffs, options, packaging, and support process are set. For example, technologists will try to build the best high-tech product, and then somehow expect to become the low-cost, high-volume provider for the nontech market segment. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Other companies try to change their branding later, like when growth stalls, without any changes to product or process, trying to attract an additional market segment for growth. This approach is equally fraught with peril.

My message is to make branding an integral part of your solution design process, and keep it there.

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This article was published on nfinitiv.

Image Credit: Joshua Earle on Unsplash

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Over the last four months, the Philippines has had increasingly longer work-from-home experiments – first for a day or two with Typhoon Kammuri in late November, next for a few days due to the eruption of Taal Volcano on January 12, and now for at least a month with the lockdown from COVID-19.

Many local startups and tech companies have been caught flat-footed, especially with the current lockdown. Like in Malaysia, there are companies that have business models that go directly against the recommendation for social distancing and strict quarantining, such as travel and hospitality. 

The greater majority of startups and tech companies in the Philippines can still operate in the lockdown but are still adjusting to the nuances of moving from in-person to fully remote work in such a short span of time.

Many analysts are in fact predicting an economic downturn as businesses get acclaimed to a world struck with a pandemic, even possibly a reduction of M&A activity in Southeast Asia. 

Surprisingly, there are a few tech companies in the country not only surviving but thriving in the midst of the current lockdown.

Also Read: Startup survey reveals the Philippines is ready to scale as fintech will emerge as the top sector

They are worth studying because their use cases point to examples of how businesses in the Philippines and across Southeast Asia can potentially become more impactful and integral to the lives of their users.

Basic needs go on-demand 

When the community quarantine took into effect in Manila on March 15, few people were prepared. As in other countries, there were absurdly long lines at groceries as people stocked up – or in some unfortunate cases, hoarded – essentials such as food, water, and sanitation items. But not everyone was able to get what they need.

Many Filipinos have since turned to the on-demand services platform, MyKuya.

According to founder Shahab Shabibi, MyKuya has seen triple the requests compared to the week before, with many people turning to the app for help with basic needs, such as getting a kuya (Filipino for “big brother”) to help deliver take-out or do personal shopping for necessities such as sanitation items.

Employed through MyKuya’s enterprise partners, these kuyas are themselves working completely voluntarily. For many Filipinos at the bottom-of-the-pyramid, the economic impact of not working during the COVID-19 lockdown – “no work, no pay” is a commonly heard refrain – is the worst part of the pandemic.

Many of the new kuyas are workers whose work will be shut down for the next month, or who have even already been laid off.

Shabibi feels that taking in this new surge of kuyas through their enterprise partners is in line with their overall mission.

“It’s unfortunate that it had to happen this way, but this story is directly in line with MyKuya’s aims to create jobs for millions of Filipinos. With the values of bayanihan (communal unity) and nation-building in mind, we’ve always been about creating real livelihood opportunities for people here in the Philippines. It’s actually our goal to create one million jobs by 2022,” says Shabibi.

Also Read: Afternoon News Roundup: Forkwell.io partners Microsoft to host COVID-19 hackathon

Work-from-home evolves 

Apart from occasionally slow internet (depending on their internet service provider), most Filipino workers do have the tools and resources to successfully work-from-home. Their company probably has a messaging platform, a workflow system, and other industry-specific digital tools.

While these Filipino companies may provide their employees with a robust productivity stack, their offerings in learning and development are almost nonexistent.

Filipino culture prizes face-to-face interaction, which is why the vast majority of education and upskilling in corporations and universities is still done in-person.

Local tech company CloudSwyft is giving Filipinos the opportunity to continue their professional growth remotely.

The company provides a cloud-based, technology learning platform built around online courses and technology learning labs that provides instruction in everything from data science and machine learning to Azure and Power BI.

While CloudSwyft has a regional footprint – the company counts clients and partners in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia – founder Dann Angelo De Guzman is especially proud that the remote learning their platform enables is needed more than ever for Filipino workers and students.

“Coming from a humble background right here in Manila, I’ve personally experienced how digital upskilling can improve your life. I’m excited to offer more of these opportunities to millions of people across ASEAN, who can now learn the skills in most demand by the best employers across the globe, right from the comfort and safety of their own home,” says De Guzman, who added that a portion of revenues from their platform subscriptions for the rest of the year will be donated to the Philippine General Hospital, Lung Center of the Philippines, and the Ayala Foundation.

Betting on the future 

In anticipation of the potential recession due to COVID-19, more Filipinos will be looking to make long-term investments that will steward their financial health well into the future.

Also Read: Work-from-home: Watch out for cyberthreats amid COVID-19 pandemic

As a matriarchal society, many of these investment decisions will be made by women, as data from investment platform eToro has shown – the Philippines has the highest proportion of female investors in the entire world. 

eToro has over 12 million users across the world, only 13 per cent of whom are women. In sharp contrast, the proportion of women investors in the Philippines is 26 per cent, or double that of the global average.

“Filipina traders are shattering gender stereotypes with their active participation in the investment scene, proving that investing is a viable path for economic mobility,” says Paul Familiaran, Head of Southeast Asia Business for eToro.

“We are optimistic about the sustained upward trend in the number of registered female traders in the coming years, especially since more women joined the ranks of Popular Investors on the eToro platform.”

One hopes that the absolute number for both female and male investors on eToro will continue to rise.

As COVID-19 lockdown shrouds our future with uncertainty, it becomes increasingly important to invest in assets that have a long-term horizon and are more protected from the threats that brick-and-mortar businesses and in-person work face.

In much the same vein, entrepreneurs and founders should take this as a lesson for themselves: It’s now high time to search for new ways to create value.

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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. We are discussing inclusivity at work and women all of March. Share your thoughts, tips and best practices on how we can make the startup ecosystem more inclusive, gender and culture diverse.

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A ‘lifelong cyclist’, he always believed cycling is the best way to get from point A to point B. At the age of 13, he started racing downhill mountain bikes nationally. 

Three years later, Jack O’Sullivan decided to convert his passion into a business and founded Vital Fixes, a direct-to-consumer brand of single-speed bikes, in Dublin. 

While running the business, he realised bike commuters faced three common pain points: sweating, theft, and utility. To address these pain points, he developed the concept of a bike in 2019 that can replace cars for urban transportation with three main features: electric, modular and smart.

And Modmo took birth.

“There were no bike manufacturers in Ireland, so I travelled to China and Taiwan to find the finest bicycle factory,” O’Sullivan tells e27. “However, I couldn’t find any and so decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Vietnam in 2019 where I met with some bike manufacturers.”

Also Read: Why 2020 is the year for tech startups in Vietnam

It was a turning point in his life.

In the Southeast Asian country, he joined Vietnam Silicon Valley (VSV) Accelerator and Becamex Business Incubator. This where he built a team of engineers, who turned 3D designs into a manufacturable product within eight months. 

Designed to replace cars, Saigon –as his bike brand is known — is the “first fully modular bicycle”, he claims. The product is expected to hit the market in June.

Saigon has an 18.5Ah battery, which allows up to 200km of pedal-assisted cycling per charge. Plus, the bike uses a fully-integrated and removable battery, paired with a front 250-watt motor to get you from A to B effortlessly and without a sweat. It weighs just 14kg.

Saigon is designed as a pedelec, meaning people wouldn’t need a license, pay tax or insurance to ride it on the streets.

“Simple on the outside but high-tech inside, Saigon has a smart handlebar display, GPS for location tracking and Bluetooth for function control via the iOS/Android app. The front and rear modular mounts allow our range of MODs (modular accessories) to easily slide on/off, allowing riders to customise it to use for other utility purposes. One can mount a child seat, basket, food delivery boxes and a pannier rack onto the bike,” he says as he explains the features of the two-wheeler.

While all the R&D activities are done in Vietnam, the company has no plans to sell the product in the country. “Majority of our customers come from the US. We are also receiving enquiries from countries such as Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands,” he says.

Modmo also sees great potential in markets such as Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, but it has no immediate plans to enter these markets.

While it is priced at €2,799 (US$3,098), Saigon is available at a discounted price at €1,999 (US$2,212). One can pre-order by paying just €99 (US$110).

Also Read: Is Vietnam the new golden child of tech startups in SEA?

The less-than-a-year-old startup is backed by VSV and a few unnamed angel investors.

According to O’Sullivan, the company is already cashflow positive. “We’ve been growing 120 per cent per week since the launch. Also, we’ve had a close partnership with our manufacturer, so we’re able to do the final tooling payments after our Kickstarter campaign in June,” he reveals.

According to O’Sullivan, smart scooters currently available in the market such as Scooterson cannot be used for utilities. “Although these scooters are a great option for first- and last-mile transportation, they are not suitable for any other utilities. On the other hand, Saigon is modular and allows riders to carry much more. Also, Saigon comes with a much longer battery range. Plus, we’re about half the price,” he says.

Under quarantine

O’Sullivan was recently put in a quarantine centre in Ho Chi Minh City after he came into indirect contact with three people, who had tested positive for COVID-19. So he had to move my “office” to the centre.

“Instead of working from home, this will be my office for the next 14 days. We’ve got a 60mb internet speed, which is much faster than the one we have in our office. Food is delivered to our beds. I can still get things running. The bikes are still manufactured. The pandemic might actually have sped up production because people are on the edge and things could be shut down tomorrow,” he concludes.

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Vickers Venture Partners raises US$200M for its Fund IV

Global venture capital firm Vickers Venture Partners has received commitments amounting to US$200 million (excluding General Partner commitments) for its fourth fund, which ha a target of US$500 million.

“With Fund VI, we are extremely excited to continue investing globally in deep, disruptive technologies that are creating solutions that are more inclusive and sustainable for societies around the world,” said Chairman Dr. Finian Tan said.

Some of the VC firm’s portfolios are cleantech startup Eavor, biotech firm RWDC Industries, and T-cell focused vaccine company Emergex, which is working on developing safe and effective vaccinations against COVID-19 and a range of other prevalent infectious diseases.

Trucking marketplace Kargo secures investment from Coca Cola’s VC arm Amatil X

Indonesia-based trucking marketplace startup Kargo Technologies has reportedly secured an investment from Amatil X, the VC arm of Coca Cola Amatil, according to a report by DealStreetAsia. A year ago, Kargo raised US$7.6 million in a seed funding round led by Sequoia India, with participation from Uber Co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick’s 10100 Fund.

Amatil X had said in an interview last year that it would invest up to US$2 million in each of its potential investees. This would be Amatil X’s first investment in Indonesia.

Also Read: Indonesian logistics startup Kargo raises US$7.6M in seed funding round

Kargo connects commercial shippers with truckers across Indonesia. Its platform allows shippers, transporters, and truckers to connect, transact and track shipments in real-time.

Kargo was co-founded by Tiger Fang, who served as the former GM for Uber in Western China before taking charge of its Indonesia operations. Fang and his business partner Yodi Aditya teamed up to build the new venture but decided to keep the name to retain the older startup’s quarter of a million monthly website visitors.

East Ventures launches Indonesia Pasti Bisa, bringing its portfolio to support the production of 100K COVID-19 test kits

With almost 900 cases of infection announced in Indonesia, the country still lacks test kits availability to contain the spread of the COVID-19.

Nusantics, a deeptech startup in the field of genomic and one of East Ventures portfolio company, is currently developing a test kit to detect COVID-19 infection as a member of the Technological Research and Innovation Task Force for COVID-19 under Indonesia Technology Assessment and Application Agency (BPPT).

In the next three weeks, Nusantics will use the company’s resources and capability in the field of genomics to develop a qPCR test kit that is designed specifically for the Indonesia population, committed to produce 100 test kit prototypes and continue with mass production of 100,000 test kits.

At the same time, Nusantics also plans to run whole genome sequencing to profile the SARS-CoV-2 virus genomic. Genomic mapping is essential because the virus is continuously mutating to adapt to its host and environment.

In supporting the initiative, East Ventures launched Indonesia Pasti Bisa as a platform to mobilise the company’s digital ecosystem in supporting Nusantics and BPPT Task Force efforts. The company will leverage its network to establish a collaboration against COVID-19 epidemics.

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: Chilibeli raises US$10M, gojek denies staff layoff and Grab merger reports

As a start, East Ventures will lead fundraising targeting an amount of US$629,000. The fund will be used to produce 100,000 test kits (US$569,000) and finance the whole genome sequencing project (US$63,000).

The public can participate in this movement by accessing Indonesiapastibisa.com to donate money, equipment, or skill. Crowdfunding will start on Monday, March 30, 2020, at 9 AM local time.

Joining the movement are fintech company KoinWorks, as an accountability partner to provide and manage the crowdsourcing platform. The fund will be disbursed directly to vendors providing materials and equipment for the project, and audited by an independent third party.

IDN Media will be involved as a transparency partner. Progress and result of the project will be published weekly.

Co-founder and Managing Partner East Ventures Willson Cuaca said, “We were informed about Nusantics involvement in BPPT task force on Sunday, March 22. The news makes us want to do more to mobilize our digital ecosystem to support them. Each of East Ventures portfolio companies has various expertise in different industries. By taking a small part of that expertise, we are able to create an innovative platform, Indonesia Pasti Bisa.”

New Energy Nexus Indonesia introduces 6 startups for a second incubation programme

New Energy Nexus Indonesia, a local unit of California-based non-profit firm, has launched the second batch of its incubation and acceleration programme, DealStreetAsia has reported. The firm has chosen six startups that focusses on the renewable energy sector, and cover the Internet of Things (IoT), digitalisation, and energy access, energy efficiency, clean energy, and business model innovation.

By being in the programme, the startups will receive coaching, followed by US$4 million in seed round funding to help get their products and services to the market.

The six startups are Vena Energy, Swadesi Surya Persada (SUPER), Chakra Giri Energi Indonesia, Enertec Mitra Solusi, Energi Persada, RESCO Sumba, Forbetric, and Warung Energi.

Since 2018, there are at least 19 startups that have participated in the Nexus New Energy incubation and acceleration program, with five startups graduating in November 2019.

KK Fund launches Meet your Match Thailand

KK Fund, a Singapore-headquartered seed-stage VC fund, is launching its first Meet your Match Thailand ​session, an initiative to match investors to Thailand-based startups in light of the uncertain situation due to the COVID-19 virus.

In order to support the startup ecosystem, KK Fund has signed up more than 20 investors to participate in this initiative to connect Thailand startups with potential investors online. For the first “Meet your Match” session, KK Fund is focussing on the Thai Startups.

Also Read: Burda Principal Investments sets up Singapore office, will make Series B investments in SE Asia

Some of the investors joining the programme are 500 TukTuks, Beacon Ventures, Burda Principal Investments, Cyber Agent Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, Insignia Venture Partners, Krungsri Finnovate, Monk’s Hill Ventures, Sequoia, and more.

The programme is welcoming applications starting from today at 12 pm Thai time to April 10, 2020 at 12 pm local Thai time. Upon successful matching, an online session over Zoom will be arranged by the investor with the startup.
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Picture Credit: Vickers Venture Partners

The post News Roundup: Indonesia’s Kargo raises funding from Coca Cola’s VC arm; Vickers Venture raises US$200M for Fund IV appeared first on e27.

Not too long ago, a partner from a reputable VC firm shared how disappointed he was to find out that this year’s Echelon Asia Summit had been postponed.

“Do you know that one of the startups in our portfolio now, I met through that event?” he revealed.

His testimonial is only one of the many examples that underscore the importance of offline events and face-to-face meetings for all businesses across verticals. But the global pandemic has severely altered the landscape of business networking and consequently, disrupted business operations.

With offline events either postponed or canceled, many startups are deprived of the opportunity to showcase their innovations to potential customers, investors, or mentors. Key stakeholders seeking out the next unicorn will have to comb through alternative, random spaces. Additionally, businesses aiming to increase brand awareness by engaging their target audience face-to-face will have to rethink their strategies. In other words, COVID-19 has widened the gap among various sectors in the ecosystem that leverage networking for vital business purposes.

Fortunately, the digital space is borderless

While the physical world found itself restricted under enhanced quarantine, the online community thrived amid lockdowns. Digital noise never ceased and in fact, several businesses have been seen in the e-commerce sector taking off where physical borders cannot stop them. We’ve also seen an increase in app downloads, and online education platforms have never been as prominent as they are these days.

As the saying goes, every crisis presents an opportunity. This is already given in a community that flourished through innovation and problem-solving.

Tapping into online initiatives and bridging the gap

As an ecosystem builder and media company, e27 has recognised its key purpose to continue our service and mission to “empower entrepreneurs with the tools to build and grow their companies”. We’re working to support tech startups and stakeholders by collating these online services relevant to the current situation. We hope that by doing this, we serve to fulfill the business networking and introduction gaps in the ecosystem.

e27 Pro Membership Programme

• a membership programme that’s meant to give you actionable insights to aid in informed business decisions, exclusive business-building programmes, and tools that enable your company’s success
• visibility of milestones and fundraising efforts through listicles and widgets
• strong business connection by tapping into our vast network of potential partners

e27 Software & Service Community Discounts

• an initiative to support all B2B startups in the regional tech ecosystem by helping boost the exposure of their software and services

Webinars and dedicated digital campaigns

• for businesses aiming to increase branding awareness without offline event, but still wish to engage with customers and potential strategic partners
• for companies, or even business owners to be seen as thought leaders in the industry through marketing campaigns

Market research and data insights

• for businesses needing to connect with customers, through validation of their hypotheses and theories to be able to make business decisions

These are all part of our overall community initiatives to assist tech startups and stakeholders in these challenging times. We continue to believe in the ecosystem, and that by aptly tapping into relevant online platforms, we can bridge the networking gaps and bounce back together as a community.

The post Tapping into online platforms, bridging network gaps, and bouncing back as a community appeared first on e27.