Telehealth startup Doctor Anywhere closes US$27M Series B funding

Doctor Anywhere, a tech-enabled healthcare company headquartered in Singapore, announces today that it has secured a US$27 million Series B financing round led by Square Peg, a venture capital fund in Australia. Joining the round is Singapore Government investment arm EDBI, international healthcare provider IHH Healthcare, Pavilion Capital, and existing shareholder Kamet Capital, bringing Doctor Anywhere’s total capital base to exceed US$40 million.

The company said that the latest investment will “boost its market leadership position in the healthtech industry in Asia, as it prepares for expansion to augment the region’s healthcare landscape through digital transformation, with the support of local and regional partners.”

Doctor Anywhere recently launched its platform in Thailand, in partnership with one of Thailand’s established private hospitals, and a global corporate insurance provider. Doctor Anywhere also operates in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, with announcements on other regional plans in the pipeline due later this year.

MatchMove acquires stake in e-commerce platform Shopmatic

MatchMove, Singapore-based fintech platform, announces that it has entered into an agreement with e-commerce enabler Shopmatic to make a strategic investment in the company with immediate effect.

Also Read: MatchMove acquires stake in P2P lender MoolahSense to strengthen its SME financing capabilities

MatchMove said that this investment will enable the company to extend its digital wallet capability to Shopmatic’s ecosystem of more than 435,000 e-commerce small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual entrepreneurs across the region.

Shopmatic specialises in providing turnkey solutions to SMEs that want to set-up an online store, which includes setting up the store-front, payment, shipping, and logistics integrations, selling across multiple channels such as social media and marketplaces, to sales management and customer support.

With its involvement, MatchMove will enable digital payments and cross-border remittance capabilities for Shopmatic users. Over time, these SMEs can build a credit-score against which they can access loans for their capital requirements.

EMURGO launches blockchain-based traceability solution for enterprises

EMURGO, the blockchain solutions provider and a founding entity of Cardano, announced the launch of “EMURGO Traceability Solution” – an enterprise solution leveraging blockchain technology to modernise existing supply chain traceability standards. The service aims to bring added value to supply chain stakeholders as well as end consumers.

EMURGO partnered with Blue Korintji Coffee, an environmentally-conscious Indonesian coffee brand, to be the first commercial enterprise to integrate the solution in its coffee supply chain. The solution will leverage Cardano’s research-driven blockchain technology to provide transparency of purchasing prices between stakeholders and assure the immutability of accumulated private information.

Also Read: [Updated] Cardano Project offers blockchain training for students in Indonesia

Coffee consumers will also be able to simply scan a QR code displayed in the coffee shop to access this information about the origin and traceability of their coffee. Starting from April 5, Blue Korintji Bintaro, the company’s first established cafe branch in suburban Jakarta, will serve coffee to customers using EMURGO’s Traceability Solution.

—

Image Credit: Doctor Anywhere

The post Morning News Roundup: Doctor Anywhere raises US$27M Series B funding led by Square Peg appeared first on e27.

Let us not sugarcoat it: The past few months have been extremely difficult for businesses around the world.

Even in the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem, we have seen how startups in countries such as Malaysia and the Philippines adjusted their operations to the situation, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced cities and countries to go on lockdown.

As a mean to support their portfolio companies, VC firms have also released guidelines on how to deal with the situation (What to do when there is an employee that has been infected? How should you communicate this with stakeholders?).

At e27, we see this period as a constant reminder of our mission: To empower entrepreneurs to build and grow their companies. Every day we figure out new ways to help the ecosystem survive this crisis. So far we have conducted special webinar series and published coverage to help entrepreneurs make more informed decisions, but we are not going to stop there.

Also Read: For the startup ecosystem, profitability is a gender equality issue

This is why e27 is working with a mix of software partners, ranging from large cloud companies to smaller localised services, to provide our community with discounts.

If you are a business that could benefit from getting exposed to a community of business leaders (who are a regular at our annual Echelon Asia Summit), we would like to have a chat to see how we can offer your product to our community.

Interested? Have something to offer to the ecosystem? Please fill in the form.

Looking forward to seeing your name there. Let us work together to help support the community in this difficult time.

—

Image Credit: Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

The post How e27 is going to lend a helping hand for the startup ecosystem during the COVID-19 crisis appeared first on e27.

Facebook Accelerator Singapore showcases 14 startups selected for season 2

Facebook, along with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), has announced the names of the 14 startups attending the second edition of its accelerator programme in Singapore.

The 6-month programme aims to support innovative, data-driven startups across the Asia Pacific region.

The 14 startups are:

Lucep: A sales and marketing tool that connects leads from FB ads directly with their sales agents

Outside Voice: A platform that allows market researchers to consumers via video chatbots to reduce research time.

Privyr: A CRM (customer relationship management) built for sales professionals who operate their businesses from the phone.

Trabble: A SaaS platform for businesses in the travel and hospitality sector to automate guest engagement on their channels

UIB: Created the UnificationEngine® Conversational IoT platform to create frictionless onboarding and communications between people and devices.

Aris: The first and largest social commerce on Facebook Live

Assemblr: A platform to create, discover, share augmented reality experiences

AVANA: Social commerce enabler that helps businesses convert social media from promotional to transactional

Ecomobi: A social selling platform that enables brands to sell products directly to users via social seller community and AI chatbot

Halosis : A social commerce platform that integrates AI chatbot and personalized solutions to help social media sellers convert chat into sales.

Infofed:  The leading eSports company in Thailand with both offline and online platforms

Qiscus: A conversational platform that helps businesses embrace the power of conversations to deliver excellent customer experience.

Social Light: Places WiFi in low-income communities and monetizes by collecting plastics and exchanging free WiFi subsidized by brands

TravelFlan: B2B2C full-suite AI Digital Solution provider utilizing AI, Big Data and Machine Learning into travel and lifestyle sectors

1337 Ventures launches digital accelerator in Malaysia

Malaysia-based 1337 Ventures has announced the launch of its fully online accelerator programme.

Alpha Startups Digital Accelerator is an initiative to help up-and-coming startups, together with those who are unsure about financial or job stability, and would like to dabble in entrepreneurship. This programme will help equip participants with the skills needed to run their business.

Also Read: How can you protect your business’s work from content thieves?

“Alpha Startups Digital Accelerator will take you through ideation, validation, marketing, and prototyping; leaving you with a working prototype, pitch deck ready for fundraising, and more than US$10,000 worth of support systems. The top-3 teams will also be funded up to RM 20,000 per team (US$4,600), together with a 6-month mentorship, go-to-market partners, and further funding to take their idea to the next level,” says Bikesh Lakhmichand, CEO of 1337 Ventures.

The 10-day programme (spaced over five weeks) will provide participants with Design Thinking and Lean Startup methodologies that will allow them to create a startup quickly to scale and remain resilient even in unprecedented times like COVID-19 outbreak.

At the end of the programme, the Top 10 teams will be able to pitch their idea in Alpha Startups Digital Accelerator’s first online Demo Day.

Applications close on April 3, and the programme will commence on April 6.

Greg Meehan steps in as Supahands Chief Revenue Officer

Supahands, a Machine Learning and AI startup headquartered in Malaysia, has announced the appointment of Greg Meehan as its new Chief Revenue Officer.

In this role, Meehan will be responsible for taking Supahands’s growth forward and driving its revenue strategies. 

Meehan joined Supahands in 2016 as Head of Sales and worked in ensuring client satisfaction and retention, talent acquisition and driving business development teams.

“Greg has played a significant role here at Supahands by driving strategic decision-making to determine Supahands’s best business direction at a specific point in time. This has helped accelerate our growth over the years by adapting to market demands,” said CEO Mark Koh.

Revolut, GovTech partner to make verification process easier for users

Revolut has announced a partnership with GovTech to reduce the need of providing verification documents for its users in Singapore while signing up for an account with the fintech firm.

The feature, to be launched during early April of 2020, will also allow customers to sign up on the platform using their SingPass details.

“Our goal is to provide users with a single financial-management platform. It is important for us to ensure that our customers can use Revolut cards for daily transactions with peace of mind. Our partnership with GovTech introduces the verification feature with a seamless process that will build greater security within the ecosystem,” said Eddie Lee, APAC Regional Director of Operations at Revolut.

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: Doctor Anywhere raises US$27M Series B funding led by Square Peg

Since Revolut’s entry into Singapore, the app has introduced several features like metal visa card, apple pay integration and has recently offered new remittance routes to countries like India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

—

Image Credit:  Alex Haney, 1337 Ventures, Supahands, Revolut

The post Afternoon News Roundup: Meet the 14 startups attending Facebook Programme in Singapore appeared first on e27.

Kyaw Min Swe’s sister runs a small retail shop in Nattalin in the rural Bago region in Myanmar. Seeing her struggles in getting stock to the shop and having to constantly ask her spouse for help, Min Swe decided to use his business acumen to solve her problem.

“I opened a wholesale shop nearby but quickly realised that it could’t scale,” he told e27. “After learning more about the problem, which is the same across the nation, I later launched Ezay to help my sister and other shopkeepers to access more choice and better prices conveniently.”

Launched in August 2019, Ezay is a mobile platform that connects ‘mom-and-pop’ shops in rural Myanmar with wholesalers. Retailers can buy online for the regular shop stock needs and get the products delivered the same day or the next day.

How e27 is going to lend a helping hand for the startup ecosystem during the COVID-19 crisis

“We put technology into the hands of the most rural shopkeepers in the country and works with wholesalers in each geography to list a full range of available items,” said Min Swe, who previously led the ride-sharing business of Oway. “Before our entry, no company dared to serve these remote areas. We at Ezay have been able to serve customers while generating returns.”

The customers are currently spread across several townships in Bago, which is not far from the capital city of Yangon. Ezay currently has over 1,600 retailers. The startup has plans to expand this year.

According to Min Swe, it is not hard to do same-day or next-day delivery in rural Myanmar, where traffic is less although infrastructure is not the best.

Until recently, Ezay operated three-wheeled trucks for delivery but the poor condition of the roads forced it to switch to motorcycles. Ezay then rigged up its own carrying frames to help motorcycles carry enough stock to meet delivery efficiencies.

This means that rural shopkeepers, mostly women, no longer need to ask their spouse to go to the town several times each week, or to go themselves.

Recently, Ezay partnered with several micro-financial institutions (MFIs) in the country to provide credit on its app, which allows shopkeepers to expand their inventory and, in turn, increase income.

“We all know that women already share an unequal amount of unpaid work, so reducing their need to run errands is hugely valuable. And now, with Ezay Credit, they will begin to learn about and gain access to financial products,” remarked Min Swe, who had also previously worked as COO of Hello Cabs.

“Accessing finance means these shopkeepers can expand their inventory and increase their incomes. Later, we plan to help shops sell digital products, further improving their overall income,” he revealed.

As for the business model, Ezay takes a margin on the transaction and charges for delivery.

Also Read: 5 ways to improve your productivity by working from home

Is there competition in this space?

“Ezay is the first to market and we don’t see any direct competitors at the moment. Of course, wholesalers who manage their own delivery may be seen as competitors, but they quickly see the value in using Ezay. While there’s a huge market for the taking, this business requires expert execution and knowledge of rural Myanmar,” he elaborated, claiming that his background and drive for this business give him an edge.

Challenges are galore, admits Min Swe. Building own fleet of motorcycles, with a logistics component is challenging.

“When Ezay started with three-wheelers, one journey could take a lot of stock and make a lot of deliveries. Motorcycles can carry less but they are also cheaper and can make more journeys. We need to solve these types of logistical challenges as we grow,” he said.

Just yesterday, Ezay announced a US$200,000 investment round led by Seiji Kurokoshi, an impact investor from Japan who pioneered upside social impact bonds for single mothers and who has a background in direct to consumer models. This comes less than four months after securing an investment from EME Myanmar.

“The new funds will comfortably carry us through the coming 12 months and help us reach our target of 8,000 retailers by March 2021,” Min Swe exuded confidence. “With this network, we’re expecting to see significant network effects and ever increasing opportunities for Ezay to bring more value to its customers.”

The startup is now planning to scale across Myanmar. To achieve this goal, it plans to begin fundraising efforts toward the end of 2020.

The post Ex-Oway Director’s e-commerce app Ezay makes life easy for rural woman retailers in Myanmar appeared first on e27.

Introducing yourself as a startup founder is no longer the novelty it used to be. The startup ecosystem is growing bigger and better than ever before, thanks to a more globalised and connected world. But this growing ecosystem means that the market is becoming increasingly competitive, and as a new startup founder, you might be finding it a little difficult to keep your head above the crowd.

Getting outcompeted is a common cause for startups to end up folding. According to CB Insights, competition is one of the top 20 reasons for startup failure, with 19% of startups citing it as a recipe for their disaster. In some cases, the startups were out-popularised by their competition, causing them to disappear under the crush; in other words, they simply lost to other more successful competitors.

The fast-paced world of modern entrepreneurship comes with a different set of rules and challenges compared to what it used to be. Making sure your business is a cut above the rest requires the courage to take risks and let your creativity lead the way. With startup ecosystems all over the world experiencing unbelievable growth, it isn’t difficult to see that carving out a space for yourself takes a lot more than capital and know-how — it also takes guts.

Many young entrepreneurs have found that the best way to get started is simply to take a leap – but at the same time, knowing exactly when to take an opportunity when it strikes is essential. The key lesson in startup failures is to seize opportunities as quickly as possible if you want to keep your name at the forefront of everyone’s consciousness.

This means that to stay on top, startup founders need to constantly be on top of things. From pitching ideas and products to clients, to sending out important documents and emails to employees, and even creating outstanding video content for last-minute presentations while on-the-move. Whatever it is, entrepreneurs need these capabilities at the tip of their fingers.

The one device to rule them all

Back then, it would have been unimaginable to function as an entrepreneur running a complete business system without the aid of a full range of devices. Doing so would typically mean operating with the firepower of multiple mobile phones, laptop computers, and many others. But all that is about to change.

Today, all you need is one, all-encompassing powerhouse of a mobile device to stay on top of all the tasks mentioned above — and more. Business owners will be able to reduce the use of laptops, fixed-line phones, and other mobile-related costs when they streamline all work and employees to a single mobile device. Many businesses and corporations find themselves gaining in cost efficiency when they invest in mobile enablement for their employees.

This cost efficiency is maximised when the mobile device chosen by you has all team collaboration and business apps available. Enabling employees to get work done on a mobile phone boosts productivity significantly, as 87% of businesses are dependent on their employee’s ability to access mobile business apps from their smartphone, according to a 2020 study. That number is expected to grow with technological advancements such as 5G.

Being a mobile-first startup or business also gives you and your employees the freedom to explore other ways to work. With work-life balance becoming more of a priority among the modern workforce, going mobile could be the key to having more well-rounded employees who aren’t bound to a desk. Joining a co-working space that lets you work comfortably and flexibly, or trying out different working hours to see when your newly mobile team is more productive – the working world is your oyster.

The perfect mobile device for an entrepreneur who wants a work-life balance exists within the Samsung Galaxy Note10 series. Look no further for phones that can do just about everything, all while packing in higher performance and defense-grade security so you can work without worry.

Discover worlds within the Samsung Galaxy Note10 series:

• Powerful processing chip and massive memory that performs like a laptop, but without the bulk or weight provides unparalleled speed and productivity enhancement
• With multitasking capabilities and easy access to work-optimised apps like Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Rainbow, Skype, or Microsoft 365, startups can cut down on operating costs by replacing non-mobile devices with just one device
• Seamlessness is the name of the game here. Simply drag and drop files from Galaxy Note10 and Note10+ devices to Mac or PC with a single USB cable and sync your devices with your Microsoft account
• When a flash of inspiration strikes, use the S Pen to get the word out, accurately converting one’s handwriting to a text which can be shared to relevant parties as a Word document or PDF
• The S Pen also doubles as a remote control for your phone that lets you make the best impression – Navigate presentation slides, play videos, control volume, adjust the camera zoom, or take a photo remotely via Bluetooth®
• The Samsung Knox platform provides defense-grade mobile security to keep your data safe against threats such as malware. It has consistently received strong ratings by Gartner, making Samsung the preferred device over other brands among state governments
• The platform has the capability to stop sensitive corporate and personal data from getting into the wrong hands with containerisation, a key component of Samsung Knox. Biometric ID capabilities also offer additional layers of security that satisfy both employers and employees

If none of these high-grade features satisfy your need for a trusty desktop, the Samsung Note10 series is still the best option for you. With the help of Samsung DeX, young professionals will be able to multitask between devices simply by connecting your Galaxy smartphone to your monitor or TV. This allows users to have a seamless transition between devices, in case you have to leave your office computer in haste while still needing to work on the train ride home.

And with the use of a USB cable, you can access your Note10’s full capabilities on your PC or Mac through Samsung DeX.

Not your average device

The Galaxy Note10 series is definitely not your average business device. Desktops are obviously not mobile, and while you can bring a laptop on-the-go, they can be bulky or heavy, and you cannot work on it while commuting unlike with a mobile phone. But with the Galaxy Note10 series, you can keep working from Point A to Point B, and continue your work seamlessly once you’re back in the office simply by connecting the Note10 to your desktop monitor with Samsung DeX.

Cutting out the unnecessary stresses and complexities of running a business is simple. Any and every important step in working your way to success can be done via the Samsung Galaxy Note10 series, offering a single, powerful mobile device that allows you to rise to the top from the palm of your hand. For more information on how the Note10 can help power your entrepreneurial journey, visit their official page here.

The post Samsung Galaxy Note10’s slew of unique features — fit for entrepreneurs of the future appeared first on e27.