Circles.Life offers free unlimited data for COVID-19 front-liners in Singapore

Singapore’s digital telco Circles.Life said today it will provide a special package for COVID-19 front-liners, including healthcare workers, security and defence professionals, and operators of ambulance and transportation.

The package will include six-month’s worth of unlimited data with 4G rollover and unlimited talk time free of charge worth US$180.

Also Read: 2C2P sets up VC arm to make strategic investment in payments firms in Southeast Asia

To support Singapore’s students undergoing home-based learning and who do not have a broadband connection, Circles.Life will supply SIM cards with three months’ free unlimited data to ensure that children will be able to continue online classes. For this, the telco has partnered with charities like Eton House Community Fund.

“This is a crucial time for us to unite as one nation. As we battle COVID-19 together, we want to acknowledge what our front liners have done, and to thank them for their service. In addition, we want to play our role to ensure that everyone in Singapore can resume their lives as much as possible and stay digitally connected,” said Mateen Kirmani, Head of Partnership, Circles.Life.

India’s Locale.ai secures seed funding from Better Capital 

Bengaluru-based location analytics company Locale.ai has secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding from early-stage venture capital firm Better Capital, says a report by The Economic Times.

Two unnamed angel investors also joined the round.

The startup said the new funds will be used for global scaling, especially in the US.

“We help companies decrease their customer acquisition cost by expanding in areas based on latent demand, reduce user churn by providing better SLAs in locations where they drop off and increase existing customer revenue by doing geo-targeting based on users they move and where they order from,” Aditi Sinha, Co-founder of Locale.ai, said.

Founded in 2019, the company provides location intelligence software for real-time and business decisions. It has partnerships with a number of data vendors.

SoftBank cautions US$24B in losses due to plummeting performance of its tech bets

Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank has cautioned against its first operating loss in 15 years due to collapse in the value of its tech investments, according to CNN Business.

Over 2019 and early 2020, several of SoftBank’s tech bets have been slipping, most notably WeWork, whose value dropped from US$40 billion to around US$8 billion.

“Much of the damage to SoftBank’s Vision Fund credibility has already occurred with the very public failed WeWork float,” Dan Baker, an analyst of Morningstar, told CNN.

Other companies in SoftBank’s portfolio — for example, Uber, OpenDoor and Compass, Brandless, Wag, DoorDash and hotel chain Oyo — have also faced a rough road in recent times.

About 7,300 people have also been laid off across dozen SoftBank-backed startups in the four months ending in February, as per a CNN Business tally.

India launches first contact tracing app Aarogya Setu to combat the pandemic

The government of India has launched a contact tracing app, called Aarogya Setu, to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The app features a self-assessment test option, along with a ‘ready to volunteer in the time of need’ option.

Users can download the app from the Android Playstore or Apple AppStore and simply add in their contact details which includes their name and phone number.

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Image Credit: Circles.Life, Softbank

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“Summoning up the courage to take action is always the same regardless of how seemingly big or small the challenge. What may look like a small act of courage is courage nonetheless. The important thing is to be willing to take a step forward.”

– Nichiren Daishonin

The recent outbreak has inconvenienced the entire world, rapidly changing how people work, communicate, and interact. From the UK to the US, a number of multinational companies and businesses – from Amazon to Google – implemented work from home policies to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

There were too many variables that made my co-founder (and friend), Mayank and I hesitant – how would the teams co-ordinate, how would the tasks be assigned, what criteria should be set for the number of tasks to be completed in a day, and so on.

After considering the pros and cons, the safety and well-being of our employees trumped. It was official – University Living would be moving into uncharted waters. From face time to FaceTime (pun intended), our entire team would be working remotely.

Also Read: e27 Webinar: Work-from-home or work-from-office, which is better?

After all, it isn’t the tough who make it through difficult times, it’s the ones who learn to adapt to the changing times.

I knew it would take some time wrapping my head around the concept, so I began my own research and set some ground rules. After reading a few articles online (there are tons of them on the web) and reaching out to my mentors (they had plenty of tried and tested methods), I was sure about what to do and not to do. Wake up early (you don’t want to sleep through half the day), keep a designated workspace (the place that turns into the Bermuda Triangle when you need a file), and so on.

The first day began with lots of enthusiasm and zeal, it was finally time to put all my research into action. Let me go ahead and share my checklist for boosting productivity when working from home.

Freshen up and dress up

I know waking up and taking a shower seems like a good idea if you actually have to go to the office, but trust me, it’s an even better idea to do it when you are working from home. You wouldn’t want to initiate a meeting on Skype (or any other platform) wearing your pyjamas. Also, seeing you dressed up will only inspire your employees to do the same.

My advice – Even if you’re not going to the office, dress the part.

Have a dedicated workspace

Whatever you do, do not work from your bed (just don’t). Find a place for your desk and chair, whether it’s in a separate room or a space in the corner of your kitchen (or lounge).

All you need is a place where you can get into work mode. Then you need to make sure that all your equipment – laptop, notes, phone, and so on is within easy reach.

My advice – Try out different places to set up a workstation before you finalise ‘the spot’. A little secret though, my spot is a table and chair in the living room.

Also Read: How I built a business across three countries with only remote workers

Schedule breaks during the day

Begin your day with meditation and yoga (or exercise), as it will keep you fresh throughout the day. But that doesn’t mean you stay on your seat for the rest of the day. So, talk a walk around your house. Or outdoors. Or the terrace. You get the picture, right? Your body needs to move.

Since you’re at home, spend time with your family during breaks. It will help you focus better when you resume work.

My advice – Leave your workstation, take a break. Not once or twice, but multiple times. A reminder to take breaks is as important as a reminder to finish your tasks.

Plan ahead

Instead of waking up in the morning and deciding to just tackle tasks as they come along, try to schedule them and stick to them. I know when you’re handling multiple teams and delegating multiple tasks, you tend to miss a few, but that’s what you get better at.

As for the rest of the umpteen things that come along, you can always get them done.

My advice – Note down everything in a diary or create a note on your phone. Call me old school, but I prefer writing things down in my diary and checking if I’ve crossed them off from the to-do list.

Communicate with employees

As the founder, it is important for me to be in control of any and all communication that takes place with the managers and their team. At University Living, we ensure that a continuous flow of positive and motivational talks is conducted through Skype meetings amidst jokes being cracked to keep things going. Even our HR team is checking up on the mental and physical well-being of our employees.

Also Read: 5 common productivity challenges affecting remote worker and how to overcome them

This encourages them to stay productive throughout the day without hampering their quality of work.

My advice – Try out different types of tools available like Slack, Hangouts, and Skype. And then pick the one that best suits you.

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Vietnam’s proptech co-investing platform Homebase raises funds from Antler

Vietnam-based proptech startup Homebase has closed an undisclosed pre-seed funding round from global VC firm and startup generator Antler, besides Iterative and several strategic angel investors.

The startup said in a statement that it will use the new funds to expand its infrastructure, make new hires, and push forward with its regional expansion plans.

Homebase was founded in 2019 by Phillip An, Hung Viet Doan, Hai Vu, and JunYuan Tan. The startup intends to tackle the millennial homeownership crisis across Southeast Asia caused by fast-increasing prices and a high appetite for home-ownership, yet a lack of financing options.

Homebase’s product offers a path to homeownership for millennials across the region by allowing them to buy a portion of a property and move in from the first day, with the option to buy out more equity over time. To make investment decisions, Homebase utilises a combination of big data, asset valuation models and financial engineering.

Homebase was recently named as one of the World’s Top 50 Most Promising PropTech Startups by Plug and Play, the renowned US-based venture firm.

Singapore’s Mighty Jaxx receives investment from KB Investment, Greycroft Partners’ GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund

Mighty Jaxx International (Mighty Jaxx), an urban culture company that designs and manufactures collectibles and lifestyle products in partnership with global brands, announced today that it has bagged US$3.2 million funding led by South Korean VC firm KB Investment Co. This takes the company’s pre-Series A round to a total of approximately US$4.7 million.

Also Read: Online designer toys and collectible platform Mighty Jaxx secures US$1.6M financing

Joining the funding round are Los Angeles-based VC Greycroft Partner, through the GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund, an investment fund that is dedicated to supporting companies across the virtual reality, augmented reality, video game and e-sport sectors. Existing investor SGInnovate also participated in the round.

Mighty Jaxx plans to channel the investment towards the further development of MightyVerse, its proprietary technology platform and to help it ramps up its production for the second half of 2020 as it on-boards entertainment companies, Hasbro and ViacomCBS’s Nickelodeon, on new global licensing deals.

Digital payment startup Azimo, Siam Commercial Bank collaborate to settle remittances service

Azimo, an online funds transfer service provider, has joined hands with Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) to introduce an instant international payments gateway or remittances, from Europe to the Asian country.

According to Crowdfund Insider, the new platform will be powered by RippleNet, a decentralised cross-border payments network developed by American Fintech Ripple with the aim to address the current challenges of costly and unreliable cross-border transactions, providing payment transfer from Europe to Thailand within a minute.

Azimo allows users to complete Sterling Pound (GBP) and Euro-based payments to Thailand almost instantly with recipients based in the country can make withdrawals in Thai Bahts.

Fintech platform Helicap adds son of former Indonesia President to its Board of Directors

Singapore-based fintech platform Helicap has appointed Ilham Akbar Habibie, the son of late former Indonesian President B.J Habibie, as a Special Advisor and investor to the firm’s Board of Directors (BOD), DealStreetAsia has reported.

Also Read: Singapore-based lending platform Helicap raises US$5M to go to Indonesia

Like his father who was the third president of the country, Habibie is an aviation expert who also serves as Chairman of Indonesia’s shariah-compliant lender Bank Muamalat.

Ilham would advise Helicap’s BOD on the Indonesian market as well as give insights on strategic and operational matters, including guidance on expansion initiative and business development.

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Picture Credit: unsplash.com/@peterng1618

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There’s always blessing in disguise, which is what I learn from theory. But when it comes to the implications of COVID-19, I know that blessing is always in disguise, but not without a partiality.

As someone who’s been working from home almost for four years now, I didn’t feel any significant shift in my daily routine since the work-from-home policy kicked off. If anything, what I experience for the past one and a half month is superiority because I’ve been doing this far longer than all of the other amateurs (ha).

Suddenly, 2020 is the year where people are forced to make do with the technology they have been taking advantage of. More than before, we’ve collectively come to the realisation that our lives have become dependent entirely on technology today and we’ve been making too light of the matter.

That’s also one of many reasons this whole matter is still a blessing in disguise, solely for people with access to the internet and proper computers.

For an underserved community, that’s not the case. The virus has left them debilitated and technology has impaled their livelihood and for children, their education.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released its analysis that maps the changing digital landscape since the last major global calamity, the 2008-09 financial crisis. It looks at how a digitally-enabled world is working for some, but not all equally.

How coronavirus puts digital gaps on the surface

According to its analysis, COVID-19 reveals the need to bridge the digital divide. The coronavirus speeds up the transition to a digital economy while exposing the digital gap between countries and societies.

Also Read: e27 webinar: Sailing through COVID-19 crisis with mindfulness meditation

The analysis also notes that the global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has pushed us further into a digital world, and changes in behaviour are likely to have lasting effects when the economy starts to pick up. But not everyone is ready to embrace a more digitised existence.

Since the 2008-09 financial crisis, the world has started to look at how a digitally-enabled world is working for some, but not all equally. The inequality still continues today, and isolation made things hard on people with no access.

According to the analysis, the coronavirus crisis has accelerated the uptake of digital solutions, tools, and services, speeding up the global transition towards a digital economy.

However, it has also exposed the wide chasm between the connected and the unconnected, revealing just how far behind many are on digital uptake.

“Inequalities in digital readiness hamper the ability of large parts of the world to take advantage of technologies that help us cope with the coronavirus pandemic by staying at home,” said Shamika Sirimanne, UNCTAD’s Director ( Technology and Logistics).

Those who thrive

The analysis provides snapshots of how technology is being used as a critical tool in maintaining business and life continuity.

Measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic have seen more businesses and governments move their operations and services online to limit physical interaction to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Digital platforms are also thriving as consumers seek entertainment, shopping opportunities, and new ways of connecting during the crisis.

“There are incredible positives emerging that show the potential of a digitally transformed world,” notes Sirimanne.

Digitalisation allows telemedicine, telework, and online education to proliferate. It is also generating more data on the expansion of the virus and helping information exchanges for research.

There has been a leap in teleworking and online conferencing, amplifying the demand for online conferencing software such as Microsoft Teams, Skype, Cisco’s Webex, and Zoom, the analysis says.

According to Microsoft, the number of people using its software for online collaboration climbed nearly 40 per cent in a week.

In China, the use of digital work applications from WeChat, Tencent, and Ding took off at the end of January when lockdown measures started to take effect.

Other benefits include using Artificial Intelligence to help find a cure and a significant shift to e-commerce, benefitting small and big businesses alike.

Those who suffer

However not all technology companies are profiting and there are some serious consequences of the rush to online platforms. These include mounting security and privacy concerns, according to UNCTAD.

The fast-paced shift towards digitalisation is likely to strengthen the market positions of a few mega-digital platforms, the analysis finds.

This finding is concluded in UNCTAD’s 2019 Digital Economy Report, which pointed out that the world’s top seven digital platforms already accounted for two-thirds of the value of digital platforms globally in 2017.

They have benefitted from network effects and from their ability to extract, control, and analyse data, then transform it into digital intelligence that can be monetised.

Also Read: Digital transformation is now real: How COVID-19 has sparked innovation in tech companies

“This situation will now be amplified as more people come or are forced online due to the coronavirus crisis,” said Torbjörn Fredriksson, UNCTAD’s digital economy head. “Those that do not have access are at risk of being left further behind as digital transformation accelerates, especially those in least developed countries.”

The least developed countries (LDCs) are the most vulnerable to the human and economic consequences of the pandemic, and they also lag farthest behind in digital readiness.

Economists of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) said in a piece in The Jakarta Post that, based on its gross national income (GNI) per capita and parameters of social development, among other factors, Indonesia should still be considered a developing country. Although not in the LDCs category, the fact that Indonesia’s GNI (Gross National Income) per capita of US$3,840 in 2018  — compared to high-income economies that are at a GNI per capita of US$12,376 — makes Indonesia to still be considered a lower-middle-income economy.

In most developing countries, well below five per cent of the population currently buys goods or services online. This poses questions of how the rest of 95 per cent of the population copes with the COVID-19’s limitation.

Lack of Internet access at home also limits connectivity, cramping, for example, the possibilities for students to be connected if schools are closed. “The education gap may also expand in developing countries, compounding inequalities,” said Sirimanne.

Low broadband quality hampers the ability to use teleconferencing tools. Mobile data costs also remain expensive across the developing world.

Hope for development

The coronavirus pandemic’s ability to show fractures can, hopefully, be turned into an opportunity, said Sirimanne. “More developing countries are exploring e-commerce and other digital solutions that can help build local resilience to future shocks.”

The main policy takeaway from the analysis is that much more attention should be given to bridging existing and emerging digital divides to allow more countries to take advantage of digitalisation.

However, doing so in such a short amount of time while containing the outbreak is something that’s next to impossible. What all of this restriction and the possible impact to the technologically vulnerable are what can prepare us next to make sure there’s even distribution for connection, because digital disruptions are the new normal today.

New policies and regulations are needed to ensure a fair distribution of the gains from digital disruptions.

Also Read: Report: COVID-19 might result in US$28B missing startup investment this year

“If left unaddressed, the yawning gap between under-connected and hyper-digitised countries will widen, thereby exacerbating existing inequalities. As with the coronavirus crisis and other development challenges, the world will need a coordinated multilateral response to deal with the challenge of digitalisation,” she added.

“This situation has significant development implications that cannot be ignored. We need to ensure that we do not leave those who are less digitally equipped even further behind in a post-coronavirus world,” Sirimanne concluded.
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Photo by Rene Bernal on Unsplash

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Updates: The article has been updated on how the company will use its funds

KoinWorks, a financial P2P platform for small and medium-sized businesses in Indonesia, has raised US$20 million in a new round of fresh debt and equity capital, from Quona Capital.

Other existing investors including Triodos Bank, EV Growth, and Saison Capital also participated in this round.

The new money will go towards borrowers who are mostly digital SME’s, the company told e27.

“As an institution with the protection of our lenders’ capital at our core, being well capitalised is always a top priority. KoinWorks continues to stand together with many giant financial institutions and hundreds of thousands of retail lenders to support digital SMEs during COVID-19,” said Co-founder Willy Arifin.

“The company is growing, and closing a round in ‘corona times’ says a lot,” said Benedicto Haryono, co-founder of KoinWorks.

“We feel confident that we can support Indonesia as it makes its way through the COVID-changed economy. We strive to provide the best financial service for all our users.”

Aside from raising significant funding during turbulent times, KoinWorks has also announced new credit facilities, which will be used to underwrite loans via its fintech lending platform. Previously the company had also offered educational loans along with plans to launch eight new services in 2020, including gold saving according to Jakarta Globe.

KoinWorks currently has 400,000 users in its platform, with almost 220,000 lenders it claimed. Its local competitors include Akseleran, Investree, Reksadana, Amartha, Modalku and Funding societies.

Also Read: Funding Societies welcomes new CTO, CEO, CDO to accelerate scaleups

The fintech platform is also joining the Indonesian business community in support of Indonesia Pasti Bisa, initiated by East Venture through KoinDonasi, a fundraising programme to produce 100,000 test-kit and genetic research for COVID-19 vaccine-development purposes.

Prior to this the company had recently secured a series B2 round of US$1.4M from Japanese financial services company Saison Capital.

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Image Credit: KoinWorks

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Indonesian logistics-tech company Kargo snags US$31M Series A financing

Indonesian logistics tech company Kargo announced today it has closed a US$31 million financing round, led by Silicon Valley-based Tenaya Capital.

Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, Intudo Ventures, Coca-Cola Amatil, Agaeti Convergence Ventures, Alter Global, and Mirae Asset Venture Investment also participated in the round.

Kargo offers an online platform to handle logistics solutions for businesses, with motor-bike, car, truck, ship and aeroplane.

The employees of the company recently joined the fight against COVID-19 by pledging US$1 million Logistics Relief fund for truckers moving essentials throughout Indonesia on the platform.

“Our entire company is donating a portion of our salaries to this cause and we invite local businesses and organisations to get in touch so we can work this problem together,” said CEO Tiger Fang.

Filipino-centric social app Kumu raises US$5M from Openspace Ventures

The Philippines-based live-streaming social app Kumo has raised US$4-5 million in Series A funding round led by Openspace Ventures according to DealStreet Asia.

ABS-CBN, Summit Media and Kickstart Ventures also joined the round.

With the new funds, the company aims to develop its platform and improve its user experience.

The firm also plans to introduce new features, such as a community-driven live commerce platform, which will allow users to buy products while engaging with online streamers.

Also Read: News Roundup: MightyJaxx raises US$3.2M funding; Vietnam’s Homebase closes pre-seed round

According to Co-founder Rexy Josh Dorado, a large majority of Kumu’s users are from outside the Philippines, covering 100 different countries around the world. This is also the audience segment which alone drives  50 per cent of Kumu’s revenue.

Capital Float lands US$15M to improve digital financial inclusion in India

Capital Float, an online platform that provides working capital finance to SMEs in India, has announced a US$15 million funding from existing investors Ribbit Capital, Amazon, SAIF Partners and Sequoia Capital, according to The Economic Times.

This round brings the company’s total funding raised to date US $125 million.

“At a time when the industry is faced with multiple challenges, we want to continue making lending effortless for SMEs and consumers across the nation,” said Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja, Co-founders of Capital Float, in a joint statement. “We’re eager to significantly increase our lending capacity once the lockdown is lifted to enable SME growth and consumer spending at scale.”

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Image Credit: Kargo

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If you’re battling with that persistent voice that keeps telling you how things could go wrong, how you may not have worked it outright, then you’re dealing with self-doubt.

As one of the greatest obstacles that hinder humans from fulfilling their dreams, self-doubt is what almost all the entrepreneurs struggle with at some point in life.

However, numerous experts have written widely on how to overcome this scourge, and philosophers have thousands of quotes on self-doubt attributed to their names. This shows the extent to which self-doubt has become a pervasive issue for entrepreneurs.

Self-doubt can be dangerous to your overall wellness; it is not only harmful to entrepreneurs physiologically but also harmful in terms of living productively and with emotional and spiritual wellness.

The following are some of the dangers of self-doubt you should know about.

I believe if you discover how self-doubt contributes to most of the productivity-related issues we face at work, finding the voice to say no won’t be as hard.

Also Read: How Indian investors and entrepreneurs abroad are pooling in funds to help their homeland

Self-doubt weakens self will

Self-will is still one of the strongest gifts we inherited as an individual from God. The self-will to become an entrepreneur.

Being able to determine that we want or do not want something and being able to go ahead with our decision is not an ability all creatures enjoy.

Where self-doubt becomes really dangerous to your self-will is when it makes you seek encouragement or an excuse for why you can’t still move your business forward or for why you’re not able to accomplish a goal. 

The problem with seeking encouragement is that it makes you lose your self-esteem. Most of the bravest and most successful entrepreneurs today needed no one to encourage them, in fact, most had no one to do so.

Giving excuses, on the other hand, makes you embrace failure, which untimely will crush your self-will. If you’re looking for a reason to kill that self-doubt, think of how it could damage your self will.

Self -doubt breeds procrastination

Could self-doubt really be the reason the why the majority of entrepreneurs procrastinate?

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy Note10’s slew of unique features — fit for entrepreneurs of the future

Procrastination may seem harmless at first, but when self-doubt begins to creep in and you’re consistently considering starting that first paragraph later, then you’ll start a long cycle of procrastination that will prevent you from getting anything done.

Hesitation is one of the grandchildren of self-doubt. When people are hesitant about doing something, they procrastinate until they miss out on that opportunity and find an excuse to justify themselves.

Self-doubt kills personal growth

Self-doubt prevents entrepreneurs from experiencing personal growth. 

We often experience our greatest moment of personal growth and fulfillment when we give ourselves the freedom to pursue that which we desire without the fear of failure or worries over what other people might think about us.

When you begin to doubt your ability to achieve all your dreams and fulfill the whole of your desires, you’re consciously preventing yourself from experiencing growth.

Hinders creativity

Creativity is one of the greatest natural resource tools entrepreneurs can always tap into. It’s what helps entrepreneurs to create the most precious things they admire and work hard to achieve those dreams. It’s what helps to design a way out of unfavourable situations.

Also Read: Why entrepreneurs with high emotional intelligence are more successful

But self-doubt will effectively shut down this ability to think creatively.

Self-doubt makes you question the rationality behind your ideas and prevents you from being bold enough to show your most creative ideas. At its worst, it makes you totally unable to see a way forward in tricky situations.

Doubt is a part of being an entrepreneur, majorly as human. This is a normal experience that we’ll face as we navigate through the several stages of our lives, but it should not be given the power to determine our success. By recognising the dangers of self-doubt, you can fight its ill-effects more easily.

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We’re all inside a giant pressure cooker. With everyone impacted by the global virus, and by measures to combat it, my Singapore-based venture capital firm hosted a virtual “cloud panel” of founders and CEOs powering the backbone of the online consumer economy, with companies active in areas from logistics to payments to global analytics.

Our purpose: to dissect the challenge-and-opportunity picture for young tech firms and their investors in Southeast Asia.

CEOs sharing stories from the battlefront

An executive from App Annie chipped in data-driven insights. We got key takes from the investor side. And all agreed on some basic principles for coming through the crisis as a strong contributor, not a business casualty. (E.g. a firm should run lean but never “hibernate.” Focus on fundamentals. Scan for spaces in which to grow or replace lost revenue, and when launching a new thing, “Nail it before you scale it.”)

Our 90-minute set of virtual panel sessions was live-streamed March 24 and had over 250 attendees tuned in live. It contains plenty that may apply anywhere in the days ahead. Here are the highlights.

Bird-eye overview of initial impact

Snapshot in time: As the online panel meets, no place in the 10-country ASEAN region has yet been swamped by coronavirus cases. But business as usual is over.

Preventive measures range from strict lockdown to scurrying-ahead-of-the-storm mode. Cindy Deng, regionwide managing director for the mobile analytics firm App Annie, speaks from the Philippines, a country in lockdown.

Not surprisingly, customer behaviour there has shifted to online ordering of goods for delivery. What’s striking is the scale of the shift. From the week before lockdown to the first week after, Cindy says, downloads of the Lalamove order and delivery app jumped by 100 per cent.

Cindy also notes that even in China—a country that was far more mobile-intensive beforehand—average time on-screen rose about 30 per cent over the previous year’s comp as the virus hit and spread.

Of course, this doesn’t mean flush times for all online and mobile firms. Several panel members tick off predictable, near-identical lists of impacts by sector.

Online gaming, delivery of food and essentials, fintech, edutech: all gainers. Travel and hospitality booking, live entertainment, rideshare: down.

Nor do prospective gains come easy.

Shaun Chong is CTO of NinjaVan, active in parcel delivery across six ASEAN countries. Although an app is the company’s nerve centre, “We are a physical business,” he says, and “It’s a challenge.”

Drivers play crucial pandemic roles like delivering personal protective gear—but what must NinjaVan do to protect the drivers? To keep warehouse workers safe? Chong, a true CTO, notes some ways that technology can help.

Also read: The global financial crisis gave birth to fintech. What will COVID-19 recession bring?

Singapore deploys the TraceTogether system to track infected persons, “and we can use this data to see if any of our drivers have been interacting with these people.” IT can be used to plan and manage safe-spacing in warehouses. Still, Chong estimates his firm is operating at “maybe 80 per cent normal productivity.”

Changing the company in crisis time

As the pandemic damps down some lines of business and drives up others, companies must respond. Firms represented on our panels were thrust into various situations, as follows.

Forced to regroup: Singapore-based Rovo has a highly focused app for players of tennis and other amateur sports. The app helps them book matches, organise tournaments, and so forth.

Tennis may seem an ideal social-distance sport, but India’s countrywide lockdown zeroed out a big growth market for the app’s main uses. Rovo’s response, per CEO Ritesh Angural: “We’re releasing new at-home training content while cutting costs [and] doing as much as possible to reduce the burn rate.”

Surprised by opportunity: Xendit, a B2B fintech firm, provides transaction processing and financing—typically to companies already using online infrastructure.

But since the pandemic began, says CEO Moses Lo, “We’re getting a ton of requests from traditional businesses in places like Indonesia and The Philippines, where cash is king: ‘Hey, how do I make payroll? Can you help me pay my vendors, move money across borders?’ We never thought these traditional players were the right market for us, but we have built some basic products around this market and we see massive opportunities there.”

Balancing the ups and downs: The online medical platform Alodokter (“Hello, doctor” in Indonesian) has a surge of demand from Indonesians using its app to get online consults from physicians—and a drop in O2O (online-to-offline) areas like booking in-person appointments.

Key goals, for now, says CEO Nathaneal Faibis: “Stable operations. Be sure we can meet the demand for online, while controlling costs. And staying healthy ourselves.”

Loship is a fast-rising Vietnamese firm caught with a mixed hand of hot and cold cards: food and small-package delivery, plus ride-hailing.

Recent plans to expand into new verticals are now being pursued “not as ambitiously,” CEO Huang Trung says, though his current priorities may look more ambitious. Trung wants to avoid cutting employees—”We’ve been through a lot of difficulties together,” he says—and to “continue raising investment” for the road ahead.

After the panel, I outlined five areas where our portfolio CEOs need to make changes in 2020, from cost-cutting to communicating with employees.

The investor-eye view

I shared a two-person investor panel with Chris Tran, Partner at North Ridge Partners. We believe well-managed firms can and should keep raising capital during the virus crisis.

My view of managing well is to forget, for the time being, typical VC-backed goals such as hypergrowth, or profitability within N months. What I (and many others) want to see, is mastery of unit economics: controlling cost and burn per unit of revenue-producing product or service delivered.

If your firm can do that, then be proactive in communicating with your investors. Ask where they stand in their fund lifecycle. Ask what it would take to have them write you a check.

Show them plans that justify your needs. And don’t sweat the heat you feel. Instead, light a fire under your investors!

Venture investing is a long-term play. As Chris Tran notes, the current rockiness comes from an “event-driven” bear market—the kind that can recover fairly quickly as the event winds down.

Deals, M&As, and even exits are still being done.

New investors are coming in, too, including the FOMO (fear of missing out) investors looking for plays that could leverage crisis-induced phenomena. Speaking of which, Chris has some ideas to float.

Less-obvious growth markets … and the light at the end

Every tech firm can’t jump into areas like gaming or food delivery that show immediate spikes in demand. Chris advises asking “What else is out there?” and suggests some markets worth thinking about.

“COVID, on top of the US-China trade war, has exacerbated the need to think about supply chain risk” in Southeast Asia, he says. “So, what is important around supply chain [and] minimising supply chain shock?”

Chris also notes that “unfortunately,” the pandemic shines a glaring spotlight on the costs and risks of using human labor: “We’re seeing an increase in demand for automation services. It’s increased the imperative to automate as many processes as possible.”

From the App Annie perspective, Cindy Deng urges using data analysis to scan for and evaluate new business areas. Also, she says, don’t just look at market data for your own region and the current time frame.

Also read: How can startups survive COVID-19?

Study what other firms have done in places where the crisis hit earlier; see how those moves are working and might translate.

Finally, from everyone’s perspective: Put aside the notion that investors and entrepreneurs are people out to profit from a tragedy. I don’t think or act that way.

Our panellists don’t and you shouldn’t, either. The solid firms and good deals are those that help people do what they need to do. When successful, they may well create more jobs than automation takes away.

And perhaps the greatest note of optimism is this. Our panellists say they see people, firms, and governments in Southeast Asia starting to communicate and collaborate more openly than ever. Let’s all stay healthy while we contribute to this spirit in our parts of the world.

The online panels were moderated by Mohan Belani of e27 and Mercedes Reuhl of the Financial Times.

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For today’s early stage startups, branding is all about connectivity. As digital communication rapidly evaporates the concept of distance, opportunities and challenges are both becoming global.

For early stage startups, this presents a unique conundrum: the internet offers easy access to clients around the world. But at the same time, it massively increases the amount of competition.

From a client’s perspective–and this applies to just about every industry today–the market is saturated with an almost countless number of firms promising essentially the same things.

Lacking clearly communicated differentiators, price becomes the USP. In the race to the bottom, businesses with the cheapest product succeed, at everyone’s expense.

The market is right out there, so close. But with legions of competitors offering cheaper alternatives, how can quality-focused startups succeed?

Branding as the key to early stage startups success 

Having a great product or idea is only one aspect of business success. In a market saturated by competitors offering similar products, differentiation is the single most important determinant of success.

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

However, in the digital age, products and services are becoming increasingly complex, technical, and abstract. How do you convince buyers about, for example, the utility of one cloud storage solution over the other? Branding is the key.

By effectively communicating how their product is different, in language customers understand, and across channels they regularly use, brands can succeed in setting themselves apart from the competition.

Digital Marketing: leveraging the internet to maximise ROI

Early stage startups are almost always in a position where capital is limited. This means that marketing budgets are also either limited or non-existent. In this situation, conventional media promotions such as TV ads and product sponsorships simply aren’t viable. The internet, however, offers early-stage startups remarkable ROI through digital marketing.

Cost per click and cost per view campaigns can deliver individually targeted advertisements across platforms and across continents at a fraction of the price of a television ad.

Other digital marketing efforts, such as sponsored blog posts cost even less or might even be free. Digital marketing provides early stage startups with the only viable means of reaching out to millions of potential customers around the world.

Search engine optimisation: Improving visibility

Almost every single internet user in the world uses search engines to find content that’s relevant to them. Every year, Google handles over 2.4 trillion search requests, which works out to several searches per day, per person. Because search engines are by and large the main way that customers discover a brand’s digital presence, search engine optimisation, or SEO, is key. SEO refers to content practices that make a website more relevant from the point of view of a search engine.

Also Read: 5 branding mistakes that startups should look to avoid

Good SEO practices–such as writing original content, using graphics, and minimising page load times–can cause a brand’s search engine ranking to climb. By pushing content to the top of search engine listings for given keyword searches–SEO effectively translates into free marketing to a hyper-targeted audience–one that’s looking for precisely the solution your brand offers.

Public relations: Taking communication to the next level 

In an early stage startup’s marketing strategy, traditional PR might get lost amid the plethora of accessible digital marketing opportunities. Digital doesn’t spell the end of PR.

Rather, digital communication has greatly empowered PR practitioners to present their clients’ messages to a far wider audience than ever before. Today’s PR companies aren’t just about press releases and industry connections. PR today is a solution-oriented business.

PR practitioners have the same digital tools available to them. However, a combination of market awareness and experience means that they’re capable of leveraging digital solutions to achieve profoundly better results.

This makes PR an invaluable asset for early stage startups: their founders can focus on refining and achieving their core business goals while their PR practice leverages their experience to magnify their message across digital and conventional channels.

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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.

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

Image credit: Julius Drost on Unsplash

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In October 2019, a J.P Morgan survey found that Asia Pacific (APAC) business decision-makers saw a global recession and trade tariffs as the biggest risks for their companies in the next six to 12 months.

With the ongoing trade war having created uncertainty in global markets and supply chains while posing recession risks, it was no wonder that C-suites felt businesses were facing increased risks as they headed into 2020.

Separate from that, an EY report found that APAC businesses were losing the digital transformation race deemed necessary to stay afloat in an Industry 4.0 world.

EY Asia-Pacific technology consulting leader Steve Bingham said, “in a dynamic business environment, it doesn’t matter whether the disruption is a global health pandemic or new competition, bushfires, or Brexit. Agile, adaptable businesses with advanced digital capabilities are best positioned to weather any storm and create long term value.”

Never have those words been truer than now in March 2020, as major cities enter some form of lockdown and shuttering millions of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as large corporates. It is important to underscore that businesses need to continue operating in the new work-from-home norm and prepare their organisations, employees, and systems to not just survive the lockdowns, but emerge more agile.

What are OKRs?

In the 1970s, the then-president of Intel, Andy Grove designed OKRs (Objective and Key Results) to guide Intel’s transition from a memory company to a microprocessor company. According to re:Work, OKRs helped employees focus on a set of priorities: communicate priorities, maintain alignment, and make the switch.

OKRs were introduced to Google in the 2000s by investor John Doerr. Alphabet CEO and Google co-founder Larry Page said, “OKRs have helped lead us to 10x growth, many times over. They’ve helped make our crazily bold mission of ‘organizing the world’s information’ perhaps even achievable. They’ve kept me and the rest of the company on time and on track when it mattered the most.”

OKRs provide a simple and powerful approach to set business targets, measure progress and achieve greater success. While key performance indicators (KPIs) measure a single aspect of a business, OKRs help put KPIs and other targets in the wider organisational perspective.

Google, for instance, uses OKRs to set ambitious goals and make them public so employees at every level have buy-in and know the reasoning behind their individual, departmental, and regional OKRs as they pertain to the entire company.

While KPIs alone may reflect a silo-like working environment, OKRs can help teams and individuals get outside of their comfort zones, prioritize work, and learn from both success and failure.

For example, OKRs can encompass both non-KPI key results (such as hiring a VP of sales) and actual, quantifiable KPIs (increase online leads and lead to demo conversions).

So, what is OKR? OKRs, as the name goes, comprises two elements:

1.) Objective: what you want to accomplish on whatever scale and timeline.

2.) Key Results: the term refers to the actionable steps — whose effectiveness can be measured — that form the plan of action to reach the objective.

There are five key OKR payoffs: narrowing the organisational focus on a certain number of objectives as well as a number of key results per objective, alignment of objectives due to the public nature of OKRs, commitment by employees who set up their own OKRs, tracking of OKRs at any point, and stretching of OKRs across the organisation for more ambitious goals.

Why OKRs? Why now?

In 2013, American retailer Sears adopted OKRs in their sales team, which resulted in average sales per hour rising from $14.44 to $15.67, or an average increase of 8.5% over 18 months. This, extrapolated into monthly and annual sales, was a significant jump in productivity.

Meanwhile, Google has grown from a company of 40 employees in 2000 to over 100,000 staff in 2020. OKRs have helped put growth in perspective, especially across new product roll-outs or market expansions.

For a smaller company experiencing an influx in new employees, the public and self-driven nature of OKRs can more quickly facilitate employee buy-in and assimilation into the corporate culture.

In the ever-changing business climate, OKRs help keep companies focused on its stated vision and mission. The ability to track, grade, and update OKRs regularly can also inform employees at every level how a company is cohesively reacting to challenges like digital transformation, trade wars, and pandemics.

For example, one’s objective to increase sales by 10% may need to be updated due to depressed consumer demand, and key results under the objective will need to be upgraded to focus more on online channels for customer outreach.

Due to the wide-ranging nature of OKRs as well as the fluid nature of the business environment, communicating across all levels of the company, the need to update and align OKRs can take up a lot of time that would otherwise be used on core business activities.

Using the right tools

Businesses, small and large, also have varying levels of digital adoption across different departments. Manually inputting OKRs across one software used by the sales department may not be replicable, say, in the R&D departments, in addition to being time-consuming.

These can be addressed with OKR tools such as Profit.co that provide a dashboard overview to employees, middle management and C-suites while simultaneously integrating with software used by different departments.

A holistic OKR software, Profit provides companies a hierarchical view of how OKRs are aligned, as well as allowing businesses to set and manage objectives at a company, department, team and personal level.

Cognisant that businesses today are spoilt for choice in terms of cloud management apps, Profit seamlessly integrates with the Gmail add-ons, Office 365, Slack, Jira, Zapier, BambooHR, Azure Active Directory, and Google Marketplace.

An all-inclusive results management platform, Profit helps businesses manage OKRs (create and monitor OKRs), manage tasks (tracking individual and team tasks), engage employees (employee comments and rewards) and manage performance (real-time reviews and feedback). By integrating all four elements into one software, companies can reduce hassle related to rationalising spreadsheets with different input sources.

As working from home becomes our status quo, centralising all these tasks and processes in a single app keeps the entire company focused on goals communicated clearly through any upheavals in the supply chain or business processes.

Profit has helped clients manage OKRs regardless of industry or geography, ranging from positioning solutions provider Optron, supply chain player Gaea, data analytics business IntellectFaces, to vacation rental company Traum-Ferienwohnungen.

The Profit.co way

Profit is an Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) software integrated with task and performance management directed toward 360-degree organisation governance for accelerated growth while maintaining the best work culture.

For more information about them, visit their official website here.

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We all have been hit by unexpected situations and challenging times. It’s of paramount importance that our organizational goals are still met and risks are mitigated strategically. We have invited global leaders from Europe, The Middle East, APAC and America to share their experience and mentoring on how organizations can execute their strategies and transform their business digitally.

Register to our webinar here to learn more.

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