In our legal work, we found that many technology companies tend to neglect to protect their intellectual property assets. It can be embarrassing for founders especially when they’re fundraising.

If it was discovered during legal due diligence by venture capitals or investors, you may also lose some contractual leverage.

I mean, if you are a technology company, what else would be more important apart from your team if it’s not your intellectual property assets?

First, intellectual property (IP) assets refer to a set of legally recognised assets under the law such as copyrights, trademarks, industrial design, and patents, and so on. But in this post, we’ll focus on copyrights and trademarks as they seem to be more common IP assets that generally apply for many technology companies and startups.

Let’s take a look at the simple steps on what to do below.

Do you own your technology?

It is crucial for technology companies to ascertain if they actually own the technology.

Also Read: What tech startups need to know about Intellectual Property in China

For instance, when an early stage company is just starting out, it may have outsourced certain product development to a third party such as an outsourced software developer (as opposed to developing the MVP or prototype in the house).

In this case, everyone needs to sign the necessary IP assignments for the company. This usually includes all developer, service, any business agreements with another party, and in all employment, consulting, or advisor agreements to the company.

Have you protected your technology?

Usually, the most important intellectual property asset for a technology company relates to its source code.

In every country, there is an intellectual property office that is in charge when it comes to filing work. For example, under Malaysian laws, a company can protect its source code by voluntary filing to Malaysia Intellectual Property Office (MyIPO).

Source code such as lyrics or manuscripts falls within the scope of a “literary work” under the Copyright Act 1987.

This is different from a trademark which refers to a sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services. Like copyright, to protect your trademark, you need to do a trademark filing to the regulator. This can be done by engaging a trademark agent or by self-filing.

Before filing, the standard practice is to do a search on the current database and see if they are any similar trademark filing that may have been done over a similar name or logo. A good trademark agent would be able to highlight your prospect of succeeding in a filing application or if it may be better if you change your name.

Also Read: Screwing up IP law is an easy way to doom your startup

As a technology company or startup, you also need to decide on the level of protection. The protection is territorial in nature. In other words, you need to file a separate filing in every country that you wish to protect your IP assets.

In Malaysia, previously a company may be required to engage a trademark agent to do filings in every country that it seeks to be legally protected. But thanks to the newly-amended Trade Marks Act 2019, companies can now file worldwide protection over its trademark by a single filing to the regulator.

You should speak to your legal counsel on whether you should do worldwide protection.

How do you monetise your technology?

When it comes to monetising your IP assets, for a technology company, you need to demonstrate proof of your IP ownership. So if you have an unclear IP assignment, it may be more difficult for you to monetise your software or services.

Owning a technology itself does not automatically generate money for a business. A technology company generates income by licensing the use of its certain software such as ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) which can be a B2B or B2C solution.

This is where having a licensing agreement or even a term sheet in place can help save cost and time.

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COVID-19 is a black swan event and it fundamentally changes the way we pursue Machine Learning in the real world. For businesses facing these rapid changes, the AI/ML models currently live in production are trained off of data that is very different from today’s pandemic situation.

A simple example is, a huge reduction in commercial flights might mean a drop in the accuracy of weather forecasts. Large-scale weather forecasts are made using sophisticated computer programs that model a virtual world. The accuracy of the output of such a model depends on the quality of the input.

One of the usual sources of input is an aircraft, feeding back real-time wind data. COVID-19 has considerably reduced the number of aircraft operating. As a result, the incoming information has dropped and forecast winds at cruise height can no longer be verified and the feedback loop into the global model is much weaker.

Similarly, finance models (used for credit analysis, asset pricing, demand forecast, etc.) taking unemployment data into consideration will see some extreme input variables never seen previously. A look at unemployment data that was just released this week. The reading of 17 million people filing for unemployment is four to five times the next highest reading and a more than 25 times sigma event.

Any model using unemployment data as input and making a decision on this data is using a feature that is more than 25 Sigmas outside of the expected value. This is an event that would be calculated to happen once every 100,000 years!

A model working on this input is unable to handle every unexpected event perfectly and give an accurate response.

Also Read: This Machine Learning startup helps breast cancer patients customise treatment, predicts risk of recurrence

ML models are trained on previously seen observations to predict future scenarios. However, today these models are seeing events different from what they were ever trained on.

Many businesses (especially in credit and finance) have hundreds to thousands of live production models running in their organisation, making incorrect decisions on data that affect their business outcomes across sectors – health, business, finance, gig-economy, credit, commerce, auto-traffic and travel to name a few.

The models that are likely to have problems in the coming days or months span credit, home pricing, asset pricing, demand forecasts, conversion/churn models, supply-demand for gig companies, ad pricing, in addition to several others.

With that in mind, it’s important to think about the model observability, overall systems resilience to these inputs, and the ability to troubleshoot as issues arise. The most important thing is for teams to have models that are observable; if you can’t observe, you can’t adapt. This means having instrumented detection+analysis on model decisions.

As a rule of them for model observability It is important to look out for the following:

• Events that are outliers should be detectable and surfaced automatically
• Outliers events should be linked with analytics for troubleshooting the model’s response
• Monitoring distribution shifts in input data because of these events
• Robust splicing and filtering capabilities for model input

Also Read: Differences between AI and Machine Learning, and why it matters

Input Variables:

Key Input-level monitors that an AI/ML model should have in production while factoring in the black swan events:

• Input checks to determine if values and distributions of features are drastically different than normal benchmark periods
• Checks on single events or a small number of recent events detecting out of distribution issues
• Detect if the features your model is most sensitive to, have changed drastically and factor that in accordingly
• Statistics to determine how far off the features are from the training set

Model Response:

Once you know the input to a model has changed, the next thing to monitor is how the model is responding to extreme inputs.

• Check the model’s performance for specific subclasses of predictions. Certain sectors such as Energy, Airline, or Travel might have significant risks. Best is to have fast online checks against various groups of predictions
• Use prior periods to produce worst-case and base case scenarios to then compare against outcomes
• Monitor the predictions in real-time against every new truth event (real-world prediction feedback) you receive
• If real-world feedback is not possible due to time lags, use proxy metrics — things you can predict and measure to determine the models’ performance

Also Read: Differences between AI and Machine Learning, and why it matters

Overall best practices:

The best practice for production ML models is not far off from best practice for production software — building observability tools to understand what is happening when models or software is live to catch issues before it impacts your customers. Some best practices for production ML models during these extreme environments are as under.

Track and identify outlier events

Tracking input data and model performance on outlier events is key. Annotating these events and being able to filter upon outlier events can help when gathering training data for future extreme environments. It is also important to consider whether to include outlier events in data for future model training. The model will be proactive against future extremes, but it also might think extremes are the new normal.

Decide on a Model Fallback Plan

Understanding how the model has performed in the past during extreme environments can help understand how the model is performing now. If the model is not performing well, it is best to set up naive forecasts based on the last N minutes or N Days and compare the model performance to this naive model.

Find look-a-like events

It is important to have enough observability into past similar events to set up look-alike modeling for this current situation. For example, if your model took in unemployment data as input, you might be able to leverage unemployment data from similar economic downturns, such as the 2008 recession.

Also Read: Survival vs growth: ShopBack CEO shares 3 golden rules to withstand the pandemic

Build a diverse portfolio of models and compare model performance

Real-time models that are reacting to the external world might be performing better today than batch predictions. Having a diverse portfolio of models enables teams to compare model performance and route traffic to models that are reacting better to extreme environments.

Combine various models by ensembling or stacking

Stacking or ensembling different models like tree-based or penalised regression models together would reduce the estimation error of the output and make the forecasts more robust during extreme events.

Know the uncertainty of your model’s predictions

Real-life modelling scenarios can be marketed with the absence of a good model altogether. In these cases, do you know how uncertain your model is? In this case, do not rely on point estimates rather return the model’s predictions with its confidence levels. In extreme periods, the uncertainty band will increase providing valuable information about the unreliability of point estimates

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While running his design-centric online furniture startup Fabelio in Jakarta, Krishnan M Menon used to travel to rural Indonesia a lot.

During these trips, he would visit many Usaha Mikro Kecil Menengah  (UMKMs) or MSMEs located in Tuban, Cirebon and Jepara.

These visits made him realise that while the archipelago has 56 million MSMEs, the technology revolution was only happening in the “premium” Indonesia. The sector and the country would benefit if these businesses were digitised and included in the financial ecosystem.

“I started brainstorming on how to support and accelerate the process of digitalisation. I discussed this idea with Lorenzo Peracchione, my long-time friend and former boss at Lazada. And this led to the birth of BukuKas,” Menon tells e27.

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Launched in December 2019, BukuKas helps owners of MSMEs understand and manage their financial flows effectively with a free-to-use digital ledger mobile app.

“Starting BukuKas reflects our dream to help millions of business owners, who form the backbone of the real Indonesia,” Menon remarks.

Menon, a serial entrepreneur, and Peracchione, who has previously worked in Luxola, had come very close to starting a business together several times, but their plans didn’t materialise. Now, with BukuKas, they found a vision that was very relevant to both of them personally.

“Helping small businesses is a very personal mission for me since I grew up in a family that ran a small agricultural business. I saw my father experiencing problems managing cashflows and collecting credit first-hand,” says Peracchione, narrating the story behind BukuKas.

While Menon has in the past built Freecharge, besides Fabelio, Peracchione helped cosmetics e-commerce startup Luxola to launch its Thailand business from scratch. Following its acquisition by LVMH-owned Sephora, Peracchione built its mobile business in Southeast Asia from the ground up.

Book-keeping made easy

Many small businesses in Indonesia still traditionally manage their finances using pen and paper. Furthermore, they struggle to get visibility and have no clue about the profits they earn.

The BukuKas app provides a simple book-keeping solution that can record sales, expenses, accounts receivable, and debt. It can also send reminders to their customers to pay back.

“The app allows small business owners to save 40 minutes a day as they can now avoid tedious manual calculations and reconciliation,” Menon boasts. “Our users say they manage to improve their profits by 10-20 per cent every month as they manage their expenses better and have an easier time collecting money from customers.”

The startup is now working on several new features that will help MSMEs improve sales, financial services and stock planning.

COVID-19, a blessing in disguise

As of April 2020, BukuKas has signed up over 250,000 merchants. The number has increased by 50 per cent since the outbreak of the pandemic.

“Offline businesses relying on retail outlets have been hit hard by restrictions imposed in light of the pandemic, with several claiming revenue drops exceeding 60 per cent. As a response, small merchants are trying to shift their focus to online channels, especially informal ones like Instagram and WhatsApp,” says Peracchione.

“BukuKas makes it easier to keep track of business activities across different online channels and facilitates remote business management, as users can access and manage bookkeeping anytime, anywhere via mobile,” Peracchione explains.

Also Read: Indonesia’s logistics aggregator Shipper secures US$20M Series A led by Naspers

One key lesson that COVID-19 has taught the founder-duo is that they need to invest more time and resources into understanding and helping merchants better.

“We see our merchants affected by the virus outbreak. To help them out, we have started promoting their business on our social media channels and  conducting English classes for free to up-skill them,” says Menon.

Recently, BukuKas raised undisclosed funding from Surge, a scale-up programme run by Sequoia India; Credit Saison; and 500 Startups. It also has the backing of over 20 angel investors, including Happy Fresh CEO Guillem Segarra, and Kopi Kenangan founders Edward Tirtanata and James Prananto.

“The Surge team truly helps entrepreneurs build great companies. From guiding us through setting up our fundamentals right, to helping us execute on a day-to-day basis be it on hiring, strategy, product or pretty much anything we ask for, to exposing us to incredible entrepreneurs like Tokopedia Co-founder William Tanuwijaya, so we can be inspired and learn from them,” concludes Menon.

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Image Credit: BukuKas

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If you want to get to know the story behind the scenes – the highs, the lows, the struggles, the accomplishments – let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

It all started back when I was working at a bank with an even fancier title, Premier Account Manager (Need I say more?).

But you know that nagging voice in the back of your head? Well, mine was always telling me there was something missing. That I should break away from the nine-to-five grind and just start my own venture.

The trouble is that the voice in your head said, “So what if you don’t have what it takes to pull it off? All you need to do is be the hardest worker in the room.” Here’s the truth – There’s never going to be a perfect moment because it doesn’t exist. You need to make the moment perfect by reaching out and grabbing it with both hands.

So, that’s what I did, I quit my job a month before our wedding and flew to Australia with my newly-wed bride on what was supposed to be my honeymoon. But it ended up becoming a business trip instead.

Thus, I began my entrepreneurial journey, with a bucket list of ideas and a heart full of hopes which I later learned were probably all I needed at the time.

Back when I had travelled overseas for an exchange program, I witnessed first-hand the challenges that international students have to navigate to find a place to stay. It was from these personal experiences that I got the idea for my startup.

Also Read: Dathena closes US$12M Series A led by Jungle Ventures to protect businesses from cyber attacks

We have helped solve the very real problem of connecting students with verified, 100 per cent safe, and secure private accommodation with campus-like facilities for a smooth transition into university life.

A new beginning

The first year was brutal. I worked out of a tiny cabin in Delhi, reaching out to students who were struggling and relying on their word-of-mouth referrals to stay afloat.

My co-founder (and friend) Mayank chipped in from halfway across the world before finally joining me for good. Together, we built a simple listing page on WordPress, and with that, we were officially in business.

How’d we pull it off with zero technical know-how? Well, your guess is as good as mine. That, folks, is how we made it through the first year, oscillating between highs and lows – sometimes all in a single day.

As the year rolled by, the tiny cabin started to get a little too full for comfort. We moved operations to an airy, co-working unit that let us spread our wings, both literally and otherwise.

We were frantically trying to juggle between two worlds, setting up base in India and expanding in the UK.

I still remember when Mayank and I travelled to the UK for the first time, not as tourists but on official business, with back-to-back meetings that ran well into the night and last-minute travel plans that took us to the far ends of the city. We met accommodation providers who’ve now become long-term associates and welcomed interns fresh out of college. And I’m proud that many of them are still a part of our journey– successful managers and senior associates.

Also Read: How startups can harness e27 Pro and push for greater business success

While 2017 was the year of consolidation where we tested (successfully I must say) features that are now synonymous with our services, the year 2018 was undoubtedly the best year for us. We started off the year on a high note by launching our brand-new platform with end-to-end solutions, doubling our workforce, and ended it on an even higher note by establishing a strong referral programme with global universities, delving deeper into Ireland, Korea, France, and New Zealand. Phew, it was one hell of a ride, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

A land of opportunity

By the time 2019 had come rolling around, we had improved CRM automation and implemented AI to pre-emptively anticipate customer needs and accelerate user engagement. Since the world is our oyster, we never stopped exploring other opportunities and ended up expanding into the USA and Canada.

Coming to the present year 2020, we’re all aware of the unprecedented crisis that the world is facing. During this time, we have been hard at work, rewriting the playbook for success. We moved quickly in response to the unfolding situation with the global healthcare crisis, from adapting to the new normal of working from home to constantly coming up with new strategies to expand.

We are a tech-enabled platform that leverages the power of AI and ML to address a real-world problem, allowing us flexibility when it comes to working remotely. All of our existing team is developing their cross-functional skills, putting in extra efforts towards their tasks and going out of their way to pitch in where necessary.

Do you want to know the best part? We successfully hosted our first webinar where we partnered with experts from different facets of the education sector, all of which were done to address the concerns of one of our most valuable stakeholders – the students.

Also Read: How getting digital transformation right can help businesses get through a pandemic

It was just the confidence boost that we needed at a time like this, and now we’re well on our way to host the second one.

Given our whirlwind of a ride, I can say with certainty that I am extremely proud of what we’ve achieved, where we’re going, and the millions of student journeys we’ll make memorable.

Once we step out of our comfort zone and push the boundaries, that’s when we will become a better version of ourselves.

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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.

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The COVID-19 outbreak has brought the world to a standstill. Almost every industry is suffering because of the crisis. Startups in the Asia Pacific market have also felt the side effects.

What’s more, some of them were the first to feel the power of COVID-19. So, let’s see how they are dealing with the current situation. 

Impact on Asian startups

Venture capital investments in Southeast Asia have been the economic driving force for many years. The startup culture was thriving across the region. Savvy investors and successful entrepreneurs formed partnerships that generated profits.  

In December 2019, the situation quickly changed, and the pandemic caught everyone off guard. 

One thing is sure, though—most startups in Asia are facing a bleak outlook. Even unicorns such as Gojek, Bukalapak, or Grab are not in the safe zone. They must also come up with effective coping strategies to survive the pandemic.

Many startups in Asia are online-based, which allows them to deploy work-from-home policies. However, a significant number of companies failed to adapt to a new way of doing business. As a result, these startups are hanging by a thread and fighting for their lives.

Also Read: How can startups factor in the unpredictability of COVID-19 in their Machine Learning models?

Economic activity in the Asia Pacific region

As soon as the epidemic emerged, Asian countries started adopting emergency measures. In most cases, the governments reacted quickly and effectively. The authorities banned all gatherings, and they also closed borders. 

Likewise, safe distancing measures have become the norm. So, how did these emergency actions affect economic activity in the region?

Well, the term that could best describe the situation is a disaster. The stocks are plummeting as we speak, and fundraising is experiencing a seven-year low.

More precisely, statistics revealed that Asian venture capital firms managed to raise US$2.2 billion in the first quarter. This amount is the lowest in the past seven years, which says a lot about the effects of COVID-19.

The industries that suffered the most were tourism, travel, and hospitality. Any investments in these industries lost their value because of the pandemic. On top of that, the mantra for capital investments seems to be “save cash.” In other words, everyone is waiting to see what will happen with COVID-19.

As a result, very little funding is available for Asian startups, which puts venture capital firms in a vulnerable position. In a way, startups must fight for their lives without asking for anyone’s help. That said, here are some of the best strategies for surviving the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overcoming the crisis

As we said, the novel coronavirus has hit the Asian financial markets like a ton of bricks. A vast number of corporations and enterprises are facing liquidity problems.

Also Read: What can we learn from successful venture capitalists?

Meanwhile, the governments have issued a series of measures to alleviate the effects of the pandemic. The reduction in tax rates was one of those strategies, as well as capital injections.

Nevertheless, the lack of “mega deals” is evident. So, how can startups survive the storm?

Well, many entrepreneurs decided to cut outsourcing contracts as soon as COVID-19 became a widespread threat.

Likewise, startups in Asia Pacific have initiated pay cuts. Admittedly, this unpopular move will not help you make new friends. Yet, cuts are sometimes necessary, and a pandemic is one such situation.

Of course, the best course of action when it comes to paying cuts is to start from the top. Management teams are the ones that need to shoulder responsibility and accept a temporary reduction.

Another essential tactic in this trying time is the exit strategy. For that reason, savvy entrepreneurs in Asia have reviewed their exit plans in recent months.

But if you do not want to abandon ship just yet, fresh funding is of paramount importance. Thus, startup owners in Asia need to work day and night to find suitable investors.

Of course, this might be easier said than done amid the turmoil. At the same time, entrepreneurs need to understand that you need the hottest fire to forge the hardest steel. For example, the rise of Alibaba began during the 2002–2004 SARS epidemic. 

Also Read: How to scale blockchain as COVID-19 hits traditional markets

What to expect ahead

Without a doubt, COVID-19 has forced Asian startups to leave their comfort zone and step into the spotlight. Entrepreneurs and investors are now in uncharted territory, which makes it hard to predict the future.

Nonetheless, some trends are already visible.

For instance, startups that are involved in the education industry could be flourishing in the years to come. The so-called edutech apps are on the rise, and the same applies to video conferencing software.

Online learning tools have proved their worth during the pandemic. As a result, this sector is already receiving massive funding.

The same goes for e-commerce platforms. During the lockdown, e-commerce stores saw an enormous rise in demand. Since online business is in their DNA, most of them adapted quickly to the new market rules.

In the future, e-commerce startups could flourish in Asia as well as the rest of the world.

Likewise, streaming services could see a spike in demand if a distancing policy stays in place for long. Thus, startups with a focus on Asian production could thrive in the years to come. Also, podcasts are an exciting market segment, and plenty of entrepreneurs are eager to jump on the bandwagon.

Also Read: How getting digital transformation right can help businesses get through a pandemic

Last but not least, we should mention the importance of healthcare in the post-pandemic world. Once we deal with COVID-19, the world will need to raise the bar when it comes to medical assistance.

So, telemedicine is a promising market for aspiring investors. Also, entrepreneurs in Asia could focus on AI-based healthcare systems. In any case, the goal is to lower the costs and provide better medical care.

Similarly, the rise of big data could provide startups with a chance to exploit vast databases and come up with a wide array of digital services.

COVID-19 is changing the way we live and the way we do business. As a result, Asian startups must find ways to overcome and adapt to this challenging situation.

Even though the devastation caused by the pandemic could reach epic proportions, the same could happen to improvements. In other words, COVID-19 could force us to make quantum leaps forward.

It remains to be seen if Asian entrepreneurs will manage to find their way around the new virus and improve their financial results. 

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Register for our next webinar: Fireside chat with Paul Meyers and Jussi Salovaara

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.

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MVLLABS Pte Ltd, the company behind Southeast Asian ride-hailing service TADA, today announced the completion of its undisclosed Series A funding round extension.

Led by South Korean commercial bank Shinhan Bank, it included the participation of international die-casting specialist Samkee Automotive as well as home living and furniture brand iloom.

The funding round followed a US$5 million Series A investment announced in December 2019.

MVL said that the round has brought its Series A sum raised to “just under” US$10 million.

It will use the funding to fund the continued expansion within its existing markets (Singapore, Vietnam, and Cambodia) and for the development of the mobility ecosystem built on MVL’s blockchain protocol.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news, January 21: Major graft at DJI and TADA moves into Vietnam

“With this investment, we can continue aggressively on our mission to build a sustainable and fairer mobility ecosystem. We recently launched TADA Delivery in Cambodia to help businesses and our drivers tide through this COVID-19 season. This has demonstrated how we can use technology to be a force for good. We thank our investors for the trust and sharing the same vision of a fair, sustainable, and equitable mobility ecosystem,” said MVL CEO Kay Woo.

In a press statement, a Shinhan Bank spokesperson said that it looks forward to “create greater synergies” between two companies, especially with the bank’s retail financial service capabilities, such as its e-wallet.

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

It claimed to be Southeast Asia’s first zero-commission blockchain-based ride-hailing service.

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Image Credit: MVLLABS

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Southeast Asia-focused venture capital funds accumulated US$1.3 billion in additional dry powder in the first three months of 2020, according to a DealStreetAsia report.

That ended a year-long streak of quarter-on-quarter growth as final closes slowed to a crawl, said the report, titled “Southeast Asia’s VC Funds: Q1 2020 Review”.

Data compiled by the publication shows that the amount of capital committed for interim and final fund closes reported between January and March 2020 fell 47 per cent from the Q4, 2019. Still, that was more than triple the value recorded in the same period a year ago.

Of the 10 funds that achieved fund closes during the quarter, five reached a final close after securing a combined US$330 million in capital, while the remaining raised US$996 million in interim closes in total.

Funds run by VC firms headquartered in the region contributed 77 per cent of the total amount raised, with the rest coming from foreign VCs investing in Southeast Asian countries.

Singapore, Indonesia key capital-raising markets

As home to Southeast Asia’s leading VC firms, Singapore and Indonesia dominated the VC fundraising market with total fund closings of US$865 million and US$161 million, respectively.

No closes were recorded by VC funds based in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Also Read: BukuKas makes book-keeping easy for Indonesian MSMEs to save money and time

The top three Singaporean VC firms in terms of capital raised in Q1 were B Capital (US$600 million), Vickers Venture Partners (US$200 million) and Credence Partners (US$50 million).

Three Indonesian VC firms raised funds in the quarter were BRI Ventures with US$136 million, OCBC Ventura NISP (US$15 million), and Indogen Capital (US$10 million).

Despite the slower pace of capital raising in the first quarter, funds retain ample dry powder for investing in Southeast Asian startups. Based on venture funds that reached a final close in the last four quarters, Southeast Asia-focused VCs are armed with about US$5.8 billion of committed capital.

Beyond fund closings, 53 VC firms are currently in the market to raise US$8.4 billion for Southeast Asia-focused funds, of which about 30 per cent have been secured.

The largest funds in the market are Vanda Global Capital’s US$1.5 billion Agritech fund; B Capital’s US$750 million Fund II; and Vickers Venture’s US$500 million Fund VI.

As per this report, the capital-raising outlook for the region’s venture funds is expected to worsen in the coming months, as the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic starts to make its way into the numbers.

“The first-quarter fundraising performance does not reflect the true impact of the pandemic. This is simply because most of the capital committed by investors to VCs in the first quarter was actually solicited before the region began to tighten social distancing measures and impose travel restrictions in April,” said Andi Haswidi, Head (Asean Market Research) at DealStreetAsia.

“Having looked at the data and spoken with industry stakeholders, we believe fundraising is going to be more challenging in the second quarter onwards as investors’ risk appetites shrunk. Fund managers are also careful about deploying their dry powder, which could weigh on tech startup valuations despite investors’ loaded war chests,” he Haswidi added.

The post Singapore, Indonesia dominated VC fundraising market in Jan-March quarter: Report appeared first on e27.

Hoozing, a property tech startup based in Vietnam, announced that it has raised an undisclosed pre-Series A funding round from SmileGate Investment and other investors.

The investment, according to Hoozing CEO and co-founder Hai Le, will be used to make sure the business is ready to assist the needs of landlords and customers in the middle of  COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our ultimate goal is to support landlords to find customers easily as some of them need cash for their business or just to stop paying their current mortgage. So, we are adding more functions to the app over time to achieve this purpose,” Hai Le explained.

The company will also use the fund to strengthen its current team, hiring more talent, and expand our business to more regions in Ho Chi Minh City.

“We see ourselves bringing more transparency to the market and accelerate the digitalising trend of property transactions by our platforms. We plan to cover more areas of Ho Chi Minh City and expand to Hanoi next year, but this depends on the global pandemic situation,” the CEO said.

Positioning itself as a “real estate supermarket 4.0”, Hoozing combines the use of data and agent network to help customers find the right deals easily and effectively.

Also Read: Power to the People: Vietnam’s Hoozing has a solution for solving rental market woes

Founded in 2015, it is backed by Expara Ventures through a seed funding round.

The company gained recognition when it took part in the SharkTank Vietnam reality show in 2018. According to a statement, the founders managed to convince the judges with the good offer but walked away from the big opportunity as there was no final agreement.

Despite walking out with no deal, Hoozing was regarded as the most favourite startup of one of the Sharks, Thai Van Linh, for their market understanding of the market and innovative technology products.

In March 2016, Hoozing took home the winning spot at the TOP100 Vietnam Regional Qualifier and exhibited among 99 other top APAC startups at Echelon Asia Summit 2016.

Hoozing claimed that it possesses more than 50,000 properties and 7,000 agents in its database.

SmileGate Investments itself is the corporate VC arm of South Korean gaming company SmileGate.

In a recent interview with Dealstreet Asia, the company announced plans to launch its second Vietnam-focussed fund.

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Image Credit: Hoozing

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When most consumers and investors think of fintech, short for financial technology, their minds are immediately drawn to niche industries like cryptocurrency development and meeting the challenges of modern healthcare systems.

What few consider is how fintech may be able to solve today’s agricultural problems.

Risk mitigation

Lenders already use fintech to help them streamline the lending process and improve visibility for lenders and borrowers, alike. The current models for data analytics are not tailored to agricultural applications, which pose unique risks that many conventional lenders are unwilling to undertake.

Some fintech companies are now helping farmers bridge this gap by using powerful risk analytics and farm management tools.

Farmers and growers are meeting these lenders in the middle by adopting more sustainable practices. This goes not just for conventional agricultural operations, but also for medical and recreational marijuana grows.

For those interested in breaking into this up-and-coming field, i49 has information about how to ensure proper growing conditions to mitigate environmental risks, making it easier for growers to secure loans.

Digital crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a unique phenomenon that would never have become popular without the development of novel financial technologies. In the context of agricultural production, crowdfunding can connect all actors, from farmers and landowners to investors and end-consumers, using one platform.

Crowdfunding empowers farmers, encourages public engagement, and promotes transparency, making it a perfect platform for funding modern agriculture across the world.

Ongoing payment programs

Fintech facilitates ongoing payment programs, which are perfect for medium- to large-scale farms. Any farm that produces substantial volumes of food or other agricultural products needs access to expensive equipment like tractors, irrigation systems, and harvesting machinery, but these tools tend to be very expensive.

Also read: Why agritech startups will call for the next e-commerce revolution

Using fintech to make the switch to ongoing payment programs allows farmers to avoid some of the most common problems associated with traditional lending solutions so they can better organize their finances and maximize their profits.

Affordable financial services

Financial inclusion rates have traditionally been low in the farming sector in many areas of the world, especially in places like India, but fintech makes them more accessible. More specifically, it makes financial services more accessible to small to mid-sized agricultural operations.

Microfinancing operations facilitated by the collaboration of modern fintech companies with the Indian government have already provided funding to hundreds of micro- to medium-scale agricultural operations and are poised to continue this trend into the future.

This helps not just farmers, but the entire Indian economy, and the same model could likely be adopted elsewhere in the world with great effect.

Better insurance

Adequate crop insurance used to be a farmer’s pipe dream, but thanks to fintech, it is becoming a reality. Protecting the farm’s crops against unexpected weather events and other environmental losses is now much less of an ordeal, which means that more farmers are able to access this valuable financial resource.

Also read: Agriculture-focussed fintech Crowde receives US$1M Pre-Series A funding from Mandiri Capital Investment

Since fintech can be used to predict risk more accurately, risk-averse insurance companies are more willing to offer what would once have seemed like failing policies, and everyone wins.

Fintech is still in its infancy, but it is already reshaping the world. As these thoroughly modern technologies are incorporated into the field of agriculture, sustainability and profitability should both increase, making it easier to feed the world’s growing population while providing an equitable livelihood for the farmers that make it possible.

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• 77 per cent of Malaysians say it is challenging for them to work from home.
• Only 9 per cent of Malaysians feel it is more productive to work from home.
• Internet connectivity and a lack of digital tool adoption remains a challenge
• SMEs must bridge digital divide in the post-pandemic era

Try this: Walk into a room full of professionals and ask a Malaysian how remote working has been. Chances are you might get an earful. 

The MCO was first enforced on March 18 but was extended before its expiration on April 14 to April 28. Thousands across the country are working from home amidst the increased reports of COVID-19 cases each day.

At the time of this post, the latest official announcement reveals Malaysia will be in a state of conditional MCO (CMCO) until June 9 in efforts to break the COVID-19 infection chain in the country. 

SMEs are the backbone

98.5 per cent of business establishments in Malaysia are SMEs consisting of various sizes and cutting across different sectors. There are approximately 910,000 SMEs in Malaysia.

 

In other words, only 1 out of 50 businesses is not classified as an SME. In 2018, SMEs contributed MYR 521.7 billion (or USD 119B at present exchange rate) of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). SMEs provided 5.7 million jobs to 70 per cent of Malaysia’s workforce in 2019. 

The question however remains…

Are Malaysian SMEs digital ready?

Embracing digital can be broadly categorised into computerisation and digitalisation. Computerisation refers to the adoption and usage of digital devices for individuals with limited use for business purposes. 

 

Digitalisation meanwhile is defined as business process transformation, including customer management, transaction, services, and feedback in a completely digital environment. Gartner also weighs in on this term.

“Digitalisation is the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities,” according to Gartner’s glossary. It is the process of moving to a digital business. 

With MCO in effect, thousands of SMEs in Malaysia find themselves barred from their physical businesses. Only a handful of those classified as essential services can operate with some form of normality, even then in a reduced or controlled scale. 

Some businesses have turned to remote work or work from home to stay connected with their colleagues and teams. Online meetings via video conferencing, webinars, and Zoom calls have statistically seen a tremendous spike since the start of MCO. 

 

While some have found ways to transform the operational, marketing, and selling of their goods and services to online platforms in these times, others have not been as successful. Many undigitised businesses have faced difficulties ranging from preparing quotes, updating price books, retrieving customer information, completing payroll and taxes on time, or even accessing historical sales and marketing data. 

Key challenges for SMEs

A survey by SME Corp in 2018 reveals the utilisation of the digitalisation enablers like Cloud services (SaaS, PaaS, etc) and the Internet of Things (IoT) among SMEs were relatively low. There isn’t any other data to suggest this trend has changed at the moment. 

 

The study reveals although about 54 per cent of the total respondents reported that they used some form of data analytics, the majority of them were only using spreadsheets on their computers.

When it comes to utilisation of Cloud services, about 44 per cent of the total respondents used the services, which are largely driven by online storage demand, such as Dropbox and Google Drive.

Meanwhile, only about 35 per cent of the total respondents utilised IoT in their businesses that are mainly used for security and surveillance as well as for fleet management.

Although 90.1 per cent of the respondents have an internet connection, they are still faced with issues, such as high price, low internet speed, and poor connection.

In terms of affordability, the majority of respondents in the Northern Region and East Coast cited that the cost of an internet subscription is relatively expensive. Malaysia ranked 74 out of 167 countries in terms of price per Mbps for fixed broadband services, and 64 out of 118 for fiber broadband services.

This puts the country behind regional peers such as Vietnam and those at a similar level of economic development such as Mexico and Turkey.

Low internet speed remains a common concern, highlighting the need to strengthen broadband infrastructure, as broadband remains a bottleneck holding back SMEs’ digitalisation. Survey findings discovered that fixed broadband, such as Streamyx, Unifi, and Time is a preferred broadband channel in all regions in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, mobile broadband which is wireless internet access through smartphones is preferred by the respondents outside of Kuala Lumpur and the Central Region.

Besides poor broadband quality, other fundamental challenges faced by SMEs in crossing the digitalisation chasm are the lack of understanding of digital tools, technology enablers, insufficient know-how of financing, and limited access to technology itself.

To build a conducive ICT ecosystem for SMEs, the majority of the respondents require assistance in financing, followed by technology and development of employee skill sets.

Analyses reflect that SMEs often struggle with digital developments. Barriers to infrastructure, regulatory and administrative burdens, insufficient access to finance, and digital skills in the workforce are some issues facing SMEs. 

The Malaysian dilemma

 

Fast forward to 2020, a more recent survey conducted by Vase.Ai in March 2020 doesn’t paint an optimistic outlook either. Malaysians cite unstable internet connection as the primary challenge when it comes to working from home. Other factors mentioned include challenges in communicating with colleagues, and difficulties accessing data on the office database. 

 

 

On the flip side, only 9 per cent of total respondents feel it is more productive to work from home. When dove deeper, top reasons for this is because they’re able to work according to their schedule (49 per cent), they have the advantage to spend time with their families and get work done simultaneously (36 per cent), and because they have their own working space at home (36 per cent). Only 7 per cent say better internet connectivity at home contributes to their productivity.

 

Granted the survey respondents are working professionals and aren’t necessarily the voice of SMEs business owners or decision-makers themselves, it nevertheless provides valuable insight at a critical time. Namely, in revealing why working from home isn’t well….working and secondly, a glimpse into SME digital readiness.  

Armed with some readily available data, courtesy of the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), we aim to identify why a majority of professional Malaysians are unhappy with their present work from home experience for reasons cited, primarily unstable internet connection. 

A Q12019 report revealed most Malaysians are connected to the internet via mobile broadband. Figure 2 (below) paints a clear picture of broadband by subscription type for 2018.  

Figure 2: Total broadband subscription in 2018 

While mobile unsurprisingly, triumphs fixed-broadband subscriptions, it also suggests that a majority of Malaysians are heavily dependent on their mobile broadband for a variety of purposes, ranging from the mundane email, video calls to playing mobile games or consuming video content, banking, and shopping online.

Mobile broadband is for most Malaysians, the gateway to work and entertainment, especially when working from home during COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Open Signal’s March 2020 report on the mobile experience says that in the last week of March (when MCO was in full effect), average mobile broadband speed witnessed a 30 per cent reduction in comparison to the weekly median average. 

 

SMEs don’t have the right tools too (or the money)!

The fact of the matter is not all broadband connections are created equal. Using mobile broadband to run a video conferencing call with 10 people and screen share is a tremendous task. Understanding how much speed or Mbps you’re getting and what you can do with it, is ultimately critical.

It’s supremely paramount for SMEs to understand digital tools available, COVID-19 or not.

SaaS tools such as Swingy and Kakitangan help SMEs manage payroll, benefits, employee information, and more in a single platform. SMEs with a distributed workforce and need a simpler and efficient process in managing time attendance can look at Hauz which offers a complete solution especially in times of business continuity.

If you’re thinking the time is ripe now to build your online presence and need compelling videos that resonate with your audience tools like Design.Ai get the job done. Sales tech solutions help companies respond quicker to leads and therefore increase chances of closing a sale. One such locally developed solution is SalesCandy.

When SMEs go digital, information and data become accessible anytime and anywhere. SMEs then find themselves in better shape in responding to situations like a pandemic. Of course, going digital-only isn’t the silver bullet. People, processes, culture, and communication are equally important.

While financing, often an impediment, MDEC, BSN and SME Bank has embarked on a strategic collaboration effort to propel digital adoption via an SME Matching Grant program. The government will provide a 50 per cent matching grant of up to MYR5,000 per company for the subscription of the above services.

Besides that several ecosystem builders, both in Malaysia and Singapore have activated programs to help SMEs access tonnes of digital tools at discounted rates, while some, at zero cost. Tools like JANDI for remote work during Covid19 are free for teams of any size or industry, designed to keep your team connected and productive from anywhere.

For professionals working from home or SMEs catching up to digital, all you have to do is ask the right questions and act on the answers. And some of the answers have been laid out in front of you.

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