INTELLLEX, a legal-focussed knowledge management platform, has closed a US$2.1 million funding round led by Quest Ventures.

This round also welcomed participation from Thomson Reuters,​ ​Insignia Ventures,​ ​K3 Ventures, and a Singapore government-backed VC fund.

Other early backers of INTELLLEX, including Sim Wong Hoo (C​reative Technologies​), Tan Kim Seng and Jeffrey Khoo (3VS1), Kelvin Chan (Ex-Partners Group), and Chandra Mohan and Chong Chiet Ping (Early investors in Razer), also took part in the funding round.

Chang Zi Qian, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of INTELLLEX, said that the company plans to use the funding for the expansion of its services across the EU and the Asia Pacific, as well as for acceleration of its new product offerings.

In conjunction with the funding, Jeffrey Seah, Partner at Quest Ventures, will join the INTELLLEX board of directors.

Also Read: igloohome raises US$4M in Series A funding round led by Insignia Ventures Partners

“Professional Services firms ​traditionally create value in offering customised, knowledge-based services to clients. These services are derived from internal knowledge bases and advisory know-how accrued over the years.​ Today, clients are demanding more value at lower costs, and they look to Knowledge Management to remain competitive. Using the INTELLLEX platform, we provide Knowledge Assets that yield multiple and repeated values for our clients,” said Seah.

INTELLLEX is a pre-approved legal technology software vendor under the Singapore government’s “Tech-celerate For Law Programme”, that boasts a clientele that includes international and local law firms, government and regulatory institutions, corporate legal teams and legal content providers.

It converts its clients’ disparate knowledge assets into ready-to-use materials that can be readily accessed, through document categorisation automation and search acceleration.

“Our next product upgrade will explore applications beyond the legal industry to related knowledge-based industries like financial services regulation, corporate finance regulation, and tax,” said Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Ellery Sutanto.

–

e27 Pro membership will further empower you with insights, tools, and opportunities that help you solve the problems that hold you back. Begin your company’s journey to success here.

Image Credit: INTELLLEX

The post Legal tech platform INTELLLEX raises US$2.1M funding round led by Quest Ventures appeared first on e27.

Singapore-based human mobility and relocation company Moovaz today announed that it has signed an agreement with Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to acquire its expat-focussed publication The Finder in May 2020. The company plans to add content for the purpose of community-building to its digital-first relocation service.

The acquisition will involve Moovaz taking over the running of the leading content brand’s assets, including The Finder’s quarterly print and digital magazines, The Finder Kids supplements, web content, social media content, and more in Singapore and Malaysia where it has a presence.

The Finder claimed to be the longest-running publication for expats in Singapore, providing more than 300,000 users with timely tips, ideas, and inspiration of what to do and buy and where to go in Singapore and around the region.

Moovaz just recently announced its US$7 million Series A funding round and has goals to expand The Finder’s reach to its own relocation clients and beyond.

Also Read: Logistics startup Moovaz raises US$7M Series A funding round led by Quest Ventures

The two brands will build an ecosystem of end-to-end logistic and lifestyle services, catered to the global-local consumer, as they relocate globally and settle into local communities.

On the new acquisition, Lee Junxian, Co-founder and CEO of Moovaz, said, “Global locals are a community of people with freedom imbued within their souls. What struck us the most about The Finder is how authentically its brand and content has resonated with this community for the past quarter of a century. We were drawn to its rich history as well as its colourful, unadulterated content.”

The Finder Editor-in-Chief Sara Lyle Bow will be moving with the brand to Moovaz as Director of The Finder and Head of Community.

In consideration for the acquisition of the Finder, SPH will become a shareholder of Moovaz and collaborate on the latter’s regional outreach efforts, utilising its media platforms.

The Finder and Moovaz will also host their first Expatpreneur eAwards in July 2020, to honour successful expat-owned businesses who help people live well in Singapore.

–

Image Credit: Moovaz

The post Relocation startup Moovaz acquires SPH’s The Finder to build its digital community appeared first on e27.

Vertex Ventures invest US$5M in India-based fertility platform IVF Access

Bangalore-based fertility platform IVF Access has secured US$5 million Series A funding from Vertex Ventures SEA & India. With the investment, the VC firm’s Managing Partner, Ben Mathias, will be joining the board of IVF Access.

According to Your Story, IVF Access plans to use this funding to set up IVF clinics across India that provide assisted reproductive treatments, enabled by a proprietary IT platform.

Naresh Rao, Co-founder and CEO of IVF Access, shared, “When it comes to IVF, access is everything. IVF Access will increase the reach of such fertility treatments through a chain of clinics in India, where couples trying to conceive will have access to both technology and medical expertise.”

Indian building automation startup Hipla raises US$344K funding to accelerate its Singapore-based solutions ContaTrack.ai

Office automation software provider Hipla Technologies Pte Ltd has secured US$344,000 in funding from angel investors that the company claimed to be wealthy individuals from India and Singapore, including Mousumi Ghosh, the founder-director of Kolkata-based Future Medical and Research Trust, and Ang Hiap Chee, a Singapore-based early-stage investor in logistics companies.

According to VC Circle, the fresh funding the firm received will be used to support and accelerate Singapore-based Hipla Technologies’ new solution ContaTrack.ai, and to grow its products in the office automation space.

Also Read: Vertex Venture Holdings launches a US$290 million venture capital fund for technology firms in SEA

Sandeep Kaul, CEO at Hipla Technologies, explained that ContaTrack.ai provides AI-based computer vision to notify individuals when they are about to commit a safe-distancing breach.

Lucence launches Singapore’s Ministry of Health-approved clinical testing service

Singapore-based startup Lucence Diagnostics has attained approval from the Ministry of Health Singapore to launch SARS-CoV-2 RNA RT-PCR clinical testing service in an effort to support Singapore’s COVID-19 fights. The clinical testing service is also validated by the European QCMD (Quality Control of Molecular Diagnostics).

According to Biospectrum Asia, the SARS-CoV-2 RNA RT-PCR test is a diagnostic test intended to support COVID-19 diagnosis and disease monitoring by targeting specifically the SARS-CoV-2 RNA virus.

Lucence’s project has achieved full concordance with the QCMD 2020 Coronavirus Outbreak Preparedness (CVOP) EQA Pilot Scheme.

Singapore’s Antsomi launches software to help businesses transform into data-based companies

Based in Singapore, AI-enabled customer data platform Antsomi CDP 365 has launched an AI-driven marketing technology to assist businesses to transform into data-driven companies.

Antsomi was founded by former Malaysian Digital Association president and CtrlShift Malaysia head Serm Teck Choon and a Vietnamese technopreneur and the founder of digital company Ants Programmatic, Dinh Le Dat.

Antsomi CDP 365 seeks to address problems of overwhelming, confusing, and time-consuming customers’ data management, which is done by empowering companies to automate the consolidation of data to better understand their customers’ behaviour that results in action taken accordingly.

Also Read: To fulfill its goal to improve biopsy process, medtech startup Lucence raises US$20M in Series A

According to Malay Mail, the software’s AI engines unify all existing customer data from multiple sources, including mobile, web, social media, offline channels, customer relationship management, and more. The approach is expected to enable business operators, in industries such as retail, e-commerce, and the media, to use personalised individual customer profiles generated by this software to gain a better insight into their customers’ preferences.

–

e27 Pro membership will further empower you with insights, tools, and opportunities that help you solve the problems that hold you back. Begin your company’s journey to success here.

Image Credit: Olga Khabarova on Unsplash

The post News Roundup: Vertex Ventures invest US$5M in India-based fertility platform IVF Access appeared first on e27.

Temasek, others invest US$28.5M in UK-based Tropic Biosciences

Singaporean government-owned Temasek has led a US$28.5 million Series B funding round in UK-based biotech company Tropic Biosciences, according to TheBusinessTimes.

Other backers include Sumitomo Europe, Genoa Ventures, Agronomics and Skyviews Life Science.

Tropic utilises gene-editing techniques to develop high-performing commercial tropical crops, which foster grower well-being and maintains the plant’s nutritional benefits.

“These massive crops currently face a wide range of critical challenges, from diseases and pests to climate change. Tropic is working closely with growers to address these major issues and, in doing so, promotes consumer well-being and positive grower economics, while increasing crop stability and addressing unmet nutritional needs,” the company said in a statement.

Temasek’s makes longer-term investments in telecom, financial services, transportation, real estate, life sciences, agriculture, energy and resources.

Singapore’s car-sharing platform Smove shuts down

Car sharing platform Smove said today it has filed for liquidation after it failed to cover its operating cost, according to Vulcan Post.

Quoting a Facebook post from Smove, the publication said the government had requested the firm “to cease operations because they were no longer deemed an essential service during the extended COVID-19 circuit breaker”.

The Singapore-headquartered firm was launched in 2013 as an hourly car-rental company, with a team of four members. The startup had reportedly been facing cashflow problems previously as well.

Also Read: Relocation startup Moovaz acquires SPH’s The Finder to build its digital community

The company, however, remains optimistic about the future and has commented that “it will wait on the government’s instructions in regards to future operation,”.

Microsoft launches programme to bolster the growth of agritech startups in India

Microsoft has announced the launch of “The Microsoft for Agritech Startups program” in India, according to The Tribune.

Agritech startups selected for the programme will be provided with business resources and technological support like Azure and FarmBeats without investing in deep data resources.

“The Microsoft for Agritech Startups programme is among the early steps in our journey towards empowering these startups in India and transforming global agricultural practices,” said Sangeeta Bavi Director of Startup Ecosystem, Microsoft India.

—

e27 Pro membership will further empower you with insights, tools, and opportunities that help you solve the problems that hold you back. Begin your company’s journey to success here.

Image Credit: Henry Be

The post Roundup: Temasek invests in UK firm Tropic Biosciences, Singapore’s car-sharing platform Smove shuts down appeared first on e27.

In a recent webinar with e27, Wanying Zhang, Investment Managers at Qualgro Partners, explains how the firm’s portfolio companies are doing relatively well in times of COVID-19 pandemic –and that their investment focus on B2B startups has something to do with it.

“Part of the reasons why our portfolio companies are doing relatively well is that we tend to be B2B-focussed. They tend to be less impacted by the current COVID-19 situation. Most of our companies still have 12-18 months left in their runway. So far, in our 25 portfolio companies, we have no write-ups,” she says.

While she acknowledged that a number of them have to readjust growth plan or team structure to reserve cash and extend the runway, for the rest of them, the VC firm actually advised them to seize the opportunities.

“Interestingly, for some of our companies, sometimes we suggest them to not to be overly conservative, especially when there are good fundamentals in the business. Because this is the time for them to leverage the opportunity and grow if they have the capacity to do so,” Zhang continues.

Beyond the region

Based in Singapore, Qualgro was founded by Heang Chhor, a French-Cambodian serial entrepreneur who also had a background in business consultancy.

The firm invests in Series A-B stages companies in Southeast Asia (SEA), Australia, and New Zealand, with a specific focus on B2B companies.

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: HR tech startup EngageRocket secures US$3M in Series A funding led by Qualgro

Last year, following their exit from Wavecell, Qualgro was even awarded “Exit of the Year” by the Singapore Venture Capital & Equity Association (SVCA).

“Back in 2015, we don’t think there were a lot of investors that focussed on the B2B sector. There weren’t that many B2B startups as well. But we do think this region has a great potential to produce international B2B tech companies that are just as good as those in Silicon Valley, China, or Europe,” says Zhang.

Qualgro launched its first fund of US$15 million in 2015; it has been fully deployed in 19 companies that included top names in the startup ecosystem such as Patsnap, Shopback, and Wavecell.

In a separate interview with e27, manager Minh Vu Hong says that the firm is currently fundraising for its second fund and is looking to make final close “soon.”

“We already made six investments from this fund,” he says.

Echoing the statement that Zhang said during the webinar, Hong stresses on the firm’s focus on startups with the potential to go regional and even global.

Also Read: Qualgro makes first close of US$100M second fund, will continue to invest in B2B services

An example of Qualgro’s global perspective is its foray to European startup scene through US$11.2 million Series A investment in Pazzi, a French robotics food tech startup.

“What we have as a thesis is that there are strong similarities between Europe and SEA. It’s a one-economy region that is fragmented into different markets. It goes both ways; we can invest in European companies that want to enter SEA, and we can invest in SEA companies that have the potential to become, at least, a regional player,” Hong explains.

In search of the right one

During the webinar, Zhang also took the time to give advice for startups on fundraising.

Apart from the potential to go regional and even global, Qualgro is also looking for startups with a sustainable competitive advantage and a clear path to profitability.

“Most founders are already familiar with the list of things to check when pitching to a VC in general, but for us, we noticed two things: Sometimes, some founders can be a little defensive during idea brainstorming … We just want to see whether the founders really understand market trends and the potential risks. Also, we just want to see whether we are in a position to add value. We really hope to have an open and collaborative discussion,” Zhang elaborates.

For the future, Qualgro aims to focus on investing in early stage startups in the region, with a particular focus in Vietnam.

The firm sources their potential investments through various channels, from an in-house developed tool used to screen the market to referrals from other VCs or accelerators and partners such as the e27 Pro membership programme, which Qualgro is a member of.

Missed the webinar? Check out the video here:

—

Register for our next webinar: How to keep your customers happy?

The post Qualgro Partners: Southeast Asia is home to the next big B2B tech companies appeared first on e27.