In physics, inertia is defined as an object’s resistance to a change in velocity. Humans and businesses alike tend to resist change until they come up against an unstoppable force such as a really big object, a great stimulus, or, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Many F&B establishments—especially the most traditional ones, like street hawkers—are still wary of digital tools and platforms. But at a panel discussion at Lit Discovery, a recent virtual career symposium organised by Young NTUC, Fave Singapore’s managing director Ng Aik-Phong shared that COVID-19 has made it impossible for F&B joints to remain completely traditional. 

“COVID-19 has brought this wave of digitisation that’s going to continue no matter which industry you’re in,” he said. “People are staying home—they’re not going to stores or dining in. The pain of the pandemic is forcing F&B establishments to digitalise out of necessity.”

He suspects that even after the pandemic, it’s not going to fully go back to how it was. 

At this panel discussion, Aik-Phong and three F&B industry veterans shared their thoughts on how to overcome six of the most common roadblocks F&B businesses face when digitalising:

• Gilberto Geata, Director, Southeast Asia, Google Customer Solutions
• Douglas Ng, Founder, Fishball Story
• Eddie Seetoh, Director and 3rd Generation Owner, 9s Seafood

Also Read: In brief: SINO Hua-An invests US$7M to transform its F&B biz into a tech firm

Fearing digitalisation for being “too complex”

Digitalisation is the use of any digital tool —such as WhatsApp or Google Forms— to change a pre-existing traditional function. But that doesn’t mean that it has to be a head-to-toe revolution.

“I would encourage SMEs to simply think about what they’ve been doing traditionally, and consider how that could be done online,” advised Gilberto Geata, Southeast Asia’s Director for Google Customer Solutions. 

When COVID-19 broke out, for example, Fishball Story’s Douglas Ng had to find a quick solution for meal delivery. When some private-hire drivers offered to help deliver the orders, he immediately invited them to his shop and held a meeting.

“We weren’t quick enough to get on board different delivery platforms. So we had to develop our own system,” he recalled. “We immediately structured the delivery fees and decided to use WhatsApp to coordinate and accept orders. Maybe it’s a caveman method compared to joining a food delivery platform —but it’s simple enough, and works for me.” 

Even simple, everyday tools such as WhatsApp and Google Forms can help F&B businesses streamline existing processes. 

Also Read: Healthy online-to-offline F&B chain Greenly raises seed funding led by East Ventures

Not being active on social media

Fishball Story has been building its social media customer base for years. During this period, the hawker stall was able to take advantage of its social media platforms to increase awareness and inform customers about their deliveries. 

Thanks to the reach they’ve built up over the years, Douglas explained that their customers “can go to our Facebook page, which has a lot of information about us, and they can even order the food directly as well.”

9s Seafood’s Eddie Seetoh also went through a similar process. “We are not afraid to show customers what goes on behind the scenes to assure them that we have great quality,” he shared. “We regularly show photos and official reports with our new products. Structured images and designs are very important to attract positive attention—we want to woo customers with interesting visuals.”

The key lies in providing as much information as possible for your customers. People can’t walk into your store during a pandemic. But they are searching for you online. 

One of the best ways for SMEs to establish an online presence is by using Google’s free listing service, Google My Business. Then you can build a website to showcase the products and content that people are looking for.

Gilberto explained it from the user’s perspective: 

“I would want to make sure that I can buy your products online, that I can find different variations, colour sizes, and so on. I just checked out Douglas’ website, actually, and on top of ordering fish balls, I can add my own personal preferences and add notes to menu items. These little things make the experience relevant and seamless for the user.”

Also Read: Understanding the economics of food delivery platforms

Not taking advantage of the data

One of the major benefits of going online is the ability to track feedback from clients. 

“By using Google Analytics, you can find out where they’re coming from, and how they found your website,” says Gilberto.

With analytics tools on Google, Instagram, and other online platforms, you can see whether users buy or exit, and you can track how much time they spend on the site. Once you’re familiar with the data, you can test new methods to increase your customer base and the number of orders you get.

The key is to be discoverable, engage with the right content, measure, and iterate.

Sticking to cash and refusing to accept digital payments

Some restaurateurs worry that digital payments are unreliable or unsafe. Hacking is a very serious concern —and what if details get compromised? 

To this, Aik-Phong responded that FavePay is “integrated securely and encrypted to Visa, MasterCard, and even Paypal.” Unless you are sharing your login information with others, the risk for fraudulent activity on digital payments apps is actually very low.

Also Read: Healthy online-to-offline F&B chain Greenly raises seed funding led by East Ventures

“If you use credit cards, the technology is precisely the same. And if something does happen to your digital balance, there is an instant chat feature so that you can talk to customer service in just a few seconds,” he added.

FavePay is now trusted by thousands of merchants across Singapore and Southeast Asia. “So far, we don’t have issues,” Aik-Phong said. “But if you do, let me know on LinkedIn and I will help you out the best I can. Really.”

Most of the popular digital tools and platforms for F&B platforms use secure gateways when they collect payment data. One of the best ways to ensure safety is to keep your payment or login information private—don’t share your data with anyone.

Using only one platform

F&B companies need to be on as many platforms as possible rather than being shy about their presence. The signup process for most platforms and digital payments solutions is very easy, and it’s worth it to be active and present in the digital world—every platform is a gateway to reaching new customers.

For example, Google Pay Singapore recently introduced a spiffy new feature that lets users discover new food options that they might like directly within the app. Gilberto explained, “If you have an F&B menu and want to get orders on Google Pay, simply fill a form, send us your menu, and we’ll do the rest. It’s completely free.”

This feature is designed to help F&B establishments spread the word about their offerings without having to spend a cent on marketing.

Also Read: The battle for restaurant delivery dominance: How India’s online food ordering platforms stack up

Eddie and Douglas also recommended getting on as many platforms as possible. Douglas said, “If your parent has asked you for help, the first thing you should do is sign them up for Fave, Deliveroo, Grab, everything.”

“These platforms are available, they’re everywhere, and a lot of them are free. It’s not about the commission that these companies take. It’s about how you redesign and brand what you sell, and the customers you build a new relationship with.”

One last tip: gain attention on these platforms by offering promotions and bundles!

Not being creative enough

Aik-Phong pointed to the e-commerce booster package from Enterprise Singapore, which was designed to help F&B establishments make the transition from offline to online sales. 

“Switching now with the help of these tools will pay off in the long run,” he says. 

But those aren’t the only opportunities available for F&B establishments.

Thanks to the internet, the world is your oyster. You can design your business in any way you want—for example, after food delivery platforms such as Grab grew more popular, some people launched delivery-only business models. 

“You’re only limited by your imagination, and ability to merge your resources with your ideas to execute something,” concluded Douglas.

If you haven’t yet, then it’s time to make a switch.

The presence of online tools for everything from contacting customers to collecting orders to delivering meals to measuring the success of a new menu item makes everything frictionless.

Done correctly, digitalisation will make your job as a restaurant owner easier—and it also provides customers with a much more enjoyable, hassle-free experience. 

More customers, less stress on your end—what’s not to love?

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Register for our next webinar: How to pivot your growth strategy post COVID-19

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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At e27, we are doing our best to empower entrepreneurs with the tools and resources to build and grow their companies –regardless of their funding stage.

We have previously published a list of e27 Pro members who are currently fundraising for their seed funding round. This time, we return with more members that we believe should be on your investment radar.

Also Read: Meet the 5 members of e27 Pro that are currently raising their pre-seed funding round

H3 Com

H3 Com is a Singapore-based startup that developed HEAL-C, global online telehealth and medical travel platform that targets medical tourists and establishments all over the world. It provides online consultations and booking access to the most reliable clinics around the globe to make sure that patients get the appropriate treatment.

It currently has no investors from outside the company for its seed-stage funding. According to co-founder Alexander Mokretsov, when the seed round is complete, the company plans to implement additional features in the platform, increase marketing activity, hire more people for support, and open additional offices in countries where its partners operate.

Epic Journey Consultancy

Epic Journey Consultancy is operating under EPIC X, a platform that is designed to enhance what the company called “experienced engagement.”

Users can register, buy tickets, track a friend’s location, and find photos for events or activities while seeking out merchants’ deals, sponsors’ promotions as well as activities rewards. The startup said it focusses on the realms of sports, wellness, and technology.

Based in Singapore, EPIC X’s CEO Adrian Mok shared that the company is currently raising funding from private angel investors to prepare its Minimum Viable Products for launching.

“We are pivoting some plans and require the funds to do so for product testing and validation. The app development needs to be ramped out to get the product ready for launch,” said Mok.

InsureVite

Singapore-based InsureVite is an insurtech company with a cloud-based platform named SmarterCS Bot, where users are allowed to automate service delivery through chats.

Some of the features include a dashboard tool that can gather chatbots data to create easy-to-use reports.

Talking to InsureVit in brief, the company confirms that they have raised a seed funding from angel investors Batjargal Dashdorj and Darren Harrison, as well as seed funding from Startupbootcamp Melbourne & Global Insurance Accelerator.

For the use of the funding, the company said it plans to use it to triple the number of current enterprise customers, increase tech developers and business developments headcount, as well as to cover operational expenses.

VITA by Zing Healthcare

Using tech-enabled tools to monitor and measure health data at the workplace, VITA provides insights into personal and corporate health data to help keep track of health policies and assist in formulating a customised health programme.

Based in Malaysia, VITA displays the real-time likelihood of users developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and kidney failure. By enhancing digital health data through data application to accredited international medical guidelines and latest medical research, VITA can give patients reliable information to assess the risk of developing dangerous medical conditions.

Dr. Ian Ng, VITA’s founder, confirmed that the pre-seed funding round of the company was backed by private investors who are part of the company. It also has an equity stake by MAHSA Group investment arm, a health sciences academy.

Also Read: Why e27 Pro is enabling companies’ success

“Thirty per cent of the funding is to increase the team size to develop and convert the leads that we generate. Twenty per cent to improve the tech team capabilities in UI/UX and also enhance integration with hospital and clinic information systems. The rest will be divided for working capital as most corporate clients work on a credit facility and for increasing marketing efforts in digital platforms,” Ng said.

ConnectUpz

ConnectUpz is a platform that promotes niche businesses to their local community and helps them to easily connect with their customers.

The Singapore-based company’s customer engagement platform features options like digital loyalty and retail ecosystem, that are completed with personalised communication system, access to insights, and secure transactions.

Currently, the company said it’s in the midst of raising a seed round. “We are looking to scale up operations to onboard more merchants onboard the platform and launch the business connector feature to promote collaborations within the ecosystem,” said Vijay Dylan Kumar, CEO and CTO of ConnectUpz.

Workbean

Based in the Philippines, Workbean focusses on helping companies find talents through showcasing authentic stories about people, workplace, and culture to attract the right talent.

It emphasises on the importance of culture in choosing the right workplace, and it has become the company’s mission to do so.

Neil Rojas, the startup’s co-founder said that family and friends are the ones behind its seed-stage funding. “We plan to accelerate the development of a product feature that can capitalise on the immediate need of companies, to virtually measure the engagement of their employees in real-time and on-demand,” explained Rojas.

Rekosistem

The Indonesia-based startup Rekosistem described itself as an end-to-end zero waste management startup that strives for a sustainable ecosystem. It seeks to improve how the waste value chain works to be more productive and efficient –with minimal behavioural changes.

Its services include digital waste management that improves productivity and simplifies the process through Waste Picking Apps and IoT-connected Smart Drop Box. It also includes a Waste-to-Energy and Anaerobic Digestion Method that converts organic waste into renewable energy.

“Currently, we are on the angel round investment, with US$70,000 raised for product development. The investor is an individual businessman who I couldn’t disclose,” said Rekosistem CEO Ernest C. Layman.

“We are looking for a seed round investment with ticket size of US$750,000 for 18 months of expansion, starting from the second half of 2020. If we can raise fund, we plan to use the fund to focus on apps penetration, development of IoT Drop Box 2.0, the increase of B2B Waste Management Services, and to install Biodigester Facility with feeding capacity of five tonnes of waste per day.”

Shuttle

Operating in Seoul, Shuttle Delivery provides delivery services from restaurants with a fully bilingual service, where customers can place orders in either English or Korean.

According to Jason Boutte, the company’s co-founder and CEO, Shuttle specialises in a customer-facing platform that connects people to restaurants in their area and gives them the option to schedule a pickup or get food delivered.

Shuttle Delivery has expanded to multiple delivery areas whilst bootstrapping the entire way. In May 2019, they launched an operation in Busan.

Careershe

Based in China and Singapore, Careershe is a startup focused on helping students between age 15-25 to learn about the world of work and guide them in major life decisions, such as choosing university degree specialisation. Bringing in from the latest international research in career development methodologies, it hopes to help Chinese students find their desired careers.

Also Read: Five e27 Pro member-companies describe their experience with e27 Connect

Careershe co-founder Steve Xie said that for initial funding, it was funded by a family fund with key investor Eddie Chng.

“For the current round, we have not confirmed investor interest yet, but we are looking to increase talent hire within the team, business development and marketing costs, and possibly fund a joint research project between the University of Oxford and a China university for development of IP and go to market,” added Xie.

Financial Butler

Singapore-based Financial Butler aims to simplify personal finance and makes it accessible to everyone. It works by aggregating users’ financial data and using a goal-based analysis and analytics engine to help give users their real financial picture and offer personalised products to users’ needs, suitability, and affordability.

Its analytical tools provide insights to show users’ spending on essential and non-essential items. With an AI-driven engine, it matches financial products according to users’ monthly affordability.

Gordon Frois, co-founder of Financial Butler, the company hasn’t got any pre-seed funding. But it has started to raise and plan to utilise the funding to build partnerships and marketing, as well as focus on R&D and incorporate further machine learning capabilities.

Onzla

Onzla is a Singapore-based online event planner. The company was built on the foundation of helping event planners deliver memorable events every time.

It provides access to thousands of relevant suppliers of products and services. Using AI, it alerts customers of hot deals and promos; it also ensures that every guest gets notified and shows up for the event.

Currently, Blockchain FF is the investor involved in the company’s seed funding round, as confirmed by Jamie Tan, Onzla’s Director.

Tan said that they plan to use the funding to enhance platform feature, develop new version and R&D, enable monetisation features and payment gateways, use part of the funding for GTM, marketing, awareness, and adoption, as well as to hire resources to support sales, expansion, retention, and ops.

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Having a completed startup profile on the e27 Startup Database will promote greater exposure among potential investors and partners. We strongly encourage startups to create and/or update theirs today.

Interested in taking the next step? Be a part of the community and sign up for an e27 Pro membership today! You may visit here for more details.

Image Credit: Bethany Legg on Unsplash

The post Return of the startups: These e27 Pro members are raising their seed funding round appeared first on e27.

When thinking about the payments landscape in Asia, there’s no doubt that its complexity is the first thing that springs to mind. Southeast Asia alone has over 1,000 local payment methods (LPMs) each fighting for their corner of the market.

But one country is shaping up to be the region’s next payments battleground and that’s Indonesia, the largest B2C e-commerce market in Southeast Asia.

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, Indonesians have been turning to the e-commerce marketplace as a safer and more hygienic way to procure goods and services. For the country’s retailers, this surge in demand for online services forced some to take their businesses online for the first time.

Market size

Others, such as Blibli and unicorn startup Bukalapak, seized the opportunity to gain market share by rapidly increasing online offerings in vertical such as groceries to cater to the rising demand. While external factors such as COVID-19 have accelerated e-commerce transaction volumes, in Indonesia, the market was already on an upward trajectory with the country’s digital economy expected to be worth US$130 billion by 2025.

With an outlook like this, it is no surprise that there have been high-profile movements in the market of late. With a presence in the market since 2009, Gojek is Indonesia’s flagship super-app with a valuation of US$10 billion and an expanding presence across Southeast Asia with 170 million users in the region.

Also Read: Indonesian digital payments platforms OVO, Dana reportedly agreed to merge

Just earlier this month Facebook’s WhatsApp, together with PayPal, announced that they had invested an undisclosed but ‘meaningful’ sum in the company. It remains to be seen what this will mean for Gojek’s payment method, GoPay, but it has already led to fierce competition in the form of a rumoured merger between Indonesian fintech startups Ovo and Dana.

With the merger, digital payments company Ovo and digital wallet provider Dana will go head-to-head with Gojek fighting to grow and retain their slice of a consolidated Indonesian payment market.

Merging forces

What Gojek and a merged Ovo and Dana have in common, is that both would-be ‘super apps’ see their digital payments business as their route to customer acquisition before offering financial products and services ranging from ride hailing (e.g. Go-Ride), food delivery (e.g. Go-food) and massages (e.g. Go-Massage) to utility bill payment (e.g. Go-Bills) and grocery shopping (Go-Mart).

The implications of a potential Ovo-Dana merger lie in the significance that it could help merchants operating in the country streamline the payment methods they offer their customers. With 17,000 islands across the country, Indonesia’s payment landscape is notoriously fragmented.

For consumers, this would mean an improved payment experience with the local payment methods they know and trust available when they make a purchase.

So where does the opportunity lie for new entrants in the Indonesian market?

Well, the success seen by Indonesia’s unicorns might well just be the tip of the iceberg for ambitious fintech both currently operating in Indonesia and eying market expansion. The country’s 273.5 million-strong population offers huge potential for growth with the rapid adoption of digital payments set to continue.

This is in large part due to an unbanked population of circa 95 million, a third of Indonesia’s population. As the payment market opens up, more and more of these people will be able to access financial services which are in turn set to drive digital transactions.

Also Read: Here’re the most-used digital payments across APAC in Mar-Apr 2020

Indeed, this is evidenced by smartphone adoption in the country which is growing 17 per cent year on year. When we consider these developments together with the Government’s support of digital payments like introducing standardised QR codes (QRIS) and the planning for “robin hood” type flat-rate fees for certain digital wallet transactions (where larger merchants pay more than smaller merchants) aimed to increase SME adoption of ewallet support.

Given two years ago Indonesia e-wallets overtook ATM and debit cards in 2018 it appears that there is no end in sight when it comes to chart the stratospheric rise in digital payments in Indonesia.

In this conducive environment, the opportunity is ripe for those looking to offer digital payments and e-commerce services in Indonesia. In fact, according to our recent Global Payments Almanac; China, the US, and Singapore make up the top three nations Indonesians’ procure their goods and services from, making it an attractive market for cross-border focused and international merchants.

That being said, the Indonesian market is not without its complexities, and new e-commerce regulations set to come into force in November 2021 will require extra consideration from merchants looking to enter the space without a physical presence in the country.

While this move may result in cross-border focused and international merchant businesses limiting their product offerings in Indonesia for the foreseeable future, it will strengthen the development of local market places given that Indonesians would have to turn to them to access those same goods.

Also Read: Fintech innovations are likely to be accelerated during the pandemic: OVO CEO Jason Thompson

More importantly, the consolidation of e-commerce market places will also see them focus more on providing local support and better customer service – and this can come in the form of facilitating payments with the local payment methods that Indonesians trust and prefer.

It is for this reason that digital payment providers such as Dana and Ovo are considering a merger to strengthen their market position to enhance their service offerings to the Indonesian public. This merger would create additional complexities with Gojek backed by Tencent and Ovo/Dana back by Ant Financial again going head to head in a market-creating completely independent ecosystems.

Where e-commerce savvy Indonesian consumers, and those new to online purchases, decide to part with their cash online will be driven by the customer service they are offered by a merchant. This includes the ease of payment and having the payment options they know and trust for example LinkAja, Ovo and GoPay e-wallets, cash payment via mini-marts, or chains of convenience stores such as Alfamart available.

Those entering the market will need to arm themselves with the local knowledge via partners who can keep pace with Indonesia’s changing payments landscape to ensure they gain the trust of the growing local consumer spending power.

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Register for our next webinar: How to pivot your growth strategy post COVID-19

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

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On the path to recovery: Lessons learned from Asia on how to return to work; The period following a severe downturn is always one of growth and prosperity; Determine what will change and what will stay the same in the new world; A 100-day plan will help leaders to focus people on a new way of doing things post the COVID-19 period. More here

Small businesses in ASEAN prioritising tech investments for 2020: survey; Technology (64%) was ranked the top investment priority, followed by investments in developing employees’ skills (51%); Thailand had the highest proportion (71%) of respondents prioritising tech investments this year, followed by Indonesia (65%), Vietnam (63%), Singapore (60%), Malaysia (59%). More here

Do you have a burgeoning startup trying to attract investor capital?; VC money typically comes with strings attached; Some VCs seek to have control over the governance processes, while others want to take an active role in growing the company; Whether you seek a partner to help grow your business or simply a hands-off investor only interested in stake is a consideration you must have. More here

Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital hits final close of US$820M Fund II; This brings its total AUM to US$1.44B; To date, the VC firm has invested in 30 firms including Ninja Van, CXA in S’pore; The Fund II is over 2X what it raised for its US$360M debut fund in 2016. More here

Climate fund targets US$2.5B in clean energy investment for SEA; Singapore-based Clime Capital has an initial investment of US$10M; It’ll look to invest in wind and solar power, mains grid infra, energy efficiency in buildings, electronic mobility and storage; Primary target markets are Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines. More here

Taiwan’s AppWorks joins Indonesian edutech startup InfraDigital’s Series A round; The startup enables schools to digitise their student & financial data, automates back office processes, facilitates online tuition payments; It had raised seed funding last year; InfraDigital is active in 13 provinces and its platform is deployed in 350+ schools serving over 165K students. More here

Singapore’s heavy-duty autonomous mobile robot solutions startup Botsync closes seed funding; Lead investors are Wong Fong Industries, SEEDS Capital, Angelhub, Artesian Venture; Its robots can transport payloads between 500kg and 1,000kg; The startup was incubated at EcoLabs. More here

Why humanising e-commerce will be the game changer for direct-to-consumer brands; Brands need to adopt a new mindset about how to connect with consumers online by offering new ways to help them navigate the e-commerce experience; Research shows that people’s behaviours are functionally the same when they shop online and in-store. More here

As IDX commissioner, this is how Pandu Sjahrir aims to help more Indonesian startups go public; By having more younger investors, local unicorns are expected to consider listing in Indonesia; He says the country needs to prevent tech giants from leaving to other capital markets. More here

NextBillion.ai, a 6-month-old startup founded by the brains behind Grab Maps, raises US$7M Series A; Lead investors are Lightspeed, Falcon Edge; The startup’s product nextbillionmaps provides customisable features, such as routing and navigation, matrix calculation, map data curation. More here

Ackcio raises pre-Series A co-led by Wavemaker; Ackcio helps contractors monitor their projects to manage risks and increase safety; It has offices in 15 countries; The company was recently awarded a large contract to supply its equipment to a new infra development project at the Changi Airport. More here

Singapore’s customisable employee on-boarding startup Qualee raises US$1M; The startup’s self-service, digital platform enables clients to create employee experiences that measurably improve employer familiarisation and engagement; Its cloud platform features AI and Machine Learning. More here

Work from home set to be mandatory in Philippines; A new bill proposes WFH arrangements be offered to employees “whose physical presence in the workplace is not necessary for the completion of his/her job, and who has been with the company for at least one year; The bill aims to strengthen the telecommuting law by making it mandatory, and not merely optional. More here

The status of e-commerce within manufacturing; Manufacturers seem to act very protectively in the after-sales business; They use tech to boost customer satisfaction, increasing sales to the installed base, reducing cost per transaction; Attracting new customers online is priority only for 40% manufacturers. More here

Philippine government launches digital bank; OFBank allows clients to complete bank transactions anytime and anywhere across the globe; It utilises digital on-boarding system with AI to facilitate digital account opening via its mobile banking app. More here

How to emerge stronger in a post COVID-19 world; Antler CEO Magnus Grimeland shares his advice for startups to tide through the crisis; When growth has stalled, turn your focus to improving and building a killer product in preparation for the recovery, he says. More here

Mastercard supports digital bank platform in APAC, partners with EedenBull; Building on a partnership in Europe, the partnership will support the rollout of Eedenbull’s new commercial cards platform to banks looking to tap into vast opportunities in APAC’s B2B payments market. More here

Matchmove, JustLogin to drive financial wellness for Malaysian’s SMEs; The two firms will launch JustLogin-branded payment solution which encompasses an e-wallet with a prepaid card and remittance capabilities; This aims at helping SMEs across the region on JustLogin’s platform digitise and enable their employees to adopt digital payments. More here

Electric motors and industrial efficiency: Innovation is key for EVs; Improving power-to-weight ratio while maintaining high efficiency is important for endurance in electric aircraft and vehicles if they are to reduce the size of the battery needed.More here

S Korea moves forward with blockchain-based realty transactions platform; Currently, transactions are conducted by first checking goods, signing of contracts, applying for loans, then finally transferring registrations; The government plans to increase the safety and convenience of transactions through the platform. More here

What is a digital currency and why they are the real revolution?; Digital currencies have been at the centre of attention for their potential to improve efficiency and reduce costs; As of Jan, globally 80% of central banks were engaging in some sort of work-related to central bank digital currency. More here

Investment opportunities in Thailand post-COVID-19; The first six months of the pandemic impacted pre-Series A, Series A startups in travel and events; Experts believe seed startups (which account for 30% of startups) will shut down unless they pivot. More here

Wirecard fraud could trigger claims in Asia; The German payment provider admitted last week that US$2.1B supposedly sitting in escrow in 2 Philippines banks probably “does not exist”; In Asia, the firm has been extremely acquisitive; A subsequent rise in late payments and unpaid invoices could trigger claims in the trade credit insurance market. More here

Insurtech picking up steam in Asia; Swiss Re estimates that by 2029, APAC will account for 42% of global insurance premiums with China forecast to hold a 20% market share; Governments across APAC are passing favourable policies to support insurtech. More here

Lazada reinvents online shopping through LazLive; It’s an in-app live streaming feature to allow users to interact in real time; In April, LazLive has 27M viewers and total GMV generated through the feature increased by 45% m-o-m; In Singapore, over 4.5K businesses and entrepreneurs signed up as new sellers over the period. More here

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Image Credit: 123rf.com

The post Ecosystem Roundup: B Capital’s US$820M Fund II hits final close; SEA’s agri, food startups raised US$423M last year; NextBillion.ai secures US$7M Series A appeared first on e27.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the startup landscape around the world. There is a sense of fear among startups, VCs and customers/consumers. Many startups are staring at the spectre of going irrelevant, as demand has depleted and VCs have decided to tighten their purse strings.

Startups now are looking for ways and examples to help them survive the crisis.

In this interview, Wallace Guo, Managing Partner of Beijing-based investment bank Taihecap (formerly TH Capital), is sharing insights on what Chinese startups and VCs are doing to tide through the COVID-19 crisis and what Southeast Asian startups can learn from their examples.

Edited excerpts from the interview

On Chinese startups and VCs

For startups, different sectors have different outcomes from the COVID-19 outbreak. We saw offline retail and services, and travel & hotels industries losing business due to the situation. Some companies are already starting to shut down their loss-making shops or shifting attention to online.

Social influencer marketing and live stream shopping are becoming more and more popular.

Also Read: TMT industries in Indonesia, Vietnam are fast-growing, says China TH Capital Renchuan Chen

Healthcare, online education, online fresh content platforms, SaaS/ tech-driven B2B models are seeing a boom. These are mainly because of the massive shift of user habits; people tend to consume fresh goods, content and lessons online.

Also, large companies see the needs to digitalise their business while increasing the efficiency, so their willingness to pay for SaaS services and AI platforms has increased.

As for VCs, we did a survey with over 40 mainstream VCs/PEs in China during the outbreak. The results suggest the slowing down in the investment space is mainly caused by the restriction on travel as well inability to do onsite due diligence.

Among the investors participated in the survey, only 10 per cent expect to expand their investments in 2020 and they are mostly newly-raised funds and strategic investors. About thirty per cent of the VCs surveyed will be more conservative in their investment strategies, but this is mainly because of the overall slowing down in the market.

Some funds are curious about the Southeast Asia market, so they are ready to step into the market once the situation got better.

Also, our observation is that more and more funds are spending more and more time with portfolio management.

Lessons that Southeast Asia startups can learn from China

• Startups should invest more in technology than in user acquisition
• They should stop trying new strategies that will burn a lot of money
• Talk with existing shareholders to get help on short-term funding (e.g. convertible bonds, internal round of investment)
• Embrace strategic investors that are resourceful
• Cash management is very important, review the budget and prepare for long term.

Startup ecosystem post-COVID-19

We have witnessed economic cycles in China. After every downturn of the market lies the opportunities for unicorns.

• Top players of each vertical industry will definitely get more attention from investors with abundant capital and resources, and they are more likely to become ecosystem builders
• Economics matter a lot for all businesses — cash flow, margin, take rate, etc.
• Data-driven business model will become popular among early-stage VCs
• Education, healthcare, content, and fintech companies will draw more attentions from investors
• Warehouses, logistics and supply chain services will be driven by online shopping boom but will take longer term to ramp up.

Global strategic investment is becoming more active

Based on our own experience in transactions, we can see that global strategic investment is becoming more active, which is supported by the results of deals in the past two years.

A lot of global strategic investors are trying to build up their ecosystems in India, such as Facebook investing Jio, and Meesho and Tencent investing in Swiggy, and Udaan and Twitter investing in ShareChat.

Late-stage investors have shifted their focus to new economy

More and more attentions from the late-stage investors have shifted to the new economy companies/startups. Two or three years ago, investors like Carlyle and KKR looked to invest in the banking, financial services or real estate sectors. Nowadays, they’re looking to invest in online education, fintech and logistics.

Entertainment industry booming

When people spend more and more time at home, entertainment industries such as gaming, social media and content will benefit because active users and time spent on theses platform will increase.

According to a research by our colleagues in charge of entertainment investment, the financial crisis or the epidemic outbreak will bring a wave of spiritual consumption.

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For example, after the Great Depression, Americans’ ways of consumption transferred from parties and expensive alcohol to cheaper theatres, so that’s how the Hollywood experienced its first golden ten years.

Another example is that Japan has gone through the so-called the Lost Decade (about 1991-2001), but this Lost Decade is also the most prosperous decade of the Japanese cartoons and comics. Since then, the Japanese animation was exported to the world and it has become Japan’s second or third largest industry by now.

Therefore, I believe that this COVID-19 may bring a new era to the entertainment business throughout the world. I think that’s why platforms like Facebook and Twitter are trying to invest in some of the companies in the emerging market. I think they are trying to build up ecosystem to capture this kind of new era.

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Image Credit: Taihecap

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