Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential solutions even before the concept is fully cooked. They have enough confidence in their ability to deliver. They don’t worry about someone stealing the idea to get there first. And they don’t forget to listen carefully to critical feedback. They become walking public relations machines for themselves, as well as their idea.

The alternative is to spend big money later on pivots. Lost credibility with investors, and delays at rollout trying to build visibility and credibility. I’m not proposing that anyone promise things that they don’t intend to deliver. But it’s time that founders switch to start selling their product before they build it. Rather than believing the old adage of “if we build it, they will come.”

I still hear too many excuses for not working early on the elevator pitch. Like wanting to fly under the radar, don’t have the team together yet, or can’t afford an agency. In fact, you don’t need a third-party public relations agency at this stage. There is real value in doing the key things yourself before your startup is even started:

1. Demonstrate thought leadership before selling a product

Highlight the problem and your concerns in industry blogs, speaking in public forums, and making yourself visible on social media and networking opportunities. You want people to see you as an evangelist for hydrogen fuel, for example, so your later auto engine will have credibility by default.

2. Craft and hone your elevator pitch early

Before the product is set in stone, you can test your message and continue to refine it until it connects well with investors, as well as customers. Later you may have the problem of being told by public relations firms to stay on message, even after you suspect it is not working.

Also Read: Book Excerpt: How I survived an elevator pitch session with Tim Draper

3. Visibly be a bit controversial to test the limits

This early in the game, any coverage and peer review are better than just being another unknown entrepreneur. It’s human nature that challenging the status quo gets more attention than quiet concurrence. We have a tendency to forgive controversial views. If you aren’t perceived as pushing a product.

4. Proactively seek out thought leaders and journalists

Entrepreneurs who wait to be found are destined to spend a lot of time alone. Social media sites today, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, provide ideal forums for presenting your cause and your concept. Start actively blogging on your own site, as well as on industry forums.

5. Make your business cards stand out in the crowd

Everyone exchanges business cards and most are forgotten immediately or never really seen. These days, images are especially important, as well as a tag line, and your social media links. Unique and professional business cards are still well worth the investment.

6. Follow up personally on every new connection

Key introductions in a networking meeting will be quickly lost. Unless you take the next step of calling or emailing later to request a personal meeting. Use these meetings to build the relationship, more by asking questions than by pitching your concept. Requests for investment come later.

Every entrepreneur has a story! Perhaps the inspiration for your idea; or the path taken to get to this point; or a key lesson learned from past mistakes. Stories are the grist reporters look for, and they make you unique and memorable. I use my personal hook! It can be key to your entrepreneurial success. Bigger than any given product or service that you are about to offer.

If you are a social entrepreneur, a natural hook is the environmental or humanity cause that you espouse. Perhaps you can amplify your position by sponsoring an event; travelling to a visible location; or donating your time and other resources.

Also Read: Going from 0 to 60 in a successful elevator pitch, from one founder to another

These days, winning in the crowded startup world is all about marketing. The sooner and more effectively you utilise all the available marketing channels; The more visibility and impact you will have later when your product or service arrives. As an entrepreneur, you are the most important part of your brand, not the other way around.

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The article was published on nfinitiv.

Image Credit: Patrick Robert Doyle on Unsplash

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This article is published as a part of a partnership with Future Food Asia. Agrisea is one of the 11 finalists of the US$ 100,000 Future Food Asia (FFA) 2020 Award to be hosted from September 21-25.

Agrisea was initially built to solve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2, No Hunger. In 2018, when we started our process, as founders we both thought it was ridiculous that hunger could still be so prevalent throughout our society. As we grew and became the company we are today, we realised we held a unique opportunity to change the very fabric of our food and agricultural system.

A complete overhaul with sustainability as a core focus of agricultural development. Together we built a vision of the agricultural system that integrates planetary longevity with sustainable resource management and promotes ecosystem integrity. All of these components work together to solve world hunger and provide permanent food security for all of our futures.

We see Agrisea an ocean agriculture company, as the gateway to a truly sustainable future. To us, we can all be a part of Agrisea.

Growing rice in the ocean

Agrisea is developing oceanic salt-tolerant crops by identifying the genes in organisms such as mangroves and seagrasses that allow them to activate salt tolerance and thrive in the oceans. Rice, for example, has these same genes, and technology encourages the expression of these genes to create crops that have gained the ability to grow in oceanic salt conditions.

The genetic design is based on four key pillars that have been individually proven through in-depth academic research over the past 70 years. These four pillars manage the salt concentrations between our plants and their environment. The company is currently commercialising its technology by licensing it for specific crops to agriculture companies to grow.

As Agrisea scales, we will focus on the supply of agricultural goods, e.g. staple crops – rice and alternative protein sources – soybean and mungbean, by deploying our own farms in coastal waters as a means of sustainable food production. Now, more than ever, our second phase is ever important to replace the demand generated for alternative protein sources that taste excellent as we move away from high-density livestock production.

From rural England to the salt deltas of Vietnam

Agrisea started as an idea in a bedroom of a small village in the rural North of England. Through the friendship and vision bound by Rory and Luke, Agrisea has evolved into an international brand and company. One of our greatest achievement came as the graduation from IndieBio, the world’s most successful biotech accelerator programme.

Four months in the heart of San Francisco, meeting goliath corporations, monumental investors, and building a network spanning continents.

Also Read: Bringing innovation to the table: Why foodtech is the next frontier in Southeast Asia

Expanding from those four months and our final event of the IndieBio Demo Day, where we presented to 3,000 people split between our physical crowd and virtual viewers, Agrisea has continued to grow and build the foundations of an agricultural system that will change the fabric of the food industry.

Some highlights include our confirmed plan to create a pilot plot site and field lab on the coastline of Grand Bahama Island to support circular economies in the Caribbean and building relationships with key seed distributors across ASEAN, including starting our first contract to convert Vietnamese rice varieties for application in the Mekong Delta.

Inroads into Asia

Amid all the concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic, it is thrilling to be a part of a community working to build the world of post-COVID-19. We are excited to begin partnering with representatives from the entire Asian region and elated to be part of the Future Food Asia 2020 cohort of finalists. It is an honour to be recognised for our role in the world we are trying to build. It provides us with the opportunity to integrate deeper into the Asia wide innovation network that is critical for us to build the world we so often refer to.

A vision to grow more with less

Agrisea’s vision and supporting technology have the potential to redesign the industry. The fundamentals of agriculture have existed for 12,000 years without strong deviation from the existing model. Agrisea changes the fundamental assumptions to redesign why and how we produce our food.

We believe that food production does not have to come at the cost of our natural world and is proving that we can produce more food, with fewer resources and in locations previously considered infertile all while supporting the integration of the human and natural worlds for planetary longevity.

Also Read: 5 foodtech startups in Asia Pacific to watch in 2020

But Agrisea is such a colossal vision and disruptive technology that for us it is so important to work with environmentally and culturally conscious partners to ensure the best implementation and adoption of our technology across regions and borders.

We are also very aware of the public’s perception of new technology; we wish to clearly educate and share our vision so that everyone from the grower to the consumer can understand and align on why Agrisea exists and why we want to bring about sustainable change for the world.

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There is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic is a turning point for global business. From international travel and workplace culture to international trade and supply chain logistics—COVID-19 has impacted virtually every industry. With serious disruptions causing a pronounced business slowdown around the world, it is becoming apparent that the old way of doing things is over, including for Singapore.

A long time hub of economic activity within the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore is home to numerous MNCs, an international talent pool, and much of the region’s shipping activity —it’s a city made for the globalised economy. However, as markets face a global pandemic, Singapore has entered recession following its worst quarter on record with a -42.9 per cent contraction in the economy (on an annualised, seasonally adjusted basis). This is almost double that which followed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

It is off the back of this dramatic change in Singapore’s circumstances that Trade and Industry Minister, Chan Chun Sing, has announced his belief that Singapore must now chart a new path, focusing on agility and resilience.

COVID-19 and the frailties of global trade

COVID-19 has resulted in increased trade restrictions on a global scale, which —combined with the deepening geopolitical tensions at play between the US and China— have dramatically slowed international commerce and laid bare the frailties of the global trade finance sector and international supply chains.

Already before 2020, the complexities of global trade were well-known, with cumbersome numbers of participants to transactions, arduous financial settlement systems, and outdated means of information exchange. However, the old fault lines of the globalised economy are under increasing pressure.

Also Read: Time to pivot, not panic: The startup advantage to dealing with a pandemic

For Singaporean businesses, this means that now, more than ever, leveraging technological solutions to reorient and strengthen their operations will be vital to their success. Minister Chan Chun Sing is correct to call for a new path for local businesses; in this “new normal”, it will be digitally-empowered organisations who emerge as leaders. Also, it is new technologies, such as blockchain, which will serve as the vital underpinning of the evolution of business’ technological solutions.

Evolution of business and digital solutions: Blockchain’s role

As Singaporean businesses seek to orient themselves within the new normal, digital adoption should be top of the agenda for decision-makers and business leaders. In particular, how to embed emerging technologies into their business to streamline operations, reduce costs, and better manage information.

This will prove incredibly important as the rules of business continue to change and the scale of value chains continues to expand.

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT, or more commonly termed as blockchain) is uniquely capable of reducing the complexity of elongated and complicated value chains needed to operate on a global level, particularly in the realm of international trade. Allowing parties to check that every link in a supply chain network is authentic, without the need of an intermediary, blockchain can be used to record, track, monitor, and transfer assets in a cost-efficient and transparent manner.

As businesses seek to reduce costs, become more resilient, and overcome challenges presented by a changing international business landscape, blockchain promises to provide faster and more affordable means of conducting financial transactions, storing and transferring information between parties, maintaining data security across industry value chains, and facilitating increased transparency.

The technology also creates an entirely “trust-free” environment and provides a new model for the way organisations interact with one another and operate internally.

One example of the profound impact which blockchain can have upon the supply chain is the Siam Cement Group (SCG), the largest building material company in Southeast Asia. SCG, in partnership with Siam Commercial Bank and Digital Ventures, has been operating a blockchain procurement platform to ensure that data from throughout the procurement process is secure and immutable for easy auditing, analysis, and invoice verification while decreasing the risk of fraud. Built on R3’s Corda enterprise framework, SCG’s Procure-to-Pay solution has cut the company’s average procurement processing time by 50 per cent, while reducing costs for the business by approximately 70 per cent.

Also Read: Will South Asian tech startups thrive in the new normal?

With such impressive early returns, it is safe to say the blockchain integration can have a transformative effect on business sustainability and long-term success.

Singapore’s future as a global leader

The good news is that Singapore is no stranger to digital innovation. In fact, the island nation enjoys a reputation globally for being forward-thinking and technologically daring. Already, financial actors such as DBS, are implementing blockchain technology to digitise cross-border financial processes while the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA) announced a partnership with R3 in July 2020 to provide startups with the blockchain tools needed to drive digital transformation.

Additionally, the local regulatory environment is highly supportive of technological experimentation, with government startup accelerators, grants programmes, and guidelines in place to help steer local enterprise towards more streamlined, future-proof business models.

Looking ahead, a business will be defined by a renewed premium on resilience, transparency, efficiency, and collaboration. By bringing together fragmented processes, information silos, and value chains onto a decentralised, secure, permissioned blockchain —many of the challenges presented by the new normal may be overcome.

Just as digital platforms disrupted trade in the past, COVID-19 will set similar change in motion and we are likely to see the replacement of physical offerings and ways of working, with digital. The success stories of tomorrow will be digitally empowered, lighter, and more agile than the corporate giants of today.

Also Read: Why the new Singapore variable capital company is a fund structure game changer

Although Singapore sits at the top of the global trade and business sectors, decision-makers must remain cognisant of intensifying competition to emerge from the current pandemic as the leader of the new economy.

The time for continued innovation and digital transformation is now. 2020 has shown us that no company or market is safe from disruption. If Singaporean enterprise wishes to remain competitive, it will need to change its way of thinking and adopt the new tools required to overcome new challenges.

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SIRCLO, an Indonesian company providing e-commerce solutions in Indonesia that help brands sell online, announced today it has closed its US$6 million Series B funding from a host of investors, including East Ventures, OCBC NISP Ventura, Skystar Capital, Sinar Mas Land.

“We plan to allocate this injection of funds to help strengthen our internal infrastructure and to keep serving the growing number of businesses that are entering e-commerce, including clients who have trusted our services,” said Brian Marshal, CEO and Founder of SIRCLO.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indonesian Ministry of Information noted that online shopping transactions have increased by up to 400 per cent. The crisis also accelerates e-commerce penetration.

As per SIRCLO Insights’s 2020 e-commerce report, the company saw 12 million new users as stringent social distancing measures were on in Indonesia.

Also Read: E-commerce website builder Sirclo secures funding from East Ventures

Since its establishment in 2013, SIRCLO offers four business solutions — SIRCLO Store, SIRCLO Connexi, SIRCLO Chat, and SIRCLO Commerce.

SIRCLO Store is a software platform for creating template-based online shops for small to medium-sized local businesses. It is now planning to improve SIRCLO Store to provide an integrated platform to access all of its digital platforms on various sales channels, such as brand.com, marketplace, and chat commerce.

SIRCLO Connexi offers an interactive dashboard to manage sales from various Indonesian e-commerce platforms.

SIRCLO Chat presents a conversational commerce platform in the form of an interactive dashboard that is integrated with the WhatsApp Business API. Through its end-to-end channel management solutions, SIRCLO Commerce helps facilitate the entire online sales process, from stock management, ordering, product delivery, to customer service.

SIRCLO’s latest merge

In May 2020, SIRCLO officially merged with ICUBE, a local agency that provides e-commerce technology and solutions. This allows the two companies to combine thousands of their clients and to help more businesses and brands carry out an effective and efficient digital transformation.

Following the merger, Muliadi Joe, Founder and President of ICUBE, took over the position of CTO at SIRCLO, and former CTO Leontius Adhika Pradhana was appointed as Chief Product Officer.

Additionally, in June 2020 SIRCLO appointed Danang Cahyono as Chief Operations Officer.

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Image Credit: SIRCLO

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E-commerce saw a surge in transactions in both essential and discretionary items in the past few months in Singapore, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced most people to stay at home, according to a joint study by iPrice Group and Similar Web.

Driven by high-value online orders nationwide, Singaporeans spent an average of S$113 (US$83) during the January-June 2020 period.

The average basket size increased by 51 per cent when compared to the same period last year, the study finds.

Also Read: How Shopee uses AI, data to build a marketing strategy that suits changes in user behaviour

Given the current situation in the island state, iPrice and SimilarWeb also updated the Map of E-commerce report to shed light on the biggest developments from the top e-commerce platforms in Singapore.

Data reveals that e-commerce platforms in Singapore experienced a two-digit growth (23 per cent) in total web visits (desktop and mobile web) throughout the first half of 2020.

This signifies a strong consumer confidence in e-commerce retail and further growth in the digital economy.

Based on the overall e-commerce traffic in Singapore, five of the top e-commerce players that emerged are Shopee, Lazada, Qoo10, Amazon and EZBuy.

Shopee led the pack

Shopee was the most visited platform in the city-state as of Q2 2020. The e-commerce firm saw a tremendous increase of 82 per cent from Q1 to Q2 2020, garnering nearly an additional five million in average visitors in Q2 2020 alone.

The surge was potentially driven by Shopee’s constant marketing initiatives to promote and help value-driven shoppers during the circuit breaker period. These initiatives included ‘shop from home’, ‘4.4 flash sale’, ‘super mart month’, ‘6.6-7.7 great Shopee Sale’.

Lazada played emerged second with a per cent rise in traffic when compared to Q1 2020, recording an average of 8.5 million visitors as of Q2 2020.

The Alibaba-owned firm retained a strong presence in Singapore as the platform acquired 23 per cent of the web market share, indicating its healthy growth in winning both customers and merchants.

Lazada also aims to stand out from its competitor through its strong brand connections in engaging livestreams. Moreover, it assisted more brick-and-mortar stores to be part of its online platform.

Its online supermarket delivery business, Redmart, reported a 4x jump in sales since Singapore implemented movement restrictions in early April.

Also Read: Alibaba-backed Lazada acquires online grocer RedMart

Additionally, among the most important initiatives to support future business strategies was the recent appointment of Lazada’s new CEO as the company aims to double down on tech investments in each market.

Given Lazada’s growth in numbers, its Group CMO, Mary Zhou, believes Lazada’s Super Brand Day (SBD) promotions are 2nd only to its 11.11 sales day, where 26 brands recorded sales of over $1 million across the region in 24 hours.

Dark horses

Qoo10 is another home-grown company that experienced string growth amidst the pandemic.

As the top-3 e-commerce players successfully maintained their positions in Singapore, a surprising element emerges in the form of an international e-commerce giant Amazon. With its strengthening presence in the market since Q4 2019, Amazon seems to be penetrating Singapore successfully.

Amazon was thriving during COVID-19 as it was the forth most visited e-commerce platform in H1 2020. Its traffic surged to an average of 3.6 million from 2.8 million.

Also Read: Is China the new global e-commerce leader?

Its strong performance could probably be attributed to the closure of many of  its international retail stores not available in the city-state, providing consumers with a variety of options across the globe.

Given its constant growth and maturity in the e-commerce sector, Amazon may catch up fast especially with its innovations to increase its market share in the upcoming quarters.

Securing the fifth position as the most visited e-commerce platform, EZBuy had garnered over 63 per cent increase of monthly visits from Q1 to Q2 2020.

Specialised in bringing wide varieties of consumer products from overseas, the company recorded 1.68 million in average visitors as of Q2 2020.

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Image Credit: Shopee

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Vietnam’s NextPay aims to raise US$60-100M in pre-IPO private placement; The e-payments firm is in talks with 5 investors in from the US, Japan, Korea; It plans to use the money to expand locally and also to Indonesia, Myanmar; NextPay is the result of a merger between VIMO and mPOS. DealStreetAsia

Indonesia’s business packaging specialist Tjetak raises Series A led by Vertex; The startup uses tech to bring specialisation into the US$6B plastics and paper packaging market; Clients can track their real-time production progress on the Tjetak.com platform. e27

Indonesian social commerce startup KitaBeli raises seed funding from East Ventures, AC Ventures; It plans to expand into 2-4 cities; KitaBeli is a social commerce platform where users can invite their friends to form groups to receive discounts from suppliers of FMCG products. e27

VNG sues TikTok over alleged copyright infringement in Vietnam; The local tech giant accuses the Chinese app of using audio tracks owned by its subsidiary Zing without its consent; The lawsuit wants TikTok to remove all the songs taken from Zing records and seeks for damages of over US$9.5M; As of August TikTok has 10M users in Vietnam. e27

Expect more investments and good jobs despite COVID-19, says S’pore minister; The minister for Trade and Industry (MTI) says the government will implement new programmes to bring in investments, support local entrepreneurship; MTI will help firms in biomedical sciences and electronics to invest and expand. Channel News Asia

Insurtech startup Waterdrop raises US$230M Series D led by Swiss Re Group, Tencent; Waterdrop distributes insurance policies online, provides crowdfunding to fund illness treatment, and operates mutual funds; The firm claims that the insurance mall has enrolled 100M users and its crowdfunding service has raised US$4.6B from 320M users. e27

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, Plug and Play announce 11 finalists  inducted to their startup programme; They are from Australia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, UAE; The programme is designed to focus on collecting, managing, and sorting plastic waste; recycling and processing technologies; and creating value from post-recycled plastics. e27

One size doesn’t fit all: Why consumer personalisation is a must for all businesses; There is no longer a lineage to a transaction alone; It’s personalised scalable options that are the new norm and is being largely driven by the customer’s need for instant gratification. e27

The changing face of healthcare in a post-pandemic world; With COVID-19 halting physical consultations, the point of care for most consumers has shifted to the digital realm; Digital health tools are enabling physicians to treat patients from safe distances while providing new efficiencies to the healthcare system. e27

SEA leads fintech funding in APAC in Q2; Fintech investments in APAC grew 9.1% to US$1.4B in Q2 2020 v/s Q1, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence; Of this, SEA and Australia drew in US$455M and US$369M, respectively. Fintech News

Malaysia’s B2B fintech firm JurisTech acquires financial products comparison platform iMoney; This announcement follows reports of iMoney’s largest shareholder iSelect exiting the company by selling its investment back to one of the founders for a “nominal value” due to uncertainties caused by the pandemic. e27

How Ant Group turned into the Alibaba of Chinese finance; Ant’s evolution into the Alibaba of finance has been fuelled by a desire to claw back customers who began using WeChat more as it broadened out from a messaging service to an online platform for services of all sorts. Nikkei Asia Review

The DNA of a successful early-stage entrepreneur; Entrepreneurs are made as opposed to born; They do depend on the socioeconomic status of the family they were born in; However, if one is intelligent and hardworking it is likely that they will eventually acquire knowledge and build a network through their education and work experience. e27

Finding love in the pandemic-stricken world: How online dating has changed for the better; Video-based dating sees a rise in SEA; There was a slow-down in the number of paid users for dating apps but new sign-ups for premium membership picked up as the life is returning to normal. e27

How 5G will empower startups and SMEs in the new normal; At a basic level, 5G offers lightning-fast speeds, low latency, and the capacity to carry a massive number of connections simultaneously; One area that holds tremendous promise is healthcare, specifically patient applications that are traditionally performed in hospital settings by health specialists. e27

SEA firms looking to biometric tech to be more secure; Fingerprint recognition is currently the most common type of biometric tech with many people accessing their mobile phone, banking apps, unlocking doors; Facial recognition, palm-vein detection solutions are also being explored. Tech Collective

Venturing into China: The challenges and key success factors of localisation; Besides standard market segmentation and targeting activities, cultural differences is another dimension that needs to be considered; China’s complex cultural landscape proved to be a challenge for foreign entrants; Different cities need to be treated differently. e27

What innovation looks like in a pandemic; UNDP’s Global Strategy Lead Giulio Quaggiotto says governments are focused on building high-profile tech startups rather than achieving economic or social benefits through innovation; They should look at overall societal outcomes, which is not simply saying we generated 20 unicorns, but to actually say we reduced inequality. GovInsider

Eduardo Saverin on the world of innovation past Silicon Valley; As for whether companies think about creating offices in Silicon Valley, absolutely if it fits the requirements of that particular business; The Valley is a tremendous enabler, but it’s also challenging because for talent, you’re in competition with a wide array of heavily funded companies. TechCrunch

Global spending on AI expected to double in 4 years: IDC; The CAGR for the 2019-2024 period will be 20%; Two of the leading drivers for AI adoption are delivering a better customer experience and helping employees to get better at their jobs. Newsbytes.Ph

MDEC launches initiative for youths in digital economy; #YoungCreators will provide an opportunity for young and budding content creators to learn how to leverage digital platforms as a means to upskill, empower creativity and generate income. HRAsia

Investment tech won’t solve systemic wealth gaps, but it’s a good start; Exposure to new wealth-building tools and financial literacy — in a tech-powered, millennial-friendly way — can help solve the barrier-to-entry problem and open up access to more stable investments. TechCrunch

Malaysia’s Securities Commission inks fintech co-operation agreement with OJK Indonesia; It is aimed at facilitating info sharing on emerging trends and regulatory developments in fintech, provide joint innovation project opportunities and facilitate referrals of fintech businesses seeking to operate in each other’s jurisdiction. Fintech News

Vietnam aims for 100K digital tech firms by 2030; By 2025, the nation hopes to achieve 70K-mark with a workforce of 1.2 million; Digital tech companies are expected to have revenue growth 1.5-2 times higher than the country’s GDP expansion rate and export growth at 10-20% per year. OpenGov

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Growing up in the steel city of Jamshedpur (east India) in the 2000s, Rohit Jha was frustrated with the poor internet connectivity in his locality. He carried the frustration with him until he went to Singapore for higher studies after completing his schooling in 2007.

On his very first day at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Jha was astonished by the high-speed internet connectivity on the campus and the content and collaboration that came with it.

“It was revolutionary,” Jha said about his experience at NTU. “We wanted to offer such an opportunity and experience to everyone who wishes to push our civilisation faster and further. That was the inspiration to start Transcelestial Technologies.”

Founded in December 2017 by Jha and Dr Mohammad Danesh, Singapore-based Transcelestial is building a space laser network to “deliver a step-change in internet connectivity globally”.

Also Read: How 5G will empower startups and SMEs in the new normal

The startup has developed a device, called Centauri, which provides a wireless distribution network between buildings, traditional cell towers, street-level poles and other physical infrastructure.

With the size of a shoe-box, the device weighs less than 3kg and is capable of delivering fibre-like speeds to customers, claims Jha. It is a rapidly-deployable, low-cost and high-speed solution, which can be used in dense residential areas that require bandwidth upgrades.

Two versions of the device are available — 1 Gbps Full Duplex (4G & Enterprise ready) and 10 Gbps Full Duplex (5G-ready).

“Last-mile connectivity is a big challenge in countries like India where extremely complex land rights issues prevent high-speed fibre deployments and ownership at low cost,” he says.

Education is one sector which has born the brunt of slow internet connectivity. Students and generally those who come in that age group have a huge consumption of content, which puts a lot of pressure on university networks. Most schools and universities don’t see this as a priority. Hence, they don’t invest better internet infrastructure.

Also Read: The proliferation of 5G will transform businesses and societies: Here’s how

This is where Centauri assumes significance. “Using Centauri Wireless Laser Communication, a high-speed dedicated infrastructure could connect main telecom servers in the city to student campuses. This can happen within a few days at a fraction of the cost that goes into deploying dedicated fibre infrastructure.

The device can also interconnect various buildings, street furniture and hostels for increased local collaboration, local streaming of classes and lectures, as well as opening up doors for 5G, self-driving cars and other testbeds for students to learn from,” he claimed.

The beginning

The Transcelestial team

Jha met his co-founder Mohammad Danesh at Entrepreneur First’s first batch in Singapore. After several brainstorming sessions, the duo set up Transcelestial in December 2017 with a pre-seed round.

“We then raised one of the largest seed rounds (US$1.8 million) of that time in Southeast Asia to build the best team globally to address this technology, develop the first version of the core capability and a product, with which we could go to market for early commercial validation,” he shared.

In Q4 2019, the pair decided it was time to scale up the team to put the product in the hands of many telcos, internet service providers (ISPs) and enterprises worldwide.

Also Read: ‘Asia Pacific is rich in innovation’: Airbus Ventures Partner Lewis Pinault

For this, the firm reached out to several VCs and successfully raised a US$9.6 million Series A round, which was led by EDBI and Wavemaker Partners, with participation from Airbus Ventures, Cap Vista, Partech, and Tekton Ventures.

The underlying tech

Centauri is sold along with a network monitoring and management software and is used to transmit extremely high-speed data, matching that of fibre up to a certain level, Jha brags.

“The underlying technology that carries data is a laser light beam. This is the same technology used inside a fibre cable to carry data. Our effort has been to take this technology out of the confines of a fibre cable and make it reliably transmit internet data wirelessly between two Centauri devices (one acting as a transmitter and another receiver). The data transmission follows traditional fibre optics protocols and can support all kinds of traffic as it is a Layer 1 technology,” he said, sharing more details of the product.

The device, when used as part of a telecom network or enterprise network, generates certain network-level information which can reveal the status of the connectivity on a large scale. The software is used to monitor and manage such a network, he detailed.

“We can help telecom companies rapidly set up high-speed cell tower networks (especially for 5G) and for enterprises on their internal networks,” said Jha, who holds an Engineering Degree in Electrical and Electric Engineering.

The price of the device depends on the volume of devices ordered. Usually, a telco deploys 1,000-1,500 cell towers every year in an average-sized country.

“From a price point perspective, it is commercially competitive to existing options for transferring data (fibre, microwave antenna, etc.) which are either slower or more expensive at our current capabilities. So it’s affordable even though it is a super new technology,” he added.

Jha also revealed that the company also has requests coming from individuals to buy the device for personal use.

Currently, Transcelestial has a presence in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea. It plans to go deeper into the remaining Asian markets, as well as target global markets which have similar issues in fibre connectivity and poor last-mile internet distribution.

Centauri and 5G rollout 

As Singapore getting ready to roll out 5G, Transcelestial claims Centauri can help rapidly accelerate the process because it takes less than 10 minutes to set up compared to fibre, which could take a lot of time to plan and coordinate.

“Deploying a 5G network will require a lot of last-mile connections, as it is much shorter radius technology than 4G,” Jha said.

Elaborating further, he said 5G is a much shorter distance (mmWave) technology in a radius of coverage than 4G and requires near Line of Sight from device to tower. If a 4G tower can cover three to five kilometres, a typical 5G tower should cover something from 500 metres to one-kilometre maximum (which will be even lesser in a dense urban building scenario).

“In Singapore, the government has chosen to build a 5G standalone network, which brings in all the benefits of 5G (high-speed, low latency, massive IoT, network slicing) but it also means a huge amount of infrastructure costs (roughly 3-5x increase in cell tower sites due to shortened radius of coverage),” he revealed.

For this, Telcos will have to spend a massive amount of money on new towers (5G radio + tower + rooftop rental) and backbone (usually, fibres in most places since you need a minimum of 10Gbps connectivity to every 5G radio).

Also Read: How Circles.Life aims to leapfrog Singapore telcos by appealing to internet-savvy users

“In Singapore, fibres go to most buildings. But to get a 5G network dense enough, the telcos will need to deploy on-street furniture, shophouses, street lamp posts, etc. All of this will incur massive costs and lots of time (it takes usually ages to get permits in Singapore to dig roads) if fibre is used,” he said.

“Transcelestial’s Centauri helps offset that massive additional cost and time of fibre rollout for SG telcos. 5G can hence be rolled out significantly faster and with much scalable CAPEX to telco and end customers,” Jha claimed.

With 5G becoming the new buzzword around the world, companies like Transcelestial could play a crucial role in making it the rollout faster. But can it make this tech affordable to the masses?

Let’s wait and watch.

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Image Credit: Transcelestial Technologies

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Australia-based Afterpay, a ‘buy-now, pay-later’ platform that facilitates e-commerce between retail merchants and customers, has acquired EmpatKali, which operates a similar service in Indonesia.

The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

When contacted EmpatKali’s Co-founder Jamie Camidge told e27. “Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, is massive and a fast-growing market, and it represents a unique opportunity for both firms to grow together.”

Also Read: 500 Startups invests in buy-now-pay-later services startup Split

Started in 2018, EmpatKali is a payment solution that allows consumers to shop and pay in four equal instalments with no interest. They can do shopping at its merchant partners, both online and offline.

Camidge claims that the startup has 150 merchants on its platform. Afterpay’s acquisition will further boost its growth in the region. “We want to get on with the current growth and acquired more merchant partners.”

Founded in 2015, Afterpay allows shoppers to receive products immediately and pay in four simple instalments over a short period of time. The service is free for customers.

Afterpay is offered by more than 42,500 retailers and is used by more than 6.6 million customers globally.

Its services are also available in New Zealand, the US and the UK where it is called Clearpay.

As per a Financial Review report, Afterpay is adding 20,500 new customers a day and plans to expand into offshore markets – with Canada and select Asian countries next on the itinerary.

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Image Credit: EmpatKali

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Indonesian Communication Ministry introduces Startup Studio Indonesia

The story: As a way to accelerate digital transformation, the Ministry of Communication and Information of Indonesia (Kemenkominfo) will host Startup Studio Indonesia, an intensive programme for ​an early-stage startup​ to scale its business. This will be the third project initiated by Kemenkominfo after Gerakan Nasional 1000 Startup Digital in 2016 and Nexticorn (Next Indonesia Unicorn) in 2017.

The programme: The Startup Studio Indonesia targets startups that are in Angel to Pre-Series A funding stage, including those who were formed through Gerakan Nasional 1000 Startup Digital, so these startups can scale up faster with various supports that focus on product and team acceleration, fundraising strategy and growth marketing validation, as well as technology development support​, and sharpening ​business skill​.

The program will run for three months with intensive coaching and mentoring every week to make sure the startups participating hit the Key Performance Indicator determined in the beginning.

The program welcomes applications from August 18 to September 4 through its website ​.

Indonesia’s The Shonet launches social commerce to help fashion, beauty industry survives

The story: Indonesian fashion social commerce startup The Shonet launches its social commerce officially, as its contribution to push industry productivity through its platform. The Shonet launches a share and earning service to be able to buy and get a commission through referrals and content sharing from official brand collections available on the site.

Also Read: [Exclusive] Raising a new funding round, The Shonet aims to push for greater growth

CEO of The Shonet Indonesia, Elisabeth Kurniawan, explains that this initiative would be a way to help push the national economy through digital transactions.

What is The Shonet: The Shonet (short for Shopping Network) is Indonesian social commerce that facilitates its customers to buy and sell fashion and beauty products based on The Shonet’s local and international brand collection. The fashion social commerce claims to have more than three million users per July 2020 and carries 500 fashion and beauty brands in its ecosystem.

Nex Cubed, ESG support 16 Singaporean digital health startups through Innovation Launchpad Program

The story: Nex Cubed, a San Fransisco-based early-stage innovation and startup accelerator, has announced a partnership with Enterprise Singapore (ESG), the government agency that supports enterprise development and startup innovation, to run Innovation Launchpad Program for Singapore’s digital health startups that are interested in expanding their business to the US market, as reported by Biospectrum Asia.

The partnership: According to the CEO of Nex Cubed Marlon Evans, the accelerator will run the programme in two cohorts for a three-week virtual acceleration program. It will provide companies from outside the US with the tools, resources, and knowledge required to successfully and affordably scale their business into the US Market.

Applications are now being accepted for the first cohort which will take place from November 2, 2020, through November 20, 2020.

What Nex Cubed is: Nex Cubed is an investor and innovation partner that empowers startups, investors, corporates, and governments to bring new technologies to market, helps rising companies scale, and provides paths to liquidity.

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Image Credit: ekoherwantoro on Unsplash

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It’s been approximately six months since the COVID-19 pandemic started. Back then, in Malaysia, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin issued the Movement Control Order (MCO) in an official speech that would greatly leave a dent in the local startup ecosystem.

During the MCO, many startups have learnt to adapt to new setups such as the work-from-home scheme, which enables them to balance their safety and business operations. For Malaysian startups working in the logistics or travel sector, which are directly impacted by the situation, they even found themselves having to adapt their business strategy.

Back then, it seemed like the startups had found the band-aid solution for the looming crisis. However, they quickly burned through their runway to maintain business operations as their revenue got affected by halted projects, a decline in consumer confidence, and even outstanding long term office rental and employee salaries.

In order for these startups to sustain themselves today and potentially thrive post-pandemic, they need funding, resources and cost-effective measures.

Assistance in fundraising needs

According to The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), funding was a major issue for many startups during the pandemic. The organisation was also mindful that many entrepreneurs may not be successful in obtaining bank loans, government grants and other financial aids. There are reasons why this can happen, but generally, it is due to their inability to meet the requirements.

Also Read: Malaysia’s JurisTech acquires financial products comparison platform iMoney

MDEC’s Global Growth Acceleration division had then come up with several initiatives to assist with the startup’s fundraising needs. The initiatives range from partnering with local equity crowdfunding (ECF) and P2P platforms, M&A workshops, startup-investor business matching with KK-Fund and collaborating with Malaysia Debt Venture Berhad (MDV) to facilitate MYR100 million (US$23 million) funds to address startups cash flow issues by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

These are some of the many opportunities for startups to consider to help sustain their business.

The pandemic has also affected established startups, especially in continuing their business operations as they were faced with difficulties such as paying high rental costs and long-term contract durations. With these startups looking to have a flexible and cost-effective option for an office, MDEC has partnered with the Malaysia Digital Hub operators to provide startups with an affordable “Digital Hub Pass” to assist them with coworking spaces and resources to drive growth.

In total, there are seven certified Malaysian Digital Hubs supporting over 400 startups and through these hubs, startups can access vital assistance such as mentorship, funding opportunities, accelerator programmes, corporate partnership and other business and digital development programmes. These are all possible with partners such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Cradle, Gobi Partners.

What is next for the Malaysian startup ecosystem?

The Malaysian startup ecosystem certainly was not alone in facing this pandemic. Regionally, in Southeast Asia, startup funding throughout the COVID-19 outbreak fell 13 per cent to US$5.6 billion in H1 2020.

Also Read: Digital hubs take center stage as the Malaysian startup ecosystem leans into developing the digital economy

But this is not the first time the world has gone through a crisis. Throughout history, we have even seen in various markets how the startup ecosystem actually experienced massive growth right after a crisis of such level. An example given by CB Insights is of the Zika pandemic several years ago, where the Latin American startup ecosystem experienced growth as soon as the disease was contained.

For the Malaysian startup ecosystem, its prospect of survival is strengthened by the fact that Kuala Lumpur has recently been ranked as the 11th emerging startup ecosystem and fourth emerging ecosystem in Asia Pacific in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2020 (GSER2020) by Startup Genome.

We will continue to remain hopeful and optimistic about the Malaysian startup ecosystem.

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Image Credit: Ishan @seefromthesky on Unsplash

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