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See-Mode raises US$7M Series A to help clinicians better predict risk of stroke, vascular diseases

See-Mode co-founders Dr Sadaf Monajemi (L) and Dr Mohammadzadeh

See-Mode co-founders Dr Sadaf Monajemi (L) and Dr Mohammadzadeh

Singapore- and Australia-based medtech startup, See-Mode Technologies, announced today it has raised a US$7 million Series A funding, led by Mass Mutual Ventures Southeast Asia (MMV SEA).

Other participants in the round include existing investors Blackbird Ventures, Cocoon Capital, Entrepreneur First, and SGInnovate, besides a group of angels.

This brings See-Mode’s total funding to date to US$8 million, which also included a US$1M seed round raised in 2018.

As per a press statement, the company plans to use the fresh funds for expansion into the American and European markets, R&D, hire people and build its sales and business development team.

Also Read: After Singapore Budget 2019, is medtech set to enjoy a hype cycle?

It is also broadening its partnerships to more research institutions around the world.

Founded in 2017 by Dr Mohammadzadeh and Dr Sadaf Monajemi, See-Mode uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help clinicians better predict the risk of stroke and vascular diseases.

Around the world, stroke remains a leading cause of death and disability. To help clinicians better predict the risk of stroke and vascular diseases, See-Mode is developing novel solutions to improve the analysis of routinely collected medical images such as ultrasound, CT and MRI scans.

See-Mode’s software applies AI and computational models on these medical images, allowing clinicians to obtain critical stroke risk factors that may not be accessible in current clinical practice.

This allows doctors to efficiently decide on the optimal treatment for patients, improving patient care and outcomes, without the need for additional tests.

Its debut product, Augmented Vascular Analysis (AVA), is a medical AI software for automated analysis and reporting of vascular ultrasound scans.

“20 per cent of stroke patients go on to have another stroke within five years. Tackling stroke is no small feat. We are lucky to be working with an outstanding group of clinicians from leading research institutions globally to further validate our products,” Mohammadzadeh said.

AVA is awaiting regulatory approval in several markets, including Europe and the US.

Also Read: Endofotonics secures US$12M in Series B funding round led by Singapore Medical Group

Additionally, the company is building two other new products — to detect vulnerable plaque using Machine Learning and to identify high-risk blood flow using computational modelling.

Image Credit: Wren Steiner

 

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Ecosystem Roundup: MDI Ventures launches new US$500M fund; iKala, BukuKas, See-Mode, Doyobi, Hubble raise funding

Taiwan’s enterprise AI firm iKala raises US$17M led by Wistron Digital for expansion into Indonesia, Malaysia; iKala provides AI-driven digital transformation and data-driven marketing solutions; 400+ enterprises across 12 industries and 15K+ advertisers have used iKala’s tech. e27

Singapore’s See-Mode secures US$7M Series A led by MassMutual Ventures SEA; The medtech startup uses AI to help clinicians better predict the risk of stroke and vascular diseases; The firm plans to use the fresh funds for expansion into the American and European markets, R&D, hire people. e27

How Singapore is handling the biggest WFH experiment; When it comes to switching the entire economy to the remote mode, the city-state is among the countries with the best head start; The island state’s IT industry is known for its reliance on state-of-the-art collaboration and communication tools that make remote work possible. e27

Telkom Group-backed MDI Ventures launches new US$500M fund; The fund seeks to push digitisation of Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs); So far, the CVC has invested in 44+ startups from 12+ countries; It also has 3 high-profile exits (Whispir IPO, Naspers acquisition of RedDot Payments, 8×8 acquisition of Wavecell) to its credit. e27

HK-based alternative protein fund Lever VC makes 1st close of Fund 1 at US$23M, targets a final close at US$50M; The firm was started by early investors in Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods; Lever VC is an investor in Singapore’s cells-based milk startup TurtleTree; The alternative protein sector is projected to grow by 31% y-o-y and become a US$85-140B market over the next 10-15 yrs. e27

BukuKas raises US$9M pre-Series A from Surge, Credit Saison, others; Total funds raised by the 8-month-old startup has reached US$12M; Since inception, BukuKas has partnered with 900K small merchants and retailers and the app is used in 700+ cities and districts across Indonesia. e27

Why the new Singapore variable capital company (VCC) is a fund structure game changer; Under the VCC Act, foreign corporate entities may also be re-domiciled to the city-state; A VCC can be set up as a standalone entity or as an umbrella entity with multiple sub-funds; Each sub-fund may have different investment objectives and strategies, investors, assets, and liabilities. e27

Why Sesamilk thinks plant-based milk is healthier than cow milk and has a bright future; Currently, Sesamilk is available in about 500 stores (online and offline) across Thailand and is exported to Japan, Macau, Hongkong, Vietnam; It has received seed funding from Lee Choo Chien of Singapore and Somchai Hirunyakorn of Thailand. e27

Joseph Phua steps down as group CEO of M17 Entertainment; Hirofumi Ono, the chief of its Japan business, has been promoted as new global CEO; Phua will assume the role of non-executive Chairman at M17; Under Ono’s leadership, M17 will aim to continue growing into a global live streaming platform. e27

The secret is out: The missing piece that will boost your corporate innovation strategy; Aside from taking into consideration factors such as innovation culture, resources and the executing team, adopting the appropriate innovation approach is key to determining the outcome of your corporate innovation efforts; This is where the concept of ‘pre-accelerator’ assumes significance. e27

Singapore’s Doyobi announces US$1M in funding from 500 Startups, Xoogler Angels; The online school offers coding courses for kids that are supported by Google, the government, as well as educators from around the world; Investment in edutech companies have grown from US$500M in 2010 to US$7B in 2019. e27

Singapore’s construction management startup Hubble raises funding from Malaysian PE, OSK Ventures; Hubble is the official partner of Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority for the development and implementation of the BuildSG-COVIDSafe platform; In June, Hubble raised US$3.7M, led by Tin Men. e27

SEA’s indexes miss equity rally because they lack tech stocks; Tech stocks have been at the forefront of the worldwide equity rally from March lows as the virus outbreak accelerated the global shift toward automation, and locked-down consumers fuelled demand for everything from video games to e-commerce. DealStreetAsia

Study: Gen Z is more likely than millennials to get into the startup game; 8 in 10 students believe college is important to achieving their career goals; 63% of those same students – all between the ages of 16 and 19 – said they want to learn about entrepreneurship in college, including how to start a business. The Next Web

E-commerce platform Aladdin Group returns as tech company; The group, which focuses on the halal sector and Muslim-friendly segment, now takes the approach of leveraging on Malaysian talents and pairing with a strategic partner in China that specialises in AI, e-commerce, social commerce. Malay Mail

In age of scarcity, Traveloka goes from ‘hunting’ to ‘harvesting’ in its marketing rethink; ‘When you’re in growth mode, you hunt for customers and once they are in your ecosystem, they become your crops and you farm them and the you harvest them’, says its CMO. WiT

How BukuWarung is changing the back alleys of Indonesia; The book-keeping app sets the foundation for merchants’ operational efficiency and enables access to financial services; it opens MSMEs up to the broader fintech ecosystem via technologies that can help these businesses scale faster, generate more income, and find more lucrative growth opportunities. e27

Hong Kong’s ‘banking alternative’ Neat adds US$4M to its US$11M Series A; Investors include MassMutual Ventures, Pacific Century Group, Linear Capital; With its offering of online company incorporation, multi-currency wallet, corporate expense cards and international remittances, Neat is primarily focussed on SMEs trading between Europe and Asia. Business Insider

Why Clik believes that Cambodia is the best place to pilot a new fintech infra; The nation has a pretty dynamic fintech sector and there’re quite a few players such as Pi Pay, a youth-targeted cashless mobile payment platform; Clik recently secured a US$3.7M seed and is set to launch its platform at end-2020. e27

Lu partners with Kasikornbank to meet rising demands for digital financial services in Thailand; Together, they will launch and operate an online wealth management platform for retail investors; Lu is the Singapore subsidiary of Chinese retail fintech Lufax. Retail News Asia

Lazada Malaysia records three-fold increase in SMEs that have digitised business; The e-commerce platform is focused on its efforts to support the gov. initiatives to aid local SMEs and the country’s economic recovery; In August, it launched online campaigns aiming to promote local sellers and products. Malay Mail

How IoT revolutionised medical care during the pandemic; From high-level healthcare devices to common household gadgets, IoT technology is getting more intelligent and connected to the internet, facilitating seamless communication between networks and devices. The Next Web

Thailand’s digital content industry poised to surpass US$960M; This is because the demand for digital content has surged, particularly in entertainment segment, due to the longer time spent online in the new normal. Bangkok Post

Image Credit: 123rf.com

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In Brief: HK’s Neat raises US$4M; TADA launches grocery shopping platform

A picture of a Neat’s team member

TADA to launch multi-wet market shopping platform

The story: TADA, Southeast Asia’s blockchain-based zero-commission ride-hailing service, has launched TADA Fresh Market, an online multi-wet market shopping platform.

TADA Fresh Market serves as a one-stop solution for all fresh grocery needs delivered directly from popular wet markets in Singapore to the buyer’s doorstep. It offers free delivery of fresh vegetables, fruits, seafood, meat, and poultry from 36 stalls across the Tekka wet market and Tiong Bahru wet market daily at affordable prices, with just a minimum spend of US$36.5.

The plans: With this launch, TADA has invested in development to repurpose its delivery technologies for transporting fresh produce, and additional equipment to uphold their freshness and quality.

The wet markets promise to the buyers a distinctively superior freshness to foods and offer more value but are not well connected to digital distribution channels. TADA Fresh Market seeks to fill the offline to the online delivery gap for the wet market vendors and consumers.

To shop, buyers must place a minimum order of S$30 to shop from the TADA Fresh Market website and for anything less than US$36.5 they need to pay a delivery fee of US$2.8.

HK’s Neat secures US$4M extended Series A funding

The story: Neat, a Hong Kong-based fintech company that offers online company incorporation and multi-currency wallets to cross-border SMEs, has added US$4M to its US$11M Series A round closed in April 2020.

Also Read: That’s neat: Hong Kong-based Neat to launch banking app that tells how much you can spend today

Investors: MassMutual Ventures, Pacific Century Group, Linear Capital and Robby Hilkowitz, Vectr Fintech.

What is Neat: Neat’s mission is to enable the entrepreneur economy – starting with fully digital multi-currency accounts built for today’s international entrepreneur.

The Neat Account gives you the ability to send and receive money globally at more competitive exchange rates than you would get from a bank; access Neat corporate expense cards for online and offline spending, as well as ATM withdrawals; it also includes intuitive expense tracking and security features.

Bangladeshis edutech startup Upskill closes pre-seed funding

The story: Upskill, a Bangladeshi edutech startup, has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Seed funding, led by SBK Ventures, English Essence, and the founder of The Legal Circle law firm.

The entire fund raised consisted only of female investors.

The plans: The funding will be utilised by Upskill to support product development, strategic hiring, and further investment in scaling up the current business.

What is Upskill: Upskill is a skill-sharing platform that transforms classroom experiences with a blended learning approach to maximize learning outcomes. With online learning platforms and offline masterclasses, Upskill produces and distributes courses focusing on all kinds of skills that help people to be productive and earn through sharing their skills with those in need. The contents are designed and delivered by key industry or subject matter experts.

Grab, Unilever establish a partnership through GrabProtect

The story: Grab and Unilever today announced a partnership in Southeast Asia to protect Grab drivers and riders as well as support the livelihoods of small business owners as they weather the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The partnership covers Grab’s Transport, GrabFood, GrabMart and GrabExpress services. Unilever’s personal and home hygiene brands such as Lifebuoy and Cif will support Grab drivers to deliver safer and more hygienic rides under GrabProtect.

By leveraging Grab’s platform and technology, Unilever products will be available for consumers to purchase directly from Unilever’s vast network of retailers in Southeast Asia through GrabFood and GrabMart, thereby also helping small retailers and mom-and-pop shops around the region.

Also Read: [Updated] Report: Grab is raising US$200M at a US$14.3B valuation from South Korean private equity firm

The plans: With GrabProtect, Grab and Unilever seek to bring greater peace of mind to driver-partners and passengers by equipping vehicles in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines with Lifebuoy hand sanitisers and Cif disinfectant sprays, at no cost to driver-partners or passengers. It also seeks to help growing income for small and offline business owners through Unilever Ice Cream virtual stores on GrabFood and GrabMart.

On top of that, Grab’s on-demand delivery service for daily essentials available across eight countries in Southeast Asia. The partnership has kicked off in the Philippines and will expand to Indonesia, Singapore and other Southeast Asian markets by the end of the year. This will be complemented by GrabAds to help grow demand for Unilever products.

Picture Credit: Neat

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How Singapore is handling the biggest WFH experiment

WFH

The shutdown of the global economy after the COVID-19 outbreak was a harsh reality check for businesses around the world. However, while no one was prepared for such an unprecedented event, some countries turned out to be less unprepared than others.

A notable example is Singapore – the major innovation hub where the switch to work-from-home received considerable support from the authorities. Hopefully, the Singaporean experience can shed some light on the implications of remote work for workers and employers.

A favourable head start

When it comes to switching the entire economy to the remote mode, Singapore is among the countries with the best head start. To begin with, Singapore has been spearheading the digital transformation for years.

The IT industry is rightfully known for its reliance on state-of-the-art collaboration and communication tools that make remote work possible and, to an extent, preferable. Early adopters of the work-from-home approach cite numerous benefits to business operations:

  • Higher employee satisfaction
  • Improved work-life balance
  • Cost and time savings
  • Increased productivity
  • Alignment with CSR policies

As a result, software engineers and mobile application developers in Singapore already had some experience of working remotely by the time the lockdown was initiated. As far back as 2018, more than half of the Singaporean workforce had at least one day of remote work, whereas 10 per cent did not come to the office at all.

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

So, by the time businesses around the world were forced to adapt to the new reality, Singaporean companies were already equipped with the necessary tools and expertise to make a seamless transition.

Official endorsement

Singapore’s capacity to handle remote work environments was promptly recognised by the country’s authorities. According to the survey by the Ministry of Manpower, the availability of flexible employment arrangements allowed to decrease the waste of time and resources, cut operational costs and increase employee retention.

So, when the initial phase of the circuit breaker measures was coming to a close and businesses were allowed to resume operations, the official guidelines strongly advised to prioritise remote work wherever possible. The rationale behind this decision was the familiarity of the workforce with the use of internet-based means of communication.

To extend the support further, the Ministry has also published guides on implementing work-from-home environments, with instructions on communication, performance management, change strategies, and case studies. On top of that, a selection of grants and incentives were offered to companies seeking to implement such an arrangement.

Effects on businesses

While it is still early for making definitive conclusions, some data on the effects of these endorsements are already available. One survey of Singaporeans suggests that one-third of the employees feel more productive while working from home. They also report improvements in mental health due to increased flexibility of working conditions.

This is not to say that the transition to remote work is a miraculous solution that can single-handedly save the economy. In fact, Singapore’s GDP has been experiencing a massive contraction in GDP for two consecutive quarters, not in the least due to the COVID outbreak.

While such abysmal performance does not undermine the feasibility of remote work, it may well serve as a warning against over-reliance on trendy ideas without careful consideration.

Bumps on the road

Despite all of the advantages of working from home, the concept does come with drawbacks. Depending on the industry and the company profile, one or more issues may arise after the introduction of the work-from-home policies:

  • Difficulties in communication
  • Inconsistencies in corporate culture
  • Loss of control over business processes
  • Productivity loss due to distractions
  • Compromised security of corporate information
  • Lack of socialising options
  • High dependency on technology

In fact, some of the highlighted issues have already taken a toll on the performance of remote workers in Singapore. According to the survey by IWG, more than 70 per cent of people who work from home in Singapore had to fund the setup of a home office from their own pockets, something that not everyone can afford in the middle of the economic crisis.

What’s more, it appears that the flexibility of the arrangement can turn against the people it should benefit. A survey by Cigna shows that more than 78 per cent of remote employees in Singapore work in an “always-on” WFH arrangement.

Also Read: Singaporeans wish to continue working from home post Circuit-Breaker, says survey

This essentially means that instead of a convenient work-life balance, they are essentially expected to be online at all times for work-related matters.

By any means, Singapore is in a unique position in this global work-from-home endeavour. On the one hand, it has a well-developed communication infrastructure and a business environment that aligns well with the requirements for its implementation. On top of that, the idea has been promoted (and even supported financially) by the local authorities.

On the other hand, the concept is still far from maturity and poses many challenges for workers and employers. While some of them can be addressed through self-organisation techniques, others will require organisation-scale changes in policies. All in all, the experiment is far from over and would require a lot more work before it bears fruit.

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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How BukuWarung is changing the back alleys of Indonesia

warung Indonesia

Have you ever wondered about how technology could impact businesses in the cities you don’t regularly see on screen? Meet Ibu (“Madam” in Indonesian) Ance (pronounced “Ahn-Chey”), an Indonesian woman in Bukittinggi (a tier-two city in Sumatra) that owns three small businesses: a cell phone data and SIM card shop, a fresh pineapple shop, and a convenience store.

Her typical day looks like this: she wakes up at 6 AM in her minuscule one-room bungalow with a waist-height fence and tiny garage, hops on her motorcycle, and makes her way to her first shop. When she arrives thirty minutes later, the pineapple supplier arrives, and she spends time cutting them up for preparation.

During the day, she’ll sell pulsa (mobile data top-ups), as well as Indonesian confectionery and snacks. The customers tend to stop by while driving their mopeds along the narrow dirt streets. During the day, she manually records her transactions, sales, and repayments in her buku penjualan (accounting notebook) with pen and paper. From time to time, she’ll message her husband about how she’s doing at work.

At 5 PM, Ibu Anche closes the shop. Before she returns home via Bukittinggi’s busy streets in the evening, she would take all the cash in hand and then store it at home (not a bank). Ibu Ance then eats dinner with her family, spends some time with her two kids, and maybe watches a dubbed Korean drama – all before setting the alarm on her smartphone to 6 AM and going to sleep.

Ibu Anche is one of the 60 million micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia, accounting for more than 60 per cent of Indonesia’s GDP.

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

They are, quite literally, the backbone of the Indonesian economy, and cover the full spectrum of B2B and B2C businesses: wholesalers, distributors, and small suppliers, the former; clothing shops, credit businesses, bakeries, and grocery stores, the latter.

Archaic business practices thwart MSMEs’ potential

It’s hard being a warung owner. Many of these kinds of businesses are being left behind by the emerging digital ecosystem due to their surrounding infrastructure and inherently simple characteristics.

With a weak cellular connection in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, they’re unable to make use of digital tools that require a consistent connection. And most offerings are too complicated for a warung.

What happens when MSMEs aren’t connected to that digital ecosystem? Just ask Ibu Ance.

Firstly, the lack of any robust credit score means that Ibu Ance is unable to obtain any kind of credit to purchase inventory from telcos or establish a line of credit with selected pineapple suppliers. Healthy, growing businesses in mature economies thrive on credit because it allows them to accelerate their growth by borrowing against future revenues and previous performance.

But in spite of her impressive business growth, Ibu Ance is unable to take a small loan from banks or organised lenders because she has insufficient data to prove her track record.

That credit deficiency also affects Ibu Ance’s customers, who would likely benefit from buying fruit and essentials with credit when they don’t have enough cash on hand. Unfortunately, like many buyers in Indonesian tier-2 and tier-3 cities, they don’t have access to that kind of basic offline consumer credit.

Also read: Everybody is helping MSMEs go digital today, but Indonesia-based Titipku aims to do it differently

Lastly, accounting for small business owners is inconvenient. Manual recording is a hassle, usually done by pen or paper or even text messaging on a mobile device. For businesses managing a lot of volume – or if you’re managing three different shops like Ibu Ance – that arduous process can take anywhere from four to ten hours per week.

The same applies to customer credit, and because merchants can’t sufficiently evaluate customers, much of that customer debt is never repaid.

Why GGV is investing in the rising consumer class

At Golden Gate Ventures, we’ve been investing in Southeast Asia for close to a decade. Our thesis is to invest in themes emerging from the rising consumer-class, ranging from consumer-facing apps such as Carousell, to SME and MSME services that consumers use for daily activities such as BukuWarung, TaniHub, Xendit, and Ruma’s Mapan (now GoPay).

BukuWarung has built a powerful tool for business owners such as Ibu Ance, so she can now track her finances with ease, check repayments, and understand her business better.

BukuWarung is a book-keeping mobile app that effortlessly tracks and analyses all transactions such as credit, expenses, and sales. It provides warung owners, shopkeepers, and entrepreneurs across Indonesia with simple yet valuable insights into the financial health of their businesses through intuitive business reports. More importantly, it provides an avenue for those same business owners and MSMEs to finally integrate with the broader digital ecosystem. 

How BukuWarung impacts businesses’ day-to-day

Ibu Ance’s activities today look very different from just five years ago. Since Ibu Ance started using BukuWarung, she has an exponentially better understanding of her stores. Daily, she still sells her freshly delivered pineapples, convenience items, and SIM cards at her small retail store.

The transformation now, however, is what she does after the workday is done: she checks BukuWarung. In the palm of her hand, she can view her automatically generated daily, weekly, and monthly business reports of all three stores she operates – each of which with rich data that’s easy to grasp.

In the evenings after work, Ibu Ance likes to spare her mobile data usage; conveniently, she can still view these reports, as BukuWarung also works offline. She can even view and manage all transaction data offline too.

Based on these reports, Ibu Ance has a much better insight into cash flows and customer debt. Before bed, she receives a repayment notification from the app to help her stay on top of her store’s finances. With the help of these official records via BukuWarung, Ibu Anche has been able to join the financial ecosystem. She now has three bank accounts: one for money transfers, one for topping up, as an ATM is nearby, and a bank for insurance purposes.

Consequently, Ibu Ance now feels safer with her digitised cash. Today, over 900,000 other merchants experience life-changing benefits from financial inclusion fostered by BukuWarung’s bookkeeping app.

The road ahead

BukuWarung, with its mission to build a digital infrastructure for MSMEs, sets the foundation for merchants’ operational efficiency and enables access to financial services; it opens MSMEs up to the broader fintech ecosystem via technologies that can help these businesses scale faster, generate more income, and find more lucrative growth opportunities.

BukuWarung is an essential vehicle for access to credit and other crucial financial services that the majority of first-tiered city people may take for granted. Ibu Ance’s story is just one of the 900,000 merchants that signed up to BukuWarung.

By and large, digital tools help businesses explore new markets, understand customers better, and become more efficient – the last of which allows them to focus on activities that matter most. Although technological development has been rapid during the past five years, the next five will bring unprecedentedly accelerated improvements, particularly in overlooked Indonesian cities.

With contributions from Timo Fukar

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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In brief: Malaysia’s OSK Venture invests in Hubble; Zoom opens data centre in Singapore

Singapore’s construction management startup Hubble raises funding

The story: Singapore-headquartered construction management and data analytics startup Hubble has entered into a strategic partnership and raised an undisclosed sum in funding from Malaysian PE firm OSK Ventures International.

The plans: “Besides bringing on board a well-known financial investor, we look at OSK Group as a valued partner for our growth in Malaysia. We will leverage on the extensive and deep relationships of OSK that are relevant to our business. The team at OSKVI shares similar values with us and our investors in terms of working the ground, and are helping us on operational areas, such as talent growth and the setting up of our new venture in Malaysia,” said Hubble Founder and CEO Lin Shijing.

Beyond Singapore and now Malaysia, Hubble is embarking on plans to enter into more markets across Southeast Asia and Australia.

What is Hubble: Its software solution automates the entire range of construction processes on-site that have traditionally been accomplished mostly via manual processes. By tracking, optimising, and automating the management of the projects’ workforce, cash flows, materials and equipment. Hubble helps constructors improve productivity, safety, and ultimately, their bottom line.

Hubble is also the official partner of Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) for the development and implementation of the BuildSG-COVIDSafe platform, which is the national technology initiative to enable the safe restart of construction sites during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In June this year, Hubble received its first external fundraising round of SGD5 million (US$3.7M), led by Tin Men Capital.

Zoom opens data centre, rolls out cloud phone service in Singapore

The story: Global video communication platform Zoom has opened a new data centre in Singapore.

The data centre is the first to be set up in Southeast Asia and brings its total to 18 strategic sites globally.

Cloud phone service: The company also announced general availability of its Zoom Phone cloud phone service in 25 additional countries and territories, including the city-state, as well as a new, simplified telephone service plan for companies with locations across the globe.

Zoom now provides local telephone service and domestic calling in over 40 countries and territories around the world

Zoom has also worked closely with entities in Singapore, such as PropNex and the Ministry of Education, and the Economic Development Board as an enabler of digital transformation within the country.

Draper Startup House, Draper University to provide entrepreneurship courses

The story: Draper Startup House have announced a partnership with  Draper University to spearhead the launch of online entrepreneurship courses with an offline learning experience to help entrepreneurs across the globe.

What is the course?: The course is furnished with content from Silicon Valley’s expert investors, executives and entrepreneurs, activities that foster collaboration among diverse-minded entrepreneurs, access to mentorship from industry leaders, and a pre-seed funding opportunity.

This is coupled with in-house consultations, networking and pitching events at the 10 physical locations of Draper Startup House, alongside a reach to a global community of entrepreneurs.

These courses oversee all stages of an entrepreneur’s journey, including ideation, customer discovery and product market fit; modelling the business
growth hacking and scaling; and fundraising and pitching fundamentals.

When?: Running on a monthly basis, you can now sign up to attend the entrepreneurship course in-house at any Draper Startup House location, with free accommodation or co-working space at select locations, enabling people to connect with the community.

Malaysia’s Indoleads launches affiliate marketplace

The story: Malaysia-based premium affiliate marketing network, Indoleads, has launched an affiliate marketplace connecting publishers and advertisers through top affiliate networks at one place.

It has more than 5,000 affiliate campaigns such as Lazada, Agoda, Amazon, Nike, and Qatar Airways.

The goal: “Affiliate marketplace is a game-changing and innovative way to boost marketing efforts and increase income. We connect publishers to numerous affiliate networks in one place. Our platform is designed to not only capitalize on this phenomenon but maximize its potential, by providing individuals and businesses with an opportunity to earn affiliate income hassle-free while partnering with top-rated advertisers from across the world,” said Indoleads Founder Sergey Gaydar, who previously co-founded Bfab.

What is Indoleads? Started in 2016, Indoleads is a cost per action (CPA) marketing platform. Advertisers can use the platform as an additional traffic source as well as for affiliate marketing, where they are able to manage publishers, analyse traffic, detect fraudulent activity, and integrate with other networks. Basically, advertisers on the platform are free to use it as a standalone solution for all their partnership needs.

In 2017, Indoleads.com secured a ‘6-digits US dollars’ investment from individuals, including an angel investor in Vietnam.

 

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How UrBox helps corporations maintain customer retention in time of COVID-19

Bui Hoai Nam, co-founder and COO of UrBox

Big corporations may have all the resources they need to build customer loyalty, but even then they continue to face challenges doing it. This is what captured Bui Hoai Nam’s attention when he was working at Grab, along with other big corporations in Vietnam.

With the thought that there was a missing link that big corporations should address when engaging their customers with rewards, Nam got together with Hieu Truong (CEO) and Minh Nguyen (CFO) to start UrBox.

UrBox describes itself as a digital rewards and loyalty solution for corporations in Vietnam.

What UrBox does is helping corporates integrate their loyalty and reward programme with multiple gift suppliers or merchants via API. Recipients can get digital gifts instantly on their phones to redeem at both offline and online stores.

“I came up with the idea of the business based on the pain points experienced in my previous stints. I’ve seen how big corps like Grab having a hard time keeping track of their loyalty programmes to engage the customers better. Basic things such as sending gifts and tracking the behaviours of the customers could be a headache. It got me thinking, why don’t we digitise all the rewards process instead?” Nam explains.

Nam viewed the company’s offering to be a niche in its industry. “We’re very tech-oriented, as we don’t focus only on selling the gifts. We bundle our platform as a solution with the rewards provided by gift suppliers. We build the loyalty solutions ecosystem and add rewards in it for our corporate partners,” Nam elaborates.

Also Read: UrBox Vietnam raised seed funding from two Vietnamese VCs

The business of loyalty

UrBox now has more than 200 retail brands and 6,000 stores from different industries on board. In 2019, the company managed to catch the attention of local investors such as VinaCapital Venture and VIISA.

“I must admit that our previous experiences helped our bootstrapping journey before getting the seed funding last year, the way our previous teammates in Grab and Timo digital bank supported UrBox and tried our services before we slowly grew to have more customers,” he adds.

To get to where they are, Nam recalled, it took the company five years to convince that their solutions are something that the retail market today is still missing.

“There is only five per cent of the top companies in Vietnam that have reliable loyalty solutions because many of these top corporations still face issues with fulfillments and the process of sending gifts to customers. So, with our platform catered to the need of each company specifically, these companies can have a way to do all sorts of customer engagement using rewards. They can also strategise their marketing around the behaviours tracked upon customers receiving the gifts,” says Nam.

That is how the company intended to work with other big corporations on top of their existing clients in the banking, insurance, airlines, telco, and technology.

“We are vertical agnostic in a sense that we are looking to adjust to each company’s needs according to their industry,” Nam points out.

The pandemic and the silver lining

According to Nam, big corporations in Vietnam also suffered the impact of COVID-19’s physical interaction limitation. “We viewed this as a positive opportunity for them to try digital rewards as a way to offer something else to their customers,” Nam opines.

Also Read: UrBox Vietnam raised seed funding from two Vietnamese VCs

Nam uses UrBox’s recent partnership with Vietnam Airlines as a case in point. “Vietnam Airlines’ partnership with us allows them to sell the miles as the rewards for the customers. This way, even though they can’t interact directly with their customers, they can still increase the liquidity of their products by having their customers redeem other services and get merchandise and other items,” Nam explains.

The gift redemption platform is named LotusMall, and it entitles members to a diverse ecosystem of gifts. The UrBox digital gift set is integrated with the platform to streamline gift redemption.

“Vietnam Airlines previously had no resources to build a digital rewarding platform, so our tech team built it for them and they’re free from the hassle of working with hundreds of gift suppliers and gift fulfilment,” Nam says.

Right now, Nam focusses on their plans to improve the products to increase customer experience after their Vietnam Airlines’ partnership.

“It made us realise that there are still room for growth. We’ll focus on how we can have attractive digital products to give and how we can build our bundle of products to meet both the corporations and their end customers’ needs. Aside from that, we will also focus on building a 24/7 customer care capability. These are what our future plans entail,” Nam said.

There is also a need to think about how the merchants can leverage their service, especially those that have experienced a negative impact from COVID-19.

Also Read: Korean digital rewards service Spoqa raises US$2M to expand into Japan

“We need to think about how UrBox can create more solutions for merchants, improve their cash flow, and how they can reach the right customers. What we have is a subscription programme, where they can come to merchants for a repeat purchase. This way, both ends are mutually benefited with the Improvements loyalty activities and still have a chance to grow their business,” Nam elaborates.

However, even if the digital rewards industry has a strong connection with the retail industry, the penetration rate for the retail market is still small in Vietnam.

“There are still 35-40 per cent potential to grow within this market, especially with rewarding and loyalty programmes. With the new normal situation, many big corporations in Vietnam need to secure their market share to be able to digitise their daily business to optimise productivity. And we’d like to view UrBox as an important bridge to that,” Nam further explains.

Image Credit: UrBox

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Taiwan’s enterprise AI firm iKala raises US$17M for expansion into Indonesia, Malaysia

iKala team

iKala team

iKala, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven digital transformation and data-driven marketing solutions company headquartered in Taiwan, has received US$17 million in a Series B funding, led by Taipei-based Wistron Digital Technology Holding Company.

Previous investors Hotung Investment Holdings and Pacific Venture Partners are also joined the round.

Also Read: Demystifying artificial intelligence: Breaking down common AI myths

This round takes the company’s total funding raised to date to US$30.3 million.

The proceeds from the round will be used to expand into new markets, including Indonesia and Malaysia, while strengthening iKala’s position in its existing markets — Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan.

“We’ve been on a strong growth trajectory over the last couple of years, expanding into new markets and developing cutting-edge technology that has put us in a leading position in the region’s digital transformation and commerce space. With this funding, we look forward to exploring new opportunities in AI commerce beyond our existing markets,” said Sega Cheng, Co-founder and CEO of iKala.

iKala’s mission is to “enable AI competencies” of its enterprise customers to increase their customer acquisition capability and customer lifetime value, by providing AI-driven digital transformation and data-driven marketing solutions.

More than 400 enterprise customers across 12 industries, along with 15,000-plus advertisers, have used iKala’s technology, it said in a statement.

In June this year, the company also started a new division, called iKala Commerce. It consolidates AI-powered influencer database KOL Radar and AI social commerce solution Shoplus to provide an integrated solution and holistic customer data insights for the region’s social commerce players.

Also Read: Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Is the technology only as good as the human behind it?

Wistron Digital is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wistron Corporation, which invests in digital technology and software application firms.

The strategic investment in iKala marks Wistron Digital’s, which also focuses on Big Data analytics, entry into Southeast Asia.

Image Credit: iKala

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The future of insurance isn’t just digital — it’s efficiently digital

insurance future

As economies begin to reopen and businesses grapple with a new digital and socially distant landscape, industries as we know them have inevitably changed over the course of the outbreak. While many sectors struggle to tide through this new reality, fintech is in a promising position with S$650 million (US$475 million) invested in fintech firms throughout the first half of 2020.

With the challenges brought forth by the pandemic, digital financial solutions are vital in serving economies and societies of the future. Southeast Asia is actively accelerating the digital financial services sector with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) urging the use of digital finance and stimulating the fintech sector with S$125 million (US$91 million) to support the digital financial industry to navigate new obstacles.

With new socially distant norms, many firms are now forced to adapt to the new realities. The pandemic has already prompted a 20 per cent increase in Singapore businesses kick-starting their digital journey, and this number is likely to rise further as the outbreak continues.

Amidst the changing business and economic landscape, customer’s demands are also changing. Eighty per cent of surveyed respondents in Singapore has stated that they are likely to continue using online banking after the pandemic.

With more consumers migrating and adapting to digital, they will naturally expect other financial providers to follow suit, and insurance will be no exception. Traditional insurers are now faced with joining the digital wave or succumbing to those offering digital solutions fit for a socially distant society.

Tradition vs technology

Digital by design, today’s fintech and insurtech startups have an operational structure rooted in technology and the agility to continue services amidst business disruptions and limited contact. In contrast, much of traditional insurance is structured around face-to-face contact, and as such, the transition to digital is met with more challenges as they create new avenues for customers to make well-informed decisions without having to physically meet financial advisers.

Also Read: Asian insurtech on the rise: An overview of the main players

In addition, new products take an average of six to nine months and close to US$1 million to develop and test. Caught at a technological crossroads, it is slow and costly to integrate into a digital ecosystem.

In a rush to expedite digital processes, many companies have implemented solutions in weeks rather than the months or years it would have usually taken, raising concerns on the long-term impacts that could arise from such quick digital fixtures.

With many traditional insurers taking this digital leap, there is an even greater need to scrutinise solutions from a digital perspective to avoid the pitfalls of quick technological fixes. The transition to digital goes beyond structural changes and involves a re-engineering the mindset and culture of the organisation to think from a digital perspective, from product to customer service.

The future of insurance

With a growing focus on technological transformation, naturally, most would expect that the future of insurance is digital. No doubt, to an extent that is true but I believe that the future of insurance is not just digital, but efficient—being able to connect to our customers more instantaneously, to understand their needs more promptly, and to address their concerns immediately.

Encompassing new technologies from big data and machine learning to robo-advisory and IoTs, digital insurers are built to lower costs for policy administration and improve claims management, streamlining processes more efficiently than traditional insurers.

Having such technological solutions provides multiple touchpoints for customers to connect at any time which is crucial in accelerating processes and creating an efficient customer onboarding process.

Also read: Why insurtech startup Igloo is eyeing Vietnam for expansion

In this new economic climate, finances are a concern for many, making it even more necessary to have seamless services that provide clarity and connectivity to customers at a time of uncertainty.

Presented by new challenges, traditional insurers are forced to evaluate old practices and innovate new processes in a bid to stay relevant in an ever-changing economic landscape.

As we look at a post-pandemic world, it will be paramount to embody the nimbleness of a digital insurer, providing the efficiency that the customers of tomorrow not only need but expect.

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Alternative protein fund Lever VC makes first close of its Fund 1

Lever VC, a new global alternative protein venture capital fund based out of Hong Kong, has announced the first close of its first fund.

As per an official statement, the Fund I has U$23 million in commitments so far.

Also Read: Why Sesamilk thinks plant-based milk is healthier than cow milk and has a bright future

The firm claims to have attracted “strong support” with around 70 per cent of capital commitments from Hong Kong and Asian family offices and conglomerates with diversified interests, including consumer products and the food industry hoping to gain exposure to the high-growth alternative protein sector.

Lever VC was founded by Managing Partner Nick Cooney and Partner Lawrence Chu, who have been investing in the alternative protein sector since 2015. They were also investors in Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Memphis Meats, JUST, Aleph Farms, and Kite Hill.

It invests in early-stage plant-based and cell-cultivated meat and dairy companies. The firm has already backed ten startups, including Singapore-based TurtleTree Labs, which develops cow’s milk and human breast milk from cell cultivation; and Hong Kong-based Avant, a cell-cultivated meat company in the greater China region.

The company further added it will continue to identify investment opportunities in early-stage alternative protein companies, carefully evaluating around 1,200 plant-based and cultivated meat and dairy protein companies that the firm tracks globally.

Alternative protein, which generally refers to plant-based and food-technology alternatives to animal protein, is one of the most popular investment trends in recent years.

Barclays, UBS, and JP Morgan project the sector to grow by 31 per cent year over year, becoming a US$85-$140 billion market over the next ten to fifteen years.

According to Lever VC, the alternative protein industry is on track to transform the food industry, thanks to macro trends toward greater awareness of health concerns, food safety and sustainability.

Also Read: Bühler invests in Big Idea Ventures’s New Protein Fund; to invest in up to 100 plant- and cell-based firms

“The alternative protein market is continuing to grow quickly, and with our deep experience and proven record of returns in the sector, as well as the preeminent deal flow across Asia, North America, Europe and beyond, Lever VC is perfectly positioned to deliver value to investors looking for financial or strategic exposure to alternative protein and the broader impact investing market,” said Chu.

Image Credit: Lever VC

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