Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning are quickly becoming highly sought-after technologies. However, Quan Pham, founder of PI.EXCHANGE feels that most companies that provide AI solutions focus more on enterprises –leaving little room for small business owners to keep up.

Compared to a few years ago when AI solutions could only be utilised by the likes of Google and Microsoft, there has now been a significant shift where AI is much more accessible. Yet still, at US$6,000 to over US$300,000 for custom AI solution, the costs of integrating AI is still not affordable enough for individuals and small businesses.

In addition to cost, there is also a barrier in the form of time and technical expertise that can prevent small businesses and individuals to implement the use of AI in their businesses.

Based in Melbourne with offices in Vietnam, Singapore, and India, PI.EXCHANGE is determined to solve this problem. The company provides a platform that enables businesses of all sizes and technical capabilities to build and operate machine learning applications quickly and cost-effectively.

After creating an account a user can simply upload or connect to a data source and The AI and Analytics Engine provides smart recommendations on how to wrangle and prepare the data for modelling.

The Engine then uses the prepared data set to provide smart model recommendations. These recommendations empower users to save time so user train only the recommended models. Users can achieve their tasks through the user interface or alternatively, tasks can be done via APIs to suit their requirements.

This is in line with the recent trend of low-code and no-code movement that has become popular today, where startups are providing platforms for users with minimum or even no coding skills to develop products.

PI.EXCHANGE claims that it is one of the few in the world that offers an affordable solution for AI deployment with only US$129 per month of signup cost for an individual. It also offers a free trial on its website for anyone interested.

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

Pham tells e27 in an interview that the platform was built based on R&D efforts initiated by the company itself in Melbourne without any external help.

He shares that the technology is protected by Intellectual Property (IP) rights.

“Our IP is on how we are driving the computational costs for data preparation. If you think about it, its kind of like an AI agent which helps to compute and pick the right kind of data for each client. We maintain a very strong focus on IP and focus on perfecting our technology,” he says.

Meet the founder

Before kickstarting PI.EXCHANGE, Pham worked as the Chief Security Officer of Melbourne Water, a government-owned statutory authority which controls the water system in the city and the state of Victoria. He terms himself a “corporate dropout” after spending nearly over 10 years in the corporate world.

Aside from having an extensive formal background in cybersecurity, mathematics and science, Pham says that he learnt how to build data science and AI solutions through industrial experience –not by some school or university.

“My background in data science came from my previous life experience where I worked as a technology manager and a software developer. I came across different exercises and opportunities where I had to build a machine learning application all by myself with my team … so that’s how I got into the whole AI business,” Pham says.

Due to his prior roles in cybersecurity. Pham says that he takes privacy concerns very seriously. This is why the company has something called the “privacy by design and security by design principle”. He further stresses that the data is encrypted at all level in-transit address.

Also Read: AI-empowered data platform Sentient.io secures Series A funding led by Digital Garage Group

What is next

The company says that it will officially have a commercial launch in the next two to three months; it also has secured partnerships with Amazon Web Services and NVIDIA.

In terms of investment, Pham also says that PI.EXCHANGE is currently in funding talks with reputable VCs across the APAC region.

On the flip side, it is important to note that AI is highly complex and some may argue that making use of a packaged AI tool has a limited reward, and may not offer the disruptive competitive advantage that AI has the potential to deliver.

But, for the target audience that PI.EXCHANGE is aiming for, this could be the way to go.

–

Image Credit: PI.EXCHANGE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post How PI.EXCHANGE helps freelancers and small businesses have easier access to AI solutions appeared first on e27.

For many years, there has been countless discussions and reports about the massive potential that the Southeast Asian (SEA) startup ecosystem has. One of the most outstanding of such reports is the Google Temasek Bain report which stated that the region’s internet economy is set to hit US$240 billion by 2025.

The general outlook of the future of this region has always been promising. But 2020 is the year where we can finally see that potential manifest –even during a global health crisis.

In August, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in major markets in SEA, global SaaS platform Intuit announced that it has entered an agreement to acquire TradeGecko, the Singapore-based inventory and order management platform that aims to ease omnichannel commerce for small businesses.

Financial details of the acquisition were not announced, but it was expected to close in September. The deal was the first Intuit had made in SEA, and one of the few a US-based tech giant had made in the region.

There are many reasons why this acquisition is outstanding. Yes, there is the fact that it happens at a time where the ecosystem is struggling to continue surviving. But apart from that, the acquisition is a manifestation of the potential of the SEA tech ecosystem.

Or we can say, a promise that we manage to deliver.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Intuit acquires TradeGecko; Synagie proposes US$45M sale of e-commerce arm; Ayoconnect, Wahyoo, Clik, Vesta secure investment

Acknowledging our place in the world

To discuss the acquisition, e27 sits down with David Gowdey, Managing Partner at Jungle Ventures, the VC firm who invested in the company in its pre-Series A funding round.

He begins by noting the two different approaches that SaaS companies in SEA tend to take in developing and marketing their solutions. There are companies that build products in their local language, aiming for a very specific target audience. But then there are companies with “global ambitions”.

“So the software that they’re building could be used by companies all over the world … and those businesses are very challenging because you’re not just competing against local competitors. You’re competing against companies in the US or China or anywhere else in the world that could be building software in that same space,” Gowdey explains.

But with great challenge comes a great opportunity.

“If you look at the different emerging economies, there are already some great software that was developed in Europe or Australia, but we haven’t had a large software company here that’s been able to get on the radar of a global software giant [until this acquisition],” Gowdey says.

“I think it adds a huge amount of credibility to founders in this part of the world that they can build a software that is globally best in class, and that will attract global buyers into it,” he continues.

How the pandemic makes it easier

Recently, there has been more investment coming for companies that are enabling digital transformation for conventional businesses, from SMEs to state-owned enterprises. It seems like enabling digital transformation is the key to win a pandemic-ridden world –perhaps beyond.

Also Read: [Updated] Intuit acquires TradeGecko to further strengthen its accounting platform QuickBooks

This is something that Gowdey acknowledges.

“If you think about the pandemic, there were small businesses that had to shut down their retail locations and move a lot of their sales online. An inventory management system that can allow small businesses to manage their inventory and orders effectively, it helps them digitise their businesses. It also creates a lot of operational efficiency within those SMEs,” he elaborates.

“So, I think part of the rationale [of the acquisition] has to be the pandemic and the shifts that a lot of families were making … how they can make that transition much easier,” he concludes.

In fact, this urgency for digital transformation might just be the push that Intuit needed to seal the deal with TradeGecko.

What is next for SEA and SV

In a statement to e27, Intuit spokesperson wrote that the company does not comment on any possible future plans or considerations related to company acquisitions.

But when asked about the reason that has drawn them to acquire a SaaS platform in SEA, the company wrote: “Intuit’s mission is to power prosperity around the world. We are always looking for opportunities to help our customers succeed and grow in an effort to fulfil our mission.”

There are certainly many ways to interpret the statement. But my take is that this acquisition is set to help Intuit in manifesting its mission; so there is always the possibility that it will not be the last.

In a recent webinar episode with e27, leading startup investors such as Paul Meyers and Jussi Salovaara highlights the rise of M&A and strategic acquisitions during the pandemic.

There is a great likelihood that these acquisitions will be by US-based tech giants. Why?

In this contributed post, Kyle Kling pointed out why global tech investors should be looking to invest in SEA, even during a pandemic. He brought an example of Indonesia, the largest SEA market, and the fact that it now has six unicorns and tax policy to encourage startup investments.

Also Read: SaaS inventory management platform TradeGecko raises US$10M from TNB Aura, others

“For a country that is home to 267 million people, of which at least 50 million are in the growing middle-class with rising discretionary incomes, the hunt for the next Indonesian unicorn is on. American VCs can bring their expertise and best practices to play. In Europe, Africa, South Asia, South America and Asia Pacific, Indonesia’s story is repeated, with slight variations,” he writes.

We feel that these reasons could also be the consideration for US-based tech giants to get into the market.

So how does the year 2021 will look like for SEA startup ecosystem? It seems like we can get a visualisation of it already.

—

Image Credit: Mario Gogh on Unsplash

 

The post Why the TradeGecko acquisition by Intuit is a promise fulfilled by the SEA tech startup ecosystem appeared first on e27.

 

Hong Kong-headquartered startup accelerator-cum-VC firm, Betatron, has unveiled the nine startups participating in its sixth cohort.

These startups were selected from a total of 2,500 applications it received.

“Cohort 6 represents our most competitive portfolio to date with an acceptance rate of only 0.36 per cent. The investments reflect our focus on companies in the B2B markets who have validated their business model and are ready to scale in Asia,” said Matthias Knobloch, Managing Partner of Betatron.

Unlike other accelerators, Betatron provides an investment of US$500,000 each to the selected startup immediately after they join the programme. Further investments are done based on their valuations.

Also Read: Facebook reveals 13 participants selected for its Community Accelerator programme in Asia Pacific

During the first three weeks, companies go through an intensive Bootcamp,  which involves introductions to mentors and networks who help them identify their scope in the next four months.

A spokesperson of the company told e27 that the accelerator is geographic-agnostic but primarily invests into companies that want to expand in Asia.

The nine startups attending this virtual programme are:

ShipsKart (Singapore, India)

A B2B e-commerce marketplace platform for the maritime industry.

Qwikwire (Philippines)

A cross-border payment solution for real estate brokers and property developers.

Phable Care (India)

Helps doctors provide personalised care to patients using AI/ML (machine learning) into one single platform. It digitises prescriptions, personalised health reminders and tracks vitals like blood pressure, etc.

Also Read: Hong Kong’s B2B accelerator Blueprint announces first batch

FreightBro (India)

Logistics startup that provides high-tech solutions to digitise cargo forwarding and shipping.

App4Legal (UAE)

Practice management software for legal practitioners.

Connected Analytics (Nigeria)

Helps businesses grow in Africa by utilising customer data.

SINAY (France)

Captures proprietary maritime data such as port arrival times and environmental indicators.

TakeTask (Poland)

Implements digital standards of procedures for the blue-collar workforces.

–

Image Credit: Betatron

 

 

 

 

 

The post Meet the 9 startups selected for Betatron’s cohort 6 accelerator programme appeared first on e27.

According to Statista, the online gaming market is predicted to be worth over US$ 174 billion by 2021, and this sector has been dominated by the Asia Pacific region for years. With Southeast Asia’s steadily growing online population, thanks to increased internet penetration and smartphone usage, its mobile games market is the fastest-growing in the world. Amidst these trends, startups like ZeusX are unsurprisingly thriving.

Singapore-based ZeusX is a digital marketplace for gamers all over the world — enabling them to buy and sell gaming assets like accounts, in-game items, top-ups, services, gift cards and collectibles in a secure online environment.

In a nutshell, ZeusX eliminates the challenges of lack of transparency and security in online trade in the gaming space and provides gamers with a secure platform to trade virtual assets at competitive rates.

Also read: Superfanz: Growing visibility for creators in the wake of COVID-19

Launched in March 2020, ZeusX recently revamped their platform earlier this month to include more product categories. Despite launching at a time where the economic climate is probably at its worst as seen in decades, ZeusX has attracted thousands of interested parties from some 85 countries.

Alex Tay, the Founder & CEO of ZeusX, shared with e27 that he has been an obsessed gamer since he was nine. In fact, it was his passion towards gaming that led him to leave a 17-year old flourishing corporate career in the Insurance & Banking sector so he could chase his dreams full-time, and build a career in the gaming world.

Mobile gaming: Emerging trends and tech disruptions

Tay believes that mobile gaming is the future and he is not wrong. In Singapore alone, players spent a total of $327.2 million on mobile games last year. In the online population, 74% of men and 68% of women play mobile games as of 2019.

Tay foresees two fundamental technology disruptions that can potentially change the “game”: 5G and hyper-personalization.

“Telcos are already working with cloud gaming providers to eventually be able to deliver and stream high-end quality games on mobile that were previously only available on console and PC,” he said.

Tay added, “just imagine, 5 to 10 years ago, what we were watching at home was dependent on what devices we owned—cable, DVD or BluRay. Now, everyone streams HD movies from Netflix at any time to any smartphone while sitting on the train, and I believe that gaming is heading towards that direction”.

Also read: How VITA by Zing Healthcare empowers employee well-being through technology

Furthermore, the prevalence of AI and Big Data technologies are also changing the gaming landscape and there is a need to create highly personalized experiences for gamers.

Tay added that it is not a coincidence that their platform focuses on mobile games and that they are trying to differentiate with personalization and community integration. “We truly believe that is the future, and we have been innovating towards that vision from Day 1,” he shared.

What’s next

ZeusX plan to continue refining their offerings to achieve wider adoption with a primary focus on the Southeast Asian market given its massive potential.

Tay recalls that one of their very first transactions was by a gamer based out of Texas, USA who traded with a fellow gamer based in Slovenia.

“We want to leverage that global capability, and empower gamers in our regional market, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam, so they are able to easily trade with anyone in the world without worrying about payments and security,” he said.

Addressing challenges

The key challenge for ZeusX is catering to the diverse demographics of the Southeast Asian market, while still operating as a global marketplace. Each of the eleven countries within Southeast Asia has its own national language, preferred payment methods and spending patterns.

“While there is a big difference between supporting a global versus a local market, we also think it opens up vast opportunities for gamers anywhere to monetize their efforts, skills and virtual assets to appreciative gamers elsewhere in the world. We will pick one market and try to get it to work before getting ahead of ourselves,” Tay explains.

With more capital and access to better resources, they can slowly and steadily scale across the region.

To find better connectivity and in the pursuit of expanding their network, ZeusX has signed up for an e27 Pro membership so they can easily explore funding opportunities and discover relevant incubation programmes.

Also read: Workbean: Empowering the workplace in the time of COVID-19

“We were the most attracted to the membership due to the e27 Connect feature as it makes our search for potential investors super easy. Plus, other perks that came along are a bonus. We have been leveraging the benefits of the membership to offset our costs in AWS, Hubspot and Zendesk,” Tay shared.

He added, “our e27 Pro membership has helped us yield 8 direct introductions to notable VCs, plus a few more indirect referrals. It has addressed our issue of getting interested investors to talk to us as an early-stage startup and also given us insights into what VCs are specifically looking for.”

Despite the COVID-19 crisis and the ongoing economic upheaval, ZeusX has managed to not only launch themselves in the market this year but also establish a considerable user interest. With the rising mobile gaming industry, ZuesX’s innovative vision, and support form the e27 Pro membership, we can only expect great things from this startup.

The post How ZeusX empowers virtual gaming with its secure online environment appeared first on e27.

Singapore-based venture capital fund Expara announced the list of 15 startups that are participating in its Expara VirTech Global Accelerator programme, which was launched to search for companies building solutions for a post-pandemic world.

The list includes the following Southeast Asia (SEA)-based companies:

XCLR8 Technologies Pte Ltd
Based in Singapore, the company develops wearable sensors and applications to enable remote physiotherapy.

Healthzilla: Healthy Habits
Also based in Singapore, the company uses data from wearable products to help users make sense of their stress level and build healthy habits.

MiNeed Technology
Based in Thailand, the startup builds a transdermal drug delivery platform.

BrainPoolTech
Last but not least, from Singapore, the company is a risk management platform that uses drone technology to assess and analyse potential risks in a location.

Also Read: Thai buffet app Hungry Hub secures US$450K funding from Expara, 500 Startups

Outside of the SEA region, the programme takes in startups from other regions such as Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia:

1. Gheorg (Australia), mental health platform
2. Facense Ltd (Israel), wearable technology
3. Car Scanner (Poland), robotics
4. SENSE Software (Poland), IoT
5. Adappt Intelligence Inc (India), IoT
6. XpertFlow LLC (Pakistan), digital healthcare
7. Scudo (US), risk management
8. Insignes Labs (Poland), chemical
9. DjinnSensor – IoT, sensors, data cloud service (Belarus), smart building
10. Omnious Nanobiosciences (Sweden), diagnostic
11. WeavAir (Canada), smart building

The Expara VirTech Global Accelerator programme is launched almost half a year ago; it is dedicated to startups who are developing products and services to help address the pain, problems and economic and societal disruption caused by COVID-19 and potential future pandemics.

This involves detection, information, prevention and protection, and mitigation.

Also Read: 500 Startups, IIX, Expara Ventures invest in fintech social enterprise Salutat

For the past three months, the startups had gone through programme that consists of weekly workshops and mentoring sessions. It will also receive funding of up to US$50,000.

“We launched this accelerator because the 2020 pandemic should be a wake-up call for the hyper-connected world to our vulnerability to pandemics in the 21st century. We will never go back to the way things were in 2019 – that world is gone forever,” Expara CEO Douglas Abrams said in a press statement.

“The probability of a potentially worse pandemic in the future is 100 per cent; it is just a question of when it will happen. Hopefully, we will build a much better new normal starting today and be much better prepared for the next outbreak, in part due to new products and services created by startups,” he continued.

The demo day, where the startups will pitch to local and global investors, will be held virtually on September 23.

—

Image Credit: Expara VirTech Global Accelerator

The post Meet the Southeast Asian startups participating in the Expara VirTech Global Accelerator programme appeared first on e27.

Asumsi.co, a digital media startup based in Indonesia, has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from East Ventures.

“This investment will enable us to develop a technology infrastructure that will give us leverage while preserving the quality and cutting-edge approach that we’re known for,” said Pangeran Siahaan, CEO of Asumsi.co.

“We will use the investment, among others, to hire more engineers and build tech infrastructure. With those additions, Asumsi will be one step closer in creating a news platform that is supported by advanced monitoring and analytical systems to help us better understand our existing audience and reach new ones,” he added.

Asumsi was founded in 2015 by Siahaan, who has previously worked as a journalist and TV presenter.

Asumsi.co aims to “build a sustainable media ecosystem” by integrating tech into high-quality media content. It mainly focuses on politics, current affairs and pop culture. Most of its viewers are young.

Social media platforms are getting substantially crowded with individual content creators as influencer marketing begins to get popular. Asumsi thinks that these media channels can be no longer relied upon because of the overload of competition.

To venture outside the traditional ways of thinking of promotion and visibility, Asumsi.co wants to develop a new technology infrastructure which will allow it to reach newer audiences and understands their existing ones better.

Also Read:  In the age of aggressive marketing, how can YOU and your product stand out?

The firm claims to have 10 million viewers per month on various social media platforms, including YouTube (3.2 million view rate).

Also Read: Malaysian digital media group REV Asia to acquire iMEDIA for US$9.6M

Indonesia is known to be extremely social media forward and a large number of locals are known to spend a lot of time on the internet.

According to Hootsuite and We are Social, the region has 415 million users, who are actively spending plenty of time on the web in comparison to 346 million in North America and 183 million in Western Europe. Digital media seems to be a growing industry in the region, despite heavy competition.

“Indonesia has many good stories that need to be told. We are looking forward to backing Pangeran and his team to build the platform to tell the stories,” said Willson Cuaca, Co-founder and Managing Partner of East Ventures.

—

Image Credit: Asumsi.co

 

 

The post Asumsi.co raises funding from East Ventures to integrate cutting-edge tech into media content appeared first on e27.

In order to help empower the APAC tech startup ecosystem, we recently launched Perks: a curated selection designed to give e27 Pro members an access to top-class products and services with over US$10,000 worth in savings. In order to do that, we have partnered with some of the most amazing solution providers in the region.

We spoke to Sanjay Jha, Co-founder and CTO of LetsVenture, India’s most active startup fundraising platform and the Chief Product Officer (CPO) of MyStartupEquity, to get a closer look at their products and services and to help the community understand better how MyStartupEquity can help them yield desirable results.

Can you describe what your company does? What industry you are in, who your target market is?

For the last 7 years, Letsventure has been the most trusted and active platform for startup fundraising in India. We have a strong track record in building out a tech-enabled platform that has enabled over 250 startups to raise more than $200 M from thousands of angel investors, micro-VC funds and family offices. Having raised this equity, we have also noticed the gap in the market to manage this equity and that was the genesis of MyStartupEquity in late 2019.

MyStartupEquity is a SaaS fintech play that is digitising, automating and securing the most valuable asset that any startup has — its own equity! This is a product to help founders, employees, investors and VCs better manage their equity in startups. What do we mean by this?

Also read: A closer look at Zendesk: fostering better customer relationships for startups everywhere

Well, the product is designed to become the single source of truth for all matters related to a startup’s cap table and ESOPs (including Phantom Stocks, Stock Appreciation Rights). By using the product, startups, right from the earliest stages to those with 10s of investors and 100s of employees with ESOPs can avoid errors that might creep into an Excel sheet and the lack of security when this Excel sheet floats into the market. Moreover, the product has a lot of tools packed in to make the life for the founder, finance and HR teams simple.

Presently, MyStartupEquity has 60 startups (seed to Series D) from India, USA and Singapore using the cap table and ESOP management product.

How does your product/service help companies? What gaps in the market do your products bridge?

Today, the biggest problem is the information asymmetry and lack of security in the way cap tables and ESOPs are managed. Founders have a lot on their plate, finance and HR team members may change, an outsourced firm might not prioritise tasks; and all this leads to delays and errors — both forced and unforced.

Let’s take an example: Mark is the founder of a startup that has raised a seed round of $500,000 from friends and family and two angel investors (his ex-bosses at the big tech company he was working at before). With this, he brought on board his co-founder and CTO, Eileen and the early product team, marketing and sales team — all of whom he promised generous ESOPs since he couldn’t meet market salaries. For his product and marketing team, Mark chose to have standard quarterly vesting after the one-year cliff period but for the sales team, he chose performance-based vesting. He’s managing all this on an Excel sheet.

Fast forward two years, the startup is doing well — over 10 employees now have ESOPs and Mark has raised a small round of convertible debt too. Now, he is in the market to raise a Series A of $1.5 M. VCs and some large individual angels want to see the cap table and also get a sense of what the fully diluted cap table will look like if they were to invest. Mark also has to be cognisant of the part conversion of the debt round and topping up of the ESOP pool as part of the Series A. He also has to allocate a higher share to Eileen as he had promised her when she came on board two years ago.

Also read: 5 actions to consider for your startup as the economy reopens

Now, all of these calculations and managing expectations of current and prospective investors are daunting for Mark, he’s running multiple Excel sheets and having to cross-check every new round modelling scenario with his chartered accountant. This is taking up time and bandwidth. Meanwhile, new team members are being on-boarded and as the founder, Mark has to run and manage the ESOP conversations with them too.

Sounds difficult and strenuous? Well, it is, but it is also the reality of startup and founder life!

This is where MyStartupEquity comes in with its easy to use interface and click of button calculators, report generators and in-product communication tools.

For instance, the Cap Table Tool helps founders maintain a single source of truth and safe keep share certificates and various other documents online. Information from multiple rounds including bridge rounds are maintained online and tools and notifiers for convertible debt instruments like SAFE, Convertible Notes, ensures that no investor and round information is missed out due to unforced errors. Moreover, MyStartupEquity’s scenario modelling tool can help Mark run various calculations on what his new cap table would look like and he can securely share the same with his investors on a need to know basis — all of this from within the product itself. No need to worry about conflict of interests and unsolicited entities becoming privy to sensitive information.

Also read: Pivoting beyond product: You need to look at your company/work culture, too

On the ESOP front, at the earliest stages, the MyStartupEquity product would have allowed Mark to create and customise his ESOP policy online and get a simple dashboard view of the ESOP pool. He would have been able to manage the granting, vesting and exercising of options digitally for all team members too. Additionally, the product generates all the accounting and book-keeping required for ESOPs and Mark or his CA can use these reports to make all the regulatory filings required; literally at a click of a button.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the products’ employee interface allows everyone on Mark’s team to actually see the value of their ESOPs and continue to be energised about the road ahead for the startup.

To summarise, these are the top features of the product that makes life easier for founders, employees and investors:

• Digital cap table with features for round & exit modelling
• Calculator & notifier to manage convertible instruments
• Secure document vault
• Customised ESOP scheme generator
• Manage grants, vesting, exercise, & employee exits online
• Automated accounting, reporting, & annual filings
• Role based permissions for users
• Multi Factor Authentication

Can you give an example of how your product is being used by your customers? Any customer success stories you’d like to share?

Presently MyStartupEquity has 60 startups from India, USA and Singapore using the cap table and ESOP management product. Some of these startups include Zetwerk (funded by Sequoia, Lightspeed), Jupiter Money (funded by Sequoia, Matrix), Cyware (Emerald Development Managers), Darwinbox (Sequoia funded), Epifi (Sequoia, Ribbit Capital), Kyt.academy.

Also read: How Pomelo tackles the problem of high product return with its O2O retail experience

“Zetwerk is a 2-year old startup and we just closed our Series C. Right from the time we closed our Series B, I had been thinking about moving into a product that would help us manage the cap table and the administration of the ESOPs because there were times when our data did not match — when something like that happens to a process like ESOPs which has financial liability both for the employee and the employer, it is of great concern. We scanned various products and then decided to go ahead with MyStartupEquity because of the capability and competence of the team. Secondly, I wanted the product to have a simple and easy user interface while getting things done smoothly & accurately. Lastly, the price point was very compelling and that helped us make a faster decision,” Barat Vinayakan, CHRO, Zetwerk (a manufacturing services startup with 300+ employees, 100+ customers across 30+ countries)

Are there any recent accomplishments of your company that you want to share with the e27 Community?

Sequoia Surge, Freshworks for Startups, and of course, e27 are some of the partners that have endorsed MyStartupEquity and extended the product to their startups across India and APAC. In India, MyStartupEquity is also a partner of choice for the Mumbai Fintech Hub.

e27 Perks

To find out more about all the Perks that come with your e27 Pro membership, check out our list of offerings here.

If you want to enjoy these exclusive perks available only with Pro, be a part of the Pro community and sign up for an e27 Pro membership today! You may visit here for more details.

Stay tuned to find out what other Perks we have in store!

The post A closer look at MyStartupEquity: digitising, automating, and securing company assets appeared first on e27.

uHoo, a Singapore-based indoor air quality sensor company, said today it has secured an undisclosed amount in a funding round “oversubscribed by 50 per cent”, led by Wavemaker Partners.

Enterprise Singapore, along with existing and new investors from the tech and real estate sectors, including PropertyGuru Group Co-founder Steve Melhuish (who is also a Venture Partner at Wavemaker), also joined the round.

The funds will be used by uHoo to meet the “large increase in demand” for healthy building solutions, accelerate growth through increased hiring, and development of innovative new products and services.

Also Read: This IoT device monitors air quality using laser tech that counts each individual air particle

Founded in 2014 by Dustin Jefferson S. Onghanseng and Brian Lin, uHoo has designed an air quality sensor device. It can monitor nine air quality parameters and also provides data, alerts, insights and recommendations via the uHoo mobile app.

The firm claimed in a press release that it has seen “an almost 5x increase” in units deployed in the last 12 months driven by “strong healthy building demand” by governments, schools, hospitals, hotels, malls, kitchens, offices and families in North America, Europe and Asia.

The company also said its revenue is exceeding original 2020 plans due to COVID-19 and the increased focus on health and wellbeing.

In June 2020, uHoo launched a Virus Index to provide a real-time view on COVID-19 survivability and airborne transmission risk.

“Air quality, health, and wellbeing have become key concerns for many, especially as we spend more time indoors and gradually return to our workplaces and schools. This is evidenced by the many blue-chip brands and government clients globally that uHoo has secured in 2020,” said Melhuish, who joins uHoo’s Board of Directors.

The company is tackling a large US$180 billion air quality market, which is expected to grow rapidly due to increased health and safety concerns globally.

Also Read: Getting smarter with tech: How will smart cities look like 10 years from now?

“Health and safety have been neglected by majority of employers, landlords and building owners for the longest time. The COVID-19 pandemic has put this in the spotlight and accelerated the movement towards healthy workplaces and healthy buildings. Healthy workplaces and healthy buildings are no longer just empty buzzwords, it is the bare minimum required of employers and landlords,” said Onghanseng.

Over the last few months uHoo has grown its customer base across different vertical industries worldwide to provide solutions such as data insights, dashboards, apps, alerts, and integrations with building management systems.

Clients include Capitaland, CDL, GIC, Gammon Construction, Schiphol Airport, HK Baptist University, and the governments of Holland, the USA, and Australia.

In 2018, uHoo had raised a 7-figure in a bridge round led by Wavemaker Partners with co-investment from Seeds Capital.

—

Image Credit: uHoo

The post uHoo raises fresh funding led by Wavemaker to ‘meet the increased demand’ for its indoor air quality sensors appeared first on e27.

Carousell, a B2C and C2C consumer marketplace for buying and selling new and used goods in Singapore, has inched closer to becoming a unicorn with a fresh US$80 million fundraise from a consortium of companies, led by South Korean tech honcho Naver Corp.

Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund and NH Investment & Securities are the other investors in the consortium.

The deal values Carousell at over US$900 million.

Also Read: Carousell appoints Jennifer Lim as Head of People to drive growth in Southeast Asia

“The last six months have been challenging for all. It’s inspiring to see how the Carousell community is making the best out of a challenging situation, helping those in need and rallying each other on. Their stories of how Carousell has been essential to them to make ends meet and afford what they need during this global health crisis reminds us to keep heads down focused in serving our community,” said Quek Siu Rui, Co-founder and CEO of Carousell.

Launched in August 2012, Carousell began in Singapore and now has a presence in eight markets across Asia. The firm claims it has over 250 million listings across Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The marketplace has a diverse range of products across a variety of categories, including cars, lifestyle, gadgets and fashion accessories.

The company also owns and operates Cho Tot (Vietnam), Mudah (Malaysia), OneKyat (Myanmar), and Revo Financial (Singapore).

Since inception, the firm has raised over US$260 million across several rounds of funding, including a US$56 million from OLX Group in April 2019. Carosell’s other investors include Telenor Group, Rakuten Ventures, Sequoia India and Naspers.

Last year, Carousell made a series of acquisitions in 2019 to accelerate leadership in Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines, including 701Search, the classifieds firm owned by Norwegian telco Telenor Group and OLX Philippines.

“Carousell has built a tremendous platform enabling people in the region to transact more effectively and efficiently. We believe its efforts to focus on the products and the community will be further consolidating its market leader position. We highly look forward to working closely with Carousell,” said Jung An Lee, Head of Investments at Naver.

After the onset of COVID-19 six months ago, which affected individuals and businesses globally, Carousell launched several regional initiatives. They include providing US$2 million worth of free ads to non-profit organisations, the launch of a new ‘free items’ category for #ChoosetoGive campaign where the community donated free items to users in need, and partnerships with government agencies such as Enterprise Singapore, Hong Kong Productivity Council and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation to support the digitalisation of micro-enterprises and SMEs.

—

Image Credit: Carousell

The post Carousell inches closer to unicorn status with a US$80M investment round led by Naver appeared first on e27.

“Your usual?” the barista asks, as the two customers who have just entered whip out their smartphones to scan the cafe’s QR code using New Zealand’s Ministry of Health contact tracing app.

“Yes, and a to-go order for those back in the office. We’re celebrating! We just completed the launch of Comet’s new Disk Image backup software,” shares Joshua Flores.

“Good on ya mate!” Except for the cautionary yellow and black government-designed signage reminding people to wash hands, stand two meters apart and stay home if they feel sick, the scene is reminiscent of pre-pandemic normality.

Police officers and tech entrepreneurs alike grab a quick morning coffee and a scone before heading back to the office.

New Zealand, and countries like it who have taken decisive action on COVID-19, have seen business resume and a reversal in workforce trends as talent repatriates from other countries, flocking to the desirability of a lower risk place to live.

Before 2020, many highly skilled Kiwis sought employment abroad to earn a higher income. Since March 14, more than 77,000 New Zealanders have returned home.  “We’ve seen an increase in the number of experienced Kiwis returning from overseas recently, plus skilled migrants of other nationalities who see New Zealand as a safe haven,” confirms Neil Hamilton, General Manager at Canterbury Tech, an alliance which represents some of New Zealand’s most innovative companies and successful entrepreneurs.

“Some of these people are choosing to run their own tech companies. We have great infrastructure, a thriving local tech community, and a fantastic lifestyle — why wouldn’t they want to live and work here?!” says Hamilton.

While tech hubs, and business at large, in other countries confront the challenges that come with working remotely, New Zealand’s tech sector, by contrast, is poised for growth. “New Zealand is definitely experiencing a marked degree of increased interest from international investors who are noticing that the New Zealand startup ecosystem is at the start of its trajectory upwards, that our government is committed to driving innovation-led growth, and that our startup valuations are more robust than in many other countries.

Given that many of those startups are tech-based, this new money for growth means that our tech sector is humming in our COVID-19 recovery period while many others are not,” notes Marian Johnson, head of the Ministry of Awesome, an accelerator for entrepreneurs and startups.

“Many companies have been shifting gears, pivoting directions, even developing entirely new products or commercial models. Many of the ideas will help in the current crisis situation as well as when we all make it through to the other side,” writes Mitchell Pham, who leads the government’s Digital Council for Aotearoa New Zealand.

Also Read: Need of the hour: How can startups be crisis-proof?

An example of this is Christchurch-headquartered Comet Backup who recently held a major product launch. “With many businesses transitioning to flexible working environments, there is increasing demand for total system protection to ensure business continuity and minimal downtime.”

“Rather than slowing down, we accelerated our development roadmap to deliver the capabilities needed given the current climate,” says Joshua Flores, General Manager at Comet Backup.

The software development company debuted its new Disk Image functionality during its launch webinar to an audience spread across more than 30 countries. “We’re confident this new capability will allow our clients to easily protect their customers from disaster while providing the full recovery options needed for everyday business operation,” says Mason Giles, Chief Technology Officer at Comet Backup.

“This equips IT professionals with a modern, robust backup platform to ensure the protection of their customers. It also gives our managed service provider (MSP) clients a new tool to sell to their customers, helping their businesses to increase revenues during this period of economic instability.”

In June, when other industries were facing layoffs and hiring freezes, Comet Backup grew its team. Tech hiring is an important segment of the economy to watch because “each new tech sector job creates five new jobs in other sectors,” according to NZTech’s Digital National Report.

Also Read: Adapt to survive: Why Singapore and the world need to reinvent the old order

“The accelerated drift towards doing business digitally is real — and New Zealand tech companies are well placed to take advantage of this,” observes Hamilton. “COVID-19 has further reduced the tyranny of distance. It doesn’t matter whether customers are in New York, Shanghai, Sydney, or London — they are looking for solutions to real problems. We have many smart and skilled companies focused on providing solutions to these challenges and expect our tech sector to grow significantly in the coming years.”

As the world continues to respond to the international health crisis, New Zealand can take advantage of being one of the most digital countries in the world. According to NZTech’s COVID-19 study, despite the devastating global pandemic, the tech sector is continuing to create growth in employment and exports for New Zealand.

The country’s resilient technology, creative and digital sectors are not only weathering the global economic turmoil well, but they are also shining a light on a future for New Zealand.

–

Register for How startups can use writing to build thought leadership

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

Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image Credit: Dan Freeman on Unsplash

The post The boomerang effect: How the pandemic has made New Zealand a tech talent favourite appeared first on e27.