Food Market Hub (FMH), a food and beverages (F&B) procurement and inventory management startup in Malaysia, announced today it has received US$4 million in Series A financing.

The round was co-led by Go-Ventures (a VC fund with gojek being its cornerstone investor) and SIG.

As per a press note, FMH plans to use the funds to strengthen its presence in its home country, as well as to expand into Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Also Read: Mosaic Solutions raises US$1.5M to provide data analytics, inventory management solutions to SEA’s F&B industry

FMH was founded in 2017 Anthony See and Shayna Teh, former cafe owners, who realised that increasing food costs were a problem within the F&B industry. This led to the creation of the startup that helps F&B operators manage and track procurement and inventory.

The platform automates purchasing and inventory-tracking by connecting outlets with their central kitchens and suppliers.

It also leverages on Artificial Intelligence technology to analyse past data to forecast future purchasing needs, resulting in optimised inventory control to further reduce costs.

Currently, the venture supports over 2,000 F&B outlets across Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, it said further claiming that it processes close to US$200 million in purchase orders on an annual basis.

“A single restaurant may need to process some 200 purchase orders every month. Previously, most of this was done manually, making it tedious as well as prone to human error,” said See.

“And when a restaurant grows or becomes a franchise using a central kitchen, complexity increases exponentially. Having run F&B outlets previously, I know the pain points involved and we set up Food Market Hub to address this problem,” he remarked.

Also Read: 6 common roadblocks F&B businesses face in the digital era

“Technology has the ability to revolutionise the F&B sector, which has been badly hit by the pandemic,” said Nigel Quah, Investment Professional at Go-Ventures. “The FMH team has the deep industry expertise and has demonstrated that the F&B industry can benefit greatly from AI, analytical technology and automation.”

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Image Credit: Food Market Hub

 

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Although the COVID-19 crisis has shaken and disrupted global economies, the supply chain and logistics tech space have continued to see strong growth – more than 400 deals were inked in 2020, and deal activity is expected to continue growing at 12 per cent this year.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, startups in areas such as robotic fulfilment, digital freight forwarding, returns optimisation and predictive inventory forecasting are likely to witness growth.

Clearly, investors recognise the importance of digital transformation across global supply chains. In May this year, Singapore’s Ninja Van – a tech-enabled last-mile logistics company providing services across Southeast Asia – raised US$279 million from investors, in what was one of the largest startup investments in Southeast Asia since the outbreak of the pandemic.

In fact, over US$4 billion has been invested across Asia into the supply chain and logistics development funds over the past few months, clearly highlighting the tremendous opportunity.

The pandemic has also brought to the fore the need to diversify supply chains. In the quest for self-reliance and business continuity, many are on the path to decouple their global supply chains or are reshoring manufacturing to their own countries. However, there are many others who have been left in a quandary, exacerbated by the depth and complexity of their supply chains.

International supply chains have been significantly impacted due to the lockdowns, resulting in global demand and supply slumps. However, to ensure seamless continuity of goods flow, the digitisation of supply chains is now a must to bridge that gap, and imperative to maintaining this intricate balance.

Also Read: In October, logistics tech startups continued to gain investors’ attention as the world struggled through a pandemic

Benefits of digitalisation

Interconnectivity across stakeholders is a core component to ensure that supply chains are global in nature. This is especially important to mitigate subsequent disruptions in the face of more frequent shocks.

Most enterprises don’t have nearly as much visibility into their supply chains as is ideally required to address key areas such as revenue and costs. Apart from improvements, digitisation also drives end-to-end transparency across the supply chain; in doing so, it generates valuable data to optimise and enable strategic decision making.

With the adoption of emerging technologies such as satellites, IoT devices, digital supply networks, artificial intelligence and machine learning, greater value can be unlocked to optimise supply chains.

The pandemic has only accelerated the push for digitisation in supply chains. Governments are actively participating in this push by sharpening their focus on providing funding and incentives for startups in the supply chain and logistics sector. Well before the pandemic struck, the Singapore government in 2017 set aside S$2.8 million (US$2 million) for the Supply Chain & Logistics Innovation Playground initiative aimed to help startups develop their capabilities in supply chain and logistics.

More recently, in response to COVID-19 disruptions, it announced an enhanced industry digital plan to train around 86,300 workers from the logistics sector for new roles. The plan will also provide digital solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at different stages of their growth, and approximately 5,300 SMEs stand to benefit from it.

Similarly, across the region, we have seen scores of restaurants and even mom-and-pop-styled everyday convenience stores taking their businesses online so as to counter the curtailing of outdoor movement. Taking business online is only part of the puzzle, however; the equally important aspect is to ensure that the journey of the goods to the consumer is efficient, cost-effective and easy to manage – digitisation will be key to achieving all of this.

Also Read: Andalin raises pre-Series A led by Beenext to expand its B2B logistics solutions in Indonesia

The role of startups

Startups have been playing an important role in driving innovation and digital transformation across the supply chain and logistics sector.

At Tramés, our goal as an end-to-end supply chain orchestration technology company is to create a streamlined and unified workflow for shippers and their logistics partners. With all stakeholders plugged into a digital platform, the ability to collaborate naturally increases; and doing so helps accelerate processes that are traditionally long and prone to error.

Taking an ecosystem-centric and inclusive approach to digitisation, the goal is to ensure that regardless of where a company is at in terms of digital prowess, it is able to transform its supply chain.

Due to current market conditions where negative sentiment is prevalent, startups face a greater chance of failure. Therefore, it is critical to create a conducive environment so that startups can thrive. By integrating and embracing innovative startups, it will be possible to cultivate a culture of innovation to usher in a new age of supply chain digitisation solutions.

Looking into the future

Across the board, the pandemic has led companies of all sizes to engage in cost-cutting measures. While it is important to maintain and balance costs in the current environment, it is also worthwhile to simultaneously have one eye on the future and to develop a resilient supply chain ecosystem.

It is imperative to start investing in digital supply chain infrastructure. Given the evolving nature of innovation in technologies, these investments need to be made on an ongoing basis.

Large companies need to make these investments into their innovation arms to fund research and development in this space, and to incubate ideas. Similarly, startups in this space also require adequate levels of funding and collaboration opportunities to sufficiently push the boundaries of innovation as they are in many ways at the forefront of new developments in this space.

However, in this quest, startups alone can achieve little. Partnerships that involve the corporate sector and the government can go a long way in ensuring that startups continue innovating with consistent support and backing.

Also read: How to turn product returns into returning customers this holiday season

When an entire industry, affiliated associations, the government and startups are on the same page to achieve a single goal of digitising supply chains of the future, the results can be tremendous and the benefits all-pervasive.

Only through an ecosystem-centric and inclusive approach, will we be able to realise the goal of creating supply chains that are truly sustainable, resilient and profitable.

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Homegrown autonomous maritime systems startup BeeX has emerged as the winner of the Smart Port Challenge 2020 (SPC) in Singapore, according to a joint press statement by MPA and NUS.

The second and third places were bagged by FUELSAVE (which enables utility vehicles reduce their emissions in a sustainable way) and Vulcan AI (which helps enterprises cut costs through its AI solutions).

The trio also won prize money of approximately US$7,500, US$3,700 and US$2,300, respectively.

Also Read: Magorium wins Singapore’s waste-tech startup competition WASTE 20/20

Founded in 2018, BeeX aims to reduce the costs and inefficiencies for underwater inspections via its autonomous underwater vehicles and unmanned surface vessels.

The SPC is a programme under the Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined @ BLOCK71 (PIER71), a collaboration between the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Professor Freddy Boey, NUS Deputy President (Innovation and Enterprise), said: “PIER71 is a collaborative effort that brings vital parts of the ecosystem together to fast-track technology solutions industry-wide. Our vision for this partnership with MPA is to raise the competitive edge of start-ups by injecting deep tech developed in Singapore, starting with those from NUS, to strengthen their offering to the industry, and to broaden their reach beyond Singapore.”

“In today’s age, what gives us a competitive edge is not capital but new ways to unlock value from our businesses. We must ensure that innovation thrives and flourish in Maritime Singapore. Through SPC, we support technology start-ups to co-create solutions with the industry, which can be exported worldwide,” commented Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State for Transport and Foreign Affairs.

Also Read: Danish venture builder Rainmaking launches advisory network to accelerate the growth of SEAs maritime startups

This year, SPC saw applications from 187 local startups, of which 16 were selected.

Besides providing cash grants, the programme will also provide an opportunity for all the 16 finalists to apply for a grant of up to approximately US$37,000 (S$50,000) to embark on pilot projects with maritime companies.

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Quintype, a content management software startup based in Bengaluru, India, announced today it has received US$3.4 million in Series A financing.

The round was led by IIFL AMC, a subsidiary of Indian wealth management firm IIFL Wealth Management.

The proceeds from this round will be utilised for expansion into Southeast Asia, beginning with Singapore.

According to the company, the expansion will help digital media publishers in the region move from traditional content management systems into their digital counterparts to effectively capture the booming online economy within the region.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa expansions are also on the anvil.

“As the digital hub of Southeast Asia, Singapore media publishers and content creators have been adopting a digital-first strategy, with the current pandemic accelerating the shift. With Quintype’s state-of-the-art solutions, we hope to help more local digital publishers to create the best content experience for their audience,” said Chirdeep Shetty, CEO of Quintype.

Also Read: Are you the solution to Asia’s content crisis?

Quintype was founded in 2016 by Raghav Bahl after he noticed that publishers struggled to adapt to the technological changes within the media industry.

The startup aims to provide fully-integrated software systems to enable media professionals (such as writers and editors) to distribute their content online without the need for technical skills such as programming.

With this software in place, publishers can focus on content creation and audience management without worrying about server-related issues.

Additionally, Quintype utilises data analytics to aid publishers in creating optimised content to deliver a better digital experience.

The startup claims it has served over 200 publishers worldwide and achieves a monthly viewership of over a billion readers.

“Quintype, with its suite of products, is set to accelerate the growth in digital content and publishing space. It enables more content creators to go digital easily and gives them the freedom to distribute, scale-up and monetise their content using an intuitive product with hundreds of built-in features,” added Prashasta Seth, Senior Managing Partner of IIFL AMC.

With digital consumer and advertising revenue in Singapore expected to reach S$2.9 billion (US$2.16 billion) in 2023, the SaaS startup will utilise the city-state as a launchpad for expanding its services within the region.

Also Read: 5 content marketing trends you need to heed

Alongside its financing announcement, Quintype also announced the launch of Page Builder, a layout configuration management solution that helps publishers manage website branding, layouts and styles easily through its no-code development platforms. 

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Image Credit: Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

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Steaker, a Taiwanese crypto asset management platform, has raised US$1 million seed funding from individual investors.

A notable investor is Jeffrey Huang (Machi Big Brother), a Taiwanese-American music, entertainment and technology industry leader and founder of both MITH and 17LIVE.

Founded in 2019 by Wilson Huang (CEO), Steaker has grown its asset under management (AUM) to over US$50 million.

Huang remarked that investment opportunities presented by the blockchain and crypto space should not be exclusive to the elite.

Read Also: Inside the changing landscape of Asian cryptocurrency exchanges

Therefore, Steaker distinguishes itself from conventional crypto management platforms by catering to the needs of younger and less knowledgeable investors.

“A majority of investors on our platform are retail, who account for 70 per cent of the total AUM,” Huang said.  

Despite his young age, Huang is a veteran in the blockchain space. He was previously Vice-President of decentralised social media platform MITH.

Additionally, he participated in the development of Ethereum’s layer-2 solution, Plasma.

On Steaker, users can choose from five types of investment options with different risk profiles and return characteristics, backed by strategies from stablecoin lending, DeFi yield farming, to algorithm-driven arbitrage.

In the future, Huang hopes to add more decentralised features to the platform while maintaining its convenience for non-crypto users.

With the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies over the last decade, the need for crypto-asset managers is growing. The latest study of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance estimated the number of identity-verified crypto-asset users at about 101 million globally in Q3 2020, increasing fourfold over four years.

In spite of the pandemic disrupting traditional investment vehicles, the crypto space has been witnessing rapid growth. Driven by the decentralised finance (DeFi) boom, the total value of cryptocurrency hit US$12 billion in late October.

Also Read: A lowdown on why DeFi is good for the growth of cryptocurrency

Steaker is also partnering with other digital asset management companies, local crypto exchanges and DeFi projects such as Cream Finance and WageCan to expand the scope of their offerings and enhance their portfolio management capability.

Their newly announced partnership with MaiCoin, the largest one-stop asset management platform provider in Taiwan, aims to increase the functionality and interactivity of Steaker’s platform. 

Earlier this year, Steaker was selected to join AppWorks Accelerator, the leading startup accelerator in Greater Southeast Asia (Taiwan and Southeast Asia). 

“AI, Blockchain and DeFi are the major paradigm shifts happening right in front of our eyes, creating huge opportunities for startups. In Steaker, we see a team leveraging these game-changing platform shifts in a very promising fashion,” commented Jamie Lin, Chairman and Partner of AppWorks, who is also a mentor to Steaker.

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Image Credit: Steaker

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