Malaysian VC firm Xeraya Capital is among the investors who have participated in the US$34 million Series B financing round of InterVenn Biosciences, a US-based precision medicine firm.

US-based Anzu Partners led the oversubscribed round. Genoa Ventures, Amplify Partners, True Ventures, and the Ojjeh Family, are the other participants.

InterVenn will use the funds to commercialise the diagnostic tool for ovarian cancer, increase partnerships and to accelerate development efforts for the company’s immuno-oncology treatment response and colorectal cancer indications.

According to Crunchbase, InterVenn has raised a total of US$43 million to date, which also included its US$9.4 million Series A in 2018.

The San Francisco-based company utilises Artificial Intelligence and mass spectrometry to develop precision medicine capabilities. Utilising these capabilities, it aims to formulate treatments for ovarian, pancreatic, liver, prostate and kidney cancers. 

Also Read: Roundup: Malaysi’ss Xeraya Capital joins US firm Greenlight Biosciences’s US$17M funding

“InterVenn enables a powerful new class of cancer diagnostics based on glycobiology. Advances in computation and chemistry will enable its unique, high throughput platform to have a dramatic positive impact on human health,” said Michael in a written statement.

In the coming months, the company will be finalising its diagnostic tool to go into the clinic next year after identifying both U.S. and overseas clinics that are interested, as well as continue investing in the platform. 

Also Read: This Machine Learning startup helps breast cancer patients customise treatment, predicts risk of recurrence

“We are just speeding up what they have been doing,” InterVenn CEO Aldo Carrascoso told Crunchbase News. “We already have over 2,000 indications.” 

Despite InterVenn only launching in 2017, the science behind their innovation was discovered decades ago. The company claims its goal is to match people with drugs in a way that not only finds the best one but also reduces the cost of the therapy, which can exceed thousands per dose. 

Xeraya is a global investor in the life sciences sector with offices in Kuala Lumpur and Boston.

In May this year, Xeraya invested in Greenlight Biosciences, another US firm that focuses on the sustainable production of chemicals and fuels, along with Baird Capital and Flu Lab.

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Image Credit: Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

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Sea’s Q3 2020 revenue doubles but loss widens; Net loss was US$425M in Q3 v/s US$206M a year ago as it heavily invested in SEA market expansion drive amid growing demand for digital services; The GMV for the e-commerce unit was US$9.3B, more than double that of the year-earlier quarter. Nikkei Asia Review

Telkomsel invests US$150M in gojek; This strategic investment takes place about six months after gojek received funding from Facebook, PayPal; The two giants will also collaborate on growing Indonesia’s digital lifestyle sector and increasing the advertising technology solutions available to merchants of all sizes. e27

Seven reasons for Alibaba’s success; The main objectives of Alibaba innovation is to allow disadvantaged cities and persons to create, implement and develop business through the Alibaba platform; Especially the western China which is still undeveloped compared to the west. Digital Commerce 360

KOL Speak
Startup exits: Stakeholders often prioritise glitzy exits, not the long-term longevity of the firm; According to Jasmine Ng (ex-CEO of Razer Fintech), while those who make a quick buck off the exit may still profit, it ultimately hurts consumers and those genuinely interested in building the next big business. e27

Outside world
How Gaza’s only accelerator nurtures tech startups amid political unrest; This is the story of Gaza Sky Geeks (GSG), the only startup incubator in the city that provides opportunities for young Palestinian entrepreneurs to kickstart their own startups, and how they build companies amid airstrikes and rocket launches. e27

What China’s fintech market can teach the world; It’s certainly the world’s largest market for fintech; Even though in the payments space things look pretty saturated between Ant and WeChat, there are so many areas that they’re expanding into like credit and insurance, where there’s still a lot of room for growth. TechCrunch

Employee health benefit startup Mednefits raises US$5.95M Series A led by BLoyalty; B Infinite (BLoyalty’s digital engagement platform) will work with Mednefits to enhance and automate medical benefits for its clients’ employees across Singapore and Malaysia; The startup claims its platform has connected over 50K employees from 500 companies to over 2K healthcare providers. e27

Malaysia’s cloud-based F&B management platform Food Market Hub (FMH) lands US$4M Series A; The round was co-led by Go-Ventures and SIG; It plans to expand into Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam; FMH supports over 2K F&B outlets across Malaysia, Singapore, HK, Taiwan. It processes ~US$200M in purchase orders on an annual basis. e27

Indian content management startup Quintype bags US$3.4M to expand to SEA; The startup aims to provide fully-integrated software systems to enable media professionals to distribute their content online without the need for technical skills such as programming. e27

Delving into Singapore’s smart-city startups and the funds flowing into the sector; Funding to startups in IoT, digital payments and cleantech rose from just US$84.8M in 2015 to US$276.7M in 2020 so far; Most smart-city startups in these areas are in the early stages of their funding journey; This indicates the relative newness of smart city solutions as an area of interest for investors. TechInAsia

Krosslinker raises US$1.25M to develop thermal insulating nano-material for pharma industry; Investors include 500 Startups (lead), Seedscapital, Entrepreneur First; Krosslinker has developed a tech to manufacture aerogels and conduct pilot trials with their customers. e27

Filipino social e-commerce platform Resellee raises US$1M; Mintech Enterprises and Hofan Capital are among its backers; The app allows any Filipinos to buy and sell products to his/her network of friends on social media without having to buy products or inventory. e27

17LIVE founder joins crypto asset management startup Steaker’s US$1M seed round; The platform mainly caters to the needs of younger and less knowledgeable investors; A majority of investors on its platform are retail accounting for 70% of total AUM. e27

Magorium wins Singapore’s waste-tech startup competition WASTE 20/20; Indian startup Ishitva Robotic Systems and UK-based data and analytics startup Topolytics shared the second place; Founded last year, Magorium converts plastic into polymers, which are then used to produce high-quality bitumen used for road construction. e27

BeeX wins Singapore’s Smart Port Challenge 2020 for its innovative autonomous maritime solutions; The second and third places were bagged by FUELSAVE and Vulcan AI, respectively; The three firms also won a prize money of approximately US$7.5K, US$3.7K and US$2.3K, respectively. e27

Swedish MNCs team up with Singapore SMEs in partnership programme; It includes an ad campaign sponsored by the MNCs to promote the local SMEs, and regular partner meetings dubbed Fika4Good; The one dozen participating SMEs, ranging from hawkers to tailors, were selected in cooperation with ESG and the NEA. e27

Thailand’s growing appetite for plant-based food products; As per a research, 79% of individuals would prefer healthier options to standard meat-based products; 76% of the respondents agree that plant-based proteins are as nutritious as animal products, and 55% felt that they taste better than the meat options. Tech Collective

COVID-19 impact accelerates IoT projects in Singapore; A survey says 86% of businesses that have already adopted IoT in Singapore are accelerating some IoT projects because of the pandemic; Among APAC companies that have reduced costs thanks to IoT, almost three quarters (73%) reported savings of at least 30%. Tech Coffee House

Southeast Asia’s often overlooked tech and innovation hub; One very overlooked country is Vietnam; Its digital economy is estimated to hit US$33B in value by 2025; In addition to large technology companies such as Samsung and Nokia moving some operations to the country, Vietnam’s start-up sector is also booming. Tech Collective

What will the next wave of VC investment in HR tech look like?; HR tech is considered white-hot, because companies operating in talent-constrained environments seek to invest in tools to help them better recruit, develop, and support their workforces; A record amount of capital has gone into AI solutions for talent recruitment. e27

What developers need to know about tomorrow’s tech today; As the software stakes get higher and product managers continue to set software development goals, it makes sense that developers will end up embedded on business teams rather than tech teams; Software is critical to success so should be located with the biz rather than in the IT department. e27

Future of femtech and technology: an emerging innovative crossroads; Several aspects have helped propel the agenda of femtech; More women are taking up tech roles that were traditionally held by men; As this representation grows, awareness of health issues that primarily affect women is increased. HIT Consultant

How cloud computing is helping startups navigate the new normal; In Singapore, the public cloud services market is expected to grow by 13 per cent from 2019 to 2020; All that cloud promises when it comes to elastic consumption, agile development, and global reach are in demand, and the value is being realised across the region. e27

Why it is imperative to invest in digitalising the supply chain; 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; Digitisation drives end-to-end transparency across the supply chain; In doing so, it generates valuable data to optimise and enable strategic decision making. e27

Vietnam launches akaBot platform to digitally transform businesses; akaBot is a RPA solution for businesses with virtual assistants capable of simulating human manipulation, helping perform repetitive tasks in large numbers; It’s capable of integrating AI and optical character recognition tech to build non-invasive automation solutions, which can interact with all business software. Open Gov

Grab ties up with Lazada in Vietnam; The two will enhance services across various sectors that offer more sophisticated digital experiences to consumers; They will cater to consumers’ increased digital needs, support social commerce and micro-entrepreneurs and provide more income opportunities for our delivery partners. Vietnam News

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Image Credit: Sea Group

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Philippine Startup Week (PHSW20) is back for its second edition on November 23-27 with the aim to highlight the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit.

Taking on the theme of “Filipino Startups Powering Up the New Normal,” the event will showcase the nation’s thriving startups and focus on stakeholders contributing to the growth of the local startup ecosystem.

One of Philippines largest startup conferences, the event is jointly organised by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), QBO Innovation Hub, and various private organizations and community partners.

The five-day virtual conference will be held via an online platform that aims to allow attendees to learn, interact, network, and collaborate remotely.

Also Read: Why it is important for tech companies to expand outside metro cities in the Philippines

DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez underscored the agency’s support for Philippine startups during and beyond the current health crisis, especially as it would also help the country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) while also creating more jobs for Filipinos.

“Globalising the Philippine startup ecosystem remains our goal, and our desire to do so has intensified amidst the pandemic. In these trying times, DTI is committed to empowering innovative Filipino startups that foster the digitalization of our MSMEs,  enhance their productivity, and promote their resilience,” according to Lopez.

“Philippine Startup Week continues to be an amazing opportunity for innovative startup founders to connect, collaborate, and gain exposure to investors, sponsors, and fellow founders,” said DOST Secretary Fortunato T. De La Peña.

“As the government remains true to its commitment of elevating the country’s startup ecosystem, PHSW20 aims not only to celebrate entrepreneurship, particularly technopreneurship, but also to increase access to it by continuously fostering an engaged community and by providing opportunities to push the boundaries of technology and innovation,” he added.

“As a community-focused conference, Philippine Startup Week showcases the bustling startup scene and brings together the Philippines’ dreamers, thinkers, change-makers, innovators, and entrepreneurs,” said DICT Secretary Gregorio B. Honasan II.

PHSW20 features five tracks — Discover, Develop, Collaborate, Invest, and Showcase. It will include three main events by the co-organisers and community events hosted by partner organisations and supported by AWS, Microsoft and Google.

The event is also set to feature startups from different programs, including the Emerge X Regional Pitching Competition led by Microsoft, the Top 100 Startups by QBO, and Seedstars Manila Competition.

Startup topics such as bouncing back from the pandemic, incubators emerging during the pandemic and opportunities for collaboration amidst the adversity, will also be discussed by a panel of seasoned entrepreneurs and industry experts.

Also Read: 3 startups thriving amidst COVID-19 lockdown in the Philippines

QBO Innovation Hub, the country’s first public-private initiative for startups and one of the main organizers of PHSW, will oversee overall operations throughout the conference.

“The PHSW20 this year is dedicated to celebrating significant strides in building a more dynamic startup scene while showcasing achievements of the Philippine entrepreneurial community in powering up the new normal,” said QBO Innovation Hub President Rene Meily.

“This will further position the Philippines as an innovation powerhouse that will ultimately define the future of tech and innovation across Southeast Asia. Just holding this conference in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis is a victory,” added Meily.

For more information, visit the Philippine Startup Week website here or register here to join the event.

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Image Credit: PHSW20

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You’re probably well aware of the effects on ASEAN’s economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but how do you look past the horizon?

For any startup, forging and adapting your long-term vision is imperative to drive success. Even for investors and corporates, understanding how this pandemic’s long-term impact is crucial to making their respective managerial and investment decisions. 

As part of our three-day Vietnam Venture Summit, we gathered industry veterans and policy influencers to get their take on what’s ahead. The summit’s first panel (video) was moderated by Bruce Delteil, Partner at McKinsey in Vietnam with over two decades of international experience.

Panelists included: Dong Jun Im (CEO of Hanwha Life Vietnam), Bernard Thiam Hee Ng (Senior Economist at Asian Development Bank), Steve Okun (CEO of APAC Advisors and ASEAN Rep. to EMPEA), Nam Thieu (General Director of Qualcomm Vietnam), and Jeffrey Joe (Founding Partner Alpha of JWC Ventures).

Disruptions, solutions, and revolutions

Every region was disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak. But while the virus has affected every nation, its timing, degree of shock, and countries’ responses have varied significantly. 

Here are a few key takeaways: Firstly, the pandemic’s economic hysteresis may spur ASEAN’s investment in sustainable infrastructure. Steven Okun had particularly astute observations in this area: fintech wave is moving trends in sustainable initiatives that have been a long time coming in financial inclusion, renewable energy and agritech.

On the same note, Bernard Thiam called for ASEAN to shift policy focus from financial support to transforming the economy with investments in basic, sustainable infrastructure. This yields a smoother transition to near-term job creation and future sustainable growth. 

For instance, although ASEAN’s internet penetration is rising, Indonesia’s 38 per cent of people still don’t have access – that’s over 100 million Indonesians. In a post-pandemic world, we’ll witness accelerated internet penetration as a result of considerable government investments in such areas.

With regards to the green energy facet, the market is largely untapped because ASEAN economies’ renewable power capacity is on average ten per cent lower than that of the Asian average of 34 per cent (Garrett-Peltier, 2017).

Economies in the ASEAN could invest in such infrastructure to support startups and corporations’ ethics-driven business models alike.

Next, a post-COVID world will invariably demand the continuous shift towards digital technologies as a cornerstone of business strategy – no longer making technology a strategic move, but an essential element to growth.

Also read: COMEUP 2020: Ushering the post-pandemic future with startups at the helm

Not only is the success underlined in the e-commerce channels, but also the accommodation of remote workers. In the long term, consumers and businesses will be unprecedentedly reliant on technology for expenditure and day-to-day operations, respectively. 

 Thirdly, emerging ASEAN countries may become an epicentre of labour-intensive manufacturing work. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak during this past March, trade was already regionalising in ASEAN.

Given the increasing geopolitical tensions between today’s gigantic manufacturing hubs and developed economies’ businesses, Nam Thieu can attest to global firms inclined to diversify their sourcing to ASEAN countries– a main motivator for Qualcomm’s recent talent initiatives in the region.

This enticement could be the ASEAN countries’ impetus to the development of labor-intensive manufacturing plants. Case in point, Vietnam has famously become a key manufacturer for Google’s and LG’s globally shipped smartphones. 

Penultimately, the post-COVID age presents a paradigm shift around its digital transformation and political tension between trade and protectionism. Akin to the G10 economies, ASEAN countries will experience increased demand for skilled workers in information technology fields. Vietnam is perfectly placed with its strong pipeline of tech talent, fostered by years of education and retraining by the government.

Jefrey Joe and Steven Okun also commented on the often contradictory factions within the region’s ruling parties: rising nationalist tendencies coexisting with the interest in opening up to trade deals and international competition.  

The catalyst for organisational change

As a startup founder, it’s imperative to reflect on the panelist’s insights within the meaning of your business: the context of your customer’s evolved needs and wants, your startup’s value proposition, and its overall resource-constrained capabilities.

Will your customer’s spending patterns change after the pandemic? Do new delivery channels need to be considered (e.g., switching from physical retail to e-commerce)? Do you need to take safety precautions even after the pandemic, particularly if you offer services that must be performed face-to-face? 

In a future of a technologically adept workforce, it’s important to strategise how you differentiate your product(s) digitally, notably in the light of the user experience and user interface. Supply chain and production capacities will be at the forefront of your mind – especially for resource-intensive startups – since cross-border supply chains will have been disrupted.

Ultimately, it’s crucial to assess where your startup’s business model lies within the aforementioned considerations upon hearing the panelist’s insights on the macroeconomic status of the ASEAN economy.

The learning doesn’t end here

The Vietnam Venture Summit is the (semi-virtual) place to be if you’re yearning for answers about how to navigate your startup beyond these turbulent times. You’ll have the opportunity to hear from ASEAN’s top CEOs, investors, and Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister.

With contributions from Timo Fukar

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In 2014, Singapore launched its Smart Nation initiative: a national-level digitalisation and automation master plan that seeks to maximise the country’s digital potential. Through this, Singapore hopes to foster growth and bolster its digital economy.

When it comes to the complex needs of building a Smart Nation, what digital transformation the Singapore government imbues upon its systems and processes must be, to some extent, matched by the private sector’s digital capabilities in order for the country’s collective digital potential to be maximised.

To support this smart nation initiative, network infrastructure must not only be robust and secure, but must also have inbuilt intelligence and reliability to support digitalisation efforts.

One way to deliver such a connectivity solution is software-defined networking (SDN) with Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV).

Digitalisation and automation powered by SDN

The SDN completely changes the game in this space: since it is primarily a software technology, it doesn’t have to yield to the limitations of hardware tech. Its emergence has redefined what it means to implement large-scale computing infrastructure in a completely virtual environment. Through the cloud, what typically takes weeks can now be pushed to the customer at an accelerated rate.

Ushering SDN’s latest technology into the Singapore market is SPTel, a joint venture company of ST Engineering and SP Group. The company is also known for its unique and diverse fibre pathways that combine leased SP Group infrastructure and owned fibre pipes, laid alongside the power network cables, providing enterprises with true network diversity.

SPTel terms this as their business class digital network and through it delivers ICT solutions on an “everything-as-a-service” model. By integrating this with a front-end customer portal and automated backend processes, SPTel has effectively gone digital in their solution offering. This allows customers to receive instant quotations without manual processes to minimize the risk of human errors.

Also read: Amidst uncertainty, digitalisation requires reliable connectivity

With network functions being deployed virtually, additional service requests or upgrades can be completed within minutes instead of days. This increased agility improves the speed at which organisations can react to changing network requirements with on-demand services such as additional bandwidth or cybersecurity.

This also allows for an improved total cost of ownership for the network, with services provisioned on an “as-needed” basis. This allows users to only pay for the bandwidth and services used according to their operational needs, as opposed to spending on oversizing to anticipate occasional peaks.

Susan Loh, VP, Sales, Marketing and Business Development, shares more, “ Our cutting edge digital solutions change the way you think about and plan for your network. By introducing innovative and sustainable commercial models such as dynamic resource allocation, customers can have greater control and clarity over their network expenditure and even optimize their performance as needed to ensure the best digital experience for their customers.”

SPTel’s Business Class Digital Network also provides an added layer of security for its users. This clean pipe network comes with inbuilt DDoS attack detection to alert users of threats on their network. Mitigation can then be done on the fly to minimize the business impact. This is part of a full suite of cyber-solutions that can be provisioned on-demand, including: Virtual Firewall, Virtual Web Application, and Virtual Secure Email Protection.

Holistic digital transformation

To support businesses that are currently operating with segregated teams or work from home arrangements and are struggling to find a solution to extend the secure corporate network environment to the home, SPTel has integrated an SDWAN solution with their Business Class Digital Network. This removes the need for additional VPNs and improving the productivity of segregated teams. IT managers can now monitor network utility, manage network traffic and configurations, and securely connect employees working on their home networks.

This provides users with a one-stop management dashboard that allows them full control over their ICT applications, streamlining security, network traffic, and other controls in one convenient virtual platform.

SPTel’s commitment to digitalisation

SPTel recently partnered up with the Connectech Asia 2020 conference for the inaugural Virtual Connectech Event. The three-day event featured an exciting line-up of speakers and engagement opportunities with players from all across the industry. There, SPTel unveiled their business class digital network, opening doors for organisations and enterprises across Singapore to accelerate their efforts towards digital transformation.

Also read: Malaysia as springboard to the ASEAN: A tech pass for global entrepreneurs

To see their solution in action for yourself, SPTel would like to invite you to request for an Innovation Hub Tour. This tour will provide an exclusive look at their new digital services and network capabilities. Request for a tour here.

At their core, SPTel provides reliable connectivity services as an alternate network provider in Singapore with unique fibre pathways. The digital services provider offers 2-tier network structure that enables data to travel through fewer hops for ultra-low latency performance of less than 1 millisecond island-wide between SPTel’s exchanges. Coupled with their pervasive hubs for edge computing and award-winning IoT-a-a-S platform, SPTel is well poised to be the digital services partner of choice for Singapore.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by 
SPTel.

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