Self-driving cars have been all talk and very little action for nearly a decade. Operational perfection always seems “another ten years away”. This is hardly news. But there is big news on the automotive technology front. It’s called teleoperation, and it’s here to meet, and overcome challenges that autonomy cannot.

Simply put, teleoperation empowers a human to remotely monitor and control a motorised vehicle. From the operator’s standpoint it is deceptively simple. But that’s only because an ingenious and enormously complex blend of technologies makes it so.

Teleoperation enables the transmission of multiple video feeds from the vehicle to the command station, and instructions from the command station to the remotely operated vehicle, in virtual real time. However, unlike robo-taxis, autonomous pods and autonomous shuttles, teleoperation technology is road-ready right now. There is no need for new, specialised vehicles, even existing fleets can be retrofitted for remote operation.

Teleoperation’s relevance is all the more timely on account of COVID-19.

Consider the following scenarios:

A tunnel-digging vehicle must enter an extremely dangerous environment in order to perform a variety of tasks, each one with its own added hazards. For the human operator this is a high-risk operation with very real, possibly fatal, danger.

With the addition of cameras, modems and a vehicle-side (rugged) computer, this same vehicle can be operated by a human from the safety of a control centre located even thousands of kilometres away.  Furthermore, a single skilled operator can finish this operation and immediately “jump” to another location in order to perform another complex operation elsewhere entirely.

Also Read: Blockchain-based ride-hailing firm TADA raises US$5M to manufacture e-vehicles for SEA market

Relocation of the first piece of equipment can then be handled by a local driver. The ability to shift operators with the click of a button goes a long way to minimise risk, keeps workers safe, and ensures that only the most skilled people are doing the most skilled jobs.

There are some situations that already allow for vehicle autonomy. However, operational capability is limited. For example there are currently ports around the world that feature docks with Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV). These AGVs require a sterile environment in which human intervention is impossible without first shutting down the entire system throughout the particular zone.

Hence, when a single AGV gets into a situation it cannot handle – and in some ports this occurs on a daily basis – the entire zone must be shut down before an engineer can access that AGV and fix the problem. However, with teleoperation that same engineer can remotely connect with the troubled AGV in order to give commands, draw a new path, or otherwise control it without having to interrupt any other AGV’s operation. Overall productivity no longer has to suffer just because one AGV is in distress.

Forklifts are another scenario involving autonomous equipment that benefits greatly from teleoperation. These vehicles autonomously manoeuver around a warehouse or loading facility. However, the act of manipulating the fork, and the loading and unloading of goods and pallets is no easy feat and requires a human operator. Sitting in a remote location, a forklift operator can hop between vehicles as needed, while autonomy takes care of any point-to-point driving.

Now we all know about military UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) that are controlled from the ground, often thousands of miles away.  But the era of UGVs, Unmanned Ground Vehicles, is just dawning thanks, again, to teleoperation. Military forces have an acute need for the deployment of unmanned vehicles for operations in hostile environments.

Unmanned, teleoperated vehicles are poised to save countless lives, and are ideal for reconnaissance, assault, supply chain or even human transport like with extricating wounded or trapped personnel.

Also Read: Infographic: The road to self-driving cars

In each of the above scenarios teleoperation is meant to protect lives, reduce operational costs and increase efficiency. In addition, teleoperation is also environmentally sound. Most industrial vehicles are diesel powered, so any operational improvement can lead to substantial reduction in energy consumption and emissions.

For example, teleoperation can do just that by reducing dwell time for trucks waiting to pick up or unload their cargo at port entrances. Once dwell time is reduced, drivers no longer need to wait in their cabins and run their engines for heating or air conditioning.

Numerous technologies are now poised to have a huge impact on industry, productivity and the environment. Most of these will soon be ready. When they are, they should be deployed right away. Teleoperation is already past the starting gate, and ready for deployment, to increase safety, efficiency and cost effectiveness.

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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.

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

Image credit: Samuele Errico Piccarini on Unsplash

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An annual consumer computer and electronics trade show, exhibition, and conference that takes place at the renowned Dubai World Trade Centre, Gitex Technology Week is the only live and in-person global tech show happening in 2020. With over 1,200 exhibitors from over 60 countries, over 300 incredible startups from over 40 countries, and over 200 of the most active investors and VCs from over 30 countries, Gitex Technology Week is one of the most anticipated events for tech innovators from around the world.

With its mission to gather influential stakeholders and industry leaders from the global tech ecosystem to set growth strategies for the future, the 40^th edition of Gitex Technology Week happening on December 6 to 10 will be lending its support to international efforts poised to reactivate economic and investment activities in the global landscape.

Joining the roster of startups and tech innovators who will be pitching and showcasing their technologies at the Gitex Technology Week’s global stage are 15 of the top early-stage startups from South Korea.

Through the efforts of the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) and powered by SparkLabs, the 15 early-stage startups will be participating in a range of events including the Supernova Challenge (pitching competition), online booths, and networking. This initiative is set to pave the way for the 15 qualifying startups to jumpstart their venture into the UAE market.

These startups were carefully chosen after a rigorous selection process that included application review and in-person interviews, conducted as a part of a project that aims to help Korean startups showcase their businesses to international investors and potential business partners in some of the biggest tech events in the world.

The 2020 Global Pitching Competition Programme spearheaded by KISED seeks to help 45 of Korea’s early-stage startups explore the global market, discover different new technologies and innovations, and expose them to insights and best practices as shared by industry leaders from around the world.

“Korean startups have the DNA to enter the global market and we believe that through participating in these competitions, it will be an important first step towards global expansion,” share Eugene Kim, General Partner of SparkLabs.

Meanwhile, Edward Lee, Director of KISED, explained that “through participating in this event, teams who have advanced to the final rounds and even those that have not, will be able to gain a lot of valuable experience and be more prepared to venture into these countries’ markets in which these competitions take place.”

KISED aims to contribute to the development of the national economy through the growth of startup businesses and job opportunities and promote the technology-bases startups of future entrepreneurs by cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit.

Also read: KISED and SparkLabs to field Korean startups at the world’s largest tech event

15 participating startups

Ranging from various verticals including logistics, healthcare, and AI, the 15 early-stage startups that have successful qualified through the 2020 Global Pitching Competition Programme and who will be participating in the 40^th edition of Gitex Technology Week are the following:

Lives’talk – the company creates affordable and accessible solutions for the nomadic pastoralists.

Climeet – Climeet makes warm technology and service for wiser climate change adaptation.

Wonderbros – Wonderbros’ Smart Grab&Go connects people and brands by innovating offline retail experiences.

Strong Friends Company – the company offers safe exercise from connected fitness equipment with the use of IT technology.

Coconut Silo – Coconut Silo’s Cocotruck is a smart logistics solution for all stakeholders in the logistics market, which enables cargo owners to make an order in 5 minutes.

Omnis Labs Company – a computer vision platform designed for non-AI professionals.

Nuvi Labs – AI food scanner that detects the types and the amount of food available, and is used for reducing incredible amounts of food waste in kitchens and cafeterias.

BlockOdyssey – blockchain-based anti-counterfeiting solution.

KEMEDI – chat-based one-on-one expert driven care advice service operating as a family caregiver.

Marine Innovation – eco-friendly Products from Algae as alternatives to plastic and wood.

Terenz – delivers precision healthcare.

PUBLISH – content management solution helping news organisations combat misinformation and increase engagement.

BCLabs – number 1 trading strategy open marketplace where investors can shop directly for RoboAdvisor trading strategies developed by various algorithm developers.

OneCHARGE Solution – smart EV chargers & app.

UJURA COMPANY CO., LTD – AI-based feline health monitoring system.

How these early-stage startups fair so far

What makes this opportunity fantastic for these early-stage startups is how the companies themselves have been able to examine and understand how to position their businesses in UAE’s thriving market. They have also identified which particular gaps their solutions will be able to bridge, and being exposed to stakeholders and other entrepreneurs from this region only bolsters and emboldens these Korean startups.

Youngchan Yoon of Lives’talk explained that, “UAE will be a good economical, geographical, and political base for expanding our business in the Middle East and North Africa. There are lots of common ground between the pastoralists in Central Asia and the Middle East. Lives’Talk can apply knowledge and experience accumulated from Central Asia and provide the most fitting solution for the pastoralists in the Middle East.”

On the other hand, Yeseul Lee of Climeet expounded on the nature of their product and how it can ultimately figure in the UAE Market. Lee explained, “through satellite image and AI tech, Climeet has developed ‘Honey Rain’, an application which prevent crop damage from squall (tropical heavy rainfall). Due to climate change, extreme weather conditions are increasing day by day in Southeast Asia as well as in the UAE, which is located at a similar latitude (ITCZ zone).”

Lee added, “as a countermeasure against this, an interest in smart farming and precision agriculture in the UAE market has grown. Climeet provides a preemptive service to respond to the food crisis by utilising the squall forecast.”

Coconut Silo, a logistics/commercial vehicle specialised mobility startup, has found chances in UAE in two aspects: market expansion and fundraising. One stop total logistics solution, Cocotruck helps users to earn more money and save their time based on several technological features.

Also read: Why Seoul is emerging as Asia’s hottest startup hub

Meanwhile, as the leading commercial hub serving the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, the UAE (especially Dubai) continues to play a central role as a regional trade and logistics. Marine Innovation wants to let the world know that the company, an environmental Korean startup has the goal to replace single-use plastics with their 100% biodegradable, sustainable seaweed-based paper cups, disposable plates, and grocery bags at the Dubai Expo 2020. Marine Innovation, in the UAE market, will demonstrate a commitment to preserving our planet and reducing the harmful impact of plastic on existing and future ecosystems.

Lastly, PUBLISH’s core product, a blockchain-based content management solution promises to bring more transparency and press freedom to the Middle East.

These are only some of the ways in which the Korea-based early-stage startups seek to fuel the UAE market with their tech innovations, proving once again that the country’s global stamp in technology is here to stay. With this initiative, KISED and SparkLabs hope to introduce more of Korea’s finest to the global market.

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For any industry, minimising wastage is a challenge. For a sector as massive as agriculture, this becomes even more critical as every decision farmers make will affect not just the planet, but also their own livelihood.

How to tackle this problem?

Probably, India-based precision startup Fasal could help here.

An end-to-end farming app, Fasal helps horticulture farmers make smart decisions in order to maximise their yields and minimise wastage of resources, thus building a more sustainable farming culture.

What to grow?

“When a farmer wants to grow something, the first thing that he/she needs to do is make a decision about four or five things. For example, if one wants to grow a tomato, one needs to make a decision about what variety will be best suited to his weather conditions,” Fasal co-founder Shailendra Tiwari says in an interview with e27.

In his observation, farm-level decisions essentially involve thinking about irrigation, fertilisers, disease management, pest management and climate risk management. Once all these are done, the next set of decisions are made close to the harvest period about whom to sell and at what price, etc.

Although it may seem easy, these decisions are complex in nature and require plenty of predictions and analysis. Due to the lack of smart technology, most farmers are largely making these decisions based on guesswork.

“Fasal comes in handy when it comes to making a decision. A farmer with the help of Fasal can easily understand what crops are best suitable for him, when he should start growing the crop, when and how much should be irrigated and which disease comes when,” he explains.

Also Read: What Asia’s smallholder farmers really need and why startups should lead this uncontested race

Fasal Kranti

The agritech startup recently launched Fasal Kranti, a plug-and-play IoT- and sensors-based system, which helps farmers reduce their cost of cultivation and improving their per-acre yield and quality of produce.

Its sensors can monitor micro-climatic factors such as rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, LUX (unit of illuminance), solar intensity, micro-climatic factors such as temperature, humidity, leaf wetness, and below the soil parameters like soil temperature and soil moisture at multiple levels.

Fully assembled in India, the device — priced at INR 30,000 (US$407) — helps farmers in precisely managing irrigation based on specific crops at a specific stage, protecting them right from the roots of the plants and hence improving the quality of yield.

Fasal, which in October last year raised US$1.6 million led by Omnivore and Wavemaker Partners, claims that by using its device, farmers can minimise chemical residue, water usage and spray costs to up to 50 per cent.

Water-saving in irrigation will also lead to saving clean water for sanitation and other purposes, making it sustainable for the environment.

Other than having useful properties, the device has also been put together in a way that is easy to use.

Also Read: Israeli agriculture technology Phytech harvests its Series A

Once Fasal Kranti is purchased, it is deployed in a box in a completely assembled manner. All the farmer has to do is take out the device from their box and install it on the ground.

Fasal has been deployed on 10,000 acres so far.

Fasal’s rural economy vision

Despite being the second-largest producer of horticulture commodities, India (a US$3.4-billion precision agri and farm management market) fails to export even two to three per cent of its produce due to lack of quality.

By helping in the production of better quality yield, Fasal aims to improve the country’s broader rural economy and ease the life of farmers.

“We believe that in the next five to 10 years when we have deployed millions of these devices across the farms, the farms and villages may look very different. Our food will be a lot safer. We would be consuming probably half of the water that India is consuming for agriculture. Our farmers would be making a lot more money than they are doing right now,” he added.

And the moment the farmers have some more money in their hand as compared to the current situation, it is going to bring a lot of change in a rural economy.

“We believe the villages and the farmers’ standard of living may look very different. If the farmer is going to save costs in buying land, he will probably put that money in their children’s education that is going to usher a new era,” Tiwari said.

Follow your soul mission

On being asked about advice for startup founders, Tiwari humbly refused to offer any but he shared that entrepreneurship is not an easy road and sucks the life out of a person.

Also Read: What Asia’s smallholder farmers really need and why startups should lead this uncontested race

“But at the same time if you have genuinely found your calling, and believe what you are doing actually resonates with your soul, even the toughest of days won’t take you to a place where you wonder why you are doing this. You will be able to serve people nobody would have imagined you could, you will be able to build technology nobody would have imagined you could and you would be able to impact lives in ways that you will only recognise and understand after years,”.

“So however difficult it may seem, if you have truly found your calling, just go with it and then let time unfold and let time decide but give it your best,” he concluded.

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Image Credit: Fasal

 

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What’s the first thing that pops into mind when you hear the term “talkbot”? Is it Apple’s Siri telling you a joke? Or Amazon’s Alexa playing Despacito? Or Ok Google reminding you to buy eggs and cheese for your planned carbonara fiesta later tonight?

At the Google I/O developer conference held in May 2018, Google CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled their smart AI assistant Google Duplex to the world. Whilst watching the virtual conference at home, I remember feeling a mix of absolute awe coupled with something else.

Mind-blowing, right? Not only does the AI talkbot mimic the tonal inflexions of an actual human voice, but it also adds in natural verbal responses like “um” or “mm-hmm” much like what a human would do. In straightforward interactions like this, I wouldn’t be surprised if no one on the other end of the line had doubted that they were speaking to a fellow human.

This level of sophistication is precisely what many companies are trying to achieve with their conversational talkbots: a natural human voice using natural human tones. But, as much as we are in awe of the human-like responses of the AI assistant, there is also an undeniable feeling of fear deep down – a worry that AI like this could be abused for profit at the expense of others.

Does your bot have morals?

Ethical issues concerning AI have been like a sea of dark clouds threatening a thunderstorm ever since the advent of AI technology. Despite the initial excitement over AI talk bots, many people – from tech experts to restaurant owners – have expressed ethical concerns over the proliferation of AI talk bots. Ironically, making talk bots extremely human-like poses the biggest ethical concern: How would we know if the person we are talking to is really who they say they are?

This concern is not a trivial one by any measure. In an era of fake news and identity theft, it is extremely worrying that a single person with nefarious intentions could so easily disseminate false information and plunge communities into a state of panic. What’s disturbing is that this is already happening without the help of AI.

Also Read: Singtel Future Makers names 5 selected startups in their accelerator programme

With the entrance of AI, electoral processes could be sabotaged, fake kidnappings could occur, and phone scams could become a daily occurrence.

Thankfully, all’s not lost yet. With the help of Wiz.ai, an industry leader in localised conversational AI research and application, we can begin to understand AI talkbots and how WIZ.AI intends to harness the power of AI while preventing AI-rmageddon from happening.

An honest conversation

To learn more about conversational AI¹ and its associated ethics, I had a chat with Nicholas Ko of WIZ.AI, who is an avid fan of Japanese culture and how they have managed to seamlessly blend technology and tradition. Below is a transcript of the most exciting tidbits of conversation exchanged regarding this evolutionary technology.

Okay, first things first! What’s so special about you guys?

At Wiz.ai, we are revolutionising the customer service industry by using human-like Voice Artificial Intelligence to digitalise the process of in- and outbound calls.

The quest to increase revenue and reduce operating costs have pushed corporations towards mass automation at almost every customer touchpoint, resulting in impersonal, text-based, self-serve solutions which skimp on customer satisfaction.

Our goal is to use Voice AI to help companies re-engage with their customers at scale through the familiar, interactive medium of a simple phone call while ensuring cost efficiencies.

Our bespoke handcrafted customised Voice AI solution incorporates ASEAN languages and accents into the repertoire of our bots. We deliver an enhanced customer experience to ASEAN customers no matter what language or accent they speak in.

Our talkbots are designed to imitate human speech patterns to give a realistic human-to-human conversational experience – over 90 per cent of our users cannot tell the difference between our humanistic voice AI and a real person.

Also Read: Creativity is humanity’s only advantage against AI, but can bots be creative in their own right?

Is your technology essentially rendering call service workers obsolete and taking away more jobs than it creates?

We are in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the new age of AI, networks of highly interconnected smart devices, and smart systems that collect and analyse user data.

However, while AI may be more efficient at completing predictable rule-based tasked within a given framework, quickly and with a consistent level of quality, they are not better at everything. They generally lack empathy and human connection.

Wiz.ai works together with call centres to improve efficiency. By implementing Wiz.ai talkbots to handle repetitive rule-based tasks, our unique deployment of voice AI technology allows businesses to position their employees to more high-value priority tasks while the bots take the time-consuming service calls.

In a typical case, when you call in to a customer service centre, agents first capture relevant information during a call, triggering a series of rule-based questions like, “Hi, what’s your name?” or, “What’re the last four digits of your bank card number?”. They then perform robot-like actions on the backend to transfer data, retrieve data from legacy systems, offer templated replies, or transfer the call to other relevant departments.

The whole process of verifying the customer’s identity and retrieving their data from the system, till the point where customers can actually make their query takes a very long time. Imagine that being repeated a hundred times a day for that single call centre employee.

And so what WIZ.AI does is we streamline all these frontend parts – we get all the identifiers, we automate the rule-based tasks, templated replies and if needed, transfer the caller to the relevant human counterpart. This reduces the time the customer spends on hold and frees up the call centre to focus on more high-value tasks.

Another thing that we help companies with is giving them access to a whole new set of customer data. Usually it is only possible to track the customer journey online, however we provide companies with rich customer data through our client portal, which automatically records and categorises intention data from the call. This comprehensive depth of data allows companies to identify high-value customers, create a more comprehensive customer persona, and uncover any gaps in their customer experience easily.

Also Read: Singapore’s startup Wiz.ai nabs US$6M pre-Series A funding led by GGV Capital

How sophisticated can AI talkbots get? Can it ever achieve human-like intelligence?

It’s true that AI is a game changer, however, the dream to create an AI with human-like intelligence is not as simple as it seems.

The way humans think and translate words into concepts is extremely complex. Having an AI understand basic words is a relatively simple process, but, once you add slang or colloquial phrases into the mix, or even just words with more than one meaning, for example, “right”, things can get exponentially more complex.

We have to look at what kind of tasks make sense for an AI and where a human would be better suited to perform that task. Generally, we want an AI efficient at performing basic rule-based tasks quickly and consistently.

Our talkbots are designed to appear more human-like, they are crafted to imitate human speech patterns to give a realistic human-to-human conversational experience. It has features such as natural pauses, the ability to handle interruptions, continuous listening, use of chasing and clarification statements, and the ability to understand the customer’s intent from their speech.

To achieve this, the Wiz Talkbot uses multiple proprietary deep technologies – automatic speech recognition (ASR), natural language understanding (NLU), real-time text-to-speech (TTS), multi-round dialogue technology.  Furthermore, our proprietary natural language understanding model has an extensive library, which is robust, customisable, and adaptable, able to quickly learn new domain knowledge from scratch.

For example, the bot we built for one of our clients in the banking industry, is used to call customers with an overdue credit card bill reminder. It calls the customer, gently informs the customer of the overdue bill and asks if they have made payment. If they have not made payment, it follows up with when the customer expects to make payment and recommends some payment options, it is even able to negotiate for the customer to pay a smaller amount if they are unable to pay the full sum.

Also Read: Software testing and development: Why bots and AI are the future

This scenario may seem simple but in fact, has a complex multi-layer dialogue management framework which is capable of learning and evolving from every interaction to grow in sophistication.

So far we’ve talked about the benefits of AI talkbots. Are there any dangers we should be aware of?

As with all technology, there is always the risk that it might be used for nefarious purposes. Take Google Maps for example. Used correctly, it can help save countless hours giving you the quickest route to your target location. However, in the wrong hands, this technology could potentially be used to coordinate attacks.

One area I see which might be prone to abuse are scam calls, which I’m sure you have received in the past in one form or another. In America, tax scammers impersonate IRS officials to contact people demanding payment or to steal personal financial information. They do this through the phone, e-mail, text message and even through social media.

In 2019 alone, the FBI received almost 300,000 complaints to the total of US$1.3 billion, this number they estimate is only 15 per cent of the total.

Now, if we assume that one human can contact a hundred individuals a day, a bot caller can easily make 3-4 times that number. They follow their programming until they are told to stop – they are efficient, relentless and tireless. And what’s so scary about this is that they are able to be spun up exponentially with the only limiting factor being the number of phone lines the scammers have.

And this whole thing becomes just a numbers game. It basically boils down to the number of people you can call until you reach someone who is actually going to believe the caller.

Then again, conversational AI is not a new technology – the first-ever chatbot called Eliza was developed in the 1960s. The important part lies in how well you can refine the technology, which is essentially our biggest differentiator from other mass-produced bots. Compared to our handcrafted AI bots, their technology is a far cry and should not pose any real trouble.

Also Read: Ways to improve your brand awareness with chatbots

Is there a way to definitively prevent people from abusing the tech?

WIZ.AI is extremely selective about who we work with and what they would use our technology for. We always ensure that we do our due diligence when taking on new clients. Each talkbot is also protected with multiple layers of encryption and security.

As the creators of our talkbots, we are morally obligated to be the gatekeepers of it. However, as much as it frustrates us, as long as there are people with ill intent, they might use voice AI technology for the wrong reasons. The only saving grace is that mass-produced bots are easy to spot and producing a multi-dimensional talkbot requires a whole lot more information than just a couple of voice recordings. There is a lot of technology, AI training, and artistry behind the scenes in order to achieve the level of sophistication seen in our talkbots.

The only way to effectively prevent people from abusing the technology is to implement regulations that protects the customers. Similar to how the personal data protection act gives individuals control as to how their personal data is being used.

The “guns don’t kill people, people do” rhetoric is always an all too easy fallback for people who shun ethical concerns regarding advanced tools. Technology and AI communities will definitely be better off with responsible inventors and creators like WIZ.AI who use their technology to do good.

While the bulk of us may not be the decision-makers, raising such ethical concerns are just as important. After all, we are each one of us a crucial stakeholder in this high-stakes game of humans versus AI.

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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.

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

Image Credit: Benjamin Sow on Unsplash

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According to a Cento Ventures report, proceeds from the startup exits in Southeast Asia fell by nearly 50 per cent in the first half of 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic, together with its ensuing economic recession, has wreaked havoc on exit plans for startups across the region. Investors are scrutinising startups with a sharper set of lenses and a greater focus on sustainable business models. Gone are the days where startups were allowed to have a high burn rate in exchange for potential growth.

Amidst the current challenges faced in the exit landscape, David Gowdey, Managing Partner of Jungle Ventures, has a piece of advice to share.

“I think the biggest point to make is that exits have to be driven by the founders. As individualistic as each founder is, every company is on a different path,” the seasoned investor shared in an interview with e27.

Gowdey opined there are three main exit ambitions for founders, and VCs should work together with them to achieve an aligned exit strategy.

The first bucket consists of founders who desire to take their companies public through an IPO. However, he cautions only certain companies can thrive in the public markets.

Besides being of sufficient scale, companies should have what Gowdey terms “market comparables”, where there are identical listed companies in the industry for investors to compare and value the company against.

Also Read: Why the TradeGecko acquisition by Intuit is a promise fulfilled by the SEA tech startup ecosystem

The second medium of exits founders is through trade sales. These occur when a company is fully or partially acquired by another. It is usually part of a strategic plan by the acquirer to increase its market share within the industry or utilise the acquired company’s products to complement their existing offerings.

An example Gowdey shared was the complete acquisition of Jungle’s portfolio company TradeGecko by American software giant Intuit.

Another exit strategy brought up was through the sale of secondary shares. He noted this usually only applies to later-stage companies.

“If you think about Grab or gojek, early investors in those businesses would see the valuations go up. The new investors coming in will tend to purchase and invest primary capital in the company but will also purchase secondary shares from earlier-stage investors,” Gowdey explained.

Preference for trade sales

Remarking that trade sales represent the bulk of exits VCs take in the region, Gowdey shared regional stock exchanges have played a role in that preference.

Though exchanges in Thailand and Indonesia have sufficient liquidity for domestic businesses to list, there is a lack of a regional large-cap exchange such as Hong Kong or New York for tech startups to list and expand in.

Further supporting the rising trend of trade sales are the complexities present within the region. According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, Southeast Asia is one of the most diverse regions worldwide, with more than 100 ethnic groups and 655 million people speaking over 1,000 languages and dialects.

Despite being one of the fastest-growing regions worldwide, foreign companies often find it difficult to directly partake in the rapid growth in SEA, therefore turning to acquire regional companies to increase their presence here.

Also Read: Indonesia’s beauty-tech startup Social Bella raises US$58M Series E from Temasek, Pavilion, Jungle Ventures

The Managing Partner shared exits could be broadly classified under two categories — reactive or proactive.

Defining reactive exits as one where companies reach out to purchase a stake in another, Gowdey shared how the pandemic threw its fair share of curveballs during Intuit’s acquisition of TradeGecko.

“Talks started before the pandemic. Then, it went on hold in March when the stock market dropped in the US. Intuit, like most of the people, was quite worried about the future of the economy. Once the stock market rebounded and the economy stabilised, they came back and re-engaged and ultimately we got that closed,” he disclosed.

On the other hand, proactive exits entail companies reaching out to prospective investors. Given the pandemic’s increased impact on certain industries, Gowdey remarked that a founder’s view of an exit might have changed as they look to spin up a sale process due to a shortened financial runway.

Turning things around

Having worked with later-stage investments at Jungle such as Kredivo and Pomelo Fashion and overseen multiple exits including iflix to Chinese tech giant Tencent, Gowdey has seen it all as an investor.

When quizzed on what were the best traits he noticed in founders able to turn negative events around, he had a straightforward answer.

Terming negative events such as the current pandemic as “catalyst events”, Gowdey observed the best founders were able to utilise them to take a step back and re-evaluate the business.

Also Read: Companies shut down not because of crises but only when founders give up: Joseph Phua of M17

Remarking that entrepreneurship is no easy feat and founders often have their heads down working long hours to build up the business, he shared taking a step back in tough times could ultimately prove beneficial.

“The pandemic is a catalyst event to make founders kind of step back and say ‘ can I be doing this better? Am I running sales the right way? Do I need more customer support or is my marketing the best that I can be doing?’” he elaborated.

Beyond that, he encouraged founders to scrutinise their business efficiency and look for ways to reduce their OPEX while renegotiating deals amidst tightened financials.

Sufficient early-stage funding

According to reports, overall pre-Series A funding saw a 20 per cent plunge in 2020, coming off a plateau in recent years.

However, Gowdey does not view this decline as an issue for early-stage startups. Sharing that Jungle and other regional early-stage VCs such as Golden Gate and Wavemaker continue to write cheques for seed-stage startups, he opined the rise in angel investors within the region has also ensured there is no shortage of funding opportunities for early-stage startups.

“There’s a lot of angels around who will write, US$50,000-100,000 cheques. If founders can pull together a few of them, they could secure a US$500,000-600,000 dollar-type seed round,” he elaborated.

Alongside the rise of cohort-based investing by incubators run by VCs such as Accelerating Asia, Antler and Sequoia India, alternative ways of obtaining early-stage funding show the 20 per cent plunge would not be a cause for concern.

Also Read: The future VC will be a hybrid between accelerator and incubator. Here’s why

In response to whether startups should look to fundraise independently or rely on an accelerator, he shared the decision would be dependent on the characteristics and needs of each company.

Accelerators that support companies in business development or talent acquisition would serve well for companies that can benefit from these opportunities.

“On the other hand, founders may have a complete team formed and have friends and family who can raise enough of the seed round that they don’t need to be part of a seed fund or an incubator accelerator. They’re happy to do it on their own,” Gowdey concluded.

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Image Credit: Jungle Ventures

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