This year has presented significant challenges for businesses across the globe. In Australia specifically, we are seeing strong signs of recovery, although with the continuing economic downturn, firms will continue to face difficult decisions in 2021. 

Cash flow, managing costs and bringing in revenue are part of the normal day-to-day for businesses, all linked to the payment collection journey. The pandemic has accentuated the importance of doing this well, prompting many firms to reassess their processes. 

A recent Forrester report commissioned by GoCardless reveals some of the most common pain points businesses face when it comes to collecting payments – pain points that have become top of mind during COVID-19. Some key findings highlight the connection between failed payments and negative business impacts that have long-lasting ramifications on both a business’ bottom line and its customers. 

Moreover, as payment woes come to the forefront, we are also seeing a rise in the subscription economy, with research by Zuora indicating that 70 per cent of firms in Australia and New Zealand plan to shift to a subscription model within the next two to three years. To reap the benefits of a subscription economy however, businesses need the right payments infrastructure to support it. 

Addressing both of these issues comes down to implementing a strong payments strategy. 

Also Read: How understanding culture can drive digitalisation of payments in Myanmar

Despite not knowing what 2021 will bring, proactively rethinking your payments strategy now will help mitigate risk and see success in the new year. Here are three reasons why: 

Businesses are waiting longer than ever to get paid

The Forrester report reveals that late payments have sharply increased since COVID-19, with the average Day Sales Outstanding (DSO) for businesses at 20 to 30 days. As a result, 77 per cent of companies say it is a high or critical priority to address in 2021. 

Late payments are more than just inconvenient; they lead to long-term damage. 

Xero’s Economic Impact Report shows businesses that are paid late grow their revenue at three times a slower rate than their paid on-time counterparts, proving that every day outstanding is another day firms cannot re-invest their money and grow. To survive and even thrive in the wake of COVID-19’s devastation, businesses must look at new ways to manage cash flow more efficiently; maximising predictability and minimising risk. 

There are a few options out there for businesses, but the key is using integrated and automated payment platforms, where

a) the business is in control of initiating the payment on the due date; and

b) visibility of the payment status is clear.

Typically, this will mean working with partners whose platform can be integrated into the billing or accounting system they use every day – or better yet, are already integrated. 

With the right partners to support a strong payments strategy, organisations can automate peripheral processes and create greater consistency around cash flow.

Also Read: 4 ways digital payments are helping businesses thrive amid a global recession

Chasing payments is costly

Payments are a complex and high-touch function. As a result, despite being an essential part of the customer journey, they are mostly non-specialised and neglected within leadership and C-level teams. 

The average firm has between 20 to 30 full-time employees managing finances, with manual administrative processes, such as matching payments to invoices, cited as the most time-consuming tasks for 60 per cent of businesses. That is talent that could be re-deployed within organisations to create bigger impacts. 

Moreover, the cost of chasing payments is on the rise, with Australian businesses spending 11 to 15 per cent of an invoice total on recovering that payment if it fails. 

Now with COVID-19 forcing the majority, if not all, payments online, firms are struggling to manage the complexities of a digital payments landscape. 

Automating payment processes and using APIs to integrate elements of your billing stack can minimise the reliance on human-touch, as well as create more seamless payment experiences for finance teams and customers alike. 

To operate in an economy increasingly driven by digital payment methods, firms must modernise their payments infrastructure or risk the revenue drains of outdated processes. 

Failure and frustration

If your business bottom line was not enough motivation to rethink your payments strategy, consider the impact of payments on your customer relationships. 

There is a clear link between failed payments and negative impacts on customers, with payment failures resulting in churn 11 to 15 per cent of the time. What’s more, 54 per cent of businesses agreed that failed payments lead to increased customer dissatisfaction. Every time a payment fails, you are asking a customer to re-evaluate their relationship with your brand.

Also Read: PayMongo nets US$12M Series A led by Stripe to leverage Filipinos’ growing shift to digital payments

How you handle those failures is incredibly important and a poor recovery experience will only spoil the relationship further. 

That is a position that no business wants to be in. 

Consider a holistic payments strategy that is not only centred on internal operational efficiencies, but the customer experience. This includes payment preferences, coverage and smart technologies for optimal payment retries. The more seamless their experience is, the more loyal a customer becomes. 

As we recover from a crisis that has spurred equal part innovation and chaos, firms have an opportunity to restructure their business models for long-term continuity and success,  based on newfound and emerging customer payment trends. 

Financial transformation plays a significant role in the ‘new business normal’ meaning now is the time to rethink your payments strategy to save your customers and bottom line.

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The post 3 reasons to rethink your payments strategy in 2021 appeared first on e27.

Sembrani Nusantara Fund (SNF), a new fund launched recently by Indonesian corporate VC firm BRI Ventures, has led an undisclosed Series A investment in Indonesian direct-to-consumer (D2C) shoe brand Brodo.

Local VC firm GDP Venture also joined the round and the size of the investment remains undisclosed.

As per a press statement, the fresh funds will be used to bankroll Brodo’s product innovation and strengthen its supply chain network to increase local market penetration.

This is SNF’s second investment since its launch in mid-2020 and marks BRI Ventures’s first step into the new retail space. SNF made its debut with a US$2 million investment in local made-to-order drink brand Haus! earlier this month.

Also Read: BRI Ventures’s Sembrani Nusantara fund hits first close at US$10M; Grab and Celebes Capital among investors

Established in 2010, Brodo specialises in men’s fashion. It merges the online and offline shopping experience with three brick-and-mortar shops in Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya.

Yukka Harlanda, CEO of Brodo, said: “With this funding, we will double down on our product innovation and strengthen our supply chain network to help deeper penetrate Indonesia’s market. We are also preparing for our second stage of growth in order to fulfil a specific mission of making Indonesian brands cool again. This will ignite the revolution of digital-first microbrands.”

Also Read: D2C: Is it time for the next phase of ecommerce in SEA?

“Brodo’s expertise in leveraging social media platforms and e-commerce marketplaces allows the brand to position itself as an affordable, yet high-quality and unique, alternative to the homogenous options presented by international labels,” SNF head Markus Liman Rahardja said.

The Brodo team has also developed Boleh Dicoba Digital (BDD), a digital marketing platform, which will soon be available for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the archipelago.

“Brodo’s strong understanding of how best to utilise branding and a strong desire to support micro, small, and medium enterprises expands the possibilities we can explore down the road,” said Nicko Widjaja, CEO of BRI Ventures.

“BDD has been powering local brands. I believe this platform will onboard more small and big brands alike. I hope we’re witnessing the birth of a cloud marketing platform, similar to what AWS as a cloud computing and API platform is to Amazon,” he opined.

Launched in June 2020, the SNF aims to build a pipeline for Indonesian startups to grow and find good exits. The fund looks beyond typical investment areas such as fintech and focuses on MSMEs while aligning their investment thesis around the areas of education, agro-maritime, retail, transportation and healthcare.

 “The investment into Brodo fits with our localised retail focus while the brand’s digital marketing chops play into the fund’s goal to discover and build up fellow MSMEs,” Rahardja added.

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Image Credit: Brodo

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One Click Shop may not be a unicorn but this e-commerce startup from Bhutan understands the industry better than any other tech giants out there.

The two-year-old firm, founded by brothers Deepak Upreti and Rohit Upreti and close family friend Zigyal Tshering, also seeks to stand out from the crowd with its novel business model.

“Unlike the traditional e-commerce marketplaces that allow users to sell their products online, we take the full charge of the entire process,” Rohit Upreti told e27.

This it means is that all the products (primarily FMCG goods) displayed on its platform are imported by the company from outside Bhutan. “A customer visiting our site simply needs to add products in their cart. We will then deliver them at their doorsteps,” he explained.

What makes the service stand out is that the startup has free delivery for all of its products no matter how low the price which even Amazon doesn’t do, Upreti quips.

But the challenges are plenty. One of the major challenges is the slow pace of shift of the customer mindset from the traditional means of shopping towards a more digital experience.

“Unlike people in other countries where tech is widely embraced, Bhutanese are still not willing to make the digital shift. Because of this, foreign as well as home-grown tech companies have failed to make a mark in the Kingdom,” he said.

“There is a push from the government to promote the tech ecosystem but the reality is that tech has not been successful here because it all comes down to how the market responds, the population and what the continuity of services is like. There was a boom of taxi apps like Ola but almost all of them are not functioning at scale because the market is not responding properly,” he said.

Also Read: 7 principles of intelligent personalisation

So how did One Click Shop go from catering to 200 households to 60,000 households within a short period?

Personalising the brand

According to Deepak Upreti, Bhutanese people are a close-knit society which tends to even remember the delivery boys/girls by their names, which is generally unheard of in the fast-paced 21st century.

Since personalisation is such an important part of the culture, One Click Shop decided to pivot its model from an app-based model to a web model and then to social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

“Eighty per cent of our customers were ordering online through our website, not on our app. And once we went to meet them, they shifted from website to Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. Downloading an app and using it is not how customers like to do it here, but they are more comfortable toward using websites or conducting a dialogue through social media,” he said.

Upreti has however added that it is not that people don’t understand tech or that the company is focused on an older population. It is just that people in this market like to do things traditionally and it is essential to establish a very personal relationship with the clients.

Crowdfunding 

Aside from making sure that the company delivers a human touch along every step of the delivery process, One Click Shop managed to raise close to BTN$8.5 million (close to US$1,15,000) from the public population via a crowdfunding platform in Bhutan.

“We were the first startup in the country to put our shares into the market, and that’s how people got more connected to us,” he said.

While startups are not allowed to put their shares for public sales in the Kingdom, One Click Shop was an exception. Because, after its external auditing process, the company showed strong signs of profit after just 18 months of its inception.

Also Read: Meet the 15 Asian startups that will advance to Seedstars World Competition 2020

“We are constantly focused on moving towards the secondary stock market this year so that our share can be traded double the times. Our goal is to go IPO, and at the same time, we are also looking towards moving to export,” Upreti revealed.

Managing finances responsibly

The startup also raised an undisclosed amount of loan from the government which currently makes up 10 per cent of the entire business.

“We are strictly focused on doing business where we can get low investment and high returns. And that’s primarily how we increase our capital,” he said.

They were also the regional winners of Seedstars World Competition and will be entering its next phase where 10 startups will receive US$50,000 in the growth program investment as well as the chance to compete at the Grand Finale for a shot at the “Global Winner prize of US$500,000 in equity investment”.

Ramping up marketing strategies

As with any other country, savings are a big deal in any household, therefore the company regularly tends to provide people with savings deals, cashback policies and loyalty points that they would generally not find anywhere.

The company has also come up with several policies over the time being to get customers to shop with them.

For example, the company has a green policy, where they urge their customers to store their plastics until the next delivery after which the company helps them dump the plastic effectively.

Other than that the brand also has partnerships with many local influencers and celebrities to attract more clients.

“But even after everything we still see that there is another 50 per cent of the market yet to be captured but the rise in the growth of consumer is still going strong,” he shared.

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Image Credit: One Click Shop

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UOB Venture Management (UOBVM), the private equity arm of UOB and Credit Suisse, has announced that it has closed its second impact fund at over US$60 million.

The Asia Impact Investment Fund (AIIF II) received capital commitments from major institutional and accredited investors, including UOB and several unnamed global family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

The final close of the fund is expected to be completed next year, with a target of US$100 million to be raised in total, as per a press statement.

Also Read: UOB partners cloud accounting firm Xero to ease SMEs; bookkeeping woes

Geared towards making a social impact, AIIF II will look to invest in companies whose business models revolve around improving the livelihoods of underserved communities in Southeast Asia and China.

The fund will make equity investments of about US$1 million to US$15 million into private, high-growth companies in sectors such as agriculture, education, healthcare and logistics, or sectors that focus on improving the accessibility of affordable housing, sanitation, clean water and energy.

Other than its current fund, UOB also has Asia Impact Investment Fund I which invests in similar companies and had raised US$55 million in 2016. Some of its notable investments include agritech company TaniHub, healthcare company Halodoc, and gojek.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: UOB’s VC firm makes 1st close of its impact fund at US$60M; Indonesian startups raise US$1.9B by Q3 2020

To date, the fund claims to have helped more than 15 million low-income individuals to benefit from the efforts of the AIIF I’s portfolio companies, from getting higher income to better access to financing or affordable and quality products and services.

“The success of the AIIF I and the momentum of the AIIF II to date reflect investors’ growing emphasis on sustainability. While we seek to achieve quality financial returns for our investors, we also continue to partner them in generating positive social impact by helping the vulnerable segments of the community across Southeast Asia and China. Our common goal of advancing social development through investments underpins our joint efforts to forge a sustainable future for all,” said Seah Kian Wee, CEO of UOBVM.

COVID-19 has exacerbated global poverty and is estimated to push up to 150 million more people into extreme poverty by 20215, including tens of millions in Southeast Asia.

The unprecedented global pandemic has set back the progress made to alleviate poverty, which was already affected by socioeconomic tensions and climate change.

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Image Credit: UOB

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In this day and age, where do you go when you want to learn more about the investors who are active in the region AND connect with them directly?

That’s a question we wanted to be answered by e27 Pro Connect. It launched at 300 investors on board the Connect feature and now, a few months after launching, we’ve added more active investors to Connect.

So, here’s the third batch of investors joining Connect (see first and second batches).

Agaeti Ventures
Stages: Angel/Pre-Seed, Seed, Pre-Series A/Bridge, Series A
Verticals: All
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Agaeti Ventures: Agaeti Venture Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm founded by seasoned entrepreneurs and investors who have extensive industry experiences in Southeast Asia. We believe in bringing strategic value and partnership beyond capital contribution to optimize synergic growth and impact.
Connect with them

Do Ventures
Stages: Seed, Pre-Series A/Bridge, Series A, Series B
Verticals: E-commerce, Education, Enterprise Solution, Healthtech, ICT, Insurtech, Mobile, Transportation, Travel
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Do Ventures: Our philosophy is Growing by Doing. We believe that entrepreneurs who are willing to do more tend to make more right decisions. Luck originates from resilience and persistence. Those who work harder will have more chances to encounter luck in their career path. At Do Ventures, we believe that failing is equally important to do the right things. Success can frequently be taken for granted, but failure is a remarkable opportunity to learn.
Connect with them

DSG Consumer Partners
Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
Verticals: Consumer, Finance, Food & Beverage, Internet of Things
Investment range: USD 100K to USD 2M
Straight from DSG Consumer Partners: DSG Consumer Partners is an investment company focusing on identifying, investing in, and growing consumer businesses in India & Southeast Asia. Since its launch, DSGCP has backed and partnered with leading consumer brands and businesses in the region.
Connect with them

Also read: Appboxo snags US$1.1M seed funding from Founders Fund, 500 Startups to expand app integration platform

ISIF Asia
Stages: All
Verticals: Agency & Consulting, Agritech, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, Education, Energy, Hardware, Healthtech, and various more
Investment range: USD 4K to USD 56K
Straight from ISIF Asia: ISIF Asia offers grants and awards to innovative Internet development solutions from the Asia Pacific. Selected grantees receive capacity-building support to scale-up their solutions and grow. Objectives include supporting research on Internet operations, infrastructure, technologies and protocols, conducted within the Asia Pacific region, and supporting implementation and refinement of digital solutions that make strategic use of Internet technologies in an innovative way, responding to the needs and challenges that different communities face, among others.
Connect with them

Krungsri Finnovate
Stages: Series A, Series B, Series C and above
Verticals: Finance, Consumer, Big Data, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Mobile, Enterprise Solution, Real Estate, Retail
Investment range: USD 1M to USD 10M
Straight from Krungsri Finnovate: Krungsri Finnovate aims to be a fully strategic investor who helps start-up grow to reach its goal through Krungsri RISE Accelerator and our support and synergy from our Bank’s valuable assets.
Connect with them

Next 100
Stages: Seed, Pre-Series A / Bridge
Verticals: FInance, ICT, Productivity & CRM, Social Enterprise
Investment range: USD 100K to USD 1M
Straight from Next 100: Stated as a Group of Companies operating in the USA and six South East Asia markets including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam; NextTech Group’s subsidiaries and affiliates are dedicated to digitisation and facilitation of people’s lives in the real world, non-stop.
Connect with them

Also read: How investors are adapting to effective due diligence practices in the new normal

Saathi Ventures
Stages: Angel, Pre-Seed, Venture Debt
Verticals: All
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Saathi Ventures: Saathi Ventures exists to identify and catalyze the best solutions to address social, environmental, and economic challenges across emerging markets. We’re an ecosystem builder, but we deliver support different from incubators/accelerators and investors that enables us to identify “overlooked” entrepreneurs/innovators and help them build functions, increase revenue, and scale as needed.
Connect with them

SeedPlus
Stages: Seed
Verticals: Enterprise Solution, Mobile
Investment range: USD 500K to USD 1M
Straight from SeedPlus: Singapore-­based seed-stage venture firm that invests S$500k to 1M in early-stage companies on market terms. Once the investment is in place, they’ll help you to grow to profit or the next round of funding through their network and their full­-time operating partners. SeedPlus is a network of networks. Between Jungle Ventures, PwC, Google, Accel Partners and Infocomm Investments, there are few questions they can’t answer and little support they can’t give.
Connect with them

TinkBig Ventures
Stages: Seed, Series A
Verticals: E-Commerce, Retail, Sports
Investment range: USD 250K to USD 3M
Straight from TinkBig Ventures: We partner early. We are comfortable with the rough imperfection of a new venture. We help founders from day zero, when the DNA of their business first take shape. Our team partners both with young companies finding their stride and established ones looking for step-function growth. We help organizations become enduring businesses.
Connect with them

Also read: (Exclusive) Palexy picks US$1M funding to help offline stores achieve e-commerce-like success through real-time consumer data

Woori BMO Group
Stages: Private Equity
Verticals: Finance
Investment range: USD 1M to USD 35M
Straight from Woori BMO Group: At Woori BMO Group we aim to protect and grow the wealth of our clients through tailored financial planning solutions and discretionary investment management.

Our investment managers at Woori BMO Group guarantee to generate impressive returns for all of our clients, however, the multiplications are directly related to your risk profile and availability to progress on the more volatile products that we offer.
Connect with them

Watch out for more announcements of new investors (yes, there is more!) that you can directly connect with through e27 Pro Connect.

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Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash

The post Meet ten investors from the new batch of our active investors list in SEA appeared first on e27.