gojek buys 22% stake in Bank Jago to expand its payments services footprint in Indonesia; The deal, however, doesn’t alter the control of Jago, as Metamorfosis Ekosistem Indonesia and Wealth Track Technology (WTT) still hold a combined 51% in the tech giant; In 2019, the bank made headlines when gojek investor Patrick Walujo invested in it through WTT. More here

Singapore bank DBS starts currency and crypto exchange; Touted as the first for trading fiat money and cryptocurrencies with backing from a traditional bank in the country, the platform uses blockchain to allow traders exchange Singapore, US, and Hong Kong dollars, and the Japanese Yen for Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and XRP. More here

foodpanda CTO: Why autonomy is important for developing agile tech teams; Benjamin Mann says that their engineering and product teams have the liberty to erase their road map and prioritise what they feel is more important; He also stresses on the importance of finding a balance between customer feedback and data. More here

Temasek injects US$50M into India’s new early-stage VC fund Info Edge Ventures; Launched in January 2020, the US$100M fund has already invested in nine startups in e-commerce, digital media, fintech, edutech, healthtech, gaming and SaaS. Temasek itself has recently invested in Bits x Bites and EV Growth. More here

TurtleTree Labs closes US$6.2M pre-Series A round to accelerate R&D of cell-based human milk; Both existing and new investors, including Green Monday Ventures, Eat Beyond Global, KBW Ventures, and Verso Capital, joined the round; The funding comes fresh off TurtleTree’s win at the Entrepreneurship World Cup, where it secured US$500K in cash prize. More here

Waresix acquires Trukita to grow its freight and trucking network in Indonesia; Waresix focuses mainly on renting out warehouses to businesses whereas Trukita helps large and small business find the best transportation services; This acquisition allows Waresix to expand its offerings into first-mile logistics (transportation of goods from the port to the warehouse) and in turn, provide clients with one-stop logistics services. More here

Thailand to roll out New Smart Visa rules for digital nomads; Allowing up to four years stay without a work permit, the new rules have already been approved by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration; The next step required for the new rules to be implemented is Cabinet approval. More here

5G subscriptions in Vietnam forecasted to reach 6.3M by 2025; Vietnam and Singapore are expected to be the first SEA countries to roll out 5G in 2020-2021. While the market penetration in Vietnam in the early stage of 5G implementation will be lower than that in Indonesia and Thailand, but growth is projected to accelerate in the later stage. More here

How Singapore used design thinking for workplace mental health policy; In developing workplace mental health guidelines, the country sought the expertise of Co-Lab, an innovation unit in the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) that uses design thinking, behavioural insights and data analytics to improve labour policies. More here

PwC: Singapore startup ecosystem is poised to bounce back post-pandemic; The pandemic may have caused a decline in funding, but it has also given startups the opportunity to address the new post-COVID-19 problems that are emerging.
More here

Indonesia looks to adopt innovative methods to boost its e-government; According to Dwi Wahyu Atmaji, Secretary of the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, the Indonesian government is in the process of carrying out knowledge-sharing activities with South Korea in a bid to enhance its Electronic-Based Government System. More here

SOSV names former TechCrunch COO Ned Desmond as Senior Operating Partner; Desmond left TechCrunch this summer when he was soon contacted by SOSV founder Sean O’Sullivan. More here

Singapore firms trialling the use of digital health passports to verify travellers’ COVID-19 test results; Affinidi, Accredify, and ICC AOKpass are some of the tech companies that are working to develop digital health passports for both inbound travellers to Singapore and the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble pilot; With at least 10 digital health passports being developed by various organisations, a key problem will be interoperability. More here

New app monitoring nutrition of children launched in Indonesia; Indonesia’s Department of Nutrition and Health announced that it has spearheaded the launch of the E-Toddler Application Implementation Assistance Programme for Stunting Management; As part of an effort to infuse tech into a wider array of government operations, this new system is part of a stunting prevention initiative of the companies’ Community Development Programme. More here

SoftBank-backed Chinese warehouse solutions startup bags US$100M in series C+ round; Quicktron Intelligent Technology announced a US$100 million series C+ funding round from Saudi Aramco’s investment unit Prosperity7 Ventures and Kion Group, a German multinational manufacturer of materials handling equipment; BOCOM International (a subsidiary of the Bank of Communications), Shenwan Hongyuan, and CCB Principal Asset Management, and existing investors also participated in the funding round. More here

From India’s richest man to Amazon and 100s of startups: The great rush to win neighbourhood stores; Both Walmart and Amazon face restrictions on what they could do in India, but the companies have partnered with tens of thousands of neighbourhood stores to leverage their vast presence; These stores —kirana— also have the advantage of being in close proximity of the companies’ potential customers. More here

Singapore firm’s virtual payment card lets visitors go cashless in China; Aleta Planet, a China-centric fintech firm started by Singaporean Ryan Gwee, launched its AP-1 virtual card for QR code through UnionPay; The platform enables travellers in China to use e-payments services without the need for a local bank account. More here

How climate change can threaten food production in Singapore; Having been reliant on food imports, Singapore’s strategy of food source diversification has served it well; However, the country’s effort to increase local food production might be threatened by climate change. More here

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During the pandemic, there is a greater awareness among the public on the importance of nutrition, especially when it comes to building a proper immune system. Noticing this trend, Widya Surya Prayoga, Rudwiky Okta Putra, and Topaz Kumoro became inspired to start Tunas Farm, an Indonesian startup that integrates urban farming with technology.

Tunas Farm started off by building an indoor farming production facility in Gading Serpong, Banten province, using the hydroponic method. The startup caters the B2C segment by implementing the farm-to-table concept that enables customers to enjoy the vegetables that they just farm themselves; their operations are also supported by their in-house logistics team.

Recently, in order to launch its business, Tunas Farm raises an undisclosed pre-seed funding round from Gayo Capital. The funding is meant to develop its IoT-based hydroponic farming system.

The Tunas Farm team is currently preparing its facility in Garding Serpong to become a production facility and an indoor display of vertical farming, which is scheduled to be completed in the near future. They are also set to build a similar facility in other areas and to provide training for home-based hydroponic farming.

In future, Prayoga also stated that Tunas Farm is set to launch an IoT-based hydroponic kit that will enable customers to start their own urban farm at home.

Also Read: Startup of the Month, October: Bangkok-based agritech startup Freshket

The rise of agritech startups in Indonesia

While agritech business is often said to have great potentials in Indonesia, by far there has not been that many startups in the country that aims to significantly improve the farming process itself. There are many technologies that can be used to maximise this process, from IoT, big data, machine learning, to computer vision. This is especially relevant as there remain many challenges in the agriculture sector, from production to distribution.

One of the most popular agriculture verticals among tech startups is supply chain –the ability to enable business and individual customers to access fresh produce straight from the farmers. This approach also enables farmers to a fairer price for their works. Apart from that, there are also solutions that aim to help farmers finance their operations.

More and more startups in Indonesia have begun offering tech solutions to support production. A great number of these solutions are still in the research and development stage, as commonly found in various incubators, competition, or hackathon, but some of them have started manufacturing process. In addition to Tunas Farm, there is also Mertani, Tanibox, and Neurafarm.

Mertani provides IoT and big data solutions to help farmers monitor their farms on a much larger scale.

Meanwhile, Neurafarm builds an artificial intelligence solution called Dr Tania. It helps farmers to identify different types of plants disease based on the photo that they upload to the platform.

In an even smaller scale, Tanibox presents sensor-based equipment to help customers build a small farm at home.

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This article was written by Randi Eka Yonida in Bahasa Indonesia for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

Image Credit: Tunas Farm

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Traveloka, the Indonesian online travel app unicorn, announced on Monday it has its eyes set on going public and was evaluating a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) as a possible listing option, as per a Reuters report.

“A SPAC is one of the options we are evaluating given we have been approached by a few,” Traveloka President Henry Hendrawan said in a statement in response to a Reuters query.

According to the report, a source with knowledge of the matter said Traveloka is still deciding between a conventional IPO or a SPAC and could be valued up to US$6 billion.

Hendrawan had previously shared with Reuters in late 2019 that the platform is considering a possible dual listing in Jakarta and another centre such as the US.

He also shared with media in October that he expected Traveloka to potentially be profitable by 2021.

Also Read: Innovate and go: How Traveloka revamps its services to comply with changing travel behaviour 

Traveloka had recently closed a US$250 million funding round in July 2020 from a host of investors including Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and East Ventures.

This news comes amidst the growing popularity of SPACs in the region as Indonesian e-commerce giant Tokopedia had announced last week it was considering SPAC as a potential option for their plans to go public.

In an interview with e27, experts commented that the SPAC model that the company is implementing can be “an alternative” way to fundraise for startups in SEA.

“Having seen the more than 100 SPACs emerge in North America earlier this year, we are not surprised to see this new SPAC coming out to focus on Southeast Asia. We welcome this initiative, which will provide an alternative path to liquidity and access to public markets for one or more rising tech, financial services or media company in the region,” said Sanjay Zimmermann, Senior Associate at White Star Capital.

More from this story as it develops.

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Image Credit: Traveloka

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The COVID-19 pandemic has left no country untouched or industry undisrupted. It has proven to be a challenge too large for any one government or sector to tackle alone. From healthcare authorities and big pharmaceuticals to tech companies, one crucial factor in the fight against this dreadful disease is the ability to adapt. But to rise to the occasion, organisations first have to understand where they need to get to, and that requires information, or data.

Across the globe, the monitoring and analysing of big data for actionable insights is being put to use, giving rise to initiatives such as contact tracing, movement control in highly-affected areas, or the distribution of financial aid to people in need. But state-sanctioned measures or corporate-led campaigns can only go so far. To make a real impact, the public and private sectors must work together, sharing information and combining resources.

In Southeast Asia, with infrastructure development and public funding so varied between nations, public-private partnerships (PPPs) are even more vital to ensure timely and beneficial solutions to socio-economic challenges.

By removing barriers and information silos between sectors, data-driven PPPs can be formed, which will effectively address some of the biggest hurdles of the crisis, such as healthcare infrastructure, and general wellbeing and mental health, and create swifter and smarter responses to the pandemic that will pave the way to a more resilient and sustainable economy. 

In the region’s more developed economies, such as Singapore, strategic and open collaboration between public and private entities has led to an effective, agile and inclusive crisis response. A strong example of this is contact tracing. In Singapore, the government collaborated with a group of private-sector technologists to build a secure and comprehensive COVID-19 contact tracing system, named TraceTogether.

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

Taking the form of  a physical token and a mobile app, the system exchanges Bluetooth signals with other TraceTogether users nearby, gathering data to aid digital contact tracing efforts. The incredibly short timeline of this project – the TraceTogether app was launched in March 2020 – can undoubtedly be attributed to the collaborative efforts between the government and the private sector.

Combining information sources, as well as knowledge and expertise in hacking, firmware development and privacy, this PPP leveraged data-driven insights to deliver an effective and secure solution that would not have been achieved without swift contributions from both sectors.

Similarly, in Danang, Vietnamese authorities worked with tech companies to effectively execute localised lockdowns to curb isolated COVID-19 outbreaks whilst managing to avoid a wide-scale economic shutdown. Having to amass far-reaching, ear-to-the-ground data on COVID-19 cases, the government identified alternative solutions from the private sector.

Leveraging Facebook’s Disease Prevention Map and Google’s Community Mobility Reports, the Vietnamese authorities were able to access and study mobility data. This collaboration led to a rapid and efficient curtailment of movement in specific areas, as opposed to a full lockdown nationwide.

As a result, Vietnam was able to limit the economic impact while containing the disease and reopening the targeted areas faster than it would from a national lockdown. Through this PPP, the government was able to monitor and evaluate the impact of its national policies almost in real-time, iterating and refining measures adaptively based on big data insights made possible by private-sector companies. 

In another example of a successful collaboration between the government and the private sector, Gojek established a data-driven initiative in Indonesia to provide financial assistance to millions of essential transport workers during the pandemic. Gojek worked with Indonesia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs to help identify ride-share drivers and provide them with over IDR1 million (US$93) in economic aid.

By leveraging insights from driver data, Gojek helped the government identify those most likely to be financially impacted by the disruption so it could distribute aid in tiers to support those most in need. 

Also Read: PropertyGuru further expands footprint in Malaysia with acquisition of MyProperty Data

The above PPPs offer valuable lessons and a blueprint for future innovation and resilience in Southeast Asia. Thanks to a surge in tech companies investing in the region, there is a growing wealth of data being generated and collected. This presents exciting potential for innovation across Southeast Asia, based on actionable insights mined from big data that go far beyond the pandemic response. 

The opportunity is twofold: first, in solving mobility problems – such as traffic congestion and pollution – in traffic-heavy countries such as Indonesia and Thailand, and second, in building smart cities in densely populated and technologically-advanced countries such as Singapore. For example, in 2019, Gojek signed a partnership with the Indonesian government to accelerate the development of Jakarta’s smart city project, with the goal to build a safe and more integrated transport system.

Under the partnership, Gojek used open data to identify the city’s most-frequented transit hubs and worked with the government to build shelters or pick-up zones at the hubs. The result was an increase in public transport ridership, with Gojek serving as the first and last mile transport provider for those journeys. Such innovations are made possible through collaboration between the public and private sector, which leads one to think: How can we foster a culture of even greater collaboration, and what other possibilities are there? 

Greater collaboration will require higher levels of trust and openness between the public and private sectors. For governments, they should view the sharing of data with private companies as integral to improving people’s lives from a more ground-up, community approach. For companies, they will need to ensure easy and secure access to data for partners, and foster an insights-driven culture.

Building such a culture is easier said than done, as it includes building a robust data architecture and infrastructure, hiring the right talent, and empowering all employees to think like data scientists. As nations across the world hunker down to get through the awful effects of COVID-19, governments and businesses must embrace the lessons, failures and achievements from this year, to work towards their targets, and build a brighter and more resilient future that is driven by data.

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Traveloka considers SPAC option as it plans to go public; Eyeing a valuation of US$6B, Traveloka president Henry Hendrawan had previously stated that the company is considering the possibility of a dual listing in Indonesia and other country such as the US; East Ventures Managing Partner Willson Cuaca, who is an investor at Traveloka, stated that the company will be profitable by 2021. More here

ZA Tech forms insurtech joint venture with Indonesian e-wallet OVO; ZA Tech will provide know-how in insurance innovation and proprietary technology by offering well-defined platform-based solutions, which are built on the latest technology and capable of processing high volumes of data; The partnership aims to tap Indonesia’s largely underinsured population with only 1.7% out of the 265+ million being insured. More here

Digiasia Bios raising US$50M debt, eyes strategic investments; Co-Founder Alexander Rusli said that the company is open to divesting a minority stake to strategic partners as part of the equity fundraising plan; The company wants to use the funding to provide support to warung (mom-and-pop stores) in Indonesia. More here

Finantier secures funding from Y Combinator for its Open Finance platform; The company had previously raised a pre-seed round from investors including East Ventures, AC Ventures, and US-based Two Culture Capital; With this financing, Finantier seeks to expand its technology team and continue to grow its product offerings. More here

Cakap bags US$3M in Series A+ funding to expand its language learning platform in Indonesia; The investment was led by Heritas Capital with participation from Strategic Year Holdings and existing investors Investidea Ventures and Prasetia Dwidharma; The fresh funds will be used for talents acquisition, product development, and business expansion. More here

Navisteps snags US$1M in pre-seed funding to expand its corporate expense & travel management platform; The angel investors involved in the funding round included Yasuhide Fujii, Partner at KPMG Advisory (Myanmar), and Takuya Aiba, CEO and Founder of SpringLiner; The funding will be used to support market expansion in Asia and product development. More here

Fintech unicorn Pine Labs exceeds US$2B valuation after funding from Lone Pine Capital; While the terms of the deal remain undisclosed, sources believe it to be close to US$75-100 million; The company recently raised funding from payments giant Mastercard that brought it to unicorn status. More here

How foodpanda CTO approaches hiring and retaining the best tech talent; In this interview, Benjamin Mann shares how to cultivate an agile mindset and build a culture, use A/B testing effectively, work with customers’ feedback as well as his insights on notable trends in food delivery. More here

Tunas Farm raises pre-seed funding from Gayo Capital to launch its urban farming technology; Tunas Farm is currently preparing a production facility in Gading Serpong and an indoor display of vertical farming; They are also set to build a similar facility in other areas and to provide training for home-based hydroponic farming. More here

DRVR secures undisclosed funding from Smart Axiata’s Digital Innovation Fund to grow its fleet analytics platform; The company wants to expand its services into Cambodia and hire across the board; In 2018, it secured US$450K from an undisclosed group of investors and had earlier secured a small round of funding from an angel investor group in Hong Kong. More here

Skuad secures US$4M to ease remote team hiring through a single employment platform; Led by BEENEXT and Anthemis Group, other investors in the company included Alto Partners Multi-Family Office and Rohan Monga, CEO of Zenius Education. With the new funding, Skuad intends to develop its remote employment infrastructure and scale its growth team across multiple geographies. More here

11 Malaysian startups selected to join the Microsoft Emerge X Programme; The 11 startups include Alpha Red Services, Betacard, Leaderonomics Digital, Naluri Hidup, OrangeFIN Asia, SalesCandy, Setel, Softinn Solutions, Soft Solvers Solutions, Supplycart.my, and Talentcloud.ai; They will be participating in a year-long mentorship programme with Microsoft for Startups. More here

Cultured protein: A guide to every cell-based meat startup in the world right now; From a geographical standpoint, North America and Europe dominates the industry; There are 25 companies based in North America, 23 in Europe and only ten in Asia as well as an additional ten from other parts of the world. More here

Digitising Thailand’s food chain: National traceability system to focus on organic products first; The government of Thailand has ambitious plans to digitise the nation’s food and agricultural industry and is starting with a national tracebility system TraceThai; It will first focus on tracking organic foods, according to the Ministry of Commerce. More here

HKSTP launches biobank and biomedical informatics platform; These platforms are firsts for both commercial and academic biomedical tech research and development in Hong Kong and set to foster biotech co-creation and commercialisation; The initiatives are available for use by Park companies, as well as universities and research institutes. More here

Thailand leveraging smart health to be APAC’s new medical hub; Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) said that advancing the country’s healthcare infrastructure to become an APAC medical hub within five years will require significant technological development in telehealth, smart medical applications, and robotics; Leveraging smart health tech and robotics will also be dependent on the reliable availability of 5G connectivity in hospitals and medical centres. More here

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Image Credit: UX Indonesia on Unsplash

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