Family farms produce up to 80 per cent of the food supply in Asia, and the global smallholder agribusiness market is estimated to be worth more than US$400 billion. But while breaking into the smallholder market might be an enormous opportunity, technology startups are finding this is no easy feat.

Rocky Thooi grows durian, passionfruit and long beans among other fruits and vegetables on his farm near the city of Bentong, about 70 kilometres outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 57-year-old was one of the many smallholder farmers in the region who, for a 64-day-long coronavirus lockdown earlier this year, was unable to travel more than 10 kilometres from their homes.

It was a devastating scenario for both farmers and their local communities. As Thooi explained, “Most farms are located [out of] town, and much of the produce is sold locally.” If a farmer can’t get their crop to people in town who will buy the produce, the crop will go bad and the people will go hungry.

In the first few weeks of lockdown, the Malay government “sent a team to assist the elderly in rural areas with funding and groceries,” said Thooi. But to be able to maintain his farm, the monthly government subsidy was not going to be enough. 

So Thooi turned to social media. In particular, to a national Facebook group which disseminates government information about subsidies and assistance programmes. “It was through the information and step-by-step instructions posted on Facebook by the younger generation, that I was able to apply for extra funding online.” 

Also Read: How Crowde aims to empower smallholder farmers in Indonesia

Smallholder farmers are a big deal

Rocky Thooi’s farm is one of more than 550 million in the world that can be considered family farms — those run by an individual or a family and rely primarily on family labour. Estimates by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation suggest that family farms produce up to 80 per cent of the food (or four out of every five plates of food eaten) in Asia.

Though these smallholder farmers remain some of the world’s poorest people due to reasons that were present long before the COVID-19 pandemic, the global smallholder agribusiness market is estimated to be worth more than US$400 billion.

If that’s the estimate now, what would the market look like if rural, smallholder farmers across Asia could harness digital technology to tap into the solutions and opportunities that are currently out of their reach? 

Furthermore, if a technology company could tap into the smallholder market, they wouldn’t just be holding a huge slice of global food production, they would be presented with the opportunity to help lift a lot of people out of poverty.

It’s a “save the world and make a lot of money doing it” scenario — one that should be encouraging smallholder-focused agricultural technology startups to burst onto the scene.

But startups are focussing elsewhere

Most of the startups on Malaysia’s agritech scene are in the business of online retail, selling direct to consumers. SupplyBunny, for instance, raised US$300,000 seed funding in 2016 to start an online B2B marketplace of grocery and supplies for restaurants and retailers. TheAqiqah is an online marketplace for goats, and Fresh@Heart is a US$275,000-funding-backed online retailer of meat and seafood.

If they’re not in that space, startups such as CityFarm Malaysia, plantOS and Poptani Asia are providing hydroponic farming inputs, infrastructure and systems for vertical farming enterprises.

Also Read: In brief: Grab, DTI, Mayani partner to bring Filipino small-holder farmers online

And of course, there is the world of large-scale plantations. Malaysia is one of the top 10 coconut-producing countries in the world, and the world’s second-largest producer of palm oil after Indonesia, producing around 25 per cent of the global supply. These industries have attracted the likes of Lintrmax Sdn Bhd, a supplier of palm plantation management software, and Agritix, which helps agricultural plantations collect and analyse data satellite imagery to make informed decisions.

Global players are focussing elsewhere too. Wefarm— the company that lays claim to being the world’s largest farmer-to-farmer digital network, with two million farmer members using its platform to share more than 40,000 questions and answers every day — is settling into the African market and has no plans to bring its services to Asia.  

For many smallholders, the search for information stops at social media

Breaking into the global smallholder agribusiness market might be an enormous opportunity, but it is not an easy feat. 

The challenge is not often a lack of funding for agricultural startups or a surge in competition. Rather, one of the biggest challenges, according to Adrian Soe Myint, CEO of Myanmar-based startup Village Link, is getting smallholders like Rocky Thooi interested in technologies outside of social media, such as farming-specific apps and other digital platforms. For most smallholders, said Myint, Facebook is the internet and “people rarely leave [that] ecosystem”.

Village Link is behind Htwet Toe, a mobile application that serves as an information centre and a digital community — connecting local farmers with agricultural experts and agribusinesses services. The platform is integrated with remote sensing capabilities, which means it can deliver personalised precision farming advice to individual smallholders. 

Farmers can also access the Village Link Satellite Services, a platform that aggregates agriculture-related satellite data and transforms this into insights and information that farmers can use to make operational decisions.

The company’s platforms serve about 600,000 farmers in Asia, mostly in Myanmar (about 98 per cent), but also Malaysia (one per cent) and Thailand (one per cent). Adrian puts this spread down to the fact that the app is only available in Burmese and English, although the plan is to expand services to more countries in the region, starting with neighbours like Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Village Link has received around US$640,000 seed funding. It’s a business. To survive, Myint knows that the company will need to make money. But although he has plans to charge in the future, perhaps after integrating additional features into the app, Village Link’s services are currently free. 

Also Read: Freshket nets US$3M to bring together farmers and food processors to supply fresh produce in Thailand

Gaining members and users is the task at hand, not chasing profit. It is not just an obvious strategy, but perhaps the only strategy, when you are trying to pitch a product or service to people who are happy using social media channels such as Facebook or who cannot afford to invest in new technology. Usually, it’s both. 

Money doesn’t grow on trees, at least not yet

Digital tools and innovations have the potential to make farming and agricultural supply chains more efficient and improve farmers’ prosperity. Which means farmers will have more money to invest in technology. Which means technology companies will be able to grow and create new products and solutions. 

So, if a technology company could succeed at cutting through to smallholders, to provide them with the types of solutions that would help them gain more control of their farms, this relationship could yield exponential and unlimited growth. 

It’s a nice bedtime story. But at the moment, startups have a lot of work to do and a lot more to prove before they can begin to reap a sweet harvest from the smallholder agribusiness market.

This is because Durian-grower Rocky Thooi is the rule, not the exception when it comes to farmers in Asia. Presently, only about 2.5 per cent of farmers in ASEAN are active users of digital technologies, according to Grow Asia. They are largely older farmers who make enough from their crops and livestock to survive and carry on, quite happily. 

Although Rocky was able to find the information he needed with the help of younger people on Facebook, he is not sitting around waiting for new innovations or tech-savvy millennials to parachute into the agricultural industry to save the day.  

“I’m excited to see and know more about technologies available for farmers,” said Rocky. “But I enjoy working on the farm manually so I’m fine not having too much help from technology.”

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Neuroglee Therapeutics, a Singapore-based healthtech startup building evidence-based, prescription digital therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that it has raised US$2.3 million in pre-seed funding.

The round was led by Eisai, a Japanese global pharmaceutical company. Kuldeep Singh Rajput, Founder & CEO of Biofourmis, also participated in the investment round. 

As per a press note, proceeds will be used to advance product development for their lead product NG-001 – intended for the treatment and management of patients with early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. Clinical trials are due to start in early 2021 and the startup plans to open its US operations in Boston in 2021.

Neuroglee designs and commercialises digital therapies to fill the unmet need for complementary therapies to manage neurodegenerative diseases that can run in parallel with pharmacotherapy or treatment through medication.

Combining closed-loop cognitive intervention strategies and novel biomarkers, Neuroglee claims its prescription software can be used independently and in conjunction with pharmacotherapy for better patient management, creating a more holistic approach to treatment for neurodegenerative diseases.

“Neurodegenerative diseases is a severely underserved market, yet also one that is constantly growing as our population continues to age,” said Aniket Singh Rajput, Founder and CEO of Neuroglee.

Also Read: Why Singapore is ASEAN’s sandbox for innovation in healthtech

“Through the power of software, we are able to combine our expertise in cognitive neuroscience, behaviour modification and digital biomarkers into a digital form of treatment that augments conventional medication and bridges the gap between patient and clinician,” he added.

Kazumasa Nagayama, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Eisai, explained in a press statement how their investment in the startup is in line with the company’s core philosophies.

“Neuroglee’s solution exemplifies this philosophy as it prioritises the wellbeing of both patients and caregivers, yet it also contributes to the greater scientific mission of finding a cure for these currently incurable diseases through facilitating data transparency. We are proud to support this cause and we are eager to work with Neuroglee to realise this vision,” he said.

NG-001 is designed to manage patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s by delivering software-based cognitive intervention at home.

Leveraging on Artificial Intelligence, the software deploys engaging gamification techniques and cognitive tasks on a digital tablet. The solution constantly tracks a patient’s cognitive function using digital biomarkers and dynamically personalises tasks and intervention for the patient. 

For example, the number and type of tasks and games offered can be adjusted based on the speed of the patient’s finger movements and task completion time.

The software also uses images from the patient’s past to evoke positive memories and emotions, which have been shown to improve cognitive function and reduce depression and anxiety when employed in tandem with other cognitive behavioural therapy techniques.

Using NG-001, Neuroglee claims caregivers and clinicians can monitor patient adherence to prescribed medication and their response to treatment when they are at home. This reduces the burden of care on caregivers by making them more accessible to the patient, allowing them to provide and follow up on care even when not physically present.

Also Read: The changing face of healthcare in a post pandemic world

For clinicians, real-time patient insights enable more accurate assessments of both drug and digital therapeutic treatments during in-person visits instead of having to rely on half-yearly check-ups and incomplete patient testimonials.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for better care models for seniors living with neurodegenerative diseases. Neuroglee’s digital therapeutics platform aims to set the benchmark for a new era of personalised, high quality, integrative care for people with dementia and those at risk,” said Professor Murali Doraiswamy, Co-founding Scientific Advisor at Neuroglee and a leading dementia researcher.

Neurodegenerative diseases affect millions of people worldwide. As per 2015 estimates, one in 10 people aged 60 years and above may have dementia in Singapore. 

Back in 2018, the overall global cost spent on dementia was already reported to be as high as US$1 trillion; these costs are likely to rise further due to ageing societies, which will see a corresponding increase in the number of patients with neurodegenerative diseases.  

However, developing their cures remains a significant challenge for the field. There has been no new pharmacological therapy approved for Alzheimer’s in the last 15 years. Although clinical studies of investigational drugs in the pipeline are currently underway, there remains an urgent need for adjunctive complementary therapies.

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Image Credit: Neuroglee

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Ladies and gentlemen, please meet LUCY.

South Korean startup Looxid Labs Inc. unveiled a biotechnology-powered cognitive care solution at the recently concluded Facebook Accelerator Seoul Demo Day.

Developed for an ageing population, LUCY is a powerful virtual-reality (VR) ‘brain training’ tool for people aged 50 and older. It is designed to help improve cognitive function like attention, memory, and perception, by capturing and interpreting behavioral and neurophysiological responses during use. 

Using AI in the healthcare market is a growing trend, expected to grow at a 39.4 per cent CAGR to over $10 billion by 2024. Tapping into this, Looxid Labs uses VR content to track and improve users cognitive function, eye tracking to monitor saccadic movements, and EEG to understand digital biomarkers such as Alpha-beta rhythms.

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

The product is both portable and easy-to-use, and runs on artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based technology. LUCY comes complete with a wireless VR headset to fully immerse the user in the experience, including EGG sensors to monitor brain activity. This allows the software to adapt and develop to each individual user. It also provides a full health report for users.

“It can help users feel connected with the world around them and feel less isolated. It also helps to improve overall cognitive health too,” said Brian Yongwook Chae, CEO of Looxid Labs. 

LUCY aims to help connect seniors through a number of forms, including games and learning-based tasks. The self-assessment style programme even makes suggestions on how users can improve their core cognitive skills.

“Crucially, the technology  can be used by an individual in their home, or as part of a larger community  – such as retirement and care homes.” said Chae. “We’re excited to unveil this next-level technology at Facebook Accelerator Seoul, prior to its anticipated launch in mid-2021.”

Some of the key features of LUCY, include:

Optimizes biometric data 

The most VR-compatible brain sensor module enables the VR headset to be more than just a gaming device. The innovative software integrates brainwaves and eye movement  collected from the VR headset and then transmits to a cloud platform, which can be shared with the end-user, providing valuable insight. 

Multi-modal interaction

The software monitors user actions with the biometric data, interpreted in real-time. This allows caregivers to access and manage the status of the user and chart their progress.

Synchronized cloud analytics

Data is automatically transferred to a cloud and shared across all platforms instantaneously. This allows information to be analyzed in real-time, for rich insights. These can be accessed by caregivers and individuals, via a downloadable health report.

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

“Our passion and belief is that LUCY will better the lives of those in their senior years,” said Chae. “We use the very latest AI technology to drive cognitive assessment and training tools for seniors.”

To learn more about Looxid Labs, please visit their official website here. They are also on Facebook and on YouTube.

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Otoklix, an Indonesian tech startup offering online-to-offline digital solutions for the automotive aftermarket, announced today it has secured a round of investment by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge.

This brings the total funds raised to date by the one-year-old startup to US$2 million, whose other investors are GK Plug and Play, Founders of Kopi Kenangan, Lentor Ventures, Noble Star Ventures and Andree Susanto, and Founder of Waresix.

With the fresh capital, Otoklix is targeting 500 partner workshops, 100,000 monthly cars serviced, and 75 per cent wallet share of partnered workshops total procurement by December 2021. 

Also Read: Digitalisation is driving the new normal for Southeast Asia’s automotive sector

The firm is part of the fourth cohort of Surge, a bi-annual rapid scale-up programme for startups in Southeast Asia and India. 

In Indonesia, servicing cars can be a cumbersome process. Visiting authorised dealers involve high costs and long queues while getting cars fixed at independent workshops can expose car owners to fraud risk, lack of standardisation and poor after-sales service.

Despite controlling 80 per cent of the total market in Indonesia, many of these workshops still manage transactions offline, restraining growth and margins.

“Indonesia’s automotive aftermarket sector is somewhat fragmented, creating numerous pain points for consumers due to a lack of information transparency, but it is also a relatively underestimated market that holds great potential,” said Martin Suryohusodo, Co-founder of Otoklix.

“When we look at the US market, shared mobility has positively impacted aftermarket spending by over 150 per cent, and this has really inspired us for the future in Indonesia. Our mission is to help mom-and-pop workshops through standardization to make the automotive service experience accessible and hassle-free for the wider community,” he added.

Also Read: O2O is the future of automotive retail

This is where Otoklix’s services come in handy. 

Founded in 2019, Otoklix claims it bridges the gap between automotive vehicle owners and Indonesia’s fragmented independent car workshop sector, improving vehicle maintenance experience for consumers and equipping workshops with business software solutions and procurement savings.

Otoklix claims it has more than 100 active workshops and currently services 10,000 cars monthly.

For vehicle owners, Otoklix claims its mobile app simplifies vehicle maintenance, allowing users to book services at any recommended independent workshop nearby and receive a standardised price and service level.

Car owners also receive a warranty for any transaction at an Otoklix partner workshop and can track their repair and maintenance history within the app.

For independent car workshops, Otoklix provides customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) solutions to increase topline, margin and operational efficiency. Workshops also receive procurement savings by streamlining their car parts procurement directly from manufacturers to workshops.

Despite the pandemic, the company said it has grown its revenue by 13x and its customer base by 40x between April and October 2020.

Otoklix claims it is on a growth trajectory to become the largest aftermarket service network in Indonesia, which will have 20 million cars on its roads in the next five years.

Indonesia’s automotive aftermarket sector is projected to reach US$15 billion in value by 2025.

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Image Credit: Otoklix

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Today’s Guest – Aaron Shu but actually Sean

Today’s guest was supposed to be Aaron Shu, the Co-founder of Blerp.com, but he ended up interviewing me, so we cut the episode to reflect that. We hope you enjoy it!

Let’s give a warm welcome to Sean? LOL

• Twitter: @welivetobuild
• LinkedIn: Sean Weisbrot
• Website: We Live to Build

You’ll Learn

• How sound is important to everything we do
• The original idea behind Sidekick (Sean’s startup)
• How Psychology played a role in Sean starting his first business
• How Meditation is extremely important to being a great leader
• How to prevent bias from playing a huge role in validating your idea
• What does the future of events (and work) look like

Resources

And remember, Entrepreneurship is a Marathon, not a Sprint, so take care of yourself every day, so that you can live and love, and have the energy and the passion to run your business, and to invest in your team, and to find a way to appreciate those moments of happiness.

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This article was first published on We Live To Build.

Image Credit: Michal Czyz on Unsplash

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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.

–

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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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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