Year: 2020

Singapore’s foodtech startup Hoow Foods raises funding led by Nanyang Realty

Food reformulation technology startup Hoow Foods has announced that it has raised an undisclosed strategic funding, led by the Singapore-based Ang family office Nanyang Realty. Korean-based Venture Capital funds Sunbo Angel Partners and Lighthouse Combined Investment Co. also participated.

The funds will be used to expand Hoow Foods’s scientific headcount, enhance its technology infrastructure and accelerate its operations and R&D capabilities in the region.

Established in 2018, Hoow Foods is one of Singapore’s pioneers in the food technology scene. Aside from its low-calorie ice-cream brand Callery’s, Hoow Foods also commercialises its products via its collaboration with Singapore heritage brand Killiney Group.

In 2020, Killiney launched several new merchandises, including its new Premium Milk Tea and reformulated Premium White Coffee products, with all these offerings co-developed by the Hoow Foods team.

Both Hoow Foods and Killiney are currently working on new flavours to be launched in the near future, with emphasis on producing healthier versions of instant beverages.

ScaleUp Malaysia invests US$46K each in 10 growth-stage companies

ScaleUp Malaysia has announced that it has selected its top 10 companies for its inaugural cohort.

Each of these companies will receive an investment of RM200,000 (US$46,400) each to grow and scale their business further with a focus on regional and global expansion.

Also Read: ScaleUp Malaysia kickstarts 3-month programme with 20 companies in first cohort

Aaron Sarma, General Partner of ScaleUp Malaysia says, “We’ve been working with these companies for the last four months. The final decision was not easy but ultimately our investment committee selected companies with teams and products that were best positioned to scale into large markets.”

The selected companies are:

• ATX, a digital payments service provider that helps micro SMEs participate in the digital economy.
• AutoCraver, a startup that provides a cloud-based end to end management software called “Turbo” for car dealers to automate processes and facilitate car sales.
• Batik Boutique, a premier Malaysian gift brand with an artisanal story that creates social impact by empowering the B40 segment through education, training, and job creation.
• GOLOG, an on-demand cold chain logistics platform that uses data and machine learning to digitise the traditional supply chain.
• Iimmpact, a technology solution that enables digital payments to over 100 billers inclusive of mobile top-ups, utility bills, entertainment portals, local councils, and many more.
• Kwikcar, a peer-to-peer car-sharing platform that aims to change the future of mobility and car ownership.
• AOne, an educational platform for learning centres to manage their classes, teachers, and students through scheduling, fee collection, and process automation.
• BiiB, a community platform that creates gamified virtual events for runners and transforms running into a team sport.
• Agiliux, a cloud-based core insurance platform with extensive policy and claims management capabilities.
• Tripcarte, a travel technology company that provides a distribution platform for travel activity and attraction tickets.

ScaleUp Malaysia has conducted its final Investment Committee Pitch Session and virtually selected the 10 startups during the Movement Control Order period.

ESPL partners with Paytm to accelerate growth during lockdown

Esports Players League (ESPL), the global e-sports tournament network and platform, has entered into a strategic partnership with India-based Paytm First Games.

Paytm First Games will introduce ESPL’s mobile and online focussed tournaments to gaming enthusiasts in India. It will oversee the rollout of ESPL’s amateur e-sports platform in the country and execute tournaments, acquire users, secure local sponsorship and partnership deals, and create local media content.

Also Read: ESPL launches new tournament platform, aims to create a bedroom-to-champion pathway for online gamers

ESPL will support Paytm First Games’ efforts by delivering the complete tech solution, global sponsorships, media deals, and e-sports strategy.

The first ESPL season is scheduled from May to November 2020.

Paytm First Games has more than half a million daily active gamers on the platform, spending anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes per session. It is the digital gaming platform of Gamepind Entertainment Private Limited, which is a joint venture between AGTech Holdings Limited and One97 Communications Limited, the parent company of Paytm.

Fintech platform Razer pledges US$50M to support its business partners during COVID-19

Razer, the global lifestyle brand for gamers, has pledged to support its business partners, both current and future, through the economic downturn brought about by COVID-19.

Razer will deploy up to US$50 million within 2020 through three main support arms within the ecosystem:

• Razer Gold, Razer’s virtual currencies for its digital offering that will provide support to current and new content partners through marketing contributions and other immediate cashflow relief measures such as cash pre-payment, cash rebates, special rates and reduced settlement periods from 30 to 15 days. Razer will also explore potential investment opportunities in channel and content partners.
• Razer Fintech, Razer’s offline-to-online digital payment networks in Southeast Asia that will utilise both its business verticals for this initiative. Razer Fintech’s B2B vertical, Razer Merchant Services (RMS) will help new and existing merchants and platform partners via cashflow assistance, fee waivers, and customised marketing programs for essential services and online businesses, while its B2C vertical, Razer Pay, will offer packages such as reduced rates and value-added promotions and will selectively explore potential investment opportunities with startups and businesses.
• zVentures, Razer’s corporate ventures arm that will focus its investment efforts on companies with technologies dedicated to fighting COVID-19 or supporting people through the pandemic, such as autonomous food and beverage, delivery and logistics, and healthcare.

The fund will be split across these three pillars in the form of financial contributions, cashflow support, and investments.

This initiative will also provide businesses with access to Razer’s ecosystem of hardware, software, and services worldwide, and bring positive business impact through alliances and partnerships.
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Photo by Michelle Tsang on Unsplash

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Digital Commerce Intelligence receives US$706K from Velocity Partners

Singapore-based AI startup, offering real-time e-commerce data Digital Commerce Intelligence (DCI), has received US$706,000 in a funding round, led by Athens-based Velocity Partners, according to KrAsia.

The new funds will be used to scale DCI’s services across Southeast Asia.

“What makes a brand a leader is often the wise use of data. This is particularly true in e-commerce, where the pace and dynamics of trade are so much faster than any other commercial channel,” said Kyriakos Zannikos, Founder of DCI.

Indonesia Government, Cakap team up to develop skills related to tourism and creative sector

The Indonesia Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has teamed up with a live tutoring startup Cakap to empower tour guides and professionals in the hospitality sector to develop English language skills.

Also Read:  (Updated) 2C2P sets up VC arm to make strategic investment in payments firms in Southeast Asia

The COVID-19 crisis has already hit tourism in Indonesia with a significant drop in hotel occupancy to 40 per cent, according to an article published by katadata.id. However, the government believes that language is a vital element to support and speed up the post-pandemic recovery in the tourism sector.

“Especially with the decline in activity in the tourism industry, this could actually be a golden opportunity to improve skills for workers in the tourism sector,” Tomy Yunus, Founder of Cakap, said in a statement.

Logistics SaaS platform FarEye raises US$25M Series D

India-based logistics SaaS platform FareEye has announced a Series D investment of US$25 million, led by M12 (Microsoft’s venture fund).

Eight Roads Ventures and Honeywell Ventures also participated in the round.

The new capital will be used to enhance the FarEye’s predictive capabilities and further accelerate growth in Europe, APAC and the US, it said in a statement.

FarEye enables companies to orchestrate, track, and optimise their logistics operations.

SBA, BEST launches Blockchain Association Singapore to bolster collaborations through blockchain

The Singapore Blockchain Association (SBA) and the Blockchain, Enterprise and Scalable Technologies (BEST) have merged together to launch Blockchain Association Singapore to encourage collaborations through blockchain, according to a company statement.

Also Read: News Roundup: Hoow Foods raises funding led by Nanyang Realty, ScaleUp Malaysia invests in 10 firms

BAS will be the centre that will spur engagements and collaborations through the use of blockchain to drive business growth and build a sustainable pipeline of talents for the digital economy.

“Singapore has become a burgeoning hub for blockchain and there is a need for an industry push to facilitate and encourage the development of new and existing players in this space. I am confident that the establishment will add more vibrancy and support to the current ecosystem while providing guidance for enterprises who are keen to adopt blockchain solutions,” said Chia Hock Lai, Co-chair of BAS.

Filipino cloud kitchen startup CloudEats raises US$1.4M for expansion

The Philippines-based cloud kitchen company CloudEats has raised US$1.4 million in seed funding, according to TechInAsia.

The round was led by local family offices in real estate and food and beverage industries. Regional angel investors also participated in the round.

CloudEats claims that food brands in its platform offer 15 per cent to 20 per cent cheaper rates compared to competitors. “As we grow, we may be potential customers for the growing cloud kitchen companies and enhance the food delivery ecosystem further,” said Kimberly Yao, Co-founder of the startup.

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Image Credit: FarEye, Pixabay

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Singapore’s recent Budget 2020 welcomed the commercialisation of innovative solutions that aim to turn the constraints of the nation into strengths, especially the energy sector.

Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean said in his budget speech that Singapore aims to halve its 2030 peak greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and to achieve net-zero emissions “as soon as viable” in the second half of the century.

For e27, there was no better time to speak with CEO of Electrify, Martin Lim, to get a lowdown on how the clean energy space is evolving and his visions of a “Solar Singapore”.

Electrify, which operates Singapore’s first retail electricity marketplace, calls itself the answer to innovation in energy. Under Lim’s leadership, the firm developed a pioneering solution, called Synergy, to enable peer-to-peer energy transfers across the main grid.

Singapore’s commercial trial for Synergy is slated to launch in Q3 2020, with other pilots in Southeast Asia slated for early 2020. In addition to Singapore, Electrify is also working with Malaysia’s electricity utility company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and others in markets such as Japan and Thailand.

What makes Electrify a pioneer in the energy marketplace? And how will your P2P trading platform boost cleaner energy adoption?

Back in 2017, we started as a marketplace and then within the same year started finding ways to deploy energy. And found that P2P was the most sustainable form of it all. P2P addressed one very significant need — most users want green energy, but demanding it and getting are two different things.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news, August 14: ELECTRIFY seeks to raise US$5M to develop its P2P Energy Trading Technology

The government has a huge role to play here. For governments, the challenge always lies between balancing subsidies and tariffs when it comes to cleaner sources of energy. In fact, Europe and Japan have been struggling with this problem for a while now and Japan has even started winding down the feeding tariff system.

So we pushed for innovation and decided to come up with a model where people would have an economic power to produce more power than they need and then be able to sell this excess to someone who needs it.

Most power grids and companies have buyback solutions but they do so usually at wholesale prices. But creating a transactional layer what we are doing is essentially allowing users to sell excess power at a preferred price as close as the retail price.

This encourages users in turn to produce more sustainable energy, for example, via solar power on their rooftops. In 2018, we tested the first pilot with 15 households with TEPCO as an observer who then became our first investor.

So what we are essentially telling power companies is that if we can bring you more sources of green energy at no additional cost and maybe even earn revenue, would you not be interested in implementing it?

Now we are looking to do more such pilots in Singapore and overseas. In Malaysia, we are working with TNB to run a P2P pilot and also exploring running two pilots in Thailand.

The energy sector is highly regulated and not the easiest to earn revenues. So what motivated you to start this?

We always wanted to bring in more transparency in the energy space and make it more dynamic. Singapore deregulated energy sector in 2001 but there were very little understanding and interest in its potential.

Also Read: Singapore’s energy marketplace Electrify raises investment from Japan’s utility firm

The environment for energy everywhere in the world is changing drastically. The proliferation of DER’s (distributed energy resources) like bio-waste energy, solar panels, micro wind turbines etc. are growing. And this is going to be the grid design of the future.

But in Singapore, according to Environmental Agency (EMA), we have installed solar panels on only about 1,000 households while the market size is 65,000 households. So the potential to make it a more engaging sector drew us to it.

What were your initial challenges? And how does it influence your funding goals?

The most difficult thing was to get buy-in from utility service providers. Utility service providers have a more intimate relationship with the users. And we plan to go via them to save on large user acquisition costs.

Plus, every market in SEA has got its own unique set of rules. Moreover, energy as a sector is heavily regulated in most countries.

Energy businesses measure their horizon in years or decades because they are asset-heavy. When we approached them, we realised that these companies know they are being disrupted but on many fronts and they don’t know where to start.

In Malaysia, for instance, it took us a year and a half to just convince them to carry out a pilot. Thailand too took seven months of lobbying.

But once we do prove a point, there will be good and stable revenue for the next five to 10 years. Thus we have to be prepared to go to market without expecting revenue in the short term. And that is something we keep in mind even while looking for investors.

Also Read: How to create a green ‘Clickmas’ with sustainable e-commerce operations

The traditional investors looking to grow and earn fast will not work for us. We need partners who can understand the long term journey.

Is user acquisition different for you?

Yes, that is a very big challenge for us as we have to shift the consumer mind from apathy to consideration. We aim to use user education for the same but it is going to be an uphill task. To make it easier, we have demystified the user experience and made it a lot simpler to gain the users’ trust when they use the P2P trading platform.

Our key strategy is to go en masse together with utility services. Much similar to how a vaccine is sold to a market. The national health services buy and give it to the public for free.

You are already spreading wings in the region even with the challenges above. Why are you eager to expand?

We realised that only Singapore will be a very small market size, so we moved around in SEA and always marketed ourselves as an Asian brand. Hence, we started working on doing pilots closer home but larger than Singapore in size.

We are also looking at Japan because of the TEPCO involvement, but it has been relatively slow. We are also looking at Australia since its closer home. We working with a home-grown Singapore brand to take us to Europe.

Where do you see Electrify in five years?

Honestly, I want to see Electrify go global in five years. Once the pilots start running and we go into operation mode in SEA, we will be looking to Europe and the West.

We will deploy it in limited fashion initially but whether the governments will embrace it and deploy it fully locally, remains to be seen.

Also Read: [Exclusive] Singapore blockchain firm ELECTRIFY takes major step to bring its P2P electricity marketplace to Japan

On a 10-year horizon, I would ideally like to see the P2P energy trading to work like how credit cards work today. Consumers don’t need to fully know how the transaction happens but it just works and benefits everyone. Electrify, infact, also brings in economic gains (think redeemable credit card points), although that should not be the primary lure.

The key motivation should be to take power in our hands to develop cleaner sources of energy and use more green energy instead of waiting for the governments to do it.

One word for aspiring founders

Just keep hustling, there are no two ways about this!

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Image credit: American Public Power Association on Unsplash

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Pawel Netreba (Co-founder of Bfab and former MD of foodpanda), Patrick Linden (Co-founder of Dealguru and Food Runner, which was later acquired by foodpanda), and Linden’s brother Rene, have come together to launch a not-for-profit initiative to help Singapore’s businesses survive the COVID-19 crisis.

iSaveSG is is an online platform that allows customers to support businesses financially by buying offers/gift cards from restaurants, bars, cafés and boutiques. This will give businesses the much-needed cash to pay their bills, cover running costs, and save jobs.

It will also help merchants market their lock-down-related offers, and users can find the best deals on a single platform.

Also Read: What foodpanda taught me is ‘execute, execute, execute’: Pawel Netreba of Bfab

Anyone running a restaurant, café, hotel, bar or mom&pop store can register on the platform and upload their special deals, or provide a link to their website where customers can purchase a gift card or order take away/delivery.

iSaveSG is completely free for both merchants and users.

“Cafes are clearing away their tables, restaurants are limiting opening hours, bars remain empty, and boutiques are losing their customers: COVID-19 has the city firmly in its grip. There is much less income, but running costs are still being incurred. This increasingly threatens the existence of local restaurateurs and businesses,” said Linden.

The team also has plans to launch a community forum on the platform for businesses to connect with other businesses and people so they can exchange ideas on how to cope with the situation, extend a helping hand to each other, and post questions and jobs.

The trio will also expand the initiative to Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries soon.

“We worked a lot with local merchants in the companies we co-founded previously in Singapore and Malaysia. When Singapore announced the first wave of restriction measures a few weeks ago, we thought we should do something to help local businesses. Then we came up with the idea and put it together over a weekend,” explained Linden.

As of today, close to 100 offers are live on the platform. The site gets 1,000 visits per day.

“We believe that if a customer supports a local business by buying an offer, he or she should get a special deal; it can be a free delivery or a discount. So it ends up being a win-win situation,” Linden concluded.

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Data management company Cohesity raises US$250M in Series E funding led by DFJ Growth, others

Data management company Cohesity announces that it has received US$250 million in Series E funding, led by DFJ Growth, Foundation Capital, Greenspring Associates, and Wing Venture Capital. DFJ Growth and Greenspring Associates are new investors along with Baillie Gifford and Sozo Ventures, who joined existing investors, including Sequoia Capital and SoftBank Vision Fund 1, as well as strategic investors Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Cisco Investments.

With the fresh funding, Cohesity is now valued at US$2.5 billion, more than double the valuation from the company’s Series D round less than two years ago.

Cohesity said it plans to leverage the new investment to advance research and development — building new capabilities to serve enterprises. The company will also continue to broaden its reach and awareness both domestically and internationally while extending its relationships with alliances and partners.

Cohesity offers a platform that simplifies the way businesses back up, manage, protect, and extract value from their data — in the data centre, at the edge, and in the cloud.

Mohit Aron, CEO, and founder, Cohesity, said that the company has completed its transition to a software business model since its last funding round.

Telehealth startup Doctor Anywhere to launch COVID-19 medical advisory clinic, partnering major insurers

Doctor Anywhere, a Singapore-based healthtech company, announces that it will be launching the Doctor Anywhere COVID-19 Medical Advisory Clinic for individuals in Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. In line with the Singapore Government’s social distancing measures to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 infection and efforts to ring-fence confirmed cases, the service will help to identify COVID-19 signs and symptoms and escalate suspected cases for further medical assistance.

Also Read: Doctor Anywhere raises US$4.1M to offer patients easy access to healthcare providers through video consultations

In doing so, the startup partners major insurers, including AIG and Cigna Global, to offer the COVID-19 Medical Advisory Clinic as a free service to their policyholders.

To access this full suite service include, Singapore’s customers are advised to:

1. Using the Doctor Anywhere mobile app to access ‘COVID-19 Medical Advisory Clinic’ video
consultation

2. Speaking to a doctor within five minutes

3. During the video consultation, the doctor will ask for travel history, signs of chest infection, or
whether there is any contact with confirmed cases, as well as other questions to triage and
determine possible infection

4. If the doctor suspects an infection, the Doctor Anywhere Care Team will assist to coordinate
next steps, including calling an ambulance to transport the user from home to Singapore’s
National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) in the next hour for a COVID-19 swab test

5. If the doctor assesses that it is not a suspected COVID-19 case, medication can be prescribed to ease symptoms, which will be delivered to the user’s home within three hours

In Thailand and Vietnam, the local Doctor Anywhere teams will provide assistance to connect the patient to the appropriate healthcare authorities to receive further medical attention.
Users in other countries can also access the Doctor Anywhere COVID-19 Medical Advisory Clinic, but the service will only include video consultation with a doctor to identify symptoms and provide advice on the next steps or a memo to obtain medication from a local pharmacy.

Doctor Anywhere recently closed its Series B funding round with an endorsement from the Singapore Government, said Lim Wai Mun, Founder, and CEO, Doctor Anywhere.

Public fees for video consultation via the Doctor Anywhere COVID-19 Medical Advisory Clinic is SG$10 (US$7). This does not include medication that might be prescribed by the doctor.

Singapore to support local food production with US$22M fund, to build alternative urban farming spaces

Singapore has just announced a new S$30 million (US$21 million) fund that is aimed at supporting local food production to prepare for external supply shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as GreenQueen reported.

Also Read: Foodtech in Singapore through the eyes of startups

The new grant will be directed to support the production of leafy vegetables as well as eggs and fish. It will also seek to turn vacant industrial sites such as rooftops into alternative urban farming spaces with a tender started by Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and agri-food companies for rooftop farms on public housing from May this year to anticipate travel restrictions that include export bans that impact the global food economy.

Singapore currently produces only 10 per cent of its food demand, with the remaining 90 per cent of its supply reliant on foreign imports.

Furthermore, food techs may be selected and awarded a grant to accelerate their farm expansion to increase production capacity. Homegrown agri-tech startup Sustenir had already been assisting this goal by producing crops in lab-controlled vertical farms powered by artificial intelligence and LED lighting to help reduce Singapore’s dependence on food imports, as well as reduce carbon emissions and food wastage with shorter transportation.

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Image Credit: Luke Chesser on Unsplash

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(This article has been updated with new details from 2C2P)

Singapore- and Bangkok-headquartered payments processing company 2C2P has established a VC arm to make strategic investments in payments and related sectors.

With the launch of 2C2P.VC, the fintech company aims to further accelerate the growth of its omni-channel payments platform in Southeast Asia and beyond.

The venture arm will primarily focus on strategic partnerships and investments in complementary businesses that offer opportunities for further vertical integration and geographic expansion outside of 2C2P’s core markets.

Also Read: 2C2P receives US$52M funding from IFC, Cento Ventures, Arbor Ventures, focussing on expansion

Aung Kyaw Moe, Founder and Group CEO of 2C2P, said: “There are a number of companies where we see a strong strategic fit — either due to exciting new technologies, complementary products or geographic presence in markets where we want to be in the future.”

“Above all, we look for teams who want to join our growth journey. With our latest funding round in 2019, we are now in a position to invest in such companies and partner with them even more closely going forward,” he added.

Headquartered in Singapore, 2C2P.VC will be led by Eva Weber, who recently joined 2C2P’s management team as Investment Director. Weber brings with her more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, having worked across a range of companies including Merrill Lynch, IFC, Naspers and Adyen.

“Our investment arm is part of 2C2P, not a fund,” Weber told e27 in an emailed response. “This structure provides us with a lot of flexibility and full alignment of interests – to accelerate the growth of 2C2P.”

Rather than targeting a specific number of investments, she said, 2C2P.VC aims to invest in companies that align with its strategy, i.e, to grow our omni-channel platform and expand into new markets.

“We evaluate each opportunity and determine the investment size and level of involvement we want to have, accordingly. Generally speaking, we look to take a minority stake with the view of increasing our stake over time,” she noted.

“We are constantly meeting new companies as part of our normal course of business, and often engage with them on commercial partnerships. We now have the opportunity to support them via our investment arm,” Weber added.

2C2P will continue to focus on strengthening its core markets of Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore), but is also looking for companies that can help it expand outside the region.

The launch of 2C2P.VC comes on the back of the company’s US$52 million fundraise, led by an international consortium of investors, including IFC, Cento Ventures, and Arbor Ventures, in November 2019.

2C2P helps businesses accept payments from millions of customers around the world on its omni-channel platform (online, mobile and in-store channels). It operates across Southeast Asia, North Asia, the US, and Europe.

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Circles.Life offers free unlimited data for COVID-19 front-liners in Singapore

Singapore’s digital telco Circles.Life said today it will provide a special package for COVID-19 front-liners, including healthcare workers, security and defence professionals, and operators of ambulance and transportation.

The package will include six-month’s worth of unlimited data with 4G rollover and unlimited talk time free of charge worth US$180.

Also Read: 2C2P sets up VC arm to make strategic investment in payments firms in Southeast Asia

To support Singapore’s students undergoing home-based learning and who do not have a broadband connection, Circles.Life will supply SIM cards with three months’ free unlimited data to ensure that children will be able to continue online classes. For this, the telco has partnered with charities like Eton House Community Fund.

“This is a crucial time for us to unite as one nation. As we battle COVID-19 together, we want to acknowledge what our front liners have done, and to thank them for their service. In addition, we want to play our role to ensure that everyone in Singapore can resume their lives as much as possible and stay digitally connected,” said Mateen Kirmani, Head of Partnership, Circles.Life.

India’s Locale.ai secures seed funding from Better Capital 

Bengaluru-based location analytics company Locale.ai has secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding from early-stage venture capital firm Better Capital, says a report by The Economic Times.

Two unnamed angel investors also joined the round.

The startup said the new funds will be used for global scaling, especially in the US.

“We help companies decrease their customer acquisition cost by expanding in areas based on latent demand, reduce user churn by providing better SLAs in locations where they drop off and increase existing customer revenue by doing geo-targeting based on users they move and where they order from,” Aditi Sinha, Co-founder of Locale.ai, said.

Founded in 2019, the company provides location intelligence software for real-time and business decisions. It has partnerships with a number of data vendors.

SoftBank cautions US$24B in losses due to plummeting performance of its tech bets

Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank has cautioned against its first operating loss in 15 years due to collapse in the value of its tech investments, according to CNN Business.

Over 2019 and early 2020, several of SoftBank’s tech bets have been slipping, most notably WeWork, whose value dropped from US$40 billion to around US$8 billion.

“Much of the damage to SoftBank’s Vision Fund credibility has already occurred with the very public failed WeWork float,” Dan Baker, an analyst of Morningstar, told CNN.

Other companies in SoftBank’s portfolio — for example, Uber, OpenDoor and Compass, Brandless, Wag, DoorDash and hotel chain Oyo — have also faced a rough road in recent times.

About 7,300 people have also been laid off across dozen SoftBank-backed startups in the four months ending in February, as per a CNN Business tally.

India launches first contact tracing app Aarogya Setu to combat the pandemic

The government of India has launched a contact tracing app, called Aarogya Setu, to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The app features a self-assessment test option, along with a ‘ready to volunteer in the time of need’ option.

Users can download the app from the Android Playstore or Apple AppStore and simply add in their contact details which includes their name and phone number.

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Image Credit: Circles.Life, Softbank

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“Summoning up the courage to take action is always the same regardless of how seemingly big or small the challenge. What may look like a small act of courage is courage nonetheless. The important thing is to be willing to take a step forward.”

– Nichiren Daishonin

The recent outbreak has inconvenienced the entire world, rapidly changing how people work, communicate, and interact. From the UK to the US, a number of multinational companies and businesses – from Amazon to Google – implemented work from home policies to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

There were too many variables that made my co-founder (and friend), Mayank and I hesitant – how would the teams co-ordinate, how would the tasks be assigned, what criteria should be set for the number of tasks to be completed in a day, and so on.

After considering the pros and cons, the safety and well-being of our employees trumped. It was official – University Living would be moving into uncharted waters. From face time to FaceTime (pun intended), our entire team would be working remotely.

Also Read: e27 Webinar: Work-from-home or work-from-office, which is better?

After all, it isn’t the tough who make it through difficult times, it’s the ones who learn to adapt to the changing times.

I knew it would take some time wrapping my head around the concept, so I began my own research and set some ground rules. After reading a few articles online (there are tons of them on the web) and reaching out to my mentors (they had plenty of tried and tested methods), I was sure about what to do and not to do. Wake up early (you don’t want to sleep through half the day), keep a designated workspace (the place that turns into the Bermuda Triangle when you need a file), and so on.

The first day began with lots of enthusiasm and zeal, it was finally time to put all my research into action. Let me go ahead and share my checklist for boosting productivity when working from home.

Freshen up and dress up

I know waking up and taking a shower seems like a good idea if you actually have to go to the office, but trust me, it’s an even better idea to do it when you are working from home. You wouldn’t want to initiate a meeting on Skype (or any other platform) wearing your pyjamas. Also, seeing you dressed up will only inspire your employees to do the same.

My advice – Even if you’re not going to the office, dress the part.

Have a dedicated workspace

Whatever you do, do not work from your bed (just don’t). Find a place for your desk and chair, whether it’s in a separate room or a space in the corner of your kitchen (or lounge).

All you need is a place where you can get into work mode. Then you need to make sure that all your equipment – laptop, notes, phone, and so on is within easy reach.

My advice – Try out different places to set up a workstation before you finalise ‘the spot’. A little secret though, my spot is a table and chair in the living room.

Also Read: How I built a business across three countries with only remote workers

Schedule breaks during the day

Begin your day with meditation and yoga (or exercise), as it will keep you fresh throughout the day. But that doesn’t mean you stay on your seat for the rest of the day. So, talk a walk around your house. Or outdoors. Or the terrace. You get the picture, right? Your body needs to move.

Since you’re at home, spend time with your family during breaks. It will help you focus better when you resume work.

My advice – Leave your workstation, take a break. Not once or twice, but multiple times. A reminder to take breaks is as important as a reminder to finish your tasks.

Plan ahead

Instead of waking up in the morning and deciding to just tackle tasks as they come along, try to schedule them and stick to them. I know when you’re handling multiple teams and delegating multiple tasks, you tend to miss a few, but that’s what you get better at.

As for the rest of the umpteen things that come along, you can always get them done.

My advice – Note down everything in a diary or create a note on your phone. Call me old school, but I prefer writing things down in my diary and checking if I’ve crossed them off from the to-do list.

Communicate with employees

As the founder, it is important for me to be in control of any and all communication that takes place with the managers and their team. At University Living, we ensure that a continuous flow of positive and motivational talks is conducted through Skype meetings amidst jokes being cracked to keep things going. Even our HR team is checking up on the mental and physical well-being of our employees.

Also Read: 5 common productivity challenges affecting remote worker and how to overcome them

This encourages them to stay productive throughout the day without hampering their quality of work.

My advice – Try out different types of tools available like Slack, Hangouts, and Skype. And then pick the one that best suits you.

The post A founder’s guide to successfully working from home appeared first on e27.

Vietnam’s proptech co-investing platform Homebase raises funds from Antler

Vietnam-based proptech startup Homebase has closed an undisclosed pre-seed funding round from global VC firm and startup generator Antler, besides Iterative and several strategic angel investors.

The startup said in a statement that it will use the new funds to expand its infrastructure, make new hires, and push forward with its regional expansion plans.

Homebase was founded in 2019 by Phillip An, Hung Viet Doan, Hai Vu, and JunYuan Tan. The startup intends to tackle the millennial homeownership crisis across Southeast Asia caused by fast-increasing prices and a high appetite for home-ownership, yet a lack of financing options.

Homebase’s product offers a path to homeownership for millennials across the region by allowing them to buy a portion of a property and move in from the first day, with the option to buy out more equity over time. To make investment decisions, Homebase utilises a combination of big data, asset valuation models and financial engineering.

Homebase was recently named as one of the World’s Top 50 Most Promising PropTech Startups by Plug and Play, the renowned US-based venture firm.

Singapore’s Mighty Jaxx receives investment from KB Investment, Greycroft Partners’ GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund

Mighty Jaxx International (Mighty Jaxx), an urban culture company that designs and manufactures collectibles and lifestyle products in partnership with global brands, announced today that it has bagged US$3.2 million funding led by South Korean VC firm KB Investment Co. This takes the company’s pre-Series A round to a total of approximately US$4.7 million.

Also Read: Online designer toys and collectible platform Mighty Jaxx secures US$1.6M financing

Joining the funding round are Los Angeles-based VC Greycroft Partner, through the GC VR Gaming Tracker Fund, an investment fund that is dedicated to supporting companies across the virtual reality, augmented reality, video game and e-sport sectors. Existing investor SGInnovate also participated in the round.

Mighty Jaxx plans to channel the investment towards the further development of MightyVerse, its proprietary technology platform and to help it ramps up its production for the second half of 2020 as it on-boards entertainment companies, Hasbro and ViacomCBS’s Nickelodeon, on new global licensing deals.

Digital payment startup Azimo, Siam Commercial Bank collaborate to settle remittances service

Azimo, an online funds transfer service provider, has joined hands with Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) to introduce an instant international payments gateway or remittances, from Europe to the Asian country.

According to Crowdfund Insider, the new platform will be powered by RippleNet, a decentralised cross-border payments network developed by American Fintech Ripple with the aim to address the current challenges of costly and unreliable cross-border transactions, providing payment transfer from Europe to Thailand within a minute.

Azimo allows users to complete Sterling Pound (GBP) and Euro-based payments to Thailand almost instantly with recipients based in the country can make withdrawals in Thai Bahts.

Fintech platform Helicap adds son of former Indonesia President to its Board of Directors

Singapore-based fintech platform Helicap has appointed Ilham Akbar Habibie, the son of late former Indonesian President B.J Habibie, as a Special Advisor and investor to the firm’s Board of Directors (BOD), DealStreetAsia has reported.

Also Read: Singapore-based lending platform Helicap raises US$5M to go to Indonesia

Like his father who was the third president of the country, Habibie is an aviation expert who also serves as Chairman of Indonesia’s shariah-compliant lender Bank Muamalat.

Ilham would advise Helicap’s BOD on the Indonesian market as well as give insights on strategic and operational matters, including guidance on expansion initiative and business development.

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Picture Credit: unsplash.com/@peterng1618

The post News Roundup: MightyJaxx raises US$3.2M funding; Vietnam’s Homebase closes pre-seed round appeared first on e27.

There’s always blessing in disguise, which is what I learn from theory. But when it comes to the implications of COVID-19, I know that blessing is always in disguise, but not without a partiality.

As someone who’s been working from home almost for four years now, I didn’t feel any significant shift in my daily routine since the work-from-home policy kicked off. If anything, what I experience for the past one and a half month is superiority because I’ve been doing this far longer than all of the other amateurs (ha).

Suddenly, 2020 is the year where people are forced to make do with the technology they have been taking advantage of. More than before, we’ve collectively come to the realisation that our lives have become dependent entirely on technology today and we’ve been making too light of the matter.

That’s also one of many reasons this whole matter is still a blessing in disguise, solely for people with access to the internet and proper computers.

For an underserved community, that’s not the case. The virus has left them debilitated and technology has impaled their livelihood and for children, their education.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released its analysis that maps the changing digital landscape since the last major global calamity, the 2008-09 financial crisis. It looks at how a digitally-enabled world is working for some, but not all equally.

How coronavirus puts digital gaps on the surface

According to its analysis, COVID-19 reveals the need to bridge the digital divide. The coronavirus speeds up the transition to a digital economy while exposing the digital gap between countries and societies.

Also Read: e27 webinar: Sailing through COVID-19 crisis with mindfulness meditation

The analysis also notes that the global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has pushed us further into a digital world, and changes in behaviour are likely to have lasting effects when the economy starts to pick up. But not everyone is ready to embrace a more digitised existence.

Since the 2008-09 financial crisis, the world has started to look at how a digitally-enabled world is working for some, but not all equally. The inequality still continues today, and isolation made things hard on people with no access.

According to the analysis, the coronavirus crisis has accelerated the uptake of digital solutions, tools, and services, speeding up the global transition towards a digital economy.

However, it has also exposed the wide chasm between the connected and the unconnected, revealing just how far behind many are on digital uptake.

“Inequalities in digital readiness hamper the ability of large parts of the world to take advantage of technologies that help us cope with the coronavirus pandemic by staying at home,” said Shamika Sirimanne, UNCTAD’s Director ( Technology and Logistics).

Those who thrive

The analysis provides snapshots of how technology is being used as a critical tool in maintaining business and life continuity.

Measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic have seen more businesses and governments move their operations and services online to limit physical interaction to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Digital platforms are also thriving as consumers seek entertainment, shopping opportunities, and new ways of connecting during the crisis.

“There are incredible positives emerging that show the potential of a digitally transformed world,” notes Sirimanne.

Digitalisation allows telemedicine, telework, and online education to proliferate. It is also generating more data on the expansion of the virus and helping information exchanges for research.

There has been a leap in teleworking and online conferencing, amplifying the demand for online conferencing software such as Microsoft Teams, Skype, Cisco’s Webex, and Zoom, the analysis says.

According to Microsoft, the number of people using its software for online collaboration climbed nearly 40 per cent in a week.

In China, the use of digital work applications from WeChat, Tencent, and Ding took off at the end of January when lockdown measures started to take effect.

Other benefits include using Artificial Intelligence to help find a cure and a significant shift to e-commerce, benefitting small and big businesses alike.

Those who suffer

However not all technology companies are profiting and there are some serious consequences of the rush to online platforms. These include mounting security and privacy concerns, according to UNCTAD.

The fast-paced shift towards digitalisation is likely to strengthen the market positions of a few mega-digital platforms, the analysis finds.

This finding is concluded in UNCTAD’s 2019 Digital Economy Report, which pointed out that the world’s top seven digital platforms already accounted for two-thirds of the value of digital platforms globally in 2017.

They have benefitted from network effects and from their ability to extract, control, and analyse data, then transform it into digital intelligence that can be monetised.

Also Read: Digital transformation is now real: How COVID-19 has sparked innovation in tech companies

“This situation will now be amplified as more people come or are forced online due to the coronavirus crisis,” said Torbjörn Fredriksson, UNCTAD’s digital economy head. “Those that do not have access are at risk of being left further behind as digital transformation accelerates, especially those in least developed countries.”

The least developed countries (LDCs) are the most vulnerable to the human and economic consequences of the pandemic, and they also lag farthest behind in digital readiness.

Economists of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) said in a piece in The Jakarta Post that, based on its gross national income (GNI) per capita and parameters of social development, among other factors, Indonesia should still be considered a developing country. Although not in the LDCs category, the fact that Indonesia’s GNI (Gross National Income) per capita of US$3,840 in 2018  — compared to high-income economies that are at a GNI per capita of US$12,376 — makes Indonesia to still be considered a lower-middle-income economy.

In most developing countries, well below five per cent of the population currently buys goods or services online. This poses questions of how the rest of 95 per cent of the population copes with the COVID-19’s limitation.

Lack of Internet access at home also limits connectivity, cramping, for example, the possibilities for students to be connected if schools are closed. “The education gap may also expand in developing countries, compounding inequalities,” said Sirimanne.

Low broadband quality hampers the ability to use teleconferencing tools. Mobile data costs also remain expensive across the developing world.

Hope for development

The coronavirus pandemic’s ability to show fractures can, hopefully, be turned into an opportunity, said Sirimanne. “More developing countries are exploring e-commerce and other digital solutions that can help build local resilience to future shocks.”

The main policy takeaway from the analysis is that much more attention should be given to bridging existing and emerging digital divides to allow more countries to take advantage of digitalisation.

However, doing so in such a short amount of time while containing the outbreak is something that’s next to impossible. What all of this restriction and the possible impact to the technologically vulnerable are what can prepare us next to make sure there’s even distribution for connection, because digital disruptions are the new normal today.

New policies and regulations are needed to ensure a fair distribution of the gains from digital disruptions.

Also Read: Report: COVID-19 might result in US$28B missing startup investment this year

“If left unaddressed, the yawning gap between under-connected and hyper-digitised countries will widen, thereby exacerbating existing inequalities. As with the coronavirus crisis and other development challenges, the world will need a coordinated multilateral response to deal with the challenge of digitalisation,” she added.

“This situation has significant development implications that cannot be ignored. We need to ensure that we do not leave those who are less digitally equipped even further behind in a post-coronavirus world,” Sirimanne concluded.
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Photo by Rene Bernal on Unsplash

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