Year: 2020

TNB Aura Co-founders and Managing Partners Vicknesh R Pillay (L) and Charles Wong

Singapore-headquartered VC firm TNB Aura announced today the launch of a new Special Situations Fund, which intends to invest US$2 million each in tech startups impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, TNB Aura said it aims to turn around funding within one to two months, and is open to a range of funding structures such as convertible notes or direct equity.

Interested applicants can apply through its Special Situations Fund Form.

Also Read: How e27 is going to lend a helping hand for the startup ecosystem during the COVID-19 crisis

All applications will be dealt with the highest confidentiality, the Vc firm said.

By providing an extended runway of 12-18 months to weather the headwinds, the fund serves to aid companies in returning their focus to achieving their targeted milestones.

“We are investing for the long-term, and seek to provide an encouraging narrative to the ecosystem at this critical time. Ultimately, we believe in strong fundamentals, and in the ability of selected companies to both weather the current storm and come out stronger on the other side,” said Co-founder and Managing Partner Charles Wong.

According to Co-founder and Managing Partner Vicknesh R Pillay, the fund sees an opportunity to support great companies, which are facing near-term cash flows issues as a result of the COVID-19 black swan event.

“Our highly selective and hands-on approach to investing has proven resilient, reflecting as such in majority our portfolio companies. With our financial acumen, we assist our investee companies to be nimble in the manner in which they manage their cash flow, budgeting and talent optimisation through volatility,” Pillay added.

“With the market having previously witnessed a glut of over-valued deals, and today, a current value dislocation, TNB AURA is targeting value deals of high quality for this new fund,” Pillay commented.

TNB Aura is focused on Series A and B technology investments in the region. The company normally invests US$1 million to US$5 million into the next wave of technology-led high growth companies.

Recently, a group of VC firms in the region came together to build a community-led talent database, which aims to bridge laid off startup employees impacted by COVID-19 with new opportunities.

Also Read: Despite global health crisis, March remained an exciting month for early stage startups in SEA

The investors include Saison Capital, FutureLabs, Jungle Ventures, Alpha JWC, Convergence Ventures, Patamar Capital, Rainmaking, TRIVE Ventures, and Tribe Accelerator.

The official statement said that the initiative is inspired by a ​similar venture-led list in the US​.

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Image Credit: TNB Aura

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Technology, like many other industries, has long been associated with being the men’s world. But thanks to advances of gender equality in almost every corner of the world, tech has begun to welcome a wave of disruptive women in leadership positions.

According to a statistic shared by Leftronics, there has been a study that proves that businesses led by women have performed three times better than those with male executives. Technology is no different and this trend is true for startups as well.

Despite these facts, more than half of the women in tech earn less than men in the same position, sometimes even in the same company.

In this listicle, we are looking at those who have made their marks in the deep tech field. Because honestly, it’s time.

Yamini Bhat, Co-founder and CEO of Vymo

Vymo is an AI-enabled personal assistant for salespeople, co-founded by Yamini Bhat.

Bhat said in an interview with Bangkok Bank Inno Hub that automation and productivity are two of the things she’s most interested in since her university days. Bhat was a computer science student and had a stint at McKinsey, driving large-scale sales transformation for large enterprises in the financial, healthcare, and telecom industries, before establishing Vymo.

“In trying to understand skill gaps in the businesses, my team found that a lot of data was missing, which prevented us from answering any questions. It was around that time in 2013 when a very close friend of mine was working with Google as a part of its mobility team, and we realised that salespeople needed a solution to help them input data into CRM systems and drive engagement,” Bhat shares about the first time she got together with other co-founders to found Vymo.

Also Read: AI-powered regtech startup Tookitaki secures US$19.2M in Series A funding, pledging to address global money laundering issue

She used her experience in corporate worlds to keep up with internal working coordination, which typically grows worse when the organisation scales up.

“Whenever there were shifts in strategy — for example when we would think, ‘Let’s change our playbook, and let’s do customer segmentation differently’— after three or four months we would realise that a gap of understanding exists between those who set the strategy and salespeople in remote locations who have to carry it out,” she explains the basis of what Vymo offers.

“Technology can completely change the game as you can broadcast messages and have two-way conversations. Moreover, you can tailor messages based on different contexts to draw attention to what matters for a particular salesperson in a particular region. By building something that employees love to use, you can bridge the understanding gap in a matter of minutes instead of months or years,” Bhat continues.

Today, Vymo has customers in seven countries across the Asia Pacific. According to TechCrunch’s article, it employs about 100 people, has amassed over 40 enterprise customers, including life insurance firms AIA Group and AXA.

It recently raised US$18 million in a Series B round led by Emergence Capital, and joined by existing investor Sequoia India to expand its footprint in the US and other markets.

In regards to her journey as the CEO of a six-year-old startup, Bhat lends her insight about gender equality in such a niche and male-dominant tech field. “I wish there are more women on the other side of the table when we go and meet customers. The few women leaders who I know have been extremely good at rallying their teams, having a combined vision, and being persistent in trying to achieve that vision while remaining very outcome-focused,” she says.

“That being said. I don’t think being a woman in the tech world is tougher. In terms of physical energy, I think the differences in gender don’t matter. I don’t particularly think it is extra tough being a woman in the tech world,” she concludes.

Jeeta Bandhopadhyay, Co-founder and COO of Tookitaki

Jeeta Bandhopadhyay had a non-technical background yet she was still fascinated by the power of technology to change lives. “I wanted to be part of an innovative idea that can make the world better,” she says, recalling her motivation to build Tookitaki in an interview with Jungle Ventures.

Tookitaki tries to solve a global problem, which is money laundering. It seeks to become a solution for banks to curb money laundering, and in doing so, help stop a number of crimes such as human trafficking, drug trafficking, and corruption.

Being a part of such grand vision, Bandhopadhyay shared that she is lucky enough to see the development of countries in Southeast Asia, especially in Singapore, that becomes more tech-minded in terms of “upgraded educational systems, policies aimed at nurturing innovative startups, and the creation of well-oiled tech ecosystems that help entrepreneurs”.

“AI and machine learning are taking over our lives, and Southeast Asia has been very quick to identify their benefits. These countries are encouraging both big businesses to use modern technologies and technology companies to fine-tune their innovation and scale up to other markets,” she says.

According to her prediction, AI and machine learning’s rise to prominence will result in data privacy regulations having a big shift.

When it comes to more female tech entrepreneurs, Bandhopadhyay says that despite many false beliefs, the tech industry is neither biased against gender nor discriminative.

“The sector looks for skills, innovative and collaborative mindset, risk-taking attitude, and perseverance. Those who are aspiring to become entrepreneurs in the tech sector should be willing to persevere past the initial stages of scepticism from colleagues. Just believe in yourself and learn diligently,” she shares her mindset in viewing equality.

For now, Bandhopadhyay believes that Singapore still has a big share of female entrepreneurs more than other countries in Southeast Asia. “I believe the country’s love for technology, status as an international hub, world-class facilities and a business-friendly atmosphere is helping the womenfolk here,” she says.

Ayesha Khanna, co-founder, and CEO of ADDO AI

ADDO AI is an artificial intelligence solution firm and incubator co-founded by Dr. Ayesha Khanna. ADDO AI previously has been featured in Forbes as one of the four leading artificial intelligence companies in Asia, with Khanna named as one of Southeast Asia’s groundbreaking female entrepreneurs by the same magazine last year.

Built on a partnership between industry and academia, the company was first inspired by Khanna’s experience advising the Singapore government on the Skills Future programme, which strengthens collaboration between industry and academia to foster innovation, as told in Tech Collective SEA.

According to The Peak Magazine, ADDO AI is an AI consultancy firm that was born out of Khanna’s innate concern that there are more restraints for girls to be considered good at tech compared to boys.

Also Read: Singaporean biotech startup TurtleTree secures pre-seed from Saudi entrepreneur Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed

Khanna shared a story about a little girl who was helping to build electronic parts for a robot in a hackathon five years ago. She was then shooed away by her own mother, and instead of putting her son in front of Khanna, neglecting how good the daughter was at doing it.

This incident also prompted her to start 21st Century (21C) Girls, a registered charity that teaches school girls coding and runs a series of AI workshops for polytechnic students.

“To have confidence, girls must have an intuitive understanding of technology, AI, and data because every single industry, from the law, to manufacturing, to genetics, will have these elements in 21st Century Girls,” she explains.

An economics scholarship receiver from Harvard with a master’s degree in operations research at Columbia University, Khanna had a stint in Wall Street where she spent more than a decade developing large-scale trading, risk management, and data analytics systems.

Khanna stresses that despite everything that she’s achieved, women remain a minority in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field.

“We need a lot more women who are comfortable with doing technology and being engineers and data scientists. Otherwise, the systems that you develop will be grossly biased,” she says.

For her 21C Girls, it is definitely on track with a partnership with Visa and Google for its programmes, which has taught over 2,000 students and will be offering classes to boys as well, especially those from underprivileged families, and polytechnic students.

In 2012, Khanna with her husband and two kids moved to Singapore, with the belief that Singapore is where the future is.

In Singapore, Khanna was on the Ministry of Education’s 2014 Aspire Steering Committee, doing her part in reviewing high education reform and applied to learn.

In her point of view, Khanna said she sees Singapore as a country that has what it takes to be a convener of dialogue between the East and West to improve accountability, transparency, and ethics in the use of AI and advanced technology across the world.

“Not only is there a gap in global leadership on ethical design, governance, and use of AI, what’s worse is, when they do talk about it, it’s also the Western experts talking to one another. No one is asking the Chinese, Indians or Japanese how they believe AI should be governed. Yet, the impact of AI is going to be felt most by billions of people in Asia.”

Aside from leading her company, Khanna collaborated with her husband Parag Khanna, who was a foreign policy adviser in former US president Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign and senior geopolitical adviser to the United States Special Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It resulted in their 2012 book Hybrid Reality, in which they explored the co-evolution of humans, technology and geopolitics.

Fengru Lin, Co-Founder & CEO and Rabail Toor, Co-Founder & Chief Scientist of TurtleTree Labs

Fengru Lin and Rabail Toor are a dynamite duo of women in deep tech who co-founded TurtleTree Labs along with Max Rye in 2019. Green Queen’s article shared that TurtleTree Labs is a startup that claims to produce the world’s first lab-grown dairy milk that recreates the exact composition, functionality, and taste of cow’s milk at a fraction of the carbon footprint compared to conventional dairy farming.

Back in January, the startup just closed a pre-seed round led by alternative protein investors Lever VC, joined by Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud’s VC firm KBW Ventures and Silicon Valley investors K2 Global.

Now with the investments, both Lin and Toor are on the mission to recreate milk-making glands out of stem cells and feeding them as they grow and lactate, filtering off their excrement while capturing their milky produce, as reported by AgFunder News.

With the infant and baby formula industry offering higher price points than other dairy products like milk or cream, TurtleTree’s technology is positive that they can compete by offering increasingly comprehensive nutritional and environmental benefits.

Turtle Tree tries to aim for an existing trade where donors provide milk for premature or sick babies whose mothers’ milk production may not have started as well as a large market of mothers who may struggle to produce enough milk for their child, or their milk may sometimes even lack vital nutrition.

Lin said the genes of her stem cell prototype formulation can be adapted to pack in an evermore optimised and personalised nutritional profile, with a shelf life that’s just like real milk –but with no hormones.

With their emphatic mission of providing personalised milk with a safer operation, two women heading the company seems like a perfect match.

Verleen Goh, Co-Founder at Alchemy Foodtech

Verleen Goh is the name behind Singapore-based startup Alchemy Foodtech that was founded in 2015. In an article by Green Queen, Goh is said to be on a mission to use biotechnology and medical technology in everyday foods in order to fight the global diabetes crisis alongside co-founder Alan Phua.

Alchemy Foodtech has created a gluten-free and vegan product that can be incorporated into staple foods such as white rice, bread, noodles, and flour to help lower the GI levels and increase the fibre content of these foods.

Goh is a Food Science and Technology graduate from the National University of Singapore. She co-founded the company with the belief that food is the new medicine, and that food science and technology is the vehicle to create new functional foods and ingredients to combat chronic diseases.

Dr. Sandhya Sriram, Co-Founder & CEO and Dr. Ka Yi Ling, Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Shiok Meats

Another foodtech startup hailing from Singapore is Shiok Meats, which is also helmed by two women co-founders, Dr. Sandya Sriram and Dr. Ka Yi Ling. According to Green Queen’s article, they both started Shiok Meats in 2018 to tackle the environmental footprint of traditional seafood farming over the concern of how Asia’s consumption of seafood continues to grow.

Shiok Meats uses cellular technology to harvest seafood products in their labs and already managed to cultivate a shrimp product that has been sampled in the highly popular dish shrimp dumplings. Shiok Meats just recently got accepted into the US-based accelerator Y Combinator, which has given them the needed boost to commercialise their cultured shrimp within this year.

Also Read: eFishery, Shiok Meats co-founders on MIT Technology Review’s list of emerging innovators from APAC

Sriram and Ka Yi started off as two scientists who were working at the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research—or A*STAR—in Singapore. Using stem cells and cells to make real meat, they were able to do so without harming any animals, as an article in KrAsia highlighted.

Shiok Meats started off with US$10,000 from an angel investor, and the co-founders used it to rent a lab on St. John’s Island, one of the Southern Islands in Singapore. “We’re both stem cell biologists, so we were confident that if we could take stem cells from mammals, we could do the same with marine animals. It took us only a few months to polish the protocols and we filed our patent in January this year,” Sriram says.

For Sriram herself, prior to Shiok Meats, she already co-founded two companies: biotech and healthcare news site Biotech in Asia as well as edutech and event management company SciGlo.

Currently, according to Sriram, the research done by Shiok Meats is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. The founders have plans to commercialise Shiok’s products in 2021.

In April 2019, the startup raised US$ 4.6 million in a seed funding round led by Monde Nissin CEO Henry Soesanto, Y Combinator, AiiM Partners, Big Idea Ventures, and other investors.

Reportedly, the company is developing cell-based crustacean meats such as crab and lobster.

With women leading such a niche tech field, the future is in its brighter way. A caring and sustainable future are within sights, and these women are the fighters and the hopes that will help change the face of technology and pave the way for future women tech entrepreneurs.

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Image Credit: Andrew Neel on Unsplash

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Agri-food tradetech startup DiMuto receives investment from Latin Leap for Latin America expansion 

Agri-food tradetech solutions company DiMuto has received an undisclosed sum in investment from Singapore-based VC studio, Latin Leap, to broaden its footprint in Latin America.

DiMuto offers an IoT- and AI-powered platform to provide end-to-end supply chain visibility to global agri-food businesses. Using blockchain, it digitalises the agri-food supply chain for data visibility and trade transparency, and aims to solve challenges, such as food waste, food safety, and food sustainability.

The company said in a statement that it will use the investment to drive further international expansion in Latin America, a market where it expects a constant growth of fresh produce trade such as fruit and vegetable production that the countries export.

Latin Leap is focussed on opening up opportunities in Latin America for Southeast Asian tech startups. It plans to set its fund structures out of Singapore with the aim of becoming a partner in the internationalisation of the region’s tech sector.

B2B learning management system ProSpark lands pre-seed funding led by Agaeti Ventures

Singapore-headquartered ProSpark, a B2B learning management system, has secured an undisclosed funding led by Indonesian VC firm Agaeti Ventures. Prasetia Dwidharma and angel investor Adi Adisaputro also participated in the round.

Also Read: SG Innovate invests in agri-food tech startup DiMuto, raising awareness to food sustainability issue

ProSpark, which fosters capability building in organisations by bringing a distributed content marketplace and gamified engagement, will use the funds to expand its commercial footprint and strengthen its position in the market.

The company is also working on future plans for regional expansion.

The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed a fertile ground for edutech startups to flourish around the world. ProSpark aims to help any disrupted in-person learning and development ecosystem to be moved fully online and still potentially be rolled out as scheduled on a wider and standardised scale by focussing on human capital development.

OmniSci expands to Asia, names Joseph Lee as Global Sales Vice President

Singapore-based analytics startup OmniSci has announced its Asian expansion.

The firm has also hired Joseph Lee as Vice President of Global Sales, and Herfini Haryono as Vice President of Industry Verticals to further strengthen regional presence.

OmniSci’s new sales and field engineering team will provide complete local support for current and prospective enterprise, governmental, and academic customers.

Also Read: A sneak-peek at the 4 startups graduated from VIISA Acceleration Programme

Initially focussed on Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and India, OmniSci’s Asia initiatives will be led by Lee. He has strong experience serving APAC markets and previously worked at Snow Software and Kinetica in Singapore.

Haryono has served as a CIO, CTO and Board Member of multiple technology companies throughout Indonesia, along with a Singapore-based field support team.
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Photo by no one cares on Unsplash

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Vietnam’s eDoctor nets additional funding to enhance remote healthcare consultancy service

Vietnam-based medtech startup eDoctor has secured an undisclosed funding afresh from CyberAgent Capital, Genesia Ventures, Bon Angels and Nextrans.

According to the startup, this round brings its total funding to more than US$1 million.

“We will use the investment to enhance further our remote healthcare consultancy and the capacity in connecting offline services to the users,” said Huynh Phuoc Tho, Co-founder of eDoctor.

A SharkTank startup, eDoctor makes it easy for users to remotely connect with doctors. Users can use the app for health advice, medicine and other health services.

500 startups, Indonesian billionaire invest in Silicon Valley startup Fairbanc

Fairbanc, an online payments platform for micro and small businesses, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from 500 startups and Indonesian billionaire Michael Sampoerna.

The new capital will be utilised by the company to “make a bigger push” into the Indonesian market, which has the fourth largest unbanked population globally, with 95 million adults lacking a formal account according to World Bank.

Also read: Stressful times ahead: How this e27 webinar will help you keep calm and carry on

“500 Startups usually prides itself as a social impact investor, and with our investment in Fairbanc, we see a great opportunity to offer financial access to the unbanked and women merchants across the entire Southeast Asia region over time,” Khailee Ng, Managing Partner of 500 Startups, said in a statement.

Bengaluru fintech startup Recko raises US$6M Series A from Vertex Ventures

Recko, an enterprise fintech startup based in Bengaluru, India, has secured US$6 million in Series A funding from Vertex Ventures SEA and India. City-based Prime Venture Partners also participated in the round.

The company claims to have accepted transactions worth US$5 billion, and is currently looking to reconcile transactions worth US$10 billion by the end of 2020.

Founded in 2017 by serial entrepreneurs Saurya Prakash Sinha and Prashant Borde, Recko has partnered with various banks, NBFCs and insurance companies and is currently running pilots with them.

“Transaction reconciliation is not a new problem, but the nature and extent of this problem have changed due to rapid digitisation of transactions and massive count of B2C transactions, especially in internet companies. Over the time we have evolved to add COD, Logistics and Aggregator reconciliation to make it a complete receivables suite,” said Sinha.

Right-Hand Cybersecurity launches initiative to protect businesses from phishing during COVID-19

Singaporean cybersecurity firm Right-Hand has launched #DefendTogether campaign to support businesses from the recent spike in phishing emails due to COVID-19.

In this initiative, the startup will be offering a free cyber training module to any business in need of cyber support. The topic will cover tactics cyber attackers are currently deploying, and how it can be defended.

“Right-Hand empathises with the challenges that organisations around the world are going through right now, but unfortunately, cyber attackers do not.  We are determined to play our part in supporting organisations as they are experiencing these unplanned business pivots and transitioning their employees to work remote,” said Theo Nasser, CEO of the company. 

The company recently secured US$1M funding from SGInnovate, Atlas Ventures and Entrepreneur First.

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Image Credit: Recko, Fairbanc, Clint Patterson,

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BIT Founders

Bagan Innovation Technology (BIT), a digital content provider in Myanmar, has secured “seven-figure USD” in Series B funding, led by Japan’s Kyuu Roku.

Existing investor UMJ Ikeya Investment, besides Hotto Link, a social listening company listed on Japan’s stock exchange, also participated.

BIT will use this financing to invest into their automatic speech recognition, language sentiment analysis and other technology.

“This raise means a lot to BIT at this stage of our business; last year we saw great unit economics across our business lines, which has meant we’ve been able to reach more customers. We’re constantly investing in our language recognition and this investment, and the investors, will enable us to keep BIT at the forefront,” Co-founder and CEO Thet Lynn Han told e27.

Also Read: Ex-Oway Director’s e-commerce app Ezay makes life easy for rural woman retailers in Myanmar

BIT is the company behind Wun Zinn, an e-book store and web series, which claims to have 2.5 million users. Serialised web novels is the most popular content type in the country and BIT is already working with over one hundred writers for daily serialised content.

The Yangon-headquartered company’s other popular product is Min Thein Kha, a mobile astrologer marketplace. The firm claims this product grew 7x in revenues last year and it currently has one million users.

The company also owns ‘Frozen’ and ‘Bagan’ mobile keyboards with full automatic speech recognition for the Burmese language. BI Miner, a social listening tool providing sentiment analysis to Myanmar’s corporates, is the other product it owns.

BIT has also developed Therapa.ai, a social commerce chatbot that can quickly take enquiries, check stock and complete orders.

Kyuu Roku is an investment holding company founded by Seiji Kurokoshi, who has several investments in Myanmar and whose company Digi Search specialises in helping companies go direct to consumer.

“Companies like BIT are hard to come by but when you find them you just know you’ve found something exceptional. Thet Lynn Han and his team have proven that they understand the consumer better than anyone and in today’s age that plus technological finesse can take you a long way and unlock untapped potential in Myanmar’s frontier market,” said Kurokoshi.

In the past, BIT has raised several rounds of investments. In January 2018, it secured a “six-digit USD equity investment”, led by former Goldman Sachs executive Takashi Hatanaka. Prior to this, it netted a seven-digit USD investment in Series A led by Group Lease Holdings and Alliance Technology Investments.

Also Read: TNB Aura’s special fund to invest US$2M each in COVID-19-affected startups in SEA

Earlier, in 2016, UMJ Ikeya invested seed funding in the firm.

Myanmar is a country with more than 50 million people and where mobile phone ownership is 101 per cent and where 85 per cent of all internet traffic is on smartphones. However, the country is often last on the list when investors consider Southeast Asian tech startups, with Indonesia leading and recent excitement echoing from Vietnam.

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Santo Purnama, co-founder of Singapore-based biotech startup Sensing Self, has developed a rapid self-test kit for COVID-19, for people who want to test themselves at the comfort of their homes.

The product has already obtained a license from Europe (with CE certification), India (approved by the National Institute of Virology and the Indian Council of Medical Research), and the US (through Food and Drug Administration).

The kit uses enzyme analysis to offer results in around 10 minutes, instead of using nostril swab tests, which take up to an hour.

According to Purnama, the product is priced at a low rate of US$10 per unit is because he considers this as a social mission to help save more lives.

As per a company statement, the Indian government has already ordered millions of test kits, while Europe and the US have already certified it.

The kits are currently available in 14 countries, including Italy, Spain, Germany, the UK, Czech Republic,  Switzerland, SouthKorea, China, Lebanon, Japan, India, Netherlands, the UAE and South America.

Purnama also expressed his disappointment that even four weeks after the product was developed, the Indonesian government has failed to determine the approval status of the self-test kit.

“We have sent out Sensing Self test kits to help renowned research institutions, such as the Mayo Clinic, the University of California San Francisco, and Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. We always maintain the quality of each unit, as well as its accuracy, because we understand that this is a medical tool highly related to one’s health. Early detection of the COVID-19 virus can make a difference between life and death,” he said.

Also Read: COVID-19 may drive us apart today, but it could bring humanity closer in the future

Currently, Purnama and his team are developing a test that can detect COVID-19 infection as soon as a person is exposed to the virus. Sensing Self team plans to launch this product soon.

“The war against COVID-19 is a war against time. We must reduce the growth rate of this pandemic by carrying out tests as widely as possible. That said, we hope that the Indonesian government could authorise our initiative to bring these independent test kits to Indonesia,” Purnama added.

“If everyone has access to self-test kits, we can minimise the risk of infection when patients need to come to the hospital for the test. At the same time, we can relieve the burden of medical personnel who are already very overwhelmed,” he continued.

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The current state of affairs has brought light to some very harsh realities in full force, and our daily lives are massively altered in dramatic ways, not seen before in our lifetime. It’s been more than three months since COVID-19 emerged and all regular businesses have come to a halt.

While we believe that our diverse model that includes retail makes us more adaptable than other retailers, it wasn’t designed for such a pandemic that we face today. We have taken some really agonising decisions of having the team and management to go on major no-pay leave but in lieu of having them reinstated once we deem fit as a group when the crisis is over.

Here are some of the movements that we have taken in the short term to alleviate and maximise on our business model throughout this pandemic.

These could also be immediate solutions that retailers with brick and mortar stores can take to mitigate cash flow constraints, redeploy digital marketing spend and respond to the sharp decline in indirect revenue. 

Use of social media for direct sales 

Having a solid database across our community allows us to fully engage with our customers. We implemented live streams of product presentations and created unique discount codes to draw attention.

The complexity of tech products allows us to build a more experiential video through our efforts, which allows consumers to be in the comforts of their homes, too. The call-to-action is much more apparent through these engagements and the commitment to make a purchase is higher. 

Having built a strong relationship with crowdfunding creators worldwide, the live streams are often shared by creators to draw additional traffic to the live streams. It provides a sense of realness and emotional pull to consumers when creators are involved.

Promotion or gift cards

Gift cards are a great incentive for recurring purchases from customers. They combine the benefits of merchandise with cash and provide people with a choice of how they prefer to use their awards.

To further incentivise customers, provide discounts or work with complimentary local businesses that create co-marketing opportunities to acquire new customers. Digital gift cards have been something we have initiated a long time ago and this need becomes more apparent now more than ever.

Ultimately, it provides us with an immediate infusion of cash flow and the certainty of a returning customer. Include these incentives in your email campaigns, and foster a better long-term relationship with your customers.

Crowdfunding fireside chats

Due to the nature of our diverse business model, we establish ourselves as the thought leaders that take ideas to reality. Firechats allow a more intimate approach and focus mostly on building meaningful exchanges of information.

It allows the guest to feel casual and comfortable.

They are usually more likely to open up more to their personal stories and insights. Without the formality, users get a more detailed understanding of the speaker’s character and being, which builds the emotional connection.

Potential creators or the public are mostly brand advocates that love their Kickstarter or Indiegogo brands.

These fireside chats are popular as we act as the platform for both creators and the public to build a bond through our network and audiences. Fireside chats draw traffic to our marketing and consultancy services that aid new or current creators build traction for their crowdfunding campaigns or if they are starting one.

Thought leadership posts

Most users are probably working from home and their time is very much spent online. We started writing more about different aspects of crowdfunding and practices within the industry, offering our expertise as thought leaders in our industry.

We address current issues for new creators and provide advice on topics they could only get from our experts within the company.

Organic content creation allows our users the insights and knowledge behind sensitive and valuable topics like product entry viability into the market, pricing strategies, and even negotiation skills.

However, articles are not maximised if they are not tied in into email campaigns or social media, so always provide that opportunity to showcase visibility to your users at every opportunity too.

Extend payables with suppliers

We work with many suppliers in our retail arm and credit terms are always helpful in such a time like this. One way to hold onto working capital is to establish a long credit line with suppliers.

Of course, it depends on the relationship that you have with them and thankfully at WTP, we always had that since we started operations due to the unique nature of the business and our exceptional track record with sales and branding.

Most suppliers would want to work long term with you on the retail front as it would mean more sales too. It has to be mutually beneficial for both parties, with terms that preserve the integrity and longevity of supplier relationships.

Retailers do need the products for sales to pay off suppliers, and suppliers should work out a better credit term to retain long term sustainability.

Supporting small and local businesses

I speak on behalf of many independent businesses, entrepreneurs, creators, and individuals all around the world. This virus reminds us that we are all connected and equal, regardless of our religion, status, occupation and how famous we might be.

While we advise our customers to save and buy smarter, the truth is that the threat of our economy shutting down is real if people stop buying altogether. So we are still asking people to buy, not necessary from us; but from any independent or local businesses that you know. 

Large corporations have vast financial resources to survive on, but the rest of us need your fullest support so that we can all have choices once this crisis is over.

It could be the bakery in your local neighbourhood, the clothing brand that your friend owns, your favourite food hawker a couple of miles away, or even the florist you got your yearly flowers from for your loved ones. 

For our part, we will do whatever we can to have our team employed and work for our vision and creators. But without sales, that becomes totally impossible. It’s not business as usual here at WTP.

But we are counting on you to our large community of startups and brand owners. Community work is something we are all too familiar with, and that is crowdfunding.

The power of the masses should be in full exercise with social responsibility during these trying times. Obviously, I’m not saying that we should all buy mindlessly. But basic economic principles demand that we continue to support so that our friends and neighbours can continue to work.

It’s so important to maintain some form of normalcy in such tough times. Now is the time for togetherness, individual responsibility, and collective generosity.

It’s time to show we can do better when facing adversity. The world has been through a crisis before and we will emerge stronger together. Stay safe, stay strong and think of others now more than ever.

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Register for a live meditation session with e27 and Bjorn Lee and learn to keep your cool through the COVID-19 crisis.

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. We are discussing inclusivity at work and women all of March. Share your thoughts, tips and best practices on how we can make the startup ecosystem more inclusive, gender and culture diverse.

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

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The post How can startups survive COVID-19? appeared first on e27.

B2B agriculture marketplace TaniHub lands US$17M Series A+ funding 

Indonesia-based agritech startup TaniHub has announced the closing of  US$17 million Series A+ round of investment, co-led by Openspace Ventures and Intudo Ventures.

Other investors who joined this round were UOB Venture Management, Vertex Ventures, BRI Ventures, Tenaya Capital and Golden Gate Ventures.

With this round, TaniHub aims to strengthen its market position and accelerate the expansion of service and geographical coverage for farmers and customers to encourage and build inclusivity.

Alongside funding news, TaniHub also announced it will launch a new automated packing and processing centre (PPC) in Malang, East Java, in an effort to reach more farmers.

TaniHub connects farmers with more than 5,000 business customers from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), hotels, restaurants, food processing industry as well as retail customers.

“Agriculture is a key sector in Indonesia, and the industry’s efficiency enhancements can help ensure the welfare and sustainability of livelihoods and communities. We are supportive of TaniHub’s philosophy and look forward to the improvements and opportunities its platform will bring to Indonesia’s agricultural supply chain,” commented Seah Kian Wee, CEO of UOB Venture Management.

IoT Tribe announces 12 startups selected for its Deep Tech Accelerator Programme

IoT Tribe, an equity-free accelerator primarily focusing on getting IoT startups from design to market, has announced a new initiative for deeptech startups.

The programme will be running in three cohorts in Singapore over 2020 and 2021, where startups will attend workshops, one-to-one business planning sessions and get pitch coaching.

The 12 companies in the first cohort are:

AtomBrush – a robotics startup based in Singapore that builds products from scratch

Avirtech – provides drones and other smart technologies for the agriculture industry

Leorix — manages infrastructure for high-frequency data pipelines to reduce time and money spent on building complex custom solutions.

Also Read: Ex-Oway Directors e-commerce app Ezay makes life easy for rural woman retailers in Myanmar

Meracle – harnesses digital technology to optimise asthma therapy

Moaah – offers business development tracking and analytics software for professionals.

MyrLabs – builds technologies to enable fast-moving robots

PhonePass – a two-factor authentication technology firm based in Australia

Psion Insights – specialises in digital advisors, machine learning, deep learning, predictive analytics to empower risk management

RisikoTek – uses data analytics and entity resolution to detect money laundering

SenzeHub – wearable tech that can provide patient location, vitals reading, as well as an abnormality and crisis detection through AI

SmartBeing – AI startup that focuses on smart homes, enterprises, and connected cars

WeavAir – uses advanced sensor technology, algorithms, and predictive analytics to manage heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems

gojek launches 12 welfare programmes for driver-partners 

Indonesia’s ride-hailing super app gojek has launched 12 welfare programmes to support its driver-partners affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a statement.

The fund will focus on three areas that are likely to affect drivers using the gojek platform — healthcare provision, reducing daily costs, and income assistance.

Recently, gojek co-founders and senior management had pledged 20 per cent of their annual income to support those affected by COVID-19.

The elements of the provision will include hygiene kits like masks, sanitisers and health insurance coverage and other items like affordable meals and vehicle loan payment relief.

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: SEA VC firms launch talent database of startup employees laid off due to COVID-19

“This package of initiatives is designed to cover the key areas in which drivers are likely to experience hardship as society navigates its way through the current crisis. Our team has been working very hard to initiate these programs, and there are several more in the pipeline.

Although it will take us some time to fully activate the rollout due to limited availability of supplies and social distancing measures, we want to reassure all driver-partners that gojek is here for you, just as you have always been here with us over the years,” said co-CEO Andre Soelistyo.

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Image Credit: gojek, IoT Tribe, TaniHub

The post Afternoon News Roundup: Indonesia’s B2B agri marketplace TaniHub lands US$17M funding appeared first on e27.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten the global economy, it is natural that the startup ecosystem might fear how it will impact their fundraising journey.

While investors are expected to become more cautious in the coming months, in March, fundings continued to pour in for Southeast Asian startup ecosystem. The e27 content team noticed that there seemed to be a bigger number of seed stage funding rounds being announced during the month, as opposed to Series A.

Check out the following list for a clearer picture:

Ezay
Funding: US$200,000 in Seed
Investor(s): Seiji Kurokoshi

The capital will be used to continue the rapid expansion of its retail and wholesale network within the region.

Edufied
Funding: Undisclosed Seed
Investor(s): Undisclosed

The startup is currently valuated at US$3.92 million, according to the company statement.

Kargo
Funding: Undisclosed Series A
Investor(s): Amatil X

The investment into Kargo marks Amatil X’s first investment in Indonesia.

Kyarlay
Funding: US$750,000
Investor(s): EME, United Managers Japan Inc.

Kyarlay marks EME’s eighth investment in Myanmar since launching in October 2018.

Also Read: These early stage startups receive much love from investors in February

Blue Planet
Funding: US$25 million
Investor(s): Nomura

The new capital will be used to develop its technology solutions further.

UNL
Funding: US$2 million
Investor(s): Here Technologies, Elev8, SGInnovate, Mobile Only Accelerator (MOX), VentureRock

The capital will be used to develop its technology further and for expansion in Asia.

Chilibeli
Funding: US$10 million
Investor(s):  Lightspeed Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, Sequoia Surge, Kinesys Group, and Alto Partners

Launched in July 2019, Chilibeli empowers its agents (partners), many of whom are housewives, with the opportunity to create value for consumers, promote community bonding, and increase their household income.

Nusantics
Funding: Undisclosed Seed
Investor(s): East Ventures

The fresh funds will be used to “accelerate company in pioneering the BioGenome journey” in the country.

Pahamify
Funding: US$150,000 in Seed
Investor(s): Y Combinator

Before this funding, Pahamify has also received an undisclosed amount in grants from YouTube and Y Combinator.

EngageRocket
Funding: US$2.1 million in Series A
Investor(s): SeedPlus, Found Ventures, JobsCentral co-founder Huang Shao-Ning

The company aims to triple its revenue in 2020 and double its headcount, specifically adding advanced capabilities in engineering, people science, as well as in customer-facing roles in each SEA market to deliver personalised support.

Also Read: Starting off the new year with these early stage funding rounds of January

Right Hand
Funding: US$1 million in Seed
Investor(s): Atlas Ventures, SGInnovate, Entrepreneur First

Since launching, Right-Hand’s solutions have been used within government and financial sectors across Southeast Asia and Australia.

Novocall
Funding: US$500,000 in Seed
Investor(s): 500 Durians, 500 Startups Thailand, Expara Asia Ventures, and Exabytes founder and CEO Chan Kee Siak

While Novocall already has clients in Singapore and Malaysia, it is looking forward to expanding to Indonesia and Thailand.

Superfanz
Funding: “seven-figure” Seed
Investor(s): NXT Ventures

Superfanz seeks to address the pain point in which over 90 per cent of the creators do not earn enough money from their social media accounts to make a living.

Waste4Change
Funding: Undisclosed Seed
Investor(s): Agaeti Ventures, East Ventures, and SMDV

Waste4Change said it plans to use the funding to increase its waste management capacity, targeting to contain at least 2,000 tonnes of waste per day in 2024.

Moovaz
Funding: Undisclosed Series A
Investor(s): SCAngels, SGInnovate

Moovaz said it will use the funding to develop features that will simplify processes in the global relocation industry.

Cardiotrack
Funding: Undisclosed
Investor(s): Frontline Strategy Funds

Cardiotrack aims to bridge the gap between healthcare providers and chronic patients for affordable access to healthcare and better disease management.

Also Read: MassMutual Ventures launches US$100M second fund for Southeast Asia’s early stage startups

Sama
Funding: US$1.15M in Seed
Investor(s): Collaborative Fund,  3tcvp, Antler, Steve Melhuish, angel investors

SAMA recently became a fully-licensed agency, having obtained the Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM) license to work directly with companies to address hiring needs.

Newman
Funding: US$150,000 in Seed
Investor(s): Y Combinator

Prior to this, the startup had raised undisclosed pre-seed funding from Indonesian early-stage VC firm Everhaus.

ESPL
Funding: Undisclosed Seed
Investor(s): 500 Startups

ESPL is a global e-sports tournament platform provider focussed on creating mobile ecosystems for amateur esports leagues globally. Through ESPL’s national franchise model, up-and-coming esports talents can easily participate in global competitions, all by facilitating grassroots participation.

Datasaur
Funding: US$1 million
Investor(s): GDP Venture, angel investors

The company will use the funding to strengthen the platform capability, minimise the bias in text-labelling, and increase privacy and data security, something that’s regarded as a crucial aspect of AI-based NLP and used to be outsourced.

hoolah
Funding: Undisclosed Series A
Investor(s): Allectus, iGlobe Ventures, Genting Ventures, Max Bittner, and Tim Neville

The fundraise allows it to double down on their recently announced launch in Malaysia and fuel further expansion.

Oriente
Funding: US$20M in debt
Investor(s): Silverhorn Group

The funding will be used to grow Oriente’s loan book and extend the reach of its inclusive and affordable digital-credit and Pay Later solutions to the undervalued and credit-starved consumers and micro-enterprises in the Philippines.

Arches
Funding: US$450,000
Investor(s): I Global

With this funding, the startup aims to expand its current database and continue to grow operations in Singapore, Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai and Tashkent.

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e27 encourages startups to update their profiles on our Startup Database. Having a completed profile will provide startups with greater opportunity for exposure among our network of investors.

Image Credit: Helloquence on Unsplash

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