Year: 2020

Singapore-based digital payment startup Razer Fintech (Razer) announces that it has submitted its application for the Digital Full Bank License, to be issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). For the bid, Razer Fintech will lead a consortium that will launch a digital bank focussing on the underserved youth and millennials segment.

Razer Fintech said it plans to extend its current fintech offerings to digital banking services by building what it claimed to be the world’s first global youth bank, Razer Youth Bank, to be headquartered in Singapore. Razer believes to have an edge with it being synonymous with a lifestyle brand for the youth and millennials.

The digital bank will be led by Razer Fintech who will take up a 60 per cent majority stake, joined by a consortium of strategic partners who will take up the remaining equity interest in Razer Youth Bank:

• Sheng Siong Holdings, the private vehicle of the Lim brothers, Singaporean entrepreneurs behind one of the largest supermarket chains in Singapore
• FWD, the insurance business of the investment group, Pacific Century Group
• LinkSure Global, a privately owned internet companies in Asia that operates WiFi Master Key, with approximately 800 million monthly active users globally and affiliated with ShengPay, a third-party payment company in China
• Insignia Ventures Partners, an early stage Singaporean technology venture fund focussing on Southeast Asia; and
• Carro, Southeast Asia’s wholesale marketplace for vehicles that has operations across Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Also Read: A sneak-peek at the state of Malaysia’s fintech ecosystem

The value propositions that Razer Youth Bank aims to deliver are as follows:

• The ability to leverage on Razer’s brand with the global youth and millennial population as audiences to drive adoption
• The understanding of the lifestyle needs of the youths and millennials and the ability to customize relevant products and services
• The technology and fintech expertise with data-driven technology stack to deliver user experiences
• The ecosystem that allows it to collaborate with industry leaders and lifestyle partners to create and deliver bespoke banking solutions to a large underserved demographics; and
• The contribution to Singapore’s continued growth as a global financial centre while embarking on global ambitions.

To do so, Razer has also gathered service providers, product, and technology platform partners to create services and products to Razer Youth Bank such as confidential airline partner, co-working communities JustCo, digital wealth management solutions provider Quantifeed, educational financial content platform Real Vision, multi-asset trading fintech and investment platform Saxo Markets, global travel company SkyScanner, cash management network SoCash, digital lending solutions Turnkey Lender, software-based digital security solution V-Key, and Visa.

Also Read: Here are the 16 most influential fintech personalities in Malaysia

Lee Li Meng, Chief Strategy Officer of Razer Inc. and CEO of Razer Fintech, said: “We hope to be able to contribute to the growth of Singapore as a global financial centre to deliver a new-age and clearly differentiated digital banking proposition for Singaporeans and youth and millennials globally.”

New management appointment

In addition to the announcement on digital banking consortium, Razer also announced the appointment of Edwin Chan as Chief Investment Officer.

His deputy will succeed him in the role of CFO while Tan Chong Neng, who was Senior Vice President, Corporate Controller, appointed CFO.

“These two appointments strengthen our leadership team and leave us well-positioned to continue on our long-term growth trajectory while delivering on our profitability goals,” said Min-Liang Tan, Co-Founder and CEO of Razer.

Also Read: P2P lending fintech Validus closes over US$15.2M Series B funding led by Dutch bank FMO

As Chief Investment Officer, Chan’s new focus will be managing the company’s investment portfolios. This will involve developing both short-term and long-term investment strategies for the company including corporate finance and treasury investments, venture capital investments, and M&A.

As for Tan, who joined the company in 2017, he will bring his over 20 years of experience with stints in Tri-Star Group and Stanley Security Solutions into his new role as CFO.

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Image Credit: Razer

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Kiren Tanna, Co-founder of ZEN Rooms, has announced his resignation from the budget hotel booking startup after a stint of four and half years. He shared his exit in a Twitter post, stating the sentiment of the growth he has witnessed during his tenure.

“From just an idea, ZEN Rooms today is present in 4 countries, growing 4x yoy, best in class CSAT, and a team of more than 500 colleagues!” the statement reads.

Tanna also made remarks of the perfect timing of his decision, highlighting Korean travel group Yanolja’s acquisition earlier this year that made it ZEN Rooms’ current biggest shareholder.

Tanna added that the other co-founder Nathan Boublil will take over fully as CEO while Sean Lee from Yanolja will be Chief Strategy Officer. Lee has been in ZEN Rooms’s Board member since 2018.

Also Read: Korea’s Yanolja invests in ZEN Rooms; competition in budget-hotel space to intensify in SEA

The statement ends with Tanna stating his desire to take a break before resuming his work in the region’s startup community.

“I am advising a few founding teams and completing a few angel investments and looking forward to connecting with and supporting more great entrepreneurs. I also hope to sharpen my guitar and bahasa skill,” he said.

Before founding ZEN Rooms Asia alongside Boublil, Tanna had a stint as CEO in Rocket Internet APAC, and had held CEO position in Foodpanda.

In October 2019, ZEN Rooms received an undisclosed sum in investment from Yanolja, a travel group in South Korea. Hong Kong- and Korea-based Access Ventures has joined as a co-investor in this round.

Also Read: Our hyper-local approach sets us apart from competitors: Amit Saberwal of RedDoorz

Yanolja has acquired stakes from one of ZEN’s early investors and signed a strategic alliance with the Singapore-headquartered company. With this, ZEN’s early investor Asia Internet Holdings (a joint venture of Rocket Internet and Ooredoo Telecom), has exited while other early backers RedBadge Pacific and SBI Korea will remain as investors.

Yanolja, backed by Booking Holdings and GIC, was the lead strategic investor in the company’s US$15M funding round in 2018.

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Picture Credit: ZEN Rooms

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Vietnam’s burgeoning IT sector is showing no signs of slowing down and continues to generate strong revenue for local and foreign players alike.

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, in particular, have developed an extraordinary IT ecosystem and seeing a mushroom growth of startups. Meanwhile, there has been considerable growth in the influx of foreign investment as well.

The southern province of Binh Doung has just recently licensed the Internet Service Supply Project of Japan’s NTT Group with a registered capital of US$171 million.

In many ways, this demonstrates how much promise IT truly holds in the country.

According to the e-Conomy Southeast Asia report of 2019, the growth rate of Vietnam’s internet economy is 40 per cent, making it a leader in this sector alongside Indonesia in Southeast Asia.

It’s no secret that the nation’s IT industry is ripe with opportunities. However, one question that many investors and entrepreneurs alike would be asking is which of the subsectors has the highest potential of turning a big profit.

So using the latest data, I have shortlisted four most lucrative niches of IT in Vietnam.

Ecommerce

Statista’s Digital Market Outlook (DMO) study states that nearly 50 million internet users in Vietnam bought consumer goods online in 2018. Although this data is from a year ago, recent stats are no different as the trend has shifted further towards eCommerce.

Surprisingly, travel purchases dominate this sector with e-travel being worth US$3.5 billion. Among consumer goods; electronics and fashion items were mostly purchased followed by food and furniture.

Also read: What is the state of Vietnam’s e-commerce industry?

Customers in the country prefer popular Southeast Asian platforms like Shopee and Lazada for most of their internet shopping while domestic firms like Sendo and Tiki also maintain a significant share in the market.

Around 70 per cent of Vietnam’s ecommerce sales are conducted in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. However, rural internet connectively has greatly improved in recent years and this has created a great opportunity for eCommerce platforms to target the country’s biggest population.

With such vast potential, an industry complementary to eCommerce is already emerging in Vietnam.

Affiliate marketers are acting as a bridge between consumers and online retailers. And companies themselves are teaming up with different online influencers for coupon marketing to drive more customers towards their brands.

At the same time, eCommerce platforms targeting different niches are popping up across the country.

AI

While Vietnam is far from being the hub of AI in Southeast Asia, the potential of this technology is strong in the country. Applications of AI like the Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine Learning in areas such as healthcare, manufacturing, e-commerce, and agriculture can reap extraordinary benefits for all stakeholders involved.

Even with a lack of infrastructure, large databases and resources –companies are implementing AI projects.

Vietnamese telecommunications company Viettel uses AI in thwarting attacks by cybercriminals and assist business with their IT security. Examples such as this exist across the IT industry.

Likewise, International tech companies that create AI technologies are also exploring Vietnam but due to lack of highly trained resources, the progress on this end has been rather slow.

However, 2020 will be a big year for automation and like every other facet of IT –it’s expected that ventures related to Artificial Intelligence will gain important ground in the Southeast Asian country.

Fintech

Fintech remains a pillar of Vietnam’s entire digital economics landscape. And with the current efforts to accelerate its growth, the industry is expected to reach the US$7.8 billion in revenue in the coming year.

Also read: How Vietnam is accelerating fintech growth

The country’s emerging middle class coupled with affordable internet access has created an environment where fintech is thriving. Around 120 companies currently offer services like digital payments, insurance, and risk management.

Vietnam’s fintech has managed to create headlines across the world with startups like Momo being featured among the top fintech firms and Money Lover ranking first in financial management apps.

Going forward, blockchain and cryptocurrency will play a key role in this sector. Companies like Kyber Network and TomoChain are already leading the way in making the crypto transaction easier.

As the world, in general, comes around to cryptos, blockchain will become an integral part of Vietnam’s fintech ecosystem.

SaaS

A SaaS company KiotViet recently raised the US $6 million in Series A funding. In 2018, a startup named Base was able to gain the US$1.3 million in pre-Series A funding round for its regional expansion.

It’s quite clear that investors see potential in this sub-sector and they’ve every reason to think this way. SaaS plays a significant role in the Vietnamese cloud service market which is expected to reach US$291 million.

Cloud is a cost-efficient option for small businesses that do not possess the resources to install advanced hardware and software. However, large enterprises have also taken a liking to this technology.

With the recent commercial boom in the country, there’s a growing need for data storage in the country and this has created a significant SaaS-based B2B market.

The expanding economy of Vietnam will drive further growth in the SaaS sector, creating space for more startups and small businesses to provide third-party software solutions.

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Marketing is as fundamental to a business as its product or services. We might not realise it but a lot of products that we know today became popularly known because of their marketing campaigns.

Take the fidget spinner as an example. Do you ever wonder why it became so popular even though it was first designed for people struggling with psychological stress, anxiety and other neurological disorders such as ADHD and Autism?

It was due to the amazingly crafted marketing campaign that made it look like fun and something that everyone could play with.

Marketing can make or break your business

This is just one example of how marketing can make a product spread like a wildfire among an audience. But, you can’t just make anything up and expect it to become an instant hit overnight.

Customers today are much smarter than they were a decade ago and understand the difference between clickbait and real value. A lot of marketers start cooking up fancy campaigns for different channels without even realising the value that a product adds to a customer’s life. Moreover, there are different segments of customers in the market with their individual needs and demands.

The same product could have a different meaning for a student and a professional. And quintessentially, if you are targeting both of them, your marketing campaigns must be able to speak to them individually.

The problem with today’s campaigns is that when customers look at it, they feel like it’s addressed to the masses, instead of them.

The point is if brands don’t care enough to speak to the needs of an individual customer, why customers should be interested in their product or services. And then the quality of your product or service doesn’t even come into consideration.

Also Read: How AI can benefit marketers in 2019

Marketing in today’s world has the potential to make or break your business, which is why successful campaigns are designed based on data. Data forms the foundation of a business’s marketing strategy. This means that marketers must dive down deep into it and form strategies that appeal to an individual segment of customers.

However, with the advancement of technology, there’s a lot that marketers can do without having to fuss over the tiresome processes.

AI and marketing

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are on an expansion spree across the world. Every other industry and organization is taking measures to implement AI in different areas. And marketing is no exception to it.

Statistics suggest that the beginning of 2020 will see more than 50 per cent of marketers adopt AI or ML in some form. Marketers are using AI for more than a few reasons, but most importantly to carve a niche for themselves in the market.

The cutthroat competition is here to stay in the market and AI is the key for marketers to differentiate themselves from their competitors. One of the biggest factors that must be taken into consideration for standing out in the market is personalisation.

While everyone is vying for the top spot out there, it is those who utilise personalisation, make it big.

The reality is that everyone is trying to guess what the customers want and the way that they want it using different methods. While some are using their intuition, others rely on traditional practices.

AI, on the other hand, can be the difference between spending endless time analyzing customer demands and smoothly eliminating all the guesswork with concrete data.

As 2020 draws upon us, it will only be a matter of time before everyone starts seeing the benefits of AI in designing successful campaigns.

After all, it does dive into several data points all at once, providing real-time insights and recommendations along with automating several key processes at once. It removes the need for any mundane task and leaves humans to more essential jobs of strategising and planning.

Greater engagement

There are several ways in which AI is powering greater engagement for people. First marketers can utilise the historical data to analyse which of their campaigns worked and which didn’t.

Based upon the nature of the customer, the market timing, and other relevant factors, businesses can enhance their strategies for sales and boost customer engagement by many folds.

This enables the marketer to understand the segment of customers who are likely to engage with communication on a particular channel or medium. Similarly, based on the previous buying patterns of the customer, the target channels for further campaigns can be determined with ease.

Also read: Why AI will be critical to brand strategy

Consider, for example, the ML-powered bots used by organisations such as Sephora and Levi’s. These bots ask the customer questions about their products that determine factors around their immediate needs and future preferences.

In contrast to a retail salesman, these bots do the perfect jobs by handling a significant amount of traffic adequately and answering some of the basic questions of the customer effortlessly.

The era of personalisation

If businesses have to emerge as huge successes, they have to pay attention to personalization, no matter what. AI can help marketers personalise their campaigns when it comes to ads on different platforms, suggesting recommendations and others.

It also provides them with content that is relevant to each customer along with the appropriate timing, when most customers are active on a particular Java platform.

Similarly, personalised recommendations are becoming an instant hit these days. Take Amazon for an example. It studies the customer’s browsing history, past purchases along with other factors to suggest those products, they’d like to buy in advance.

All this keeps a peek into how AI can help businesses understand customer behavioural insights and capitalise on them.

The scope of AI in marketing is endless. Businesses can accomplish a lot without having to invest in many human resources, with one self-sufficient AI.

And since every other brand is using it out there to entice and engage the customers, not capitalising on the cutting edge technology will only leave you far behind in the market race.

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At the outset of 2019, the international digital assets market was still in the grip of “crypto winter”, as the speculative boom which saw the market grow more than 44 times in size over the course of 2017 ended in a market crash and subsequent market correction.

Around 2,000 global cryptocurrencies lost a total of 80 per cent of their aggregate market cap in that time, as speculative investing dropped well below previous price floors. Trust in the digital assets industry had reached a new low as well, and the former glory days of bitcoin trading at US$20,000 seemed long past. 

2019, however, has turned out to be a better year for the digital asset industry. Confusion and uncertainty in traditional markets this year led to increased investor interest in diversifying their portfolios, and in the process, digital assets gained newfound acceptability in the eyes of retail and institutional actors.

This increased investor interest seems set to continue as we enter 2020, as the result of unresolved political and economic tensions that took place this year.

Trade ties between the US and China are still unsettled despite a tentative deal on the table, and while the results of Britain’s recent general election may put it on firmer ground to achieving a Brexit deal, its future relationship with the European Union is still unclear.

Throughout Asia, the political situation remains uncertain in Hong Kong, while Japan and South Korea struggle to recover from deteriorating relations. 

Breaking the ice

In reaction to the economic and political upheavals of the past twelve months, retail and institutional investors have been looking outside traditional financial markets, and finding new appeal in “recession-proof” asset classes such as gold and digital assets.

Bitcoin received a boost in investor confidence this year, as it joins the ranks of gold as a safe-haven asset. In fact, there is a striking correlation in the market trajectories of bitcoin and gold over the course of the year, as the two reached almost perfect lockstep in the summer months.

As a wider class of investors turn to cryptocurrency as a dependable store of value unaffected by the fluctuations of centralised, traditional markets, we can expect to see other digital assets to see increasing investments over the coming months. 

Also read: Initial coin offerings: the next-gen startups that never were

Where cryptocurrencies were once derided and criticised by institutional actors, we have seen major consumer tech and financial players moving into this space.

Facebook announced its Libra project to mixed response, and JP Morgan launched its own digital token earlier this year, against the backdrop of continued rumours of the development of a state-backed digital currency in China.

As a result of the renewed popularity of digital assets, regulators across the world have been offering more clarity on how they intend to treat this new asset class in the future, reducing some of the uncertainty in investing in fintech solutions.

If the global crypto industry crash was a “crypto winter”, then perhaps we are now seeing a budding “crypto spring”, bringing with it a period of healthy growth, institutional adoption, and widespread acceptance by mainstream consumers. 

New year, new obstacles

Taking the renewed optimism of investors and digital assets’ enhanced legitimacy in stride, a vista of opportunities awaits the industry in 2020, as institutional and retail consumers increasingly begin to adopt fintech and digital assets in recognition of their benefits.

Improved trust in cryptocurrency exchanges and wider acceptance of digital assets as a form of payment will lend increased liquidity to the market, decreasing volatility in the long-run. As we move beyond the early days of “crypto spring”, however, there are still obstacles that will need to be overcome if we expect to meet the needs of a more diverse group of new users. 

In particular, the user experience in buying and trading digital assets will need to be improved if it is to match the smooth usability and slick interfaces offered by the likes of Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon—which consumers have come to expect.

The most successful cryptocurrency exchanges and fintech platforms will be those that can deliver a streamlined experience, without compromising on security and user safety.  

Also read: 5 developing trends that will define fintech in 2020

A shift towards client-mindedness and user experience seems imminent if the industry is to achieve mainstream adoption, and educating investors on decentralised technology and digital assets should be a priority.

2020: A maturing ecosystem

After an extended “crypto winter”, spring is in the air for the industry going into 2020. As the world continues to experience economic and political uncertainty, the future for digital assets is bright as the market rebounds and gains enhanced legitimacy as an asset class for retail investors and institutional actors looking beyond traditional financial markets.

With more capital flowing into the space in the new year, regulation will surely follow. As institutions such as Facebook and JP Morgan entering the blockchain sector, regulators are sure to take note. 

Going into 2020, there is, therefore, a greater incentive for major players within the industry to establish an open dialogue with lawmakers, ensuring that they have a say in any regulatory framework applied to the digital assets sector.

The industry has weathered some difficult times in the past year, but we have undoubtedly emerged better and stronger for it. Now on to the next one.

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Grab Holdings Inc announces that it has formed a consortium to apply for a digital full bank licence in Singapore with Singtel, the communications technology group.

Grab will have a 60 percent stake in the consortium entity while Singtel will hold a 40 percent stake.

In a statement, it is stated that Grab and Singtel seek to contribute to the financial services sector with a differentiated offering that addresses the unmet and underserved needs of consumer and enterprise segments in Singapore.

“The digital bank will aim to cater to the needs of digital-first consumers, who have come to expect greater convenience and personalisation, and SMEs which cite lack of access to credit as a key pain point,” the statement reads.

The consortium will offer relevant products and services and become a partner for consumers and enterprises. It plans to include banking and financial services into the everyday lives of Grab and Singtel’s base of customers.

Also Read: The factors driving the success of Grab and what it took to become a market leader

Reuben Lai, Senior Managing Director, Grab Financial Group, said, “In the past two years, we have launched and scaled financial services such as e-money, lending, and insurance distribution into Southeast Asia’s fintech ecosystem. The natural next step is to build a customer-centric digital bank that will deliver a variety of banking and financial services that are accessible, transparent, and affordable.”

Arthur Lang, CEO of Singtel’s International Group, said, “Just as we’ve been building an ecosystem of digital services to improve the way customers live, work, and play, we want to fundamentally change the way consumers and enterprises bank.”

“Together with Grab, which has extensive digital expertise and experience in this region, we have a set of assets and synergies to make banking more accessible and intuitive, and deliver much-needed product simplicity, speed, and affordability,” he continued

If successful in their application, Grab and Singtel said it will present a new banking experience for everyday banking needs with personalisation, financial technology, and innovation.

Earlier in December, ride-hailing giant Grab announced the launch of GrabPay Card, a numberless physical and digital card that enables its users to access rewards ecosystem and conduct payments.

Also Read: Strengthening its expansion into fintech, Grab introduces GrabPay Card

The card is the result of a partnership between the company and Mastercard, which was first announced in October last year.

It will enable users to transact in any online or offline merchants that accept Mastercard around the world, regardless of their banking status.

In June, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that the government is set to issue up to five digital banking licenses to provide an opportunity for non-bank finance industry players to enter the banking scene, which is currently dominated by traditional banking institutions.

Several companies have expressed their interests in applying for the Singapore digital banking license, including Grab and Razer.

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Image credit: Grab

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Fintech lending platform Investree has announced that it has acquired half of the stake in Mbiz, a B2B procurement startup, DailySocial reported.

No financial details were disclosed.

The acquisition is an effort to build an infrastructure to support SMEs beyond the financial scope.

According to Co-founder Investree Adrian Gunadi, with this deal, it will sit as a Board observer at Mbiz, a position at a Director level with no business decision making a vote.

The acquisition of Mbiz was a decision made for “SMEs digitisation through e-procurement that is done with a transparent, reliable, and competent product and service supply”.

Through Mbiz.co.id and Mbizmarket platforms, SMEs together with product and service vendors will get capital access to market its businesses. The pressing issue all this time is that vendors often have troubles to continue with production because of unfriendly cash-flow terms.

Also Read: B2B/G e-commerce platform Mbiz announces Series A, reveals milestones in 1st anniversary

With this synergy, the companies expect to be a support for companies and suppliers to buy them time, space, and the ability to pay their vendors to continue with their business.

“Moving forward, Investree will offer not only financial service but also SMEs-addressed solution. Instead of building our own procurement infrastructure, it’s better to form a partnership and become a stakeholder,” Gunadi explained.

Gunadi added that the acquisition process was started almost a year ago, beginning with capital financing for suppliers. There are several Mbiz users that are vendors and buyers who already enjoyed the US$6.5 million financings.

Indonesian SMEs only account for 8 per cent or 3,92 million out of 59,2 million SMEs in the country. In a report by McKinsey & Co, it’s stated that the country’s e-procurement potential will reach US$125 billion in 2025, estimated from the total number made of global corporate services (US$18 billion), B2B marketplace (US$76 billion), dan B2B services (US$36 billion).

CEO Mbiz Rizal Paramarta said: “So far we’ve only facilitated buyers and sellers with a platform to transact, while the big picture has always been about an end-to-end ecosystem for procurement solution. We entered into the early stage of financing because B2B transaction is entirely dependent on the capital need.”

Also Read: Indonesian P2P lending site Investree to enter Vietnam, launches sharia-based service

Investree is the second external investor for Mbiz after Tokyo Century Corporation in its Series A funding in 2017, receiving US$72 million.

Mbiz is the Multipolar’s subsidiary, a part of Lippo Group established in 2015. Lippo was also the angel investor that backed Mbiz in its early days.

Investree plans to expand to the Philippines in January next year, which aims to provide e-procurement financing solutions. Gunadi confirmed that it will be the first of the upcoming acquisitions of SMEs-targeted companies in Southeast Asia.

Investree already had operations in Thailand and Vietnam under the name eLoan. “We may change eLoan into Investree Vietnam once the regulation is done,” said Gunadi.

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Image Credit: Investree

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The most exciting part about writing early stage funding announcement is seeing the variety of startups that are being invested in. But this month, the excitement doubled as we also begin to see a wider variety of investors getting into the market.

Legalku
Funding: Undisclosed seed funding round
Investor(s): UMG Idealab

Founded in December 2017, Legalku runs two business lines: An on-demand legal consultation service for medium- and small-enterprises (MSMEs) and a SaaS platform for legal practitioners.

Kopi Kenangan
Funding: Series A extension
Investor(s): Arrive, Serena Ventures, Sequoia India, Chris LeVert, Jonathan Neman

With this Series A extension, Kopi Kenangan said it plans to add more than 1,000 new stores over the next two years and expand across Southeast Asia.

Telio
Funding: US$25 million in Series A
Investor(s): Tiger Global, Sequoia India, GGV Capital, and RTP Global

Telio connects small retailers with brands and wholesalers on a centralised platform that provides them with more choices, more affordable pricing, and more efficient logistics.

Bambooloo
Funding: Undisclosed seed funding
Inevstor(s): Angel investors from US and Singapore

The startup will use the funding to expand Bambooloo in the domestic market and also overseas. It also plans to create additional marketing and brand licensing support materials as well as perform talent acquisitions.

Also Read: From coffee to dentistry: The top 10 funding news that rocked the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem in 2019

Glee Trees
Funding: Undisclosed funding
Investor(s): 500 Startups

Robotic Process Automation startup Glee Trees plans to use part of the new fund to enhance capabilities such as a document-extraction feature that can read documents in multiple Asian languages, including Chinese and Indonesian.

Sleek
Funding: US$5 million in seed funding
Investor(s): MI8, Pierre Lorinet, Fabio Blom

In addition to supporting its expansion to Hong Kong, Sleek plans to use the new funds to expand its tech team, develop new features, and increase its operational capability.

Intrepid Group
Funding: Undisclosed Series A
Investor(s): Kairous Capital, Sun SEA Capital, 500 Startups Vietnam

Founded by ex-Lazada’s co-founders, Intrepid Group offers brands one-stop-shop access to Southeast Asia’s e-commerce.

Sunday
Funding: US$11 million in Series A
Investor(s): Quona Capital, Vertex Holdings

The company said that it will use the new funding to enable Sunday to expand its business and build enhancements to its proprietary core technology, which utilises machine learning to price premiums for health, motor, and travel insurance in real-time.

Neuron Mobility
Funding: US$18.5 million in Series A
Investor(s): GSR Ventures, Square Peg Capital

The company will use the fresh capital to accelerate its Australian and New Zealand roadmap, its foray into other Asia Pacific markets, and further development of its technology.

Ezay
Funding: Undisclosed seed funding
Investor(s): EME Myanmar, undisclosed angel investor

Founded in August 2019 by former Oway employee Kyaw Min Swe, Ezay provides a mobile platform that connects rural ‘mom-and-pop’ shops with wholesalers.

Also Read: Indonesian legal tech startup Legalku raises seed funding from UMG Idealab

Interloan
Funding: US$500,000 in seed funding
Investor(s): Phoenix Holdings

Interloan is one of the winners of Fintech Challenge Vietnam 2019, which was organised recently by the State Bank of Vietnam.

Evermos
Funding: US$8.25 million in Series A
Investor(s): Jungle Ventures, Shunwei Capital, Alpha JWC Ventures

Founded in November 2018, the Evermos platform focuses on bringing the everyday needs of Muslims by providing halal products in various verticals, including fashion, food, cosmetics and home and business opportunities that comply with Sharia laws.

Populix
Funding: US$1 million in seed funding
Investor(s): Intudo Ventures, Gobi Agung, Pegasus Tech Ventures

With this round of financing, Populix aims to develop new product features to provide more dynamic and in-depth insights to clients, ramp up marketing efforts to build awareness and attract more respondents to use the platform, and bring on new employees to help the company scale.

TADA
Funding: US$5 million in Series A
Investor(s): SV Investment, Central, SIMWON

The financing will be used to fund the company continued expansion within its existing markets and the development of the mobility ecosystem built on MVL’s blockchain protocol.

Komunal
Funding: Undisclosed seed funding
Investor(s): East Ventures, Skystar Capital

The company said that the investment will be used to accelerate Komunal’s mission to bridge the funding gap much-needed by the growing population of underbanked Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia.

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The post That time of the year: A look back into the early stage funding rounds of December appeared first on e27.

There are reasons why the later stage funding rounds that we managed to cover in December are ground-breaking.

We saw the highest ever funding round ever secured by an edutech startup in the market. We also saw leading US athletes and celebrities getting into the Southeast Asian market through their investment.

Most importantly, after spending years going crazy over the unicorn phenomenon, in December, some startups began to put profitability as part of their goal for the new year.

Here are those phenomenal funding rounds:

Ruangguru
Funding: US$150 million in Series C
Investor(s): Global Atlantic, GGV Capital, EV Growth, UOB Venture Management

The funding round is meant to support the company’s expansion effort to Vietnam, where it has launched under the brand Kien Guru.

AWAK
Funding: US$40 million
Investor(s): Vickers Venture Partners, Advanced MedTech, SEEDS Capital

The medtech startup will use the proceeds from this round to complete the pivotal clinical trial of its AWAK PD wearable dialysis device.

Also Read: From coffee to dentistry: The top 10 funding news that rocked the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem in 2019

Travelio
Funding: Series B extension
Investor(s): Samsung Ventures

Travelio said it plans to use the investment to accelerate the company’s target in 2020 with deeper integration and partnership with the conglomerate’s network, technology, and electronic-related ecosystem.

Carsome
Funding: US$50 million in Series C
Investor(s): MUFG Innovation Partners, Daiwa PI Partners, Endeavor Catalyst, Ondine Capital, Gobi Partners and Convergence Ventures

The capital will help “consolidate Carsome’s market leadership in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, with expansion into more cities in Southeast Asia”, and to accelerate financing product offerings for dealers and consumers with multi-country roll-outs over the next 12 months.

Style Theory
Funding: US$15 million in Series B
Investor(s): SoftBank Ventures Asia, Alpha JWC Ventures, The Paradise Group

The company said that it plans to use part of the funding for developing its tech platform. The company also plans to start using RFID tagging and will attach passive RFID tags on each of its rental items to manage its inventory.

Hummingbird
Funding: US$19 million in Series B
Investor(s): Mirae Asset Venture Investment, GNTech Venture Capital, Heritas Capital, Seeds Capital, Delian Capital, Mirae Asset Capital, DAValue-GiltEdge, HB Investment, Wooshin Venture Investment, Kiwoom Investment-Shinhan Capital

Hummingbird Bioscience is a biotherapeutics company that brings the discovery and development of new precision antibody therapeutics for difficult-to-treat conditions.

Modalku
Funding: Undisclosed debt funding
Investor(s): Triodos Microfinance Fund, Triodos Fair Share Fund

The company said it will use the funds to accelerate its vision of driving financial inclusion and widening credit access for the region’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Also Read: Indonesian legal tech startup Legalku raises seed funding from UMG Idealab

Kredivo
Funding: US$90 million in Series C
Investor(s): Asia Growth Fund, Square Peg Capital, Singtel Innov8, TMI (Telkomsel Indonesia), Cathay Innovation, Kejora Intervest, Mirae Asset Securities, Reinventure, DST Partners

This funding round brings the total capital raised by the company in 2019 alone to more than US$200 million, across both debt and equity, with the debt being provided by a consortium of lenders including banks and credit funds.

Collab Asia
Funding: US$7.5 million in Series B
Investor(s): Gorilla Private Equity, Samsung Ventures, PKSHA SPARX Algorithm Fund L.P., NCORE VENTURES, Altos Ventures

Collab Asia said it plans to use the funds to create localised content for Asia and focus on helping creators and content companies produce, distribute, monetise, and build audiences across multiple digital platforms.

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Image Credit: Andrew Neel on Unsplash

The post These later stage funding rounds of December are the perfect closure to the year 2019 appeared first on e27.

Singapore-headquartered venture capital firm EV Growth has announced the close of its first fund at US$250 million, exceeding the firm’s initial target of US$150 million.

The VC firm’s new Limited Partners (LPs) include several Asia-based family offices and two of Asia’s largest sovereign wealth funds, including Temasek.

EV Growth was launched in March 2018. A joint venture among East Ventures, SMDV and Yahoo! Japan Capital, the fund focusses on providing growth capital to startups in Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia with an industry agnostic focus.

EV Growth aims to bridge the gap in VC growth funding with the goal of creating a diversified portfolio of Southeast Asia early growth tech stage leaders.

The firm is led by three partners — Willson Cuaca from East Ventures, Roderick Purwana from SMDV, and Shinichiro Hori from Yahoo! Japan Capital.

Also Read: Indonesia’s SMDV leads US$20M funding round for Thai SaaS platform Eko

To date, EV Growth has invested across different sectors in Southeast Asia. Its portfolio firms include  Ruangguru (US$150 million Series C round with General Atlantic and GGV Capital); Sociolla (US$40 million Series D round with Temasek), Shopback (US$45 million round with Rakuten and EDBI), Sendo (US$61 million Series C round with Softbank Ventures Asia and Thailand’s Kasikornbank), Koinworks (US$16.5 million round), and Warung Pintar (US$27.5 million Series B round with Vertex and Pavilion Capital).

Other major follow-on rounds that the VC firm is involved included the latest round of two Indonesian unicorns Tokopedia and Traveloka, insurtech startup Fuse, Indonesia’s on-demand coffee chain Fore Coffee, Indonesian SME Saas Mekari, regional prop-tech 99.co, Indonesia’s online media company IDN Media, and payment company Xendit.

EV Growth claimed that it has deployed more than 50 per cent of its total funds in 20 deals. About 80 per cent of its portfolio companies are Indonesian.

Also Read: East Ventures, Yahoo! Japan Capital, and SMDV launch EV Growth

Cuaca of East VC said: “The inflection point in Southeast Asia is now and we are lucky to be here early. Our firm’s operating experience, deal velocity, local knowledge, and regional networks have helped us capture some of the best deals in the region. We plan to deploy US$325 Million for Southeast Asian startups combining active funds size, for both seed and growth stage.”

Just this year, East Ventures was named the most consistent top performing VC fund globally by Preqin and the most active investor in SEA and Indonesia.

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Image credit: EV Growth

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