gojek’s startup accelerator programme Xcelerate has announced the 11 startups graduated from its fourth batch.

Themed ‘direct-to-consumer’, the programme focussed on strategies to connect to consumers in response to how they have changed and adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Tarun Agarwal, Head of Groceries at gojek, the theme is relevant to the current situation as it is the most effective business model for startups with more and more customers adapting to online activities.

To minimise the failure in developing products and services, the selected startups were trained to apply minimum viable product (MVP) technique.

The 11 startups also received a growth hacking and impactful data science method from gojek, as well as business development strategy from Google Founder’s Lab, valuation principle from UBS bank, and mentorship session with McKinsey.

The fourth batch was powered by Digitaray, which focusses on nurturing ready-to-acess brands, ranging from fashion, sportswear, cosmetics, to healthy lifestyle providers with locally prominent names like Rollover Reaction and Pura Kitchen.

Also Read: gojek Xcelerate introduces 10 women-founded startups to its second batch

All the brands are mostly operated digitally with their online stores, of which three are tech startups.

They are:

Elio: A digital health clinic for men which has launched a dedicated page for COVID-19’s self-assessment

GetGo: An AI-powered visual-based search for e-commerce to help to find items online

Jejak.in: A census system to manage trees and plants using a map-based system that can be used on desktop or mobile, online, or offline with access to real-time data and analytics.

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Picture Credit: gojek

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Sparrow, an options trading platform based in Singapore, has secured US$3.5 million in Series A funding, led by the HDR Group, owner and operator of crypto exchange BitMEX.

Also participated in the round were Signum Capital, Du Capital, FinLab EOS VC.

Kenneth Yeo, CEO of Sparrow, said: “Since launching in June 2019, we have seen unprecedented growth with over US$150 million in options trading volume. Volumes have tripled since the start of the year. We look forward to introducing more innovative products to the crypto derivatives market.”

Headquartered in Singapore, Sparrow offers BTC and ETH options that are settled by smart contracts. Its proprietary platform is accessible through an interface, advanced order book, or trading APIs.

Also Read: PropertyGuru’s CPO shares the secret sauce of building a highly productive remote team

Signum Capital is an investment firm based out of Singapore. Signum’s portfolio comprises both equity and digital assets in the blockchain space, with a diverse investment approach ranging from exchanges, infrastructure projects to mining farms.

Du Capital is a Singapore-based multi-stage investment firm backing companies and entrepreneurs that venture in innovative technologies such as the distributed ledger technologies (DLT).

FinLab is a fintech and blockchain investor in Europe. FinLab focuses on providing venture capital to startups.

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Southeast Asia’s on-demand multi-series giant gojek said in an internal email communication today that it will let go of 430 people (about nine per cent of the workforce).

Additionally, the firm will close two of its products — GoLife, which offers at-home services of massage and cleaning, and GoFood Festivals, its physical food locations.

Many of the employees affected by this retrenchment decision are from GoLife and GoFood Festivals units.

According to the firm, these businesses are dependent on close human interaction and have seen a significant downturn over the past few months as the COVID-19 pandemic has affected consumer habits.

GoLife will close on July 27.

gojek said these measures will provide it with the resources to focus on the business areas where it has the most impact, primarily encompassing its three core services, but also the services that have shown promise as a result of the pandemic such as logistics, which has grown by 80 per cent since the pandemic began, or groceries, which has more than doubled.

Gojek HQ employees, who are negatively affected by this, will be provided with benefits, including enhanced severance payments, health insurance scheme extension, outplacement support and being allowed to keep their laptops to help with their future job search.

This comes amidst the reports that the tech giant is finalising an investment round of more than US$3 billion at US$10 billion valuation. As per a Bloomberg report of May, gojek has already raised this funding.

gojek recently revealed that Facebook and PayPal had invested in this round.

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Amanotes caught our attention with its unique premise: Offering a platform for music-infused games to reach out to its audiences. Even more interesting, the company hails from Vietnam, a blossoming tech ecosystem which may not be known for its music scene.

The startup creates and publishes what the company calls “music-infused apps” for its users to interact with music and develop their music passion. In addition to developing its own games, Amanotes also works with game developers around the world to co-develop and publish these games.

To add to the fun, Amanotes ensures that all of its games are free to play.

“We monetise through showing ads, in-app purchases, and subscriptions. This allows us to cater to the needs of different users segment: some are there just to kill a few minutes per week, some are trying to get the most of it with accesses to new hit music, unique designs, and so on,” says Amanotes COO Bryan Teo.

e27 connects with Teo to talk about the journey of the music gaming app, and how to appeal to the mass with such a specific product.

“Everyone can music”

“Amanotes has the vision that ‘everyone can music’, where music is a verb and not a noun,” says Teo. The reason behind choosing games with strong musical elements, Teo says, had a lot to do on how games can better appeal to people and be understood with ease.

“We choose music games as the first step towards reaching this vision, as games have mass appeal and are easy to understand.”

Also Read: Through super apps and card games, these Antler startups are solving the region’s most unique challenges

The strategy seemed to be working as the company has reached one billion copies of its games, making it the largest Music Games company globally, featured in the top Game charts of App Store and Google Play Store worldwide.

Unlikely origin

Some of the more popular music apps come in the form of streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. To come up with yet another streaming service is something that would present a greater challenge even when it is done right; simply because the industry itself has been too crowded.

In Southeast Asia alone, there are several other locally-grown music streaming apps, from Indonesia’s Me-Lody to Thailand’s Fungjai. Having a gamified, interactive approach to music apps is a breath of fresh air.

“We dive into a new category with Amanotes, providing interactive music apps on mobile phones, and obviously, it needs more marketing and education to reach the mass audiences, but this is not only a challenge for the Vietnamese market but also for the world,” says Teo.

Amanotes’ specialty is the combination of casual gameplay with high quality of sounds and visual effects. “Our differentiation would be the infusion of quality music into the interactive entertainment available on our app, allowing for users to enjoy music while staying engaged and entertained,” said Teo.

While Vietnam may not be your go-to-market for music, its gaming tech scene is flourishing.

“I believe we’re in the hub of mobile gaming. Vietnam is not an exclusion in this booming mobile gaming trend. Statista reported a 22 per cent YoY increase of mobile game revenue in Vietnam from 2019, this shows an incredible opportunity for Vietnam to breakthrough and lead the region in the near future,” said Teo.

Also Read: Through super apps and card games, these Antler startups are solving the region’s most unique challenges

With the right approach, the startup believes it can tap into even bigger markets by combining the music and gaming lovers into one ecosystem.

A complete musical experience

According to Teo, Amanotes aims to deliver a complete musical experience.

“This requires us to invest in our music resources. We work closely with major labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, and Warner Music Group to obtain licencing rights to songs. Our team also pays attention to song charts and works with rising artists to sort out licences to use in our games,” says Teo.

Musical experience is only complete when it is not shadowed by piracy concerns, and Amanotes wants to make sure to do their homework.

“Keeping our vision and our players in mind, our licensing team works hard to expand and diversify our music library. The song database that we currently possess is also thanks to established corporate branding and positive feedback from existing partners,” explains Teo.

Continuous listening to feedback

As the company ventures into a fresh territory of interactive music gaming apps, it highlights the effort put into understanding its users.

“We strive to know what the customers want, and find what’s the best way to reach them,” Teo stresses.

Teo noted that the success of their apps, after all, is because “music is a universal language.”

“No matter where you are from or how old you are, everyone will have at least one or two songs stuck in their head. Now imagine what you can do with your favourite tunes rather than just listening or humming to it? This is where Amanotes comes in with music-centric gaming apps, which millions of people can simply tap, hold, and drag to interact with the hottest songs,” he elaborates.

Also Read: Through super apps and card games, these Antler startups are solving the region’s most unique challenges

As a result, every month, the company claimed that its music apps are played by almost 100 million users from 191 countries.

What’s next

After reaching such a significant milestone, the company said that it will continue to invest and expand its product offerings.

“One thing for certain, the growth for mobile gaming kept and will keep on rising over the years. A market report showed a 17 per cent increase of 2019 year-over-year mobile games downloads,” Teo says.

The market is also primed with different monetisation opportunities. “In addition, we also recognised the evolution towards diversified monetisation fields in this industry. To further engage and create extra value for our loyal customers, Amanotes introduced a subscription model in our games through purchasing bundle packages,” Teo explains.

With the rising download they experienced in the past months due to COVID-19 pandemic’s social distancing policy, the company also noticed the shifts in user behaviour. In addition to weekends, users have also begun playing on weekdays.

The situation worked in their favour as per June, the company rakes in an MAU of 95 million users and DAU of 15 million users.

As for what is coming next, Teo says that the market remains exciting. “I believe we’re in the hub of mobile gaming. In fact, NewZoo reported Southeast Asia to be the fastest-growing region in mobile games in 2019. There are many localised game products from Chinese publishers (PUBG published by VNG for the Vietnamese market) as well as original titles (Free Fire from Sea Group) that contributed to the massive US$4.6 billion gaming revenue.”

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Image Credit: Amanotes

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This article is published in partnership with Startup SG, an initiative of Enterprise Singapore that provides comprehensive support for startup development in Singapore.

COVID-19 has disrupted the trajectory of startups and has split them into two distinct paths: an accelerated upward hockey stick or a steep drop off a cliff.

Startups that provide remote collaboration tools, edutech, e-commerce, last-mile logistics, and med/biotech have seen their best demand ever. The accelerated pace of digitalisation by businesses has driven unprecedented demand for automation solutions.

Even those that are enjoying incidental benefits from increased demand are also facing disruptions to their products and talent supply chain. Others are facing major disruptions to their internationalisation plans.

Building market fitting products have always been a key foundation in startups’ development. The market and operating environment are shifting and the startups will have to adjust accordingly, be it in their product offerings or organisation structure and strategies.

To illustrate, a startup that has done this well is INEX, a healthtech startup in the prenatal and women’s healthcare space, who pivoted and started producing COVID-19 test kits. INEX then secured agreements with A*Star Accelerate and BGI to distribute these test kits globally. Additionally, INEX is upgrading its lab with COVID-19 testing capabilities, to support our nation’s needs.

Going even further, post-pandemic conditions might even provide business opportunities for some startups to capture and appeal to a wider pool of clients. Novade, a Singapore-based startup that provides field management software for the building and construction industry, has launched new functionalities to enable rigorous implementation of health monitoring procedures on construction sites. They ensure safe operations as our economy reopens.

Also Read: Why we started a podcast amidst COVID-19 to grow our businesses

The back-to-work toolkit

With Singapore entering Phase 2 of reopening, best practices such as workplace hygiene, business continuity planning, risk management, key-man insurance, telecommuting, flexible, and staggered working hours that are important but were once viewed as low priorities to the startups are now becoming essentials.

ACE and other Startup SG partners, understand that many startups are still in the growth stage and may not have the capacity, resources, or experience to develop workspace best practices. As such, we are putting together a back-to-work toolkit to share with the community.

We hope to provide a simple yet comprehensive guide that encapsulates best practices for safe distancing, consolidated resources, and value offerings for startups to transition back to the ‘new normal’ of the workplace. Through this toolkit, a startup can prepare for post-circuit breaker period as they resume operations in a safe and gradual manner.

This toolkit will cover a few segments such as (a) Advisory and guidelines from the government of Singapore; (b) best practices and tips from other companies; and (c) useful resources for companies to tap on to install safe management measures. We also strongly encourage the use of publicly available contact tracing tools such as SafeEntry and TraceTogether.

With working from home becoming the norm and perhaps even preferred, it would help to provide tips on how to make the environment conducive, to enhance productivity, mood, and the home office atmosphere.

Also Read: Grab CEO announces lay-off of 360 employees, addresses COVID-19 impact to business

Beyond focusing on the return to work, startups should capitalise on the reflections and experiences over the past few months in an effort to embrace the possibility that lies ahead.

We believe that startups are nimble in nature, and will be able to leverage on the opportunity to return to work by designing the future of work, employing lessons, practices, and goodwill built during accelerated crisis response.

The power of our startup community

In comparison to the dotcom bust in the early 2000s and the uncertainties during the SARS crisis, we are in a much better position to harness the strength and support of the community as technology has allowed us to stay connected. This is important because strong and vibrant communities form the backbone of the startup ecosystem.

Having the right mix of leaders, entrepreneurs, and talent to support one another will lead us towards sustainable growth.

As a community builder, ACE has hosted Meet-the-VC and digital transformation sessions to assist startups in reaching out to potential investors and corporate projects. To promote youth entrepreneurship, ACE also engaged students and schools to promote entrepreneurship amongst youth and grew the National Youth Entrepreneurship Award.

To provide end-to-end support for startups, ACE started BACECAMP to help early stage startups through a structured programme, mentorship programme between startups and experienced business leaders, and finally, attracting talents and fulfilling startups’ hiring needs through the career fair.

In a time of need such as the present, how connected and supportive we are as a community will be put to the test.

When COVID-19 hits the startup ecosystem, ACE, with the support of Startup SG, set up the COVID-19 Support for Startups page and the Ecosystem Support Seminar to share insights and community advice to the startups.

Also Read: How startups can tap community networks to pivot for growth amidst the pandemic

This effort has attracted over 35 partners to contribute to the community in different ways such as access to services, financing, advisory, and free software applications.

Together with WSG, ACE conducted several virtual job matching in May, supporting a total of nine startups fill 15 job openings which attracted 29 candidates. Driven by the shared motivation to assist the entrepreneurship community and those in need, these initiatives were rolled out quickly where the speed of decision making and execution is key.

It is heartening to see our ground-up efforts tangibly make a positive impact in the local entrepreneur community. Regionally, we are talking to our partners in providing in-market development services to assist the startups with international development in an unprecedented and unexpected time of travel restrictions.

I am very hopeful that our well-integrated ecosystem will continue to grow stronger as we emerged into the new frontier. Remember, startups: There is plenty of help in our community and more on the way. So hang in there.

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Register for our next webinar: Is your startup ready for the new normal?

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Image credit: Quino Al on Unsplash

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Low shareholder numbers, low levels of trading liquidity prompt CoAssets to delist from ASX

The CoAssets Group, a Singapore-based online investor platform, announced today it has delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on 19 June 2020.

The company cited low shareholder numbers, low levels of trading liquidity and high ongoing costs as reasons for the delisting.

As per a press statement, CoAssets has less than 400 shareholders, of which approximately 124 or 33.3 per cent hold unmarketable parcels (i.e. a shareholding of US$500 or less).

Plus, trading in the company’s shares has been limited, both in frequency and volume. The low level of liquidity has resulted in limited trading opportunities for shareholders who wish to exit their holdings.

Also Read: One billion downloads later, Amanotes is optimistic about the future of non-streaming music platform

Besides, the firm also incurs costs in excess of US$750,000 per annum to maintain its ASX listing. This does not include any allocation of the cost of management’s time taken up by matters associated with being listed.

Additionally, the group announced the appointment of Denka Wee as its new Group CEO with effect from 22 June 2020. Wee first joined CoAssets as a non-executive chairman on 7 April 2020.

Getty Goh has been appointed as the new Chief Corporate Officer of the company. He will also continue to serve as CEO of CoAssets Pte Ltd (CAPL), a subsidiary that holds the Capital Market Service License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

GIC participates in Checkout.com’s Series B fundraise

Global payments solution provider Checkout.com has raised US$150 million in Series B funding round at US$5.5 billion valuation.

The round was led by Coatue, along with participation from existing investors, including Insight Partners, DST Global, Blossom Capital, and Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, GIC.

It will use these funds to further strengthen its balance sheet, bringing available cash to over US$300 million.

Checkout.com will also invest in the development of new innovative products, including its upcoming advanced Payouts solution and the capability to accelerate settlement times.

India’s Milkbasket raises US$5.5M led by Inflection Point

India-based grocery delivery startup Milkbasket has closed a funding round worth US$5.5 million, led by Inflection Point Ventures.

Existing investors also participated.

With advanced and deep technology across the full-stack supply chain from sourcing to last-mile delivery, Milkbasket claims it serves over 130,000 households and sells 9,000-plus products across fruits and vegetables, dairy, bakery and all other FMCG categories.

It is currently operating in Gurgaon, Noida, Dwarka, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Japanese cloud optimisation firm Alphaus makes Malaysia its global development centre

Alphaus, a VCs-backed tech startup based in Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, has decided to establish its global development centre & SEA regional office in Kuala Lumpur.

Also Read: SYNQA lands US$80M in Series C funding round led by SCB 10X, SPARX Group

Alphaus provides solutions to address cloud wastage. It’s solutions help AWS, Azure and Google Cloud partners and user enterprises to understand complicated cloud spend.

Its products, Ripple and Wave, automate and simplify complicated cloud billing processes, offer the insights in regards to cloud usage with historical information and recommending cost-saving measures.

The firm is backed  by investors such as DNX Ventures, NTT Docomo Ventures, MUFG, Archetype, Accord Ventures, and 500 US.

Alphaus will continue to hire local and foreign talents as it continues to establish a presence in Kuala Lumpur and as businesses continue to adopt Cloud infrastructure rapidly.

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Image Credit: CoAssets

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Remote working has never been a unique concept. Nor has it been a mainstream option.

What was once a choice mainly utilised by freelancers and online business owners is now being seen as the “new normal for work”.

Many global tech giants such as Facebook have even announced that their employees will be allowed to work from home for much of 2020, while Twitter has gone as far as to say that employees will be given the option to work remotely “forever“.

Transitioning to working remotely may not be as difficult for companies as keeping and sustaining a healthy work culture. Over the years, it has gained a negative reputation as it raises questions on lack of productivity, team interaction and trust.

However, due to the unforeseen circumstances, companies are forced to make the shift towards the “new normal”.

The pandemic certainly didn’t spare PropertyGuru from making a shift, either. The Singapore-based proptech giant, which has a strong market presence in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, had to make arrangements for its workforce to work from home since the virus outbreak.

Currently, 80 per cent of the employees have reported an increase in productivity.

PropertyGuru’s Chief People’s Officer Genevieve Godwin highlights the value of empathy as a key component of creating dynamic remote teams which are highly productive and well-connected at a time where face-to-face interaction is minimal.

“For me, if you look after your employees in a crisis, then they are going to look after you in the good times as well,” she told e27.

In this interview, Godwin also talks about maintaining a strong team connection and establishing a dynamic remote team in an unexpected scenario.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: One Championship raises US$70M; Grab CEO announces layoffs of 360 people; Beenexts new US$110M fund for SEA, India

Home distractions vs company goals

Some people often argue that virtual interaction is not the same as physical interaction, and remote working can often lead to employees getting more distracted and falling behind on key performance indicators (KPIs).

Godwin admits that it’s not practically feasible to keep an hourly track on people. For example, in an office, a manager can easily tell who is working extra and who is arriving late. However, it is not possible to do this with a remote team, which is why it should be a more goal-oriented process rather than a time-oriented one.

Besides, she also sees this as an opportunity to discover employees in their most “authentic” state, which is a crucial component of forming deeper connections.

“I start every meeting with a connection question. For example, small things like ‘where would you like to go on a holiday after COVID-19’ can help people express themselves and bring their authentic selves to work, and to connect,”.

“I think we also have to look at how the pandemic is something that is an exceptional circumstance to allow people to bring their authentic selves to the workplace,” she added.

“So that means it doesn’t matter what your house looks like during a video conference, or if you have a child sitting on your lap during the meeting. You might even have to sign out to deal with a Grade III math question. So, I think it’s essential that people are now able to bring their authentic selves to work. We are all going to work at different times, and by doing that remote working should be more focused on results and outcomes rather than the hours worked.”

Hiring and retaining employees

For a study released by SAP, Qualtrics, and Mind Share Partners, researchers surveyed more than 2,000 employees in Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the US in March-April this year. The results found that 40 per cent of individuals felt that their mental health had declined due to increased levels of isolation and work burnout.

Godwin feels that now more than ever, managers must use technology as an enabler to bring social initiatives that employees enjoyed in physical proximity virtually.

“Ultimately, the health and well-being of our “gurus” (PropertyGuru employees) is something that has always been the priority for us which has underpinned every decision that we made during COVID-19,”.

“We wanted to make sure that we create social initiatives that were enjoyed in the workplace and bring it to everyone who was working remotely. So even small activities like hosting a cook along session with your team can create a team bond within the company,” she said.

But more often, simply hosting fun activities is not all that goes into showing employees that they are being cared for. Value-adding to a team member’s career/personal growth is also crucial to developing stronger bonds.

Godwin believes that creating an environment where employees can continuously learn and develop is paramount to retention.

“One of the big projects that we are doing at the moment is called our “job architecture project” where we’re establishing clear competencies across all of the roles so that people can have a great understanding of where they are to create a greater sense of clarity. So at the moment, we do that throughout goal setting and planning, but we want to take it one step further and create that competency mapping to bring transparency to that process as well,”.

Also Read: PropertyGuru promotes Genevieve Godwin to Chief Human Resources Officer

With her diverse background of working in several countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Godwin feels that interacting with people from different backgrounds and cultures contributed to her passion of building and developing talent.

“I don’t think many children grow up to say I’m going to be an HR professional. But for me as a child, I was interested in international cultures, and travel and different countries which have contributed to my career, and working with people from such diverse backgrounds has shown me the value of empathy,” she concluded.

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Image Credit: PropertyGuru

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“If the government is for us, who can be against us?” Such is probably the case for the thriving startup ecosystem in Kazakhstan, what with the national government at the forefront of its growth. The mission has always been to give Kazakh startups a fighting chance to develop their products and launch internationally. To this end, several programmes have been set up to connect the local startups with global corporations that are ready to accelerate their innovation.

In 2017, Smart Zholy joined the throng of Kazakh programmes established to open doors for the local startups or tech groups. It was initiated by the Foundation of the First President and is carried out in partnership with e27’s Echelon Asia Summit. Since its inception, Smart Zholy has been tireless in its efforts to fulfill its mission, ushering promising Kazakh startups to its neighboring region, Southeast Asia. Their efforts have surely paid off, as some of these tech solutions have already attracted investors and private companies from Singapore over the years.

Also read: Meet the Kazakhstan startups exhibiting at Echelon Asia Summit 2018

Digital-ready startups keen to accelerate your corporate growth

Armed with locally tested innovation and bolstered by their government’s support, these startups are keen to match their solutions with collaboration-ready corporates. Without further ado, let’s meet them:

1. Aero Exam – An online platform for proctoring examinations. This anti-cheating system is achieved by employing Computer Vision and Neural Networks for face recognition and detection, along with speech recognition during the exam. It’s simple and easy to use, and has been adopted in over 2000 examinations in Kazakhstan.
2. Alem School – Apart from providing programming knowledge to interested learners, Alem School also develops complex data-driven backend systems. Other capabilities include Scalable High-Load Systems, Machine Learning, and Front-end development.
3. Automatico – A startup offering automation solutions in the mining industry. It is geared towards creating better and safer working conditions.
4. Book IT and Smart Q – Two promising solutions from the same team. Book IT is a consolidated booking application for various amenities. Integrated within the app is also a tracking system to shorten contract tracing processes, which has seen its uses in times of the pandemic. Smart Q, on the other hand, aims to shorten queueing time. With Smart Q, the overall customer experience is greatly enhanced.
5. Clockster – A cloud-based access control HR system with face recognition. Their platform offers multiple features, including: HR management, contactless check-in with face recognition (which can prevent spoofing), temperature measurement on check-in (ideal for the new normal), remote check-in with mobile app, and more. They’ve already implemented their solutions in 8 companies across several industries.
6. CMC Tech – Remote decoding of ECG. This solution utilises AI to optimise the ECG process. First, an ECG device obtains a digital signal, then Machine Learning Technology calculates the perimeters and provides preliminary interpretation. The results can be validated remotely through the cloud based platform.
7. Magic.Ai – An upcoming IT solution developed by an IT team. Their key feature is identifying the quality of fruits and vegetables. Machine Learning Technologies are utilised to aid the identification. 
8. Microsec – Cybersecurity across all devices. In this technological age, cybersecurity has become a key concern. Businesses thrive on data but must also ensure that it is secure. Microsec thrives on IoT solutions, ensuring a safe and secure system for businesses.
9. Repoint (TeQ and Uniqa) – A solutions provider for startups and enterprises. Repoint has recently developed 2 new solutions: TeQ and Uniqa. TeQ is an online-learning platform that provides support and control of employees’ business knowledge and tasks. As for Uniqa, it is a solution for business owners to measure consumers behavior with different metrics in a brick and mortar store setting.
10. Sergek, Korkem Telecom – A Smart City solution. Sergek acts as the eyes of the cities by using Computer Vision and AI. Applications include car plates recognition and prediction of traffic violations through the data of driving habits. This early prevention technology leads to a safer city for the citizens.
11. Sprintsquads – Specialises in digital projects, customising designs to client requirements. Their diverse portfolio includes apps on Digital Banking solutions, FinTech and even Travel.
12. Tinkertech (Totem) – Another app builder that has developed various projects for their clients. Besides development, they provide services such as interface designing, back-end development and app auditing and consulting. For this programme, the team is offering their solution called Totem, an app developed with the objective of bringing like-minded individuals closer together.

Moving beyond collaboration

Apart from opportunities to co-create solutions with matching corporates, these twelve startups are also taking a deep dive into the trends, challenges, and opportunities in the Southeast Asia ecosystem. This is accomplished by participating in a private four-part webinar series organised by e27 and paneled by seasoned subject experts in the industry.

Coming out on the other side, not only do these innovators have the best digital solutions ready, they also have the proper skills and mindset to launch their innovation in Southeast Asia.

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If there is one thing that is clear from the get-go, is that digitisation is here to stay, and the law industry surely has been riding on the digitasation waves for quite some time.

According to a report by Tech Collective SEA, in 2017, Thomson Reuters announced a 484 per cent increase in global legal tech patents over a five-year period, globally.

In 2018, Southeast Asia also unveiled its first legal tech accelerator called Accelerate! It is a 100-day programme that looks to raise US$1.8 million and provides mentorship and seed funding to legal tech startups, as well as incubates new business ventures from law firms. The positive development in the sector created a growing enthusiasm to innovate in the digital and technical reach.

However, according to Lee Eng Beng, Chairman of law firm Rajah & Tann Asia, one of the pioneers in the legal tech front in Southeast Asia, the digitisation that the sector has seen has been nothing but crowded and overlapping in its functionality.

“The new technology has been causing frustration among legal departments and law firms when it shouldn’t be the case. This fragmentation of technologies has created a pressing need for a platform that enables clients and lawyers to have a cohesive single view of all legal matters,” Lee explains to e27 in a Q&A session.

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

Lupl was then born as a result of over 12 months-work from a handful of legal tech practitioners. It’s an online platform that brings together all existing and new legal matters — people, documents, information, communications, and technology applications — into one secure software.

The team behind the work

The founders consisting of a group of legal departments and law firms have been preparing the platform for nearly two years. Currently, it’s managed by Chief Commercial Officer Matt Pollins, with the Board of Directors comprising partners from CMS, Cooley, and Rajah & Tann Asia.

According to Lee, the Board works together with many other members in all the firms that are actively involved in the project, brought together by a common understanding of the problems facing the industry and a vision for how to fix them.

Lee adds, “Strong business and personal relationships amongst the founding firms were key, as were the joint passion and purpose of the founding firms to collaborate on a project that all of us hoped would benefit the global legal community. The conceptualisation and execution of the project have since undergone many iterations and changes and always with direct inputs from our Client Advisory Board.”

What makes it different

“Unlike the majority of legal technology solutions out there, Lupl doesn’t seek to replace existing tools or require an entire IT overhaul to implement. The platform is essentially an operating system that works entirely on APIs and allows any firm to start using it instantly without having to invest heavily in any new tech infrastructure,” says Lee.

It is worth noting Lupl’s API offer is the answer to what Lee called fragmentation of technologies in legal tech. “Not to mention, not every legal tech platform works well as it must not only be effective and well-designed, but must also understand the nature of legal work, the challenges encountered by clients and lawyers, and the ways in which it can truly enhance efficiency, collaboration, and connectivity amongst clients and lawyers,” which is why API approach works best.

Pollins also notes that one of the biggest pain points the team came across was the feeling that the moving parts of a legal project ended up being spread around in multiple places, which makes it hard to stay on top of who’s doing what and where.

“Lupl’s platform aims to address these pain points by bringing those different parts together in one place. And it works right from the beginning to the end of the project. Anyone can create a matter on Lupl, whether they’re on their phone or at their desk,” Pollins explains.

Also Read: Indonesian legaltech startup Justika raises pre-Series A funding by top law firm

On average, it takes less than 10 seconds to get started, with no training needed. From there, users can bring in team members, whether they are within or outside of their organisation; define the scope and objectives; coordinate on the work that needs to get done; track and manage the status; communicate; and capture key feedback and data points.

“Lupl’s open approach means they can do all this while seamlessly plugging in their own systems of choice, like enterprise messaging tools, email, document management and cloud storage systems, and knowledge solutions,” says Pollins.

Lee adds that Lupl seeks only to minimise change and disruption to legal departments and law firms. “We aim at enabling a single seamless view of all content across all of their existing technology platforms in one place.”

The challenges

Lee continues that despite the ease that the platform offers, challenges remain present, especially in communicating about the platform’s capability and to familiarise it.

“It’s because Lupl runs counter to many other digital platforms that seek to create a closed and proprietary environment. Despite being an open and agnostic platform, it is not a platform created by law firms for themselves and to serve their clients,” says Lee.

So to ensure the message is received clearly, Lee says that they’re focussing on educating the legal marketplace that Lupl can be “the independent unifying platform that enables a single matter centric view of all live matters across all of their platforms and software for the benefit of all law firms and legal departments”.

How COVID-19 plays out for legal tech sector and the future

Lee shares that COVID-19 has provided a hard push to clients and lawyers in the adoption of legal tech generally. This has led to a multiplicity of different technology platforms being deployed rapidly by clients and lawyers and a greater reliance on mobile working workflows to accommodate work-from-home needs.

“We believe that the pandemic will lead to increased adoption by law firms to move to the cloud. With greater mobility, we foresee that onsite legal software systems may face a downturn arising from COVID-19,” says Lee.

As for what is coming next in the sector, especially in Southeast Asia, Lee sees the sector as being at its nascent stage.

Also Read: What tech startups need to know about the legal aspects of online marketing

“We are still in the early stages of the growth cycle in the Southeast Asia legal tech market. The realities of any technology market are that products like Lupl will develop through increasing adoption by local law firms and legal departments,” Lee says.

Taking into account how younger generations of professionals entering the legal workforce are more open to using technology, legal tech sector can remain hopeful that there will be greater legal tech penetration.

“But that as long as these legal tech products are being developed by placing clients’ needs at its core,” Lee concludes.

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Image Credit: Bill Oxford on Unsplash

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Singapore-based martial arts events broadcasting platform, One Championship, has secured US$70 million in funding from a group of undisclosed investors, according to various reports.

The names of the investors were, however, not disclosed.

Prior to this round, One Championship nabbed US$166 million in Series D led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Temasek and Greenoaks Capital, in late 2018. This was preceded by two investment rounds in 2017 and 2016. Its other investors are GIC, Iconiq Capital, and Mission Holdings.

Founded in 2011 by former martial arts champion Chatri Sityodtong, One Championship focusses on a mixed martial arts entertainment, with a global broadcast reach of 2.7 billion potential viewers across 150-plus countries.

The platform features bouts across the full spectrum of martial arts such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Karate, Silat, Sanda, Lethwei, Taekwondo, and Submission Grappling.

Several martial arts organisations have signed exclusive contracts with the platform, which also broadcasts contents to leading global broadcasters.

The company currently has offices in Tokyo, New York City, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Milan, Beijing, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, and Bangalore, besides Singapore.

Also Read: Sports media giant ONE Championship raises US$166M in Series D funding round

The funding for One Championship has been an optimistic outcome following its recent layoffs, forcing the company to let go of its worldwide headcount by 20 per cent and with no live events since March.

According to One Championship group President Hua Fung Teh, although being rocked by the pandemic, One Championship remains positive to move forward and to return to the scene.

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Picture Credit: ONE Championship

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