Sampingan, an online platform for on-demand independent workers in Indonesia, announced today it has closed a Series A round of US$5 million led by Altara Ventures.

Golden Gate Ventures, Antler, Access Ventures, XA Network and iSeed SEA also joined the round.

“This funding will be allocated to the improvement of products for both the workers and businesses and reach more customers with our suite of business offerings,” said Wisnu Nugrahadi, CEO and co-founder of Sampingan.

Launched in January 2019, Sampingan (which directly translates to side-job in Bahasa) aims to empower independent blue-collar workers by giving them equal access to jobs and opportunities.

Also Read: iSeed SEA launches micro-fund targeting Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand

The platform aims to make it easier for companies to find and manage their workers while providing equal opportunities for workers in Indonesia.

It mainly has three offerings: Sampingan Manpower, a service where companies can hire workers for various positions from more than 850,000 workers, while Sampingan handles the administrative process, including the staffing and the payroll.

Sampingan Solutions is a service where Sampingan manages various business process activities from project planning to the final report. These activities range from field force management, crowdsourcing, and market research.

Sampingan Systems provides various SaaS for companies to source or manage their workforce. Companies can source their workers through Sampingan Systems Bursa Kerja, a job listing platform, and manage workers through Sampingan Systems Kerjaan, a workforce management software with performance trackers, attendance sheets, and customizable data dashboard.

Currently, Sampingan has more than 850,000 workers in 80 cities connected through the platform, called Kawan Sampingan, serving over 100 Indonesian enterprises.

“Sampingan is defining the future of work in Southeast Asia. The 2010s unleashed the on-demand ‘gig economy’ on consumer services, and the 2020s will expand this into the realm of businesses. Sampingan has matched thousands of Indonesian freelancers with jobs in areas like logistics, supply chain, and local services using their technology platform,” said Gavin Teo, General Partner of Altara Ventures.

The need for Sampingan’s workforce solution has accelerated amidst the pandemic.

Also Read: Sampingan raises US$1.5M funding

According to the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics (Badan Pusat Statistik), there are 29.12 million people that have been affected by the pandemic, both due to dismissals and reduction of working hours and wages. Sampingan has become an alternative to seeking full-time employment as well as an avenue to obtain additional income.

The company claims it saw a substantial increase in the number of partners joined its platform from March to December 2020, and the number of downloads for the mobile app has grown four times since the pandemic.

As of December 2020, the app has seen more than one million downloads.

In October 2019, Sampingan secured US$1.5 million in pre-Series A round of financing, led by Golden Gate Ventures.

Sampingan was part of Antler’s Singapore 2019 programme.

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Image Credit: Sampingan

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Zipmex, a Singapore-based digital assets exchange, announced today it has raised US$6 million in fresh funding, led by US-based VC firm Jump Capital.

The total amount raised in this round exceeded its initial target of US$4 million, the firm said in a statement.

This follows Zipmex’s US$3 million pre-Series A round raised in September 2019 and a US$1.9 million seed round in January that year.

With plans to become the largest digital asset exchange in Asia Pacific, the fresh funding will be used to further diversify Zipmex’s product offerings, including the expansion of its interest-bearing product ZipUp and its new native token ZMT.

Launched in late 2019, Zipmex allows investors to trade digital assets including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Trading fees start from 0.2 per cent per transaction. The firm has partnered with BitGo to provide a digital wallet insurance policy worth up to US$100 million.

Also Read: Inside the changing landscape of Asian cryptocurrency exchanges

The exchange claims that it has since transacted over US$650 million in gross transaction volume and has over 100,000 users on its digital assets exchange.

“Zipmex is providing the Asia Pacific region with a trusted, regulated and innovative digital asset exchange. We believe in the company’s mission and the future of digital asset investing in Asia,” said Peter Johnson, Partner at Jump Capital.

The raise comes at a time when digital asset investing is soaring. This month, Bitcoin set a record all-time high of US$41,941, while more than US$20 billion has been locked into decentralised finance protocols.

To capitalise on this trend, Zipmex recently completed the launch of its savings product ZipUp and exchange token ZMT.

Since its launch three months ago, Zipmex claims ZipUp has accrued over US$40 million in deposits from retail investors.

“ZipUp and ZMT have come about due to recent changes in the industry and growing investor demand for higher yields on their assets. We see a big opportunity for digital assets to grow, particularly with the technological innovations of decentralised finance protocols and solutions,” added Marcus Lim, CEO of Zipmex.

This investment is part of Jump Capital’s latest US$200 million fund. The Chicago-based firm has invested in over 60 companies across the fintech, IT and data infrastructure, B2B SaaS and media sectors. Notable portfolio companies include digital asset platform BitGo and trading social network TradingView.

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Image Credit: Zipmex

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microLEAP, an Islamic and conventional P2P microfinancing platform, announced today it has raised a total of US$3.26 million (RM13.25M) in equity and other modes of financing from Malaysian investment holding company MAA Group.

The round comprises RM1.25 million in equity and RM2 million advance, besides a separate RM10 million, which will be invested across all of microLEAP’s available Islamic and Conventional Investment Notes.

microLEAP will use the funds for advertising, promotions, hiring staff and tech enhancements.

The Malaysia-based fintech company serves micro-enterprises that may find it difficult to borrow money via traditional means.

Also Read:  How Islamic finance can work with fintech to promote financial inclusion in Malaysia

What makes the company unique is that it provides borrowers access to micro-financing through both shariah-compliant means as well as conventional funding.

A largely Muslim-populated nation, Malaysia is seeing a steady growth for Shariah-compliant financing, which refers to funds that adhere to Islamic teachings with resolutions issued by the Shariah Advisory Council of the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SACSC).

This is evident from the growth of its Islamic Investment Notes/Islamic Financing offering, which it claims to have grown more than 1,000 per cent within just five months of its launch in April 2020.

According to the founder, the reason for this success is because microLEAP does not charge additional rates for Islamic funds in comparison to conventional funds, as it absorbs the Commodity Murabahah brokerage fees.

“On microLEAP’s platform, where we are the first platform to be able to do both Islamic and conventional P2P financing, Islamic is more popular. In fact, our Islamic financing is 92 per cent vs eight per cent for conventional financing,” CEO Tunku Danny Nasaifuddin Mudzaffar told Salaamgateway.

One can borrow between RM1,000 (US$250) and RM50,000 (~US$12,300), with free basic debt management, accounting, online training and complimentary personal accident insurance being provided.

It also requires a business to be in operation for only six months for it to be evaluated, and absorbs the Islamic Commodity Brokerage fee, which eases the burden for micro-businesses while donating the late payment fees to charity.

Also Read: Malaysia’s P2P financing startup Fundaztic to raise US$722K through ECF platform pitchIN

Tunku Yaacob Khyra, Executive Chairman of MAA Group, said that there is an unattended need for many small businesses to remain afloat which is why the company will be focussed towards providing added benefits that can be accessed easily by MSMEs.

In 2021, the company is set to launch two new products: the Islamic Car Dealer Financing and Islamic Invoice Financing.

Last year, microLEAP raised US$492,029 (RM2 million) seed funding from the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation.

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Image Credit: microLEAP

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Titik Pintar, a startup that aims to improve learning outcomes for Indonesian elementary school children via its online tools, announced today that it has closed an undisclosed sum in its first institutional investment from Indonesia Women Empowerment Fund (IWEF).

The financing will allow the edutech startup to continue on its growth path, improving its service for children, parents and teachers. It also looks to grow its collection of interactive lessons and educational videos via its SahabatPintar.id website.

Also Read: How edutech startups can accelerate active learning

“With the support of IWEF, Titik Pintar is able to build even better products for elementary school children in Indonesia. We believe we can help kids have fun while learning,” said Robbert Deusing, CEO and Founder of Titik Pitar.

“We were very humbled to see the strong traction of Titik Pintar last year, we got a lot of good feedback from students, parents and teachers. 2020 was difficult for everyone, and we worked hard to deliver fun educational content to Indonesian kids nationwide. We are confident to grow our user base in 2021 to 250,000 with the support of our strategic partners,” Deusing added.

Titik Pintar provides an ecosystem for edutainment. Tailored for every elementary school child in the archipelago, it offers gamified self-paced learning and remote micro lessons prepared by teachers, all aligned with the government curricula (Kurtilas).

All content is created in Bahasa Indonesia and English, so children can access and interact with the multimedia materials the way they prefer.

The lessons and videos are created on the website by teachers themselves, who can earn extra income from their contributions, while children and parents can self-pace their learning experience and find the best content for their needs.

Titik Pintar claims it has more than 15,000 users across Indonesia.

Also Read: Why edutech is becoming an investor favourite this season

The startup has previously secured a grant from the Dutch Government and investments from Indonesian and international angel investors.

IWEF is an impact fund addressing barriers to women’s economic empowerment by investing in disruptive tech solutions. The fund is jointly managed by Moonshot Ventures and YCAB Ventures, which is part of the YCAB Social Enterprise Group, a leading advocate for women and youth in Indonesia. IWEF is supported by the Australian Government as its lead sponsor and investor.

Tom Schmittzehe, co-founder of Moonshot Ventures, said: “Most teachers in Indonesia are women, whom IWEF seeks to promote, and through Titik Pintar, they will be able to earn a secondary income, while focusing on what they love most — teaching.”

Moonshot Ventures addresses development challenges faced by emerging economies in Southeast Asia. It invests in disruptive innovations and mission-driven entrepreneurs, in order to achieve large-scale impact.

Also Read: How the Coronavirus is teaching edutech startups a much-needed lesson

YCAB Ventures is part of YCAB Social Enterprise Group that invests in economic empowerment activities to end poverty and reduce inequality. Through its funding activities, YCAB Ventures has financed over 185,000 women owned businesses through 600,000 productive loans as well as has supported other likeminded social enterprises.

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Image Credit: Titik Pintar

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With the unpredictable economic climate, constantly shifting market, and new trends in commerce sprouting up, businesses are hot on their heels with not only trying to adapt and survive but more importantly, to grow and expand. Rapidly changing consumer behaviour, online and offline shopping patterns, as well as dynamic product-market fits, are only some of the key factors that are rewriting the business world as we know it amidst the pandemic. With all the changes and challenges, businesses have to maximise every opportunity to innovate and scale.

With the right approach, agility, and, most importantly, a skilled workforce, companies can look beyond surviving this crisis and into exploring non-conventional markets. To succeed, businesses need a diverse and innovative workforce that thinks globally to navigate the challenges and identify opportunities.

At the onset of the decade, Forbes launched its “Global Diversity And Inclusion” study, conducted with over 300 executive representatives from an array of companies across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, with participating companies raking in revenues of at least $500 million to $20 billion. One of the key findings was that diversity is a key driver of innovation and is a critical component of being successful on a global scale. The report also suggested that a diverse and inclusive workforce is crucial for companies that are keen and committed to attracting and retaining top talent. It helps broaden the pool of talent a company can recruit from, while also establishing an inclusive company image. “If you want to attract the best talent, you need to be reflective of the talent in that market,” said Eileen Taylor, Deutsche Bank’s global head of diversity.

As such, SMU offers Global Innovation Immersion (GII) internship programme, organised by Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) where GII interns provide that much-needed diversity in terms of age, nationality, as well as the social and academic background to businesses.

Fostering innovation through diversity is the key to global success

A global company cannot be built and sustained with a local mindset. Only a diverse team that brings a wide variety of experiences, understanding, and knowledge, can richly contribute and innovate to attain that.

It is also important for companies to understand that the fundamental meaning of diversity is rapidly evolving and is no longer limited to simply creating a heterogeneous workforce. Today, having a diverse workforce entails leveraging on innovative talents with complex web differences, ranging across backgrounds to academic disciplines, and experiences to skillsets– a talent pool equipped with boldness, a healthy skepticism towards failure and capabilities to iterate innovative products, services, and business practices. As companies compete on a global scale in these uncertain times, the concepts of diversity and inclusion in a high-performing team must also keep up.

Also read: Titik Pintar raises funding to offer gamified learning and remote micro lessons to Indonesian students

This is where young, forward-thinking interns can help break the often uniform and monolithic company culture by bringing in fresh perspectives and insights particularly of the company’s changing customers. A pool of interns with innovation and entrepreneurship at their core can contribute towards differentiating a company, strengthen its competitive advantage and take the business forward.

A win-win arrangement between SMU and businesses to imbue the global perspective

In line with the current business climate and the dire need for innovative ideas, SMU’s Global Innovation Immersion (GII), a three-month overseas internship programme, was first started to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within the SMU community and beyond. Tailored to create a robust and agile talent pool suited for the fast-paced startup-environment, this programme was specifically designed for students who possess an entrepreneurial mindset and are passionate about innovation as well as digital transformation — two of the most important elements needed for success in a post-pandemic world. With rapidly growing interest from students and companies alike, the programme had gained steady momentum over the years.

“The company tasked me to compare and analyze their business processes and proposed and implemented improvements. The main bulk of my time was devoted to the company’s financial modelling for pitching to investors during the company’s Series A fundraising,” shared Razzaq Reyal who joined Health at Home as a Business Analyst Intern during his time at GII Thailand in 2019.

Also read: microLEAP raises US$3.3M to help small businesses raise funds via Shariah-compliant means in Malaysia

Another factor that makes this internship programme stand out is its mutually-beneficial arrangement: leading companies can sleep soundly knowing that GII interns undergo a rigorous recruitment process while these young and energetic GII interns get an opportunity of their lifetimes to work at some of the most promising co-working spaces and startups worldwide. These invaluable experiences that interns had gained under SMU’s GII programme ready the next generation for the real world, at times, even bagging their dream jobs.

“GII allow[ed]s me to formally enter the Venture Capital (VC) field and this experience indeed help[ed]s me get my subsequent 2 VC internships. The experience of working in Indonesia plus my bi-cultural background of Singapore and China differentiates me from other candidates,” explained Zhao Yunyi who joined Kejora Ventures as an Investment Analyst Intern as part of GII Indonesia in 2019.

A shifting global market brings in opportunities for scalability and growth

Singapore is the technology hub of the region, which means opportunities abound for startups in the island-nation to explore innovations. GII hires can help startups by marrying up-to-date research and perspectives with open mindsets, helping companies come up with new ways of looking at business problems. Given the robust pre-internship training that the students attend, GII hires will bring in coveted skills in fields such as digital transformation, online marketing, business development, and data analytics, allowing them to make significant contributions to companies. Where relevant, they also attend language classes like Mandarin, Bahasa, Thai, Vietnamese, and Tagalog among others.

Also read: Zipmex snags US$6M in an oversubscribed funding round to expand its digital assets exchange

Founders and business leaders are well aware of the unique opportunities that the pandemic has brought despite its struggles and challenges — opportunities such as growth and scaling.

It is important for startups to take this chance and build a team that helps them emerge successful on a regional and even global level. And for that, they can rely on well-trained GII interns.

If you are looking for talented interns to help you build a diverse and innovative team for your global business dreams, just fill this form or contact the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) at iie-gii@smu.edu.sg.

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Photo by Porapak Apichodilok from Pexels

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by the Singapore Management University

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