HK-based travel and leisure booking platform Klook raises US$200M; Investors include Aspex Management (lead), Sequoia China, Softbank Vision Fund 1; Post-pandemic, Klook is focused on two main areas — digitising the experiences booking sector and launching new verticals such as staycations and car rental. More here

Will Ovo complicate a gojek-Tokopedia merger?; A merger could put gojek’s payments platform GoPay front and centre in Tokopedia – a huge coup; For gojek, teaming up with Tokopedia could mean access to the platform’s millions of merchants —  potential clients for GoPay’s productive loans — or collaborations between the two companies’ respective PayLater products. More here

Malaysia’s fintech startup CapBay bags US$20M Series A; Investors include KK Fund and local angel investors; CapBay is a multi-bank supply chain finance and P2P financing platform; It uses existing trade data and relationships to facilitate inclusive business financing; It claims to have funded US$24.7M across 500 investment notes on its platform since launch in March ’20. More here

Kollective Ventures and Joseph Phua’s family office Turn Capital acquire taiwanese podcast startup SoundOn; SoundOn will continue to operate under its current brand; SoundOn produces its own content shows featuring Taiwan’s top influencers, besides connecting podcasters to advertisers; It claims to have 35M monthly podcast downloads. More here

Malaysian logistics and supply chain platform iStore iSend raises US$5.5M; Lead investors are Gobi Partners and EasyParcel; The startup has plans to expand to markets such as Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam; iStore iSend is an end-to-end fulfilment solution company providing clients with a complete omnichannel experience. More here

Singapore’s consumer credit management platform Lendela bags US$2M pre-Series A; Promise Future International and Luxembourg-based 2be.lu Investments led the round; Lendela connects borrowers to partner lenders through an online loan application form; In 2018, it raised US$942K seed led by Cocoon Capital and IMO Ventures. More here

‘Founders should be able to back up their ideas with sales’: Golden Gate’s newly-appointed Principal Jeffrey Chua; According to him, post-COVID, investments will get easier and things will move faster and smoother; Due to the pandemic, a lot of deals that were in the US$10M+ range were slowed down or stalled since people were not allowed to travel and visit these firms in person. More here

Thai online car rental marketplace Drivehub raises “seven-figure” Series A; Lead investors are Toyota Tsusho, CAC Capital, KK Fund; The money will be used to expand into new markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore; Drivehub claims it has grown by 50 per cent compared to the same period last year. More here

MC Payment poised to become Singapore’s first listed digital payments firm; Artivision shareholders approved the proposed reverse takeover of e- payments company MC Payment; With the expected completion of the acquisition on Feb 18, Artivision will be renamed MC Payment, and is set to be listed on the SGX-ST. More here

500 Startups promotes Ee Ling as Regional Director to spearhead innovation programmes in APAC; Ling will be heading its BD for corporate and startup innovation programmes in the region; She was previously the Singapore Country Lead (Innovation & Partnerships) for 500 Startups and has built and led innovation programmes for corporates and startups in the city-state and Malaysia. More here

Podcast Network Asia (PNA) raises US$750K to expand to Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia; Investors include Foxmont Capital, Venturra Discovery, Kumu; PNA provides podcast creators with access to production support and monetisation opportunities; It claims to have grown its roster to 415 podcasts, with over 10M listeners. More here

Catcha Investment joins SPAC craze, files to raise US$250M in US IPO; While it may pursue an acquisition or a business combination target in any business, industry or geography, it intends to focus its search on a target with operations or prospective operations in the technology, digital media, fintech, or digital services sectors across APAC, in particular SEA and Australia. More here

Singapore faces talent crunch as tech giants scale up; The city-state is aiming to become a regional tech hub but faces a severe talent crunch as more firms move in; Tencent, Bytedance, Zoom, Grab and Sea are among companies expanding in Singapore, fuelling a war for tech talent in the city-state, where the jobless rate had reached a 16-year high due to a coronavirus-induced recession. More here

MDEC launches Alternative Funding Program 2021; It will partner with 11 crowdfunding operators to help Malaysian entrepreneurs tide the economic challenges brought on by COVID-19; This follows the successful launch of the same programme in 2020 which saw a total of 16 companies successfully listed on participating platforms with a total of US$5M raised.

Indonesia bourse launches tech classification to lure investors; It seeks to attract more investment in technology and health care stocks as it looks to encourage trading amid the COVID-19 pandemic; The new IDX Industrial Classification consists of 12 sectors, 35 subsectors, 69 industries and 130 subindustries. More here

5 promising AI startups in the Philippines ready for investments; They are Expedock, Rumarocket, Aiah, PhilCare and FinScore; Local VC Kickstart Ventures is in pursuit of worthy AI startups in the region to invest US$200M in funding. More here

India explores a digital version of the rupee;It is one of the many ways that country’s central bank RBI is considering increasing the adoption of digital payment systems; For digital currencies, the Central Bank Digital Currencies will be legal tender and a central bank liability in the digital form. More here

SEA’s podcast market is ripe for adoption; we just need to educate the public, says Joseph Phua; He expects there to be a significant number of podcast ventures pop up soon in SEA, and is looking to make further investments/acquisitions in the general audio entertainment space. More here

IdeaSpace grants US$20K each to top 3 Philippine startups in virtual accelerator programme; The startups are Workbean, Humble and Agro-DigitalPH; Along with 20 other hopefuls, the three startups underwent IdeaSpace’s four-month acceleration programme. More here

Vietnam launches National Technology Innovation programme; It aims to facilitate and support enterprises to transfer, innovate, and perfect technologies as well as create high-quality products with high added value; Furthermore, it will promote the transfer of technologies for agricultural development in rural and mountainous areas and regions and train scientific and tech HR. More here

From under US$1: Ovo rolls out new investment product; The Indonesian e-wallet unicorn Ovo and mutual fund platform Bareksa have teamed up to launch a new investment product allowing small savers to buy funds for as low as US$0.71 from their app; The aim is to increase financial inclusion and encourage more Indonesians, especially the younger generation, to start investing. More here

VeMoBro e-commerce platform launches in Philippines; It offers a wide variety of products from food and grocery items, home essentials, tech gadgets and accessories, and automotive products; The platform connects MSMEs to potential customers; A business unit of Polaris Digital Platform Enterprise, VeMoBro has a logistics system with its experienced freight forwarding partner. More here

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The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has launched Alternative Funding Program to help the country’s micro companies with cash-flow problems.

As part of this, it has partnered with 11 equity crowdfunding (ECF) and P2P platforms to provide MSMEs with financial help.

The partners include ATA Plus, CrowdPlus.asia, Eurecca, Leet Capital, pitchIN, B2B Finpal, CapBay, Funding Societies, microLEAP, MoneySave and QuicKash.

“With the continued disruption to businesses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it is crucial for startups in Malaysia to be able to explore multiple avenues for funding. While initiatives like the Dana Penjana Nasional have done much to address the funding gaps for startups in Malaysia, it is in the best interest of MDEC for them to have more options to ensure sustainable cash flow,” said Surina Shukri, CEO of MDEC.

Also Read: MDEC spearheads alternative funding to help Malaysian startups thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic

To be eligible for the programme, companies should be locally incorporated and have operations running for at least one year with a minimum annual turnover of RM300000 (~US$74,156).

This is MDEC’s second year running the same programme led by its Global Growth Acceleration Division (GGA).

Last year, 16 companies had participated and managed to raise a total of RM19.89 million (~US$5 million).

Among the startups that successfully raised funding through the programme include PolicyStreet (US$1.8 million), which is the largest funds raised to date from an ECF platform in Malaysia.

“MDEC has been promoting ECF and P2P funding platforms actively to startups and I believe that the concerted effort put in by MDEC has led to an increase in public awareness towards the benefits of ECF and P2P investment,” Wilson Beh, co-founder of PolicyStreet said.

Entrepreneurs who wish to participate in the programme can submit their applications now. The deadline is March 31, 2021.

MDEC is an agency under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia and is tasked with spearheading the development of the country’s digital economy.

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Image Credit: MDEC

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LottieFiles, an open source animation file format that is tiny, interactive and can be manipulated at runtime, has raised US$9 million in a Series A financing.

The round was led by M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund, with participation from existing investor 500 Startups.

According to a press release, the new capital will be used to further its product roadmap, increase user base and expand its infrastructure.

Also Read: Joosk Studio raises fresh funding to make Myanmar’s first feature-length animation

Launched in 2018, LottieFiles is a community platform for designers and developers, who create motion graphics using the Lottie file format. A JSON-based animation file format, Lottie enables designers to ship animations on any platform as easily as shipping static assets. They are small files that work on any device and can scale up or down without pixelation.

A Lottie animation can play your animation on web or mobile devices while still maintaining “high quality”. It can also have smart settings that can allow for your animation to be interactive.

According to the company, the size of a Lottie file significantly increases download speed and reduces the amount of disk space utilised.

Its cross-platform capabilities also save designers and developers time by freeing them from having to code motion graphics for different platforms individually.

“By listening to the Lottie community, we have created a unique set of editing, workflow and collaboration tools that seamlessly integrate with popular design software and developer environments such as Adobe After Effects, Figma, VS Code and others,” Nattu Adnan, co-founder of LottieFiles, said.

“To make things easier for non-motion designers, users can take advantage of tons of free content available on our platform to get started,” he added.

On average, a new Lottie file is uploaded to the platform every 15 seconds, the company claimed. These assets range from simple animated icons to animated product onboarding and walkthroughs, system animations on smartwatches, interactive infographics for online publications, and many other use cases across devices.

With offices in San Francisco and Malaysia, the startup claims to have surpassed one million users from over 65,000 companies globally, including Google, TikTok, Disney, Uber, Airbnb, and Netflix.

While the company is growing at a significant rate, the co-founders have not monetised the platform yet but plan to do so later this year.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Will Ovo complicate a gojek-Tokopedia merger?; Singapore faces talent crunch as tech giants scale up

In a world dominated by Reels and TikTok, animated video content is slowly growing more popular than it was ever before.

Cisco said in a report that by 2020, online videos will make up for over 80 per cent of all consumer internet traffic.

As more and more content creators hop on the TikTok trend, this gives LottieFiles a huge market to offer its services to.

Abhi Kumar, Partner at M12, said that LottieFiles empowers an entirely new set of users by unlocking new opportunities to use motion graphics for their video content.

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Image Credit: LottieFiles

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Ula, an Indonesia based micro-retail e-commerce platform, announced today it has raised a US$20 million Series A funding round, co-led by Quona Capital and B Capital Group.

Existing investors Lightspeed India and Sequoia India also participated.

This follows a US$10.5 million seed funding in June 2020.

As per a press note, the fresh investment allows Ula to grow its geographical footprint, expand its suite of products and services and move into new retail categories.

Since launching in January 2020 with teams in Indonesia, India and Singapore, Ula provides micro retailers with the necessary tools and technologies that assist in digitalising their supply chain, inventory and working capital management. It claims to have grown to serve over 20,000 stores, primarily in East Java.

“Small stores are deeply integrated into the economic and cultural fabric of Indonesia. They are micro-entrepreneurs with highly cost-efficient operations compared to their modern retail counterparts,” said Nipun Mehra, Co-founder and CEO of Ula.

Also Read: Everybody is helping MSMEs go digital today, but Indonesia-based Titipku aims to do it differently

“However, their small scale, limited upstream product availability, high prices, poor service and limited working capital makes them the most vulnerable segment of the retail value chain. These problems aren’t restricted to one category — FMCG and other consumables, apparel, electronics, etc. all encounter common problems,” he added.

In many emerging markets, traditional in-store retail accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the total retail market. Within Indonesia, the market size is estimated to be upwards of US$200 billion, growing at over US$15 billion annually.

These small retailers operate with an up to 10 per cent cost advantage over modern retailers often employ family members and operate out of their homes. They also have insights into local consumer behaviours which could be leveraged to their advantage.

However, inefficient product sourcing, limited access to affordable technology solutions, and a high cost of available working capital hurt their ability to compete and grow.

Also Read: Leveraging new tech to propel SME trade in ASEAN

Ula seeks to solve these issues by assisting in procurement and providing logistics solutions for micro retailers, thereby allowing them to carry less inventory and freeing up capital.

“Ula is transforming the entire retail value chain with its retailer-first approach, empowering the small retailer by offering them a wide range of products, competitive prices and doorstep delivery,” said Ganesh Rengaswamy, Managing Partner at Quona Capital.

“Indonesia’s retail spend is expected to surpass US$0.5 trillion over the next four years, driven by millions of small retail stores. Ula is at the forefront of transforming Indonesia’s SME supply chain by democratizing access to merchandise and driving financial inclusion through technology,” said Kabir Narang, Founding General Partner at B Capital Group.

Ula is currently setting up tech teams in Indonesia, India and Singapore and also hiring across key roles in category management, analytics, credit as well as city P&L leaders in Indonesia.

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Image Credit: Ula

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In our increasingly digital world, it is more important than ever to protect our assets with a strong line of defence. Even before the pandemic which has catalysed faster digital adoption for many economies, the world has long been on a journey towards a stronger and a more reliable digital future. This means that as our digital transformation becomes more and more complex, cyber-attacks and other forms of cyber threats are also hot on our heels trying to catch up.

One particular industry that’s becoming increasingly smarter is automotive. Thanks to the technological revolution, we can easily get traffic information, play our favourite music, and be alarmed when a car hit happens. According to SAS, by 2025, there would be 2 billion connected cars — cars with new features and aftermarket devices. However, as vehicles are getting “smarter” with these internet-connected devices, the risk of getting a cyber attack is more possible than ever.

With digitalisation taking on an increasingly prominent role in how we work, how we live, and how we move, what technologies out there can we turn to for better cybersecurity?

Threats to anticipate in the V2X market

Key players in the automotive industry are aiming to achieve fully automatous driving. That means cars will become progressively reliant on connected devices and their communication lines. In a V2X model where cars are connected to everything, they are also more susceptible to a variety of threats.

Driver assistance system, blind-spot system, or even entertainment system on cars are easy targets for hackers. Cars are vulnerable to risks in terms of breaking into these systems, risks that include WiFi / Bluetooth attack, remote vehicle hijacking, man-in-the-Middle attack, and GPS Spoofing, among others. In a worst-case scenario, disruptions caused by third-party interference and malicious interceptions to the system can lead to serious accidents.

Moreover, in the instance of an accident that’s caused by cyber-attacks, it is also harder to track the actual cause. We may get record from the car black box when the car activity happens in the physical environment. However, there’s no specific way to keep a record for the car activity in cyberspace. It’ll be hard for people to understand the real cause of a car accident — is it a physical hit or a cyber attack?

These are only some of the potential threats that car users can face in the V2X model. This can only mean that with increased digitalisation, we must equip ourselves with smarter, more efficient, and more reliable solutions to protect ourselves.

Modern solutions for modern problems

Thankfully, there have also been many developments in the cybersecurity sector that are designed specifically to combat these complex threats. ArcRAN, a Taiwan-based company, has made massive strides in this area and is proving to be one of the best solutions out there.

With their V2X security detector and security solution design technology, users will be able to predict, prevent, and diagnose cyber attacks.

Their V2X / IoV Joint Cyber Security Defense iSecV Detector operates as an isolated add-on box, used to detect DSRC / C-V2X signals, and to analyse un-approved signal sources using the whitelisting mechanism.

In addition, it is able to detect abnormal behaviours such as tampering of data in (MitM), jamming (DoS) of communication channels, jamming (DoS) of signals, spoofing of signals, and spoofing of GPS messages among others, all with the use of machine learning methods. iSecV will be placed inside buses and roadside units (RSUs) and communicate with the Traffic Center through an independent 4G Channel.

Their technology offers three strategies to deal with cybersecurity problems for automotive industry players. Firstly, all code should be developed by following the idea of Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SSDLC). Therefore, the cost of system maintenance and the chance to be hacked can be lower.

Secondly, vehicles embedded with the secured system may still be attacked by evolving hacking technics or newly-discovered vulnerabilities. In such an instance, the vehicle shall add extra protection in its perimeter. ArcRAN provides V2X site cybersecurity solution iSecV which monitors wireless signals. By detecting abnormal behaviour in V2X environment, iSecV sends alerts to smart city/transportation project parties to take action and protect the physical site.

Lastly, to transfer the risk of business operation, ArcRAN suggests next-generation vehicle insurance to the enterprise which owns track fleet or develops autonomous vehicles. Combing with digital evidence collection, the next-generation vehicle insurance can extend its coverage from the physical world to cyberspace.

With this technology, users are able to better protect themselves before, during, and after such attacks occur.

Trustworthy technology from a trustworthy company

ArcRAN is a cybersecurity company focusing on Internet of Things & Vehicles. Their core technology is designed for wireless signal detection including but not limited to WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and C-V2X. ArcRan concentrates on developing comprehensive cybersecurity solutions for smart city applications. They propose advanced cybersecurity solutions based on machine learning algorithms to help governments and enterprises quickly respond to various cybersecurity threats and attacks through automatic cybersecurity analysis, attack simulation, and risk evaluation.

With more than 18 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry, their solution well protects clients’ physical sites. Their solution is also recognised by several awards, including 1st place in Young Award (which honoured top IT companies in Taiwan), as well as being selected as the Taiwan representative for APICTA Awards (which is the top award for Asia Pacific ICT companies).

Helping ArcRAN flourish as a tech company is Rainmaking Innovation, an international digital consulting company and accelerator dedicated to boosting the potential of entrepreneurs worldwide and fostering a stronger and more competitive startup ecosystem. “We work with our clients to build a clear view of fast-evolving markets so that we can identify the opportunities they’re best positioned to own,” said Ken Chuang, the Managing Director of Rainmaking Innovation Taiwan.

Moreover, ArcRAN has been selected to be part of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Taiwan. This year, the Taiwan Tech Arena at CES will be showcased on a virtual reality (VR) platform that will allow visitors to witness various products that are currently being developed.

Sorted into four key categories that address the demands of various areas of life, CES Taiwan 2021 will be focusing on Smart Living & Healthcare, Cybersecurity and Cloud Solutions, Mobility Tech, and Tech for Good. With over 100 Taiwanese companies that will be showcasing their new technologies to the world, ArcRAN is poised to be one of the standout companies whose tech solution is bound to impact the world meaningfully.

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