Geniebook, a Singapore-based edutech startup that identifies students’ strengths and weaknesses using Artificial Intelligence, announced today it has expanded its operations into Vietnam.

The expansion marks Geniebook’s third office internationally, with its headquarters located in Singapore, and another office in Indonesia.

Additionally, the company claims it achieved US$10 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), along with maintaining profitability and positive cash flow, thanks to a strong financial year in 2020.

Launched in 2017, Geniebook uses AI and Machine Learning to personalise learning by recommending assessment concepts and questions based on each student’s strengths and challenges.

Also Read: Singapore edtech startup Geniebook secures US$1.1M Pre-Series A funding

With students made to stay home for months due to COVID-19 safety measures, home-based learning has become a big part of 2020. Geniebook claims it has experienced accelerated growth, with an increase of about 10x in overseas users over the course of the pandemic.

The company also shared that its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) hit US$2 million in 2020, while its global user base has grown 100x since its launch in 2017.

“The challenges and opportunities that COVID-19 has brought for us in 2020 have not only propelled us to find ways to strengthen our business model but have also proven that our method works in all circumstances,” said Neo Zhizhong, CEO and Co-founder of Geniebook.

Also Read: Why digital capabilities aren’t fully deployed in the education sector

“As the predictability of the pandemic worsens, and home-based learning continues to be an important part of children’s lives, we see huge potential in digitalising and personalising learning in the world and in the region, with the growing Vietnamese market as our next step,” he added.

With close to 40 per cent of the Vietnamese population below the age of 24, Geniebook shared there is huge potential in Vietnam’s education sector to develop in the coming years.

According to the firm, Vietnamese parents are also investing more money and time into bettering their child’s learning, while students have been harbouring greater desires in recent years to expand their academic knowledge as well.

With a current staff strength of 200, the startup is looking to expand its team by hiring domestically and internationally to further “invest and scale” its online learning technologies.

In May 2019, Geniebook raised US$1.1 million in its pre-Series A funding led by led by Apricot Capital.

—

Image Credit: Geniebook

The post Geniebook, an edutech startup that identifies students’ strengths and weaknesses using AI, expands into Vietnam appeared first on e27.

Updates: Changes have been made on the no. of teams, location based and some details have been removed as requested by LongHash.

LongHash Ventures, a global blockchain accelerator and VC fund headquartered in Singapore, has announced the 10 startups that will take the virtual stage for  Algorand Asia Accelerator’s demo day on Jan 22nd.

Out of the 10 startups, 3 are from Singapore while the remaining teams come from Australia, Europe and USA.

Algorand Asia Accelerator is a 3-month programme that provides selected startups with US$15,000 in seed funding. In addition, the startups were provided with end-to-end support in strategy formulation, go-to-market execution, as well as subject matter guidance across technology, mentorship, token economics, marketing and fundraising.

The primary objective of the accelerator is to accelerate the vision of Finance 3.0 to a much wider audience. For the uninitiated, Finance 3.o is the name given to an open financial system, which provides more control to users and reduces or eliminates middlemen, fees, charges, penalty, etc.

According to a LinkedIn post written by a company spokesperson, the startups have raised US$2.5 million in funding prior to demo day.

In 2019, LongHash Ventures kickstarted LongHash Hatch, a programme designed for blockchain startups. It saw participation from industry leaders, such as Fenbushi Capital, HashKey Capital, Kenetic Capital, and Dragonfly Capital, with Ethereum Foundation, Maker, Synthetix, and InstaDApp.

Also Read: Blockchain accelerator LongHash Ventures unveils 7 startups in its fourth cohort

Below are brief profiles of the Singaporean startups that will be showcasing on the demo day, and the remaining teams can be found on their demo day website:

DEXTF

An on-chain, non-custodial asset management protocol, which allows the creation of a digital fund in a matter of minutes where investors from around the world can invest in.

Founded in 2017, the startup has been funded by LuneX Ventures and SGInnovate and has been awarded the Financial Sector Technology Proof of Concept Grant by the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) twice.

EasternBlu

A decentralised registry of music copyrights that brings transparency and efficiency to royalty ownerships and payments.

The platform currently has over 15,000 songs registered in its platform. The company also claims to be the “first micropayments and blockchain-based music registry” in China.

MugglePay

A consumer to business (C2B) payment solution enabling global, instant and low-cost settlements via cryptocurrency.

Founded in 2018, the company’s partners include OKEx, Shopify, WHMCs, PARSIQ, Celo and TRON.

You can sign up for the demo day here.

—

Image Credit: Unsplash

The post [Updated] Meet the 3 Singaporean blockchain startups showcasing at Algorand Asia Accelerator’s demo day appeared first on e27.

Next Billion Ventures (NBV), a US-based VC firm focused on global emerging markets, announced today it has appointed Tiang Lim Foo as its Venture Partner for the Southeast Asia region.

Lim Foo has over a decade of experience in the venture investment industry within the region. He currently serves as Partner at Singapore-based early-stage VC firm SeedPlus and his portfolio includes early investments in companies including Qoala, Rukita, Homage and CardUp.

He will focus his efforts on identifying the next generation of high-growth, high-impact startups in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore.

Also Read: How did emerging markets in Southeast Asia fare in 2020?

“We invest in geographies with sizeable populations who are now meaningfully entering the digital economy. As a multi-market investor, we differentiate by picking the most compelling, ubiquitous problems that technology is addressing across emerging markets while recognising the localisation that is necessary for these businesses to succeed,” said Ken Toyoda, Co-founder and Managing Partner at NBV.

NBV’s current portfolio in Southeast Asia includes Vietnamese proptech startup Propzy, Philippine-based Advance (fintech) and Sprout (HR tech), and Indonesia’s GajiGesa (financial wellness app). This is complemented by similar investments in Latin America and the Middle East.

Co-founded in 2018 by Toyoda, Ruzgar Barisik and Christopher Schroeder, the Washington-based VC firm invests in tech startups that serve the “next billion digital consumers and small businesses” in emerging markets across Southeast Asia, Latin America and the MENA region.

—

Image Credit: Next Billion Ventures

The post Next Billion Ventures ropes in Tiang Lim Foo from SeedPlus as Venture Partner for SEA appeared first on e27.

Grab’s fintech arm GFG raises US$300M Series A led by Hanwha Asset Management; GFG claims its total revenues have increased by over 40% y-o-y in 2020, and expects to have a full revenue potential of US$60B by 2025; Its consortium with Singtel recently obtained a digital bank license in Singapore. More here

Sea Group acquires Indonesia’s Bank BKE; The group aims to ultimately transform the lender into a digital bank; The deal can be seen as part of NYSE-listed Sea’s ongoing plan to increase customer retention on its e-commerce platform Shopee by doubling down on its payments app ShopeePay. More here

Indian IPOs thriving despite COVID pandemic; A total of 14 Indian companies saw their stocks listed on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange during 2020; The 4 Indian unicorns that are expected to launch IPOs this year are Flipkart, Zomato, Delhivery and Policybazaar. More here

The next Xiaomi: How Realme became the world’s fastest smartphone brand to reach 50M sales; While it may not be a popular brand yet, Realme has shipped 10M phones globally in the first 14 months of its founding, a mighty feat for a young company; The Chinese smartphone company was founded in May 2018 by Sky Li, former VPO of Oppo. More here

Vietnam’s payments app Momo raises Series D; Lead investors are Warburg Princus, Goodwater Capital; As per reports, the size of the funding is US$100M+; Momo aims to become a super-app and kickstart its own investment arm, Innovation Ventures, to back local startups that can be integrated into its app. More here

Indonesian sharia-based P2P lending platform ALAMI raises US$20M+ in equity and debt funding; Lead investors are AC Ventures and Golden Gate Ventures; Last September, Nikkei Asia reported that despite COVID-19, Islamic finance thrived in Indonesia as banks and fintech companies “rushed” to seize opportunities in the market. More here

Indonesia’s book-keeping app BukuKas secures US$10M Series A, acquires smaller rival Catatan Keuangan Harian; Backers are Sequoia India (lead), Saison Capital, January Capital, Founderbank Capital; BukuKas claims to have a registered user base of 3.5M small merchants and retailers and has crossed 1.8M MAUs. More here

Ajaib, a mobile-first investment platform for millennials in Indonesia, raises US$25M; Lead investors are Horizons Ventures, Alpha JWC; Indonesia has a low penetration rate for stock investments, with only 1.6M capital market investors in the country, which is less than 1% of its population of 273M. More here

Singapore cybersecurity firm MicroSec raises an undisclosed amount in Series A; MassMutual Ventures is the lead investor; The company’s enterprise-grade security capabilities for IoT devices include an anomaly detection system that provides intelligent detection of tampering and misuse of devices. More here

SG’s digital assets exchange Zipmex raises US$6M in oversubscribed funding led by US VC Jump Capital; It plans to diversify product offerings, including the expansion of its interest-bearing product ZipUp and its new native token ZMT; Zipmex claims it has transacted over US$650M in gross transaction volume so far and has 100K+ users. More here

On-demand blue-collar workforce app Sampingan raises US$5M Series A; Investors include Altara Ventures (lead), Golden Gate, Antler, Access Ventures; Sampingan claims it has 850K+ workers in 80 cities connected through the platform and is serving 100+ Indonesian enterprises. More here

Korea’s content discovery platform Dable raises US$12M Series C; Backers are SV Investment, KB Investment, K2 Investment; It plans to accelerate international expansion into Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, China, Australia, Turkey in 2021. More here

Malaysia’s Islamic and conventional P2P microfinancing platform microLEAP raises US$3.3M; Investor is MAA Group; microLEAP serves micro-enterprises that may find it difficult to borrow money via traditional means; It claims to have grown 1,000%+ within just 5 months of its launch in April 2020. More here

Singapore-based Crown Technologies raises funding from East Japan Railway’s subsidiary; The investment will accelerate the rollout of ELLA, the AI-powered robotic barista; ELLA will be deployed across East Japan Railway’s network of 1,657 train stations that serve an average of 17M passengers daily ahead of Tokyo Olympics 2020. More here

SG’s foodtech startup Advantir raises seed funding; Investors include Raging Bull Investments, she1K Global, Expara Asia Ventures, Azerus; Advantir’s capsule dessert machine Swirl.GO creates four types of soft-serve desserts: ice cream, gelato, sorbet and frozen yoghurt; It operates with Swirl Pods, which are individual disposable capsules. More here

B2B FMGG marketplace GudangAda appoints ex-Grab Engineering Head Huan Yang as CTO; His appointment is key as GudangAda seeks to develop its warehousing and logistics offerings and move into new product categories beyond the FMCG industry; The news comes shortly after GudangAda successfully amassed a total of US$30M. More here

BNPL heats up in Singapore with Grab, Mastercard entering the scene; While the model first started out in countries such as Sweden, the trend is picking up steam across the world; The service is bucking the trend in Singapore where three-quarters of the population own a credit card. More here

Be Group ties up with VPBank to launch digital bank ‘Cake’ in Vietnam; With services hosted on the Be app through VPBank’s digital banking license, Be claims Cake will have access to over 10M customers, nearly a third of the country’s ride-hailing market. More here

Indonesia’s gamified learning and remote micro lessons startup Titik Pintar raises funding; Investor is Indonesia Women Empowerment Fund (IWEF); Titik Pintar claims it has more than 15K users across Indonesia. More here

Here’s what the world of business travel will look like in 2021; Travel management startup Navisteps expects a permanent decrease of absolute global business travel volume anywhere between 15-25% over the long-term; Given the travel restrictions and low consumer confidence, inter-state and intra-state business travel will be the most viable option for business travel in 2021. More here

WhatsApp takes a U-turn in its data privacy. Is it time to switch to alternative platforms?; The new privacy means Whatsapp will now be able to monitor the kinds of links of products/other things that you send your friends and families and use them to send it to other ads companies/brands. More here

Blockchain in agrifood: A great opportunity disguised as a trend?; Blockchain’s characteristics of immutability and transparency are used to improve coordination among supply chain players by increasing the visibility of info and, as a consequence, the effectiveness of the whole supply chain. More here

KONE joins CapitaLand-led Smart Urban Co-Innovation Lab; The lab brings together leaders in the smart cities to co-create and test innovations at CapitaLand’s 5G-enabled Singapore Science Park; The lab will serve as an open platform where diverse industry players come together to tackle today’s pressing issues such as smart mobility, intelligent urban development, sustainability among others. More here

Experts see role for Singapore in spurring sustainability in region; According to Associate Professor Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, the city-state can drive efforts in the region through bilateral agreements, funding clean energy and investing in incentive schemes like carbon markets. More here

Malaysia is increasingly becoming a tech hub for international founders; It is currently ranked as the 11th best startup destination in the world; The government reliefs during COVID-19, such as Technology Start-ups Funding Relief Facility, and National PENJANA Fund, and other initiatives such as National Technology & Innovation Sandbox, etc have created a good impression among foreign founders. More here

—

Image Credit:

The post Ecosystem Roundup: Grab’s fintech arm raises US$300M Series A; Sea buys Indonesia’s Bank BKE; Indian IPOs thriving despite COVID-19 appeared first on e27.

Lightspeed, a multi-stage venture capital firm headquartered in the US, has announced the launch of the first batch of startups attending Extreme Entrepreneurs (EE), an accelerator designed for “outsiders” of the startup ecosystem.

EE is a 6-week long online training programme that charges zero equity and fees for participation. The programme has no strict selection criteria and is willing to accept startups in all stages, even founders with only crazy ideas and no prototype.

According to a statement, “the only selection criteria for EE is whether the founders will benefit from and make the most of the opportunity”.

However, if a startup is looking to receive a cash hangout or grant, this might not be the ideal programme for them, as no such promises are made.

The programme will involve mentoring, learning sessions, coupled with a series of online community events.

Some of the top tech mentors who will be providing mentorship are Tony Fadell (iPod inventor, iPhone co-inventor), Ming Maa (President, Grab), Ryan Roslansky (CEO, LinkedIn), Byju Raveendran (Founder, Byju’s) and Balaji Srinivasan (ex-CTO, Coinbase).

Also Read: Lightspeed launches Extreme Entrepreneurs 3.0 for high potential startups in SEA, India

“More than 1,200 teams applied from across India, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia and the finalists were chosen across four gruelling rounds by our investment team. In particular, we are delighted that six teams have at least one woman co-founder. EE 2021 is bigger and better. It is 100 per cent online, which eliminates geo boundaries completely and allows the program to expand to founders anywhere,” Vaibhav Agrawal, Partner at Lightspeed, said.

Below are the brief profiles of the four startups selected from the Southeast Asia region:

Bukugaji

A lightweight mobile platform that modernises traditional human capital workflows for MSMEs.

BuzzBreak

A content network that rewards users for their time and attention.

Nano

A provider of B2B2C income streaming solutions that empower employees to get paid on-demand while helping employers improve retention and employee engagement at work

Supermomos

A knowledge-based social network, enabling sharing of bite-sized knowledge about work and life through short videos.

Below are the brief profiles of Indian startups attending the programme:

Aavaz/Enterpret

Analytics on natural language to help product teams learn from large scale customer feedback

Avalon Meta

A digital university that allows individuals to learn digital skills online

BharatX

Enables credit-as-a-service on consumer-facing apps in a plug-and-play fashion

BizzTM

A neighbourhood one-stop store for home and personal need products

Doto

A live quiz game show app for new-gen Indians to connect and compete with friends

Economize

Economize helps companies analyse, manage and optimise cloud expenses

Electorq

A micro-mobility platform that provides tailor-made end to end solutions for running businesses based on mobility of goods or people

Evo Foods

Provides 100 per cent plant-based substitute for liquid egg

FarMart

A B2B agritech platform for SMEs

Fitbee

Designs fitness and nutrition plans for young women who deal with hormonal imbalances

Let’sDressUp

A platform where women can get tailored outfits stitched from their homes

Vavepay

A contactless payments app

OxfordCaps

Professionally managed and serviced student housing for university students in India and Singapore.

—

Image Credit: Lightspeed.

The post Meet the 4 SEA startups selected for Lightspeed’s Extreme Entrepreneurs 2021 winter cohort appeared first on e27.

Updates: This article has been updated with more details on the digital banking platform.

Standard Chartered announced today it has formed a strategic partnership with Indonesian e-commerce giant Bukalapak, to launch “innovative offerings” as part of efforts to advance its focus on digital banking.

Hosted on the nexus platform – a banking-as-a-service solution by the bank’s innovation and venture arm SC Ventures, the partnership will see Standard Chartered provide digital financial services to Bukalapak’s customer base of more than 100 million users and 13.5 million sellers.

According to Diana Mudadalam, Head of Corporate Affairs, Standard Chartered Bank Indonesia, the nexus platform offers banking-as-a-service feature similar to a white label banking service which partners can offer under their own brand.

“By embedding nexus in the partner’s ecosystem, partners like e-commerce, hailing app, etcetera, can offer banking services and products in their offering line up, allowing greater customer engagement and ecosystem stickiness without having customers move around apps to do activities such as shopping, and do financial transaction,” she wrote in a message to e27.

She also added that commercial partnership in the context of the bank’s ventures is always separate and distinct from any investments they commit in SC Ventures and the bank.

As per a press release, the collaboration aims to boost financial inclusion in Indonesia and further support the country’s digital economic growth.

A recent survey by Standard Chartered revealed the pandemic has acted as a catalyst for the growth of online financial activity, with over half of global respondents using more online services in a post-pandemic world. Additionally, 80 per cent of Indonesians also expect the country to go fully cashless by 2025.

Also Read: Don’t break the bank: Enabling financial inclusion and equity through tech

This represents a large growth market for embedded finance, which Standard Chartered and Bukalapak aim to jointly capture through their digital finance solutions.

“Our inaugural partnership with Bukalapak reaffirms Standard Chartered Bank’s commitment to growing our footprint locally. We are confident that our partnership with Bukalapak will enable us to co-create a solution that drives financial inclusion in Indonesia,” said Andrew Chia, Cluster CEO, Indonesia & ASEAN Markets for Standard Chartered.

“Commerce and financial services are crucial aspects of the well-being of society, thus, the partnership increases our spirit to create A Fair Economy in Indonesia. With a global banking network, Standard Chartered participation in Bukalapak will further strengthen our current strong group of shareholders and strategic partners,” said Rachmat Kaimuddin, CEO Bukalapak.

This comes as part of Standard Chartered’s push to experiment with new business models to meet the evolving needs of its clients. The bank recently announced the official launch of Mox, its new virtual bank in Hong Kong, created in partnership with PCCW, HKT and Trip.com.

It also commercially launched digital open platform, Solv, to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India and other markets grow by providing access to financial and business services.

Bukalapak itself has been making moves in the fintech scene, starting with the launch of services such as mutual funds and gold transactions.

The news followed recent updates from Indonesian unicorn gojek which had recently invested in Bank Jago as part of its foray into fintech, particularly digital banking services.

–

Anisa Menur Maulani also contributed to this story.

Image Credits: Standard Chartered

The post [Updated] Standard Chartered partners with Bukalapak to launch digital banking solutions appeared first on e27.

GK-Plug and Play, the Indonesian chapter of the Silicon Valley-based accelerator programme, today announced the 11 startups that have made it its eighth batch.

These startups are set to participate in a three-month programme that consists of mentor matchmaking, business model development, go-to-market strategy, and workshops on various skills, including presentation.

They are coming from verticals such as insurtech, fintech, agritech and sustainability, enterprise innovation, brand and retail, F&B, marketplace, and even pet tech.

As with the previous batch, the GK-Plug and Play programme is being held virtually.

According to Aaron Nio, Director of GK-Plug and Play, the pandemic has given momentum for startups to continue on innovating and being creative. In fact, many great innovations are likely to come up during these difficult times.

The following is a list of the startups:

SUGAR Technology
Described itself as an IOT & Consumer Electronics company that focuses on products that drive efficiency and convenience to the users.

Also Read: Meet the 12 graduating startups from the seventh batch of GK-Plug and Play Indonesia

GajiGesa
A platform that aims to make it easy for employees to withdraw their current month’s salary at any time to increase cash
flow and reduce stress.

Rekosistem
An end-to-end zero waste management startup that aims to improve the productivity of waste value chain via tech-based solution and renewable energy. There have two main products: Wesurance Limited (insurtech solutions that aims to revolutionise the way people search, buy and sell insurance), and Belanjaparts (a B2B e-commerce platform that helps customer procure industrial supplies more efficiently).

Feedloop
The platform aims to help companies undergo digital transformation through marketing and business process automation.

Jagofon
The platform claims to be Indonesia’s first marketplace specialising in second-hand smartphones.

Pocketpet
An e-commerce platform for all pet owners’ needs.

TUK
The platform aims to provide great e-commerce and delivery tools to local businesses at a much lower cost than other services.

Sgara
Previously known as PasarUdang, Sgara is a startup focused on aquaculture, specifically shrimps. It aims to help shrimp farmers increase farm efficiency through data.

—

Image Credit: GK-Plug and Play

The post GK-Plug and Play introduces the 11 startups that have made it to the programme’s 8th batch appeared first on e27.

The digitalisation of Indonesia’s F&B is unprecedented. Many startups have emerged to revolutionise the industry and trigger attractive growth opportunities for F&B businesses. The overall F&B market is growing moderately at a CAGR of 3.2 per cent. Yet, sales via F&B E-commerce have reached almost IDR3 trillion (US$212 million) in 2019, which is an astonishing growth with 38.2 per cent CAGR in the past six years.

This shows the robust shift and strong acceptance of digital platforms among Indonesian consumers. YCP Solidiance’s latest forecast estimate that F&B e-commerce sales would reach IDR15 trillion (US$1 billion) by 2024.

Given the prolonged COVID-19 social restrictions, those figures are highly achievable as the market has become heavily reliant on online delivery services to mitigate health and safety concerns. However, online delivery is only one piece of the puzzle in Indonesia’s digital F&B landscape.

Seven major trends in digital F&B

The current state of digital F&B in Indonesia can be reflected by the following  trends:

Dominance of the super-apps in delivery service, online order, and fintech

The super-apps have branched out from their ride-hailing origins to capture the three major roles. GoFood and GrabFood’s rise to prominence in Indonesia has been compelling.

Also Read: Food Market Hub lands US$4M Series A to grow its cloud-based F&B management biz beyond Malaysia

Nielsen reported that the super-apps have dominated the online delivery scene, with a usage share of up to 85 per cent, decimating other platforms such as restaurant hotlines, mobile applications, and websites.

The rise of fintech

Many payment options now need to be catered by F&B establishments, which drives the demand for payment gateway services. Ipsos reported that GoPay is currently the leading digital wallet with 54 per cent loyalty rating, which is surprising as GoPay has been toning down their promotions.

This trend showcases that the battle in fintech that has reached organic retention. Meanwhile, the likes of Ovo, Dana, and LinkAja have loyalty ratings of 29 per cent, 11 per cent, and 6 per cent, respectively.

Future integration between online delivery and PoS terminal

Currently, there is limited integration between online delivery and PoS terminal. Most F&B enterprises still record their online transaction manually to their PoS system.

With the recent acquisition of MOKA by Gojek, connectivity between online delivery service and PoS terminal appears to be on the horizon. Prior to that, Pawoon has made the first move for integration by connecting transactions from GrabFood into its system.

Food is now more social than ever

Customer engagement players allow F&B enterprises to extend their digital marketing by providing an avenue for public reviews, voucher distributions, promotions, table reservations, etcetera.

Also Read: ‘Underdeveloped payment infrastructure holding e-commerce in Indonesia’

Most players present themselves as foodie apps (i.e. Zomato, Qraved, Pergikuliner), travel apps (i.e. Tripadvisor, TravelokaEats) or retention platforms (i.e. Tada). The social media and tech giants (i.e. Instagram, Facebook, Google Reviews) are also in the game.

PoS terminal making moves toward customer engagement via CRM feature

PoS terminal players have been upping up their game in customer engagement with the incorporation of centralised customer relationship management (CRM).

This built-in feature enables display of customer reviews, automated or personalised response from enterprises, provision of discounts and promotions for customer retention.

Super-apps looking to complete the ecosystem with entry to produce marketplace

In 2018, Grab and HappyFresh sealed a partnership to launch GrabFresh, an in-app grocery platform. gojek’s GoShop service also provides connectivity to local produce sellers. This move by super-apps is a step towards a holistic journey from grocer-to-kitchen-to-table.

Cloud kitchen’s growing popularity among restaurants

Growth for F&B enterprises tend to be curbed by limited capital, hindering them to quickly expand to other regions. Cloud kitchen solves this issue by giving restaurants access to prime locations at a fractional cost as they provide shared kitchen space and workforce, with no dining area. Several players are currently in this role, including GoFood and GrabFood.

How innovation help digitalise F&B

With fierce competition in the digital F&B battlefield, we recommend for new entrants to innovate on roles where the first-mover advantage is more likely. Generally, it is better to avoid roles where market adoption is sluggish compared to the pace of product evolution.

Also Read: Mosaic Solutions raises US$1.5M to provide data analytics, inventory management solutions to SEA’s F&B industry

Areas where both aspects are moving rapidly should also be avoided as fast technological advancement will make your innovation more vulnerable to duplication by other players. These conditions provide little chance of long-term success, especially for companies with limited resources. For instance, new entrants can try innovating on the following gaps:

Digital procurement solution not yet available

Digital procurement solution can potentially be achieved through collaboration with online produce marketplace. Currently, these players are focused on B2C segments. Most of them act as an interface for farmers (e.g. TaniHub, Sayurbox, Tanijoy).

In contrast, HappyFresh is positioned as an interface for modern markets. For the prior model, there are complex issues at the agriculture level, particularly the reliance of farmers on traditional middlemen and wet markets.

Insight and advisory solution not yet available

Given that most F&B enterprises are SMEs, many business leaders make decisions in traditional, non-data driven manners. Despite sales performance data from PoS terminals, not everyone can extract insights and synthesise actionable strategies.

An ‘insight and advisory’ role can be created to help F&B businesses navigate growth.

Minimal integration encompassing all roles and features

There is little connectivity across digital roles. The major pain point for enterprises is in extracting data from delivery services, which is a non-existent feature in most PoS terminals. Current players only provide exclusive integration. With COVID-19 social restrictions, the data gap widens as the key to customer understanding lies in the data collected by delivery service players.

Reluctance of top-tier F&B establishments to join the online delivery ecosystem

There is an identified prestige and visibility element that is being maintained by top-tier F&B restaurants, which is not addressed by the super-apps as they play within the mass market.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

Image credit: Unsplash

The post What new digital solutions mean for Indonesia’s F&B sector appeared first on e27.

Vietnamese ride-hailing startup Be Group has joined hands with Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPBank) to roll out the digital bank Cake, according to a DealstreetAsia report.

Similar to a traditional bank, digital banks provide banking services, including account opening, money transfer and debit card issuance, among others.

Cake claims its online know-your-customer (KYC) system would enable users to utilise digital signatures to verify their transactions.

With services hosted on the Be app through VPBank’s digital banking license, Be claims Cake will have access to over 10 million customers, nearly a third of the Vietnamese ride-hailing market.

“Be Group understands that e-banking will not simply stop at a new payment method but it will also encompass a new technology that can be integrated into our every day lives through essential devices,” said Nguyen Hoang, CEO of Be Group.

Also Read: Meet Lucy, the digital bank platform that aims to empower female entrepreneurs

Founded in 2018, Be Group operates a suite of transportation services, from ride-hailing to delivery. The Saigon-headquartered startup claims that as of November 2020, it has over nine million app downloads and grown its fleet to 100,000 drivers.

In the first half of 2019, it was reported that Be had achieved 16 per cent market share, making it the second-largest ride-hailing firm in Vietnam after Grab.

The rise of digital banks within Vietnam should come as no surprise. Despite a smartphone penetration rate of 45 per cent of the total population, only 30 per cent were served by the financial sector, representing an untapped market for digital banks.

A similar trend has been observed in other countries within the region. In December 2020, Singapore awarded four digital bank licenses to a slew of corporations, including a consortium comprising of Grab and local telco Singtel.

—

Image Credit: Unsplash

 

The post Be Group ties up with VPBank to launch digital bank Cake in Vietnam appeared first on e27.

Ever been entrusted with the thankless task of procuring corporate merchandise such as mugs and hoodies for your company?

Anyone who has undertaken this task can testify to the challenges of procuring these products. Besides having to manually source for suppliers, one has to surrender the final design of the product to the supplier too — never a good idea, given the multiple disagreements that would occur.

With poor product quality, lack of price transparency and inconvenience stemming from the slow turnaround, the corporate world is frustrated with the traditional players operating in this segment. They desperately need someone to address their grievances.

Enter Boxaroo. The online platform wants to disrupt the US$23 billion global promotional products industry by changing how companies can procure their corporate merchandise.

Also Read: How startups can improve customer engagement and grow LTV ratio

Launched in August 2020 by Nikhil Charan and Robert Rajeswaran, Boxaroo automates and simplifies the merchandise procurement process through a self-serve platform that allows users to live-preview their customised orders while designing them.

Users can choose from a variety of products ranging from apparels and stationary to drinkware and eco-friendly products, such as a reusable cutlery set.

How it works

Upon payment, Boxaroo assigns a dedicated account manager to each order. Acting as a direct line of communication between Boxaroo and its clients, the account manager is responsible for the end-to-end process of the order, right until the successful delivery of it.

Simultaneously, the design created is sent to Boxaroo’s team, where a designer will evaluate factors such as colours, alignment and suitability for print. Should an edit be required, relevant corrections will be made and mockups are shared with the client through the account manager.

After reaching out to the client and getting approval on mockups and production timelines, the account manager will then contact suppliers and give the green light for production.

Boxaroo claims cancellations are permitted before production, and orders are usually delivered within two to four weeks.

Charan shared with e27 that Boxaroo places a huge emphasis on quality and sources only high-quality products from both branded and non-branded manufacturers worldwide. After all, while merchandises are a great marketing tool, they only work if recipients find a use for them.

Within six months of starting up, the platform has managed to partner with many international brands, including Netflix and Paypal, to provide branded merchandise to both employees and customers.

Challenges faced

However, Charan cautioned the journey has been far from smooth and the startup did encounter challenges along the way.

“The complexity of this industry was the biggest challenge. There’s a wide variety of product categories within the corporate merchandise industry. Furthermore, there’s a wide range of printing and decorating methods for each product, each with its own limitations,” shared Charan, formerly Head of Partnerships (APAC), Samsung.

Adopting the ‘first-principles approach’ famously embodied by Elon Musk — where complicated issues are reverse-engineered into basic elements and rethought from the ground up — Charan was able to identify existing gaps in procurement processes and address these challenges.

Also Read: 10 principles of great strategy inspired by design thinking

By challenging manufacturing and production partners to think differently, he was able to streamline the process to ensure a better experience for users.

When quizzed on the key factors in their approach which saw them secure deals with household brands, Charan shared it was about “providing an exceptional customer experience”.

“Rajeswaran and I had always set out to avoid a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to partnerships. We work closely with individual brands to understand their problem and engages a team of designers to help personalise each product,” explained Charan.

Besides, the team designs a “digital closet” for international companies, enabling common visibility and knowledge of designs for teams located across the region.

The future of corporate products

With lockdowns still in place in many parts of the world and remote working remaining the preferred method of working, Charan foresees new trends developing within the corporate merchandise industry.

“We think large-scale events will come back at some point, but there will be an increasing number of virtual events, and if you’re attending them, you can now expect to receive a ‘swag bag’ by post,” he remarked.

The co-founder also noticed organisations are placing an increased emphasis on employee wellness, with one of its clients replacing its common pantry utensils with eco-friendly and reusable cutlery kits and mugs for each employee.

With the shift to a hybrid workplace, the common theme among HR professionals has been the effect it has on culture building. Companies have resorted to plugging the “culture gap” by turning to corporate merchandising to build employee engagement and sustain culture.

Also Read: Managing the millennial workforce over coffee and culture

“Our bigger clients, who conduct a lot of workplace research, have plenty of evidence to show that merchandise helps individuals cultivate a sense of loyalty and connectedness to the brand and their teammates,” Charan shared.

As for expansion plans, Charan said that while Boxaroo serves clients across Asia Pacific, the platform is looking to increase its local presence in the region.

Opining that the industry remains complex with “endless options” to create unique corporate products, he said the platform will continue to innovate in the areas of technology, logistics and its product offerings.

Focusing on the fundamentals

Bootstrapped so far, Boxaroo will consider fundraising as it seeks to expand its operations within the region. However, Charan stressed they would only do it “for the right reasons and at the right time”.

For now, the team is focused on changing current processes and mindsets within the industry to improve the experience of acquiring corporate merchandise.

Remarking that this involves “a fair bit of trial-and-error”, Charan is confident that by adopting a customer-centric mindset, Boxaroo would be able to “build a product that customers want.” Only then, will he entertain the thought of fundraising.

“Once we’re ready to grow the business, we will certainly look at the possibility of raising funds,” he signed off.

—

Image Credit: Boxaroo

The post How Boxaroo aims to change the way companies purchase their corporate merchandise appeared first on e27.