There are few worse places than hanging onto a capsized sailing boat off the Belgium coast, being buffeted by 25 knot winds and three-metre-high waves but that was where my teammate and I found ourselves back in 2011 as our latest attempt at sailing glory capsized on us and ended in us being rescued by the onlooking safety boats.

That ignominious incident took place during the Junior European Championships in Belgium. At the age of nine, my parents enrolled me and my sister in sailing lessons at the Singapore Armed Forces Yacht Club (SAFYC) and since that day, my sailing pursuit took me to many places around the world including, but not limited to Italy, France and Croatia. 

While I haven’t sailed in years, I still look back at the ups and downs of my sailing career as some of the most formative years of my life that still help me today in my tech journey.

Here are some of the skills sailing taught me that I still lean on today:

Complex and strategic thinking

Singapore is an inherently tricky place to sail and requires a high degree of strategic thinking. The typical condition of light and shifty winds combined with strong currents can be attributed to the fact that Singapore is surrounded by other countries.

I learned how to read charts showing where the currents would come from and began to understand how to read and predict wind patterns.

Discipline and hard work

Sailing involves a lot of discipline, long hours and hard work. I would spend hours rigging my boat at the beginning of the day and de-rigging it at the end.

In this process, we would adjust ropes and strings up to the centimetre to make sure our equipment’s potential was maximised. This was all logged knowledge we accumulated through hours of training and testing optimal set-ups.

Also Read: 5 career lessons from remote-only interns during the Techstars Accelerator Program

Honing my competitive spirit

As I grew more competitive, I began to learn more about myself through serious competition. The support that was offered to me through the Singapore Sailing Federation and the Singapore Sports Council was invaluable.

In addition to my great coach and physical trainer, we had access to a wonderful psychologist who taught me to channel my emotions towards achieving my goals, a nutritionist who kept me on track for my weight-gain programme and a physiologist who helped me with recovery from our intense training sessions. 

My proudest achievement was winning the Byte CII World Championships in 2009. I eventually stopped sailing three years later in 2012 after many more international regattas due to my commitment to pursuing my career instead.

After returning from university in the US in 2017, I worked for a tech firm for a short while before taking a leap of faith and completing a three-month UX Design Bootcamp with General Assembly. 

I enjoy the freedom design affords me and how most design projects directly impact people. Post-bootcamp, I managed to work on contract or freelance with some pretty great companies, but I did miss the sense of being part of a team I loved when I sailed.

After a couple of months, I finally landed a full-time role at Tribe. Tribe is a government supported Blockchain Accelerator dabbling in future tech. We have helped facilitate more than S$50 Million in addition funding for blockchain startups from around the world, with a total valuation of over USD$1 Billion, that are solving some real-world problems from food security to medicine deliveries.

Accredify, for example, has developed a blockchain-based digital health passport that allows users to conveniently access and store test results via mobile app for travel declaration. AID:Tech, on the other hand,  is supported by the WEF and uses blockchain technology to provide a legal digital identity to those without more traditional documentation.

Also Read: How this entrepreneur is stepping up the game for gaming tech e-commerce

They’re currently working with Women’s World Banking to offer micro-insurance to 2 million uninsured and underinsured women in more than 10 emerging markets.

While working with the Tribe team is great, I also indulge in a not-so-secret guilty pleasure — gaming. I believe my love from gaming arose from my love of competition (which was probably the only part I loved about sailing since I don’t even sail recreationally now). During my time at university, I picked up a game called League of Legends and the rest was history.

Currently I am trying to merge my design expertise with gaming through my involvement myself in the local gaming community. My design-mindedness impacts everything from understanding my community when streaming on Twitch to the player experience when I host tournaments online to providing feedback after attending gaming initiatives that I get invited to participate in.

In fact, looking back, it feels as if my life as a whole, especially in sailing, contained many parts of a general design process that made me the design-minded person I am today.

For example, the trial and error of testing setups in sailing is similar to A/B testing, while my exposure to many friends and people from all around the world in my travels exposes me to a plethora of  perspectives — an important advantage to have in design and the tech world.

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Among the umpteen unprecedented challenges brought about by COVID-19, mental health stands out.

While this issue has been around since time immemorial, the pandemic has triggered more people to open up about their mental health struggles.

What used to be unheard-of about five to 10 years ago in the Asia Pacific region is now being openly discussed across multiple platforms and this has largely affected businesses.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American companies lose more than 200 million workdays each year to depression, a cost to employers up to US$44 billion. Southeast Asia is no better, as mental health issues affect 86 million people, according to WHO.

Coupled with this, remote working has also caused many employees to have decreased levels of productivity and it has put a lot of pressure on mental wellbeing, according to mental health platform Healthline.

Research done by Healthline suggested that 41 per cent of remote employees report higher levels of stress compared to just 25 per cent of their counterparts who work in the office.

But despite the growing cases of mental health issues, how far do companies and leaders go to take active steps to combat the issue?

Noticing this challenge, Ashish Ambasta decided to launch HappyPlus, an app that measures the happiness index of employees. The platform provides AI/ML-enabled tools, techniques, and solutions to bring happiness to workplaces.

Based in India, HappyPlus focuses on creating and developing happy and healthy habits for working professionals.

The idea occurred to Ambasta during a book launch which was attended by Mahindra Singh Dhoni, former captain of India’s national cricket team. During the book tour, a journalist asked Dhoni if he would be happier playing the game with an older team or with a younger team.

Initially hesitant to answer, Dhoni — after a few nudges — replied that he didn’t know the answer since there was no meter in the market to measure happiness. But if somebody came up with such a tool, he said he would be happy to share his answer.

Measuring happiness with HappyPlus

So how does HappyPlus enable people to track their happiness?

Once users download the app, they land on a page, called the happiness meter, where they can pick what kind of mood they are feeling. This meter is similar to what is seen in most of Singapore’s airports where people can rate how happy they are with the service.

Also Read: How ThoughtFull aims to destigmatise mental health through daily chats with professionals

The app has six parameters across which people can rate their happiness —  timescale, our being, achievements, relationships, work-life, and meaningfulness.

‘Timescale’ refers to one’s ability to be more in the present moment while ‘our being’ refers to physical health, achievements refer to goals accomplished. ‘Relationships’ refers to how many deep connections are being formed, ‘work-life’ refers to the balance between a person’s job and home life and ‘meaningfulness’ refers to being a part of something bigger than himself/herself.

Ideally, all six parameters must be in harmony with each other.

Once a user identifies the aspect of their life that they need improvement in, they can use the habit builder option. The option will then suggest certain exercises to improve the specific aspect of their life.

For example, if someone is experiencing trouble building meaningful relationships, the app will encourage the user to send a gratitude letter to his/her spouse.

While these are just small exercises, Ambasta believes that they can help build a lot of positivity around the user and the people around him/her.

The app even recommends books and movies to people who are struggling within a particular aspect of their lives.

HappyPlus also makes it easy for people to track their overall improvement via its dashboard, which shows the change in the user’s happiness meter since using the app.

According to Ambasta, HappyPlus combines all the features of different well-being apps in one place and can be customised in accordance with the level of happiness the individual is going through.

As of now, the six-month-old startup has managed to onboard six large undisclosed companies on board. It will also be announcing its funding round soon.

The market

While the market around well-being and happiness remains highly competitive with apps like Headspace, Calm, and MindShift, Ambasta believes that there are hardly any well-being apps that focus on the B2B space.

In his view, more companies should take an active part in providing employees with tools that can help them get through the mental challenges they face.

Ambasta told e27 that companies are responsible for engagement and providing employees with well-being tools, whether the individual uses it or not is entirely his/her responsibility.

Also Read: Leaders, it’s time to talk about mental health

The global market for mental health apps is also poised to witness strong growth over the next few years owing to the awareness created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and various governments on the importance of mental health.

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Image Credit: HappyPlus

 

 

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A person who lives in the Asia Pacific region is five times more likely to suffer from disasters than anywhere else in the world. Indeed, the ruin from disaster events is catastrophic: over 500,000 lives have been lost and 1.4 billion people affected since 2005, causing $900 billion in economic losses.

Living in Singapore, I have fortunately been spared from the countless disasters that happen in increasing frequency and intensity to our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region, but it is a topic that I wish could be dealt with more urgently.

Funding gaps in the disaster-tech sector

Despite increasing sophistication in delivering response, relief, and recovery efforts, solutions on the ground are far from reaching their full potential. In assessing funding strategies into disaster assistance, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) and Candid found that only a mere two per cent was allocated for building resilience and four per cent towards disaster preparedness in 2018. This is largely because the tangible benefits of supporting preparedness and preventive solutions are not as immediately evident as with relief or recovery efforts.

Also read: Empowering fintech and e-commerce through digital identity verification

To fill the funding gap in Asia, Prudence Foundation created and funded the SAFE STEPS D-Tech (Disaster Tech) Awards to find, fund and support innovative technology solutions that can save lives in natural disaster events. I have been working with Prudence Foundation over the last two years to catalyze a community of funders and accelerators to identify and grow disaster technology solutions, and create interest and awareness around this under-supported impact field. However, funding alone is not sufficient to tackle all of the systemic challenges that this nascent field faces.

Four challenges entrepreneurs face and how funders can better support them

In my conversations with entrepreneurs, I see four common challenges they face and identify a few areas of support needed.

1. Always be pitch-ready: As with any product or solution, it is important that entrepreneurs can clearly articulate how their product or solution addresses the problem at hand. I have seen entrepreneurs adapt or retrofit their existing technology to apply for the Awards, but have been unable to concretely demonstrate its theory of change and impact outcomes to investors.

To help the entrants of the SAFE STEPS D-Tech Awards articulate themselves better, the Award’s strategic partner Tech for Impact will be coaching the semi-finalists on story-telling and being media-ready.

2. Find opportunities to scale-up: Technology has the potential to create transformational change, but it needs to be delivered at scale to deliver impact.

Many corporates are now looking beyond ad-hoc corporate social responsibility programmes by providing long-term support to technology innovators. Through mentorship and technology consultancy, the Award’s technology partner Lenovo will provide finalists with hardware, services and consultancy to help them scale-up their technology. The Awards will also bring other appropriate partners to help finalists build scale where appropriate.

3. Reach the next level of leadership and performance: Behind every startup is a leader with a vision for good. However, while they do not lack passion, they may lack experience in running a business! Venture capital companies come in as excellent coaches given their breadth of experience and can well-advise entrepreneurs in building a sound business model, developing a compelling pitch, navigating client dynamics, and more. I am excited to have two venture capital partners Antler and Jubilee Capital Management to provide 1-on-1 coaching to the Award’s finalists to address the identified needs.

4. Forge meaningful partnerships: No single solution can address the complexities of today’s socio-environmental challenges alone. Even with a brilliant solution, an organisation needs to forge cross-sector partnerships to scale and sustain its impact.

This is where humanitarian partner IFRC will provide insight from working on disaster events on the ground while ecosystem builders – including networks, incubators, and accelerators – will help identify and navigate such partnerships. Finalists of the SAFE STEPS D-Tech Awards will also be featured on AVPN’s Deal Share Platform so that they can be showcased to grantmakers, investors, think-tanks, policymakers and more. Capital providers and resource providers who show interest in these solutions can then step forward to partner with them.

Also read: RevComm’s MiiTel, Cloud IP phone powered by artificial intelligence, is changing how businesses engage customers

Do you know of any entrepreneurs who are tackling natural disaster-related challenges in Asia, or have plans to expand to the region? The SAFE STEPS D-Tech Awards is accepting applications from now until 19 February. Winners stand a chance to win grants from a pool of $200,000 and have opportunities to engage with experts and potential investors in the field. Go to safesteps.com/d-tech or write to dtech@avpn.asia to find out more.

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This article was first published in Alliance Magazine, sponsored by the Prudence Foundation

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In Asia Pacific, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam have the highest prospects in Asia for online banking (neobank) right after Australia, as per a new study.

The report released by UnaFinancial, a group of companies providing fintech services in eight markets in Asia and Europe, considered 12 countries from the region and analysed the results based on two main criteria: the country’s attractiveness for online banking and the levels of competitiveness within the segment. 

The market attractiveness was evaluated based on consumer factors (target audience, unsatisfied demand), market factors (potential volume of the sector, market regulation), and market tendencies (increase in digital financial services use, possible changes in consumer behavior, etc.)

The market strength was assessed based on the size of the digital services market, the level of demand for digital financial services, and the presence of online banks in the country.

Using these parameters, all countries were evaluated and placed either among the weak, medium, or strong categories. 

Also Read: V3, EZ-Link-led consortium, BEYOND joins Singapore’s digital banking license race

While the Southeast Asian countries hold the same degree of market attractiveness as India and Singapore, the lower levels of competition within these regions as compared to the rest place them as the winners. 

Other key highlights –

1. Australia is the most attractive country for online banking,

2. Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka are not promising for the development of online banking,

Southeast Asia has long been hailed as one of the largest markets for digitisation with high internet penetration rates coupled with a rising middle-class population, making it a ripe market of over 630 million inhabitants, half of whom are without a traditional bank account.

Noticing this issue, a lot of tech startups are turning towards offering solutions to the region’s unbanked population — a trend that has leapfrogged since the onset of COVID-19.

UnaFinancial is a group that has served more than 12 million customers and provided financing in the amount of US$900 million.

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Image Credit: UnaFinancial

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Dole Asia Holdings, a unit of international agricultural giant Dole, has announced the launch of “Sunshine for All” fund.

With a corpus of US$2 million, the fund will seek to support global strategic partnerships and innovation in areas of sustainability, food access and waste.

e27 has reached out to Dole Asia for more information regarding the fund. This story will be updated as and when the company share the details.

The fund is part of the firm’s larger “Dole Promise” initiative launched in 2020. Through the initiative, it aims to accomplish goals including providing access to sustainable nutrition for one billion people by 2025, having zero fossil-based plastic packaging by 2025, and net-zero carbon emissions in operations by 2030, among others.

The company is seeking partners — from entrepreneurs, startups, strategic thinking to social impact enterprises and NGOs — to bring their expertise in food production, nutritional science, compostable packaging, supply chain, logistics, sustainable agriculture and fast-moving consumer goods, to bear.

By partnering with them, the fund will address these gaps of affordability and waste, as well as accessibility and acceptability.

Also Read: Sustainability: the new business reality

Dole’s drive to promote good nutrition could not come sooner. Nearly 25 per cent of the world’s population is experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity as one-third of the food produced globally for human consumption is lost or wasted.

“We have given ourselves five years to deliver on our ambitious goals and innovations that can move us quickly forward. Our ambition is to partner with innovators and to open up opportunities for immense evolution and tangible solutions. This will be a key enabler to continue to make our business a force for good.” said Christian Wiegele, President, Dole Asia Fresh.

“Our work to bring Sunshine for All during the pandemic reinforced our belief that people will join us when they believe in what we do. The fund is our signal to the world that we are open for business and that business is finding, fuelling and fostering innovation, actions and change,” said Barbara Guerpillon, Global Head of Ventures, Dole Packaged Foods and Asia Fresh.

The fund was launched in tandem with The Growing Distance, a short film that addresses the critical gaps the company sees as barriers to good nutrition for all.

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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A few Sundays ago, I had time to enjoy and reflect on the interview Sumiko Tan had with Pritam Singh — the Leader of the Opposition (LO) in Singapore.

A good read, but what caught my eye was how Singh regarded the good and the less good experiences life throws his way: “While today [life] may be an up — or you perceive it to be an up — don’t be too excited or too happy because there will be a down. But when that happens, don’t be too sad either. Think of the recovery.”

“I think a lot of life is like that. So when things are going good, keep your feet grounded, don’t get too exuberant, because these things come in cycles.”

Relevance to the Lunar New Year Celebration

With 2020 behind us, and yet the end of the COVID-19 tunnel remaining elusive, I sense some of us in Singapore are getting somewhat careless in how we handle COVID-19.

This resulted in our government imposing rules on gatherings — which is somewhat of an annoyance given Lunar New Year catch-ups is what we do during the festive period.

Thankful as I am that the COVID-19 community spread cases are kind of under control, we should not be “..too excited nor too happy”, and throw caution to the wind because there could be super-spreaders and we could be miserable when more tightening measures are introduced as a result.

At the same time, when there are restrictions on gatherings. I am reminded that I should not be too dismayed nor should I grumble. Instead, I ought to be thankful for having the opportunity to have some form of visitation … and instead of finishing all visits in one day, we now have the excuse to do multi-day celebrations and visitations. Not too bad …

Also Read: 9 fundraising mistakes entrepreneurs and founders must avoid

How does this apply to the life of an entrepreneur?

None of the entrepreneurs I have dialogued with is spared from having roller coaster experiences. The high points in the entrepreneurs’ lives are when they raised a new financing round, secured a large contract, displaced a competitor, and more.

And these high points are repeated … at higher altitudes as the companies mature to raising Series B, C, D … and the alphabets go on. But before the exit celebrations roll along, entrepreneurs will have more dark days.

These dark days are the flip side, and they include when the funds run low when teams are unable to deliver on sales targets and more.

At a recent board call, one founder was sharing his 2021 plans, along with exciting news of a new financing round. As board members, we celebrate with him and his team for having come this far. However, as I rewound the journey just a few years back, it was a very different founder I observed then.

At that time the company had people challenges, less than ideal hires who slipped targets. Board updates reflected missed targets, and the founder was tired — overall. We were concerned about his health — physical and mental.

Self-doubt set in, stakes were high as he was also responsible for the livelihood of the many peoples who were under the company’s payroll. Frightening and weary times.

As shareholders and board members, we rallied around him. We shared with him our resources including our time, ears, networks and thoughts. Just like what Singh says, recovery comes around … and now, a few years later, the company is in a very different place.

Through grit and perseverance, and peppered with some luck, the founder was able to hire strong team members who helped reshape the company culture, instituted repeatable processes and shared the load with him. The spirit among team members are high, sales folks are geared up and ready to charge into the new year.

Also Read: What should be the vision of an entrepreneur?

This time around, having grown older and wiser, the founder is now grounded on the fundamentals of ensuring corporate culture and values permeate through the organisation. While they will continue to chart growth and performance metrics, the founder will be keeping a close eye on the bottom line and cash position of the company — which is a wise thing to do.

With a lack of clarity of how 2021 will unfold, founders need to demonstrate wisdom and courage to do the right thing to take their companies through another fluid year. Right could mean different things for different companies, hence the consultation and dialogue with shareholders, board members and staff will remain important.

Regardless of the outcome, founders must know that this is life, and this life journey will have its highs and lows.

Founders will need to remain grounded and not be swept away when things look good, and not be overly dismayed at low moments … for these too, will pass.

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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.

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How gojek and Bukalapak found the initial spark that turned them into giants; Product validation is an important step in knowing whether a startup idea can succeed; Bukalapak founder Achmad Zaky believes that no business can grow by targeting the entire market at once from the get-go; Instead, the ideal segment to start with is the one that’s most profitable. More here

Traveloka prepares to list via SPAC in the US this year; The Indonesian travel giant has engaged JPMorgan Chase as plans to go public accelerate amid the capital influx into the stock market; Traveloka is said to be valued at close to US$6bn; The company joins a growing list of Indonesian startups seeking to list in the US through SPACs. More here

Clubhouse: Hype-fuelled gimmick or the future of events and podcasting?; People describe it over the last few days as ‘TikTok for grown-ups’, ‘a never-ending Zoom webinar of blah’, ‘what Substack should be’, ‘a one-feature app’ and ‘the first social network in more than a decade that feels different’; In truth, Clubhouse is probably a mix of all those things. More here

Business group touts ‘single market’ plan for South-east Asian e-commerce industry; Simplified customs procedures for low-value goods, a regional locker network open to logistics players, and even a pilot for land-based cross-border trucking were among the proposals for a potential integrated ecosystem. More here

India, SEA-focused VC Avatar Ventures raises US$100mn in final close of new fund; Avataar focuses on B2B and SaaS growth-stage startups; It invests between US$10mn and US$30mn in startups that have a annual recurring revenue of at least US$15mn. More here

How Loship gives Grab, gojek a run for its money in Vietnam with a unique combination of food delivery and podcasting; It enables customers to listen to multiple podcasts while waiting for their food delivery; In 2019, it closed its Series B round from Smilegate Investment; Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn’s MetaPlanet recently invested in Loship. More here

Singapore budget 2021: Increased support for deeptech, enhanced venture debt programme announced for startups; 500 fellowships will be launched under the National Research Foundation to improve deeptech expertise in areas including cybersecurity, AI and healthtech. More here

Vietnamese nanotech firm Wakamono looks to raise US$20mn for expansion; The potential investment is expected to support its plans to spin off its medical wear, food and agriculture, and cosmetic production businesses into separate entities; The firm is currently focussed on producing antimicrobial masks and medical protective gear. More here

Indonesian early-stage VC firm SALT Ventures begins raising US$20mn fund II; The firm focuses on companies in the creative industry (asset-light, tech, or tech-enabled); The primary focus will be B2C; SALT’s Fund I was closed last year and backed 14 pre-seed, seed-stage firms. More here

TRIVE Ventures launches US$2mn venture philanthropy fund to support cash-strapped founders in Singapore; The fund will issue financial support of up to US$75K to each successful applicant in the form of a redeemable SAFE Note; It seeks to support up to 10 founders in the next 12 months, with plans to support more should demand increase. More here

Thai insurtech startup AppMan raises US$4.6mn; Investors include Siam Alpha Equity, Krungsri Finnovate, Casmatt, KTBST Group, POEMS Ventures; AppMan aims to enable insurers to mobilise their sales agents digitally and shift from paper-based work to an automated process; It also has offices in Vietnam and Indonesia. More here

Thai govt. warns to punish citizens who criticise the monarchy using Clubhouse; A large number of Thais joined Clubhouse in recent days after prominent Japan-based critic of the Thai palace joined on Friday and started discussing the monarchy; The government regularly uses a cyber crime law to prosecute critics of the monarchy on national security grounds. More here

Temasek, Vickers join Canadian geothermal tech firm Eavor’s US$40mn funding round; It offer Eavor-Loop, a tech that extracts the natural heat of the earth similar to a rechargeable battery in order to provide a consistent energy source for homes. More here

Shopee expands logistics services in Malaysia to offer next-day delivery; The e-commerce giant introducing 10 new Shopee Xpress drop-off points in the country; It also partnered with Parcelhub and MBE Malaysia to bring the total number of drop-off points nationwide to over 300. More here

Grab partners with UniPin, Yummy Corp to expand payments and F&B services in Indonesia; UniPin is a payment solutions platform for online games which allows gamers to top up their digital wallets through the ride-hailing giant’s platform; Grab seeks to allow F&B merchants to access Yummy Corp’s network of 80 cloud kitchens across Indonesia to launch virtual restaurants. More here

Meet the 2 SEA startups joining Allens’s legaltech accelerator; They are inPact.ai, an enterprise software platform that turns contracts into structured and analysable data to uncover new business insights; and Avvoka, a startup implementing document automation, negotiation and analytics tools for in-house legal, law firms and business teams. More here

This startup by an Indonesian farmer produces ‘leather’ used in shoes and wallets without killing a single animal; MYCL cultivates mycelia (a type of fungus) along with sawdust to make a substitute for animal-based leather; The whole process consumes far less water than traditional animal-based leather making process. More here

The world of proptech and its fate in a post-pandemic world; Many real estate professionals use tech like virtual viewings and live walk-through videos to make tenants feel like they are visiting the property without setting the foot inside the space. More here

US-based Pinoy lending startup Plentina taps 7-Eleven for BNPL online grocery; Customers can avail CLiQQ Wallet Credits from the Plentina app on a loan and pay back 14 days later; CLiQQ Wallet Credits can be spent in 7-Eleven stores and at CLiQQgrocery.com, the convenience store’s newly launched online grocery. More here

APAC improves in digital civility during pandemic: Microsoft; Singapore and Taiwan sit among the top five globally with the most favourable Digital Civility Index (DCI) scores, taking the fourth and fifth spots respectively; Indonesia and Malaysia reported least favourable DCI scores. More here

A bright future ahead: How SEA’s tech startups are faring; Though global events predicted otherwise, 2020 has been a good year for tech startups in Southeast Asia; The region has seen continued economic growth and VC investment due to its fast recovery time; The region is a burgeoning market that has seen increased interest from investors during 2020. More here

The Philippines announces 3rd digital entrepreneur assistance programme; ‘Kapatid Mentor Me’ aims to assist MSMEs to scale up and sustain their businesses through weekly coaching and mentoring by business owners and practitioners on different functional areas of entrepreneurship; It’s already been launched in 15 regions and has assisted over 2K farmers and almost 500 associations and cooperatives since 2017. More here

Cloud tech vital in meeting local firms’ needs amidst pandemic; As per NTT’s 2021 Hybrid Cloud Report, the pandemic has forced 93.8% of Singapore businesses to rely on tech more than they did before, but the crisis has also highlighted what firms lack in terms of cloud infra, security and network architecture capabilities, therefore driving digital innovation on these businesses’ end. More here

The GoBear shutdown and other fintech trends in SEA; In general, fintech startups have escaped the wrath of the pandemic’s rage against the economy with many flourishing thanks to consumers wishing to conduct their financial affairs from home; Many governments in the region are encouraging this digital growth through support and incentives for those wishing to develop fintech products. More here

Thailand’s Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) focuses on game service providers; As part of its support of the game industry, the agency and Thai Game Software Industry Association will formally roll out the Depa Game Accelerator Programme on 2 March 2021 at Thailand E-Sports Arena in Street Ratchada. More here

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Bukalapak

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India-based VC firm Avataar Ventures has announced the final close of US$100 million for its Opportunities Fund. Undisclosed institutional investors from the US and Europe were among the investors.

This is the Avataar’s second fund. It had earlier launched a US$300-million inaugural fund in September 2019.

Avataar was co-founded by Nishant Rao, former global COO of Indian unicorn Freshworks, and Mohan Kumar, who led India-headquartered Norwest Venture Partners. The firm focuses on B2B and SaaS growth-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia.

It invests between US$10 million and US$30 million in startups that have an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of at least US$15 million.

Also Read: What metrics to monitor as a B2B SaaS company?

Avaatar said the Opportunities fund will be used to make follow-on investments into existing portfolio companies as well as new firms.

So far, it has made three investments from the new fund, and has hired two senior executives as part of plans to expand its operations in the US.

“Partnering closely with our entrepreneurs, our interventions on unit economics have helped three new portfolio businesses hit profitability. Yet for others, we have focused more on helping fine-tune their growth engines,” said Managing Partner Kumar.

The firm’s portfolio companies include HR solutions startup CRMNext, logistics startup Elastic Run, and cloud-based software platform Zenoti.

Avataar recently led a Series C round for automated communication platform SenseHQ and a Series B round for RateGain, a travel and hotel software company.

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Image Credit: Avataar Ventures

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The Business Innovations Generator (BIG) Incubation Programme offered by the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) at the Singapore Management University (SMU) has unveiled the 23 new startups accepted into its first cohort for 2021.

The 4-month-old founder-centric programme will provide startups with financial support, mentorship, access to community events, masterclasses, the Greenhouse workspace, and credits from corporate partners.

An equity-free and industry-agnostic programme, it leans slightly towards digital and sustainable urban technologies. This is in line with IIE’s objective of nurturing future leaders to create a meaningful impact on society.

In a press statement, Shirley Wong, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at SMU IIE, said, “I hope with all the resources given to support the startups, we can help bring their ideas to life, kickstart their business and equip our BIG startup founders with the quintessential tools to realise their dream.”

Also Read: SMU’s Protégé Ventures as a catalyst for entrepreneurial education

The incubator will run its next call for applications for pre-seed and seed-stage startups in July — for both SMU- and non-SMU affiliated companies.

The selected startups are:

Adonis Pacific

A platform incorporated to house Singapore-born brands that champion health and wellness.

AllQuant

A private investment company set up to provide hedge fund access to retail investors through online education, copy trading and robo-advisory services.

Altra Capital

Provides investors with a centralised platform for the trading of alternative investments.

Defi Lab

Empowers decentralised gateway protocol for crypto and financial assets.

DRIVERIDEBUDDY

An autotech startup that aims to digitise the relationships between merchants and the end-user.

Entsecure

Simplifies corporate IT management for organisations.

FAMILI

Provides seamless patient experiences during medical encounters  for traditional care centres.

FlockSupport

Builds a centralised customer support suite for better customer relationships.

haohaoguo realty

A one-stop virtual property agency platform.

Jaztip

A social commerce app.

KASEE Batik Activewear

Designs and produces batik activewear, aimed at preserving Indonesian culture and tradition.

Kind Citizen

Provides individuals and organisations an easy way to make a difference in the community by paying forward meals or essential products and services.

Localtopia

A one-stop business solution to help foreign beauty brands penetrate the China market.

Lovenn

A dating app that saves time by only showing profiles of people who fit into the user’s criteria.

Maiden

A one-stop platform that matches agencies and employers with domestic helpers

Matchin

A personalised digital mentorship platform that seeks to guide, teach and recommend students at the beginning of their career search journeys.

Quest

A request-based P2P platform where users can seek help from others to do different gigs, and simultaneously offer their services.

Rice Inc

A global impact rice brand focused on fighting hunger.

Skilio

A social learning platform that tracks and measures soft skill development through reflective practice and crowdsourced feedback.

Smplrspace

Powers visual and virtual home buying interactions by letting realtors market properties in 3D in under a few minutes.

The Victoria Project

Aims to build communities through online and offline content for local elite athletes.

Trabble

An automated self-check-in and guest engagement SaaS platform that provides guests with a contactless experience starting from inquiries, bookings and services, via chat.

Zero2.5 Biotech

Strives to improve the air quality by making living plant-based and fibre-based ionisers.

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Image Credit: SMU

The post Meet the 23 startups accepted into SMU Business Innovations Generator’s maiden programme appeared first on e27.

Know Your Customer or KYC is crucial for businesses for fraud prevention, and this becomes even more pertinent when it comes to the finance sector and eCommerce. KYC checks help identify money launderers, tax evaders, and other criminal activities.

Companies that do not comply, not only run the risk of exposing their business to fraud, but they also risk being deemed complicit, which may result in hefty fines and possibly further prosecution.

Furthermore, robust due diligence, executed with full data privacy compliance, bolsters a customer’s trust in the company’s operations and helps with their reputation. Moreover, when it comes to fintech or eCommerce, reputation and trust are key to growth and success.

Challenges faced by fintech and eCommerce when it comes to e-KYC

With the surge in fintech and eCommerce, there has been an increase in online frauds as well. According to a recent report released by Fenergo, in 2020, financial institutions in the Asia Pacific and globally racked up more than USD 10.6 billion in penalties related to non-compliance of Know Your Customer (KYC) other important regulations. In APAC alone, organisations accrued more than USD 5.1 billion in penalties as regulators crack down on poor behaviour from financial services firms.

One of the main challenges that fintech companies face when it comes to KYC is that the regulations keep changing constantly and it can be hard to keep up. For regional players, it becomes even more complicated as different countries might have different regulations. In such scenarios, compliance becomes difficult and non-compliance can cost money, reputation and sometimes even the entire business.

Also read: RevComm’s MiiTel, Cloud IP phone powered by artificial intelligence, is changing how businesses engage customers

Another issue is that when using fragmented tools for verification, the process can be complicated as well as expensive. And, last but not the least, with these challenges if the KYC process becomes too complex and bumpy, customer experience is affected and businesses end up losing valuable users.

This is where reliable, easy and efficient identity verification becomes crucial in an increasingly digital world. As such, Japan-based TRUSTDOCK is leading the way in holistic e-KYC solutions for seamlessly facilitating trusted business relationships and transactions for fintech and eCommerce companies.

Helping businesses with innovative and customisable e-KYC solutions

Launched in 2017, TRUSTDOCK makes e-KYC easy and efficient for growing companies and their customers. Their centralised e-KYC API platform offers scalable local compliance; they have the local expertise and operational commitment in each country with local teams on the ground, localised products and KYC as well as data privacy regulation compliance.

Furthermore, their single modern API portal makes integration simple and cost-effective for businesses by eliminating the need to develop their own technology or hire an internal verification team. Plus, TRUSTDOCK has a superior UI/UX that offers an intuitive and stable verification process encouraging more users to complete the process. In a nutshell, TRUSTDOCK’s comprehensive digital identity verification solutions meet the standards required for security, compliance, customer experience, and scaling.

Also read: Connect with 10 more verified investors on e27 today

Available to businesses at a one-time onboarding fee and a flat monthly maintenance fee plus variable verification fee, TRUSTDOCK’s solutions are simple, transparent and cost-effective. From design to development and testing, the entire onboarding cycle is quick and takes just about a month or two.

Another advantage with TRUSTDOCK is that their innovative e-KYC solutions are customisable to address a business’s specific KYC and CDD needs for secure, expedited regulatory or commercial compliance.

● TRUSTDOCK App is ideal for companies serving their customers on both websites and apps and looking to fully outsource eKYC with simple integration.
● TRUSTDOCK Web is suitable for companies serving customers exclusively on a website and looking for browser-based KYC solutions.
● TRUSTDOCK SDK is for businesses focused on mobile apps and looking for KYC solutions within their apps. They plan to release this in quarter 1 of 2021.

TRUSTDOCK is already a trusted name and has received financial backing and support from the likes of Sony Innovation Fund, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Mizuho Capital, and SMBC Venture Capital. They have a rich clientele, including Transferwise, Softmap (Bic Camera Group), and Altoa (ORIX Group) among others. Having verified over 2 million identities in the last two and a half years, TRUSTDOCK is among the leading e-KYC providers in Japan.

Also read: AI Communis: The first B2B ASR-based solution provider in SEA with local language adaptation

With fintech and eCommerce on the rise in Southeast Asia post-pandemic, TRUSTDOCK is looking to expand into the region with a keen focus on Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. TRUSTDOCK believes in the ethos of collaborations and invites key stakeholders in the industry keen on working on this technology with them. They are also actively looking for investment partners to help with their expansion plans and to build further on the technology.

To learn more about TRUSTDOCK’s products and services and to connect with them, visit https://e27.co/startups/trustdock-inc/

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by 
JETRO

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The post Empowering fintech and eCommerce through digital identity verification appeared first on e27.