Southeast Asian superapp Grab has acquired a 4 per cent stake in Indonesian media and technology conglomerate Emtek, The Straits Times has reported.

Citing a source, the report stated the transaction was valued at more than IDR 4 trillion (US$274 million) and took place in a recent private placement sale of Emtek shares.

The deal was reportedly transacted through an investment company named H Holdings Inc., which joined Korean web search giant Naver Corporation in the sale of shares amounting to 8.4 per cent of Emtek’s capital.

According to a filing to the Indonesian Stock Exchange, the fresh funds will go towards expanding the conglomerate’s business and funding daily operations.

Also Read: Why frictionless payments is the key to merchant success in the modern world

Grab’s purchase of Emtek fuels speculation that their digital payment firms, OVO and DANA respectively, could merge. Earlier in September 2019, Reuters reported that Grab was in talks to merge back entities.

Due to the low banking penetration rate in Indonesia (where 52 per cent of the population remains unbanked), regional giants like Grab are moving fast in an attempt to capture a slice of the lucrative digital banking pie.

GoPay, which is part of ride-hailing giant gojek, spent US$160 million to increase its stake in Bank Jago to 22.16 per cent. gojek’s e-wallet customers will have the opportunity to open accounts with Bank Jago, which launched yesterday and is set to become the country’s first fully digital bank.

Earlier this year, Sea acquired Indonesia’s non-listed Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi and renamed it SeaBank, in a move aimed at allowing its e-commerce users to access an integrated suite of financial services.

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Image Credit: Grab

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Shipper, an Indonesia-based digital logistics provider, announced today that it has secured US$63 million in a Series B funding round, led by DST Global partners and Sequoia Capital India.

Existing investors Prosus Ventures, Floodgate, Lightspeed, Insignia Ventures, AC Ventures and Y Combinator also participated.

This round comes less than a year after Shipper raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding in June.

According to a press statement, the proceeds of this round will go towards hiring, product enhancement and expansion of its network.

Also Read: Logisly nets US$6M Series A led by Monk’s Hill to connect shippers with verified trucking firms in Indonesia

Launched in 2016, Shipper offers a suite of logistics solutions like multi-courier shipping, distributed warehousing and fulfilment networks for businesses of all sizes.

Besides that, it also provides a multi-carrier API that allows sellers to manage orders, print shipping labels and get tracking information from multiple providers on their phones.

Last year, Shipper said that its customers saw a surge in shipping accelerated by COVID- 19, leading to increased demand for its services.

“We started the company four years ago as a result of our personal pain points in packing and delivering packages as online sellers. Building Shipper, we have always approached the problem from the angle of a micro, small and medium-sized business because that is who we are. We are excited to play our role in further empowering this segment and strengthening the nation’s logistics
ecosystem,” Shipper co-founder Budi Handoko.

E-commerce has always been a popular sector in Indonesia that saw significant growth since the onset of COVID-19. Other players in the local market are Waresix, SiCepat, Kargo, Ritase, and Logisly, among others.

According to GlobalData, e-commerce sales are estimated to grow by 37.4 per cent, compared to the pre-COVID-19 estimate of 22.2 per cent for the same year.

Amid the crisis, many Southeast Asian logistics-tech companies, such as B2B logistics firm Logisly, Andalin, Mycloudfulfillment and Flash Express (both Thailand), and Tramés (Singapore), raised financing.

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Image Credit: Shipper

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Binar Academy, an Indonesia-based edutech startup, has raised seed funding in a deal led by Singaporean VC firm Teja Ventures.

Eduspaze, The Indonesia Women Empowerment Fund, Savearth Fund, and several angel investors from the Angel Investment Network of Indonesia (ANGIN), also participated in the round.

The startup said that it will use the fresh funds to accelerate the growth of its core technology and hire more educators.

Founded by ex-gojek executives Alamanda Shantika and Dita Aisyah, Binar Academy aims to equip high school and university students with the necessary skills required to succeed in the evolving digital economy.

The four-year-old company claims to have educated over 8,000 students and placed talents for jobs, leading to revenue growth of 80 per cent last year.

Also Read: [Updated] Indonesian edutech startup Ruangguru confirms US$150M Series C funding round

“In the past three years, we have continued to evolve our core product – Binar Bootcamp – to fulfill the learning experience of our students and the market demand for digital talent. We are excited for the opportunity to expand our reach, educate more students, and build a community of lifelong learners,” shared Shantika.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has driven Indonesia’s education institutions, teachers, students as well as parents to adapt to online learning. However, we still need to innovate the way education is presented to create a more approachable and enjoyable learning experience. I’m confident that the combination of enhanced learning experiences, technology, and community cultivated by Binar Academy will bring that,” she added.

According to The World Bank, skill sets of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) graduates in Indonesia fall short of industry requirements, projecting a shortage of nine million skilled and semi-skilled ICT workers up to 2030.

This is why Binar Academy believes that developing new talents and upskilling existing talents for the digital economy is becoming more urgent in Indonesia.

In a previous interview with e27, Shantika has shared about her lifelong dream of becoming an educator.

“Like when I was building the gojek team. I was doing more than just building a platform; I am building the human behind it,” she stressed.

Other prominent edutech companies in Indonesia include Ruangguru, Duolingo, Zenius Education, Sekolahmu, and more.

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Image Credit: Binar Academy

 

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In March 2021 product updates, we wanted to give startups the capabilities at accessing knowledge of experts in certain area to better help them build their company and we removed the need to put your credit card detail when signing up for PRO membership trials so you can try it out easily.

Expert connect

Expert Connect allowed startup founders to find the right expert with certain expertise or knowledge in certain area that might not be accessible or learned from general inquiries in the internet. We have pre-select five experts from various industries and verticals as a start and more experts will be joining the program.

Start your connect now, click here.

Credit card removal for PRO trials

We noticed that, a lot of you were interested the test out our PRO features but bounced out because you were afraid that you might forget to cancel the subscription before the trial ends. Though we are quite confident that our PRO benefits are worth it, we’ve been there before, and know how it feels to commit. So we got you covered! Now you can sign up for trials without any credit card details. Just click here and voila. (terms and conditions applied)

Website improvements

Nothing fancy, we picked up the broom and dustpan and finally cleaned up our kitchen. You should notice some improvements in speed and loading time. *pats back*

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Kraver’s Canteen, a Philippine cloud kitchen startup, has secured US$1.5 million in a seed round led by Foxmont Capital.

Angel investors participating in the round include Lance Gokongwei (Chairman of JG Summit, Robinsons, Cebu Pacific), Brian Cu (co-founder of Grab PH, gojek, Zalora), and Paulo Campos III (co-founder of Zalora).

The fresh funds will go towards expanding Kraver’s operations by building 100 kitchens across the Philippines and investing heavily in regional metropolis hubs like Cebu, Iloilo, and Davao.

It will also develop smart kitchen technology to support increased kitchen operations and upgrade its delivery infrastructure.

Launched in 2020 by Eric Dee, Victor Lim and Victor Mapua, Kraver’s cloud kitchen supports brands including Tiger Sugar, Yogost and Tonkatsu Maisen (Bench Group). The company shared it is looking to partner with Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen in the coming months.

“As more customers begin to eat out more and office life resumes, we’ll likely see a shift in customer behaviour. It’s important to remember that cloud kitchens are not designed to replace the brick-and-mortar experience, they are designed more as an expansion tool for brands to take advantage of the growing pie created by delivery aggregators,” said Dee.

Also Read: How Loship gives its rivals a run for their money in Vietnam with a unique combination of food delivery and podcasting

“Ordering food online is a consumer behaviour that is here to stay, and as long as customers are ordering, the cloud kitchen ecosystem will continue to grow. Whether consumers notice this or not, more of the food they order to their home or office will be coming from cloud kitchens over time,” he added.

“The Philippines is at the precipice of a major digital evolution. A big part of that will be a change in the way that Filipinos consume food. Cloud kitchens will soon be part of the natural fabric of the F&B industry, and we believe Kraver’s is the right startup to lead the way in the Philippines,” said Franco Varona, Managing Partner at Foxmont Capital Partners.

In November last year, MadEats, a similar cloud kitchen startup headquartered in Manila,  received an undisclosed sum in pre-seed investment, led by Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen, with participation from Paymongo co-founder Luis Sia.

The on-demand food delivery of Southeast Asia is expected to grow 4x by 2025, from US$4 billion to US$8 billion, according to research from Dataspring.

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Image Credit: Kraver’s Canteen

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The stage is set for Southeast Asian ride-hailing behemoth Grab’s public listing in the US. The Singapore-headquartered company has confirmed its partnership with Altimeter Growth Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), and plans to list its shares on the NASDAQ at a valuation of US$39.6 billion in the coming months.

The SPAC merger for Grab, which also includes private investments in public equity (PIPE) of a sum exceeding US$4 billion, is to date the largest US equity offering by a Southeast Asian company.

Experts believe that this sets a record-breaking benchmark for aspirant unicorns originating from Southeast Asia. It is also a momentous motivation booster for many startups in the new digital economy of this region, as listing via SPACs is unlocking a new path to liquidity and public markets.

No doubt, this will inspire many a tech unicorns in SEA to take the SPAC route for public listing.

However, is everything hunky-dory with listing via SPACs? Isn’t it a backdoor way to take a company public with questionable investors?

We posed these questions to a few industry watchers, mostly venture capitalists, in Southeast Asia.

Also Read: Traveloka in talks for a merger with Peter Thiel’s SPAC to go public: Report

Here is what they said to us (comments have been edited for clarity, style and lack of space).

Carman Chan, founder and Managing Partner of Click Ventures

In general, SPAC listing does carry higher risk but sometimes it can also generate a potential higher return if the company outperforms the prediction,  similar to late-stage startup investing.

One of the differences between SPAC and traditional IPO is the baseline revenue that is used to value the company. In a traditional IPO, a company cannot use projections to justify its valuation, whereas SPAC allows a company to use projected revenue to justify a higher valuation.

Therefore, the risk/reward is tied to the projection versus the actual realised numbers. Also, the sponsors of a SPAC usually are able to obtain ownership at a discounted price when the SPAC makes an acquisition (this is called D-SPAC).

Therefore, they are incentivised to get a deal done instead of maximising the return. This is a misalignment with the investors whose focus is to maximise the internal rate of return (IRR).

However, there are reasons that motivate both investors and companies to go for the SPAC route and that’s why it became so popular since last year.

First of all, listing in the US is substantially more expensive than listing in other markets or listing via SPACs. Also, a traditional IPO requires a lot of roadshows and physical meetings, which are not possible due to the COVID-19 crisis.

This is why SPAC has become one of the go-to solutions because of its lower cost. It is also more time-efficient and doable in the current environment.

Also Read: Asia-focused tech SPAC Poema Global announces US$300M IPO in US

Also, if you look at a bigger picture, the US is actually opening up its private market to non-accredited investors — starting from launching Job Act a few years ago, allowing retail investors to acquire startup shares online through approved crowdfunding for equity websites, to making new regulatory reforms by the SEC.

Therefore, SPAC is more like an extended form of this type of higher risk and provides investment opportunities for later-stage startups, and more people are going to have access to this type of high-risk opportunities.

Sergei Filippov, Managing Partner, Morphosis Capital Partners

Grab’s listing, no doubt, prepares the stage for more Southeast Asian companies — such as gojek, Bukalapak, Tokopedia and Traveloka — to go public through SPACs. However, this won’t have effect on SEA’s startup ecosystem, as behemoths like Grab and gojek are no longer startups, technically speaking.

Grab is considered to be past-Series H stage with outstanding US$10.1 billion already raised to date. There’s basically no room for it to raise next round, other than launching an IPO — which was considered a possibility by CEO Anthony Tan in November 2019, if and when Grab’s entire business would be profitable.

However, the profitability part never happened. According to documents filed to the SEC by Altimeter Growth on April 13, we can see that Grab posted net loss of US$2 billion+ for three consecutive years through 2020. Net loss in 2020 alone was US$2.7 billion, while net revenue was US$1.19 billion.

Grab forecasts that its EBITDA is going to be positive by US$500 million, while for 2020, it was negative at US$800 million. Presentation goes creative in convincing how EBITDA is positive, for example, for some of the businesses (i.e. in the mobility segment since Q4 2019).

Also Read: What does Peter Thiel-backed Bridgetown’s IPO mean for SEA’s startup ecosystem?

Grab’s valuation before the SPAC deal was around US$15 billion, but with the SPAC and IPO deals, it is now valued almost US$40 billion. The market signal, I think, is that even with negative EBITDA and past-Series F and H stages, a company can still go for an IPO and remain highly attractive for investors — which I think is giving a controversial message to young startups.

In contrast, for investors, it means there’s still a possibility for a good exit even at the latest stage. SPACs, despite the criticism they receive, serve as a good solution for late-stage companies that are hungry for more investments.

Michael Lints, Partner, Golden Gate Ventures

The Grab listing is positive for the startup ecosystem. It will expose the ecosystem to more international institutional investors. Also the listing will be a good exit for early investors and employees who subsequently might re-invest that capital in startups.

The rise of SPACs have changed how the market views them. Well-known institutional investors have been backers of several large SPACs. A few years ago, SPACs might have had a questionable reputation but I don’t think that is the case now.

Sanjay Zimmermann, Principal, White Star Capital

Prior to 2020, SPACs were not as common and not always used in the best settings, hence some of the criticism But the main criticism today is that there may be too many SPACs in the market, leading to some SPAC sponsors overbidding or not making the best investments in an effort to close a transaction before the end of their investment period which tends to be 24 months.

Also Read: Catcha joins SPAC bandwagon, files for a US$250M IPO in US

There are great SPAC managers and less experienced ones and they should ultimately be evaluated on a case by case basis, but can’t be characterised as a category as a whole as being a good or bad investment.

Grab’s move appears to be a landmark transaction as the largest SPAC in the history of SPACs and the most valuable SEA company to be listed in the US which certainly sets an impressive precedent if completed successfully for other large exits to come.

Dave Ng, General Partner, Altara Ventures

SPAC is just one mechanism to go public and not all SPACs are equal. This is similar to the fact that not all IPOs are equal as well.  What matters more is always the underlying asset and business fundamentals in consideration, whether via a SPAC or typical IPO listing.

In Grab’s case, there are some serious backers, which include the likes of Fidelity, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, Temasek, PNB, Mubadala, and Janus. These are top-tier investors that any company going public would love to have on its book.

Robson Lee, Partner at Gibson Dunn’s (Singapore)

Grab’s listing puts paid to the perception that the SPAC route to the stock market is a back-door capital market entry for companies that either lack fundamentals, have questionable prospects and/or shady management. There would always be the unavoidable black sheep in every market.

Grab’s listing structure and terms show that the management is focused in expanding its burgeoning footprints with the funds from the listing. The CEO has made it clear that Grab will be a force to be reckoned with in its core businesses, underscored by a respectable financial performance in 2020.

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Photo by Rayson Tan on Unsplash

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Remember that opening scene where James Bond chased a terrorist across the rooftops of Istanbul in the Hollywood favourite Skyfall?

Flying-Cam SARAH, the miniature unmanned helicopter used for close-range aerial filming in the movie, created such a buzz in Hollywood after the film’s release that several aerial filming companies were granted FAA (Federal Aviation Administration in the US) exemptions for aerial filming and saw public interest skyrocketing in the years following.

Today, aerial footage captured by drones has become so commonplace that we barely notice it anymore. In wildlife documentaries, sports coverage, commercials, or blockbusters, drones are wherever you want them to be.

It’s easy to see how drones can be handy in filming high-speed aerial footage traditionally accomplished with CGI (computer-generated imagery). On top of their speed and manoeuvrability, drones can execute dangerous feats that cameramen simply cannot afford to attempt – hanging off from cliffs, dipping between racing cars, or even hovering above choppy currents.

In recent years, many of the best aerial cinematography shots employ unmanned aircraft. (Yes, I’m talking about that dipping shot in Jurassic World that mimicked the flight movement of a Pterosaur.)

Outside the film industry, drones are also making waves in the sports space. In particular, on-the-scene coverage of extreme sports such as alpine skiing or windsurfing requires the deployment of multiple drones to follow athletes throughout their racecourse.

Before the dawn of drones, television crews used to hike neighbouring mountains to take wide shots of the action. This meant that coverage of these exciting, high-action sports became static and boring when viewed on the 2D screen.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: How SEA startups resisted challenges in 2020; AirAsia partners with MaGIC for drones-based delivery in MY

Back home, the Housing Development Board (HDB) and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) recently (just two weeks ago, actually) collaborated on a research project assessing the efficacy of using drones and robots to enhance construction site safety.

The Ministry of Transport is also currently in the process of drawing up safety regulations to designate drone-flying spaces for the enjoyment of local drone enthusiasts. In our ongoing fight against dengue, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has been deploying drones to inspect roof gutters in dengue red zones. In 2017, 300 drones took to the sky on Singapore’s birthday and put up a spectacular light display with just a click of a button.

And the list goes on.

Drones within the Red Dot

At BLOCK71 Singapore, Red Dot Drone (RDD), a drone software technology startup, is taking the technology further by combining the power of artificial intelligence with drones to deliver advanced services in data visualisation and creative filming.

This month, I spoke with Akira Hirakawa, a native Japanese drone expert and co-founder of RDD, to discuss his start-up’s upcoming plans for this revolutionary new space in a niche market.

What is the unique selling point of RDD? Why is AI important in this space?

As the name suggests, we are a drone company focusing on drone software technology such as automatic flight. In recent years, it is encouraging to see that drones are being increasingly used in a myriad of functions by the wider community. However, drones sold in the commercial market currently require operational knowledge, are not easy to control, and are dependent on manual flight.

At RDD, we have been developing drone software that bypasses the aforementioned problems. Using the power of software, AI, and ML, the resulting software technology is easier and safer to use. With our proprietary technology, it is our dream that everyone would be able to operate a drone effortlessly in the near future.

Are there any limitations of drone technology we may not know of?

Drones that are used to film and tag people autonomously exist in the market. However, we think that one of the most challenging components of autonomous drones is its creative movement.

For example, in sports and entertainment industries, the basic expectations for video filming is no longer simply the function of taking videos, but instead, filming techniques are expected to be creative and artistic so that the audience can enjoy an immersive experience.

While humans still have a slight edge in this field, this is an area we would like to disrupt using AI and ML in the long run.

With the upcoming adoption of 5G technology, what changes can we expect in the drone space? How will RDD adapt to ride the 5G wave?

An exciting area that we are working on is drone remote control technology over 5G. Usually, a drone pilot must be onsite physically with a controller that utilises radio frequency to control the drone.

Because of this physical limitation of the equipment, a drone can only fly within a few kilometres from the position of its drone pilot. Drone remote control over 5G will overcome this physical limitation.

Furthermore, with the entrance of 5G technology, drones can be easily used to perform many other functions, such as delivery or remote surveillance. In future, there could be drones constantly flying in the sky and accomplishing their tasks, monitored and supported remotely by various drone operation centres.

Also Read: EPS, Schulte Group back F-drones that develops autonomous drones capable of delivering 100kg payloads over 100km

This way, we can save both manpower and time, and also reduce human exposure to potentially hazardous elements.

Currently, our RDD technology is capable of drone remote control over 4G/5G connectivity, enabling remote control of commercial drones at different locations in Singapore. In this video, we control a drone in Japan from our Singapore office over Zoom using 4G network.

Since the end of 2020, we have been generously supported by the Singtel 5G Lab to utilise their 5G environment for further R&D and testing. We are ready and excited to incorporate 5G capabilities into our future drone operations.

What are some crucial industries around the world that will benefit from AI drone technology?

There are many industries in that drones could be deployed for better results. Off the top of my head, I would say that surveying, monitoring, inspection, delivery, agriculture, sports/entertainment, and public safety are some of the key areas in that drones can be utilised to make a positive change.

Although the regulations and expectations in each industry will be diverse, we believe these industries will benefit from RDD’s AI drone technology.

What do you envision to be the future of drone AI?

We believe that drones will become a commonplace tool and be used to serve different needs across all age groups in our society.

Even for our primary use case, we believe that the future of aerial filming will utilise multiple drones flying autonomously at the same time to capture creative shots from multiple angles. We call this Flying Filming Studio, and we will continue to work on our drone AI technology to realise this dream.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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Contact centres have been particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Organisations of all sizes and from most industries were required to shift their on-premises call centre operations to work-from-home environments.

This was accompanied by unprecedented spikes in customer enquiries, creating extra pressure on contact centre operators. 

The experience of the contact centre sector during COVID-19 is instructive for startup founders looking to keep open lines of communication with their customers and stakeholders as they scale.

The same tools that allowed large contact centres to pivot and adapt during a global crisis can be employed by startup founders to build versatile and resilient customer communications platforms. 

People reach for the phone in a crisis

Some contact centres, like those for emergency services, mental health outreach or COVID-19 hotlines, are clearly essential services. But even for more commercially focused outfits, customer communication by phone is vital to maintain trust and loyalty. Our research has shown that customers seeking support and reassurance in a crisis prefer to pick up the phone.

Two in three customers preferred phone contact to other forms of communication during the COVID-19 crisis. Businesses with existing cloud-based contact centres and those that quickly adopted them have been able to meet this expectation by transitioning staff to work from home with minimal downtime.

This experience has led the contact centre industry as a whole to view cloud solutions as more adaptable and resilient, and we can expect to see a wholesale shift to this model in the medium term. 

Also Read: What Tokopedia does to ensure high quality customer relations management

While prioritising access to customer support via phone is important, it’s also critical to remember to provide customers with an omni-channel experience to enable them to engage with your brand via their platform of choice. Customers today expect to connect with brands using the same channels they use to communicate with friends, from SMS to Snapchat.

To build separate, siloed customer communications solutions to manage each of these channels is a mistake. It leads to a fragmented picture of customer behaviour or sentiments, which impedes your ability to respond to customers in a way that builds loyalty and trust.

Cloud-based solutions that allow customers to contact you over multiple channels are a better option and platforms that integrate customer data, habits and preferences from  They can be scaled to accommodate upticks in inbound customer inquiries during difficult periods, and can be expanded laterally to include new communications channels as they emerge. 

Regardless of whether they contact your business by phone, in-app chat, or via a social channel, your customers expect to connect to someone who can help them right away. Building a cloud-based contact solution can facilitate the kind of experience that customers expect 

Cloud contact solutions are also easily scalable to accommodate growth, allow for frequent iteration and testing, provide deep data and key business insights to make better decisions and they’re more reliable than legacy systems. 

Rapid changes will benefit organisations and customers in the long-term

The pandemic accelerated deployment of customer care strategies informed by conversational AI, designed to make more productive human agents and happier, longer-lasting customers.

When customers are reaching out, it’s because they need help that they can’t find on your website or app, such as tech support, or enquiry about an order that hasn’t arrived. At this point, customers are usually irate and expect an immediate response, keeping them stuck on hold will taint their experience and directly impact your business’s reputation. 

Twilio’s recent Customer Communications Report found that after a poor communication experience, 38 per cent of customers will switch to a competitor or cancel orders or services, 66 per cent will tell a friend about their experience, and 41 per cent will stop doing business with the company altogether.

Also Read: Twilio’s annual State of Customer Engagement report

While providing unsatisfactory service to customers is never intentional, the limitations of fragmented, on-premises contact centre systems can make it difficult to keep up with evolving customer expectations. 

With a cloud-based framework, however, you can create an experience that anticipates customers’ needs and provides unrivalled service. You can gather data about your customers from multiple sources and provide a tailored and personalised experience every time.

What does this mean for startups?

For early-stage companies like startups, customer loyalty is especially important. You do not have decades of brand-building to rely on, and negative experiences with one company can easily send a customer to a competitor. 

To survive and stay competitive, start-ups and smaller businesses should absorb the lessons from the experience of the contact centre sector through the COVID-19 crisis. 

Startups have a crucial advantage over more established operators when it comes to deploying future-proof cloud-based customer communications solutions. They are not encumbered by the sunk costs and legacy systems that make transition to such a system so difficult for larger, older organisations. 

Customisation, adding new channels, integration of new systems with your existing system, and budget are all necessary considerations when deciding to engage a cloud-based contact centre solution to manage customer communications. 

Customers of startups are early adopters who use more digital channels than most other consumers, but who also expect a 360-degree, always-on customer experience. Impress these customers by delivering a superior experience and you will win the loyalty of an influential market segment who will evangelise your product. Lose them, and they will move on to the next company.

The difference between these two scenarios will be how well you build, maintain and manage your customer communications architecture.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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Skymind Holdings, an international firm dedicated to the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), has appointed Yasmin Mahmood as its Chairperson.

Yasmin was previously the CEO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the national arm of the Malaysian government driving the development of the country’s digital economy. She stepped down as the CEO after helming MDEC for more than four years.

Also Read: MDEC chief Yasmin Mahmood steps down; to join a tech venture in Jakarta

Before that, she took on management roles at global tech companies, including Dell and HP and was the Managing Director of Microsoft Malaysia.

With a presence in 17 countries, including Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, Skymind develops innovative AI technologies that it claims are deployed in Fortune 500 companies including Nvidia, IBM, Huawei and NASA.

Last year, its venture arm, London-based Skymind Global Ventures, launched a US$800 million fund to support promising new AI companies and academic research globally.

As part of plans to expand Skymind’s footprint across Southeast Asia, the company expanded into Malaysia in October 2019, with the country serving as the group’s regional AI hub.

“We are pleased to welcome Datuk Yasmin, a well-respected and internationally recognised leader in the IT industry, to Skymind. Her extensive experience, knowledge and insights will help guide the vision and strategic opportunities of Skymind as we march ahead with our scale and growth plans,” said Shawn Tan, Global CEO of Skymind.

Also Read: Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Is the technology only as good as the human behind it?

“For the last year, when she served as our Advisor, we saw how her leadership and passion has empowered Skymind to strengthen partnerships, develop strategic alliances, and expand our presence here in Malaysia as well as regionally and globally,” he added.

“I am passionate about AI and how it can revolutionise and reimagine anything and everything.  With the company’s track record of AI innovations and a focused growth strategy, this is an exciting time to work with Shawn and his team,” noted Yasmin.

“Skymind is in a unique position to catalyse an innovation ecosystem, thereby creating high-income and high-value jobs in Malaysia to serve the global markets,” she further opined.

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Image Credit: Skymind

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Docosan, a Vietnam-based health-tech startup, announced today that it has raised over US$1 million in a round led by Taiwanese VC firm AppWorks.

Singaporean VC firm Huat Ventures and biotech entrepreneur David Ma also participated in the round.

The development was first reported by TechInAsia.

While Docosan has not disclosed its plans with the fresh capital, it said it will add telehealth and pharmacy services to its platform.

Launched just last year, Docosan’s goal is to improve access to quality healthcare for people in Vietnam. The app enables patients to compare healthcare providers, book appointments, chat with primary care assistants, and manage health data for free.

Docosan uses internationally-recognised protocols such as HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability) and DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) to ensure health records are portable across many different systems.

The company claims to have helped 50,000 patients in Vietnam book appointments with physicians across 35 specialties within less than a year of operations.

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“Many clinics are frustrated after spending large amounts on social media marketing because these networks’ vast, opaque user bases are difficult to harness to reach new patients,” said Beth Ann Lopez, co-founder of Docosan.

“Docosan’s proprietary booking software provides doctors an easier way to manage bookings compared to the crowded waiting rooms, which people are increasingly wary of amid the pandemic,” she added.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital healthcare services have seen a boom as more people are growing increasingly cautious of visiting crowded spaces.

Due to this, many consumers in Southeast Asia are now seeing health-tech solutions as a lifestyle staple.

Observing this trend, many leading companies such as Grab, AIA and gojek have all integrated healthcare content into their offerings.

According to a study by Solidiance, total healthcare spending in ASEAN is estimated to reach US$740 billion by 2025, up from US$420 billion in 2017.

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Image Credit:  National Cancer Institute

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