Day: June 3, 2021

Japanese messaging giant Line Corporation will roll out a digital banking platform in Indonesia this month, says a TechCrunch report.

This follows a partnership signed in 2018 between Line and Bank KEB Hana Indonesia, a subsidiary of South Korea’s Hana ZBank.

Line had announced the acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in KEB Hana back then, and said it would work on online banking services, including deposit accounts, microcredit products and remittance and payment services.

Also Read: Grab, Sea and Ant Group amongst 4 selected for Singapore digital banking licenses

Line already offers digital banking services in Thailand and Taiwan, two of its largest overseas markets.

Indonesia presents massive opportunities for digital banking services companies as a huge chunk of its population still remains unbanked or underbanked. Conventional banking services are still beyond the reach of a big chunk of its people.

The digital banking industry has kicked off in the archipelago. As per a Momentum Works report, downloads of digital banking apps in the archipelago grew 7 per cent in 2020. Southeast Asia’s tech honchos like Sea, Grab and Gojek are working on their own neobank services.

In Southeast Asia, the concept of digital-only banking has been gaining momentum for the past two to three years. Singapore has already awarded two digital full bank (DFB) licenses to a consortium comprising Grab and national telco, Singtel and a wholly-owned entity by tech giant Sea.

—

Image Credit: Line Indonesia

The post Line to roll out digital banking platform in Indonesia appeared first on e27.

EQuest Education Group (EQuest), an educational services provider in Vietnam, has raised an undisclosed amount of investment from American global investment company KKR through its Global Impact Fund.

The fresh funds will be used to support EQuest’s expansion and advance its mission to provide students in Vietnam with affordable access to quality education.

Founded in 2013, EQuest operates a diversified portfolio across the educational sector in Vietnam, focusing on four core segments including K-12 bilingual schools, tertiary institutions, English enrichment courses, and digital learning solutions.

The firm offers iSMART Education, which provides programmes that enable students to learn English through Math and Science lessons, using digitised lessons and learning apps and platforms. These programmes are accredited by the Education Research Center of HCMC University of Education and have been running in almost 400 primary and secondary schools nationwide.

EQuest claims to have more than 110,000 students enrolled across its segments each year.

Additionally, Annabelle Vultee, the former China COO of Education First, has joined EQest’s board of directors. In the new role, Vultee will bring with her experience in the education sector across fast-growing markets such as China and the US.

Also Read: Geniebook, an edutech startup that identifies students; strengths and weaknesses using AI, expands into Vietnam

“Access to high-quality education and intensive English-language training is crucial for Vietnamese students to achieve their full potential. By making the access affordable at a disruptive cost, EQuest is committed to delivering world-class education and bringing accredited, world-class curriculum to more Vietnamese students to improve their competitiveness in the global arena,” Nguyen Quoc Toan, co-founder of EQuest, said.

“Investing in Vietnam and supporting the growth of the country’s businesses and industries is a key part of KKR’s strategy in Asia. As Vietnam continues to elevate on the world’s economic stage, access to affordable, high-quality education solutions plays an important role in meeting the nation’s objectives. We are excited to invest in EQuest and to support aspiring Vietnamese entrepreneurs like Toan – as well as EQuest’s talented team – to help realize their vision for closing the education gap in the country,” Ashish Shastry, Head of Southeast Asia at KKR, remarked.

“We believe lifelong learning starts at an early age and EQuest is supporting the development of the next generation through its high-quality affordable education programs with strong outcomes. KKR aims to leverage our operational experience, global network, and education expertise to strengthen EQuest’s market-leading position, further build on its tech solutions, and implement industry best practices,” Chee-Wei Wong, Head of KKR Global Impact for Asia, added.

Vietnam has 17 million K-12 students, making it a massive market for edutech. Adding to that, with students made to stay home for months due to COVID-19 safety measures, home-based learning has become a big part of 2020, giving a boost to the edutech sector.

A few months ago, English Learning Speech Assistant (ELSA), an app that helps by using speech recognition technology to correct pronunciation, raised US$15 million in Series B, led by Vietnam Investments Group and SIG.

—

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

Image Credit: Unsplash

The post EQuest raises funding from KKR to make education accessible for Vietnam’s students appeared first on e27.

Getting media attention is not easy.

We at e27 receive tens of press releases daily but only a few good and the most relevant ones get published.

Writing a good article that could attract readers is, however, no easy feat; it requires subject knowledge and a thorough understanding of your target audience.

Our experience is that thought leadership content always gets good traction.

For founders, a good thought leadership article could also be a great way to draw investor attention.

Thought leadership is the simple idea of sharing your views with the wider community via articles, social media posts, speaking engagements, etc. It is the equivalent of answering questions your customers, investors or the general public may have with respect to you product, service, idea or philosophy.

e27’s contribution programme is as a hub where a thought leader can contribute ideas and opinions.

Why you should join it.

Being your own brand ambassador

As an early-stage startup, you don’t always have the luxury to hire a special PR person to build media relations. In that case, the founder or a member of the founding team could share their story with the startup community.

Putting this down in words will make it easier for you to take it to investors and establish greater credibility. The added validation to your ideas from other founders and professionals in the community will serve as a great endorsement to your ideas.

Kevin Nguyen, the CEO of Hanoi-based software company Adamo Digital and a regular e27 contributor says, “I think it has to do a lot with personal branding. It’s all about the content that you write. When I started out, I didn’t really have much to say. But I took the time to read and understand the industries where my clients are and followed the trend. By writing for e27, I think in a way, I’ve branded myself as the expert in the industry, especially if I focus on several topics only.”

Get noticed by investors

Thought leadership distinguishes you and your brand from others. Events, podcasts, and blogs can help you build leads, connect with future investors, and even increase consumer base. It is a slow process but one that surely pays off.

Investors are looking for founders with expertise and your articles are a great way to build and showcase that, especially when you are looking to get their attention. Sharing your ideas and subject matter expertise builds a stronger case for your startup. This also shows how passionate you are about building your startup.

Managing Partner at RHL Ventures, Rachel Lau chose e27 as one of the platforms where she regularly shares her views surrounding the tech ecosystem.

She says: “The visibility has been great. Like, someone from LinkedIn would occasionally say to me ‘Hey I read your article on the Vietnam stuff and I think it’s great”, and it’s nice to get that kind of message. I think the contributor channel has the right exposure from the right target audiences, which also becomes a challenge to me to write to the right target audiences.”

“If you’ve been wanting to contribute, you know, just start writing, you never know where it may take you,” she adds.

Widen your network

Network is your net worth. We have all heard that before. But how does one continue to network whilst being locked down at home? The thought leadership exercise fosters connections and ignites chats with like minded people in a virtual environment.

Through his contributions to e27, investor Maarten Hemmes admits that he added a lot of new relations to his network as people found him and HH through the e27 Contributor platform.

“I think contributing to e27 is a great way for me to broaden my exposure. And it’s a good exposure for HH Investments as well,” he says.

At e27, we are passionate about engaging and bringing together stakeholders from across industries and verticals to build a more informed and inclusive ecosystem.

We have groomed a thriving community of two million readers in the tech and startup industry, making it a great place to reflect upon the interests of the startup economy in Asia. The e27 Contributor Programme is your chance to share your thoughts and opinions with this community.

Connect with us to know more.

–

Image credit: Corinne Kutz on Unsplash

The post How thought leadership articles could accelerate your fundraising efforts appeared first on e27.

iGlobe founder and managing partner Soo Boon Koh

Singapore-headquareterd cross-border VC firm, iGlobe Partners, today announced the closing of its third fund at US$100 million.

iGlobe Platinum Fund III seeks to back startups building solutions in smart cities, synthetic biology, and fintech.

With the fund, iGlobe aims to continue investing in growth-stage tech startups, from pre-Series A to Series C, over the next three years.

Ticket sizes will range from US$500,000 to US$10 million.

The fund has already invested in Matterport (US), C2i Genomics (US), NerdWallet (US), Streetbees (UK), Docquity (Singapore), and Tonik (the Philippines).

“Over the next six months, we will also benefit from two upcoming portfolio exits (Unity Software, Twist Bioscience) in the US stock exchange, allowing us to deliver strong early returns to our investors. The pandemic is accelerating the adoption of technology across multiple industries, and this is a strong validation of our fund thesis to invest in game changers globally,” said Soo Boon Koh, Founder, and Managing Partner of iGlobe Partners.

Originally founded in Silicon Valley in 1999, iGlobe helps its portfolio companies expand beyond their national footprints, as it aims to bridge the gap between Western and Asian startup ecosystems.

Also Read: Expansion and exposure: iGlobe talks about the traits necessary to succeed in local markets

Since its founding, iGlobe has managed funds exceeding US$500 million for its investors.

Its 2010 vintage-year fund, iGlobe Platinum Fund I, claims to have delivered 13 times capital return with a net IRR (Internal Rate of Return) of 33 per cent.

Some of its successful and upcoming exits include Unity Software, Twist Bioscience, ACSL, Matterport, Hippo Enterprises, Ginkgo Bioworks, and Nerdwallet.

“Our picks for smart cities are based on the convergence of deeptech and engineering with verticals that will redefine industries, such as healthcare, logistics, mobility, and robotics,” said Dr. Yoke Sin Chong, iGlobe Partners Managing Partner.

“Our bets on synthetic biology are based on the confluence of deep tech, biology, and chemistry, creating new sustainable materials, foods, and therapeutics that leverage on the discoveries and inventions in this field. For fintech, we are looking at innovative business models that will provide access to banking, payments, retail, insurance, and financial services in novel ways, across huge populations of users,” she added.

–

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

Image Credit: iGlobe Partners

The post iGlobe Partners closes new US$100M fund to back startups innovating in smart cities, synthetic biology, fintech appeared first on e27.

Good Startup Managing Partners – Gautam Godhwani (L) Jayesh Parekh (R)

Good Startup, a cross-border VC firm seeking to remove animals from the global food ecosystem, has launched a US$25-million fund to invest in alternative protein startups.

Called ‘Good Protein Fund I’, the fund aims to invest in a total of 32 companies.

Its notable investors are Anil Thadani (Chairman, Symphony Asia Holdings), Tan Kim Seng (Chairman, Kim Seng Holdings), and a consortium of angels.

The fund has already invested in six startups, namely Eat Just, TurtleTree Labs, Avant Meats, Rebellyous Foods, Cultured Decadence, and Novel Farms.

The VC firm will actively work with these companies in areas such as IP protection, organisation design, scaling-up, hiring, and fundraising strategies.

The fund’s strategic location is within Southeast Asia, which is experiencing a demand surge for protein alternatives due to growing health and environmental consciousness.

Good Startup recently secured its VC fund management license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Also Read: SGProtein to launch large-scale production facility to accelerate Singapore’s alternative protein market

The VC firm believes that sustainable innovation must happen in the global food ecosystem. This is not just to feed the world’s estimated 10 billion population by 2050 and a simultaneous 70 per cent increase in protein demand, but to also use methods that are also less environmentally demanding.

The continued reliance on animals for food has raised human exposure to zoonotic diseases. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) found that most human diseases originate in animals and most antibiotics globally need to be administered to animals. 

“For years, food ecosystem stakeholders had to balance the need to meet food security needs while also balancing the toll that animal food production takes on our world. Yet, the growing role of the biotechnology sector in producing alternative proteins can give us the same food we enjoy with less impact on our environment. This can only be achieved by supporting biotech food companies to scale globally, especially in markets that still depend heavily on meat,” Gautam Godhwani, Managing Partner of Good Startup, said.

“The future of the world’s food ecosystem rests on these next-generation companies. In order for them to meet their sustainable food production goals, they require investors and partners that can guide them throughout their journey,” said Jayesh Parekh, Managing Partner, Good Startup.

“Being a cross-border fund that invests in alternative protein companies globally, we are especially excited about the alternative protein ecosystem’s potential in rapidly emerging markets like Southeast Asia, where we currently have a rich pipeline of deals that we are actively working on and expect to make announcements soon,” Parekh added.

Conscious consumption or a more healthy way of diet has been the driving trend in the foodtech sector for the last five to ten years, according to White Star Capital study.

This is largely due to a shift in people’s values of food consumption towards a healthier lifestyle.

According to Pitchbook, a private market data firm, a significant chunk of the market share will be taken away from the US$350-billion annual meat market.

Food innovation and bio-engineered food have been predicted to continue growing annually by 10 per cent with the possibility of reaching US$104.6 billion by 2025,

—

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

Image Credit: Good Startup

The post Good Startup launches US$25M fund to invest in alternative protein ventures in SEA appeared first on e27.