Posted on June 16, 2021 by Ruthc

3 ways a holistic cloud system powers business agility

cloud technology

An imperative vision for tech startups is emerging as the industry embraces greater disruptions in the form of new competitors, innovation and increasing regulatory and compliance demands.

With the rise of new unrivalled technologies, the race is on to elevate digital transformation beyond a surface level facelift. As such, many organisations are looking to evolve and transform with a vision grounded in superior customer experience and enterprise leadership.

However, the future demands business agility to win. And the solution lies within a holistic cloud system, capable of scaling new heights for the business.

Therefore, as the Digital Enterprise Director leading the team in a global tech company, here are three key learnings why forward-thinking businesses must deploy cloud technology as a strategic tool and navigate challenges to unlock full business growth potential:

Driving change and innovation

The first step to building business resilience begins with embracing a digital-core mindset, recognising the need to take advantage of new technologies to stay competitive, improve customer retention and increase employee satisfaction.

According to NTT’s 2021 Hybrid Cloud Report, while 96.3 per cent of Singapore firms agreed that cloud technology is critical in ensuring minimal business disruption amid the pandemic, only 63.8 per cent of local firms have implemented it.

This highlights the mindset gap in implementing cloud infrastructure, security and network architecture capabilities which is imperative to support business growth and agility.

Through cloud-based solutions, organisations can drive digital innovation, effecting a fundamental shift in IT – from an operational function to a technology business partner. We have seen this in startups where by unifying silos and automating processes, teams and individuals now provide more value-adding strategic counsel.

This empowerment breeds collaboration and transforms teams to change the way the business operates, eventually becoming more productive and efficient.

Also Read: How Globe Telecom used Google’s cloud-based services to empower its employees

Future-proofing the workforce

IT resiliency is key to future-proofing your business. Alongside realities that shifted in 2020, many employees have also experienced tech-related business disruption. This has led to detrimental consequences such as revenue loss, unhealthy employee work-life balance, security breaches and more.

In the backdrop of the Hybrid Workforce Economy, a robust tech ecosystem will help leaders navigate the digital culture and create an agile environment to future proof the workforce by reducing risk from disruption.

As we have seen with some start-ups, it is also a great opportunity to upskill employees’ digital capabilities. This serves as a blueprint not only to building high performing teams but also provides seamless digital experiences for customers.

Beyond closing the knowledge-skills gap, business owners can leverage a holistic cloud system to deliver real-time insights and make informed decisions using accessible cloud data. The increased employee flexibility and access to data enables quicker oversight to customer’s evolving needs which is essential to business agility.

A growth launchpad

Often times, business leaders and especially start-ups are challenged with strategically driving engagement and productivity through effective employee management. As a result, business scalability and growth takes a back seat due to inefficiency creeping into workplace processes.

With a comprehensive cloud-based system, organisations can now expand their global footprint with digital tools. Startups no longer need to be confined to geographic boundaries. Instead, increasingly they have leveraged cloud capabilities to rapidly establish their presence by expanding existing operations in any country without having to set up a physical office.

This marks a new milestone for organisations, regardless of size, to build a legacy that is at low cost and minimal risk. Most importantly, the process is compliant and transformative, aimed at strengthening the business proposition in the VUCA world.

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Posted on June 16, 2021 by Ruthc

Can Biden administration erase the ‘original sin’ of Chinese startups?

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden officially required a review of security concerns posed by Wechat, Tiktok, and withdrew Trump’s attempt to ban new downloads of these apps over the past year.

In response to the Biden order, Gao Feng, spokesperson at the Chinese commerce ministry, said in a press conference this week that China hopes “the US will treat Chinese companies fairly and avoid politicising economic and trade issues,” as cited by Xinhua News.

This goes back to the Trump administration when these “controversial” and “unfair” allegations against Chinese technology firms had been stacked up. It partially destroyed the credibility of China’s high-tech supply chain and arousing widespread sentiment of Chinese companies being unfairly targeted by the Western government and media.

According to Hurun Research Institute, in 2020, China is home to 227 unicorns, comprising nearly 40 per cent of the world’s total, second only to America.

However, the future of these high-growth Chinese startups in their quests to Western markets is left in limbo after the bans surrounding Chinese tech giants such as Huawei, Tencent’s Wechat, ByteDance’s Tiktok over the US’s national security concerns.

“With one example for a company like Huawei or Wechat or Tiktok, they have justifiable grounds to go after them,” Financial Times senior editor Wang Feng says about the unfair attack from the US media on Chinese companies.

He cited various explicit reasons for this attack as “original sins”, including whether or not the Chinese company was state-owned or had executives related to the government; operated in sensitive fields such as defence, aviation, chips, artificial intelligence (AI), bio-tech; linked with China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”; employed minorities; invested in firms with access to a large amount of personal data, or built R&D centres in the West.

Also Read: 4 ways corporates can work better with Chinese startups

“If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then, unfortunately, you come under some sort of suspicion from the Western perspective,” Feng says.

Megvii is a Beijing-based AI startup with its well-known facial recognition brand Face++

In 2019, three Chinese leading AI unicorns, SenseTime, Megvii, and Yitu, were accused of involving in the Chinese government campaign against Xinjiang province’s ethnic minorities. These companies were then included in the Trump administration’s Entity List, which means that they could not trade with or purchase technologies from US firms.

Given that China’s fast-growing AI industry is able to beat the US supremacy in the following five to 10 years, according to The Global AI Index published by the London-based Tortoise Intelligence, this posed a certain barrier to the globalisation of these tech startups.

A representative of Megvii said in a statement that the company “strongly objects” its ill-grounded inclusion on the list. The statement clarified that while the Human Rights Watch report on a surveillance app in Xinjiang initially implicated Megvii’s Face++ solution, the organisation then corrected and reissued the report without highlighting Megvii name as there was no evidence of its involvement.

“We believe our inclusion on the list reflects a misunderstanding of our company and our technology, and we will be engaging with the US government on this basis,” the statement said.

“By this stage, the US is just striking at any Chinese company, any national champion,” Feng said, emphasising that the rising ‘dodgy stories’ related to China’s possibilities of threatening cybersecurity, committing intellectual property theft, violating human rights, or evading taxes are just justifications during the US’s ex-President Donald Trump’s tech cold war with China.

Although the “original sins” were entrenched, it could not dampen Chinese tech startups’ demands to be listed on the world’s largest capital market, which is three times larger than all China’s stock markets combined.

In April, Bloomberg reported that Chinese companies are listing in the US at the fastest pace ever, regardless of the bill from the US Senate that could force nearly a thousand Chinese firms to give up their listings if they do not comply with the US audit requirements and certify themselves as “not owned or controlled by a foreign government.”

Also Read: Linear Venture founding partner to moderate a fireside chat in Echelon Thailand 2017, to discuss technologies and business models employed by successful Chinese startups

Those aggressive moves from the US government, sometimes, receive backlash from the global business community and think tanks.

Last year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, though sympathising with the Trump administration’s concerns about the content platform Tiktok, said that he considered the ban “a really bad long-term precedent”, according to BuzzFeed. He alluded to the idea that other countries might target Facebook’s products later as a consequence.

CNN also cited critics’ opinions that the US government’s attempt to control its citizens using the internet via Tiktok could set an anti-democratic precedent.

“When a country like the US begins to erode the ideas of democracy, it naturally opens the door for other countries to do the same,” CNN quoted Nanjala Nyabola, an author and political analyst specialising in politics in the digital age.

As China is the world’s largest and fast-growing consumer market, the US tech industry, on the flip side, is not operating unscathed in the midst of the mounting tension between the two countries.

“Revenue from that big market fuels our big research investments, which allows us to innovate and drive America’s economic growth and national security,” the president and chief executive of US Semiconductor Industry Association John Neuffer told The New York Times after the Commerce Department considered adopting a proposal to block transactions between American companies and Chinese counterparts.

“It [China] is fully integrated into the global economy. It is inexorably tied with the United States,” said Jon R. Taylor, professor of Political Science at the University of Texas in San Antonio and a columnist of Bejing Review. “Whether certain people want to talk about decoupling or not, that decoupling is almost impossible given our global trading system.”

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Posted on June 16, 2021 by Ruthc

WaveScan raises funding to develop infra inspection and maintenance drones

WaveScan Technologies, a Singapore-based smart sensors company, has raised seed capital in a round led by Silicon Solution Ventures (SSV), an investment fund managed by Silicon Solution Partners.

Joining the round were SEEDS Capital, Koji Ventures, she1K global, KK39 Ventures, Plug & Play Venture Group, Plug & Play Singapore, and Leave A Nest Singapore.

The company said in a statement that it will use the money to launch the first version of its modular scanner system. This system is designed to integrate with automated robotic platforms such as arms and crawlers.

A portion of the funds will also go into testing the drone version of the scanner for more focused applications and delivering on its committed full-scale projects slated for the year ahead, besides scaling the team.

WaveScan also disclosed its plans to collaborate with over 20 large infrastructure companies in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the UK — in addition to currently conducting pilot trials in Europe and Japan.

Founded by Kush Agarwal, WaveScan focuses on a preventive, instead of a reactive approach, to infrastructure maintenance.

Also Read: Decacorn Capital backs Estonian startup Fyma that can turn your CCTV cameras into smart sensors

Its wireless scanners utilise electro magnetic (EM)-based microwave and millimetre waves that could penetrate a variety of structural materials, including wood and concrete. Capable of high-resolution four-dimensional sensing, the EM waves are sent and received back to indicate building and infrastructural defects.

“Today, inspection and maintenance is a slow, costly and inefficient process, inhibiting stakeholders from raising their proactivity. With our solution, we seek to bring unprecedented levels of automation in all aspects of the inspection and defect analysis processes of structural infrastructure elements,” explained Agarwal.

The startup claims to have received interest from over 50 multinational companies, including those in the transport (aerospace/railway) and oil & gas industries, besides infrastructure.

Additionally, WaveScan will also be embarking on projects that will impact the local domestic market by conducting water leakage inspections.

It will be engaging in full-scale deployment and test-bedding on various ages of buildings with a view towards larger island-wide adoption.

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Posted on June 16, 2021 by Ruthc

SEA-focused early-stage fund Investible hits first close of US$39M second fund

Investible CEO Rod Bristow

Investible, an Australian seed-stage investment firm with a focus on Southeast Asia, announced today it has surpassed the first close of its second fund at SGD35.9 million (US$27 million) in committed capital.

The first close comes less than three months after the VC firm announced plans to raise its second early-stage fund with a target of US$39 million.

“The speed and success of Investible’s second capital raise to date reflects the fact that more investors are seeking opportunities to diversify their portfolio and back high-potential tech companies early,” said Rod Bristow, CEO of Investible, which has offices in Australia and Singapore.

Also Read: Investible aims to raise US$38M fund targeting early-stage startups in SEA, Australia

Launched in 2014 by entrepreneurs-turned-angel investors Creel Price and Trevor Folsom, Investible invests in early-stage startups across Southeast Asia and Australia. The fund’s inaugural US$17.4-million fund, which was oversubscribed in late 2019, has to date made over 36 investments.

The first fund’s notable portfolio companies, representing 19 sectors across nine countries, include Filipino restaurant management company Mosaic Solutions and Indonesia-based agritech startup Eden Farm.

It has also created ‘Club Investible’, which provides investors with the opportunity to increase their exposure to startups they are especially confident in. Club members can then put greater resources behind and get more actively involved with particular startups at their discretion.

Investible claims that when combined with Club Investible, the firm has achieved an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of more than 55 per cent and 3.9 times cash return on deals prior to 2015. Its failure rate sits at 16 per cent.

Given SEA’s enormous growth potential and the maturity of its startup ecosystem, Investible is optimistic about the prospects in Southeast Asia and is positioned to support cross-border startups.

As a result, Investible has increased the percentage of funding available to international businesses (based outside of Australia) from 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

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Image Credit: Investible

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Posted on June 16, 2021 by Ruthc

Aevice Health bags US$2M for its wearable smart stethoscope, expands to Japan

Aevice Health co-founders Adrian Ang (L) and Rex Tan

Aevice Health, a Singapore-based startup developing novel wearables for remote respiratory monitoring, announced today it has secured S$2.8 million (US$2.1 million) pre-Series A funding.

Investors are Toho Holdings (Japan), and Pureland Group Venture, Silicon Solutions Partners, AIP Ventures, and SEEDS Capital (all Singapore).

The medtech venture will utilise the capital to further develop its proprietary technology and expand its remote respiratory monitoring solution into Japan.

“With the support of our investors and partners, we will continue to accelerate our global footprint, advance our remote patient monitoring pipeline, and develop new ways of enhancing workflows of hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, insurers, and health systems to re-envision the future of respiratory care,” CEO Adrian Ang said.

Also Read: Singapore startup StretchSkin develops wearable sensors for the healthcare and gaming industries

A spin-off from Nanyang Technological University, Aevice Health develops non-invasive wearable devices that enable early detection of cardiopulmonary abnormalities remotely and in real-time, so that patients can receive fast and targeted care from the ease of their homes.

Clinicians can also gain insights into their patients’ health and track their responses to treatment plans easily from the Aevice analytical platform.

The firm has developed a remote patient monitoring solution AeviceMD. It is a wearable smart stethoscope that complements tele-health services to facilitate self-management of chronic diseases.

Powered by Artificial Intelligence, it listens to the patient’s chest sounds remotely, continuously and in real time, and detects cardiopulmonary abnormalities (such as wheezing) that are typical of chronic respiratory diseases, so that patients can receive fast and targeted care on time from the comfort of their homes.

With its system packed into a miniaturised sensor, the device can be placed on the patient’s chest for hours of continuous monitoring.

Overtime, the AeviceMD can help healthcare providers to understand how treatments uniquely impact patient symptoms, enabling them to personalise treatment to optimise patient outcomes.

Partnership with Toho

As part of the deal, Aevice has entered into an agreement with its strategic investor Toho Holdings — a wholesaler of medicine, and medical tools and equipment with over 700 pharmacies across Japan — to develop and commercialise AeviceMD.

The collaboration will provide patients with chronic respiratory diseases in Japan with a tool to stay connected to their healthcare provider, anytime anywhere.

“The pandemic has accelerated the growth and adoption of telehealth, transforming the way patients interact with their healthcare providers. The AeviceMD is a cutting-edge solution that provides patients with a continuum of comprehensive and personalised care remotely,” said Ang.

Chronic respiratory diseases remain the top few leading causes of death in Japan. In 2019, lower respiratory tract infection, lung cancer, and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) rank fourth, fifth, and ninth in top causes of total number of deaths in the year.

Also Read: Indonesian wearable startup Zulu confirms investment by gojek, aims to expand team and launch projects

Many of these patients, particularly the elderly with higher co-morbidities, require regular check-ups and constantly monitoring. With the disparity in the number of physicians between urban and rural parts of Japan widening, many patients living in rural parts of the country may face difficulties accessing regular care for their chronic conditions.

“Aevice Health is a homegrown company providing a novel and relevant solution in today’s post-pandemic climate. It has the potential to help health systems deliver quality care to their patients from the comfort of their homes, and we are excited to support them in their journey in improving patient outcomes,” said Tan Kaixin, General Manager, SEEDS Capital.

Singapore hosts several smart wearable startups in the healthcare space. One of them is StretchSkin, which develops affordable wearables for different use cases in healthcare, gaming and smart clothing. Its products can be deformed into curvilinear shape to enable functionalities that are hard to achieve by traditional electronic devices.

AWAK Technologies is yet another local firm, which is focused on dialysis using regeneration technology for end-stage kidney diseases. In 2019, it raised US$40 million in an oversubscribed financing round.

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Image Credit: Aevice Health

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