Exits in SEA slowed down in 2020 but next years look promising; A Golden Gate Ventures and INSEAD report said there were 107 exits in 2020, down from 115 in 2019 and 124 in 2018; The average M&A deal size in 2020 stood at US$74.7M and Singapore topped the chart with ~3.66B raised; The report forecasts the number of exits in 2020-2022 will total 468.

The Alibaba of SEA? How GoTo is shaking up fintech in the region; The group claims it has a total gross transaction value (GTV) of US$22B and 100M+ MAU, creating a digital ecosystem encompassing 2% of Indonesia’s GDP; The all-encompassing nature of GoTo’s ecosystem makes it a fertile ground for providing digital financial services, as seen from Ant’s success in China.

In a post-COVID-19 world, Vietnam is SEA’s latest hotspot for VC investment; Total value of investments poured into local startups in Q1 2021 reached US$100M+, increasing by about 34% YoY; The country’s startup ecosystem has been transformed from the second-least active to the third-most active among ASEAN countries, trailing only Indonesia and Singapore.

Thai food delivery startup Line Man Wongnai seeks funding, IPO; In July, Line Man, the delivery unit of Japan’s messaging company Line, merged with Thai restaurant aggregator Wongnai, and raised US$110M from BRV Capital; The firm believes its valuation would exceed US$1B and realistic target for IPO is within 2-3 years.

Beryllium secures US$3M to introduce trading systems to fantasy sports; Investors are Bullpen Capital (lead), Genting Ventures and Velo Partners; The Singaporean startup recently launched Sixer, a fantasy game where you can buy and sell fantasy stocks in cricket players.

Flipkart in talks to raise US$700M from SoftBank; Mint said citing sources that the proposed investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 is part of a US$1.2-1.5B round; The transaction is expected to value Flipkart at $28-30B; The deal is expected to close in 3-4 months.

Bukalapak to raise US$300M from domestic IPO; A DealSteetAsia report said citing sources that the amount is likely to increase if the demand from investors is high; According to a Bloomberg report in March, the e-commerce giant is also exploring potential US listing via a SPAC merger at US$4-5B; Bukalapak is understood to be currently valued at US$3.4B.

Fintech SaaS firm Rapyd creates venture arm to invest in early-stage fintech startups; Rapyd Ventures will largely work with startups after their seed round and through Series B funding that have unique market and customer insights and are expanding on existing market traction.

Medtech startup Prixa raises US$3M; Investors are MDI Ventures, Trans-Pacific Technology Fund, and Siloam Hospitals Group; The startup builds an AI-based healthcare management platform that includes basic medical services such as telemedicine; It also includes features to support healthcare services payers, both individuals and corporates.

Vietnam’s HANET bags Series A from G-Group to take its AI camera to global market; The cameras boast of high-speed facial recognition feature that could detect people even when they are on a face mask; G-Group is a leading technology corporations in Vietnam, focusing on investments fintech, media-tech and cybersecurity.

Indonesia’s goKampus raises pre-Series A; Investors are Sovereign’s Capital, SALT Ventures, Azure Ventures and angels; goKampus is an edutech firm providing services that include college programmes enrolment, virtual courses to scholarships and jobs marketplace.

Genesis Alternative Ventures partners Aozora Bank to support Japanese startups expanding into SEA; This follows Genesis’s announcement of the final close of its US$80 venture debt fund in April this year; A private lender to venture- and growth-stage firms, Genesis has backed startups like TaniHub, Hmlet, Horangi Cybersecurity, and Deliveree.

Swiss insurtech startup Riskwolf attracts funding, to launch ‘outage benefit product’ in SEA; Investors are Swiss angel network SICTIC, and unnamed angels and professional investors in Europe, the US and Asia; Riskwolf’s platform is capable of detecting internet outages, modelling the insurance risks, and making payouts in real time.

Digital banking continues to gain traction in Philippines; A research found over 8 in 10 Filipinos are aware and interested (81%) in using digital banking services; Filipinos interested in banking with digital banks are keen to use services such as paying bills (84%), transferring money locally (78%), making deposits and withdrawals (76%), and making payments for purchases at local retail locations (71%).

The next level of e-commerce payment processing; From a merchant’s viewpoint, three levels of optimisation are needed for a seamless checkout experience — improvements to checkout, integration, and issuer responses; Checkout optimization reduces the number of steps a consumer needs to take when paying for goods online; Fewer steps mean less frustration and fewer abandoned baskets.

5 promising agritech startups in Vietnam; They are Demeter, MimosaTEK, Hachi, Zero.ai, and Naturally Vietnam; Statistics show that the Vietnamese agricultural sector accounted for 14.85% of the country’s GDP in 2020; The sector also provides 39.45% of the total employment in the country.

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Photo by Yan Otson Unsplash

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“Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.”

— Anne Sweeney, formerly co-chair of Disney Media

According to PitchBook, female-founded startups continue to gain a greater percentage of venture investment in 2019, with VC dollars committed to US female founders rising by 8.1 times over the last decade. However, the share of VC dollars that flowed into startups founded by a woman or a group of women is only 2.7 per cent of the total investment in 2019.

Will we be able to work towards increasing that percentage in 2021?

With this list of resources, we hope that all women founders, innovators, and change makers can step up to start building their dreams to help create a better world for all.

From competitions and initiatives to accelerators and incubators and female-focused investors, this list has resources catered for female founders at any stage of their startup idea!

Competitions, initiatives and networks

• AMPLIFY

Amplify is a Girls in Tech startup competition for women founders. The competition has helped to provide funding, exposure on a global stage, and a community of investors and change makers committed to supporting women entrepreneurs.

• Cartier Women’s Initiative

The Cartier Women’s Initiative is an annual international entrepreneurship programme that aims to drive change by empowering women impact entrepreneurs. Founded in 2006, the programme is open to women-run and women-owned businesses from any country and sector that aim to have a strong and sustainable social and/or environmental impact.

• H.E.R Entrepreneur

H.E.R Entrepreneur is a platform where it inspires, educates, empowers and connects entrepreneurs, leaders, government, and investors across Asia through its online resources, meet-ups, workshops, and conferences.

• Intel Capital Diversity Initiative

In June 2015, Intel Capital announced the venture industry’s largest-ever commitment to invest in technology companies led by women and underrepresented minorities (African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans).

All Intel Capital investments cover a broad spectrum of innovative industries, including artificial intelligence, autonomous mobility, data center, and cloud, 5G communications and next-generation computing.

Also Read: Levelling the playing field: How to build a home for women in tech

• She Loves Tech

She Loves Tech is a global platform committed to building an ecosystem for technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation that creates opportunities for women. The company houses a tech startup competition focused on women-led or women-impact businesses.

• So Gal

SoGal is the largest global platform for the education and empowerment of diverse entrepreneurs and investors. Its mission is to close the diversity gap in entrepreneurship and venture capital.

SoGal Foundation is bringing the top 150 women & diverse founders to Silicon Valley to participate in the final round of the largest global pitch competition for underrepresented entrepreneurs, as well as participate in a three-day immersive startup bootcamp.

• WEConnect International

WEConnect International is a global network that connects women-owned businesses to qualified buyers around the world. WEConnect International identifies, educates, registers, and certifies women’s business enterprises based outside of the US that are at least 51 per cent owned, as well as managed and controlled by one or more women, and then connects them with multinational corporate buyers.

• Women Startup Competition

WSC’s signature is a yearly startup competition series across Europe with the mission to give early-stage female-founded or female-led startups brand exposure, pitching opportunity, and presenting semi-finalists from each country at a Final Event (London) to a panel of international investors, press, corporate executives and angel investors.

• Women Who Tech

Twice a year, Women Who Tech recruits women founders who are creating innovative tech products to solve big problems to the Women Startup Challenge, an 8-week virtual programme.

Grants and Funds

• Amber Grant

Amber Grants began in 1998 in honour of Amber Wigdahl, who died before fulfilling her dreams. An Amber Grant of US$4,000 is awarded every month, and one of their 12 monthly recipients receives an additional $25,000 Amber Grant at the end of the year.

Businesses operating in the US or Canada are eligible for the grants.

Also Read: How women in tech can navigate the 2021 business landscape

• Global Fund for Women

Global Fund for Women is one of the world’s leading foundations for gender equality, standing up for the human rights of women and girls. It works to advance rights by getting money and support to organisations led by women, girls, and trans people who are fighting for justice in their own communities.

It supports organisations led by historically marginalised groups who are working to build strong, connected movements for gender equality, justice, and human rights

• Tory Burch Foundation Capital Program

The Tory Burch Foundation Capital Program powered by Bank of America provides women entrepreneurs in the United States the opportunity to access affordable loans through Community Lenders.

• SEAF Women’s Economic Empowerment Fund (SWEEF) / SEAF Women’s Opportunity Fund (SWOF)

At the core of SWEEF’s investment framework is a women-centred strategy focusing on Southeast Asian investments in primarily Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

The Fund will invest in women entrepreneurs as well as businesses operating in sectors where women comprise a large portion of the labor force, those delivering products and services meeting the unique and unmet wants and needs of women and girls, and those where the leadership demonstrates a strong commitment to gender equality and wider diversity.

• Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative

We-Fi allocated US$249 million over two financing rounds in 2018 and 2019 to implementing partners for work in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The programs aim to benefit 115,000 women-owned SMEs. Projects are implemented in over 50 countries with over half of the funds going to low income (IDA-eligible) countries, including many facing fragile and conflict-affected situations. It has mobilised US$2.6 billion in public and private funds.

• Women’s Fund Asia

Women’s Fund Asia is a regional women’s fund, committed to supporting women and trans people led interventions to enhance and strengthen access to women’s and trans people’s human rights. It envisions a peaceful and egalitarian region in which women’s and trans people’s participation, leadership and enjoyment of all their human rights are ensured and secure.

Geographical Scope:

South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan

Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam

East Asia: Mongolia

Also Read: Women in tech: A global evaluation

Accelerators and Incubators

• Astia

Astia was founded in Silicon Valley in 1999 as a non-profit organisation dedicated to identifying and promoting best-in-class, high-growth ventures that include women leaders.

Astia levels the investment playing field by cultivating a trusted global ecosystem of engaged male and female investors and advisors, who offer crucial resources, including capital, networks, and expertise.

• Aviatra Accelerators

Aviatra Accelerators aims to empower female entrepreneurs. It enables women to start and sustain businesses by giving them the resources they need to be successful. Through its expertise in business basics, guidance from mentors and coaches, and access to capital, Aviatra Accelerators continuously encourage its members to move forward, and it embraces them when they return, helping to refuel and reignite their passions.

They currently serve markets in Northeast Ohio & Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky.

• CRIB

CRIB aims to empower women by providing the support they need to achieve their entrepreneurship dreams. This will benefit women as they achieve personal fulfilment; their families, as women gain financial empowerment and work-life balance; and society as a whole, as it creates businesses with a social impact, raise diversity in the workplace, and contribute to positive economic impact.

• DigitalUndivided

Founded in 2012 by tech pioneer, Kathryn Finney, Didtechnology, Inc (d.b.a digital undivided), is a social startup with 501 status that merges data and heart to develop innovative programs and initiatives that catalyzes economic growth in Black and Latinx communities.

• Get Sh!t Done Accelerator

The Get Sh!t Done Accelerator is an industry-agnostic virtual accelerator for female entrepreneurs who want the power to choose their path to scaling profitable US$1million+ business.

• Halo Incubator

Halo Incubator is a New-York-based incubator founded by two Chicago Booth alumnae. Their core and only focus is helping imaginative, passionate women solidify business plans, shape strategies, and raise capital, while amplifying their voices along the way. It guides founders through every stage from ideas to seed round.

• Her Corner

Her Corner runs The Accelerator, the first in-person programme focusing on business growth and scalability specifically for women business owners in New York City, Washington, D.C and Philadelphia.

• MassChallenge

Headquartered in the United States with locations in Boston, Israel, Mexico, Rhode Island, Switzerland, and Texas, MassChallenge strengthens the global innovation ecosystem by accelerating high-potential startups across all industries, from anywhere in the world for zero-equity taken.

• NewMe

NewME is an entrepreneurship education program, serving early-stage business founders and their teams through mentorship, specialised curriculums, and for those companies chosen — capital investment. Its program enables founders to completely reevaluate product, sales, and marketing strategies, prepare for investment pitches and connect them to its network of partners. As the first underrepresented founder focused program in the United States, NewMe has led founders to more than US$47million in funding.

• Prosper Women Entrepreneurs

Prosper Women Entrepreneurs (PWE) was created to advance women-led companies. The Prosper Women Entrepreneurs Startup Accelerator is a for-profit organization focused on increasing women entrepreneurs’ access to growth capital and the number of women investing in early stage capital markets.

• Ready Set Raise

Ready Set Raise is an industry-agnostic national startup accelerator, consciously created by and for women and non-binary founders. Their goal is to find, support, and advance high-growth, pre-seed startups across North America.

Also Read: How women in tech can navigate the 2021 business landscape

• Simona Accelerator: APAC Women Founders

Simona Ventures is a platform that provides access and opportunities to empower businesses and initiatives that solve gender gap challenges.

In early 2019, Simona Ventures presented its first APAC Women Founders Accelerator. The goals of the programme are not only to support gender equality by showcasing inspirational women leaders but also to build a community of women entrepreneurs across Asia Pacific.

• Springboard Accelerator

Springboard’s accelerator program serves as the pipeline into its community of world-class entrepreneurs, investors and business development professionals. Springboard hosts programmes annually in industry verticals such as Life Science, Digital Health, Fashion Tech and Digital Media/Technology. It has partnerships with affiliates in Israel and Australia where it also co-produces programs in Life Science and Technology. Each accelerator class includes between 8–12 companies that are recruited, qualified and advised by its world-class expert network.

• The Refinery

The Refinery, an early-stage accelerator program designed to assist innovative women-led ventures in becoming scaleable and investable businesses. The Refinery engages local intellectual and financial capital to participate in the growth of new businesses while leveraging community resources.

• Women Accelerators

Women Accelerators, formerly de la Femme, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Massachusetts organisation. It is passionate about promoting the advancement of women and bridging the gender gap. This can be seen in the wage gap and under-representation of women in senior-level positions, and the boardroom and in the government, from Corporate 500 to startups.

• Women of Startup Nation Accelerator

Women of Startup Nation (WOSNA) is a four weeks programme, dedicated to accelerating the success of female-founded companies in Israel. The accelerator accepts teams that have at least one female founder.

• Women’s Startup Lab

Women’s Startup Lab is a Silicon Valley-based startup and leadership accelerator for women entrepreneurs globally who have the bold vision to lead the wave of innovation and change that is required for growth and competitiveness in today’s economy.

VC Funding

• All Raise

All Raise is a nonprofit formed by 34 senior female investors and has committed to doubling the number of female partners in the next 10 years.

• BBG Ventures

BBG Ventures is an early-stage fund focused on consumer tech startups with a female founder.

• Backstage Capital

Backstage Capital has directed over US$4million in investments towards underrepresented founders, almost exclusively backing women, people of colour, and LGBT founders.

Also Read: 3 leadership lessons for women in tech

• Chloe Capital

Chloe Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in women. It catalyses solutions to the gender and diversity gap in entrepreneurship by offering investors the opportunity to Do Well by Doing Good. The company recruits women-led technology and tech-enabled companies and uses its national network to drive business after its investments. Chloe Capital is excited to advance the next generation of inspiring leaders as it continues to build a community that supports women entrepreneurs.

• Female Founders Fund

Female Founders Fund makes small, supporting investments in companies sourced by its Venture Scouts but operating in sectors or stages that are currently outside of its focus on institutional seed-stage opportunities.

• Golden Seeds

An early-stage investment firm focused on vibrant opportunities for women-led businesses.

• Jane VC

Jane VC is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests in high-growth female-led startups. It invests globally in visionary founders.

• MergeLane

MergeLane is a VC firm that invests in high-potential startups and venture capital funds with at least one female leader.

• Next Wave Impact

Next Wave is a movement driving impact, diversity, and inclusion in early-stage investing and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Its global fund has 99 women investors, 25 of them women of color, which is led by an experienced investment committee of ten women.

• she1K

Startups can pitch to she1K to get connected to a network of corporate executive women, angel investors, and partners. worldwide, from all industries, to empower innovative entrepreneurship with high growth potential. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis so you can apply anytime you want!

• SoGal Ventures

The first female-led millennial venture capital fund investing in diverse entrepreneurs in the U.S. and Asia. Powered by the SoGal Ecosystem across 40+ cities around the world, SoGal Ventures is galvanising a brand new demographic — millennial and GenZ women and minorities — to take centre stage in entrepreneurship and creation.

• XFactor Ventures

XFactor Ventures is focused on making pre-seed and seed-stage investments in companies with billion-dollar market opportunities that have at least one female founder.

Also Read: Women in tech: Carman Chan’s Click Ventures is one of the most consistent VC funds globally

Crowdfunding

• Kiva

Kiva is a nonprofit organisation that crowd funds small, zero per cent interest loans for entrepreneurs, often prioritises funding women-led ventures.

• IFundWomen

IFundWomen is a startup funding platform providing access to capital through crowdfunding and grants, expert business coaching on all the topics entrepreneurs need to know about, and a network of women business owners that sparks confidence, accelerates knowledge, and ignites action.

• Women You Should Fund

Women You Should Fund is a rewards-based crowdfunding platform brought to you by Women You Should Know, a leading digital hub of women’s and girls’ empowerment.

Do you know of any other initiatives, funds, investors and/or resources catered for women entrepreneurs?

Let us know in the comments so that we can update this list to empower all females for a gender-equal world even further!

This article first appeared here.

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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.

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

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The post Check out this comprehensive list of 46 startup resources and opportunities for women appeared first on e27.

Naluri Hidup, a Malaysia-headquartered digital health service provider, has closed a new funding round worth US$5 million, led by Singaporean VC firm Integra Partners.

Existing backers — strategic investors Duopharma Biotech and Pathology Asia, and VC firm M Venture Partners — also participated.

Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia (Japan), Palm Drive Capital (New York), INP Capital (Vancouver), Hibiscus Fund (a VC fund managed by RHL Ventures and Korea’s KB Investment) also joined Naluri’s latest round.

Naluri will use the funds to expand operations in Singapore and Indonesia, as well as launch its service in Thailand and the Philippines.

Also Read: Feeling deflated, defeated and downright tired as a founder? You are not alone

It also plans to deepen its tech and data science capabilities to enhance its product and predictive algorithms including natural language processing and depression detection, as well as device connectivity and patient monitoring.

The startup will also continue to invest in clinical research to strengthen the evidence-base in diabetes, renal, cardiovascular, cancer and mental health therapeutic areas, including launching clinical research in Europe.

Naluri was co-founded in 2017 by Azran Osman-Rani (CEO), former chief of iflix Malaysia and AirAsia, with Dr. Jeremy Ting and Dr. Hariyati Shahrima.

The Kuala Lumpur-headquartered startup offers human-led and AI-augmented digital health coaching that aims to transform the lives of people who are at risk of, or managing, chronic and mental health conditions.

Premised on the fundamental understanding that physical and mental health are inextricably interconnected, the company provides structured multi-disciplinary support to those affected by diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, anxiety and depression, as well as advanced chronic conditions such as renal disease and cancer.

Working with leading corporates in the region, including Reckitt, AXA Affin, and SP Setia, Naluri helps contain rising healthcare expenditure and improves employee productivity and engagement.

In 2019, Naluri had raised US$1.5 million in an oversubscribed pre-Series A round of funding, led by Global Founders Capital.

CEO Osman-Rani said: “With mental health at the fore in light of the pandemic, we are delighted that companies are now taking bolder steps to tackle physical and mental health holistically.”

Also Read: Malaysian healthtech startup Naluri raises US$250K seed funding from 500 Startups, BioMark

“Our work shows that Naluri is taking a differentiated and practical approach to healthcare that really gets at the root of the problems facing healthcare provisioning in Southeast Asia today, with the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases driving unsustainably high medical inflation, and the rise of mental health issues exacerbated by the pressures of Covid-19,” said Jennifer Ho, principal at Integra Partners.

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Image Credit: Naluri

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Stemly, a Singapore-based SaaS platform that helps businesses lower their working capital and financing costs, has raised US$2.5 million in a seed financing round.

The post Stemly saves businesses from high operational costs, lands US$2.5M seed funding appeared first on e27.

It is often surprising how trends in our digital behaviour can change in such little time. The newest, most cutting-edge technologies of today can seem outdated in just a year. 2020 was a defining year for many mobile app developers precisely because of the global health crisis whose impact changed virtually every aspect of how we work, how we play, and how we live. For some mobile apps, they saw immense growth due to the amount of time people have been forced to spend with their mobile devices. For others, many setbacks and challenges were experienced.

With such an unpredictable and often precarious market, the resilience of industries and verticals is often defined by the choices that each developer makes. Are they able to adapt swiftly and seamlessly to our fast-changing times or will they lag behind? More than simply adapting and staying afloat, will they be able to soar above the challenges of present times and be able to come up with informed strategies using data?

In order to address these questions and help ecosystem players come up with solutions based on hard data, global app marketing analytics platform Adjust recently released their latest Mobile App Growth report. It is a comprehensive study that charts growth and retention trends around the globe covering the tumultuous year of 2020.

Also read: Leading Aichi into the future with collaborations and innovations

“Now more than ever, mobile marketers need a roadmap to identify just the right users, in just the right locales, at just the right points in their journey. Adjust’s data, coupled with Facebook’s insights into user preferences and actions, enables marketers to target and retain their highest-value users,” explained Andrey Kazakov, COO of Adjust.

Their first Mobile App Growth Report, launched in 2019, provided a breakdown of growth potential, aiming to help marketers extend their footprint and scale successfully. In their latest report — released in partnership with Facebook — they want to provide an anatomy of app growth, with an examination of global and vertical trends, and a data-based analysis of some of the assumed wisdom of growth marketing.

Being a leader in the mobile marketing world and championing growth through the power of data, Adjust’s slew of solutions include measurement, fraud prevention, cybersecurity, and automation tools. The company’s mission is to make mobile marketing simpler, smarter, and more secure for the more than 50,000 apps working with Adjust. Their annual report is only one of the many ways that the company intends to help mobile marketers out there who are looking to restrategise and sharpen their insights when it comes to mobile apps.

Highlights from the report

In the brand new report from Adjust, the macro-environment of the app economy has been laid bare, revealing key insights into the health of the industry and the enormous changes rippling through it over the course of 2020. Using data from Adjust’s platform, The Mobile App Growth Report uncovers which markets are growing fastest and identifies the key app verticals that are driving growth.

Despite 2020 being a tumultuous year, the Mobile App Growth Report reveals that many app verticals actually experienced growth, proving that mobile is incredibly shock-resistant as an industry. Those verticals that did experience an initial negative impact at the start of the pandemic such as food & drink or travel rebounded strongly over the summer months. Finally, huge growth in Southeast Asia and South America demonstrates that apps with the right expansion strategy can still prosper and rapidly grow.

Also read: How this Taiwan-based company adds purpose to your purchase

As well as taking a look at the overall health of the app economy, the Mobile App Growth Report provides a data-based analysis of growth marketing trends, zooming in on those verticals and regions that went through the most dynamic change to show app marketers where the highest growth potential can be found. The biggest insights include:

• Gaming apps continue to win globally, topping the charts as the highest-ranking vertical by Growth Score. This is in no small part due to innovative business models like hypercasual, instantly playable games that are designed to engage with simplistic, satisfying mechanics.
• India became the fastest growing app market in the world with 700 million unique mobile phone subscribers, comprising 451 million internet users. Entertainment & Business Apps were the fastest-growing verticals, while e-commerce lagged behind.
• APAC is the big story for e-commerce in 2020, with Korea and Vietnam topping the charts as the two fastest-growing markets in mobile-first commerce. For Vietnam in particular, apps there have massive room to grow, building in untapped markets with eager consumers.
• The trend to watch in Entertainment apps is the rise of subscriptions. According to research conducted by Adjust, using Apptopia data, some 79% of the top 225 apps in the Google Play Store and 49% of the top 225 apps in the App Store are subscription-based — despite making up less than 1% of apps overall.

Future-proof your strategies for mobile marketing

Looking forward to the rest of 2021, there is cause for cautious optimism, with investment bank Morgan Stanley predicting a 20% increase in online advertising in 2021. Indeed, the growth of mobile in 2020 hastened timelines for the transition to mobile-first for many brands. Meaning marketers will need to face new growth opportunities — as well as challenges — along the way.

“The mobile app is truly a global business. It’s easy to start because of the low barrier of entry, but also easy to fail if you do not understand the markets and users well,” shared Bryan Wang, Adjust’s Director of Marketing Science, Greater China Region & Gaming. He added, “The data and insight in this report can help app advertisers identify their new market entry strategies and enable the winning tactics effectively.”

Also read: Fundraising masterclass for founders with Founders Grindstone

Through this report, Adjust hopes that mobile marketers and app developers will be able to strengthen their products and services while remaining agile to the unpredictability of the future.

For more details on the best tactics for growth in 2021 and more insights into the global app economy, download the Mobile App Growth Report from Adjust.

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

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This article is published as a part of a partnership with Future Food Asia. Iamus is one of the 10 finalists of the US$100,000 Future Food Asia (FFA) 2021 Award to be hosted from June 7-11.

Over the past few years, robots have found a home in the agriculture industry. Their inclusion comes as no surprise as they manage time-consuming and repetitive tasks on the farm. They may not fill the shoes of our perception built on fan favourites such as R2D2 in Star Wars, but robots are making food production more efficient.

The poultry industry is no different, and robots in the coop are helping boost food security, improve animal health and welfare as well as contribute to better labour conditions and farm profits. But can these robots go from task based work to providing predictive insights?

 From Filipino small-holders to Irish large-scale processors

Six years ago Shane Kiernan cofounded a business in the Philippines that provides outsourced manpower solutions to the poultry industry – from cleaning poultry sheds to vaccinating baby chicks they did it all. In the course of this business they observed all the challenges and opportunities in poultry production and were particularly curious to understand the drivers behind the wide degree of variability seen in the performance of poultry growers.

One question stuck with Kiernan: why was it that the same tiny proportion of farmers typically outperformed their cohort despite having older equipment or buildings? Fortunately his curiosity carried him to a conversation with Manor Farm, the largest poultry processor in Ireland.

A series of meetings followed where my curiosity validated farm variability is a US$9 billion annual problem for the poultry industry– an industry where low margins and animal welfare pressures abound.

Globally with over 350,000 poultry sheds raising 60 billion birds annually for protein consumption the market was massive but what was the solution to the challenges?

Also Read: This robotic machine can detect, locate and pick the harvestable crops from your farm and store them in a bin

Gallus: A chicken’s best friend

With investment from the family behind Manor Farm and others involved in animal feed milling, Kiernan started Iamus in 2018. Since then Iamus have developed their “Gallus” solution.

An integrated solution that acquires proprietary data from a mesh of static sensors and an autonomous robot that results in predictive recommendations to the customer that lead to improved margins and better animal welfare outcomes.

This year the team is undertaking extensive customer validation trials in Ireland and Thailand.

The company has invested their time and capital on building the hardware and software components of their. Last year they developed a machine vision capability in their robot. Up to this point our robot relied on non-visual sensors to navigate the poultry shed environment and detect the birds.

“There was a further benefit to machine vision – we could see the birds! In fact we could do more than just see the birds, we could categorise them based on established animal welfare indicators. The possible outcomes that arise from this capability was huge and is our biggest achievement to date allowing us to provide predictive interventions that create enormous value for our customers.” said Kiernan.

Tackling welfare and wastage

The mission at Iamus is to minimise waste in poultry through real-time animal welfare solutions. Gallus aims to change production outcomes by offering predictive insight to poultry producers so they can make necessary and timely interventions that lead to improved margins and better animal welfare outcomes.

Both in Asia and Europe, the robot solution is in great demand, yet they remain constrained by capital and resources to install Gallus. “The Future Food Asia Award Finals is a tremendous opportunity for us to spread our message, share our vision, engage new stakeholders and hopefully make the world a better place” says Kiernan.

Poultry, specifically chicken, is an already efficient source of protein that is the choice of billons of people around the world. Yet wasted opportunities to further optimise production interventions are missed that negatively impact on the carbon footprint and bottom of the line.

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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.

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

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Despite a successful career as a woman in the field of science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM), like many other women, I did not have it easy when I first started out as an ambitious graduate in the construction industry.

When it came to deciding where I should apply for my first job, my parents were very hesitant that the construction sector was the right field for a young woman. The industry had long been seen as a male-dominated sector that was labour intensive and had an expectation of long working hours.

Nonetheless, in spite of my parents’ recommendations I was drawn to the technical side of construction, and what I saw as the inherent beauty of the underlying calculations, and so was determined to challenge the stereotype.

Take the first step

From my beginnings as a junior architectural technician, I have gone on to diversify my experience and build up considerable knowledge in construction projects.

I am proud to be continuing to pursue my passion for numbers and engineering as the leading senior female asset valuer at my current employer, where I conduct site inspections and collect and analyse data to assess replacement costs for different types of buildings.

It is also exciting to be a senior member of a cutting-edge team using new cloud and analytics technologies and data to build models that automate valuations for large projects.

But like so many other women in STEM will have experienced, my career has been one full of challenges as I faced numerous cultural and workplace hurdles.

Also Read: Check out this comprehensive list of 46 startup resources and opportunities for women

Despite the industry’s best efforts, women remain under-represented and I think now is the right moment for a new push to encourage female talent into roles including surveying and asset valuation– a career path too many women are still unaware of.

A just cause for Singapore to champion

Although more women are pursuing degrees in STEM courses at Singapore universities, there is still a leaky pipeline of talent in related jobs, as noted in a recent study by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

In fact, only 58 per cent of women with STEM qualifications continued to work in related jobs after graduation compared with 70 per cent for men– a phenomenon that is true globally.

Data from UNESCO, meanwhile, showed that only 33 per cent of researchers are women though they represent 45 per cent of students at the Bachelor’s level of study.

The same study from NTU found that women leave STEM careers, not because of a lack of interest or confidence, but because they encounter barriers of diversity and inclusion.

Women often feel marginalised at work as their male counterparts are more likely to be employed and make career progress than they are.

A US$13T opportunity hiding in plain sight

While fortunately, this has not happened to me personally, many women do face discrimination as colleagues question or do things that do not respect them and undermine their authority in the workplace.

Unfortunately, it remains the case that many parents still think that STEM fields are more suitable for men rather than for women, an attitude that can strongly influence the psychology of developing young minds.

Also Read: Building the rainbow bridge: How businesses can foster Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace

These gender biases lead too many women to feel as if they do not belong in their jobs, even as the under-representation of women remains concerning and has real economic consequences.

According to the McKinsey Global Institute, the global GDP could increase as much as $13 trillion in 2030 if we took action now to close the gender gap.

Women are important contributors to the discovery and development of new technologies in jobs such as architecture, real estate, information technology, and the natural physical and mathematical sciences that are central to innovation and economic growth.

My position is clear: more can and must be done to balance gender equality in STEM in Singapore and elsewhere.

Closing the STEM gap

My advice to talented young women looking to develop a fulfilling career in STEM may seem obvious but it is nonetheless important to reiterate – you must be willing to follow your passions and put in the hard work.

Closing the gender gap will take more than grit and an individual’s initiative; it requires the collective action of the industry as a whole to deliver real and lasting change.

Employers are central to helping tackle negative stereotypes at the workplace by listening more to women and encouraging equality and diversity in their hiring practices.

By encouraging regular discussions on gender inequity and proactively putting systems and practices in place that recognise and remove conscious and implicit bias, they can begin to shift cultural norms and help promote careers that talented female graduates will be drawn to.

Men must also act as compelling catalysts for other men in positions of power to engage in equitable workplace practices that support women through recognition and promotion where earned.

Also Read: Singapore faces talent crunch for engineering and product manager roles: Report

Seizing this moment of global transformation

Various programmes in the industry, including here in Singapore, are already helping to create a supportive ecosystem that empowers women to pursue their dreams in this exciting field that I am so thrilled to work in.

These initiatives create awareness around the importance of inclusivity and representation, while also providing inspiring role models and networking opportunities for young women.

Gender bias is a systemic issue that will take time to change, but I am optimistic now is the right moment to redouble our efforts as the world starts afresh after a deadly pandemic.

So much of our old thinking has already been challenged and gone out the window; so much of the way we work and assumptions we held just twelve months ago will never be the same again.

Getting more women into STEM is a just cause for Singapore and other leading innovation hubs to champion – I hope only to serve as a reminder to the Class of 2021 that it is possible.

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Kumu, a live-streaming app based in the Philippines, today announced that it has raised an undisclosed Series B funding round co-led by SIG, who is also a shareholder in ByteDance, and Openspace Ventures.

The funding round included existing investors Summit Media, Kickstart Ventures, Foxmont Capital Partners, and Gobi-Core Philippine Fund.

It also introduced new investors Gentree Fund, the venture vehicle of HM Investment Management, and Endeavor Catalyst Fund by the global non-profit Endeavor.

In a press statement, Kumu stated that it will use the new funding to scale its current operations. The startup said that it has experienced “tremendous growth” over the past year when it topped the Google Play rankings in the Philippines, with users spending almost an hour per day on the app.

“Our success lies in our ability to focus on Kumu partners and users, connecting them in creative ways,” says Angelo Mendez, Chief of Content and Co-Founder of Kumu.

Also Read: Philippines-based livestream mobile app Kumu raises US$1.2M seed funding

In April 2020, Kumu announced its Series A funding round. This funding round included an investment from Gobi-Core Philippine Fund (GCPF), a US$10 million fund jointly formed by Gobi Partners and Philippine VC firm Core Capital.

The company raised its US$1.2 million seed funding round in 2018. The funding was led by Summit Media, with a personal angel investment from the company’s president and CEO Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng.

Kumu has recently made announcements of high-profile hires in the company. On June 8, the startup announced the appointment of Crystal Widjaja as its new Chief Product Officer. Widjaja is known as the Chief of Staff and SVP of Growth at Gojek, in addition to being Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Silicon Valley growth school Reforge.

In May, the company also announced the appointment of Chief Growth Officer Alex Tshering, former SVP of newly listed apparel brand FIGS.

Mark Velasquez, former Director at ING Philippines and Vice President at Credit Suisse, was named as CFO in April.

Live streaming continues to gain traction in various markets around the world, including Southeast Asia. In this contributed post to e27, Kay Banzon wrote that a Market Research Future report projected that the live streaming market will be valued at US$247.3 billion by 2027.

“This expansion is attributed to the rise of various social media platforms and the growing interest and involvement of content producers and consumers worldwide,” she said.

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Image Credit: Kumu

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The Founder on Founder Podcast series is a weekly podcast hosted by Olivier Raussin, Managing Partner at FEBE Ventures, featuring tech entrepreneurs with a focus on Southeast Asia’s innovation business and tech landscape.

Featured in this episode is Thomas Miklavec, a serial French entrepreneur and founder of POC Pharma, a B2B service platform connecting the pharmaceutical world.

Before starting his career as a serial entrepreneur in emerging markets in the pharmacy space, Miklavec took some initiatives for NGO work during his undergraduate, working on HIV/AIDS programmes mostly in Africa. He supported companies to build plans, prevent and provide care and treatment for HIV/AIDS patients.

He then pursued an MBA from Harvard Business School and spent a few years at McKinsey as a consultant in strategy. With a plan to build the most scalable and sustainable venture that can be replicated from one country to another, Miklavec built Sanisphere.

Sanisphere is a data company that supports pharmaceutical companies and has expanded in over 20 countries in Asia and Africa. 

After that, Miklavec went on and built POC Pharma with takeaways on what he has learned from Sanisphere.

Based in Hong Kong with a Southeast Asia regional play starting with the Vietnam market, POC Pharma is a SaaS company helping the stakeholders in the Pharmacy Channel (drug manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, pharmacies, payers …) to digitally manage their interactions and collaborative workflows. 

Also Read: Early-stage learnings from former Grab employee on building a startup to help labour in Indonesia

When working in a highly regulated sector such as pharmaceuticals, Miklavec advised on being very aware of the framework that you are working in and adapt your product to the market.

With POC Pharma being VC-backed, it has given him more opportunities to invest in his product better than he did as a bootstrap entrepreneur when building Sanisphere.

When asked about fundraising, he said: “Have a very clear vision about how you define success. What do you want to do when you launch this venture? What are your objectives? Think twice about your aspiration and ambition to define what you really need. From then you can consider bootstrapping, small funding, or even very big funding.” 

Like all other entrepreneurs, founders are often overwhelmed with many projects and responsibilities and often struggle between the ‘dreamy’ essence of being an entrepreneur to dealing with concrete things on a day to day basis.

It is recommended to have this agility, swinging from ‘dreaming’ to doing concrete tasks and being focused on execution and gaining more focus. The technique he uses to leverage these priorities is taken from what he learned when at McKinsey is, “Zoom in, zoom out”. 

“Try to regularly find some topics where you want to zoom in and go very deep from time to time and up to when things are under control, and zooming out.

So after you have done that. take a step back and think how does it fit into the big picture, and what is the purpose that I am trying to serve here? If you zoom out too much, you have a big risk of getting disconnected and not knowing the direction or even what the daily tasks that you are executing.”

The final and simple takeaway that Thomas would like share at the end of the day is, 

“Be proud of what you do, be proud of who you are and how you behave as these are what is left when things are over.”

Listen to the full podcast episode here.

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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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The post Pharma entrepreneur Thomas Miklavec shares his journey on expanding his startup across SEA appeared first on e27.

Ever considered filing patents for the tech solutions that you have built? What are the benefits of having your patents filed? What kind of preparation do you need to make? Is the process going to be difficult? What are the Do’s and Don’ts?

Meet Dr D’vorah Graeser, who helps founders successfully navigate the world of patents. Dr Graeser and I break down everything so you can walk away as an expert in patents –just like her.

If you don’t see the player above, click on the link below to listen directly!

Acast

Apple

Spotify

Stitcher

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This article was first published on We Live To Build.

Image Credit: Michal Czyz on Unsplash

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