Singapore-headquartered Workmate, which offers an end-to-end online staffing platform, announced today that it has received a US$10 million loan from the UK-based lending platform Lendable.

The startup has raised a total of US$15.2 million so far from a slew of investors, including  Atlas Ventures, Gobi Partners, and Beacon VC, the corporate venture capital arm of Kasikornbank,

With the fresh funds, Workmate intends to onboard more workers in Indonesia and Thailand.

Founded in 2015, Workmate aims to make it easier for companies to find reliable and consistent blue-collar employees.

The way it works is that all workers are pre-screened by the startup before being made available for hire on the platform, in order to ensure quality and safety.

Also Read: On-demand staffing platform Workmate raises US$5.2M funding, looking to put orders in region’s informal labor economy

Businesses then request staff through the platform and are matched with workers nearby who have the required experience. They can view each worker’s experience, ratings, and performance history, before confirming which workers they want.

The platform also manages contracts, attendance, timesheets, and worker payments.

In addition to that, workers also receive protection from wage fraud and are provided social security, insurance incentives, and access to financial support.

“The traditional staffing model is very manual and has very little technology adoption, it hasn’t changed much in 40 years. It’s a big market that is ripe for disruption. This model is gaining traction internationally – even Uber has just announced it launched a staffing solution called Uber Works in the US,” Mathew Ward, co-founder of Workmate, had previously stated in a press release.

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Image Credit: Workmate

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To view the full webinar click here. Want to learn more? Join the second episode of Scaling your startup across borders on Tuesday, 6 July. Sign up for free here.

Over the past three years, I have spoken to hundreds of startup founders and entrepreneurs in the capacity of a journalist. One common point of discussion has been about scaling startups across borders- why it is important and what are some of the common challenges faced by startups. The answer to the first question is simple: scaling equals more opportunities, more avenues to do business, more reach and thus, more growth. The answer to the second one can be many things- lack of support, lack of funds, lack of a proper network, weak team and most important of all, the lack of knowledge.

With the world increasingly becoming more connected (pandemic aside), from the surface, it may seem like scaling across borders is an easy task but the truth is far from it. According to a research paper published by Deloitte, the chances of a new enterprise to ascend and scale up are merely 0.5%, which means that only 1 out of 200 surviving new enterprises are able to expand their business. Unicorns make up the even smaller subset of scale-ups; only 104 startups are valued at over $1 billion.

Also read: How Malaysia nurtured Slurp and why the company is ready to take on the region

The main reason why not many startups are able to successfully expand their business is the lack of proper know-how. The expansion of a business entails several things: understanding the product-market fit, building a team on the ground, being aware of the compliance requirements in the new market, and more.

Having in-depth knowledge and the right skills is a necessity for founders looking to scale their startups beyond borders.

Providing startup founders and entrepreneurs with the know-how to scale across borders

With the goal of empowering startup founders and entrepreneurs with the right knowledge to expand their business across borders successfully, payroll and compliance platform Deel recently conducted a one-hour webinar in partnership with AI and fintech startup Plentina.

The topic of the session was “Scaling your startup across borders: A closer look at building your local entity and remote team”. Held virtually on 18th May, the main highlights of the webinar were discussions on legal and regulatory challenges of setting up a remote local entity and ways to build a remote team culture among other related topics. The session was helmed by Abhinav Krishna, Head of Expansion APAC of Deel, and Earl Valencia, Co-Founder of Plentina, which is headquartered in the United States and is currently expanding in Southeast Asia. The webinar was moderated by Madhurima Bhattacharya, Senior Manager of Bain & Company.

Leveraging relevant industry experience to help entrepreneurs understand the nuances of business expansion

The panellists and the moderator of the webinar brought in decades of relevant industry experience and leveraged their knowledge to explain the nuances of business expansion and why it is more pertinent in today’s climate.

Deel’s Abhinav comes with extensive experience in entrepreneurship and handling business across different countries. After graduating from the National University of Singapore and before starting Deel, Abhinav founded an Enterprise Healthcare platform OurHealthMate where he went on to work with clients like Airbus, Colgate and Sony among others for eight years. His time at OurHealthMate gave him insights into the struggles of working with remote teams and that is what led to Deel- a newly-crowned unicorn startup that helps companies with international payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance. With their Series C of $156 million raised, Deel’s valuation has reached $1.25 billion in just under 24 months.

Also read: MaGIC kicks off Malaysia Startup Hub for regional expansion

Earl is the Co-founder of Plentina that helps retailers in emerging markets offer their customers the ability to pay with credit even without a credit card comes with rich industry experience in helping companies with digital transformation by leveraging technology and innovation. He has previously worked in the fields of digital transformation as well as tech and innovation at various tech. Earl spent 4 years in the Philippines and co-founded QBO, the National Innovation Center of the Philippines, IdeaSpace Foundation, the leading incubator and accelerator based in Manila and was the VP of Corporate Development and Innovation at Smart/PLDT, the largest telco in the Philippines. For his contributions, he was awarded the title of One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men and Women of the country by the President of the Philippines.

Madhurima Bhattacharya specializes in advising companies in technology and private equity sectors with questions on strategy, due diligence, growth and operations. An alumnus of the National University of Singapore and Chicago Booth School of Business, Madhurima has enjoyed the flexibility of being able to work across four continents and “future of work” remains a topic close to heart.

Opportunities and challenges faced by remote teams in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has always been the land of opportunities and there is no dearth of talent here. Many foreign companies are hiring remote staff from the region. However, the main barrier has always been a lack of compliance systems.

“I read in an article that around 55 per cent of the people hired remotely don’t get paid on time. The relationship between clients and contractors is increasingly becoming alienating. They don’t feel like a part of the team. The idea of “outsourcing to reduce costs” is archaic and it needs to go away for remote team members to feel like a part of the bigger picture,” shared Abhinav.

Earl added, “the key to a better and more resilient future is having a unified approach- looking at Southeast Asia as one big ecosystem with massive opportunities and scope for growth and development. That way we can produce unicorns that can have a presence across multiple countries. This is where standardised payment compliance systems can make hiring remote teams and scaling across international borders easier.”

Setting up a local entity: When to do it and how to go about it

Abhinav shares from experience that for most companies, once their home team grows to 20 to 30 people, they start incorporating in a new country. “However, I have seen companies with 100 employees in their home country and still not incorporating. That might work in rare cases but on average the golden number is between 20 and 30 based on what I have seen on the client-side so far.”

On the other hand, Earl believes that the perfect time to start looking across borders is once your team has five members in the home country. This contrast in itself goes to show that there is no right or wrong time to scale your business- it depends on the type of business, readiness and the kind of talent you are tapping into.

Also read: The future of mobile: how did mobile apps fare in 2020?

It is crucial to remember that when setting up a local entity and incorporating it in a new country, factors like admin costs, HR, accounting and other logistics, such as payroll, taxes, and withholding must be taken into account.

This is where Deel is stepping up and helping startups with international payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance in some 150 countries.

Interested to take the jump and scale beyond borders? Learn more about Deel and get special discounts as an e27 member. Visit https://www.letsdeel.com/partners/e27

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Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

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In this year’s SelectUSA Investment Summit, an annual flagship event organised by the US Department of Commerce to promote foreign investment to the country, four startups from Singapore drew attention and won top places.

Sophie’s BioNutrients (alternative protein company) and NextBillion.ai (an AI-powered hyperlocal solutions startup) came in top at the CleanTech and Software industry pitch sessions, wheras NDR Medical Technology (aims to simplify surgery using AI and robotics) and Zero-Error Systems or ZES (develops ultra-low soft-error solutions for space and autonomous vehicles) bagged second place in the MedTech and Asia Pacific regional sessions at the event, which saw US President Joseph Biden making welcome remarks.

A total of eight Singaporean startups competed against more than 100 early to mid-stage global startups from 46 countries in 12 categories and pitched to VCs, corporate investors, and tech ecosystem partners based in the US.

Also Read: Alt.Flex.Eat: Flexitarianism is the flavour of the SEAson

These startups stand to gain several benefits, including assistance in expanding and growing to the US market.

In this email interview, Christian Koschil, Acting Senior Commercial Officer, US Department of Commerce, US Embassy, Singapore, talks to e27 about the summit, the four Singapore startups, and compares the ecosystems of the two countries.

Edited excerpts:

What is SelectUSA? What are the key objectives of this competition? How many startups from Southeast Asia get selected every year?

SelectUSA is a US federal-level programme dedicated to facilitating and promoting high-impact business investment into the country.

The event provides services to two primary clients: economic development organisations (EDOs) at the regional, state, city, and local levels; and business investors from outside the US.

The SelectUSA Tech programme connects early-stage and global tech startups/companies to prospects for advancement in the US market.

This year’s summit was held virtually from June 7-11. Startups that fulfilled certain criteria were picked to take part in the industry-focused and regional pitching sessions. The criteria were: 1) they needed to be less than eight years old, 2) had up to US$10 million in revenue, 3) had up to 40 employees, and 4) were developing a new technology product or service, or delivering an existing technology to a market in new ways.

This year, startups from around the world competed across 13 pitching sessions. Four regional pitching sessions allowed winners of in-market pitching events held earlier in 2021 to compete against other winners from their region.

Meanwhile, over 200 companies worldwide applied for a spot in one of the nine industry pitching sessions. More than 110 companies representing 46 markets took part across these 13 pitching sessions.

Eight Singapore-based startups and eight more startups from the rest of Southeast Asia were selected to participate.

Sophie’s BioNutrients and NextBillion.ai emerged winners in the cleantech and software industry pitch sessions. NDR Medical Technology and ZES came in second in the medtech and Asia-Pacific regional sessions.

The top-placed startup for each session was awarded legal and investment structuring advisory services sponsored by the International Network of Boutique and Independent Law Firms.

What potentials does the US government see in these four Singaporean startups?

Singapore has one of the most vibrant startup ecosystems in the world and it focuses on cutting-edge technologies that address global business challenges.

Singapore-based tech startups have successfully scaled and commercialised their products in the US by tapping on strategic market opportunities, a talented workforce, strong R&D and intellectual property protection systems, and robust supply chains in the US.

Similarly, the four Singapore startups that won have great potential to grow their businesses in the US market.

Will the government assist these build and grow in the US?

We work closely with EDOs in 50 different states across the US. We connect companies to the EDOs based on the states they would like to establish a presence in. The local economic developers can share information about the available grants and incentives, which foreign companies can leverage.

Also Read: Fixing food waste problem means less hungry people and a great economy

SelectUSA also provides bespoke market research reports and helps companies navigate the federal system and regulations.

Since it is a government-run programme, will the government closely monitor these companies? Will the US government partner with these startups on their new business and projects?

We provide the companies with the initial support they need to enter the US market, and we provide continuous support as they expand their operations across the country.

The SelectUSA programme does not monitor their business in the US and does not require any partnership agreements to provide support.

Does the US government plan to further boost bilateral relations with Singapore through new programmes and initiatives?

A trade financing and investment cooperation MOU was signed by the US Department of Commerce and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), Singapore, in December 2020. The US Commercial Service in Singapore works closely with MTI and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on several initiatives.

One good example is the SelectUSA Tech ASEAN event, which took place January 26-27, 2021. Minister Chan Chun Sing was a key speaker during the event and he shared with the participating tech companies on investment and business opportunities in the US.

Moving forward, would you be looking to partner with more startups and bring them to the US market?

We work closely with our partners such as Enterprise Singapore, IMDA, startup accelerators, venture capitalists, and local universities, and we share with startups on US market entry strategies and the support we can provide as they expand into the US.

What are the key differences between the US and Singapore’s startup ecosystems? What lessons can Singapore’s startups draw from their US peers?

Both the US and Singapore have strong, vibrant, and diverse startup ecosystems. Startups in the US practise a global mindset that drives them for exponential growth from day one. This is supported by access to funding but is also supported by other driving factors like risk tolerance, and an open and collaborative mindset, where there is a flow of information and ideas.

Also Read: Microsoft’s VC arm infuses US$6.25M into hyperlocal solutions startup NextBillion.ai

The US has some of the highest-valued startups in the world and access to alternate funding sources through crowdfunding, angel investors, and VCs in comparison to European and Asian startup ecosystems.

Singapore has one of the fastest-growing startup ecosystems, globally. As per Startup SG, an initiative by Enterprise Singapore, the local ecosystem comprises 3,458 startups, 635 investors, and 199 incubators. Singapore government agencies such as Enterprise Singapore and IMDA organise many initiatives and programmes in collaboration with public and private sector partners to provide the local startup community with tools and resources to innovate, test, and scale their ideas.

We will continue to work closely with Singapore-based startups to help them launch and expand their presence in the United States. The U.S. market provides abundant opportunities for foreign companies to scale their businesses globally.

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Image Credit: US Department of Commerce, US Embassy, Singapore.

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Taiwan has a bustling startup ecosystem with many first-time entrepreneurs taking the plunge to start their own business. In fact, according to a PwC survey, over 73 per cent of the startup founders in Taiwan last year were first-time entrepreneurs. Interestingly, these founders had an average prior work experience of more than 11 years. This indicates that mature players who have been working as a part of key industries for decades are also motivated to build their own business in Taiwan and take the jump. As such, the country’s burgeoning startup ecosystem has emerged as one of the leaders in the APAC region in the past few years.

However, there is still a lot of scope for growth for the region’s startups and that can come with scalability. To attain new markets and reach new heights, local startups need to expand beyond borders, and Southeast Asia is just the right market. With a rising middle class, increased internet penetration and smartphone usage, as well as a peaking internet economy, Southeast Asia has a lot of untapped potential.

But while Taiwan’s startup ecosystem has been steadily gaining momentum, the startups are still struggling to enter the region and establish a base here. As per reports, in 2020, only 26 per cent of startups were able to enter Southeast Asia (and this is including India) — this was a significant drop from 46 per cent in 2019.

Also read: Scaling your startup: A closer look at building your local entity and remote teams

To help Taiwan-based startups expand their reach across Southeast Asia, the Science & Technology Policy Research and Information Center (STPI) launched its Vision Programme. With the main goal of giving high-potential tech startups a global boost, this initiative has been helping Taiwan-based startups make meaningful partnerships and collaborations to realise their full potential for four years now.

Organised by STPI and supported by MOST, the Vision Programme seeks to help Taiwan-based startups build global connections.

For the Southeast Asia track of the Program, STPI chose to partner with e27 to help empower Taiwan-based startups to boost their chances of success when it comes to entering and scaling in the region. For years, e27 has been one of APAC’s go-to platforms for news, community, events, talent, funding, and more. Its competence in designing and running successful accelerators, private partner deal flows, and matching programmes has established its track record of bridging access to markets and building many different partnerships in its vast network.

Fostering meaningful connections and collaborations through networking sessions and more

This year, in its fifth edition, STPI’s Vision Programme successfully facilitated ecosystem connections to support the business development goals of participating startups.

From one-on-one mentorship sessions to focused roundtable discussions and country insights — the programme entailed various activities with a keen focus on sharing insights on business growth and scalability across different markets in Southeast Asia.

e27 also facilitated connections between local startups and potential partners. The ecosystem connection exercise under the Vision Programme this year yielded notable positive results in terms of insights, revenue, and funding potential for the participating startups.

“The reason we applied for the Vision Programme is because we would like to do business development in the SEA market. Singapore is the heart of the SEA. Our goal is to build connections with potential strategy partners and do business together to provide values to our target audience, manufacturing SMEs,” shared Bruce King, Business Development at GoodLinker.

Also read: How Malaysia nurtured Slurp and why the company is ready to take on the region

King believes that joining the programme allowed them to meet their goal of establishing connections across the region. “First, a professional media coverage caught the eye of some business owners from Malaysia and Indonesia. Our local partners [also] had a site visit. We had more than 10 online meetings to pitch with different organisations, investors, and cooperates. Now, we are able to keep sharing our successful cases with them until we launch our series-A fundraising project in 2022.”

e27 secured experienced Taiwan-based entrepreneurs and investment professionals to coach the startups. To help foster scalability, selected country mentors offered assistance to support startups as and when they are ready to enter their respective markets.

Another winning element of the programme was the Founder’s drinks conducted on April 14th 2021. This casual networking session organised at the Taiwan Tech Arena successfully connected startups from the US and Southeast Asian markets to local mentors and VCs.

The Online Demo Day conducted virtually on April 28th 2021 was attended by over a hundred participants including investors, startup founders, government representatives, accelerators, and innovators.

Bou-Wen Lin, STPI Director, thanked all participants and supporters and shared that despite most of the events shifting online due to COVID-19, this year’s programme has been quite successful.

Finding a global audience

Through the programme’s partnership with e27, participating startups gained exposure that allowed them to establish important visibility on a worldwide platform. Jeff Hu, CEO and Co-founder of Turing Chain explained that through e27’s coverage, Turing Chain was introduced to a slew of opportunities across the region.

“e27’s great article has helped us to be reposted by UNESCO’s IIEP ETICO to address Turing Certs’ commitment to deal with education fraud. We became in touch with reputable organisations such as Accenture Ventures (Singapore), Invest Tokyo (Japan), Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines, Asian Institute of Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaysia), NIA (Thailand), Scape (Singapore), XS APAC (Singapore), and Dusit (Thailand),” shared Hu.

Also read: MaGIC kicks off Malaysia Startup Hub for regional expansion

Not only that, the company also earned active contacts from the Malaysian government and a popular university in the Philippines. Hu added, “more than 15 thousand Taiwanese students from the National Tsing Hua University and the National Taipei University of Business will be using Turing Certs for official diplomas since July. Thanks to e27’s promotion.”

These are only some of the benefits yielded through the e27 partnership, whose mission has always been about empowering startups to grow and succeed in Southeast Asia and beyond. Dustin Masancay of e27 shared, “We’ve forged a solid relationship with STPI through the years. We thank them for continually believing in us to plan and execute this programme with great success. To this end, I would like to acknowledge the generous support of our friends from the ecosystem — government agencies, corporates, association and entrepreneur support organisations — for mentoring and discussing partnership opportunities with the Vision Programme startups.”

Helping startups realise their full potential in the new normal

Created specifically as a support system for the Taiwan government’s technology-based policies, STPI exists to help Taiwan address the growing demands of globalisation and the emerging knowledge economy. STPI functions as the government’s think-tank for science and technology policy and the major platforms for incorporating Taiwan’s research communities whose primary mission is to empower Taiwan’s digital economy.

Their role becomes even more pertinent in the new normal where digital is becoming more of a necessity than a choice. With digitalisation, limitations of geographical boundaries are blurring, opening up new avenues for Taiwan-based tech startups to explore markets beyond borders and STPI’s Vision Programme seeks to help them do that.

To learn more about the Vision Programme and future updates, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/vision.most.

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Singapore- and New York-based insurtech company, bolttech, has announced the completion of an oversubscribed US$180 million Series A funding round led by US- and Germany-based global investment firm Activant Capital Group.

Tony Fadell (Principal at Future Shape, inventor of iPod, and co-inventor of iPhone), Alpha Leonis Partners, Dowling Capital Partners, B. Riley Venture Capital, and Tarsadia Investments also joined.

Also Read: Swiss insurtech startup Riskwolf attracts funding, to launch ‘outage benefit product’ in SEA

This round takes bolttech’s valuation to more than US$1 billion, giving it a unicorn status only one year after its launch in 2020.

The investment will accelerate bolttech’s continued growth. Over the past year, it claims to have grown its enterprise customers by three-fold and distribution partnerships by nine-fold in the US. The additional capital will help bolttech further enable its partners and customers with enhanced technology and digital capabilities, and strengthen its presence in its existing markets while continuing to expand internationally.

The insurtech startup was founded with a mission to transform the way insurance is bought and sold. With a suite of digital and data-driven capabilities, bolttech aims to make connections between insurers, distributors, and customers easier and more efficient to buy and sell insurance and protection products.

With 1,400 employees, bolttech works with partners such as insurers, telcos, retailers, banks, e-commerce and digital destinations to embed insurance into their customer journeys at the point of need.

The insurance exchange claims it transacts US$5 billion in premiums on its platform, providing a gateway to more than 5,000 products and 150 insurance providers.

Also Read: The future of insurance isn’t just digital — it’s efficiently digital

To date, it claims to have built a global footprint that serves more than 7.7 million customers in 14 markets across three continents: North America, Asia, and Europe. It has licenses in 50 states in the US and several key markets in Asia and Europe-wide.

As part of the investment, Richard Benson-Armer, Partner at Activant, will join bolttech’s board of directors which already includes Peter Hancock, Robert Kyncl, and Malcolm Turnbull, amongst others.

 

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