As companies navigate the post-COVID-19 business landscape, innovation will be pivotal to recovery and growth.

When management consulting firm McKinsey and Company surveyed over 200 organisations last year, more than 90 per cent said that they expect the pandemic to fundamentally change the way they do business, and almost as many believed that it will have a lasting impact on customers’ wants and needs.

By studying past crises, the firm also found that companies that invest in innovation during a crisis are likely to reap benefits in the difficult period and for years thereafter.

Those that did so in the 2007-2009 Great Recession outperformed peers in normalised market capitalisation by 10 per cent during the recession, and up to 30 per cent for several years afterwards.

To maximise their innovation capability, firms must look externally, to keep abreast of trends, identify useful emerging technologies and pinpoint opportunities for partnerships.

Taking the initiative in technology scouting

Many forward-looking companies have formed technology scouting teams to carry out these tasks. Some of the consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble’s most successful products have been based on external technologies, including its Olay Regenerist line of anti-ageing cream.

By keeping an eye on nascent technologies and assessing how these could be used to enhance existing products or create new ones, companies can ensure that they continue to innovate and rise above their competitors.

Technology scouts can attend trade conferences to track trends, technology shifts and start-ups that could revolutionise their industry. Technology pitching sessions organised by the public sector and firms are another avenue.

Many universities and research institutes have technology transfer offices to raise awareness of their research and inventions that could be useful for industry. For instance, Nanyang Technological University’s innovation and enterprise company called NTUitive manages the university’s intellectual property and facilitates the commercialisation of research.

Also Read: How automation and innovation will boost SME success in Singapore

IPI, an innovation catalyst that links Singapore-based firms to technology solution providers, also assists in technology searches and introductions to companies.

It has a global network of solution providers, a panel of vetted technical experts who can advise firms, an Innovation Advisors Programme that offers access to industry veterans, and technology and innovation managers who are well-versed in technology commercialisation.

Some businesses, especially larger corporations, may tap on technology scouting software that is available on the market to automate some of the work. Such software aggregates and sifts through data from online sources to highlight studies, patents and technologies that could be useful to the firm, thereby offering some level of efficiency.

However, the eventual assessment of the relevance of the technology and matching of the solver to the seeker of technology still requires a human to draw insights from the data collated as well as to facilitate and navigate the nuances and intricacies of technology commercialisation.

The importance of internal connections

It is not enough, however, to devote resources to search for useful ideas, technologies and partnerships outside of the firm. Companies must also ensure that technology scouts’ findings are disseminated within the firm, to both management and operation-level staff, so that all can participate in the innovation process.

Researchers have found that it takes significant time to develop fruitful external partnerships, so those doing the outreach may not have the capacity to analyse how new technologies and ideas could be used in unexpected and productive ways in the firm.

Pairing technology scouts with more internally-focused colleagues would enable the latter to widen the possibilities for application and drive their exploration.

Internal connections can also help to focus on external searches. At Kellogg’s, the packaged foods conglomerate, the marketing department prepares “opportunity briefs” for scouts who work in research and development.

These briefs outline problems that, if solved, could lead to lucrative commercial opportunities for the company.

Also Read: ‘Post-pandemic, SEA will see a sustainable leapfrog into the digital age’: Cathay Innovation report

The power of partnerships

On the other side of the equation, companies with innovative technologies can also rely on trade conferences, pitching sessions, technology intermediaries and other forums to identify potential adoptees.

TechInnovation, IPI’s annual flagship technology brokerage event, gathers Singapore and international technology seekers and providers to encourage business and technology collaborations.

Companies can also post write-ups of their technologies on IPI’s Innovation Marketplace to leverage its global network to find prospective partners. Tech Alert, IPI’s weekly e-newsletter which has over 24,000 subscribers, also features new technologies.

Many enterprises have found success through partnerships, in different ways.

After IPI matched health and wellness firm OSIM International with NeuroSky, an American biometric business, the two organisations co-developed a stress-sensing feature that is now part of the uDream, OSIM’s pioneering massage chair that measures users’ stress and fatigue levels to deliver customised massages.

When IPI connected ERS Industries, which manufactures electronic equipment racks for use in data centres, with a thermal management expert from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, on the other hand, the latter not only upgraded the racks’ design to boost cooling but also improved the firm’s in-house engineering capabilities and put in place processes to guide it in managing and protecting its intellectual property.

For LeanCost International, a startup that had developed a manufacturing data analytics algorithm to empower firms to accurately report product costs and pinpoint inefficiencies in processes, allying with another firm was essential.

For the algorithm to be commercially viable, it needed to be combined with an enterprise resource planning system, which integrates corporate operations such as sales and processes on a single platform, or a manufacturing execution system (MES), which provides information on how to optimise production output.

With IPI’s assistance, LeanCost International found SMT Technology, a precision engineering solutions provider. By integrating LeanCost International’s algorithm into SMT Technology’s Smartline software, which has MES functions, the two firms created SmartCost, a first-of-its-kind system for real-time monitoring of costs in manufacturing processes.

These examples are just a fraction of the range of possibilities for firms. By looking externally and finding opportunities for innovative collaboration and co-creation efforts with an open mindset, companies can grow beyond their boundaries, and stand themselves in better stead for the future.

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IPO markets are experiencing a global IPO boom at a scale that hasn’t been seen since the days of the dotcom boom at the turn of the 21st Century.

Naturally, Asian initial public offerings have followed these wider trends around the world, with the market accelerating at a rapid pace following on from an economic recovery in late 2020. 

As a result, Asian companies have recorded their best quarter for listings of all time, owing to greater levels of liquidity during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as lower interest rates and rallying stock markets.

Firms raised US$49.3 billion through IPO share sales both domestically and overseas. 

As the data shows, the amount Asian companies have raised through new listings in Q1 of 2021 has been consistently double the level of revenue generated for at least a decade. 

Such a significant acceleration has inevitably led to questions as to how long such an unprecedented boom can last across Asian markets and beyond. Can IPOs sustain the public listing gold rush throughout 2021? Or will we see the market run out of steam sooner rather than later? 

Also Read: From our community: About EVs, hemp burgers, IPO hacks, Agile manifesto and more

One day pops shows hype is still in full swing

Although COVID-19 has severely affected much of Southeast Asia’s businesses and their respective governments, the adverse impact of the pandemic is less clear within the region’s IPO landscape. 

Speaking to CNBC in June, Dealogic’s Ken Fong said: “From our data, I do not really see that Southeast Asia is too weak. We look at the aftermarket performance and actually, most of the countries have a very high one-day pop.”

Fong offered examples behind this thesis in the form of PTT Oil and Retail Business achieving a 62.5 per cent pop on its first day of trading in February 2021 and Ngern Tid Lor, which climbed around 25 per cent from its initial IPO price upon its debut. 

Both companies were among three listed in Southeast Asia that have been valued at over US$1 billion each. At a time when unicorns are achieving levels of prosperity across the continent, it’s clearly led to other companies hoping to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors in achieving unicorn status. 

Asian companies driving interest overseas

Many Asian companies have also spent much of 2021 spreading their wings and generating more interest in IPOs on the continent through listing elsewhere. 

As we can see in the table above, for Chinese companies, we can see a significant level of listings and deal volume emerging from US-based exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. 

Thanks to an influx of post-pandemic global stimulus packages, it’s become more popular than ever for retail investors to invest their spare income in growing companies around the world. 

Also Read: A tale of two IPOs: How DoorDash’s IPO makes Uber and Airbnb’s look better

For Chinese companies listing in the US, investors have clear exposure to one of the world’s fastest-growing markets. International backers of tech companies also prefer offshore listings in order to realise gains on their pre-IPO investments. 

According to Ivy Wong, head of Baker McKenzie’s Asia-Pacific capital markets practice, Chinese companies in particular “see having a global focus as one of the best options to achieve stability and consistent revenue. Listing in the US market can provide them with that access to new markets and customers, not to mention the usual benefits such as the broad investor base.”

These strategic listings can help to drive more global confidence in Asian IPO markets, which may pave the way for greater levels of external investment in fresh listings. However, not all market commentators are buoyant about the sustainability of the initial public offering boom. 

Running out of steam

In April, Bloomberg predicted that the demand for IPOs across Asia is likely to fall away as demand comes back down to earth over the course of the coming months.

The financial news giants underlined its expectation that a global rotation out of tech and healthcare-oriented stocks that had previously dominated market activity, along with falling enthusiasm for SPACs in the US, will cloud the outlook for new deals as the year progresses. 

The IPO landscape across Asia also faces the challenge of crackdowns on the dominance of Chinese tech firms that have dominated fundraising across the continent. Tensions between the US and China have been ramping up of late, too. Earlier in 2021, the US pushed through a law that has the power to potentially kick non-compliant Chinese firms off of American exchanges. 

It appears that warning signs are already making their way onto the market, with Chinese fintech firms like Bairong Inc. experiencing a disastrous debut, falling 16 per cent despite raising US$507 million prior to its debut. 

Chinese listings in the US like Baidu Inc. and Bilibili Inc. raised US$5.7 billion collectively through secondary listings in Hong Kong towards the end of Q1 in 2021 but ultimately experienced weak debuts. 

However, there’s still cause for some optimism in Kuaishou’s US$6.2 billion Hong Kong IPO, the biggest global listing at the time of its arrival, and Korean company Coupang’s US$4.6 billion flotation. 

The coming months will be the most important for the Asian IPO market since the beginning of the initial public offering boom in late 2020.

Although there are certainly some warning signs that the market is starting to run out of steam, some notable success stories may have the ability to keep optimism among investors alive.

The longevity of the ongoing IPO frenzy may ultimately come down to the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. If investor optimism can be retained, we may well see IPOs continue to thrive for some months yet.

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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 business models of restaurants in Taiwan have changed drastically over the years. In the past, restaurants could narrow their focus to just dine-in or take-away customers.

However, it all changed when Foodpanda entered the market in 2012, followed by Uber Eats in 2016, which brought a gradual but steady growth in food delivery. Then COVID-19 hit, and hugely accelerated this development in the F&B industry.

According to the latest stats by the Department of Statistics, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), as of February 2020, 54 per cent of all F&B outlets in Taiwan started offering delivery (compared to 40 per cent in 2018 and 47 per cent in 2019).

When COVID-19 hit, the F&B industry was forced to find creative ways to increase sales. Restaurants began seeking delivery arrangements that did not involve delivery providers or third party platforms.

Hence, the need for restaurants to streamline their in-house ordering website and manage multiple platforms more efficiently emerged.

According to statistics from MOEA and iChef’s internal data, overall revenue of Taiwan’s F&B industry stabilised from its previous decline in Q3 2020, but only saw minimal YoY growth in Q4. Furthermore, based on figures from the National Credit Card Center of R.O.C., the number of F&B e-commerce transactions dropped from 367 per cent YoY in Q4 2019 to 44 per cent YoY in Q4 2020.

iChef’s internal data also revealed that the percentage of delivery in overall orders has been fairly stable. Both sets of data suggest that delivery has entered a phase of maturity and is less likely to grow at the same exponential rate.

With delivery becoming more mainstream, restaurants can no longer assume orders will come flying in just by onboarding to a new platform. To differentiate themselves in the “post-delivery era”, restaurant owners need to invest more in advertising on delivery platforms and managing their own channel.

Also Read: Can the first unicorn of Thailand be a food-tech startup? These 11 food tech startups are making their cases

So the idea of a “platform of platforms” should emerge in the near future, a platform that partners with different providers and streamlines the holistic delivery process, from order placement, delivery to finance.

As a result of such “platform of platforms”, restaurants can minimise clutter, economise manpower and enhance efficiency. In addition, restaurants should expand their in-house ordering capabilities so customers can order on any preferred platform.

When customers search for restaurants, Google My Business (GMB) has become one of the go-tos, be it checking out the menu or placing an order. Now, restaurant details are just one Google search away.

Integration with delivery services allows restaurants to modify their menu directly in the system without having to manually do it on every platform. More so, even with more ordering platforms, restaurants are not burdened with more devices as the entire ordering process can be consolidated into one POS.

With one device, one screen and one menu, restaurants can offer a seamless omnichannel experience to the customers as well as enjoy a truly end-to-end omnichannel experience themselves, from taking orders to CRM.

Besides saving time and cost and increasing revenue, they can also adopt new technologies more quickly and in turn expand services in the region rapidly.

With such enterprise-class technology, restaurants can scale quickly and grow beyond just 10 to 20 stores. Also, with transactional data, they can devise actionable insights and undergo data-driven marketing.

In the post-pandemic world, restaurants must transform their business to keep up with the changing consumer needs and demands.

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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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Mintable, a Singapore-based next-generation non-fungible token (NFT) minting platform and marketplace, announced today the closing of its oversubscribed Series A funding round at US$13 million.

The round saw participation from notable names, including Ripple (provides XRP Ledger developer tools, programmes and services, and enterprise blockchain solutions); Animoca Brands (mobile and blockchain gaming developer); Metapurse (NFT investment fund backed by Metakovan); Doug Band (American businessman and former advisor to Bill Clinton), and Jon Oringer (founder and executive chairman of Shutterstock).

Other co-investors are John Kim (Expedia Group), Double Peak, 7 O’Clock Capital, 640 Oxford Ventures, Digital Finance Group, Spark Digital Capital, Reimagined Ventures, and 840 Venture Partners.

Also Read: Tokens 101: How they work and where they provide value

The proceeds of the investment will be used to spearhead user acquisition and growth initiatives for Mintable’s individual users and brand clients.

Mintable will continue to develop and launch new products to deliver on its mission of making the buying and trading experience of NFTs as easy and accessible as possible for the mass market.

Mintable founder and CEO Zach Burks said: “Throughout 2021, NFTs have reached mass appeal and have touched almost every sector spanning entertainment, fine arts, sports, and many more. As the technology continues to mature and the space rapidly evolves, this is a critical company milestone for Mintable.”

Started in 2018, Mintable is a minting platform built on the blockchain. Its “gas-free minting feature” allows users to create their NFTs, enabling content creators to fully benefit from what NFTs have to offer without being burdened by prohibitive transaction fees.

Since its inception, Mintable said it has established a growing catalogue of unique items, spanning digital art, music, collectibles, game items, and domains for sale on its platform.

To date, Mintable has worked with brands, celebrities, and artists looking to kickstart their NFT journey. Most recently, the startup worked with NFL Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, whose NFT collection sold on the platform for over US$400,000; leading streetwear fashion brand BAPE; and American business broadcaster CNBC, which recently raised US$100,000 for charity via a Mintable NFT auction.

Also Read: HashMix raises US$3M funding to roll out its mining power NFT in June

To date, approximately 700,000 items have been minted on its platform.

The company’s existing investors include renowned American venture capitalist and television personality Mark Cuban; Guy Oseary and Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures; Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures; Crypto.com; and LongHash Ventures.

HashMix is another Singaporean startup that aims to further democratise and activate the mining economy by introducing a decentralised universal marketplace for various mining capacities using the NFT technology. In May this year, it raised US$3 million from HashKey Capital, Kenetic Capital, GBV Capital, FBG Capital, LongHash Ventures, Continue Capital, SevenX Ventures, and Fenbushi Capital.

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Image Credit: Mintable

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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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July 5, 2010 was the day taxis started dying. On that date, the very first Uber ride was requested in San Francisco. In the future, when we look back on 2021, what date will we say banks started dying? Or has the death knell already sounded, and we just can’t hear it?

Conditions in 2010 were ripe for Uber. San Francisco was selling taxi medallions at US$250,000 while its taxi industry refused to improve, be it by tracking cabs or even accepting credit cards. The rest, as they say, is history. The city has not sold a single medallion since April 2016.

Worse, taxi associations across the globe could see the ride-hailing tsunami coming. Yet they dug in, buried their heads in the sand, and pressured governments to ban the apps. They, too, had sealed their own fate.

The similarities between taxis in the US and most legacy banks in Southeast Asia today are uncanny: inefficient and unreliable service, dependent on protectionist systems, refusal to adapt to the new digital reality, and even widespread discrimination against certain client segments deemed low-value (like micro-businesses).

Even as 2020 arrived, legacy banks still expected regulators to protect them from neo banks and other digital usurpers. After all, how did the P2P craze pan out in China in 2014?

A proper meltdown. Banks sat safely ensconced in the knowledge that regulators had their backs, afraid of triggering another financial disaster.

But then the world stopped. COVID-19 all but destroyed the last barriers between neo banks and legacy brick-and-mortar players. The 2020 Google e-Conomy SEA report found that cash transactions had declined to just 37 per cent of total transactions post-COVID-19, as more merchants shifted online and began accepting e-wallets.

Google now expects Southeast Asia to see gross transaction values for digital payments reach US$1.2 trillion by 2025. Currently, digital payments account for three per cent of consumer expenditures in ASEAN, a far cry from 30 per cent in China, where digital banks like WeBank and AliBank are leveraging the transactional ecosystems of WeChat and Alibaba/Taobao respectively.

Also Read: Why neobanks are better than digital banks

Regulators, too, are no longer holding the bag for legacy financiers. Increased consumer demand, coupled with the ability of e-wallets by super apps to bring more underbanked and unbanked Southeast Asians into the formal financial fold, has set off a chain reaction across the region.

Malaysia will award five digital banking licenses by early 2022. Indonesia is set to announce digital banking guidelines by mid-2021 but multiple entrants are already providing neo banking services in some form. Meanwhile, OFBank snagged the Philippines’ first digital banking license back in March.

Even legacy banks who believe that “he who controls payroll deposits, controls assets” have had their assumptions challenged during the pandemic. As full-time employment dipped, many turned to gig to supplement their incomes and, in some cases, as their main source of income.

Suddenly, legacy banks weren’t even the primary banks anymore, and e-wallets and fintech apps were processing payments and offering microfinancing.

Micro businesses are typically family-run and employ less than ten (often less than five) workers. Freelancers such as artisans or general handymen tend to be solopreneurs within this definition. Micro-businesses have long been ignored by banks, even during a healthy economy, as they are seen as low-value or hard to reach due to a lack of credit history.

Gig platforms have brought freelancers out of the invisibility of informality. Over the past decade, opaqueness has been reduced via gigging apps that retain transactional data and build trust for both vendors and buyers.

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic made banks even more risk-averse to giggers and other micro-businesses, allowing fintech platforms such as GrabPay and neo banks such as Bank Jago (Gojek’s own digital bank) to swoop in on this largely untapped customer pool.

In Malaysia, four million people (25 per cent of the nation’s workforce) ply their trade in the gig economy. In Indonesia, the number is even higher (32 per cent or 40 million people), especially in rural areas where informal economies are most prevalent.

With niche ecosystems such as Payfazz (rural entrepreneurs) and TaniHub (farmers) making informal economies visible, micro-businesses are no longer hard to reach.

Also Read: Neobanks: the future of banking?

And with new AI-powered and automated KYC processes that draw on in-app transactional data, the “low-value customer” moniker will soon be out the window as well.

Tech investors would do well to look at the success of WeBank, WeChat’s digital bank that serves mom-and-pop shops across China. By leveraging AI, blockchain, and Big Data, WeBank’s per-account operation cost is just RMB3.6 (US$0.50), a tenth of what it costs legacy banks.

But with so much noise in ASEAN, tech investors may find it difficult to identify the right horse to bet on.

Investors need to find niche apps that effectively capitalise on their ecosystems with AI and complete automation. The neo banking players worth investing in will prioritise cost-efficient models such as APIs and fully automated approval processes, not expensive marketing blitzes.

VCs should be wary of throwing money at neo banks that are not already entrenched in existing ecosystems of transactions (such as third-party e-marketplaces, freelancer platforms, lending apps, etc).

In the end, simply having a snazzy app on app stores will not bring in a critical mass of new customers. Early-stage investors should watch out for self-proclaimed neo banks that can’t yet demonstrate that they’re at least rich in partnerships.

Neo banks need to be ubiquitous, ingrained in every nook and cranny of say, a rural micropreneur’s digital life — be it in their favourite gigging apps, P2P tools, with their village agent banker, or online supply chains.

With traditional banks painted into an eerily similar corner that taxis were a decade ago, the race is on. Smart venture capitalists and institutional money need to make their bets in ASEAN today. It’s not a matter of whether to back a neo bank. It’s about which neo bank to back.

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