Any successful, fast-growing startup founder in Asia can attest to this: To stay on top in today’s climate, it is important to constantly evolve and expand the business, be it in technology or business models offered to customers. 

This is a convergence of multiple forces that have shaped how businesses can excel in Asia:

• The region is developing rapidly but at a different pace in each market
• We are competing with a host of other companies from the West 
• For every successful business venture in a new space, tens of local competitors will emerge

The pandemic has also accelerated the need for businesses to go digital. As a result of this, customer needs are different in each market and also always evolving. 

The benefits are multifold. Apart from obvious things such as diversifying risk and revenue streams to your business, your customers will also benefit from constant innovation and value add, and your employees have new projects to work on and can constantly learn and grow.

As a company, we started in the advertising industry, but shortly after, expanded into influencer marketing and publisher ad monetisation.

In the past year, we expanded into the direct-to-consumer (D2C) space with products for cloud manufacturing, e-commerce enablement, and logistics management. We started with one product, but have expanded that to seven.

All this happened within a period of five years whilst scaling our operations from one market then to 13 markets today. 

Throughout this time, there were various learnings for us, let me share three of them. 

Also Read: How Thai food supply chain startup Freshket weathered through the pandemic

From the get-go

Recently, I came across a slide from our very first all-hands meeting back in mid-2016, which showed our expansion plans. Even though we started the company in the advertising industry because of our experience in that space, what we really wanted to do was to empower the digital economy in Asia.

That’s also why we expanded the company into AnyMind Group back in 2018, as we knew it was the right time for us to expand into new ventures. 

What this meant was that we had the right tech and business team in place, positioned and optimised the leadership team’s responsibilities for an expanded business, a strong base of customers that we can add new value to, and the right overall market conditions to start expanding our tech and business models. 

At the same time, it’s very important to set clear responsibilities within your leadership team during such expansions. Part of the leadership team can focus on new ventures; whilst the other part maintains and grows existing ventures, and both sides need to constantly communicate to provide alignment and transparency. 

Ensure employees are closely aligned with the progress

Since we started the business, we have had monthly virtual meetings where all staff dial in, and we did it for five years without missing a single one.

This is crucial especially in a fast-growing startup with operations across many markets, so that everyone knows what’s happening, are closely aligned with the rationale behind the moves, and can then convey it with customers.

Before the pandemic, we would also hold in-person all-hands meetings multiple times a year, where we share our short-term and long-term roadmap. The key benefit for this is that employees can have face-to-face interactions with their colleagues from other countries, since most of the collaboration is done virtually.

Also Read: How did MoneySmart grow its revenue by 25 per cent amidst a pandemic?

This has since been converted into online all-hands meetings, but all employees are still being kept updated about what we plan to do as a company. 

Customers are the core of your expansion plans

It might be obvious, but it is still something that cannot be repeated enough, customers need to be at the core of your expansion plans. If we take a look at super apps, they look to expand their services around their customers by providing parallel offerings like ride-hailing, food delivery, online shopping and more.

For B2B startups, it is not too far-fetched as well. 

For a startup like us, our core customer segments are businesses or “brands”, online publishers and influencers. When we first started the company, our products (in the marketing space) were catered for businesses.

This then expanded into providing tools for online publishers (the “supply” side of digital marketing) and tools for influencers (the “supply” side of influencer marketing). 

Today, we can provide a one-stop solution for brands, creators and publishers – something like a super app for business – where we can cater to the various needs of running a business, including manufacturing, e-commerce, marketing and logistics. Brands are the obvious beneficiary from this move, but online publishers and influencers can also tap on the tools to add revenue streams.

For example, a niche publisher covering wellness can launch their own line of exercise products, or a beauty influencer can launch their own line of beauty products. 

Ultimately, these moves were made around our core customer segments, instead of branching out into an unrelated field.

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As of today, there are over 3,000 edutech companies in Asia, over two dozen of which are unicorns.

Many of these companies popped out or attracted attention only recently because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The disruption that the pandemic caused to classroom/offline learning/teaching led new entrepreneurs to jump the edutech bandwagon and become a part of the remote learning revolution.

But the moot question is: are these companies really accomplishing their stated goals? If so, why are the dropout rates so ridiculously high?

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, remote courses have an astronomical dropout rate of about 96 per cent on average. The key reason is “lack of engagement”.

One of the reasons for this is the increased amount of distractions present in a virtual environment and the fact that most of the learning materials provided by these companies are already available online and can be accessed for free on sites like YouTube.

In addition to this, the attention span in individuals has been shrinking significantly at an extremely quick pace thanks to today’s fast-paced world. A study shows that Gen Z has an average attention span of 8 seconds!

Also Read: Edutech will be a hot commodity going forward: GREDU co-founder Rizky Anies

This is a big problem facing the education industry — and this is exactly what Nas Academy aims to address.

Founded by Nuseir Yassin, a video blogger with over 40 million followers across social media platforms, Nas Academy is an online platform that helps people learn from their favorite creators. Since its launch in February this year, the edutech startup claims to have hosted 250 batches (with each batch comprising an average of 80 students) on subjects ranging from storytelling and ideating a business idea, to confidence building.

The company is on a mission to revolutionise not just how learners learn but also how teachers teach.

Mastering engagement

One of the primary goals of Nas Academy is to keep students engaged. It does this by creating a community where students can make new friends and learn at the same time.

“Popular learning platforms like Unacademy, Byju’s, and Masterclass create education that is content- and video-based. But we realise that education is not just a content business but a human business,” Yassin said in an interview with e27.

“Nas means humans. Humans love ‘community’ so we’re all about community,” he said. “When they are with their classmates, students are much less likely to drop out. So for every 100 students who join Nas Academy, we put them in a group together. This way, they not only learn but also see each other, talk about what they’ve learned, and engage among themselves.”

Yassin claimed that this practice has enabled Nas to achieve a 4x higher completion rate than other learning platforms.

But that’s not enough.

Concentrating for a long time is still difficult for many students which is why Nas provides its teachers with tools like quirky music, practical workshops, free merchandise, and memes to connect and engage with students. “Universities don’t have the same energy in their classes as we do. Every class at Nas has music. We build tools to enable creators to teach in fun and engaging ways,” he explained.

By incorporating fun elements throughout the learning process, Nas Academy has a reputation for keeping its students hooked.

Disrupting boring professors

As a popular video blogger himself, Yassin strongly believes that creators have more potential to become better teachers, simply because they are masters in audience engagement.

Also Read: Nas Academy raises US$11M to help creators make a sustainable living

“I’ve been to Harvard and seen what world-class education looks like. And honestly, being part of it is not that impressive. Even in the middle of Harvard, there are five professors from who everybody wants to learn and there are 500 others who are not that popular. And that’s when we realised that the power of education lies in the individual and not the institution,” he went on.

Unlike other platforms that give teachers control over just the monetary aspects of teaching, Nas gives its teachers full authority over their audience and distribution and helps them build their own curriculum from scratch. Moving forward, control is far more important for creators, Yassin believes.

As of now, Nas follows a strict “invite-only” policy for teachers, and those who have signed up can earn 75 per cent of the revenues generated, while the academy keeps only 25 per cent.

Building the “Nas” Culture

It’s not hard to imagine how the workplace of Nas would be like, and Yassin confirms it calling an extremely fun environment to be in.

He further tells his employees to never work for a company with “daily” in its last name (referring to the name of his own company ‘Nas Daily’) because if they work for such companies, they need to work hard. Working extremely hard every day is also part of the Nas culture, Yassin added.

With an ambition to become the biggest learning platform, Nas is fast scaling the team with an aim to add 1,000 people to its roster over the next five years across different roles.

“Are you excited about building a culture where people can work, live and make money from the most remote area in the world? That’s the kind of future we want to build and onboard people who believe in the same thing. We are looking for people who are looking to put life second and mission first,” he said.

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Andalin, an Indonesian startup providing cross-border shipping solutions, is in talks to raise US$3 million in a new round of funding from both financial and strategic investors, including existing ones, CEO Rifki Pratomo told e27.

The company plans to use the money to be raised to expand its core freight business. “The money will be used to grow our trading business, scale our trade financing offerings, and introduce our SaaS-based freight management system,” he said.

Pratomo expects to close the round before year-end.

Also Read: Teleoperation: It’s here to revolutionise the logistics and supply chain industry

In March this year, Andalin secured an undisclosed sum in a Series A funding round, led by Sembrani Nusantara Fund (SNF), a fund operated by Indonesian corporate VC firm BRI Ventures. A few months prior to this, it bagged an undisclosed “seven-digit investment” in pre-Series A round from Beenext (lead), ATM Capital, and Access Ventures, in October 2020.

Started in 2016, Andalin provides digital cross-border shipping solutions in Indonesia to help local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) simplify their import-export processes — from freight arrangements to customs clearance and everything in between.

Despite the economic impacts of COVID-19, Andalin claims it saw demand for its services spike in 2020, with shipment volume increasing by roughly 5x and average revenue per client rising by 450 per cent year on year. From 2019 to June 2021, Andalin says it has facilitated the export and import of goods in Southeast Asia with a total value of US$50 million.

So far, the logistics startup claims to have served more than 300 clients from various types of industries, from SMEs to large corporations, such as Rentokil Initial, Hitachi, to Electrolux.

Recently, Andalin launched the ‘Andalin Go’ to improve export and import efficiency, where clients can set delivery schedules, get instant price quotes, and consult directly with the company’s expert team through a single app.

According to ASEAN Stats data, the value of international trade in the Southeast Asia region, both between member countries and from/to other areas, was valued at US$2.8 trillion in 2019 and is predicted to continue to rise in the next few years. The sector has proven its role as one of the backbones of the Southeast Asian economy. But it is still considered underdeveloped and overlooked, with the total value of collective investments in several local startups amounting to less than US$40 million.

“We believe that international trade is one of the key pillars that support economic growth in Southeast Asia. For this reason, we strive to be a reliable partner for international trade players to sustain this increasingly high growth demand. Andalin, as a local player in the Southeast Asia region, is committed to providing comprehensive solutions through our digital technology platform,” explained Pratomo.

Also Read: Andalin raises Series A funding to connect Indonesia’s MSMEs with freight forwarders online

In recent years, the rapid development of technology companies in Southeast Asia has raised the interests of both local and global investors. Indonesia shows great proof of being able to generate the first wave of unicorn companies founded by local entrepreneurs. The potential for the second wave of technological disruption in Southeast Asia is still wide open in various sectors such as health, education, logistics, finance and so on.

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Image Credit: Andalin

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DragonPay, a payments processing company in the Philippines, has received an undisclosed amount in strategic investment from Indonesian payment infrastructure startup Xendit, Tech In Asia has reported, citing its founder Robertson Chiang.

According to the publication, the deal was mentioned in a passing statement by Chiang during the fintech event, Digital Pilipinas, on Thursday. 

Xendit managing director Yang Yang Zhang has confirmed the development to Tech In Asia.

It is not immediately clear how DragonPay plans to use the newly raised funds. We have contacted the firm for details. This article will be updated as and when we hear from them. 

This deal comes fresh off Xendit’s collaboration with DragonPay and other e-commerce firms to launch an instalment payment scheme.

Also Read: Xendit bags US$64.6M Series B led by Accel to scale its digital payments service across Southeast Asia

Founded in 2010, DragonPay enables local customers to complete transactions using their selected online, over-the-counter, or non-bank methods. As of today, Dragonpay claims to have carried out close to 100 million transactions and attracted over 14 million unique users.

Originally launched in 2014 as a P2P lending platform, Y Combinator-backed Xendit evolved into a payments infrastructure company that enables businesses to accept digital payments without the need to implement integrations with individual providers. It has since expanded its services to include services such as fraud detection, lending, and tax management.

Xendit claims it processes more than 65 million transactions, amounting to US$6.5 billion in payment value annually. The company counts companies such as Grab and Traveloka among its clients.

In March this year, Jakarta-based Xendit raised US$64.6 million in a Series B round led by Accel Partners, bringing the total amount raised by the firm to US$88 million. 

Xendit is considering expanding digital payment infrastructure in Southeast Asia countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, according to Wijaya. Traveloka, Transferwise, Wish, and Grab are some of its high-profile clients.

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Image Credit: DragonPay

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Malaysia-based full-stack fintech solutions provider Jirnexu has signed strategic partnerships with more than five consortia in their bids for a digital banking license.

The details of the partnerships remain undisclosed.

This news was first reported by Fintechnews Malaysia.

Jirnexu was launched in 2012 to help banks and insurance companies manage the different stages of the customer journey, from marketing to retention, by using a data-driven platform named XpressApply.

The company owns and operates financial comparison sites KreditPlus and RinggitPlus.com in Malaysia, and KreditGoGo in Indonesia.

According to the publication, Jirnexu has reportedly facilitated 1.28 million credit card transactions and is part of the region’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) regulatory Sandbox.

Also Read: Experian leads US$10M funding in Malaysian fintech firm Jirnexu

“What Jirnexu brings to the table is the digital know-how to help traditional banking players digitise and optimise their operations. Meanwhile, our strong customer base puts us in a unique position in this emerging digital banking ecosystem, as we have insights into customer behaviours, demands, and also creditworthiness. With our capabilities combined, we are confident that we can elevate the digital banking space and create a holistic model with our partners to cater to the needs of the people, especially the B40 and M40 groups,” said Siew Yuen Tuck, co-founder of Jirnexu.

The race for digital banking licenses has intensified ever since BNM received 29 applications for only five licenses. The applicants include a combination of major platform companies, airlines, conglomerates, and state governments. Incumbent lenders, private-equity firms, and fintechs have also applied.

Winners from Singapore’s digital banking race, Grab-Singtel consortium, are also among the region’s contenders which have a good chance of gaining another license after its victory in the city-state.

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Pandemic winner Partipost, Asia-based crowd influencer marketing and commerce platform, announced today it has secured extended funding of US$5 million in their Series A round led by Quest Ventures.

Other participants in this round are existing investor SPH Ventures, and new investors iGlobe Partners and XA Network.

Partipost raised US$3.5 million last year in a round led by SPH Ventures and Quest Ventures and other investors.

The extended fundraising round this year of US$5 million will enable Partipost to continue to improve its technology, execute market expansion into Vietnam, and double down on its current operations in existing markets, including Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

When the legal procedure completes, Jeffrey Seah, Partner at Quest Ventures will be the Director of Partipost’s Board, following his current position as Board Observer since the previous funding.

“Since our initial investment, Jon, Ben and Tony [Partipost’s founders] have demonstrated their business acumen and operating verve across the three markets they originally operate in,” said Seah.

Also Read: In brief: Percipient raises US$5M, Partipost raises US$3.5M

Founded in 2016, the Singaporean startup automates the process of influencer sourcing and campaign management for brands, helping them drive authentic word-of-mouth marketing.

As the COVID-19 pandemic urges businesses to realise the potential of influencer marketing –-an industry that is expected to be worth US$13.8 billion in 2021, according to a report by Influencer Marketing Hub– Partipost said it has received significant growth in its commercial clientele and a threefold increase year-on-year in the total number of influencers during the pandemic.

Through the two new initiatives – the Nano Ambassador and Mass Campaign Programs, Partipost expects to execute over 10,000 campaigns with over three million influencers within the next 18-24 months.

The platform is currently serving clients including Pepsi, Dettol, The Body Shop, and brands under Unilever such as St. Ives and Simple Skincare.

“They have balanced the need to recruit brand-safe nano influencers that resonate with commercial partners,“ added Seah.

With data insights collected through its in-app polls and user behaviours, Partipost crowdsources influencers with follower sizes ranging from a few hundred to millions of followers.

The platform then rewards them for both their media reach and message impact in their curated social media content message, determined by their followers’ responses.

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Image credit: Partipost

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Aruna, an Indonesia-based fisheries and marine platform, announced that it has raised US$35 million in a Series A funding round led by Prosus Ventures and East Ventures (Growth Fund).

Oher investors who joined the round include SIG, AC Ventures, MDI, Vertex Ventures, and other undisclosed investors.

This news comes after the company raised US$5.5 million last year.

With the newly raised capital, Aruna aims to expand its presence nationwide and strengthen its supply chain infrastructure. It further seeks to cater to customers in new markets, diversify its product range, and enhance its product.

Indonesia consists of more than 17,500 islands and is currently the world’s second-largest fisheries producer, with market size of more than US$30 billion.

Currently, the overexploitation of seas and oceans has been negatively affecting marine biodiversity, making it even more vital to create a system that adheres to trade practices, that it believes are imperative for the long-term sustainability of the industry.

Founded in 2016, Aruna serves as a one-stop shop for Indonesia’s fishermen to connect with restaurants and exporters. Its goal is to help create fair fish trading, improve the livelihood of local fishermen, and bring affordable and high-quality seafood to communities.

Also Read: Indonesia’s fishery products marketplace Aruna raises US$5.5M, claims 86x growth amidst pandemic

Through Aruna, local fishermen can export their products to countries in Southeast Asia, East Asia, North America, and the Middle East. Aruna has worked with thousands of fishermen in 31 coastal areas across Indonesia, covering multiple regions between Sumatra and Papua.

As of now, the company has a base of 21,300 registered fishermen across 13 provinces in Indonesia and plans to expand the number significantly in the future.

In addition to the funding news, Aruna has also appointed  Budiman Goh, as President of the Company, and Utari Octavianty, as Chief Sustainability Officer, to lead and strengthen the sustainability initiatives of Aruna.

“We support a sustainable and fair fisheries industry for all. Aruna continues to combine its technological capabilities with local insights and global best practices, while preserving the ecosystem, empowering local communities, and meeting the needs of our global customer base. Our vision is to make Indonesia the centre of the world’s maritime economy in the future,” said Octavianty.

“This sector will grow rapidly. Aruna’s vision is aligned with ours to build a sustainable fishery and marine economy that will have a positive impact for a long time,” added Roderick Purwana, Managing Partner of East Ventures.

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Image Credit: Aruna

 

 

 

 

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Singaporean mobility startup Drive lah, which dubbed itself the “Airbnb for cars”, has announced a US$3.2 million pre-series A funding round led by KFC Ventures. Other participants include HH Investments VC and Accelerating Asia.

Industry expert and entrepreneur Robin Chase, who is the co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, and other angel investors from various countries also participated in the round.

After acquiring more than 150,000 registered users on the platform since its inception, Drive lah aims to develop a shared mobility ecosystem in the Asia Pacific market. The company has recently launched in Australia and expects to expand further in the next 12 months.

“I strongly believe in the founders’ vision and their ability to make it happen. We see this as a strategic investment given our strengths in technology and data,” said KFC Ventures Managing Director Naveen Kumar.

Founded in 2019, Drive lah is a car application for those who want to rent a car from owners who want to earn from their car when it is idle. Owning a car in cities is considered to make less sense due to rising ownership costs and parking shortages, demand for flexible mobility is on the rise.

Also Read: How to use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to drive resilient leadership in 2021

Drive lah co-founder Dirk-Jan ter Horst said, “Cars are idle 95 per cent of the time, so for owners, it makes sense to put this asset to use. Renters get unlimited access to nearby cars without the cost of owning one. Our proprietary in-car technology enables keyless access through your phone, and this makes it extremely convenient and safe for users. Moreover, it is 30-40 per cent cheaper than anywhere else.”

According to Drive lah‘s analysis, Singapore has a total of 11,520,548 underused car hours every day. Its P2P car-sharing concept can assist to improve the environment by more efficiently utilising assets and, as a result, reducing the number of unused car hours.

Drive lah has recently completed a 100-day acceleration program of Accelerating Asia. In 2020, it acquired Smove, a fleet-based car-sharing company in Singapore.

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Image Credit: Drive lah

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GudangAda, the Indonesia-based e-commerce startup that works with SMEs, today announced that it has raised US$100 million in a Series B funding round led by Asia Partners and Falcon Edge.

The funding round also included the participation of existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Alpha JWC, and Wavemaker.

GudangAda stated that the funding round was oversubscribed as it initially targeted to raise US$75 million. It brought the company’s total funding to date to approximately US$135 million.

The funding will be used to support team expansion across key divisions and executional capabilities, as well as building and strengthening GudangAda’s ecosystem of service offerings, including logistics, POS SaaS, marketing services, data services, and financial services.

GudangAda also plans to further strengthen its focus on Artificial Intelligence to provide high quality, personalised products and services to merchant customers.

Also Read: GudangAda names former Grab Engineering Head Huan Yang as CTO

“We are now well-positioned to empower the supply chain from producers, distributors, wholesalers to retailers throughout Indonesia, with almost half a million users from over 500 tier-1 to tier-3 cities and develop a comprehensive monetisation model with a complete ecosystem,” said Stevensang, CEO of GudangAda.

GudangAda said that it has grown to US$6 billion of the net merchandise value (NMV) in less than three years and with less than US$35 million of cumulative historical investment, a ratio of over 170 times.

In an interview with e27 in November 2020, Stevensang detailed the company’s plan to raise the funding round that it announced today. He also shared GudangAda’s secret sauce in winning investors’ attention.

“Our core philosophy is not to disrupt the industry but to empower every player in the market,” he stressed. “We assure them that we are not disrupting their supply chain but instead focus on digitalising the process for maximum growth and efficiency. With this approach, we aim to digitalise 100 per cent of the industry in the next three to five years.”

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Image Credit: GudangAda

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Bukalapak prices Indonesian IPO at top range, raises US$1.5B
A source told DealStreetAsia that the IPO received more than US$6B of demand; The issue by Indonesia’s fourth-biggest e-commerce company comes as its US$40B e-commerce market is benefiting from strong pandemic-driven demand; Bukalapak is backed by GIC, Microsoft, and others.

E-commerce marketplace GudangAda raises US$100M+ led by Asia Partners, Falcon Edge
Sequoia India, Alpha JWC, and Wavemaker also contributed; The money will be used to expand and complete its supply chain ecosystem, including logistics and warehouse services, new category offerings beyond FMCG, POS/SAAS, marketing services, data services and financial services.

Thunes acquires European payment methods platform Limonetik
This move will complement existing Thunes cross-border payments solutions by enabling businesses to get paid in 70 countries, using over 285 local payment methods such as mobile wallets, BNPL, and QR code payments; The solution will be known as Thunes Collections.

Indonesia ‘sea-to-table’ platform Aruna hooks US$35M led by Prosus, EV Growth
Other investors are SIG, AC Ventures, MDI and Vertex Ventures; Aruna works primarily with small fisheries and focuses on sustainability, preventing overfishing, protecting coastal ecosystems and giving small-scale fisheries access to more resources and markets.

Alt protein VC Good Startup surpasses US$25M target, invests in 4 new startups
The investees are Motif FoodWorks, Nowadays, Lypid, and Clara Foods; So far, most of the firms it has invested are located in the US but could enter Asia in the near future.

Indonesia’s direct-to-consumer startup Hypefast raises US$14M
Investors are Monk’s Hill (lead), Jungle Ventures, and Strive Ventures; Hypefast backs and acquires local digital native firms in fashion, beauty, health and lifestyle; It invests in brands that primarily sell online and generate at least US$35K in annual profit.

Employment Hero to speed up SEA expansion after raising US$102M led by Insight Partners
Employment Hero empowers SMEs by providing automated solutions to help launch them on the path to success by powering more productivity every day; The startup said it services over 6K businesses, collectively managing over 250K employees.

Shiok Meats raises bridge funding
AFN estimates that the firm raised in the region of US$10M for the bridge round; Investors are Woowa Brothers, CJ CheilJedang, and Vinh Hoan; The Singapore-based startup has also secured a grant under Enterprise Singapore’s Startup SG Tech Proof-of-Value scheme to accelerate development and commercialisation of its technology.

Safe-speed autonomous mobility firm Venti raises US$8M seed funding
Co-lead investors are LDV Partners and Alpha JWC; Venti will utilise the capital for producing AI-enabled autonomous logistics transport and scaling its operations in Asia, Europe, and the US.

Crowd influencer marketing & commerce platform Partipost secures US$5M
Investors are Quest Ventures (lead), SPH Ventures, iGlobe Partners, and XA Network; Partipost drives authentic word-of-mouth marketing by matching brands to influencers with the highest brand affinity.

Kamereo rakes in US$4.6M Series A to become a one-stop procurement platform for F&B businesses in Vietnam
Co-led by CPF Group, Quest Ventures, and Genesia Ventures, this round of investment will be used for hiring and expanding into Hanoi; Kamereo is a one-stop platform where farmers, producers, importers and buyers connect to trade a range of fruit and vegetable products at the best prices.

Shared mobility startup Drive Lah raises US$3.2M;
Investors are KFC Ventures (lead), HH Investments, Accelerating Asia, and Zipcar CEO Robin Chase; Drive lah is like an Airbnb for cars as it brings together people who want to rent a car with owners that want to earn from their car when it is idle.

SaaS company Majoo raises pre-Series A
Investors are AC Ventures (lead) and BRI Ventures; The firm offers several business solutions on one app, with 15K merchants using its platform as of May this year; Its integrated business application offerings include point-of-sale devices and supply management software.

Paragaon Capital launches early-stage capital fund
Paragon Ventures I will look at pre-seed to Series A opportunities; While the fund is sector-agnostic, it will have an inclination for deeptech, B2B SaaS, and robotics startups.

Vietnam sees new batch of VC funds seeking to tap maturing startup ecosystem
According to Ascend Ventures Ventures’s founding partner Eddie Thai, the country has seen seed rounds more than double in size and seen dozens of early-stage investors join in finding the region’s next leaders.

Philippine media conglomerate creates GMA Ventures to invest in tech startups, sunrise sectors
In May, GMA’s investors had approved to put in ~ US$500K into GMA Ventures, Inc. (GVI), which will serve as its vehicle in investing in non-core or non-broadcasting business activities; GVI will lead the GMA Group in identifying, investing in, and/or building strong and sustainable businesses.

Grab deepens partnership with payments firm Adyen to expand its BNPL offering
Available through the GrabPay wallet, merchants will now be able to offer PayLater payment methods at checkout; Customers will be able to choose between interest-free payments over four instalments (PayLater instalments), or the following month (PayLater Postpaid).

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Image Credit: GudangAda

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