J&T Express in talks to raise US$1B from Tencent, others at US$20B valuation
It plans to establish a nationwide distribution network in Middle Eastern and Latin American markets by early next year; J&T Express recently achieved its goal to raise US$250M in a new round of financing following the Chinese Spring Festival.

Malaysia’s unicorn Carsome adds US$200M more to its kitty to grow its retail, auto-financing businesses
Investors include sovereign wealth funds, Catcha Group, MediaTek, Asia Partners, Gobi, and 500 SEA; Carsome has rolled out numerous auto-financing offerings for car buyers and used car dealers, especially for graduates who typically face challenges obtaining bank loan approvals.

True Global Ventures hits final close of its new blockchain fund at over US$100M
Its looks for companies that bring the latest technology in DLT across 4 verticals: entertainment, infra, financial services, and data analytics & AI; True Global was founded by 40 partners, and its LPs include Octava Family Office.

Bukalapak posts 35% revenue jump in first earnings report after IPO
The Indonesian e-commerce major’s revenue jumped to US$60.5M for H1 2021, following a massive improvement in the performance of its O2O segment, Mitra Bukalapak; Revenue from its e-commerce marketplace grew roughly 4% to US$37.1M.

Doctor Anywhere nets US$65.7 M Series C for geographical expansion
Backers include Asia Partners, Novo Holdings, Philips, and OSK-SBI Venture Partners, and EDBI; Currently, Doctor Anywhere serves more than 1.5M users across SEA, and has close to 2,800 doctors and medical professionals within its network.

25 notable startups in Malaysia that have taken off in 2021
There is no question that 2021 has been a challenging year, but these startups continue to make progress and break barriers; e27 chose these startups based on the news coverage that we did of the country in 2021 and presented it to you based on chronological order, starting from the most recent updates.

Indonesian B2B marketplace Ralali eyes US$50M Series D
Ralali, which connects buyers to suppliers and wholesalers, is looking to close the deal by year-end; The startup is eyeing to reach profitability before going public; In 2019, it raised US$13M in Series C led by Zigexn founder Jo Hirao and Singapore VCs Arbor Ventures and TNB Aura.

Investing with gender lens: Proven strategy to achieve 2x+ in returns
According to Statista, in 2019, only 20% of the startups had a female founder; Moreover, only around 12% of the VC was invested in startups with at least one female founder, which had been the same since 2011.

KiotViet raises US$45M from KKR, Jungle Ventures
KiotViet is a merchant platform that provides solutions, including PoS, inventory management, CRM, and employee management services to over 110K MSMEs; KiotViet has additionally expanded to offer a B2B procurement marketplace and integrated logistics services for its merchants.

Play Ventures raised over US$30M for latest VC fund
Play Ventures Opportunity Fund seeks to raise US$80M; It has already attracted commitments from at least two investors; Five months ago, Play Ventures raised US$135M for its fund II; The firm has invested in 24 new gaming firms, including Gamejam and Potato Play.

New startup Aicadium founded by Temasek acquires Singapore’s BasisAI
BasisAI is a provider of scalable and responsible AI software; After the acquisition, BasisAI will merge with Aicadium; The deal brings together capabilities including deep AI and machine learning as well as product development expertise that spans decades; It will also help with Aicadium’s global expansion plans.

Accelerating Asia launches US$20M Fund II for early-stage startups
It has already secured US$10M initial commitments from existing LPs; Fund ll looks to bridge the market gap for pre-Series A investments in SEA and South Asia; It will start to deploy capital in 2021; For Fund II, Accelerating Asia will increase its investment amount into startups to up to US$250K and invest in a greater number of startups.

Ayoconnect snags US$10M pre-Series B to democratise Open Finance in Indonesia
Investors are Mandiri Capital, Patamar Capital, Ilham Akbar Habibie, and Jeff Lin; Ayoconnect combines financial data from several sources, allowing its partners to provide better, more inclusive financial service.

Vietcetera sealed US$2.7M pre-Series A, targeting content for Vietnamese middle class
Investors include North Base Media, Go-Ventures, East Ventures, Summit Media, Genesia Ventures, and Hustle Fund; Vietcetera pursues a bilingual content format in both Vietnamese and English, aiming to become the media hub bridging Vietnam with the world.

Singapore PM pulls up food delivery apps on labour practices
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that he was especially concerned about delivery staff recruited by Grab, Foodpanda and Deliveroo as the workers had no employment contracts, no basic job protections, and earn “modest incomes” that make it difficult for them to afford things like healthcare, housing, and retirement savings.

Temasek’s Heliconia invests in Singapore’s pop culture collectibles maker XM Studios
The money will be used for global expansion and also diversify its business with other IP verticals such as sports and entertainment; XM Studios specialises in hand-craft luxury collectibles.

Rocket Academy rakes in US$1.1M to tackle global software engineer shortage
Investors include Darius Cheung of 99.co, Marcus Tan of Carousell, Stanley Tang of DoorDash, Kishore Mahbubani, XA Network, Taurus Ventures and Hustle Fund; Rocket’s speciality training courses are designed to be longer and more comprehensive than traditional coding boot camps, yet shorter and more affordable than university courses.

Why these four Vietnamese startups made it to the Forbes Asia watchlist
Among the 100 featured companies, Hoozing, Logivan, Loship and Med247 made it to the list; Forbes Asia recently released the inaugural 100 to Watch list, which spotlights notable small companies and startups on the rise across the Asia Pacific region.

Malaysia-based app for part-time workers bags $950k in Series A from Shopper360
Troopers matches users to part-time positions that suit their capabilities; After landing a job, users can check in for attendance, make field reports, and be notified about salary payment via the platform.

Indonesian proptech startup Prospeku secures funding from OCBC NISP’s investment arm
Prospeku’s app is designed to help property agents manage deals and list their inventories in classified ads platforms such as Rumah123, 99.co, and CicilSewa; Prospeku has also partnered with Bank OCBC NISP to provide loan facility for property buyers.

Why being a young entrepreneur is better
Whether to pursue a passion project, start a business, or bring this mindset into a job, it is almost always disadvantageous to start early. In fact, it’s the best time in life to fail!

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Image Credit: Play Ventures

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What is fractional trading? In a fractional share trading system, users can invest as little as $1 into some of the largest US-based companies such as Tesla, Apple, & Amazon. An Amazon share today costs above $3000. But with fractional share trading, anyone can invest as little as US$ 1 to own a fraction of each share in these globally known US brands.

Normally you can’t buy or sell a fractional share on the stock market, but a brokerage firm can split up full shares to sell fractional shares to new investors.

Fractional share trading proves to be the game-changer that can level the playing field for individual investors. As such, over 97% of Gotrade’s orders are fractional share trades.

Also read: Making construction cleaner, greener, and more climate-friendly

Gotrade makes it possible for non-US investors to buy fractional shares by acting as an introducing broker to Alpaca Securities LLC – a U.S. stock brokerage regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Alpaca Securities serves as an intermediary for Gotrade and splits its stock inventory into fractions.

Gotrade users can decide how many fractions of a share they want to buy, by ordering in dollar value instead of having to buy one full share. Gotrade app applies notional value trading rules to automatically calculate the number of fractional shares a user can buy. 

Gotrade is levelling the playing field for investors

Gotrade does not charge the usual fees charged by brokerage firms such as commissions, custody, inactivity or dividend fees. Their monetization strategy is based on collecting the relatively smaller currency exchange fees when users deposit money, and also on the interest generated from uninvested money lying in brokerage accounts. Gotrade supports local deposit methods in over 70 countries with lower currency conversion rates.

How Gotrade Works

Currently available on an invite-only basis, Gotrade works only with fully-funded cash accounts which the founders say is a safeguard to protect users. FINRA and Securities Exchange Commission regulations dictate that users accounts under $25,000 can make a maximum of three-day trades every five trading days.

Gotrade is the brand name of TR8 Securities Inc., a company licensed to trade in the Malaysian free trade zone Federal Territory of Labuan. To protect users, accounts are insured by up to $500,000 by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Money transfers take place through firms regulated in Singapore, like Rapyd, and the United States, including Alpaca and BMO Harris Bank.

Eliminating barriers to US Stock investing

Rohit Mulani, the company’s CEO, explained that the idea for Gotrade was planted when he became interested in American stocks but discovered many barriers to trading. “When I was 18, I actually looked to get access in Singapore, and banks were charging $30 per trade. Effectively, the market taught me that I could not get into the market. Fast forward ten years, I decided to look into it again, and the banks were still charging $25 a trade,” he said. 

“On top of that, their user interfaces were something I didn’t want to look at. So we decided to build a brokerage platform where anyone can get access.” Launched in stealth mode last March 2021, the company has already racked up one hundred thousand users from 145 countries. Gotrade’s users applaud the app for its friendly user interface and its intuitive UX.

Also read: How businesses can maximise their growth using the right financial tools

While the idea for an investment app that eliminates the hurdle of high transaction fees was the initial spur, fractional share trading is what the founders think will attract relatively new investors to Gotrade. 

Mulani says about 65% of Gotrade’s users have traded stocks before, while the rest are first-time investors. “With demand coming from 145 different countries, it shows there’s a huge demand to start investing in the US market. Moreover, it shows that investing needs to become accessible by tearing down borders and lowering fees as much as possible.” With the power of fractional trading, Gotrade helps bridge this gap by making stocks available to people investing as little as US$ 1.

What’s the context

Fintech platforms launched with a vision of democratising access to global capital markets are riding high in recent months – crypto investment platform eToro recently announced a $10B public merger deal. According to the State of Finance App Marketing report by AppsFlyer, the APAC region has seen a total of 2.7 billion fintech app installations between Q1 2019 and Q1 2021.

With its commission-free and fractional investing, Gotrade is an attractive proposition for retail investors. Given the surge of interest in digital financial services, the startup could be well-positioned to benefit from the rising popularity of consumer investment apps.

Led by London VC LocalGlobe, Delaware-based fintech startup Gotrade has raised $7 million to enable users in 150 countries to invest commission-free in fractional US stocks. Gotrade’s mission is to make investing accessible to literally anyone. Gotrade enables commission-free trading for local investors around the world, who were not able to previously invest in US stocks due to high access fees, and pricing barriers. Want to start trading today? Download and get started from $1, with the code 560115.

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This article runs in collaboration with Makan For Hope, a non-profit initiative by Asia Startup Network. The Makan For Hope Festival brings notable mentors and aspiring entrepreneurs in 30 meaningful virtual conversations over food from social enterprises to raise S$125,000 for Fei-Yue to support the children and seniors from low-income families.

Growth is usually the top business priority for early-stage entrepreneurs. To achieve growth, there are many different strategies and tactics and they would typically fall into one of three main categories – build, partner or buy.

That was the topic at the recent Makan For Hope Festival session hosted by Chris Yeo, Grab Financial Group’s Managing Director and Head of GrabPay and Head of Grab Ventures. Below are the key insights and takeaways from the session.

Build

Your first option when it comes to implementing your growth strategy is to build it yourself. What build means is that you invest your company’s own resources and talent into expanding your in-house capabilities.

Partner

Your second option is a partnership. But before you pursue a partnership, it is helpful for one to understand the various types of partnerships. As shared by Yeo, partnership agreements can range from being purely commercial, partially commercial, to strategic partnerships.

And of course, we also have the ‘buy’ option that could either be a minority or majority investment, which the latter is effectively an acquisition.

Here is a framework shared by Yeo below, based on his experience at Grab:

• Proximity to core

One of the first things to consider when approaching the make-or-partner decision is whether the topic of partnering is more adjacent to your core business. Or is it more explorative?

• Required speed to launch

How quickly do you need this product or service up and running?

• Importance to having 100 per cent control in the new business

How valuable and important is it for you to own and retain control of a new business versus allowing a partner to co-lead in that business?

• Availability of the right partner at the right time

Has the right partner come along at the right time?

Well, this certainly requires exercising good judgement…

It is exciting when your first partnership opportunity with a big corporation presents itself. It means you have finally been noticed, though it might be also due to the fact that you pose a competitive threat to them.

One of the participants, Manuel Ho, founder and CEO of a chatbot startup, shared that careful due diligence revealed the key motive behind the partnership, the larger corporation intended to “pick their brains” and gain access to his team’s IP to solve their own problems.

With this in mind, here are three tips shared by Yeo in navigating the potential pitfalls for startups partnering with corporations.

Ensure you have a robust Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in place

IP conflicts are a common regulatory challenge in startup-corporate partnerships. So before divulging your business idea or any data associated, it is critical to evaluate and determine the most valuable assets that you want to protect.

Next, you should ensure these assets are clearly outlined as “confidential” under an NDA which has been vetted by a lawyer. Whether you are part of a startup or advising one, it is important to take proactive steps to ensure a robust NDA is in place, especially for IP heavy startups.

How much data to disclose

After signing an NDA, whether it is mutual or unilateral, you should always be mindful that, as the disclosing party, the amount of data you disclose or as Yeo called it your “secret sauce”, is entirely up to your own discretion.

Also Read: Can partnerships with other startups be impactful?

Data sharing agreements may also be necessary and similarly should be vetted by a lawyer. The rule of thumb is to disclose on a need-to-know basis.

Think about the future: Go in with a medium-term view of a partnership

Because startups are still in their nascent stages, changing course or pivoting is almost always bound to happen. The truth is that in such dynamic environments, it is hard to foresee that the partner you are considering today will still be right for you in the future.

So, the best approach is to evaluate the decision with a medium-term view towards the partnership. Even if you move on, sustaining contact with them could be useful, as you never know, they might be helpful to you down the road.

Common pain points

Large corporations might be excited and involved at the beginning, but can lose steam along the way. And for a startup, the clock is always ticking.

The last thing you want is to spend a significant amount of time cultivating a potential corporate partner and have it come to nought.

Another challenge raised in the session is that often, startups are taken aback by the level of complexity of corporate processes, which causes the process of corporate partnerships to be slow and tedious.

Summarising Yeo’s insights to “grease the wheels” and increase your chances for a successful partnership.

• Bring the partner into your cap table as a strategic investor

This is the most effective but probably the most expensive way to bring alignment to the partnership and ensure that the partner is invested.

• Build the relationship 

Sometimes, cultural and inter-organisational asymmetries can lead to friction early in the process. Mutual understanding and flexibility on both sides are key to addressing such gaps early on.

• Engage with the right decision-makers

Often, the reason for corporate partnerships progressing slowly is that startups fail to engage with the key decision-makers within the corporation. Therefore, as a founder, it is imperative to be clear on who the key decision-makers are and ensure that your team is in contact with the main decision-makers. 

• Be familiar with enterprise sales

As a founder, it is important to have a good grasp of the processes and strategies of enterprise sales, such as the corporate purchase process and partnership criteria on the partner’s side.

Buy: Thinking about merging or acquiring another company?

Your third option to scale your business is to acquire or merge with another business. According to Crunchbase, venture-backed startups are acquiring other startups at a record pace over the last decade.

But before you decide to jump into an M&A opportunity, it is important to ask yourself whether it is strategic in the first place.

Does an M&A fit your business’s objectives and strategies? Timing is another aspect to consider. Is it the right time to go about an M&A at your current state of operations?

If the answers are no, you should certainly reconsider your interest to pursue an M&A.

If you are thinking about or embarking on an M&A, here are a couple of questions to think about.

• Is the business attractive on a standalone basis? 
• What are the synergistic opportunities?
• Will the founders or senior management team be able to fit well into your culture? Would you actually hire them on a standalone basis? 
• Is there a clear line of sight for Post-merger Integration (PMI)?
• Is the price right?

When it comes to implementing your growth strategy, you typically have three options to reach your goal: build, partner, or acquire. Each has its own merits and downsides.

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy so do your homework, tread carefully and ask the right questions to determine which option is the right one for you before you jump on the boat.

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BuyMed, a Vietnamese B2B startup that provides a healthcare and personal care distribution platform, has raised US$8.8 million in a new round of funding, led by South Korea’s Smilegate Investment.

Smilegate invested US$3 million while the remaining amount came from Cocoon Capital, Sequia Surge, Genesia Ventures, B Capital, TSP Consulting, and Nexttrans.

Co-founder and CEO Peter Nguyen said BuyMed will use the money to build a fully integrated e-commerce platform, enabling practitioners to research educated sources and receive delivery for their medicines, medical supplies, supplements and so forth. 

The company also plans to develop its app with more medical services, such as financing solutions and a system to manage clients, patients, and prescription drug dealers. It will transform independent pharmacies and mom-and-pop pharmacies in Vietnam into more network-oriented pharmacies.

BuyMed is also looking to expand into other markets in Southeast Asia. 

Without an official multi-brand distributor, most pharmaceutical companies and brands have launched their own distribution networks, resulting in a fragmented distribution of medicines and pharmaceuticals to medical institutions. “This situation is also happening in many Southeast Asian countries. So we have many opportunities to explore,” stated Nguyen.

Also read: Vietnam’s BuyMed raises US$2.5M to expand its pharma distribution marketplace in Southeast Asia

Co-founded by Nguyen, COO Vu Vuong, and CPO Hoang Nguyen, BuyMed aims to assist Vietnam’s healthcare system to grow by modernising the country’s traditional distribution channels. Its exclusive B2B platform Thuocsi.vn connects licensed distributors with healthcare providers, automatically matching orders and end-to-end logistics.

In January 2021, BuyMed expanded to Hanoi to establish its national distribution and fulfilment platform, allowing it to deliver products across 63 provinces and cities. The company claims it has grown four times over the last 12 months, currently processing over 30,000 orders per month having shipped supplies and pharmaceuticals to over 16,000 pharmacies across Vietnam.

The platform now has 1,000 suppliers, distributors and manufacturers.

During the COVID-19 spread, BuyMed allowed partners to sell online and offer safety features such as regular office and warehouse cleaning, delivery, and ongoing payment without direct contact. 

Even though its operations in Ho Chi Minh City have been adversely impacted due to the lockdown and surging caseload, it is picking up pace with new opportunities. 

“The lockdown has caused those wholesale markets to shut down, so there are a lot of pharmacies in the country that don’t have medicine or don’t have a supply of medicines,” said Nguyen. “Therefore, we have become one of the main forces of medicine for a lot of pharmacies.”

The firm has also ramped up its business in Hanoi, as it has been operational here for nearly six months.

Besides, BuyMed plans to provide more product categories in the healthcare industry, such as cosmetics, medical equipment, functional foods, forging ahead to become a commercial site.

As noted in “Healthcare Providers in Vietnam – Market Summary, Competitive Analysis and Forecast to 2025”, the Vietnamese healthcare providers industry generated total revenues of US$17.1 billion, indicating a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.5 per cent between 2016 and 2020.

The country’s healthtech startups drew VCs attention in recent years, with companies such as Medici, Nhi Dong 315, eDoctor, JIO Health, and Med247 raising significant venture capital.

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Image credit: BuyMed

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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic began, we started to see the shift from physical to online e-commerce happening. Smartphone technology, Artificial Intelligence, improved cameras and sensors, and 4G combined will allow for a next-generation shopping experience. This will be the key to innovation in the future.

Mike Dragan is the founder and CEO of Streams Live, which is taking advantage of all these technologies to push the boundaries of the shopping experience.

In this fascinating talk, we started discussing what it was like to be an entrepreneur born and raised in the European Union, but who straddles the EU and the US physically and professionally. It certainly gives a different experience –and advantage– for any entrepreneur.

Later in the conversation, we moved towards what the future of technology and the shopping experience might look like. What kind of changes in customer behaviour that we can expect to see? How will technology catch up with the needs and demands of a new era? What opportunities are there for us to pursue, and how can we best use them? What are the possible challenges?

Also Read: Capturing the next frontier opportunities in the Indonesian e-commerce landscape

So if you’re interested in extrapolating and predicting the future of shopping, you’ll love this conversation with Dragan. Make sure you do not miss this one.

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

Acast
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Spotify
Stitcher

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This article on the future of shopping was first published on We Live To Build.

Image Credit: nomadsoul1

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