One weekend in the summer of 2004, Jeremy Levine, a venture capitalist at Bessemer Venture Partners, found himself dodging a highly persistent Harvard undergraduate, Eduardo Severin, pitching ‘The Facebook’.

“Kid, haven’t you heard of Friendster? Move on. It’s over!”

Yet, it was that very same summer, Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and a prolific angel investor, backed Facebook at a valuation of $10 million. By April 2005, Facebook’s valuation had ballooned 10- fold to $100 million and Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg had left Harvard.

What happened there?

Facebook is just one example of a game-changing student venture that has seen an explosion in value in a very short period. Other hugely successful student ventures founded during their time at university include Dropbox ($9 billion valuation at IPO) and Snap Inc. ($29 billion valuation at IPO).

Thus, it is no secret that universities are hotbeds for startups. Despite this, prominent venture capital players could very likely miss out on tremendous student-founded opportunities because they are not sufficiently plugged into the university startup ecosystem — and what could have been their best investments could end up on a list like the Bessemer Anti-Portfolio (yes, you will find Facebook there).

Protégé Ventures occupies a niche spot in the venture capital and student startup ecosystem

With Silicon Valley in the United States recognised as the global centre of technological innovation, universities like Stanford, Harvard, and MIT have tapped on the early adopter advantages that the country has in technology and have collaborated with well-known venture capital funds to invest in student ventures because they recognised the intrinsic value of investing in young talent.

One such example is Dorm Room Fund established by First Round Capital in 2012. Led by student VCs from universities like U Penn, Columbia, and Stanford, the fund has backed more than 300 companies and is one of the most active seed-stage investors in the US. Its portfolio companies have also raised more than $1 billion in follow-on capital from industry-leading investors like Y Combinator and Sequoia Capital, and notable investments include FiscalNote, Zodiac Inc., and Shield AI.

Also read: Learn the ropes around scaling your startup across borders

While we see similar student venture funds ballooning across the US and Europe such as Rough Draft Ventures and Campus Capital, there has been significantly less traction in Southeast Asia.

However, things have begun to change.

Established in 2017 by Singapore Management University’s Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (IIE) and Kairos ASEAN, Protégé Ventures is a nationwide venture capital training programme and student venture fund — the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. To date, Protégé Ventures has trained over 180 students and, in July 2021, it received a record 313 applications from students nationwide; a 20% increase from 2020.

With members from across universities in Singapore, Protégé Ventures is rooted deeply in the university startup ecosystem where students have immediate and direct access to changemakers in their campuses, as well as researches produced in the universities. Through intensive hands-on venture capital training and extensive network-building, the student venture capitalists (VCs) at Protégé Ventures not only learn about the ins and outs of venture capital while still at university, but also serve as a crucial bridge between industry venture capitalists and education stakeholders.

Protégé Ventures student VCs source and evaluate student-led startups across Asia, becoming trailblazers in the region. Where a startup shows potential, the student VCs pen investment cheques, ranging from S$25,000 to S$50,000, to fund the venture’s future.

Identifying promising student-led ventures

Amidst the pandemic in June 2020, Protégé Ventures invested in Intellect, a mental health startup on a mission to help individuals and workforces get timely access to mental wellbeing support. Soon after, Intellect went on to raise a seed round with investors including Insignia Ventures Partners and Carousell Co-Founder, Quek Siu Rui. By September 2021, not only did Intellect join the highly coveted Y Combinator (YC) accelerator that launched startups such as Airbnb, Reddit, and Twitch, they also raised a $2.2million pre-Series A fund co-led by Insignia Ventures Partners, XA Network and YC.

At the heart of the Protégé Ventures’ investment decision-making process lies its mission of ‘for students, by students’. Protégé Ventures is committed to empowering the next generation of founders in Singapore and the region by making at least 80% of their investments in promising startups led by students and recent graduates.

Also read: Leveraging digital-first CX for customer delight and business growth

And Intellect is not alone. 85% of Protégé Ventures’ portfolio companies have also seen follow-on funding such as Lumitics that secured $750,000 in an oversubscribed seed funding round and Rooit which raised $500,000 in 2020.

The unique perspective and advantage that Protégé Ventures has in identifying high-potential startups led by students and recent graduates is clear. Being embedded in the university startup ecosystem, student VCs often find themselves amidst all the action: from getting front row seats at exciting campus startup events to passionately discussing the viability of classroom (and dorm room) ideas, and being the first to participate in user tests.

There is thus little doubt that their insider access to the university startup ecosystem provides the venture capital veterans they collaborate with unparalleled access to the university startup ecosystem.

Building a sustainable VC and entrepreneurial talent pipeline

Besides providing industry VCs with access to the promising ventures of tomorrow, Protégé Ventures plays a unique role as a pipeline programme for future venture capital professionals and entrepreneurial leaders. Singapore’s Ministry of Education has provided funding to support the expansion and scaling of the programme.

In March 2021, Protégé Ventures co-organised the inaugural VC Office Hours from the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition — Southeast Asia’s largest congregation of senior venture capitalists providing pro bono advisory. The event provided the Protégé Ventures student VCs with the rare and exclusive opportunity to shadow leading VCs from the region, where they could learn first-hand what VCs look out for when investing in startups.

Crucial to building a sustainable VC talent pipeline is the development of promising and entrepreneurial youth. VCs can play their part by teaching masterclasses, speaking at sharing sessions and mentoring Protégé Ventures’ aspiring VCs through internships.

Jeremy Loh, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Genesis Alternative Ventures attested to the calibre and drive of Protégé Ventures student VCs he met through masterclasses, the VC Office Hours event, and internships at his firm.

“At Genesis, we are always looking for driven, curious individuals who want to get an in-depth experience interning as an investment analyst. The student VCs at Protege Ventures have already been trained to think, analyse, and work as a professional VC and hence it makes a ton of sense to hire them as interns for our venture debt firm,” shared Loh.

Also read: How to foster mental wellness in the workplace and boost performance

“A Protégé Ventures student VC interned at Genesis and we had a super positive experience with her work attitude, quick thinking on her feet, and never-give-up mindset. We would definitely look to hire our next intern from future Protégé Ventures cohorts,” Loh added.

Student VC Benedict Chong, Managing Partner from Singapore Management University Class of 2021, parlayed his Protégé Ventures training into extended internships with Qualgro Partners.

“Protégé Ventures has been instrumental in my personal growth as a VC by familiarising me with many other facets of the venture capital industry beyond desk analysis. Alongside the tutelage of the amazing Qualgro team, this has emboldened me to stay agile and capture many more possibilities as an entry-level analyst,” he said.

Invest in the future with Protégé Ventures

Protégé Ventures is on the lookout for VCs to join its journey to empower young entrepreneurial talent as it grows its programme and enters its fifth year as a fund. As a partner to Protégé Ventures, VCs gain unparalleled access to student founders by leveraging on the student fund’s strong presence in the university startup ecosystem.

VCs can also build a strong talent pipeline of entrepreneurial leaders with Protégé Ventures through the following:

• Speaking at events and masterclasses to impart their wisdom and play an active role in inspiring the aspiring VCs and entrepreneurs
• Offering internship opportunities to students to equip them with the necessary mindset and skills to navigate the unknown and disruptive economies of tomorrow
• Sponsorship in Protégé Ventures to give students an experiential, hands-on learning experience as they deploy real capital into startups

To make your impact on entrepreneurial education, you may reach out to Protégé Ventures at hello@protege.vc.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by SMU IIE

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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Singapore-headquartered Aspire, which intends to provide an all-in-one finance operating system (OS) for small and medium businesses (SMEs) in Southeast Asia, has announced an oversubscribed US$158 million Series B fundraise led by an undisclosed global growth equity firm.

DST Global, CE Innovation Fund, B Capital and Fasanara Capital, alongside existing backers Hummingbird Ventures, Mass Mutual Ventures, Picus Capital, and AFG, also participated.

Besides, Taavet Hinrikus (co-founder of Wise), Alexandre Prot and Steve Anavi (co-founders of Qonto), Pierpaolo Barbieri (founder of Uala), Moses Lo (co-founder of Xendit), Hendra Kwik (co-founder of Payfazz), and Gerry Colyer (co-founder of Clara) have also joined the round.

Aspire is looking to double down on existing markets with the new investment while building the foundations to serve growing business clients across Southeast Asia.

Incorporated in January 2018 by Andrea Baronchelli, former EVP and CMO at Lazada, Aspire aims to “reinvent SME banking in Southeast Asia” by serving a new generation of internet businesses with a mobile-first digital account across Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam.

Also Read: Thailand’s Beacon VC invests in Singapore’s neo banking platform Aspire

The startup’s flagship product AspireAccount caters to digital merchants across the region and can be opened online in just a few clicks. It is free and comes with an instant credit limit for daily business expenses, a virtual B2B payment acceptance and other tools to help SMEs manage their cash flow.

As per a press note, Aspire has served over 10,000 businesses across Southeast Asia.

Aspire is a graduate of Y Combinator Winter 2018.

“We see a world dominated by integrated platforms across various business functions such as Salesforce for Sales or Slack for Communication. We believe the same is happening for finance, and we are here to build the operating system for the SouthEast Asia digital economy,” said CEO Baronchelli. “We build value for our customers by saving time, saving money, and boosting their growth.”

In August 2019, Aspire secured US$32.5 million in a Series A round of financing, led by Mass-Mutual Ventures (MMV) Southeast Asia, with participation from Arc Labs and Y Combinator, Hummingbird Ventures, and Picus Capital. This was preceded by a US$9 million seed investment from Insignia Ventures Partners, Mark 2 Capital, and Hummingbird.

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Image Credit: Aspire

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Singapore-based women-focused healthcare services startup, Ease Healthcare, has attracted a US$1.3M seed financing round led by Insignia Ventures Partners.

Several high-profile members from the XA Network also joined.

Additionally, Ease Healthcare launched a mobile app that enables users to book doctor appointments and preventive tests on the go, make purchases, and run comprehensive contraception tracking. In addition, it allows users to manage critical sexual and reproductive health indicators through personalised guides and content and engage with the larger community of Ease users through a community forum.

Also Read: Breaking the taboo: Meet the Singapore-based startups that are working to provide access to sexual healthcare

Ease Healthcare will use the funds to introduce new features, expand its team, and continue scaling the reach of its services. A portion of the capital will go into launching its own line of products focused on preventing or improving women’s health conditions, including vaginal infections, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and urinary tract issues.

Ease Healthcare was founded in 2020 by serial entrepreneur and sexual and reproductive health rights advocate Guadalupe Lazaro and lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Rio Hoe.

Their own experiences inspired the duo as a couple accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare in Singapore. Through market research, the founder-couple identified four main barriers to access sexual and reproductive health services. They were the cost of these services, the inconvenient experience of making appointments, booking tests, and getting prescriptions; the lack of education around this aspect of personal health; and the prevalent stigma of availing these services.

These issues are more prominent in Asia, where health education is not as prevalent. They point towards underserved sexual healthcare and women care market in APAC that is worth US$10 billion this year.

They launched Ease’s initial platform in 2020 to cater to these needs and the pain points they identified in the market. This platform enables consumers to consult with medical professionals, obtain and renew prescriptions conveniently and affordably, get medication discreetly delivered to their doorstep within four hours, and learn more about managing their reproductive health.

Ease Healthcare’s platform works hand-in-hand with its network of clinics, pharmacies, doctors, and laboratories across Singapore. The app now includes and expands beyond these existing features with new services such as contraception and symptom tracking, personalised insights, and a broad range of relevant products available for purchase.

Ease Healthcare claims its community grew 6x over the past year to 20,000 members.

The company regularly shares educational content with its community, ranging from using various contraceptives to early warning signals for infections.

Also Read: How ZaZaZu aims to empower women by starting conversation about sexual wellness

“Our new app brings us a step closer to becoming the go-to platform for all women’s health care needs. It will enable every Ease user to control their health and wellness by significantly reducing the impact of stigma, lack of education, inconvenience, and costs that burden traditional channels. The long-term goal is not just to tackle access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, but address the larger picture of women’s health through a truly comprehensive ecosystem of products and services,” said co-founder Lazaro.

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Image Credit: Ease Healthcare

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We are racing towards the last quarter of this year, and six months have already passed since I last shared an update from our Facebook State of Small Business report.

Since the early months of the pandemic, Facebook has been surveying small businesses worldwide at regular intervals to find out what they’re going through and what help they need.

Last week, we published the results of our latest survey of more than 35,000 small business leaders across 30 countries and territories, carried out this July and August.

It finds that closure rates are falling worldwide in most surveyed countries, a sign that slight business recovery is underway. But there is still a long way to go and many challenges to tackle.

In the Asia Pacific, we surveyed small businesses in Australia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. There is both good and bad news from the survey.

First, the good news: Most SMBs on Facebook in the Asia Pacific countries we surveyed reported that they were operational or engaging in revenue-generating activities. The bad news is that their sales have dropped significantly.

More than half of SMBs surveyed said that their sales continue to be significantly lower, leading to cuts in employment. Businesses in Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan are struggling the most from the impact of COVID-19, as more than 75 per cent say that their sales performance decreased during this time.

There are some silver linings. One is that many small businesses have found success by shifting online. For some, moving online has been the difference between staying afloat or going under. For others, it’s given them a whole new lease on life.

Also Read: Leveraging digital-first CX for customer delight and business growth

Globally, the use of digital tools has increased during the pandemic, and it’s up again in this latest edition of the survey: 88 per cent of all businesses said they use digital tools compared to 81 per cent when I last wrote about it in April.

More than half of those surveyed expect their use of digital tools to be permanent. In the Asia Pacific, nearly 50 per cent of SMBs we studied on Facebook reported at least 25 per cent or more of their sales were made digitally.

The other silver lining is that women-owned businesses in the countries we surveyed in the Asia Pacific are doing as well or even better than their men-led counterparts in closures and sales performance. Taiwan is leading this trend with 92 per cent of female-led SMBs (vs 80 per cent of male-led SMBs) on Facebook reporting that they were operational or engaging in any revenue-generating activities, followed by Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia.

This is an exciting trend as last year; we saw the female-owned businesses were consistently harder hit than male-owned businesses.

Supporting these gains is vital as one Boston Consulting Group study has shown that if women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could rise by approximately three to six per cent, boosting the global economy by US$2.5 trillion to US$5 trillion.

So what does this all mean? Throughout 2020 and 2021, our State of Small Business reports has painted a consistent and sobering picture. But the consistently positive takeaway from all the surveys is the power of digital transformation in helping businesses weather the storm.

This is why we continue to invest in new products and tools to help businesses connect with their customers and simplify day-to-day management.

Today, I’m excited to share five critical updates that will help businesses meaningfully connect with people:

Ads that click-to-message

Businesses can already buy ads that encourage people to message them, whether in Messenger, Instagram Direct, or WhatsApp. For example, Organicwa, a Thai restaurant, leveraged click-to-message ads to scale up its delivery operations.

Now, businesses can choose all the messaging platforms where they’re available to chat, and we’ll default the chat app in your ad based on where a conversation is most likely to happen.

Start a WhatsApp chat from an Instagram profile.

Instagram is the virtual storefront for many small businesses for customers to discover brands, and WhatsApp is the counter to discuss products, answer questions, and close sales.

Businesses can now add a WhatsApp click-to-chat button to their Instagram profile— and, starting soon, the option to create ads that click to WhatsApp directly from the Instagram app so that people can start a chat with just one tap. These updates will help small businesses find new customers and get business done.

Also Read: How one LinkedIn message changed the fate of my failing startup

Lead generation on Instagram

We will begin testing paid and organic tools to help small businesses find and qualify leads directly within the Instagram app in the coming months.

Advertisers use lead generation ads to connect with customers and connect leads in a more personal way while reducing costs — like Seoul Spa, a Vietnamese beauty clinic, did with their Messenger campaign, lowering their cost per lead by 72 per cent.

Facebook Business Explore

We will soon expand Facebook Business Explore in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Singapore. By putting more businesses in front of interested people who are actively looking for them, Facebook Business Explore will help connect people with new and relevant companies in one easy and centralised place.

This will also help businesses reach new customers and drive deeper consideration that can lead to purchases.

Lastly, business owners have told us they want more separation between their personal and professional identities. To simplify this, we are testing Work Accounts, which will allow business users to log in and operate Business Manager without requiring a personal account.

Businesses will be able to manage these accounts on behalf of their employees and have access to enterprise-grade features like single sign-on integrations, giving them more control over the security of their employees’ accounts.

We are testing Work Accounts through the remainder of the year with a small group of businesses and expect to expand availability globally in 2022.

If you were to take away one thing from all this – it is the importance of business messaging in the post-COVID-19 world. Over the years, we’ve seen how person-to-person messaging has defined the norm for person-to-business communication. 

This is why we will continue to invest in ways to help drive better business results across the customer journey. We see messaging as a powerful way for businesses to connect, support and build a bridge to their increasingly digital-savvy customers. 

My goal in sharing these updates is to bring you along as we reimagine discovery and relevance for people, creators, and businesses. Together, we can build a vibrant digital economy with the potential to drive recovery and the next lap of economic opportunity for all. 

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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Ascend Money, a Bangkok-headquartered fintech firm providing payment and financial services in Southeast Asia, has secured US$150 million funding at US$1.5 billion.

With this, Ascend Money has become Thailand’s first fintech unicorn.

US-based Bow Wave Capital Management and existing shareholders — Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group and Ant Group — invested in the round.

The new capital will be used to enlarge the user base of its TrueMoney Wallet and expand its digital financial services, including digital lending, digital investment and cross border remittances across Southeast Asia.

So far, Ascend Money has made inroads into six Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Also Read: Flash Express adds US$150M more to its kitty, becomes Thailand’s first unicorn

Founded in 2013, Ascend Money operates the digital payment and financial service platform TrueMoney, aiming to drive regional financial access and inclusion for those financially excluded and SMEs around the region.

According to the press statement, TrueMoney serves more than 50 million users through its e-wallet application and 88,000 TrueMoney agents.

A study by Visa in 2021 showed that 85 per cent of consumers in Southeast Asia had adopted some form of cashless payment solution. While Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia are taking the lead, countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand are drawing near with an average cashless payment adoption rate of 88 per cent.

Buoyed by these favourable signals, Thailand’s payments segment has witnessed a leapfrog growth. The total transaction value is forecast to increase at a CAGR of 10.94 per cent during 2021-2025, resulting in a projected US$24,127 million by 2025.

Ant Group entered Southeast Asia with its first investment into Ascend Money in 2016.

Ascend Money’s is the second tech company from Thailand to enter the unicorn club. The first is Flash Group, the company behind the leading express delivery service Flash Express in Thailand, which made it to the club with a US$150 million round in June this year.

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Image Credit: Ascend Money

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Vietnam-focused Touchstone Partners has launched a bespoke incubation programme for high-potential founders to develop their initial ideas in Vietnam.

Touchstone Fellowship Program (TFP) is open on a rolling basis. As per a press release, TFP aligns with the VC firm’s sectors of interest, including fintech, real estate, healthcare, edutech, and technology that enhances efficiency in major Vietnamese value chains such as manufacturing and agriculture.

Touchstone will invest between US$50,000 and US$100,000 in convertible notes with “simple, straightforward and founders-friendly” terms to kickstart founders’ ideas.

There are no hidden costs or fees. 

“Through the small cheques we provide to founders, they will be able to move along faster and deeper to prove their market fit and validate the business model. We saw how even a small amount of investment could help startups grow at least 3x,” said Touchstone’s Director of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Bobby Liu.

Also read: Why these four Vietnamese startups made it to the Forbes Asia watchlist

Construction B2B marketplace Debion and no-code automation SaaS Autotable are the first two startups receiving fundings from the programme.

Founded and led by Khanh Tran and Tu Ngo in 2021, Touchstone Partners also provides US$1 million in seed funding for startups, aiming to catalyse Vietnam’s tech ecosystem.

Last month, the firm injected US$1 million into the telemedicine platform Medigo, one of the first investments of its US$50 million debut fund since April.

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Image Credit: Touchstone Partners

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Key information about Southeast Asian (SEA) startup ecosystem:

• The gravity wells of capital and talent created by unicorns in 2019 have become more widespread in 2021 as SEA’s startups discover how to “hyperjump” funding life cycles and more talent pours into the region’s ecosystem
• The confluence of US and China spheres of innovation resulting from home market saturation and stricter regulations has brought in more talent and capital to SEA and opened up more opportunities for startups to go global
• SEA’s innovation landscape is growing, and the velocity of this growth keeps pace with the activity within it so far. The VCs that fall behind are those that fail to ride these new waves

In July 2019, we published a short thought piece, The world is flat, Southeast Asia is a bowl, describing the region’s innovation landscape (vis-a-vis the flat or spiky landscape of the rest of the world) by capturing the creation of these talent (war chests and brand equity to hire top talent), capital (mega-rounds led by global investors), and even company (M&A deals with smaller companies) “gravity wells” by regional unicorns.

We concluded that while the gravitational pull of these unicorns would only increase moving forward, there remains a lot of space unaffected by the pull of these unicorns and the value of SEA’s innovation landscape for early-stage venture capital lies precisely in opportunities untouched by unicorns (e.g. Indonesia’s rural economy).

Then in November 2020, we wrote about the impact of the increasing bifurcation between the US and China spheres of innovation on SEA in another thought piece, Unifying The Two Spheres Of Global Innovation: The Role Of ASEANnovation On The World Stage, with tech companies and investors in the former finding green pastures in the latter amidst trade wars.

The main examples we gave then were the diversification of supply chains into Vietnam and the movement of headquarters and talent into Singapore.

This year, we’ve seen both frameworks we described in these two articles — the deepening gravity wells and the confluence of the US and China innovation in Southeast Asia —-not only evolve but also affect each other, with the pandemic as a catalyst.

In this article, we revisit these frameworks, develop them further given what has been happening this year thus far, and most importantly, outline the opportunities for early-stage venture capital and early-stage startup founders in the region offered by the developments in these frameworks.

Discovering how to “hyperjump” funding life cycles

We’ve seen how the gravitational pull in SEA created by the 2010s generation of tech unicorns has expanded to the war chests of other tech startups.

The valuation markups in 2019 that primarily affected the post-Series C rounds of unicorns have increasingly become more common in 2021, impacting even earlier stage rounds (seed to Series B), especially where US and global venture capital and private equity investors are involved.

This has largely been driven by public market activity becoming more pronounced in the region, from the 2020 performance of Sea Group on Wall Street to the movement of first-generation unicorns (i.e. PropertyGuru, Bukalapak, Traveloka, Grab, GoTo) to the public markets catalysed by the former, SEA-focused SPACs, and local bourses making more significant adjustments for tech companies.

To put it into the context of our 2019 discussion on unicorn gravity wells — a “spacetime warp” has been opened up from the private markets to the public markets.

Also Read: Sea Group’s venture fund to invest US$1B in tech startups

That pathway has always been there (i.e. Sea went public in 2017), but the mass of the companies concentrating at the deep end of SEA’s gravity well had not been significant enough— until now.

This opening up of SEA’s bowl to the public markets has created that current of more capital to be committed to the region, where we see the likes of Hedosophia, QED, White Star Capital, Cathay Innovation, and Ribbit Capital coming in assigning or recruiting people to focus on early-stage deals Southeast Asia as it takes a more significant portion of these US and European firms’ investment interests.

The edges of the region’s bowl are also flattening with this diversification of capital sources, not just from global investors but also local funds.

We’ve seen the rapid deployment of the dry capital that was accumulated over 2019 as LPs hopped on the private market fundraise balloon in 2018, as well as the creation of smaller, more focused funds, usually tied to local family offices and conglomerates (especially in Thailand and the Philippines).

The vacuum created by the first generation of unicorns heading to the public markets is quickly filled up by local firms teeing up companies to global marquee investors presumably used to buying at higher prices in more mature markets.

This has ushered in the second generation of unicorns this year (e.g. Carro, Flash Express, Nium), many of whom achieved a billion-dollar valuation at a much faster pace than the first generation.

This means that we can expect this “spacetime warp” from the private to public markets to also create smaller warps across the funding life cycle, enabling startups in the region to rise bigger and faster.

Perhaps over the next few years, we may even see tech startups access the public markets even before becoming a unicorn if public market investor interest matches the enthusiasm of private market investors.

In a way, it seems as though the region’s tech startup ecosystem has finally discovered how to “hyperjump” through the funding life cycle, and the “hyperjump technology” is no longer just available to unicorns as it was in 2019.

The short-term benefits of the global investor markups and early-stage funding diversification are obvious: more incentive for founders to build companies in the region, meaning more demand for venture capital and more demand for talent to grow these companies.

But then the biggest risk is when the fundraising valuation velocity outpaces the velocity of actual company growth and the velocity of SEA’s internet economy growth (oh no, a bubble!).

That said, we are still at a point where the region’s internet economy continues to grow at an increasingly rapid pace, and this is largely due to the momentum created by the first generation of unicorns amidst the pandemic, funnelling new online consumers and increasing confidence in businesses to adopt emerging digital platforms and solutions.

Some of the predictions made by everyone’s favourite report — SEAconomy by Google, Bain, and Temasek — are already being broken, and we can expect this to continue to 2025.

This points to the demand for digital solutions to keep up with investor interest, at least in the next five years. So in the meantime, a velocity equilibrium is being maintained despite the massive influx of capital this year.

Southeast Asia is a bowl framework 2021 version. Equilibrium is maintained so far as the influx of capital is balanced out by the continued growth of the internet economy.

Three opportunities for early-stage venture capital

• Short-term benefits of bringing in global marquee follow-on investors that increase markups to offset or exceed the impact of dilution on returns, especially as they move in earlier rounds. Selling a buyers’ market can be lucrative but should also be strategic. This markup increase also increases the velocity of unicorn creation and the likelihood of earlier exits in the fund life, potentially increasing LP confidence in local funds and resulting in even more dry powder among local VCs. The risk here is that as global investors move earlier in the value chain, there will be more competitive pricing. Still, just as with local startups, local firms have an edge in terms of having more at stake in the region and a localization advantage in working with startups in the region.
• More space for local VC firms to invest in a niche or emerging areas like crypto or agritech or femtech and sell these sectors and companies operating in these markets up the funding value chain. The risk is finding the right spaces that align with the investment thesis and balancing allocation against hotter sectors.
• More pathways to exit and faster timelines to take advantage of the increase in velocity of unicorn creation and the ability of companies to exit earlier. The risk here is whether the company’s growth can actually keep pace with investor demand.

3 opportunities for early-stage startup founders in SEA

• More sources of capital to access, and many who are willing to pay above market, but are they precious investors in the long run? And if they are leading the round, how committed are they to you as their portfolio company?
• More attention is being given to industries and sectors that previously had no “gravitational pull” of their own in terms of venture capital. Underrated venture-backable spaces can be valuable blue oceans for startups.
• More options to exit in the years to come, but figuring out which is best for the business ties directly to the vision and goal of the founders from day one.

US and China confluence opens up Southeast Asia influence

Two Spheres of Innovation Framework 2020 version

Apart from the private to public market “spacetime warp” opening up, the increasing confluence of the US and China innovation spheres into Southeast Asia has also been reshaping Southeast Asia’s bowl.

When we published the piece on the bifurcation, Joe Biden had just been elected president of the US, and China had just halted Ant Financial’s IPO in its tracks.

Since then, we’ve seen the Chinese government take even more decisive action to wield control over its technology ecosystem and also build a more self-reliant industry (e.g. semiconductors and chips), and in the US, regulatory scrutiny on tech companies has also intensified, more so on those coming from China looking to list on Wall Street.

What’s new in terms of this bifurcation and the resulting confluence of these spheres of innovation in Southeast Asia is that it is not just an influx of capital or investments but also of talent, thanks to healthy amounts of push incentives like an increasingly saturated market (more unicorns that came out of Southeast Asia than China this year, a new record) and pull incentives like the public market potential we discussed earlier.

The talent coming from China and the US takes the form of (1) investors setting up regional headquarters for their firms, (2) tech company executives relocating to expand their presence in the region, (3) HNWIs and family offices setting up Asia offices, (4) former founders, executives, or even employees of big tech companies looking to start new companies in Southeast Asia, and even (5) professionals (returnees among them) looking to be part of an emerging market venture.

As we described previously, each of these groups impacts the developments in Southeast Asia’s gravity wells and startup funding life cycle.

Investors leading Southeast Asia investment for global firms relocating to the region itself signifies direct contact and stronger commitment towards founders in the region, opening up more of these smaller “warps” for startups to “hyperjump” in their fundraising journey.

Apart from global investors setting up local headquarters to widen the competitive landscape for venture capital, the same trend is also happening in tech companies setting up Southeast Asia offices or moving their Asia headquarters to cities like Singapore. This presents welcome competition in the market and opens up opportunities for emerging tech startups to build adjacent to these global players, with the latter becoming customers or partners of the former.

HNWIs and family offices, as we’ve covered in past articles like this one, are also looking to participate in the diversification of early-stage venture funding, either by becoming LPs, setting up their own venture capital funds, or participating directly in fundraising rounds.

Then there are also operators, especially from Chinese tech giants, looking at Southeast Asia to start new ventures. This is not a new phenomenon, but we can expect an increase of these types of founders to be pulled in by the region’s gravity well and offer their experience and built up the expertise to company building in the region. That said, local VCs are always cautious about funding these “tourist” founders unless they have local co-founders or members in their management team who can navigate the intricacies of Southeast Asia.

Also Read: Why Southeast Asia is great for your angel investments

Finally, some professionals are simply drawn to working in Southeast Asia’s tech companies, whether as entry-level employees, remote workers, founding team members, or senior executives. These professionals could potentially upskill companies, especially if they come from a deep tech background — the kind of background that has traditionally been lacking in Southeast Asia.

We see more tech startups like fintech, for example, looking to hire AI experts, and so there’s increasing demand for operators who can lead technological innovation within a startup. With the trend of markups and larger funding rounds in the region, the startups with bigger gravity wells are more likely to bring in better talent.

This layer of talent influx on top of the capital influx means that the space occupied by Southeast Asia’s innovation landscape will inevitably grow bigger, ultimately creating a virtuous cycle of proportionally increasing demand for talent and capital.

The interesting effect of the confluence of these spheres of innovation is that local startups will also be more opportunities to go beyond the region itself, especially for startups that offer solutions that can be competitive on the global stage.

With more of the world participating in Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia can participate on the global stage.

It may not be an equal and opposite reaction, but with what Southeast Asia can take in, opportunities can be brought beyond the region.

Two Spheres of Innovation 2021 version

Three opportunities for early-stage venture capital

• Local VC firms developing into or positioning themselves as platforms for their portfolio companies to leverage US and China confluence, from talent to follow-on capital. A data-driven tech stack will also have a large role in navigating the increasing noise in the region.
• Local VC firms as platforms to help family offices and HNWIs invest in startups, either through their funds or directly as co-investors or follow-on investors.
• More professional interest in venture capital as demand for capital increases and the critical mass of founders increases.

Three opportunities for early-stage founders

• More expertise and professionals in areas that are not as populated in the region but whose applications are in high demand (e.g. AI and data analytics being an example).
• Easier to sell to Chinese and US companies setting up HQs in Southeast Asia as customers, more opportunities for B2B or enterprise startups.
• More capital and talent are available to support global-first growth trajectories.

SEA’s bowl is not cracking but growing bigger

It is worth noting that the entry of the US and China into Southeast Asia in terms of talent and capital is not new, nor has it always been successful.

A decade ago, some global marquee investors tried dipping their feet into the region, but the activity did not explode into the gold rush we see today.

That said, there will always be space for local VC firms and investors with long-term convictions and a compelling value proposition for founders in the region.

There may be less of an early-mover advantage for sectors already flush with capital, like generalist e-commerce. Still, one of the great things about being an investor, and more so a founder, in a fast-growing, diverse market like Southeast Asia, is that there are constantly new opportunities for ventures to build, not just locally but now globally as well.

Southeast Asia’s bowl is growing, and the velocity of this growth is keeping pace with the velocity of the activity within it so far, so the bowl will not crack anytime soon. The VCs that fall behind are those that fail to ride these new waves.

Competition is not the limiting factor for venture capital in the region. One could even argue that there are not enough VC professionals in Southeast Asia — that’s why you have emerging programs like the Insignia Academy, a VC accelerator.

Rather, the limits investors need to look out for are their own investment strategies or theses and the socio-economic trends and behaviours around these markets.

In this regard, we see value in thesis-driven investing and focusing more on quality and performance rather than a spray-and-pray approach, which funds and firms with more dry powder and bigger operations would be better suited to compete on.

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The Sherpa Company, a subsidiary of Vietnamese retail giant Masan Group, has acquired a 70 per cent stake in lcoal mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Mobicast for VN295.5 billion (US$12.96 million).

Under the new transaction, Mobicast, operating under the brand Reddi, will gain exclusive access to the group’s consumer base and physical and online contact points across the country. 

This will decrease Reddi’s consumer acquisition costs considerably, allowing them to reinvest in developing innovative digital consumer products and a customer care experience platform. 

Meanwhile, Masan will have the capacity to develop a sticky loyalty programme by unifying its consumer base via Reddi. The deal serves as a stepping stone for the retail group to digitalise its platforms and create a comprehensive off-to-online (O2O) products and services package – “Point of Life”.

Founded in 2016, Mobicast launched Reddi in 2019 as the country’s second full-service mobile virtual network operator (MNOV). The startup uses the mobile phone infrastructure of the State-owned Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT).

Reddi focuses on providing digital services solutions for young and modern customers through the mobile app platform. It also aims to transform into a super app based on core services such as mobile telecommunications. 

The company also boasts of employing the most up-to-date technologies such as 5G, IoT, e-sim, or mobile money to promote the freedom of users’ experience and personalisation.

Also read: Sendbird reaches unicorn status amidst growing need for mobile communications

MNOVs such as Reddi provide value-added wireless communication services without owning the cellular infrastructure. Traditional mobile network operators (MNOs) collaborate with MVNOs to deliver telecom services to customers using their radio spectrum-based transmissions and related wireless network equipment.

This is a win-win situation for both MNOs and MVNOs and a standard business model in the telecom space globally. MNOs gain from increased network capacity utilisation, while MVNOs benefit from an asset-light business model.   

Masan claims to have a consumer ecosystem spanning grocery, financial and digital life, accounting for approximately 80 per cent of the consumer wallet. 

In Vietnam, the group possesses an expansive offline distribution channel of more than 2,400 WinMart, WinMart+ retail stores (formed through 2019 merger of retail arms with Vietnam’s largest conglomerate Vingroup) and more than 300,000 general trade retailers.

According to the group’s statement, the deal marks Masan’s maiden investment and entry into the telecommunications industry.

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Image Credit: Mobicast

 

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Singapore-based logistics tech firm Ninja Van today announced that it has raised a US$578 million Series E funding round from existing investors Geopost/DPDgroup, B Capital Group, Monk’s Hill Ventures, and Zamrud, an entity linked to a Southeast Asian sovereign wealth fund.

The funding round also included the participation of new investor Alibaba Group which has previously invested in leading Southeast Asian e-commerce firms such as Lazada and Tokopedia.

It followed a US$274 million in Series D funding round that the company announced in May 2020.

In a press statement, Ninja Van said that the funding “will be allocated towards infrastructure and technology systems that will support a sustainable long-term cost structure, as well as the quality and consistency of Ninja Van’s operations.”

The company will also invest in its suite of micro-supply chain solutions to help Southeast Asian businesses optimise e-commerce opportunities.

Also Read: In brief: Lazada rebrands logistics units, Syfe announces key appointments

“The quality of investors joining us in this round of investment is a clear signal that the market recognises the emerging opportunities for e-commerce logistics in SEA and how as an entrenched player in the region, Ninja Van is positioned to take a central role in meeting the shifting demands of both businesses and consumers,” said Lai Chang Wen, Co-founder and CEO of Ninja Van Group.

“We remain committed to the success of all our business partners as we move towards the next stages of sustainable growth and continued innovation. The support from our investors will enable us to continue to build upon the business momentum we have achieved.”

Founded in 2014, Ninja Van has a presence in major SEA markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The company said that it currently employs more than 61,000 staff and delivery personnels that support the delivery of around two million parcels a day throughout the region.

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Image Credit: Ninja Van

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Last month, we published a listicle of startups in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia that have made notable achievements in 2021. We decide to build upon this new tradition by publishing one for startups in the Philippines.

There were plenty of exciting developments in the country this year. In addition to funding announcements by companies in various verticals, from gaming to e-commerce to green tech, we also saw more Filipino startups getting into the prestigious Y Combinator programme.

We believe that these startups would not be the last to brighten up the local tech ecosystem, and are excited to see how the final quarter of 2021 will be like.

Here is the list of the startups, compiled for your reading convenience.

1. Mynt

Mynt, a fintech platform offering mobile payments and business loans, announced in January it has raised over US$175 million in fresh capital from ASP Philippines, a Limited Partnership fund managed by Bow Wave Capital Management.

The new funds will go towards growing its product offerings to “further spur” the growth of financial inclusion and digitisation of payments and financial services in the Philippines.

The financing was raised in multiple tranches, with the post-money valuation of the final tranches reaching close to US$1 billion.

2. Podcast Network Asia (PNA)

Podcast Network Asia (PNA), a podcast network agency, announced in early 2021 that it has raised US$750,000 in seed funding. Local VC firm Foxmont Capital and Jakarta-headquartered Venturra Discovery joined Lisa Gokongwei, President of Summit Media, in the investment round. Kumu, a local live-streaming platform, also participated.

Launched in August 2019, PNA provides podcast creators with access to production support and monetisation opportunities. It claims it has since grown its roster to 415 podcasts, with over 10 million listeners by the time this funding was announced.

3. Expedock

Expedock, an Artificial Intelligence startup working with supply chain companies, announced in February that it has landed US$4 million in seed funding.

The round was led by a US$2.5 million investment by Ali Partovi, who had previously backed notable startups including Airbnb, Dropbox and Facebook.

Additional investors include executives from global tech companies and startups including eBay, Salesforce, LinkedIn and Instagram.

4. Mosaic Solutions

Mosaic Solutions, a startup offering cloud-based management software for F&B and hospitality companies, announced in February that it has raised an additional US$1 million in a pre-Series A preferred equity offering.

The fresh funds were provided by Gentree.

Mosaic had recently announced a US$1.5 million pre-Series A round in September 2020 from a slew of investors including Australian early-stage VC firm Investible, IdeaSpace (a non-profit which recently launched Opportunity Fund out of Manila), KMC Founders Fund, and JC Capital.

Also Read: Vietnam’s data-driven loyalty platform Society Pass closes Series C, relaunches Leflair

5. Ayannah

Fintech startup Ayannah announced in February that it is seeking to raise Series B round of funding to fuel its future expansion into Vietnam and India, its founder and CEO Mikko Perez.

To date, the company has raised over US$9 million from two funding rounds — seed in 2013 and Series A in 2015.

6. Avion School

Avion School, an edutech startup focusing on software development education, announced that it has secured funding from Y Combinator after being accepted into the global technology accelerator programme.

Launched in 2020 by Victor Rivera and John Young, Avion is an online school that teaches Filipinos to become remote software engineers globally. Students can sign up for a 12-week course that teaches them the engineering stack and skills required by software developer roles.

7. NextPay

NextPay, a digital banking platform for small businesses and entrepreneurs, announced in March that it has secured US$125,000 in pre-seed funding from Y Combinator (YC).

NextPay becomes the fifth local tech startup to be backed and selected by YC after Kalibrr (2013), PayMongo (2019), Avion School (2021), and Dashlabs.ai (2021).

8. Kraver’s Canteen

Cloud kitchen startup Kraver’s Canteen announced in April that it has secured US$1.5 million in a seed round led by Foxmont Capital.

Angel investors participating in the round include Lance Gokongwei (Chairman of JG Summit, Robinsons, Cebu Pacific), Brian Cu (co-founder of Grab PH, gojek, Zalora), and Paulo Campos III (co-founder of Zalora).

The fresh funds will go towards expanding its operations by building 100 kitchens across the Philippines and investing heavily in regional metropolis hubs like Cebu, Iloilo, and Davao.

9. Uploan

Uploan, a fintech company providing payroll financial services, announced that it has raised a senior secured loan of up to US$15 million from debt financer Lendable.

Uploan is Lendable’s first client in the Philippines. The long-term facility will allow Uploan to grow its loan book, redeploy Lendable’s capital and hold more exposure on-balance sheet.

10. Tier One Entertainment

Tier One Entertainment, a gaming and e-sports entertainment startup, announced an undisclosed amount of pre-Series A round of funding in April. Led by Gobi Partners, the round also included the participation from Warner Music Group, Octava, KAYAC, and Atlas Ventures.

The proceeds will also be utilised to hire back-end teams that will further support their talents, expand its e-sports operations in Blacklist International (Tier One’s e-sports team), and set up its first content creation hub in the Philippines.

Tier One was founded in 2017 by e-sports veteran Tryke Gutierrez, cosplay and gaming superstar Alodia Gosiengfiao, and seasoned entrepreneur Brian Lim.

Also Read: Dropezy raises US$2.5M Pre-Series A funding round to further expand e-grocery service

11. Tonik

Filipino neobank Tonik raised US$17 million in a pre-Series B funding round led by iGlobe Partner in May.

Existing investors Sequoia India, Altara Ventures and Insignia Venture Partners also participated. They were joined by Citius and Baring Vostok Capital Partners, besides several unnamed Philippine family offices.

Tonik plans to accelerate its growth, as well as invest aggressively in product development with the funding.

12. Great Deals E-Commerce Corporation

E-commerce enabler company Great Deals E-Commerce Corporation raised US$30 million in Series B funding round led by local logistics major Fast Group.

The round was joined by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, besides existing investor Navegar. It comes almost a year and a half after Great Deals secured US$12 million Series A from Navegar in January 2020.

13. Fortuna Cools

Fortuna Cools, a startup seeking to find an alternative to plastics, secured a seed funding round led by ADB Ventures and Katapult Ocean Fund. Pasudeco Development Corporation, the Manila Angel Investors Network, she1k, and Nardo Holdings, also joined the round.

The company will use the capital to grow its sales and engineering teams, as well as finance its higher production volumes to reduce unit costs and benefit more farmers.

14. zennya

zennya, a mobile healthcare and medical last-mile logistics startup, secured US$1.2 million in a funding round led by Foxmont Capital Partners, Ignite House of Innovation, and DayOne Capital Ventures in May. The round also saw participation from several prominent families and angels from the Philippines and Thailand.

The funding will be used to expand zennya’s service to all major cities in the Philippines.

15. Kumu

Live-streaming app Kumu raised an undisclosed Series B funding round co-led by SIG, who is also a shareholder in ByteDance, and Openspace Ventures.

The funding round included existing investors Summit Media, Kickstart Ventures, Foxmont Capital Partners, and Gobi-Core Philippine Fund. It also introduced new investors Gentree Fund, the venture vehicle of HM Investment Management, and Endeavor Catalyst Fund by the global non-profit Endeavor.

The startup said that it has experienced “tremendous growth” over the past year when it topped the Google Play rankings in the Philippines, with users spending almost an hour per day on the app.

16. GrowSari

GrowSari, a B2B platform that helps small convenient stores, raised an undisclosed amount in Series B funding round.

Investors that are involved include Robinsons Retail Holdings, JG Digital Equity Ventures, and Wavemaker Partners, besides Tencent, Pavilion Capital, International Finance Corporation, ICCP SBI Venture Partners, and Saison Capital.

This round brings GrowSari’s total funds raised to date to over US$30 million.

17. Voyager Innovations

Voyager Innovations, the digital services arm of Philippine telco giant PLDT, raised US$167 million in a new funding round for its fintech unit PayMaya.

Existing shareholders such as KKR and Tencent also joined the round, along with new investor IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund.

This investment includes US$121 million in fresh funding and US$46 million from previously committed funds.

Also Read: Building Malaysia’s fintech ecosystem

18. Alternative Housing Group

Alternative Housing Group (AHG), a real-estate tech startup and proptech incubator, secured PHP55 million (US$1.1 million) in seed funding. The round was led by Foxmont Capital Partners, a local VC fund and investor in homegrown startups such as Kumu, Edukasyon.ph, and Booky.

Real estate mogul David Leechiu, entrepreneur Melissa Limcaoco, and Magsaysay family also joined.

The startup plans to fuel its upcoming projects that they have prepared and lined up in the coming years.

19. edamama

edamama, a new e-commerce platform designed for mothers, announced a US$5 million pre-Series A round from investors.

Investors include Gentree Fund, Robinsons Retail Holdings, and Kickstart Ventures, who are the affiliates of SM Investments Corporation, JG Summit, and Ayala Corporation, respectively. The round also saw participation from Foxmont Capital Partners, an early-stage VC firm based in the Philippines, besides unnamed Filipino and global angel investors.

20. NextPay

Digital financial solutions platform NextPay raised US$1.6 million in seed funding co-led by Golden Gate Ventures, and Gentree Fund, a private investment vehicle of the Sy Family, which owns Filipino conglomerate SM Group.

Other investors are Tribe Capital, Broadhaven Ventures, 1982 Ventures, Saison Capital, and Razorpay, besides Rohit Mulani of GoTrade and Abhinay Peddisetty and Chinmay Chauhan of BukuWarung.

Goodwater Capital also co-invested, along with local VCs such as Kickstart Ventures (Ayala Group), Foxmont Capital, and First Asia Ventures, as well as angel investor Lisa Gokongwei of JG Summit also joined.

The funding will be used to grow NextPay’s suite of services, expand its customer base, and introduce new digital banking solutions to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

21. Yield Guild Games (YGG)

Blockchain gaming startup Yield Guild Games (YGG) said in a blog post that it sold 25 million of its native YGG cryptocurrency tokens in just 31 seconds and raised about US$12.5 million in USD Coin.

With the token sale concluded, YGG will start to establish its decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO).

DAO, also known as decentralised autonomous corporation, is an organization represented by rules encoded as a computer programme that is transparent, controlled by the organisation members, and not influenced by a central government.

22. Etaily

E-commerce enabler platform Etaily secured US$1.6 million in seed funding from Ayala Ventures, Foxmont Capital Partners, Magsaysay Shipping & Logistics, the Boston Consulting Group, and unnamed angels.

Launched in March 2020, Etaily provides brands with a one-stop, omnichannel solution to help them sell virtually. From content production and channel creation to warehousing and fulfilment, it offers a full suite of services encompassing anything brands would need to attract consumers, transact online, and deliver their products.
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Etaily claims it has generated more than one million transactions and made more than 50,000 unique products available in countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

23. The Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX)

The Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) announced a US$12.5 million funding round led by an unknown VC firm based in the UK, with participation from Hong Kong-listed fintech company BC Group.

Most of PDAX’s existing investors, including Beenext and CMT Digital, besides Ripple and several prominent family offices in the country, also joined the round.

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