SoftBank-backed Oyo files for US$1.1B IPO in India
Oyo aims to raise US$942.7M through the public offering and the rest of the targeted capital from the sale of secondary shares; According to the prospectus, founder Ritesh Agarwal, RA Hospital Holdings (Agarwal’s holding company), and SoftBank Vision Fund are Oyo’s largest shareholders.

Accredify raises US$2M to combat the rising fake degree certificates issue in education sector
Investors are Qualgro, Pavilion Capital, Endeavour Ventures, and K2 Global; The firm works with more than 900 clients in Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Singapore, and UAE; It claims it has verified 7M+ documents so far.

East Ventures leads US$1.1m round of Singapore logistics startup Luwjistik
The e-logistics startup will use the funds to improve the platform and expand its workforce to go deeper into Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia; Luwjistik already counts companies such as Ninja Van, J&T Express, and JNE Express as its network partners.

Indonesia aims to launch rules on dual-class shares this year: Exchange official
Authorities are trying to sort out issues related to the ratio of voting rights and the duration of such rights, among others; The flurry of investor activity led to Indonesia’s biggest listing, with e-commerce firm Bukalapak making its debut here in August after raising US$1.5B.

Neobank for freelancers Friz receives US$1M seed financing
Investors include Amand Ventures, Iterative VC, Y Combinator, an Ivy League University Endowment Fund, and angels; Friz leverages data insights to provide financial products including credit cards, personal loans, insurance, savings and investment products for freelancers.

MAS to launch digital platform to curb money laundering, terror financing
The platform, named COSMIC — short for collaborative sharing of ML/TF information and cases — will be rolled out in the first half of 2023; Singapore is one of the biggest destinations for suspect transactions in Asia, according to a Bloomberg report.

Telkom Group’s MDI Ventures joins FinAccel private investment prior to IPO
The announcement comes amid the fintech firm’s plans to go public in the US; The funding, which comes from Cathay Innovation, Endeavor Catalyst, and Telkom Group investment arm MDI Ventures, will boost the total commitment for the company’s PIPE deal to US$125M+.

Dutycast gets VinaCapital backing for its browser extension that helps consumers buy online globally with ease
After adding DutyCast to the browser, users can shop and put products of multiple stores in one single Dutycast cart, checkout once, and pay in local currency; The solution can scale beyond Vietnam and said that the VC would assist DutyCast in realising this international ambition.

‘The car-sharing biz has taught me that mobility is hyperlocal’: SOCAR CEO Leon Foong
Hyperlocalisation in terms of products and service offerings can push consumers to continue using the product or service, the SOCAR CEO says; Unlike most developed countries where consumers have established credit scores and prefer post-paid accounts, Malaysia is still predominantly a pre-paid country.

The Incubation Network (TIN) joins hands with ECCA Family Foundation to support circular economy startups in Thailand
As part of the initiative, ECCA Family has committed US$2 million of strategic funding to spearhead the effort; TIN’s partners Seedstars, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, and STEAM Platform, will launch incubators and accelerators for entrepreneurs.

Crypto exchange Independent Reserve gets license from MAS
This license allows the Australia-based virtual asset service provider to operate in Singapore as a regulated digital payments service provider for cryptocurrency, making it easier for users to buy digital tokens with Singapore dollars.

EduSpaze backs pre-series A round of Malaysian mentorship platform;
Other investors are Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation, Indelible Ventures; FutureLab connects fresh graduates and young professionals to industry mentors; It currently has over 3K industry mentors across Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia on its online platform.

Social commerce booming in Asia with live-stream shopping growth
The strategy gives brands a presence right where their consumers are spending many of their hours online – and it now occupies an estimated 44% of the US$109B Asian e-commerce market; In Southeast Asia, the average growth of social commerce in terms of gross merchandise value has grown by 307 per cent in the past year.

Vietnam’s digital banking adoption catches up with developed markets
Between 2017 and 2021, 88% of APAC consumers in emerging markets actively use digital banks, a 33 percentage points increase; In Vietnam, the numbers rose by 41 percentage points to 82% in 2021; This information was released in the McKinsey report on the digital banking behaviours of 20K urban banking consumers across 15 APAC markets.

DeFi is pushing finance towards its e-commerce moment
Banks need to stay on top of how DeFi can change the modern financial system, similar to how e-commerce has disrupted industries. With banks trying to adopt DeFi, fintech will become increasingly meaningless.

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Image Credit: Oyo

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Ula, a B2B e-commerce marketplace in Indonesia, has secured US$87 million in a Series B financing round co-led by Prosus Ventures, Tencent and B Capital.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s investment firm Bezos Expeditions, Northstar group, AC Ventures, and Citius also joined.

Existing backers Lightspeed India, Sequoia India, Quona Capital, and Alter Global also participated in the round, which comes eight months after its US$20 million Series A round in January 2021.

The company will use the latest capital to grow its presence across Indonesia and exploring international expansion across Southeast Asia. Besides, Ula will add new categories, expand its buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) offering, and build new technology and a local supply chain and logistics infrastructure.

As part of the new round, Ula has also brought in seasoned investor and entrepreneur Pandu Sjahrir as an advisor.

Also Read: Ula’s CTO on tech for good, Coinhako’s founder story, talent shortage in SEA and more….

Ula was founded in January 2020 by Nipun Mehra, Alan Wong, Derry Sakti, and Riky Tenggara — a team of experienced e-commerce and FMCG professionals from Indonesia, India and the US with decades of experience spanning Amazon, Flipkart, Lazada, P&G and Booking.com.

It is a horizontal multi-category wholesale e-commerce marketplace that combines modern retail’s technology, tools and skills with the lean cost structure of traditional micro-retail. According to Ula, this brings the best in selection, prices and working capital to small store owners to increase their overall income.

Since the launch, Ula claims to have grown 230x, currently offering over 6,000 products and serving more than 70,000 traditional retail stores on its platform.

The firm also offers a BNPL option, which is expected to be a US$150 billion market in Indonesia.

Previously, Ula bagged a US$10.5 million seed round in June 2020.

“We launched in 2020, with a single-minded mission to empower small, neighbourhood retailers with technology to increase their income. We take a long-term approach to solve the underlying problems of traditional retailers by investing in technology, supply chain and data-enabled credit offering,” said Nipun Mehra, CEO and co-founder at Ula.

“With Ula, traditional retailers no longer have to worry about sourcing, product availability, or even payments, which frees up their time to focus on other important things. Seeing the impact that we’re able to have in the lives of our customers is what drives our team,” said Derry Sakti, co-founder and chief commercial officer at Ula.

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Image Credit: Ula

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Many people assume that working in tech requires a very analytical and orderly “left-brain” way of thinking and working. As the co-founder of Southeast Asian leading logistics tech startup Ninja Van, I’d like to challenge that notion and argue that taking a creative approach is essential for anyone thinking of, or currently working in tech. 

To illustrate my point, I’d like to start by sharing a bit about the tinkering I used to do in my earlier years. When I was a child, I was fascinated by how things worked and were always trying to understand how they were created.

Whenever my parent’s Discman (anyone remembers these?), television, or toaster broke down, it would be passed on to me and I would happily spend hours disassembling them and inspecting their insides.

These childhood “adventures” in tinkering have helped to train and rewire my brain to make the most of my ability to generate original ideas.

When we first started Ninja Van, none of the co-founders or myself had any logistics background or experience and we had to learn so much about the operational intricacies of the business. We were jacks of all trades, often wearing multiple hats and working across various roles of warehouse sorters, delivery drivers, account managers, customer service officers, and software developers.

Through these tough times, we translated our experiences into lines of code, creating hassle-free logistics solutions.  Since then, the company has grown exponentially to become Southeast Asia’s largest and fastest-growing tech-enabled logistics company, providing supply chain solutions for business across the region.

Why pushing the boundaries could be the best thing for your creativity

We’ve all heard the overused cliche “think outside the box” but this adage does ring true in some instances. Ninja Van’s ability to create meaningful and relevant products and solutions meant we had to brainstorm beyond the boundaries laid out by more established logistics companies at that time.

Also Read: The workspace you need to become more productive and creative

We were able to do that by being obsessed with solving an important problem: How do we provide hassle-free delivery services for businesses of all sizes across Southeast Asia?

I recall the early days at Ninja Van when we were managing our warehouse and sort centre operations within a tiny office, with our desks propped up against the racks where we stored our parcels. Out of this tiny facility, we were able to deliver up to 100 parcels a day with the three vans we had at that point.

As our customer base grew, we realised that our operational processes were not linearly scaled; delivering and sorting 500 parcels took more than five times the amount of time it usually did with 100 parcels. We required way more floor space and much more time. 

One night, the three of us co-founders (Chang Wen, Boxian and myself) finished sorting the parcels at close to 5 AM, giving us only three hours of sleep before we had to start our morning delivery runs. At that point, thinking ahead to more of such days and nights almost gave us second thoughts about whether we were in the right business!

Right after we wrapped up the deliveries for the day, we all sat down to re-work the sorting process. We pushed on, wrote lines of codes, and deployed our very first “parcel router” module that very same day. The result? Sorting 500 parcels now took 30 mins!

Side projects can help you move forward

What helps you tap into your imagination and creative self? Build a portfolio of projects. When I was a teenager, I had way too many side projects. One of which I am proud of (or maybe not so proud of) is an electronic poker-style game where the loser had to gulp an alcoholic drink which would be dispensed automatically by a pump. 

Side projects serve as a powerful medium to explore different careers, test out business ideas and gain new skills, even at the workplace. Employees were pleasantly surprised when I floated an idea to build a pizza oven at our office’s patio last year.

But I believe that setting aside time for creative pursuits such as gardening (we have our very own gardening club at Ninja Van) and building things from scratch helps our minds to focus and devise fresh approaches to solving problems.

Today’s challenges require a creative approach

The world we live in today needs creativity because problems aren’t getting simpler. We need to develop new ways of thinking in order to design better solutions, especially given the higher expectations that customers have these days. Companies that fail to innovate will be left behind.

Case in point, the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated the digital transformation in both the professional and personal lives of the communities we serve. Ninja Van has progressively built up our digital infrastructure and engineering capabilities as the foundation of the business since day one of our inception, and we knew we had to find a safe and fuss-free solution that would give our parcel recipients the choice to customize their delivery experience.

Also Read: Singapore’s Janio raises US$8M to expand its logistics solutions to emerging markets

Instead of creating a Ninja Van app that users would have to download, we decided to explore creating a system that would work across the most commonly used social messaging platforms already ubiquitous in Southeast Asia.

After weeks of late nights and user trials, we were finally able to launch the first version of our proprietary NinjaChat system, with the option to select contactless deliveries being one of the first functions available.

A word of advice from Ninja Van

I believe that creativity is one of the key skills of the future;  it is essential for problem-solving, strategizing, and generating ideas that will drive businesses forward. Does the way you conduct meetings need a rethink? Could you be more proactive in sharing your ideas with others? How can you mix things up and allow your mind to be more creative?

If you have some time, take a step back and relook what a typical workday could be structured – try questioning everything and you’ll soon find yourself becoming more engaged and innovative.

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In spite of the challenges brought on by the ongoing pandemic, more startups are gaining traction and getting attention from VCs and investors, especially in Southeast Asia (SEA).

However, having a good idea is just the first step.

With the surge in market saturation, startups are facing incredibly stiff competition. Having a strong financial foundation has never been more important in gaining an edge during fundraising, and it will go a long way to inspire greater confidence from potential investors.

Past examples such as Theranos, WeWork, and even industry giants such as Wirecard showed that size and funding is not the ‘be all end all’.

True long-term success is made up of a multitude of factors, and we need to pay attention to the smaller details in order to avoid the mistakes made by our predecessors.

Having said that, below are five common ones and how you can avoid them.

Mistake 1: Recognising revenue and expenses on a cash basis

Cash basis refers to an accounting method that recognizes revenues and expenses at the time cash is received or paid out. This contrasts accrual accounting, which recognises revenue when a service is performed or goods sold; and records expenses when the obligation to pay is incurred regardless of when cash is received or paid.

Cash accounting can misrepresent a startup’s actual health and growth. For example, the startup might record growth in sales due to customers’ payment of invoices rather than the actual act of performing a service.

Accrual Accounting should be adopted in practice over Cash accounting as it represents a more accurate picture of the startup’s business performance and financial health.

Also Read: DeFi is pushing finance towards its e-commerce moment

Mistake 2: Inconsistent accounting policies

A consistent accounting policy means that once an accounting method is adopted for use (e.g. recognition of inventory), the business does not change the method from period to period. The purpose of having a consistent accounting policy is to ensure that transactions or events are recorded in the same way or manner over time.

This allows easier and more accurate comparison of performance over time. An example of this is when a startup recognises inventory using the ‘First-In-First-Out’ method starting out but ends up switching to the ‘Last-In-First-Out’ method during the latter years of expansion.

Therefore, it is important for the startup to plan out and formalise their accounting policies from day one, to ensure consistent and comparable financials in the long term.

Mistake 3: Disorganised accounting practices

The Chart of Accounts classifies and organises all assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, and expenses accounts that help to form the foundation of a startup’s operations and financials.

While it might seem minute, a properly structured chart of accounts is pivotal for an accurate and detailed presentation of the startup’s financials used for analysis, budgeting and cost management.

Mistake 4: Labelling capital expenditure as operating expense

Capital expenditure refers to the purchase of long-term assets such as office equipment, furniture, vehicles and more.

Oftentimes, inexperienced startups can recognise capital expenditure as operating expense, which will skew their income statement as these purchases are only made once every few years, making it more challenging to accurately assess a startup’s true performance.

Mistake 5: Inconsistent bank reconciliation

Bank reconciliation refers to the process of matching the startup’s cash balance to that of the bank statement. This helps to explain any discrepancies or differences between the balance on the bank statement and the startup’s cash account.

The monthly bank reconciliation is important as it helps to prevent fraud and identifies any accounting errors (such as incorrect or duplicate accounting entries) and outstanding cash balances.

While not the most exciting thing to pay attention to, these fundamentals are crucial to the long-term financial success of any startup. Thankfully, these issues can be easily addressed if identified early, be it through hiring an experienced financial team, or by partnering with a reliable service provider.

The article is co-authored by Charles Phan, Project Lead and Darrell Su, Senior Analyst, Capital Advisory at Paloe

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Ajaib, a mobile-first stock and mutual fund investment platform in Indonesia, has secured US$153 million in a Series B funding round, reports Bloomberg.

This round brings Ajaib’s valuation to over US$1 billion to make it the region’s latest unicorn. 

DST Global led the new round, with participation from existing shareholders, including Alpha JWC Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Horizons Ventures, Insignia Ventures, and SoftBank Ventures Asia.

DST and Ribbit Capital are also investors in Robinhood, a prominent stock trading app in the US. 

Jakarta-based Ajaib will use the capital to expand its team, improve its app and provide credit facilities for margin trading for some investors.

Ajaib, which follows the blueprint set out by Robinhood, also plans to implement financial education initiatives to attract more aspiring investors.

Earlier this year, Ajaib raised US$25 million in Series A funding co-led by Alpha JWC and Horizons Ventures. It later added US$65 million more to its mega Series A round led by Silicon Valley-based Ribbit Capital, another backer of Robinhood.

Also read: Ascend Money becomes Thailand’s first fintech unicorn following US$150M funding

Co-founded in 2019 by Stanford MBA classmates Anderson Sumarli and Yada Piyajomkwan, Ajaib leverages Indonesia’s high smartphone penetration rate by operating as a mobile-first stock trading platform. The app requires no minimum sum to open a brokerage account.

The company claims to have attracted over one million stock investors in Indonesia, a country with a total of around 2.69 million retail equity investors. 

According to a survey conducted by the Financial Services Authority in 2020, Indonesia’s financial literacy in the capital market remains low at 4.9 per cent.

However, Indonesia’s retail savings and investments market has constantly picked up pace in recent years. The value of the market tripled from US$108 billion in 2008 to US$326 billion in 2018, according to Researchandmarkets’s report. This number is expected to cross the US$400 billion mark in 2022.

Riding on the tailwind of the pandemic-induced investment euphoria among young, smartphone-savvy people, Indonesia has witnessed a trove of personal finance apps for all, with PINA being the latest startup to launch one this November.

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Image Credit: Ajaib

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