Indonesia’s most prominent tech group GoTo Group is set to receive US$400 million from a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in its pre-IPO round.

It will be the first principal investment by ADIA subsidiary Private Equities Department (PED) into a technology business in Southeast Asia and its largest investment in the archipelago to date.

ADIA will be the lead investor in this round and joins a global list of prominent GoTo investors, including Alibaba Group, Astra International, Facebook, Global Digital Niaga, Google, KKR, Sequoia India, and PayPal, SoftBank Vision Fund, Telkomsel, Temasek, Tencent and Warburg Pincus.

Also Read: Gojek, Tokopedia confirm merger with the launch of GoTo Group

In August, Reuters reported citing sources that GoTo was set to close an up to US$2 billion pre-IPO funding round in a few weeks. Various reports suggested GoTo plans to list in Indonesia by the end of 2021 before proceeding with a US listing with a potential valuation of $40 billion.

Hamad Shahwan Al Dhaheri, Executive Director of the Private Equities Department at ADIA, said: “This investment in GoTo is aligned with a number of our key investment themes, including the growth of the digital economy in the fast-growing markets of Southeast Asia. We see strong potential in the region, particularly in Indonesia, where the vibrant economic backdrop encourages ADIA to deepen its presence.”

Also Read: 5 lessons from GoTo and Traveloka on building the future of fintech in SEA

GoTo was formed through the merger of Gojek and Tokopedia in May. It is the largest digital ecosystem in Indonesia, whose services span on-demand transport, e-commerce, food and grocery delivery, logistics and fulfilment, and financial services.

The group claims it generated over 1.8 billion transactions in 2020, with a total group gross transaction value of over US$22 billion.

Established in 1976, ADIA is a globally diversified investment institution that prudently invests funds on behalf of the government of Abu Dhabi through a strategy focused on long-term value creation. ADIA has invested in private equity since 1989 and has built a significant internal team of specialists with experience across asset products, geographies and sectors.

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Suppose you see the words “Southeast Asia” in connection with e-commerce. In that case, you probably think of Singapore’s savvy online shoppers or the Filipino e-commerce boom that’s making Manila one of the world’s digital hubs.

And for sure, these markets are exciting, essential and will continue to attract investment for a long time to come. But one country is often left off the list of the region’s digital powerhouses: Indonesia.

And that omission is likely to prove an expensive one for companies who do not capture the opportunities this rapidly expanding market has to offer.

Indonesia’s e-commerce is a growing market

In 2020 alone, Indonesia’s digital economy grew by 11 per cent to a value of US$44 billion. And the digital economy already contributes four per cent to their national GDP. This will come as no surprise to seasoned observers of Indonesia’s digital economy, and particularly its payment sector, which is both thriving and innovative.

In May 2021, ride-hailing and payments giant Gojek and marketplace Tokopedia, Indonesia’s two most prominent startups, merged to form settlements and e-commerce giant GoTo.

With more than 100 million active users, the new group is opening up Indonesian and Southeast Asian e-commerce to new users, demographics and markets.

Also Read: Europe is still in the shadow from an Asian startup point of view: Ubisoft’s Catherine Seys

Indonesia’s preferred ways to pay

It would be a mistake to believe that GoTo, or its payments arm GoPay, are the only kids on the block.  There are almost 150 million Indonesians with internet connections.

This massive online population uses e-wallets and a wide range of bank-transfer apps (contributing to almost 30 per cent of online transactions) and a range of other local payment methods (seven per cent). Indonesians even use cash in around 13 per cent of online purchases.

One of the modern Indonesian payment methods is the local bank transfer app Jenius, with 3.3 million active users, up from 1.6 million just two years ago.

Similarly, Indonesian e-wallet LinkAja recorded a 65 per cent increase in the rate of new-user sign-ups in 2020. During that time, it quadrupled its transaction volumes and grew its revenue by 250 per cent.

Even the Indonesian credit card market has a local twist. Used in just 34 per cent of online transactions, cards are mainly issued by global giants such as Visa and Mastercard.

But the cards used in 13 per cent of transactions are issued by local schemes. This is a substantial chunk of the market which merchants entering the Indonesian e-commerce sector would miss if they only supported the standard payment methods for developed markets.

So, what should merchants, and the service providers who support them, do to prepare themselves for a successful entry into Indonesia’s booming e-commerce and online payments markets? The key is, as ever, localisation.

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

Traversing a dynamic e-commerce landscape

The most apparent way merchants and others entering the Indonesian market need to adapt is by optimising mobile.

According to the International Telecoms Union (ITU), just four per cent of Indonesians have a fixed-broadband subscription, while 89 per cent have a mobile-broadband subscription.

And almost 100 per cent of the adult population has a smartphone, while just 19 per cent has a tablet computer.

Language is also an essential aspect of localisation for Indonesians. Over 90 per cent of the population speak and read Indonesian. The most commonly spoken language is Javanese, spoken by almost a third of the country’s inhabitants.

It may be worth noting that the English Proficiency Index, which ranks countries by the proportion of their citizens who speak and read fluent English, puts Indonesia at 74 out of 100.

Probably the most critical requirement, however, is to localise payment methods. Only 29 per cent of all online transactions in Indonesia are paid using globally recognised credit cards. And even this may be an overestimate.

With smartphones now ubiquitous and the uptake of e-wallets, bank-transfer apps and other local payment methods (LPMs) surging, the Indonesian payment market seems set to diversify rapidly.

Also Read: The 27 Indonesian startups that have taken the ecosystem to next level this year

To win in such a fast-evolving environment, merchants and payment service providers (PSPs) must work with a partner that understands local payment culture, preferences and e-commerce conditions.

That’s where PPRO can help. Our local payments infrastructure gives PSPs fast, compliant and seamless access to Southeast Asian local payment methods. All in one place.

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San-Francisco-based global e-signature platform DocuSign announced the launch of DocuSign Ventures which is set to invest in startups that aim to innovate the agreement process, including startups in the Southeast Asia region.

DocuSign Ventures are looking to invest and partner with startups that are working to build solutions in the following areas:

– Agreement process automation and workflows
– AI and smart contract technology
– Identity verification and management
– Digital payment platforms
– Legal and compliance automation technologies
– Vertical solutions in areas such as mortgage and lending

Describing itself as a stage-agnostic investor, DocuSign Ventures said that it targets early stage companies that have achieved early signs of product-market fit or Series A to C stage companies.

It does not typically lead funding rounds and look to co-invest alongside other credible and qualified investors.

Also Read: Legal tech platform INTELLLEX raises US$2.1M funding round led by Quest Ventures

The firm is also “flexible” in its check sizes with no stated maximums or minimums with typical deals that are up to 10 per cent of a round size.

“Agreements are fundamental to everything, traversing how we conduct business and defining the important life commitments we make and depend upon. Despite their essential nature, the agreement process today is still largely manual, static, and rooted in paper,” said Eric Darwin, Head of Corporate Development at DocuSign.

“More and more businesses are recognising the power and urgency of digitising their agreement processes in order to meet the new ‘anywhere expectations’ of their customers, partners, and employees. DocuSign Ventures is excited to partner with the disruptors who are propelling smarter, simpler and frankly better ways of executing and fulfilling agreements,” he continued.

DocuSign Ventures will give its portfolio companies access to its knowledge and experience in the space as well opportunity to develop closer partnerships with the DocuSign Agreement Cloud platform and work with DocuSign’s broader ecosystem of customers, developers and partners.

It has invested in BlackBoiler, DataGrail, Pactum, Snapdocs, and a recent investment in The LegalTech Fund.

e27 has reached out to DocuSign Ventures to find out more details of their plans with Southeast Asian startups.

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Novatti Group, an ASX-listed Australian fintech company, announced today it has acquired Malaysian digital payments firm ATX Fintech Holding.

Novatti will acquire all of the issued share capital of ATX for a minimum consideration of approximately A$8.4 million up to A$9.9 million (US$6.2-7.4 million ).

The agreement is pending due diligence and regulatory approvals. The two companies expect to close the deal by the end of next month.

Novatti, whose solutions include issuing, acquiring, processing, and billing, has been a partner of ATX since 2015.

As per a statement, the acquisition offers an opportunity for Novatti to use its ecosystem and resources to scale the existing ATX business in Malaysia, introduce new services, such as billing, and further expand across Southeast Asia.

Also Read: 5 lessons from GoTo and Traveloka on building the future of fintech in SEA

In addition, there is potential to add other value-added products to ATX’s customer base.

The deal also presents strategic value for Novatti on several fronts, including access to an established network of 30,000+ payments touchpoints across Malaysia, providing an on-the-ground presence in Southeast Asia for further expansion (including leveraging Novatti’s partnerships with other fintech leaders, such as Ripple); and access to ATX’s leadership team and its existing innovative solutions and technology, including its e-wallets.

This announcement follows Novatti’s closing of A$10.5 million (US$7.8 million) Series A round.

Founded in 2011 by Sashie Kumar and Kelly Koh, ATX provides traditional retail stores and kiosks with digital payment services, such as third-party bill and product payments.

ATX owns and operates several B2B and B2C brands — PayHub (B2B payments aggregator), GoPay (B2C digital wallet), MyPOSPay (B2B2C platform for traditional retailers), and RuncitHero (B2B2C online marketplace for grocers).

In FY21, ATX claims to have generated normalised annual revenue of A$3 (US$2.2) million.

Also Read: 21 Southeast Asian startups that help banks gain ground in fintech competition

Novatti MD Peter Cook said: “The acquisition will not only provide Novatti with a strong business in Malaysia but also provides a platform to continue our expansion in Southeast Asia, where we see increasing growth in digital payments. This growing demand has already supported some of Novatti’s other recent activities in the region, including the expansion of our partnership with Ripple into Thailand, after launching in the Philippines earlier this year.”

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Doyobi, a Singapore-based provider of STEM teaching resources and teacher professional development to school, has bagged a US$2.8 million pre-Series A funding round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. 

Tres Monos Capital, Novus Paradigm Capital, and XA Network also joined. 

Carousell CEO Quek Siu Rui, Glints co-founders Oswald Yeo and Seah Ying Cong, and Head of Grab Financial Group Reuben Lai, also co-invested in the round.

Doyobi intends to use the money to build new cohort-based courses focused on upskilling teachers. It will also develop new resources to help teachers effectively deliver STEM and 21st-century skills, including creative and critical thinking, in the classroom.

The capital will also be allocated to expand ‘Instructors As Humans’ — an online community for teachers to seek peer support and professional development chances.

Doyobi also plans to launch the STEM School Leader Fellowship. It aims to assist school leaders, such as principals and department heads, learn how to effectively apply STEM principles in the classroom and develop students’ skillsets and attitudes necessary for more career choices as inventors, entrepreneurs, and changemakers.

Also read: Edutech is surging, but here are the 3 issues it is facing

Founded in 2020, Doyobi is a spin-off from Singapore’s coding school Saturday Kids. 

CEO and co-founder John Tan witnessed a gap between what is taught in schools and what children need to know to be prepared for future employment.

“Curiosity, imagination and empathy are just as important as literacy and numeracy skills. We believe teachers are integral to transforming the classroom experience,” he said.

Therefore, Doyobi enables teachers and school administrators to integrate STEM and 21st century-related classes in a fun and engaging way with guided courses that include videos, quizzes, and projects.

Since its inception, the startup claims to have onboarded nearly 2,000 instructors in over ten countries to use Doyobi’s virtual learning environment.

It counts Leap Surabaya, Codercademy, and private schools, such as HighScope Indonesia, Mutiara Harapan Islamic School, and Stella Gracia School, among its partners. 

While Indonesia and the Philippines are Doyobi’s biggest markets, African educational institutions are also adopting the Doyobi curriculum, said the company.

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In the cybersecurity industry, there is an arms race. Cybersecurity services providers and products are increasing their efforts in detecting new attacks (called zero-day vulnerability exploitations).

At the same time, cybercriminals are finding unheard ways to exploit networks. So far, ransomware gangs are winning – now is the time to invent or re-think if the current detection-only methodology is working.

In an arms race, the end result is that damages or threats are getting more destructive. First-generation ransomware only encrypts files.

Now, the latest ransomware attack uses inventive methods to maximize their threats. The attackers would extract a large quantity of sensitive information from victims before encrypting data, and then threaten to release or sell the stolen information, exerting greater pressure and urgency on the victims to pay the ransom.

Lockfile evades detection

AI and ML are used to detect abnormal behaviour in the network or PCs. But ransomware developers are not sitting ducks. Recently, there is new ransomware called Lockfile, using an innovative file encryption technique to evade detection.

It does not continuously encrypt files, it encrypts 16 bytes of data in a file and then skips 16 bytes. This saves time and is also harder to detect by cybersecurity tools. The data file is damaged (or taken hostage ) nevertheless. LockFile is just one example of this cat and mouse game, never-ending!!

“The use of blacklisting as a form of cybersecurity protection is common, but it requires ­security ­personnel to keep a permanent eye out for any ­malware they want to block from an agency’s IT ­environment. That can be a daunting prospect.” said Erin Brereton from fedtechmagazine.

Also Read: Explore cutting-edge cybersecurity tech at SINCON 2021

One method able to end this arms race is URL whitelisting. IT managers can isolate their network using whitelisting and only allow a list of trusted or pre-approved domains for users to access. These whitelists should only include well known, vetted and trustworthy websites, like banks or government websites.

Since ransomware is not hosted on these websites, it is impossible for ransomware to download or upload data as each network connection to malicious websites is blocked by default.

Whitelisting websites has its disadvantages and it is why it is not popular. Firstly, it reduces productivity – users are not able to access new websites or anything outside the whitelist. Secondly, maintaining the whitelist is resource-intensive with a complicated risk assessment process to approve new websites and add the domain name into the whitelist.

The inversion of whitelisting is blacklisting, which most of the security vendors are offering. They constantly collect logs, netflow or file hashes and then send alerts, threat intelligence or Indicator of compromise (IOCs).

Company security teams convert these alerts or threats intel into firewall rules or web filtering rules. It is a never-ending game and only effective if your company has a team of cybersecurity professionals. Collecting logs and user activities without violating privacy laws is also challenging!

“At first blush, this (whitelisting) seems to make security a snap: you don’t have to worry about new malicious code emerging as a threat to your infrastructure because the only things your machines can access are things you already know are safe.” by Josh Fruhlinger, journalist from CSO Online.

Augmented whitelisting

Traditional whitelisting is not user-friendly. Hence, we propose a new augmented whitelisting, which allows users to access unknown or not yet approved websites in a walled garden.

With AP Lens augmented whitelisting, pre-approved or well-known websites are allowed and users access it directly. For example, the top 100K websites in users’ countries. When accessing a new website outside of this 100K domain, users are forwarded to an AP Lens virtual browser session.

Also Read: Practical tips to protect your business from cyber attacks

The virtual browser is delivered to the end-user instantly without any software install and in the same Chrome/Firefox/Safari/Edge. The website is opened automatically inside AP Lens with full user interactions.

In this new setup, the user’s freedom is not restricted and there is no blocking of information flow. The new website is fully operational inside a remote sandbox totally segregated from the company network.

The organisation should develop a web domain whitelist for each HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure domain and Secure Socket Layer domain.

Augmented Whitelisting means you enforce 100 per cent network protection without sacrificing users’ freedom or productivity. The walled garden by AP Lens is the key to augmented whitelisting. Users are using the internet inside a sandbox hosted in a cloud-based system.

Any attack or exploitation is totally separated from the company network. The uniqueness of AP Lens is that users can access the Internet instantly without IT support manually updating the whitelist which solves the major drawback when implementing whitelisting — a time-consuming process to update the URL whitelists.

With AP Lens,  productivity and cybersecurity are balanced, by combining whitelisting and cloud-based remote secure browsers.

Agentless and supports four popular browsers (Chrome/Firefox/Safari/Edge) on smartphone/desktop, AP Lens is a distributed cloud system that offers both low latency and also robust cloud infrastructure. Each AP Lens session is disposable which means that any attack or downloaded code is not stored or affecting the next session.

Also Read: What is web 3.0 and why should you care?

In 2021, we are facing an increasing level of targeted cyberattacks, at the same time cybersecurity industry is short-handed. It is time to adjust our cyber defence strategy with a new paradigm.

Do not overly rely on resource-intensive cyber threats detection and blocklist. Lockdown the network and let users access the internet in a walled garden offers simple and balanced web access protection.

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Geniebook, a Singapore-headquartered edutech startup, has secured US$16.6 million in a Series A financing round co-led by East Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Individuals, who participated in the round, include Dunce Capital’s John Danner, Unacademy’s Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini, Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal and other senior executives from Southeast Asia’s unicorns such as Grab, Shopee, and Gojek. 

With the new investment, Geniebook intends to scale its current global personnel of 350 people with strategic hires in curriculum, engineering, product, and growth teams.

The funds will also be used to innovate existing products, including AI-personalised worksheets GenieSmart, live online classes GenieClass, and real-time teacher chat GenieAsk. 

Also read: Edutech is surging, but here are the 3 issues it is facing

Launched in 2017 by Neo Zhizhong and Alicia Cheong, Geniebook employs AI and machine learning to assist students in improving their academic performance through personalised experiences on its platform.

“More than ever today, with online pedagogy becoming essential, we must greatly enhance the digital experience to accelerate students’ learning,” said CEO Zhizhong. 

Geniebook supports the home-based learning gains through self-directed and social learning methods.

As per a press statement, Geniebook has achieved a 2,000 per cent growth rate since the beginning of 2019, with more than 150,000 users in Southeast Asia. Its revenue in Vietnam has increased 3x since its expansion into the country earlier this year.

So far, Geniebook has made inroads into Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia, besides Singapore.

The startup claims it maintains profitability and positive cash flow thanks to a solid financial year in 2020.

“As we enter the second year of the pandemic, when schools and students have to seek online arrangements, edutech companies are playing an important role and have accelerated their delivery of solutions to users,” said Roderick Purwana, managing partner at East Ventures.

Before this round, GenieBook received US$1.1 million in pre-Series A round led by Apricot Capital, a Singapore-based diversified multi-asset private investment company. 

Global edutech revenues are anticipated to reach US$40.9 billion (S$56.3 billion) by 2022, with the Asia Pacific region accounting for more than half of worldwide market demand, reports Research and Markets.

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Also read: Geniebook

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We have all heard about impact investing by now. Why are so many famous investors and entrepreneurs diving into it? And what is impact investing actually about?

Impact investing is the fastest-growing investment category in private markets. Unlike ESG in public markets, it’s not just about avoiding harm. It’s about actively generating positive outcomes alongside financial returns.

In a world facing unprecedented global challenges, this can be game-changing. At Top Tier Impact, we see companies addressing impossible challenges – from detecting wildfires before they even spread, to making cement sustainable.

The thing is that there are giant markets waiting to be unlocked by solving these issues. Making our planet sustainable is the quest of our century. It’s big business too. In this article, we’ll explore how impact investing is set to become mainstream investing quicker than any of us could expect.

Impact investing covers the biggest investment opportunities of this decade and beyond

Impact investing tackles the big issues of our time, from scaling renewable energy to making quality healthcare accessible for all. The way we define “impact” inside the global TTI community is as a global paradigm shift towards sustainability and equality, across all economic sectors.

That means it’s not just the sustainable part of the food or fashion industries, it’s about shifting those entire industries towards sustainability.

Also Read: COVID-19, the environment, and the tech ecosystem: what opportunity is available out there for us?

There are massive regulatory changes pushing in this direction. The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) implements a framework for public companies to disclose their climate-related risks and opportunities. First, it became mandatory in the UK.

G7 countries are now following suit, alongside Singapore and Switzerland among others. There’s more to come in relation not just to climate, but also to nature and water.

Let’s not forget about other acts too, such as the EU sustainable finance disclosure regulation. It happens to be the biggest piece of EU legislation since the Second World War.

As Larry Fink, the founder and CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has said in multiple statements, “Sustainability is the biggest corporate transition taking place in history”.

Impact investing focuses on enabling utopia, not avoiding dystopia

Impact investing is where growth and future-focused innovation are at. That’s because it has a positive focus on creating a better world. As an example, take the waste management industry, overall, it’s been growing at low-single-digit figures for the past 10 years.

When it comes to AI-driven waste robotics companies, which enable us to redeploy waste and recycle more efficiently, growth is in double digits.

When you look at it, you realize that it unlocks a lot of value.

Companies using such technology can reduce their costs and tap into new revenue opportunities. After all, waste doesn’t actually exist. It’s simply materials that aren’t in the right place. When they are, things change positively for everybody involved – companies, consumers and our planet.

Also read: Why is impact investing suddenly so hot?

Impact investing is where the brightest and most ambitious minds are at

When I graduated from Oxford University, the buzz was all about tech and startups instead of banks and finance. Today, I’m on the advisory board of my Oxford degree and I notice that the most ambitious graduates all want to make a positive impact on the planet.

They are well aware of the issues we are facing. They studied the problems and are thinking about the solutions. For them, the purpose is not an added career bonus.

Purpose has to be embedded at the core of a company’s actions, philosophy and structure. They are also naturally good at distinguishing greenwashing from a real commitment to impact.

Impact investing enables a planet where our species actually survives and thrives

When you dive into the numbers and science behind what we are currently facing, you understand that climate change, biodiversity loss and other trends aren’t just something ‘nice to avoid.’ You grasp the systemic implications for the survival of our species.

We haven’t been around that long on this planet and we are very delicate. When dinosaurs walked on earth, the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere were orders of magnitude higher than today.

It would have been impossible for us to cope with it. By accelerating changes in our biosphere, we’re not killing the earth, we’re killing ourselves, as we are way less resilient than this planet.

Impact investing is what both Millennials and Gen-Z are all about

Impact investing is part of a macro shift that is already underway. Generational shifts like this are huge and it’s not a question of if, just when.

Also Read: A wave of change: What sets impact investing apart from traditional investing

This is where the opportunity lies for us all: by proactively embracing impact, we can help make a positive difference sooner rather than later and we align with where the world is naturally going anyway.

Personally, I feel a connection to future generations. You can call it responsibility or simply recognizing that we are all on the same big rock together, floating in a universe we still have no clue about. This might sound daunting, but it’s also very beautiful. Showing up with care, compassion and commitment is something that we owe to each other and to ourselves too.

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Auspac Investment Management, an investment vehicle of Australia’s Auspac Financial Advisory, has launched its first fund focusing on Series A-stage startups in Southeast Asia.

The Singapore-based investment vehicle targets to raise US$50 million over the next 18 months from wealthy individuals, corporates and family offices after closing the first tranche of US$5 million from its Australian parent in September.

The vehicle recently joined the US$6 million Series A round of Malaysian insurtech startup PolicyStreet and plans to deploy its new capital in two to three more in the next four months in tandem with Auspac’s fundraising process. 

Allen Cheong, co-founder and CEO of Auspac Investment Management, told e27 that it would adopt the “1,2,3,4,5” investment approach. In this model, ‘1’ refers to the Southeast Asia region; ‘2’ means megatrends of digital transformation and adoption; ‘3’ means three sectors (healthtech, fintech and e-commerce); ‘4’ refers to four countries (Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia); and ‘5’ means five investment principles. 

“We adopt this kind of a pyramid approach that provides people with a simple snapshot of how we go about looking at investments,” said Cheong. “Our principle is to look at the addressable market, the revenue business model, the pain point, the management team, and lastly, the valuation and exit step.” 

Cheong added that Auspac intends to invest in 15-20 businesses over three years at cheque sizes ranging from US$1 million to US$3 million. With two to three deals in every half year, the vehicle expects to generate a 30 per cent internal rate of return.

Also read: A horse of another: Here’s the full list of Southeast Asia’s 24 unicorns

With a team of six Singapore-based people, Auspac prioritises a co-investment strategy to leverage its portfolio’s due diligence process and advisory component.

“The collective team experience, both on the buy-side and sell-side, should be Auspac’s strong selling point that helps us evaluate the deal more holistically,” Cheong added. 

The VC firm noted that it only invests in startups that have started to earn money to reduce the failure rate. The founder is also concerned about regulatory hurdles in the rapidly evolving digital markets in Southeast Asia. 

“Something that we always need to be mindful of is how regulation affects the operating environment under which these startup models operate,” said Cheong. “But I believe that the governments are actually more inclined to promote the ecosystem so this regulatory risk can be managed and compensated accordingly.”

According to Singapore’s Cento Ventures report, VCs invested in a record-high number of deals in Southeast Asian startups in the first half of this year. Indonesia led the chart with half of the capital raised in the region, followed by Singapore, which accounts for 32 per cent of the total fundings.

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MarketWolf, an ‘intra-day options only’ trading app, has bagged US$5.5 million in a fresh round of seed funding from a slew of high-profile individual investors.

These individuals hold senior positions in renowned PE firms, investment funds, fintech and consumer internet startups. Among them are Anil Thadani, Ashutosh Sinha, Roy van Leeuwen, Tomas Urbanec, Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma.

Also Read: How cloud technology makes trading a hassle-free experience

The startup will use the new funding to build new products, expand its user base and attract top talent.

Vishesh Dhingra, founder and CEO of MarketWolf, said: “We aim to create a global community of MarketWolves – people who learn psychology, knowledge and tools to trade well in all market conditions and train each other to become better traders. In an industry that has been largely categorised into only bulls and bears, MarketWolves will be a worthy addition.”

The company was started in 2017 by Vishesh Dhingra (CEO) and Thomas Joseph (COO). MarketWolf helps people interested in short-term trading by simplifying the trading experience, removing unnecessary jargon and complexities associated with options, and educating them while protecting their capital with built-in risk features.

The firm does not give tips; instead, it “creates the right conditions and ecosystem for users to make better trading decisions”. The startup charges brokerage only when a trade makes a profit.

India is MarketWolf’s first market where its trading accounts increased by 4x, and monthly active users multiplied to 10x over the last few months. The company claims it has clocked over one million app downloads (Android and iOS) so far.

Also Read: How tech-driven trading can help enhance liquidity for investors

MarketWolf earlier raised US$1.7 million in angel funding and has raised a total of US$7.2 million to date.

Besides Singapore, the firm has offices in Mumbai, India.

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