Rainforest, a Singapore-headquartered e-commerce brand aggregator, has bagged an oversubscribed US$20 million pre-Series A round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.

Other investors that have participated in the round are January Capital, Crossbeam Venture Partners, Amasia, Lo & Behold Group. Existing backers Insignia Ventures and Nordstar also joined. 

According to co-founder and JJ Chai, Rainforest will use the money to double down on its growth strategy to acquire more e-commerce brands in Asia Pacific, including China, Southeast Asia and Australia. 

Also Read: Former Carousell, OVO execs launch e-commerce brand aggregator Rainforest with US$36M seed funding

A portion of the capital will be used to hire new employees in the acquisition, branding and marketing, product development, supply chain, operations, and strategy.

Rainforest was launched in January 2021. In May, it secured US$36 million in seed funding, led by Nordstar, with participation from Insignia. The round also included a US$30 million debt facility from an undisclosed US-based debt fund.

The company acquires consumer e-commerce brands, providing entrepreneurs with a healthy exit. It also invests in the acquired brands to grow them globally. It leverages its proprietary technology to improve inventory management, cost optimisations, and expansions to new marketplaces and channels for these brands — mainly in home goods, mother & kids, personal care, and pet categories. 

Rainforest has used the previous financing to buy out six e-commerce brands on Amazon marketplaces. Its claims its portfolio has seen over 50 per cent improvement in annual growth rates post-acquisition. Recently, it acquired a China-based brand for US$3.6 million as part of its latest initiative to expand into the Chinese market. 

The company now aims to triple its portfolio by the end-2021 and expand across the European and American markets.

“As one of the largest Amazon sellers in Southeast Asia, Rainforest is tapping into the rise of marketplace sellers off the back of a large, fast-growing e-commerce market,” stated Peng T. Ong, co-founder and managing partner at Monk’s Hill. “JJ and his team have demonstrated thoughtfulness while being formidable operators in acquiring and significantly growing e-commerce brands.”

Additionally, Rainforest recently hired two VPs — Yev Ivanko and Christine Ng. Each brings with them over 15 years of experience in international expansion and business development.

Also read: E-commerce for the future: How open banking enables greater security and trust

According to Marketplace Pulse, third-party sellers on the Amazon marketplace sold US$300 billion worth of goods in 2020, adding a staggering US$100 billion net growth since 2019. Of which, 30 per cent are based in Asia, Chai told TechCrunch.

A recent Asian Development Bank report says B2C platforms revenues reached US$3.8 trillion in 2019, with US$1.8 trillion of it in Asia. E-commerce accounted for over half of these revenues (more than US$1.9 trillion globally), of which $1.1 trillion was generated in Asia.

In May this year, Una Brands, another Singapore-based e-commerce brand aggregator, announced a US$40 million seed round of equity and debt financing. Una was co-founded by Kiren Tanna, the former CEO of Rocket Internet Asia and founder of foodpanda and ZEN Rooms.

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Image credit: Rainforest

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It has been an interesting six years building Carsome into what we are today. We have been on a journey to digitalise Southeast Asia’s used car industry and elevate the car buying and selling experience through innovation and technology.

Over the years, we faced many challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic brought along a new set of obstacles. Most of us would know people who are struggling financially, mentally or physically, in these hard-hitting times.

I have been lucky to meet so many people from all walks of life through my role at Carsome, and I’d like to believe that we are doing our utmost best in each encounter to help those we met.

Carsome was built based on this idea to help consumers have a better experience when buying and selling cars. Ultimately, we want to support people to move forward in their lives, even if it means helping those in need and believing that we can make a difference by supporting the community in meaningful ways.

We want to be part of a thriving community that beats the odds together.

Taking care of our own people

During these difficult times, fellow Carsomers have shown true loyalty in ensuring that the business runs as smoothly as it can, notwithstanding the challenges of working from home, lockdown restrictions and at the same time battling a pandemic that threatens our health.

They are the backbone of Carsome, and their health and safety are our top priority. With this in mind, we recently launched our very own team member vaccination drive to ensure the safety of both our employees and our customers.

The initiative helps our employees, who have not already secured appointments through the national vaccination programme, get their vaccination faster. It also helps us play a part in helping the country reach herd immunity and return to normalcy in our daily lives.

At the time of writing, close to 150 Carsome Malaysia employees and Carsome Academy students have or will be vaccinated through this initiative.

We are also extending our vaccine supplies to our partners across the chain to help them get vaccinated at a faster rate so that we can work together to ensure the safety of everyone in the entire used car ecosystem – from suppliers, retailers to customers – and keep each other protected.

Also Read: Malaysia’s Carsome raises US$19M Series B round to strengthen presence in Indonesia and Thailand

Helping businesses get back on their feet

As much as it affects individuals and families, the pandemic has also hit many businesses hard. So we came up with the Used Car Dealers Buy-Back Program, where we help our partner-dealers by buying back the cars they bought from Carsome at the same price they paid.

To date, under the program, we have repurchased cars from more than 10 dealers at a total value of close to MYR1 million.

We hope to help our partner dealers maintain cash flow and liquidity to sustain their businesses in the pandemic via this program.

Giving youth a little push in the early days of their careers

Then there are fresh graduates –-what a challenging time to enter the working world. Many need a car to get to their first jobs –especially when private vehicle ownership is preferred out of hygiene and safety concerns– and the reality is that with no credit history, it is hard to get a loan approved by conventional banks.

We decided to give these graduates a little boost through our graduate auto-financing program. As long as they graduated in the last five years with at least a degree, they need an employment offer letter and a comfort guarantor with no minimum requirements, something different from the traditional guarantor required by common banks, to get a loan to purchase a Carsome Certified car.

We hope with this financing product; graduates will be able to move forward in life with one less hurdle.

Caring for the community where we operate in

Amid all our day-to-day challenges, it is easy to forget that we have already endured nearly two years of the pandemic, and everyone faces difficulties of a different kind. A recent country-wide movement that caught our attention was #BenderaPutih, which calls upon those desperately needing help to display a white flag outside their homes.

Despite facing struggles of their own, many Malaysians rose to the occasion to help. This reminded us that humanity is not lost and inspired us to support the #BenderaPutih initiative.

To aid the cause, we began an internal donation drive to buy essentials for our 48 volunteers to deliver to those in need. We also collaborated with SESO, a local non-profit enterprise against food poverty. As their transportation partner, we have been helping SESO to deliver food and supplies to various Klang Valley locations they identified.

In fact, just last weekend, we have sent out more than 100 care packages courtesy of HappyFresh, to those in need.

Make it #CarsomeCares

We have been humbled by many stories of families in need, businesses trying to stay afloat and some businesses having to close down in these difficult times. #CarsomeCares reminds us of our caring and compassionate core, which we channel through our initiatives to help society as best we can, and we welcome everybody to join us.

I am very proud of the Carsome family and their strong support for #CarsomeCares; this reverberates with what the company believes all around. I look forward to doing more with Carsomers in this regard – let us all get through this together.

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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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NOICE, a multi-vertical audio platform for Indonesian listeners, announced today it has secured an undisclosed ‘7-figure USD’ in pre-Series A round co-led by Alpha JWC Ventures and Go-Ventures.

As per a press statement, Kinesys Group, Kenangan Fund, and several unnamed business angels participated in this round.

Additionally, the company has announced that former Google Asia Pacific’s executives Rado Ardian and Niken Sasmaya joined NOICE as its CEO and CBO, respectively. 

According to CEO Ardian, NOICE will use the new capital to build the platform’s new live audio feature, develop original content and hire talents across the region to accommodate users beyond Jakarta. 

It also plans to expand its content distribution, set up content creation and monetisation tools and increase in-app community engagement.

NOICE is owned and operated by Mahaka Media Group, which was created by Erick Thohir, Indonesia’s minister of state-owned enterprises. 

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

Launched in June 2018 as a radio streaming platform, NOICE streams local audio content, including radio, music, audiobooks and podcasts, to registered listeners across Indonesia.

NOICE differentiates itself from its global rival Spotify through the platform’s hyperlocal in-house content.

“Our USP is our high-quality original content that is only available on NOICE with numerous talented content creators, ranging from imaginative first-timers to well-known celebrities,” said CBO Sasmaya. “These individuals realise their dreams by showcasing their artistic skills across a range of genres, such as comedy, music, religion, horror, parenting, lifestyle and edutainment.”

According to the company, NOICE is “Indonesia’s largest podcast network”, with 800,000 people tuning in and 100+ original shows being broadcast. 

By Q3 2021, NOICE boasts over one billion minutes of audio content streaming, showing high levels of engagement and consumption on the platform.

“While digital content consumption has been growing in Indonesia, there is a significant gap in the audio content vertical, especially for hyper-local content. As more people are working, learning and being entertained at home, demand for quality content has increased exponentially,” said Aditya Kumar, SVP of Investments at Go-Ventures. “NOICE is well-positioned to address this unmet need, becoming Indonesia’s leading audio platform.”

NOICE said it clocked a 144 per cent surge in the number of users over the past year, which was achieved “without any major marketing spend.”

Last year, the startup received funding from Alpha JWC Ventures and Kinesys Group.

The audio streaming market has ramped up over the past years in Indonesia. According to Nielsen research, in February 2020, more than 3.6 million Indonesians is listening to podcasts. 

Meanwhile, the global streaming platform Spotify also witnessed a 149 per cent increase in Indonesian users from June 2019 to June 2020, alongside a 220-per-cent hike in music streaming across Southeast Asia.

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Image credit: NOICE

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By definition, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew or passengers on board.

These pilotless sophisticated machines come across as extremely new-age but the origin of the concept of drones can be traced back to as early as the mid-1850s when Austria used unmanned balloons during a war. 

Although originally built for military purposes, drones have seen rapid growth and advancements and, in the digital era, made a break to consumer electronics, especially after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted hundreds of new exemptions for companies to operate drones in the U.S. through FAA Part 107 in the year 2016, helping push the commercial drone market growth forward all over the world. 

The bustling market of commercial drones in APAC

According to reports, the unmanned aerial vehicle market is estimated to grow from USD 27.4 billion in 2021 to USD 58.4 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 16.4% with the Asia Pacific projected to account for the largest size of the UAV market during this period. Drones also have a wide range of applications across different industries, such as entertainment and recreation as well as logistics.

Today, almost all YouTubers and Vloggers can be easily spotted handling drone cameras at exotic holiday destinations to shoot content. Sports reviewers leverage drones to get aerial images of games while sports coaches use them to analyse team formations and train players. In the logistics industry, drones help in several ways — from saving in distribution costs to faster deliveries and reducing urban traffic to helping cut down on carbon dioxide emissions. Drones are efficient in that they can work 24 hours, 365 days a year. According to Statista, the commercial drone revenue in the Asia Pacific is expected to reach 3667.69 million USD.

Tapping into the burgeoning drone market and the emerging trends in this industry in APAC, key stakeholders from around the world are making strides in the region. One of the leading players is PABLO AIR, a drone software developer based in South Korea. Established in 2018, PABLO AIR has a keen focus on providing the most sustainable drone delivery service for the global community and people who need equal social benefits, such as medicines and emergency kits.

The founder of the company, Mr Youngjoon Kim decided to launch PABLO AIR after he watched a drone art show conducted by Intel for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic. He did extensive research on the UAV security system and found his vision for a global society with his own built technology.

“We have strengths of Ground Control System (GCS), communications utilisation, and Flight control system. These technical features enable us to operate multiple drones in real-time for delivery purposes, regardless of the flight circumstances such as offshore operation. Most importantly, PABLO AIR is focusing on Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) to use their skills for positive social impact and also obtained social impact and smart logistics funds for Pre-Series B funding,” shared by Chanjoo (Derek) Lee, Chief Operating Officer from PABLO AIR USA.

Envisioning a global business environment empowered by holistic drone solutions

PABLO AIR is actively involved in exploring global business opportunities and empowering partners with holistic drone delivery solutions that cover entire business operations in terms of software as well as hardware. Key stakeholders, including VCs and investors, see potential in this idea. In August this year, PABLO AIR obtained US$ 11 million in accumulated funding through series A and pre-series B. The most recent pre-series B round closed at US$8 million.

“We are backed by an individual investor Mr Lee Soo Man, the founder of SM Entertainment, and major Korean VCs and corporations as Strategic Investors (SI). Our investors found our vision of global business based on our reputation and successful use case in South Korea,” shared Derek. The company is planning to use this recent fundraise for global business expansion with a keen focus on Southeast Asia and the USA.

Also read: Want to strengthen your communities? Facebook and e27 are here to help

PABLO AIR also attributes its success to the Malaysian Global Innovation And Creativity Center or better known as MaGIC, through their virtual Global Accelerator Programme (GAP). This online programme focuses on accelerating local and international startups from all over the world, with an interest to expand their business in the ASEAN region, enabling them to be investment-ready in 3 months. 

Derek said, “MaGIC allowed us to develop our strategy for the ASEAN market expansion. The region has huge potential in terms of population and economic growth, and this is what caught our investors’ ears. While participating in a series of meetings with the cohorts, I was able to gain a better understanding of how the startup ecosystem in Malaysia works. During this process, I was happy to learn that MaGIC supports and guides startups’ success, regardless of the startup’s origin country and/or stage.”

Entering Southeast Asia through Malaysia to create real social impact

With the new capital and insights learned from MaGIC, PABLO AIR is all set to enter the Southeast Asia market with their starting point as Malaysia, followed by Indonesia, Vietnam, and then the rest of the region. 

Malaysia is gearing to develop an ecosystem not limited to UAVs and drones, but also VTOLs and autonomous flying objects for the local and export markets. The country sees a lot of potential in the drone market backed by an abundance of local talents. Supporting this are reports even before the pandemic suggesting that Malaysia is the emerging drone hub in the region. As such, the size of the drone tech sector is expected to grow three times larger by 2025.

For PABLO AIR’s Derek, Malaysia is not only a promising market but he also has a deep passion for the country as his family in law are all based there. “My vision through PABLO AIR is to help Malaysian people and the local community who can be supported by our drone solutions with mutual partnerships with the local government,” he shared.

Also read: 32 startups raise US$108M in 9Unicorns-VCats maiden Global Demo Day

PABLO AIR also plans on leveraging the deep relationships between the Korean government and the ASEAN region. With the Korean government’s New Southern Policy and the free trade agreement between Korea and ASEAN, this vision can be realised smoothly. At the heart of PABLO AIR’s drone solutions and expansion into the region is real social impact.

“This expansion will allow us to achieve our humanitarian mission using our drone technology to help people who are in need. When it comes to social benefits that are offered by our drone technology, enhanced approachability to people in isolated areas (currently 80km coverage proven from our previous demonstration) will greatly help state governments and social benefits that are currently widely spread. It will enable them to centralise their current governance and data and improve important aspects like medicine supply chains and more,” shared Derek. “We believe that our technology and team will be valued more when we provide direct benefits to the local community including government bodies and citizens,” he added.

How MaGIC is enabling startups with social impact to grow

MaGIC’s core vision is to enable a vibrant and sustainable startup and social enterprise ecosystem built on impact-driven innovation and inclusivity. In line with this vision, they are helping startups from different parts of the world that are leveraging technology to create real social impact by providing them with insights, knowledge, a better understanding of markets, and networks of key stakeholders, such as other startups, VCs, and investors.

PABLO AIR attributes a lot of its success to the GAP cohort 05 where they were able to build great partnerships with MaGIC and other participating startups. 

Also read: Gotrade: fractional investing powering access to US stock in 150 countries

“While pursuing these partnerships, we were able to learn more about the industry. For example, we are now an Innovation Acceleration Network (IAN) partner from NTIS who can support us to have Proof-of-Concept (PoC) to prove our technology and business model using drones. This strategy will make a huge differentiation against global competitors. We are expecting to optimise our technology and global business model after the PoC and we are confident that this will enable future partnerships with various government authorities and corporations. Moreover, we would like to actively build more partnerships with the assistance from MaGIC to prove and commercialise our technology in the Malaysian market.”

MaGIC has helped startups like PABLO AIR to build an actual business plan towards the ASEAN market and take action to make it happen. If you are a social impact startup keen on expanding business in Southeast Asia, be a part of MaGIC.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by MaGIC

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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Meeting the protein needs of a projected population of 10 billion people by around 2050 in an inclusive, sustainable, and nutritious manner is a significant challenge, but one that is achievable.

Transformation of the food value chain is essential, with experimentation in the novel food space playing an important role.

Meat is a major component in the consumption patterns of most people in the world as it is perceived as a nutritious source of protein.

It is this critical importance of meat to the sustainability of the food system that so much attention is paid to trends in meat consumption and the alternative protein space.

Evolving consumer demand for alternative protein

With conversations around environmental and welfare issues gaining traction in Asia, more people are understanding the impact of a meat-heavy diet on health and the environment.

As consumers continue to lean towards sustainable and healthier products post-COVID-19, the next decade sees a potential tipping point where alternative protein may go from being “niche food” to “mainstream food” in this region.

Even before the pandemic, Singaporeans have been considering healthier options with two in five adopting a flexitarian diet. With consumers in Asia being no strangers to the idea of alternative protein, Singapore is well-positioned to be the ‘Silicon Valley of food’ in the region.

In Singapore, the city-state’s sovereign fund Temasek has invested close to US$5 billion into the agrifood sector, backing corporates and startups in areas such as agri biotech, alternative proteins, vertical farming and commodities.

Apart from this, over 15 alternative-protein startups have set up a base in Singapore according to Enterprise Singapore (ESG).

The science of food security

The concerted push towards research and development (R&D), utilisation of innovative and sustainable technologies, and biotech-based food and ingredients fuelled the potential to diversify and strengthen our food security.

Underpinning these developments is innovation, which plays a pivotal role in ensuring sustainability and accelerating local food production efforts.

Also Read: SGProtein to launch large-scale production facility to accelerate Singapore’s alternative protein market

Food development and manufacturing have been recognised as key sectors of the global economy. On a local level, Singapore has been working towards its vision of being a food and nutrition hub in Asia.

Initiatives such as FoodInnovate have brought together several agencies, such as Enterprise Singapore and Agency for Science, Technology and Research, to develop a repository of resources for local food companies to create and commercialise food products on a larger scale, at a rapid pace.

Singapore– the rising food tech nerve centre

While there has been an increasing adoption of alternative proteins, more investments and resources are needed. For instance, the Singapore government has also shown continued support for this sector by taking a major step to commit S$144 million (US$107 million) for investments in strategic sectors such as urban farming and alternative proteins.

This has, in turn, enabled local consumers to have access to a wide variety of meat-free brands that are now readily available.

The alternative protein industry is set to play a bigger role in our diets and in reshaping our food system, with meat-free options gaining popularity today. Meeting the needs of this growing demand and sector calls for greater collaboration in the food technology sector.

Ultimately, pointing towards a need to fill in the gaps when it comes to equipping the local workforce with the right skill sets and companies with the necessary capabilities to level up in the food technology industry.

Pathways to success

For food manufacturers, the common roadblocks include the lack of quality facilities, equipment being expensive, huge opportunity costs and high minimum order requirements from third-party manufacturers.

Set up to plug the gaps in the market for small batch production, SIT partnered with Enterprise Singapore and JTC to unveil a brand-new small-batch food production facility, FoodPlant, that will enable local food players of all sizes to trial new products on a smaller, more cost-effective scale.

The new facility will provide a much-needed boost to food manufacturers looking to innovate and scale the rollout of new products, post-R&D while reducing capital and operating costs through shared facilities and services.

With many hurdles to cross in Singapore’s journey towards establishing itself as an Asian alternative meat hub, educational institutions can also contribute by nurturing the local talent pipeline for the sector as the regional appetite for alternative proteins continues to soar.

Consumers form the first impression of any food during their very first taste of it. Therefore, it is key for manufacturers to create products that do not compromise on taste and mimic texture that bears a close resemblance to meat.

High Moisture Extrusion Technology for Meat Analogues (HMET) is essentially the first step towards producing meat analogue products – plant-based products that are similar to conventional meat in terms of texture and appearance.

Plant protein such as wheat gluten, soy and pea are put through an extruder machine, which uses heat and shearing to alter the protein structure to yield product textures that resemble muscle meat – a “basic requirement” to attract more meat-lovers to try out alternative protein products.

Also Read: Revolutionising the food industry with Malaysia’s StixFresh

With an aim to further build the expertise of local food companies and to see more players adopting this technology, SIT is the first university in Singapore to offer a Continuing Education Training course on HMET to the public in a practical, hands-on setting.

This is a specialised course for food tech professionals on high moisture extrusion, a process that texturises plant-based protein into viable meat alternatives.

By supporting food tech professionals with an avenue to hone in-demand skills, educational institutions can groom the local talent to meet evolving industry requirements.

At the same time, they can inspire students to pursue a wide variety of professions much needed in the food industry, ranging from food and flavour technologists to sensory specialists and production engineers.

In Singapore, significant collaborations between educational institutions and industry players help local enterprises build capabilities and foster an ecosystem that fuels the development of new food products to meet the growing demand for alternative meats.

Ultimately, such initiatives address food sustainability challenges and support the future of food in the city-state.

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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

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image Credit: nandrey85

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Global professional services company Accenture has named three Southeast Asia-based fintech startups in its list of 11 startups that have been selected into the 2021 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific programme.

The startups are:

Alpha Fintech (Singapore)
The startup enables merchant service providers to access any product provider across the merchant service lifecycle via a single solution ecosystem, standardized into one abstraction layer. This helps providers monetise previously hidden data assets to facilitate cross-selling and better manage financial portfolio risk.

Perx Technologies (Singapore)
The startup is a category-creating lifestyle marketing SaaS platform that helps enterprise and digital-native brands deliver continuous and meaningful engagements and experiences in the mobile-first economy to monetize customer actions by creating personalized, last-mile interactive digital experiences that generate revenue.

PT Ayopop Teknologi Indonesia (Ayoconnect) (Indonesia)
Indonesia’s largest API marketplace and leading financial APIs developer, Ayoconnect builds and operates the necessary infrastructure for embedded finance while simultaneously enabling developers and companies to choose from a wide range of financial white-label products.

Also Read: Building Malaysia’s fintech ecosystem

Other companies on the list are Advanced Alternative Investment Systems Ltd (Canada), Asiabots (Hong Kong), CONTRENDIAN Limited (Hong Kong), Diginex (Hong Kong), IPification (Hong Kong), Lagoon (Israel), Qantev (France), and Seleya Technologies (Hong Kong).

The 12-week accelerator programme by Accenture provides fintech startups with mentorship from leading financial institutions to help them fine-tune and scale their businesses. It has received more than 1,350 applications since it was launched in 2014; its 59 alumni companies have raised more than US$716 million in venture financing.

Receiving submissions from 28 countries, this year’s programme is run in collaboration with Hong Kong Cyberport who is providing the startups with the opportunity to participate in the Cyberport Incubation Program (CIP). The two-year programme will provide selected startups with a range of business, professional and mentorship support.

The program will culminate in November when the participants will present their solutions at a virtual Demo Day to an audience of venture capitalists and financial industry executives.

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Image Credit: ©siraphol/123RF.COM

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We are putting the spotlight on NEXEA, which comprises of a venture capital, startup growth accelerator, and angel investor network. They operate in Southeast Asia, with particular focus in Malaysia, focussing on startups in Seed to Series A stages (connect with NEXEA).

Ben Lim, Managing Director of NEXEA, answered a few of our questions about the startups they’re looking for, what makes them stand out, and what makes Southeast Asia startup ecosystem both challenging and exciting.

On how NEXEA was born
We established NEXEA about six years ago. At that time, a few of us exited. So partly, it’s fresh capital and we wanted to invest it somewhere. But partly also, at the time, I was looking for something to start, and one of the ideas that I wrote down was actually angel investment work. Then we added on our accelerator and our other programmes as well. It sort of grew from there.

On being more than just funding
We came from entrepreneurial backgrounds. That’s one of the key differences. We kind of intuitively understood startup entrepreneurs from the start and that’s why we have programmes like the Entrepreneurs Programme. That’s why our accelerator focus so much on adding value to the startups.

On NEXEA’s edge vs others
Definitely our mentors. They are ex-entrepreneurs, people who have exited already. They are on the board of listed companies and have grown companies from nothing into regional market leaders. So, they really understand building startups and, at the same time, how to guide the newer entrepreneurs because they’ve actually been through the journey. It’s like learning from an Olympic champion; it’s different from a lot of the other coaches and mentors out there that have not been successful themselves.

Also read: Antler partners with e27 to assist startups with cross-border investment opportunities in a restricted travel environment

On being sector agnostic
It’s just not possible to look at one specific industry or sector in this region. So far, I think you will find too few companies to invest in if you just looked into, let’s say, purely fintech. It doesn’t make enough sense. So we look at all sectors.

And what we really do is we try to find the best in every sector – every pocket of sectors- because we also have an advantage there versus other VCs that, let’s say, only have a fintech background: we have many mentors, many investors that are from various backgrounds and they are all experts in their own industries. So, we sort of have that advantage over a lot of other funds. And because of that, we are able to focus in many sectors and we do varying degrees of investments as well.

On the kind of startups NEXEA is looking for
We are looking for ideas that could really change the way certain industries work. If your startup is, for example, using an underlying technology that can change a certain industry or sector, we are really interested in opportunities like that. If you’re able to leverage a new form of technology that will disrupt a certain industry, that’s the kind of growth potential we’re looking for.

On what they’re really looking at
We find that the main factors of success will be the team, the market, and maybe even the business model. Specifically, we look for great potential in the team itself and hope they can go really far and bring the company really far, because it’s not easy finding people to replace them as well.

On the huge impact of a founder’s attitude
When we are asking all kinds of questions about the business, we are actually watching the attitude of the founders. How do they answer it? Do they think deep enough? Are they actually humble or can they be humble? It’s okay to be a little bit cocky, right? If you’re good, you tend to be. But if you don’t know how to stay humble, that’s gonna be a big issue.

Because not being able to stay humble, basically means that you’re not able to learn. You’re not able to take in some of life’s greatest lessons, and into a person that the company needs over time. And we believe so because the level of a company heavily depends on the on the level of the founder itself. If the founder stops growing at a certain point, so does the company.

Also read: How smart technologies help an essential but dirty industry clean up impact

On why being in Southeast Asia is both a challenge and a huge opportunity
A lot of the region is still developing. And in that sense, the ecosystems themselves are developing to various degrees in each country. One of the key differences between Southeast Asia and Europe, for example, is that Europe has a slightly more unified system. For example, they have a single currency and alone that enables a lot of things even if each country may have its own culture and nuances.

In Southeast Asia, it’s all different currencies. Every country in Southeast Asia has its own different challenges so every government has its role to play in growing on its own. Southeast Asia is a much more challenging market to break into; it’s as if you’re breaking into six different countries rather than one unified market. And it’s a natural barrier for entrance from China, US, and even Europe. They would love to come here, but they know how challenging it is to go into a single country – forget about six. It’s usually the Southeast Asian guys that can build companies in Southeast Asia. So, a lot of times these companies from outside the region will look at acquisition instead. And that’s a good thing for us and that’s going to be a key driver in the success of this ecosystem, so we just got to play our strengths there.

Speaking of strengths, on NEXEA’s
I feel that we are better able to support B2B startups, naturally, because we also work with quite a number of corporates. A lot of these corporates are looking for companies that can that help them digitise or help them be more efficient. They’re also looking for B2B startups that they could potentially invest in or acquire in the long term. Because of that, we somehow naturally have better capabilities in supporting B2B startups and helping them to grow much faster than normal.

On what could make them say to startups “yes, let’s talk some more.”
Very simple: it’s the pitch deck. On our site, we even have a template for that. And it’s as simple as that. What we need is already in the pitch, so as long as startups can show that and show it clearly and concisely, that will really get a message across to us and we will try and reply to every single one.

On why startups should connect with NEXEA
If they’re looking for investors that can add value to the startup through mentoring – and again, these people have very deep entrepreneurial and even C-level backgrounds – then this is the perfect place to look for investment with mentoring on how to really grow their businesses.

NEXEA is verified investor on the e27 platform. Startups with e27 Pro memberships can connect directly with NEXEA by visiting their profile and clicking Connect.

The post More than just funding: NEXEA play to their strengths in helping startups grow appeared first on e27.

Over the past decade, the online food delivery space has been growing steadily in Asia owing to ever-increasing smartphone penetration and ease of ordering food using mobile apps. This trend has been expedited in the past two years with online food delivery becoming an essential service amidst movement restrictions due to the pandemic. 

Globally, the online food delivery market is worth more than US$35 billion annually and is forecasted to reach US$365 billion by 2030. A Google-Temasek report forecasts that the food delivery market in Southeast Asia alone is expected to grow from US$2 billion in 2018 to an estimated US$8 billion in 2025. With a drastic shift in consumer behaviour towards online food delivery platforms amidst the pandemic and given increasing demand, there is a pressing need to fill this gap.

As such, global, regional, as well as local players are making strides across different markets in the region. The largest player in the online food and grocery delivery landscape in Asia is foodpanda which operates in more than 400 cities across 12 markets. Regionally, the foodpanda platform reaches more than 10 million people in Asia, building an ecosystem connecting riders, merchant-partners, and everyday customers using the platform.

foodpanda: Capturing appetites in Asia

Jakob Angele, CEO of foodpanda who comes with a background in management strategy, has been spearheading foodpanda’s expansion and growth across the region for more than six years. “When I first joined foodpanda, it was a small, independent company that looked very different. There was not much excitement among investors about food delivery platforms; we had to start with very little funding and faced many challenges. Since those early days, many things have changed and business has grown extremely fast, even before the pandemic” said Jakob.

Back in 2012 when foodpanda was first launched in Singapore with just 51 restaurants, and a focus on the CBD area, the online food delivery scene in Asia was quite young. foodpanda began its venture in the region with operations in five markets, including Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This year, foodpanda commemorates its ninth year of operations in Asia.

At a time when there were no other food delivery aggregator services, foodpanda quickly established itself as the pioneer and go-to online food delivery platform. However, convincing partners was not an easy feat. “We would knock on doors and get rejected multiple times. Interestingly, in Singapore, the first brand that agreed to try us out was Burger King and then other brands started becoming curious. There was no secret recipe though — we had to be very consistent in our efforts and eventually, things turned around,” shared Jakob.

As a pioneer in this industry, Jakob shared that the biggest switch in the business model came around in 2015 when foodpanda was growing quite well. “At that time some restaurants had their riders and that was an easy model for us that was working well for everyone. But eventually, we identified two big problems: the restaurants weren’t able to keep pace with our scale of growth in that we were getting too many orders and restaurants just did not have enough riders, and the second issue was that the subsequent customer experience was getting affected. There was a long wait time, around 60 minutes!” That’s when foodpanda decided to get riders to solve both problems. “This was a stepping stone that helped us scale — we went from 60 minutes to delivering orders within 25 minutes or in 10-15 minutes in some markets through pandamart. We have come a long way,” he added.

In 2016, foodpanda was acquired by Germany-based Delivery Hero, a global leader in the food delivery industry. Today, the online food delivery platform operates in more than 400 cities across 12 markets in the Asia Pacific, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Taiwan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Japan. For foodpanda, a major part of Delivery Hero’s Asia business saw significant growth in the region with orders increasing by 194% as compared to 2019 and GMV growing more than double. In the first half of 2021, the food delivery platform completed more than 747 million orders — almost three times the number of orders from just one year ago.

Since then, foodpanda has been aggressively expanding in the region over the past five years. From 2019 to 2020, foodpanda started operations in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. In September last year, the company launched operations in Japan, its 12th market in the region, hoping to grow a “still largely untapped” market and further strengthen its position as the leading food delivery player in the region. 

Navigating the challenges of food delivery in diverse Asia

Asia is an extremely diverse market with a wide range of demographics, and there is no one-size-fits-all business model or market condition for the region. Jakob explained that one of the main challenges in Asia is that significant groundwork is necessary. This includes educating consumers on what food delivery means and how it can make their lives easy; From a marketing point of view, creating educational videos, and tapping into local channels of social media have become an integral part of their core business strategy. foodpanda operates not just in developed and urban markets like Singapore and Hong Kong but also in developing markets, such as Bangladesh and Pakistan where user demographics are completely different.

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

Jakob shared that localisation has become extremely important and relevant in a region like Asia. “Internal organisation and strategic decision-making are key to success in Asia. We have empowered local operations in terms of commercial and operational strategy, from how to run logistics, picking cities, identifying restaurants, to how we spend our money,” he said.

As the regional CEO, while Jakob is involved in those decisions, the country teams play a vital role. “We understand that no matter how smart the headquarters are, even if I travel to each country three times a month, a local understanding comes only if you live there,” he added. “One of the main reasons behind foodpanda’s success in a diverse region like Asia is the fact that a lot of tech and operational innovations are created by our local teams that understand the nuances of their markets. This is very unique to foodpanda,” he said.

Adapting to the new normal: quick commerce

Amidst the pandemic, like most businesses, foodpanda was also faced with multiple challenges. Many countries went into lockdown, and many restaurants couldn’t open. “COVID-19 was hectic. The world around us changed as we knew it, but the team did an amazing job to respond and react to this,” said Jakob. The foodpanda team worked closely with their restaurant partners to come up with the best way to cope. Suddenly, they were also faced with a huge influx of restaurants reaching out to be onboarded as partners needed to digitalise.

“Previously, we had around 14 days to help restaurants go live, but during COVID-19, they needed to go live the next day. We had to reinvent our whole onboarding process to be more responsive. For restaurants in financial trouble, we tried to support them by allowing them to defer their payments in some cases,” shared Jakob. To ensure safety for the riders and consumers while providing accessibility, variety, and convenience, the food delivery platform was also the first to launch contactless deliveries as a default option.

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

They have also added the delivery of groceries and daily essentials to their service repertoire. foodpanda is spearheading the growth of quick-commerce (q-commerce), where groceries and daily essentials are delivered on-demand, within 25 minutes. Across the region, foodpanda partners tens of thousands of retail and SME partners as part of its foodpanda shops vertical, including supermarkets like Tesco, convenience stores like 7-Eleven and Family Mart, plus health and beauty stores like Watsons and Guardian. This is in addition to the thousands of SMEs, mom-and-pop stores, and neighbourhood bakeries or speciality foods on the platform. 

In 2019, foodpanda launched its first pandamart cloud stores in Singapore and Taiwan, offering customers a wide selection of over 5,000 groceries and daily essentials at the touch of a button. foodpanda today operates Asia’s largest network of cloud grocery stores, with more than 200 pandamarts across 40 cities in 10 markets — a number that foodpanda is looking to double within the year as it expands its grocery delivery offerings.

What’s next?

foodpanda’s main focus is to use even smarter technology to power q-commerce. Be it food or groceries, they want to deliver anything customers need in 25 minutes to their doorstep. With COVID-19, consumer behaviour has evolved and appetites for safety and convenience have grown exponentially. Previously hesitant consumers are also going online for daily needs. This is why the q-commerce model works, and it will become even more integral to everyday lives. 

Also read: Antler partners with e27 to assist startups with cross-border investment opportunities in a restricted travel environment

“There is now a higher level of interest in our offerings. There were many new downloads, including different demographics like older customers aged 55 and above who are now using our technology. We see these customers using us even after the pandemic, and this gives us a lot of confidence that we are on the right track,” shared Jakob. However, he added that COVID-19 has been a challenging time in that they’ve had to adapt to highly localised government rules and regulations that are dynamic and sometimes very complex. So, a critical focus is how to continue helping riders and merchants sustain their businesses and earnings during the crisis and beyond.

The food delivery sector in Asia may be competitive, but platforms like foodpanda have proven to offer restaurants and F&B establishments, SMEs, and even delivery riders a valuable lifeline in the midst of the pandemic. Businesses that contribute to uplifting communities and promoting digital inclusion and empowerment will play a key role in the overall economic recovery of the region.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by foodpanda

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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Employees are the heart of any and every organisation and as organisations grow and evolve, so must their employees.

More than anything, the pandemic has highlighted a glaring shortfall. As much as businesses focus on tangible assets such as inventory and machinery, or intangible assets such as IP and brand, we often overlook the single asset that makes it all possible– our employees.

As the world is changing and competition among businesses is increasing, business leaders need to invest in rapid and flexible workforce transformation and skills development to help their employees grow and evolve with the organisation.

We often talk about talent development and retention, but what do skills have to do with it, and why is identifying and closing skill gaps and upskilling so important?

Challenges faced by employers in a volatile business climate

The pandemic has disrupted business operations and accelerated the need for workplace transformation, affecting businesses across varied industries. This uncertainty has forced many businesses to pivot, such as by embracing e-commerce, online channels or simply to innovate their business processes.

And as businesses pivot, businesses struggle to understand their current workforce’s capabilities, to identify the skills their workforce needs to pivot and to understand and close emerging skill gaps by ensuring the necessary training is done.

More often than not, these businesses fail to properly engage the right upskilling or development training to smoothly transition their employees.

This is true both for SMEs and startups, who have limited resources and experience in workforce development and also for large companies and MNCs, who have a huge workforce to manage and lack data or automated processes to facilitate the transformation.

In a survey from PWC, 74 per cent of CEOs said that a lack of availability of the right skills would constrain growth and hamper companies’ ability to tackle the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also Read: The “shmart” entrepreneur: Skills entrepreneurs need to become future-ready

Only 18 per cent of CEOs said they had made significant progress in “establishing an upskilling programme that develops a mix of soft, technical and digital skills” and only 24 per cent of CEOs said they had significant progress in “Defining skills needed to drive future growth”.

Ten per cent of companies in the survey said they had made no progress at all. CEOs are struggling to put their intentions into practice.

Importance of skills management in a workforce

There is an ongoing revolution in how companies are addressing their organisational structure and workforce development. Historically companies have organised their company into mainly job role clusters, with development pathways based on job role seniority.

Companies would then provide training based on the job role, where every staff member at certain job levels will be required to attend standardised training.

However, as industries continue to be rapidly disrupted, and new job roles are required with new and complex skills requirements, companies are struggling to keep up with the pace of change, and employees are subsequently affected in their ability to keep up with the changes in their skills requirements.

Businesses have started to become more granular in their approach, developing competency models and frameworks, and further detailing jobs into skills and skills proficiency levels.

This change has created more complexity for businesses and has driven the need to start understanding skills more, such as to develop a unique skills language for the company, to define the skills required within the company, as well as identify and validate the skills that their workforce possesses.

An effective skills management system in a workforce will not only help in retaining employees but will also create an agile workforce that can seamlessly pivot along with their organisations in case of an industry or market-wide disruption.

A characteristic of the current labour market is the limited availability of in-demand skill sets, which naturally pushes companies to spend on workforce development. It is cheaper for employers to build than buy talent. Developing key skill sets internally can be less costly than hiring new talent, which can cost as much as six times more.

An agile workforce translates into an organisation that is future-ready – ready to meet the needs of the organisation tomorrow, today. An agile workforce also supports the values of productivity, innovation and creativity – creating employees who are active stewards of the organisation’s vision and mission.

If the benefits of skills management are so extensive, why isn’t everyone doing it?

Creating a holistic skills management system in the workforce is no easy feat. It takes a large pool of resources, commitment and organisation to be properly executed. Coupled with the heavy workload from day-to-day operations, it’s near impossible to find the time to establish and execute this process.

Currently, it’s challenging for companies to have an understanding of their workforce’s current skills and capabilities. Typical data sources such as CVs and resumes are unstructured data that is difficult to consolidate, digitise and make sense of, and tend to be outdated data points without relevant skills information in the first place.

Also Read: How Endowus co-founder Samuel Rhee attracts, builds, and maintains a world-class team

Secondly, every company is unique and thus finds it challenging to come up with a customised framework or “language of skills” for their own company. The reliability of the data is also questionable– companies prefer to have a validated assessment of the skills of their workforce.

Finally, companies struggle to implement any change as current systems and processes for skills mapping are manual and unconsolidated, resulting in painful implementation and pushback from the workforce in supporting the change process.

Creating an effective skills management system: Where to begin?

To start off, it’s important to state that every organisation is different, and so is every team member. As a result, skills management practices are highly varied between each organisation. But fundamentally, the capabilities that are required share similar characteristics.

To bridge skills gaps, the organisation needs to have a deep understanding of the skills and capabilities of its workforce before taking remedial action.

As part of this ‘Skills Intelligence’, it is important for any organisation to have the knowledge or understanding of their employees’ skills and proficiency, and to have the ability to assess and access the type of skills needed for their business operations.

A key factor of success here is in the ability to build a unique library of skills personalised to the company’s context – a unique skills language. Skills databases will need to be continuously upgraded as the market evolves and the need for different skillsets changes.

This process will have to be rooted in truth and facts, which is where the importance of utilising current labour market information to understand the latest market skills characteristics is required.

Secondly, a system and process for identifying, collecting, validating, consolidating and analysing internal skills data based on the company’s unique skills language need to be set in place.

Buy-in and support from the employees of the organisation are essential for any change initiative to take place, thus relying on manual methods which are painful, tedious and slow would ultimately lead to resistance and failure.

A structured and systematic system, preferably utilising technology for ease of use in collecting and managing the data, would accelerate the process and reduce friction as well as costs in time and effort to collect skills data.

A detailed skills library will serve an organisation in many ways – such as providing a database for managers to identify missing skills from their team members, supporting deployment and identification of talent for various roles based on skills fit, ensuring that fresh trainees or employees are given the right training to diligently perform their tasks, or simply having a data-driven real-time dashboard to truly understand the company’s skills assets and make better decisions.

Also Read: Monk’s Hill Ventures head of talent’s guide to startup jobs search in Singapore

AI and big data in human resource practices

Digital technologies are great enablers of change, across the many facets of business and processes. With the help of AI, businesses can derive the benefits of accessing skills data insights at their fingertips, reduce labour-intensive processes, and enable new approaches such as the ability to build their own unique Skills Bank and Skills Intelligence databases.

AI can allow us to develop, aggregate, and apply, both internal and external data, to plan and create a holistic talent strategy plan.

This removes the labour-intensive processes that typically bogs down the HR departments, saving both time and financial resources by up to 90 per cent.

This concept is not just a sci-fi dream, it’s quickly becoming a reality. AI-powered transformation platforms are already here, complete with the ability to reference external labour market information, collect internal skills data, and create a unique library of skills for any workforce.

These platforms are able to facilitate access to a wealth of market data to identify future-ready skills and create development roadmaps to guide employees’ personal development while empowering them with self-directed career and skills development.

When I founded JobKred, this was the exact market gap that I was determined to solve, using data science technology to accelerate human capital development.

Especially in Southeast Asia, there is a lot of untapped talent that has the right capabilities but not the right skill sets that the market needs, and help provide clarity and direction to both enterprises and individuals in their skills development has been a key mission for us.

As an AI-powered skills intelligence and competency management platform, JobKred was created to ultimately reduce employee attrition rates, identify and develop missing skills, and transform organisations to be future-ready through effective and data-driven skills development.

Working with clients from Fortune 500 enterprises, top-ranked universities, government agencies and international aid agencies like the World Bank, JobKred has gained immeasurable experience, expertise and data in the whole life-cycle of skills intelligence and workforce development.

The future of HR practices

Employers need to be nimble and embrace new ideas to transform their business, traits that are key to rethinking and reshaping the future of work in the current economic climate.

This includes taking the leap forward in job redesigning, adopting digital technologies, and taking on new ways to work as well to rapidly adjust their business’s competencies, to reduce employee attrition, increase business agility and extend their business life cycles.

The significance of an agile workforce will continue to increase, and HR will play an increasingly important role in making better and more informed decisions by utilising skills intelligence.

Also Read: Want to work at a leading tech company? Here’s how

Skills are the currency of the future in the business world. Just like a currency, it’s more than just about accumulating it in a war chest for future use – it’s about finding and gathering the appropriate resources, growing the assets in the right way, and utilising them at the right time to further develop your businesses.

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Image Credit: Elnur

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Accelerating Asia, a Singapore-headquartered accelerator-cum-VC-fund, today announced the launch of its second fund worth US$20 million.

As per an official statement, Fund II has already secured about 50 per cent in soft commitments from existing investors and partners.

The new vehicles will focus on seed to pre-Series A investments into high-potential startups across South and Southeast Asia. It will start deploying capital in 2021.

Also Read: Accelerating Asia to launch Fund II in H2, ups investment size to US$250K

In an interview with e27 last year, Accelerating Asia’s co-founder and general partner Craig Dixon said it was planning to launch a new fund in the range of US$20 million to US$50 million Fund II.

Upon the capital disbursement in 2021, Accelerating Asia will raise its ticket size from US$150,000 to US$250,000 and looks to invest in a broader number of high potential early-stage startups. It aims to bridge the gap between seed and pre-Series A investments across Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Accelerating Asia employs the VC accelerator model to lower the risk of their investment. It claims that its 3-month accelerator programme receives over 1,000 applications each year, with the top two per cent are selected for funding.

The fund’s latest cohort has closed the application round this June, and the startups are slated to raise Series A within six to 12 months of graduating and receiving investment. It boasts that 80 per cent of portfolio startups receive follow-on funding from the region’s leading VCs, including D4V, Chiba Dojo Fund, Headline Asia, Impact Collective, SOSV, MDI Ventures, Falcon Network, and Anchorless.

“We believe they are well-placed to grow and scale and perhaps even be part of the dozens of unicorns expected to rise in the region by 2025,” said Amra Naidoo, co-founder and general partner of Accelerating Asia.

Most of the startups invested are addressing at least one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals, and 65 per cent are considered Gender Lens Investments.

Also read: Investing with gender lens: Proven strategy to achieve 2x+ in returns

According to the press statement, Accelerating Asia has also committed to donating one per cent of the fund’s carry and profit to more initiatives that support early-stage entrepreneurs.

The pledge sees participation from 10,000 members in 100 countries, including the likes of Salesforce, Twilio, Canva to ignite half a billion dollars in new philanthropy.

Accelerating Asia’s first fund has invested in 36 startups across ten markets and 20 verticals. The fund I portfolio companies have collectively raised US$30 million to date, with around 70 per cent of capital raised through Accelerating Asia’s network.

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Image credit: Accelerating Asia

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