Almost seven months after raising US$100 million in debt facility from the alternative investmentVictory Park Capital Advisors, Indonesian digital credit platform for retail borrowers Kredivo has raised additional US$100 million from the US-based firm.

The capital will be used to fund consumer loans for Kredivo’s borrowers in Indonesia.

“The large capital pool made available via this facility increase will enable the business to scale further in 2021 and beyond and get us closer to our goal of serving up to 10 million customers in Indonesia over the next few years,” said Kredivo CEO Umang Rustagi.

Also Read: Kredivo bags US$100M from US investor to provide instant credit financing to 10M new users in Indonesia

As per a press release, it marks one of the largest asset-backed securities transactions for unsecured lending in Indonesia.

Founded in 2016 and operated by Singapore-based FinAccel, Kredivo Indonesia is a digital credit card payment platform of FinAccel that offers various payment methods to help customers to break large payments into affordable and safer payments.

It provides an option for its users to buy now pay later while doing online shopping.

Its parent FinAccel is backed by Mirae Asset, Naver, Square Peg Capital, MDI Ventures, Jungle Ventures, as well as several other investors.

Given that credit card penetration remains at three per cent in Indonesia due to limitations of conventional financial institutions in distributing unsecured credit, Kredivo claims its services are able to bridge the credit gap within the archipelago.

“The company presents a unique combination of growth, scale, risk management, and financial inclusion in one of the most exciting emerging markets in the world,” Gordon Watson, partner at VPC, said.

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Image Credit: Kredivo

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Aerodyne in talks to raise US$100M Series C, may enter Unicorn club; They include CVCs and PEs; The round could also include a significant amount from a Middle Eastern conglomerate; In May, Aerodyne received a strategic investment from a consortium of Japanese investors, comprising Real Tech Fund, Kobashi Holdings and ACSL.

Gorilla Mobile, Singapore’s latest telco, aims to shake up crowded market with novel offering; It will be offering a proprietary feature known as SwitchBack; Using blockchain technology, this allows customers to turn their unused mobile data into digital tokens, known as Gorilla Go Tokens.

Telio founder ordered to transfer his shares in the firm to OnOnPay investors of OOPA; The S’pore High Court put an end to a 2-yr dispute between Sy Phong Bui and OOPA’s backers, Captii Ventures and Gobi Partners, who accused Bui of setting up Telio without their consent and usurping their biz opportunity and rights of Telio; OOPA is the holding company of Bui’s previous venture OnOnPay.

Vietnamese fintech MFast raises US$1.5M pre-Series A; Investors are Do Ventures and JAFCO Asia; MFast enables users to access, use and introduce financial and insurance service packages among other product segments; MFast claims to have helped nearly 600K Vietnamese access financial and insurance services from reputable institutions.

Singapore’s wealthcare app Hugo raises US$2M funding; Investors include 1982 Ventures, angels and family offices; Hugo helps users develop healthy saving and investing habits that make financial security accessible to everyone in an easy and intuitive way; Hugo recently launched its Gold Vault which makes investing in gold easy and accessible to all, with increments as small as S$0.01.

Accelerating Asia to launch Fund II in H2, ups investment size to US$250K; In an earlier interaction with e27, Accelerating Asia said it planned to launch an ‘up to US$50M’ fund in Q1 2021; Since 2019, the VC has accelerated 36 pre-Series A startups in Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and India; Its portfolio companies have collectively raised US$27M.

Singapore biotech firm Nuevocor raises US$24M in Series A; Backers include EVX Ventures and Boehringer Intelheim Venture Fund (co-leads), EDBI and SEEDS Capital; The startup will use the money to accelerate the preclinical development of its lead programme, a gene therapy for cardio-myopathies.

BoomGrow has converted old containers to ‘machine farms’ to grow pesticide-free vegetables in Malaysia; It grows fresh, clean, hyperlocal produce such as butterhead, romaine, kale, Swiss chard, basil, and mint; BoomGrow is backed by SME Corp, PlaTCOM Ventures and MDEC, and is now in the middle of raising its Series A funding.

BRI Agro CEO Kaspar Situmorang: Why tapping into the ecosystem is key to a digital bank’s success; Kaspar Situmorang says global funds are now looking into SEA for investments in digital banking; The branch-centric banking model of the past has become obsolete even in 2020.

Indonesia’s Jala Tech selected for Unreasonable Impact Asia Pacific programme; Other selected startups hail from India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia; Launched in partnership with Unreasonable and Barclays, the programme aims to scale high-growth ventures that address global challenges.

SEA looks to Israeli tech to improve farming techniques; Israeli agritech innovations have increasingly made their way into the farming communities in SEA through bilateral agricultural programmes; Israel has some 600 agritech and foodtech companies, with scores of them able to fine-tune solutions to suit farming conditions outside the country.

UPS set to expand retail presence in Malaysia amid e-commerce boom, partners with ParcelHub; UPS claims it’s seen e-commerce, parcel delivery and logistics management booming in the last 12 months and the demand is at an all-time high; US-based UPS firm is ready to capitalise on these trends and leverage ParcelHub’s 200 outlets.

Philippine firms can expand in EU via Estonia’s e-Residency programme; The programme recognises a lot of entrepreneurial mindset in SEA; There are many potential investors based in the region who can use e-Residency to expand or do business in the EU; By incorporating in Estonia, one can get access to the EU single market, or can easily co-manage an EU-based business across borders with partners from around the world.

Malaysian digital-first pet insurance startup Oyen raises US$420k seed funding; Investors are Hustle Fund and angels who are former and current executives from Airbnb, Facebook, and Rocket Internet; The company is driving towards having 100K pets insured in SEA within the next three years.

5 emerging HRtech startups in Indonesia; They are Urbanhire, Gadjian, Rekruta, Jobplanet, and Sleekr; The HRtech innovations created by these startups employ automation and digitisation to complete various time-consuming tasks, including filing, talent acquisition and management, benefits administration, and performance and compensation management.

Vietnam’s digital economy presents chances for investors, startups; Backed by a stable political climate, progressive economic policies, and sustained growth, a lucrative opportunity exists for both local players and investors alike to tap into the country’s potential for economic greatness.

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Image Credit: Gorilla Mobile

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Have you ever felt a connection so deep, that your energy levels vibrate on the same wavelength? Your chemistry, values, and passion converge, yet your skill sets complement each other.

Sounds dreamy? Well, that’s when you know that you have found your co-founder also known as your startup soulmate, your perfect match.

“The Yin and Yang, maker and seller, dreamer and pragmatist — call it what you will. After the fact, people may recognise one founder as the innovator, but it takes a team to make a new venture work.”  – Guy Kawasaki

Finding your better half guarantees great team dynamics, which in turn leads to a higher chance of entrepreneurial success. Successful companies often start and become successful with the contributions of at least two people, and choosing who you’ll go to battle with is, quite possibly, the most important decision you will ever have to make.

And frankly speaking, soulmates aren’t meant to last forever either, but that’s a whole other topic and for the sake of this article I’ll be focusing on a duo-founder partnership.

The most common challenges faced by founders during the initial stages of company building is their inability to acquire all the skills needed, interests and capacity to manage their workload, hence the right answer is to find that key person that can help strike your balance of complementing and compromising. And how do you do so without settling for less?

After crossing paths with founders of all forms, characters, and baggage from my experiences at The Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), Entrepreneur First, and Singapore-Deep Tech Alliance, I’ve decided to highlight a few consideration points on what an ideal startup soulmate comprises.

Also Read: Turochas Fuad’s BNPL startup Pace receives debt financing, inks partnership with Valiram

What co-founders should match

• Compatibility and chemistry: Your interests and characteristics may differ, but the real key is to find someone with who you share core values and a connection. No doubt opposites attract, you need the right amount of familiarity, and we tend to gravitate towards people that are similar to us, which can help us find clarity when we come together. Nothing will stop you from powering towards achieving your goals once you find that compatible mate.
• Vision: I’ve seen co-founders get engrossed in the development process, later realising they had such diverging views on how to achieve the desired outcome. You’re possibly building a future, and legacy together, hence, your vision should be seen as a compass and not just a road map, you must be moving in the same direction.
• Alignment and expectations: Alignment starts with shared values and motivation towards achieving desirable outcomes while taking into account your personal and professional goals and agenda. One of the most important conversations I’ve seen founders have revolved around their personal agenda, and the need to sacrifice these agendas for the good of the startup.
• Financial compatibility: It’s important for co-founders to find financial compatibility. I’ve seen co-founders fight over differences in spending habits, and the inability to find a common ground can affect the timeline and overall company expenses. In many ways, it’s similar to high-stakes financial decisions in relationship decisions.
• Related interests in the founding team: A big part of the founding team’s success will be shaped based on the founding team’s ideology, background relevance, and insights. One major lesson I’ve learned is that related expertise and specialised understanding and fluency in a specific field give the partnership an unfair advantage. You’ll start feeling excited and enthusiastic about things because you just get each other. It feels ridiculously inspiring to be with someone who will help your ideas start flowing creatively.
• Never settle for less: Finding the perfect co-founder is as tough as finding the right life partner. Your partner could be your greatest asset or liability. Therefore, it should involve a lot of thought and introspection. Take the time, effort, and perseverance to make sure you find a match. Attribute your partner’s must-haves, yes, building a checklist is important to strategically identify what you need!
• Culture: Eighty per cent of your culture is defined by your core leaders, according to First Round review. Hence, core mission, values, and upbringing does cultivate your startup’s identity, wellbeing, and performance dedication.
• Proximity: Long-distance relationships are more difficult to nurture, they tend to survive less. You have enough obstacles to fight when starting a company. Why add an easily avoidable border to the problem? Getting a partner within reach is more efficient, dependable and promotes readiness for communication.
• Commitment: Having a partner who is not fully committed will build up feelings of bitterness and demotivation. It’s common for companies to take three to six months to hire an executive, even a year for some to define – the -relationship, so why shouldn’t you take the same amount of time and effort to find a co-founder? Spending the time to test the depths of the relationship makes sense.
• Passion: Passion is a quality that can’t be manufactured, without passion it’s easy to lose sight and motivation of your goals. You need a partner who rides with you, shares your mission, someone who cares, understands, and wants it as much as you do.
• Equity share of the greater equity pie: Equity conversations create tension if not discussed early on, the truth is the vast majority of your company’s life is in the future, so you should be on as equal a plane as possible. Hence, when joining a startup as a co-founder, knowing where you stand as far as equity is concerned will make a big difference for the long-term health of your relationship.

Sadly, co-founder dynamics causes two-thirds of high-potential startups to fail. Given how many things could go wrong, even in a co-founder soulmate match, there are a few mandatory things to do to maintain a healthy, strong, and productive co-founder partnership.

Also Read: Consider these five questions before appointing your co-founder

After all, relationships have their fair share of compromising, such as :

• Agreeing on roles: The reality is that, co-founders are required to be assigned roles that best fit their skills, and profiles, but never deprive yourself of the opportunity to learn and compromise on skills to pick up on a broader range of skills to manage the demands of your startup.
• Managing communication & trust: Communication is powerful and the foundation for a solid partnership. Open, proactive communication and transparency empower partners to voice concerns, reduces relationship debt – a negative sentiment that’s accumulated from unresolved feelings. Building trust and vulnerability from the start is important to uncover healthy conflict. Sweeping issues will lead to serious red flags, therefore, partners should have hard and deep conversations.
• Zero-ego clash: Honeymoon phases don’t last forever, eventually you’ll end up fighting.  There will be times where you’d end up going against your own ego, anger, and fear. Thus, when a fight occurs, stay humble and dare to recognise your own mistakes to avoid emotional residues. In a fixed mindset – you’re focusing on proving yourself, whereas, with a growth mindset, you try to improve yourself. Aim to have a growth mindset, and healthy ego.
• Working hours: Mostly under looked by founders. According to a new research, the happiest couples go to bed at the same time. Are you an early bird or a night owl? Because this will affect the synchronisation of your ability to collaborate.
• Emotional support: Data shows entrepreneurs are more likely to fall into depression. Rightfully, a pillar of support is needed to overcome the tough challenges ahead, as a team, you’re always going to be each other’s cheerleader and support system.

Having a co-founder who is a polar opposite isn’t the goal, neither is a co-founder who is a clone of yourself, the reality still falls with shared values – not to mention, similar work ethic as you’re going to be spending the majority of your work hours together. There are desirable differences that are essential.

What co-founders should be different at (also known as desirable differences)

• Expertise: Apple couldn’t have existed without both Steves. Every company needs Steve Jobs (Seller) and Steve Wozniak (Builder). It is wiser to get someone from a different background, this allows you to amplify your strength to its advantage.
• Perspective: Yin and Yang is one of the fundamental theories that can help you make a balanced decision. Different mindsets such as; Right vs Left brain, Creative vs Rational, Business vs Tech can optimise to achieve equilibrium. Thus, having a broader and diversity of perspectives brings in fresh ideas, this involves having intellectual and creative differences that can drive towards stronger strategic making choices.

Also Read: Can Biden administration erase the ‘original sin’ of Chinese startups?

Summary of consideration points when finding a soulmate

• Think about your core values
• Know your deal breakers
• Take into account: Emotional, Intellectual, Spiritual, Financial & Educational elements
• Stay open-minded about straying away from your checklist
• Timing, readiness & stability
• Exposure and familiarity with upbringing
• Personality and character
• Proximity
• Source for finding a co-founder (Accelerators, Incubators, Hackathons, founder dating apps, startup forums and events, FB groups, others)

Not all partners create magic together either, but those who do find their co-founder (aka startup soulmate), are a rare fated match made in heaven. And as I highlighted earlier, at times, your first co-founder isn’t meant to last forever, and finding your perfect match doesn’t necessarily always guarantee your startup success, sometimes, you’re fated with multiple co-founders, for some, they end up solo.

So no matter who you choose to become your co-founder, you need to make sure that it’s someone whom you trust, like, and feel like you can conquer the world with. Skills and the best network in the world will not save your business if you simply can’t get rid of ego, your co-founder is your partner in life, who’s meant to care about going through the journey with you and reaching the end goal as a team.

Your co-founder really is your better half. The winner is ultimately decided by a subjective internal process and a whole lot of chemistry.
–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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In April 2021, we marked five years of operations. This journey has its own fair share of ups and downs, but as of today, we have expanded into 17 offices across 13 markets, a headcount of over 800 people, made seven acquisitions across Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan and India, and raised a total funding of US$62.3 million.

For the year 2020, even though we had been in operation for less than five years, we grew our revenue to over US$100 million for the year.

As a founder, my journey into entrepreneurship started when I was 29 years old, and over the years there have been many challenges and lessons learned as we scaled the business. I’ll share four here that I hope can provide insights and inspiration for other founders.

Communicate with your employees as you did on day one

As businesses grow, it’s common for founders to get caught up in the daily grind, high-level decision making, investor and shareholder meetings, and finding new ways to bring greater growth to the business.

However, I feel that it is highly important for founders to still have conversations directly with employees. I’m not referring to the frequency of such communications, but more about having direct lines into the pulse of your business just like how it was in the early days, including casual lunch chats and just making yourself open to anyone in the company.

Ultimately, this brings a range of benefits including increasing employee motivation and connection with the business, obtaining insights, and identifying new opportunities to grow the business. Founders set company culture, and having more casual conversations with employees ensures that they are closely aligned with the expectations and direction of the business.

Constantly find new ways to add vertical and horizontal value to customers

I believe that to be highly successful, a company needs to constantly invest and build new innovations around its customer base. This ensures that a business is always providing new value to its customers.

Also Read: 3 ways a holistic cloud system powers business agility

Just take a look at successful Asian startups such as Grab, Alibaba and Tencent, they have multiple offerings built around their core customers and are constantly bringing added value to them.

For example, we started in the ad tech space, but within our first two years, moved quickly into technology for influencer marketing and publisher monetisation.

In the past year, we launched offerings in the direct-to-consumer space including cloud manufacturing, e-commerce enablement and logistics, and we are still looking at even more ways to develop new technology and business models for our customers.

This means that our customer base now has a wealth of solutions for their needs including marketing, e-commerce and even logistics.

For us, this comes in the form of building technology in the brand enablement space, constantly expanding our products vertically and horizontally within the brand enablement space to better help our customers, be it marketers, influencers, online publishers and business owners, to grow their brands even more.

This enables businesses to tap on the same salesforce to cross-sell new products that add value to the same customer or business.

Hyper-localisation is key for Asia

In a diverse market like Asia, it is a challenge to provide the same solution for customers across the entire region and expect success. For tech startups, this means not just having offerings in a market’s local language, but also tweaking solutions to match what the market needs including having feet on the ground to understand market nuances, trends and needs, building features and integrations for each local market.

It is ironic, but I feel that successful international expansion cannot happen without localisation.

It is important for businesses to build technology that can be used globally, but it is even more important to localise implementation and use of such technology. Look at high-profile tech startups in the region, they have localised their platforms, operations and even marketing activities to local markets.

In my own company, this is the approach we embarked on five years ago, and it has been successful in getting us to where we are today.

Ultimately, taking a global approach to building technology can get you to a certain point, but what takes you several points further is to have an overall business philosophy of localisation.

Also Read: Lessons learnt: 5 reasons why founding a startup is like earning a graduate business degree

Embrace growing pains

It is normal to experience growing pains as your business, headcount, or product(s) scales. For us, this journey was accelerated as we grew all three aspects quickly. These growing pains can come in any form: company policies, business operations, human resourcing issues, culture, along areas that are out of your direct control.

The key here is not in anticipating a growing pain or creating the perfect structure that scales as your business grows. It is all about how you handle them. We’re lucky in the sense that we have very supportive investors who have guided us over the years, and a strong leadership team made up of entrepreneurs, vertical experts, and employees who have been with us since our early days. With this collective experience, we are able to navigate challenges and move quickly as a company.

My best advice for this when facing growing pains is simply to be humble and don’t give up. No company is perfect and things can always be improved on.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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The post 4 things I learned in growing a business in Asia from zero to US$100M revenue in five years appeared first on e27.

There is no doubt supply chain and logistics are booming thanks to the pandemic. After all, we have little to look forward to apart from those parcels of joy at our doorstep. But that does not mean that it is rid of its struggles. So, our contributors take a dig.

Also, learn more on DeFi and CeFi for one last time before it gets way too real. And find out why full-on remote working may not be so welcomed in Malaysia.

All this and more in our action-packed roundup from the contributor community.

How tech can empower Indonesia’s 63M MSMEs in the post-pandemic era by Adrian Li, Founder, AC Ventures

There is tremendous value in providing solutions to MSMEs and opportunities to tap into Indonesia’s consumer market through these MSMEs. The contribution and significance of MSMEs to the Indonesian economy are far more significant than that of other large economies like India, where the sector forms just 30 per cent of GDP.

This is one reason why MSME-focused technology ventures in Indonesia may emerge as even more valuable businesses than in other more mature emerging markets.

MSMEs in Indonesia range from micro-enterprises with assets under IDR50 million (~US$3,500), which make up 98 per cent of these businesses, to medium enterprises with IDR500 million – IDR10 billion in assets.

There is great diversity in these businesses, both in terms of scale and nature of industries. While they mostly face similar challenges, the product solutions must be tailored to the size and specific industry, creating an opportunity to generate multiple ventures.

Tales from the logistics land

How the logistics partner can make or break the online shopping experience by Lai Chang Wen, co-founder and CEO of Ninja Van

For all its convenience, shopping online can’t replace browsing and shopping in a physical retail outlet, so one of the key challenges brands face today is how they can reinterpret the in-store retail brand experience into a unique offline one that still manages to deliver that “wow” factor to their customers, further creating opportunities to cement customer loyalty

Beyond the product itself, what we’re seeing is that online shoppers prioritise delivery options and the perceived quality of delivery service when considering which company to shop with.

When selecting a logistics partner, online retailers need to consider two main issues; what needs and expectations do they and their customers have, and how are logistics companies addressing these identified issues?

Locad founder on building SEA’s first cloud logistics network in the midst of COVID-19 by Co Tran, Communication Associate, Febe Ventures

In this episode, the founder of Locad, Constantin Robertz, shares his story in building Southeast Asia’s first cloud logistics network as a solution to the emerging supply chain needs and demands of e-commerce and omnichannel distributions.

Born and raised in Germany, Robertz got into e-commerce around Europe and started building Zalora, a fashion e-commerce platform in Singapore in 2013. Through his time at Zalora and working with a lot of brands, Robertz came to understand their challenges in the supply chain which led him to found Locad.

Of innovation and agility

Hybrid work is the way to go for Malaysia, and this is how leaders can get the most of it by Prakesh Muthukrishna, Country Head @ Jandi (Malaysia)

The hybrid work model is not a realistic model for everyone. It is indeed not a silver bullet. Manufacturing, engineering, and other site-based roles will likely not benefit from hybrid work.

However, my conversations reveal certain roles such as administrative/office staff or knowledge workers can adopt a hybrid model, despite operating in manufacturing, construction or similar sectors.

I remind the leaders I come into contact with to always think about applying a flexible work model in small groups, not the whole company. The distinction between hybrid and remote is also important:

How automation and innovation will boost SME success in Singapore by Morgan Browne, CEO and founder of Enterpryze

Businesses have been forced to consider business continuity above all else – which has postponed or even halted entirely the pursuit for innovation in their SME.

Survey shows that small businesses continue to lag behind when it comes to digital transformations. Be that as it may, automation and innovation are what differentiates a struggling business from one that adapts and thrives in an uncertain landscape.

Cloud technology, versatile e-commerce stores, omni channel sales and marketing strategies, digitalised supply chains and other forms of modern technologies are not just an option for SMEs anymore – they’re necessary.

3 ways a holistic cloud system powers business agility by Derick Teo, Director, BIPO

With the rise of new unrivalled technologies, the race is on to elevate digital transformation beyond a surface level facelift. As such, many organisations are looking to evolve and transform with a vision grounded in superior customer experience and enterprise leadership.

However, the future demands business agility to win. And the solution lies within a holistic cloud system, capable of scaling new heights for the business.

Therefore, as the Digital Enterprise Director leading the team in a global tech company, here are three key learnings why forward-thinking businesses must deploy cloud technology as a strategic tool and navigate challenges to unlock full business growth potential.

And more…

A tale of two systems: Can CeFi and DeFi coexist in the future? by U-Zyn Chua, co-founder and CTO of Cake DeFi

From lending to borrowing and trading with smart contracts, commercial use cases have proven the potential of DeFi in disrupting the financial services landscape globally.

In April, DeFi became a US$100 billion sector, and though recent price corrections have seen declines in the total asset value committed to the DeFi ecosystem — now standing at approx. US$106.5 billion as of June 3 — it’s apparent that confidence in the space is only growing.

But much like the initial crypto hype of 2017, DeFi itself has seen its share of scepticism — especially when it comes to how decentralised DeFi actually is. In reality, decentralisation shouldn’t be seen in absolute terms but rather, as a continuum.

Can Biden administration erase the ‘original sin’ of Chinese startups? by Jamille Tran, reporter from GBJ program

According to Hurun Research Institute, in 2020, China is home to 227 unicorns, comprising nearly 40 per cent of the world’s total, second only to America.

However, the future of these high-growth Chinese startups in their quests to Western markets is left in limbo after the bans surrounding Chinese tech giants such as Huawei, Tencent’s Wechat, ByteDance’s Tiktok over the US’s national security concerns.

“With one example for a company like Huawei or Wechat or Tiktok, they have justifiable grounds to go after them,” Financial Times senior editor Wang Feng says about the unfair attack from the US media on Chinese companies.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

The post From our community: Views from Adrian Li of AC Ventures, Lai Chang Wen of Ninja Van, and more… appeared first on e27.

Vertex Growth, a part of the global venture fund network under Vertex Holdings, announced today its second fund has secured a commitment of US$15 million from Korea Venture Investment Corporation’s Foreign VC Investment Fund initiative.

With this partnership, Singapore-based Vertex Growth aims to expand its presence in Korea by developing strategic partnerships with the key players of Korea’s VC market.

In Korea, the fund will invest in home-grown startups, as well as foreign businesses owned by Korean founders, with disruptive and scalable products, and support their overseas expansion.

“With a strong focus on value creation beyond capital deployment, Vertex Growth is confident to write a new success story in the Korean startup landscape, and build a new breed of disruptive and resilient businesses,” said Kee Lock Chua, Chairman of Vertex Growth.

Also Read: Vertex Ventures, zVentures invest in SEA-focused crypto exchange Coinomo

Incepted in 2019, Vertex Growth invests in growth-stage opportunities emerging from Vertex’s five early-stage fund portfolios, with a primary focus in Asia, leveraging the durable competitive strength of the Vertex global network. It invests in growth-stage opportunities, across both IT and healthcare.

The Vertex network of funds invests in early-stage tech opportunities through Vertex Ventures, early-stage healthcare opportunities through Vertex Ventures HC, and growth-stage opportunities through Vertex Growth.

Each Vertex fund operates independently, with separate local teams that raise and manage their respective funds.

According to its latest report, Vertex has identified Japan and Korea as key markets that are set to gain global prominence.

In the recent years, Vertex has ventured into Northeast Asia, starting with Japan given the market prowess and financial heft of leading organisations that have a keen interest in open innovation and digital transformation.

The firm claims to have been forming partnerships with globally-oriented Japanese organisations and is currently rolling out the same successful model in Korea.

“One of the core values at KVIC is to drive innovation and build global champions out of disruptive local businesses. With Vertex Growth Fund’s robust track record of accelerating growth amongst promising start-ups, we believe there’s synergy between the two funds, and this collaboration will help strengthen entrepreneurial excellence within Korea. Together, we see making a difference in the local start-up ecosystem, and positioning Korea firmly on the global stage of innovation and technological advancement,” said Mingu LEE, Regional Director at KVIC.

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Image Credit: Vertex

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MFast, a fintech platform that enables Vietnamese to access, use and introduce financial and insurance service packages, has secured US$1.5 million in pre-Series A round of investment.

Led by early-stage VC firm Do Ventures, the round also saw participation from JAFCO Asia.

According to Phan Thanh Vinh, CTO and co-founder of MFast, the money will be deployed to expand its coverage to more cities and provinces across Vietnam to help people easily access financial services.

Also Read: Naver, Sea, Vertex invest in Vietnamese VC firm Do Ventures’s US$50M fund I

The firm will also continue to invest in technology to enhance customer experience, focus on widening its partner network, and scale to regional emerging markets in the near term.

While financial services are widely offered in the urban areas, 70 per cent of Vietnam’s population has limited or no access to banking and related credit services. The narrow coverage of service delivery points in remote areas is one of the main barriers.

MFast, owned and operated by DigiPay, is tackling this pain point by leveraging technology and a nationwide financial advisors network. The mobile app connects the underserved populations with financial and insurance institutions to ensure that everyone has access to basic financial services, thereby helping people improve livelihood opportunities, manage risks, and sustainably increase life quality.

Through data analysis, the platform ensures customers are matched with financial services that best suit their needs and affordability, thus reducing bad debt and fraud rates for its partners.

Launched in mid-2019, MFast said it has helped nearly 600,000 users to access financial and insurance services from reputable institutions. Its insurance arm has helped insurance companies distribute more than VND 50 billion worth of products to customers.

Also Read: 500 Startups’s top execs set up new seed-stage VC firm Ascend Vietnam Ventures

About 75-80 per cent of MFast’s end-users come from remote provinces and rural areas.

The insurtech firm’s financial partners include Mirae Asset, CIMB, Mcredit, EasyCredit as for consumer credit, and PVI, PTI, BSH as for insurance.

Le Hoang Uyen Vy, General Partner of Do Ventures, said: “MFast unlocks essential financial and insurance products for every individual in Vietnam thanks to an extensive network of financial advisors. Based on data analysis and constantly expanding its network of advisors, MFast provides customers with tailored and safe financial services, creating stability for the whole market while limiting risks of fraud and bad debt to achieve sustainable benefits for industry partners.”

Phan Thanh Long, CEO and co-founder of MFast, said: “In the very near future, our product ecosystem will expand to many other practical areas. We hope to create benefits for both the consumer and financial system, contributing to the sustainable development of the whole economy.”

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Hugo, a Singapore-based digital wealth and savings app, has secured US$2 million funding from 1982 Ventures and prominent family offices and angels.

The startup will use the money to continue to enhance offering with new customer-driven products and services.

It is also exploring market expansion in several geographies in Southeast Asia and outside the region with local partners.

Founded in 2019 by David Fergusson (CEO), Ben Davies (COO), and Braham Djidjelli (CPO), Hugo positions itself to be a wealthcare app.

The app boasts of four features:

1- Spend Account: A Hugo account is automatically set up upon customer signup and they can order their Hugo Platinum Visa Debit Card directly on the app. All Hugo accounts are safeguarded within DBS Bank.

Also Read: MFast nets US$1.5M to connect underserved Vietnamese with financial and insurance firms

Customers may load money into their Hugo account from any bank account in Singapore, and then use their Hugo Debit Card to make purchases from this account.

The Hugo Platinum Visa Debit Card is a numberless card, designed to reduce fraud risk and ensure safety of transactions. Customers can securely access their card details and PIN within the Hugo app itself.

2- Gold Vault: Hugo customers can now make gold a part of their regular savings plan. They can buy or sell gold for as low as SGD0.01 and check live gold prices to make their trade decisions at their fingertips.

At a nominal fee of 0.5 per cent per transaction, Hugo aims to make investing in gold easy and friendly for all. Hugo customers can also set a monthly schedule for the desired amount to ensure they invest in gold consistently.

The gold in the Hugo Gold Vault is physical gold allocated against customers’ investments stored in an accredited LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) vault and insured by Lloyds of London.

3- Roundup: It helps Singaporeans build their savings without sacrificing on the things they love. Every transaction on a Hugo Visa Platinum card is rounded up to the nearest dollar with the difference saved into Roundup. Hugo calls it ‘Silent Savings’ as customers can generate savings effortlessly even as they spend. The weekly roundup savings are then automatically invested into real physical gold via the Hugo Gold Vault.

4- Money Pots: It allows customers to actively save for their short-, medium- and long-term financial goals. Customers can create any number of Money Pots, set timelines for each goal and choose the amount they would want to save every month in each of their Money Pots.

As per a press release, the startup plans to launch more features to help consumers optimise their budgeting, savings and investing habits to ensure financial wellbeing.

Herston Powers, Managing Partner, of 1982 Ventures said: “Hugo is democratising access to gold with a low fee product that is extremely thoughtful and approachable. Singapore is a perfect market to launch the next generation of digital banking and wealth solutions.”

Also Read: ‘Access to institutional VC funding is a major concern in Philippines’: Herston Powers of 1982 Ventures

Scott Krivokopich, Managing Partner, of 1982 Ventures, added: “Hugo is proving that fintech startups will win the digital banking race in Southeast Asia by launching the first wealthcare app in Singapore. The founders have a long and deep history in the region with roots that trace back to the 1930s in Singapore. Hugo has the banking and regulatory experience required to protect customers and grow a sustainable business.”

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Image Credit: Hugo

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HungryGoWhere’s demise shines spotlight on restaurant reservation industry trying to adapt to stay afloat; The homegrown F&B portal is ceasing operations on July 11; The popular site offers restaurant reservations, dining deals, dining rewards, and articles on food and drinks in Singapore; HungryGoWhere’s competitor Eatigo said in an interview that the industry is not in a great shape.

MatchMove receives US$100M from US firm to scale its embedded finance services; Together, the two companies aim to empower clients to embed own-brand digital financial services in their own platforms and apps; These fintech-powered platforms will enable MNCs, SMEs, families, and individuals to “instantly” access intuitive digital banking products.

Intrepid Group attracts US$11M Series B; Investors include Mirabaud Lifestyle Impact & Innovation fund (leaad), Vulpes Investment, and Thakral Corporation; Founded by co-founders of Lazada, Intrepid offers both enterprise-grade SaaS and end-to-end e-commerce management to brands and SMEs to accelerate their growth on platforms such as Lazada and Shopee.

BRI Agro to raise capital for digital bank spinoff, enter supply chain financing; The move will allow BRI Agro, a subsidiary of BRI Indonesia, to build a large ecosystem of merchants, consumers and biz partners and facilitate loans for their everyday banking needs.

B Capital’s SPAC trims US IPO target to US$200M from US$300M; The SPAC, B Capital Opportunities, will focus on acquiring tech businesses with the capacity to transform large and traditional industries; This will cover consumer enablement, financial services, health and wellness, and industrial and transportation.

These e27 Luminaries are taking the Indonesian startup scene to greater heights; Far from being a one-hit-wonder, Indonesia almost dominated the e27 Luminaries list with a total of 14 startups; This proves that the local startup ecosystem is filled with players that are resilient enough to face the challenges of a pandemic.

Osome raises US$16M Series A from Target Global, AltaIR Capital, Phystech Ventures, and S16VC; An accounting and corporate compliance app, Osome plans to dive deeper in the e-commerce industry; Osome leverages AI and ML techniques, combined with the experience of human experts, to solve the problem of time-consuming administrative tasks, such as payroll and secretarial work.

Alibaba Cloud invests US$1B to nurture APAC digital talent pool; Project AsiaForward aims to cultivate a million-strong digital talent pool, empower 100K developers and the growth of 100K technology startups in over the next three years; The project forms part of its strategy to invest in infra, tech innovation and talent development to contribute to local economic growth through digital transformation in APAC.

Singapore’s GIC invests US$70M in digital asset firm BC Group; BC Group is a digital asset and fintech company as well as the parent company of OSL; It intends to develop and enhance the platform technology of its digital asset business; In the future, it plans to expand to markets including UK, Singapore and America.

This Japanese biz has set its sights on Malaysia’s market potential for digital gifts; giftee Inc has set up a subsidiary Giftee Malaysia and has partnered with 16 well-loved F&B brands in the country; Currently, Giftee Malaysia has launched 2 out of their 4 available solutions in Japan: eGift System (eGift), and giftee for Business.

‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ – 5 key convenient payment players in Asia; Some pure players operating in the market include Akulaku (Indonesia), hoolah, and Atome (Singapore); The uptake of the payment type across APAC has been fuelled by Gen Z and millennial shoppers.

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Our contributor community is getting stronger by the day. We are now open to video and podcast submissions too! If you are looking to share your webinar content with e27 readers, find more information and submission guidelines about the e27 Contributor Programme or simply submit a post with a short summary of the webinar takeaways and a link to the full video.

This week, the SPAC hype lives on and our contributor provides a great analysis on whether it is here to stay. I am also delighted to bring more women voices from our community along with the story of this revolutionising poultry startup from the Philippines.

The hidden danger in SPACs. Is the hype worth the risk? by Rachel Lau of RHL Ventures

According to Goldman Sachs, SPAC IPOs have raised a total of US$78 billion across 244 transactions globally in 2020. This represents a remarkable five-fold increase from the year before.

Closer to home, Southeast Asia’s most valuable startup Grab is also set to list on the Nasdaq via SPAC Altimeter Growth Corp at an estimated valuation of US$40 billion.

The sudden boom in SPAC IPOs was more notable given the tepid IPO markets in the years leading up to the pandemic. Companies were trying to stay private longer as venture capital and private equity money was abundant. The rapid renewal of interest in public equity capital raises the question of whether “staying private for longer” will become history.

From women, for women

Check out this comprehensive list of 46 startup resources and opportunities for women by Amanda Tay

The share of VC dollars that flowed into startups founded by a woman or a group of women is only 2.7 per cent of the total investment in 2019.

Will we be able to work towards increasing that percentage in 2021?

With this list of resources, we hope that all women founders, innovators, and change-makers can step up to start building their dreams to help create a better world for all.

From competitions and initiatives to accelerators and incubators and female-focused investors, this list has resources catered for female founders at any stage of their startup idea!

What entrepreneurs can learn from Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open by Duckju Kang, CEO of ValueChampion

Many of us have seen the recent headlines featuring Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open due to her mental health condition. Osaka’s decision led to an outpour of support worldwide and even triggered The International Tennis Federation to review how tennis players and media interact during tournaments.

Mental health problems have been on the rise and those who work in fast-paced, high-stress environments such as startups can be at risk. Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open may reveal some surprising lessons that startup entrepreneurs can learn.

Today, more business leaders are aware that mental health impacts workplace productivity. As a startup work culture can be fast-paced, always prioritising business growth and moving the sales numbers upwards can lead to adverse effects on mental wellbeing.

Labour market talent crunch is an opportunity for women in STEM by Miriam Marichalar, Senior Valuer at John Foord

Although more women are pursuing degrees in STEM courses at Singapore universities, there is still a leaky pipeline of talent in related jobs, as noted in a recent study by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

In fact, only 58 per cent of women with STEM qualifications continued to work in related jobs after graduation compared with 70 per cent for men– a phenomenon that is true globally.

Data from UNESCO, meanwhile, showed that only 33 per cent of researchers are women though they represent 45 per cent of students at the Bachelor’s level of study.

The same study from NTU found that women leave STEM careers, not because of a lack of interest or confidence, but because they encounter barriers of diversity and inclusion.

Women often feel marginalised at work as their male counterparts are more likely to be employed and make career progress than they are.

Emerging trends in the startup world

How Manulife aims to make lives better and healthier in Asia through startup partnerships by Mark Van den Broek, CIO & COO, Manulife Asia

At Manulife, the pandemic hasn’t been a catalyst for change per se, because change was already underway, since we embarked on our digital transformation journey several years earlier—a strategy taken up with real zeal in Asia. But the pandemic has upped the ante to change faster. Manulife has responded by doing just that, fast-tracking digitisation efforts across the region.

More than C$700 million (US$579 million) has been invested in new digital capabilities globally since 2018. As a result, customers in almost all of Manulife’s Asia markets can now submit claims electronically, including on their smartphones, while agents can close deals virtually and through electronic point of sales systems with auto underwriting built-in.

To further accelerate that rapid pace of digitisation, we wanted to tap the very dynamic fintech, insurtech and healthtech community in Asia. So, in December 2020, Manulife linked up with Brinc, a global venture capital and accelerator firm, to launch Manulife BOOST, a programme that is essentially designed to identify established start-ups with which to collaborate and form meaningful partnerships.

How Iamus’ machine vision robot Gallus is optimising the poultry industry by Abhinav Mehra, VC @ID Capital

Six years ago Shane Kiernan cofounded a business in the Philippines that provides outsourced manpower solutions to the poultry industry – from cleaning poultry sheds to vaccinating baby chicks they did it all. In the course of this business they observed all the challenges and opportunities in poultry production and were particularly curious to understand the drivers behind the wide degree of variability seen in the performance of poultry growers.

One question stuck with Kiernan: why was it that the same tiny proportion of farmers typically outperformed their cohort despite having older equipment or buildings? Fortunately his curiosity carried him to a conversation with Manor Farm, the largest poultry processor in Ireland.

A series of meetings followed where my curiosity validated farm variability is a US$9 billion annual problem for the poultry industry– an industry where low margins and animal welfare pressures abound.

Pharma entrepreneur Thomas Miklavec shares his journey on expanding his startup across SEA by Co Tran, Communication Associate, FEBE Ventures

Featured in this episode is Thomas Miklavec, a serial French entrepreneur and founder of POC Pharma, a B2B service platform connecting the pharmaceutical world.

Before starting his career as a serial entrepreneur in emerging markets in the pharmacy space, Miklavec took some initiatives for NGO work during his undergraduate, working on HIV/AIDS programmes mostly in Africa. He supported companies to build plans, prevent and provide care and treatment for HIV/AIDS patients.

What does the evolution of IT in SMEs look like post-pandemic? by Bidhan Roy, managing director, Commercial & SMB in APJC

SMEs are looking at business expansion opportunities and are expecting to step up on hiring. With many businesses becoming digital-first today, the questions here are, how and where should SMEs focus their resources and efforts at this juncture?

The scramble we all experienced 15 months ago as we migrated to more agile, flexible work methodologies underlines just how important technology has become.

And it will only become more central to the way businesses are run as both big and small organisations put in place hybrid working solutions.

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