Day: January 8, 2022

Power Commerce Asia, an Indonesia-based omnichannel e-commerce and supply chain service company, has secured an undisclosed Series A financing round from PT Interport Mandiri Utama, a subsidiary of local energy firm PT Indika Energy Tbk. 

Existing shareholder PT SAP Express Tbk, a local logistics solutions company, also co-invested. 

The new investment will enable Power Commerce Asia to expand in the Southeast Asian market. The firm is currently recruiting team members in Malaysia as the entry point. 

Also read: A look back at 2021: The year after 2020’s e-commerce boom

Besides, the company aims to build a digital logistic ecosystem through SAP Express’ network of 209 warehouse points.

Power Commerce Asia CEO and founder Hadi Kuncoro said in a joint statement that the company will maintain profitable and sustainable growth until the IPO in 2025. 

Power Commerce Asia was founded in 2019 by Kuncoro, who served as the CEO of Bangkok-headquartered e-commerce enabler aCommerce from 2015 to 2017.

The firm offers e-commerce marketplace enablement, technology development, warehouse management, shipping management & delivery service, digital marketing, payment management, and omnichannel ERP system management. 

It aims to assist brands and small businesses by connecting their online and physical product sales and empowering both national and global brands to scale across the international market. 

“In the midst of growing competition in the e-commerce industry, Power Commerce Asia comes with the concept of omnichannel e-commerce and supply chain management, which we believe will be the answer to the problems that e-commerce industry players, especially logistics, often face,” said Yukki Nugrahawan Hanafi, Vice President Director of Interport. 

The startup claims it provides a “seamless shopping experience” by integrating between the marketplace, web commerce, O2O, socio commerce, chat commerce, virtual reseller, point of sale (POS), warehouse management system (WMS), and IP multimedia subsystem (IMS).

Also read: How Shopee uses AI, data to build a marketing strategy that suits changes in user behaviour

Within three years of operation, Power Commerce Asia claims to have recorded a 132x growth, entering the scale-up stage. As of 2021-end, it saw a 22x revenue surge, 28x transactions, 26x buyers, 24x products sold, and 12x average monthly sales. 

Power Commerce Asia currently operates warehouses in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya and intends to set its foot in Malaysia. 

Brands such as Ovaltine (a nutritional drink company from Switzerland) and Twinings (a premium tea brand from London) are among its clients.

 

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Image Credit: Power Commerce Asia

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A decade ago, the idea of CEOs spending a portion of their time on social media sounded laughable. Now in the digital age, social media is considered an integral component in every organisation’s business goals.

It isn’t enough for CEOs to show up in conferences, do interviews, and give talks —they now have to be present online. If not, they risk losing lucrative opportunities to not only promote their organisation but also share their breadth of industry knowledge. Fortunately, CEOs of blockchain and crypto communities are already ahead of this.

Let’s take a look at some of the most active crypto CEOs on social media and how they’re spreading their influence in and outside the crypto community.

Changpeng Zhao
Topping this list is the Changpeng Zhao, also commonly referred to as “CZ”. As CEO of Binance, one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world, CZ provides quick updates about the platform and occasionally shares his insights on various crypto trends. He is currently more active on Twitter, where he has over four million followers, than Instagram.

Justin Sun
Considered as one of the youngest CEOs in this list is Justin Sun, CEO of BitTorrent and founder of TRON Foundation and Peiwo app. He is active on both Twitter and Instagram, and has briefly delved into Chinese social media. Sun uses his online channels to post updates about the blockchain and crypto space and respond to direct mentions.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Vitalik Buterin
It comes as no surprise that Vitalik Buterin is included in this list. Even when social media was in its infancy, he had already been advocating for cryptocurrencies in as early as 2011 through a publication called Bitcoin Magazine. Today, he shares his controversial insights on various crypto trends, as well as updates on the Ethereum network on Twitter, where he currently has 2.9 million followers.

Brian Armstrong
Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong also puts his two cents on all things crypto on his Twitter page. Speaking to nearly a million followers, he provides updates about Coinbase, as well as shares articles related to blockchain, finance, and tech.

Tyler Winklevoss
Like Buterin, Tyler Winklevoss is an early adopter of Bitcoin, buying the cryptocurrency as early as 2012 with his twin brother Cameron Winklevoss. Now as the CEO of crypto exchange Gemini and principal of private investment firm Winklevoss Capital, Tyler mostly uses his Twitter page to tackle discussions on his businesses, Bitcoin, NFTs, and, most recently, the metaverse.

Brad Garlinghouse
Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse expresses his thoughts (and shares his humour) on his Twitter page, where he currently has half a million followers. There he posts updates on Ripple, interacts with other industry leaders, concurs with articles pertaining to crypto and finance in general.

Erik Voorhees
If you ever need some validation of where ShapeShift.com’s Erik Voorhees is mostly active, he said so himself on his LinkedIn page: you can find him on Twitter, posting updates about ShapeShift.com, crypto, blockchain, tech in general, and more. He also has a Medium page where he posts long-form content on Bitcoin and updates on ShapeShift.com.

Also Read: ‘NFTs provide new ways to handle IP management, empower content creators’: Inmagine CEO Warren Leow

Joseph Lubin
Ethereum’s co-founder and ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin can also be found on Twitter, where he speaks to more than 200,000 people about ConsenSys, MetaMask (an Ethereum-based crypto wallet used mostly), and other blockchain solutions. He also uses his Twitter page to communicate with fellow industry leaders and share articles on various blockchain and crypto trends.

Sam Bankman-Fried
FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried is also somewhat of a social media celebrity among the crypto community. For his audience of 480,000 on Twitter, he mainly provides updates about the FTX platform and shares the latest trends in blockchain, NFTs, and DeFi. Occasionally, he goes live on Twitter Spaces to respond to inquiries.

Zac Cheah
Zac Cheah mostly shares his insights on the crypto market through his Twitter page, which has garnered more than 50,000 followers. One would notice that he uses his page to not only post about Pundi X and all things blockchain and crypto, but also share snippets of his personal life. Apart from his interactive and insightful posts, Cheah garners followers from Pundi X’s active community on Reddit, which also is never short of crypto topics to discuss.

Delving into blockchain and crypto is never easy, especially if you’ve never been adept to tech and finance in the first place. Fortunately, we have blockchain and crypto experts who are just a message or tweet away.

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Image Credit: milkos

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Bukalapak, Salim Group to participate in digital lender Allo Bank’s US$336M rights issue
Upon the rights issue, existing stakeholder Mega Corpora will transfer US$83.56M of its pre-emptive rights to Bukalapak; CT Corp, Grab, Carro and Growtheum Capital Partners also plan to participate.

7 Metaverse companies in Southeast Asia that caught our attention in 2021
As COVID-19 continues to confine people to their homes, companies in the metaverse and NFTs sectors will continue to hit the headlines in the coming years.

Aerodyne snaps up Synapse to develop next-gen drone data intelligence platform
Synapse focuses on designing and developing machine learning algorithms for cloud-based predictive analytics services for the agri, infra and oil and gas sectors; Aerodyne expects the investment to “supercharge” its AI and data analytics capabilities.

Insignia Ventures, Visa join open finance platform Brankas’s US$20M Series B round
BEENEXT and Integra Partners also joined the round; Brankas works with banks to design and maintain their open finance infrastructure, including APIs for real-time payments, identification and data, account opening, and remittances.

Timo nets US$20M to bring digital banking services to unbanked Vietnamese population
Investors include Square Peg, Jungle Ventures, Granite Oak, and FinAccel; Timo has no physical bank branches; instead, it offers customers meeting spots with coffee and seating areas to make their deposits and manage funds.

Used cars platform Moladin raises US$10M Series A led by GFC
Started in 2017 as a motorcycle platform, Moladin pivoted to become a used car marketplace in 2021; Moladin, which operates as a social commerce company leveraging agents to sell used cars to end customers, will use the funds for expansion in Indonesia.

These 8 tech verticals are ripe for explosion in Southeast Asia in 2022
While e-commerce, fintech and logistics tech were in the brightest spotlight last year, some other verticals are gradually picking up space.

Ex-aCommerce CEO raises Series A financing for his new venture Power Commerce Asia
Investors are PT Interport Mandiri Utama and PT SAP Express Tbk; Power Commerce Asia offers services, including e-commerce marketplace enablement, tech development, warehouse management, delivery service, and payment management; It will use the money for regional expansion.

X0PA AI bags US$4.2M Series A to scale its SaaS recruitment solutions
Investors are ICCP SBI Venture Partners, SEEDS Capital, AI8 Ventures, XCEL NEXT VENTURES, and SASV Investments; X0PA plans to use the capital to expand into Asia, the US, Latin America, and Europe.

Singapore’s Smarter Health raises US$3.8M for SEA expansion
Investors include East Ventures, Orbit Malaysia, Citrine Capital, HMI Group, and Emtek; Smarter Health is a unified platform that facilitates secure data exchanges between insurers, healthcare providers and patients throughout the entire healthcare journey.

FoodMap raises US$3M to connect farmers, food producers directly to B2C, B2B customers in Vietnam
Investors include Vulpes Ventures, Beenext, Ascend Vietnam and Wavemaker; FoodMap aims to solve the gap between demand and supply across the invisible supply chain with a back-end management system for farmers and suppliers.

SK Group joins Malaysia’s BigPay consortium for digital banking licence
In July 2021, Air Asia-owned Big Pay had submitted its application to Bank Negara Malaysia with the support of a consortium comprising MIDF, Ikhlas Capital, and a foreign conglomerate; In August, SK Group made a strategic investment of US$100M in Big Pay.

Bukalapak to appoint Willix Halim as new CEO, President Director
This followed the resignation of Rachmat Kaimuddin, who left Bukalapak to join the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment; A Forbes report said the company’s shares fell as much as 4.9 per cent after the resignation was being announced, touching an all-time low of IDR430.

Singapore scions form exclusive club centred around NFTs
Arc, founded by Kiat Lim and Elroy Cheo, also plans to create its own metaverse – a virtual world – with events and games; With Arc, the two will look to connect individuals from around the globe who are interested in cryptocurrency.

Beenext leads US$2.6M seed round of gaming marketplace VCGamers
Rans Ventures, Google executive Ari Fadyl and Collab Asia VP Jerry Soer also joined; The company is in the process of launching its own crypto token called VCG, which will be used for transactions on the platform.

Pandai nets US$2.03M to help students learn using gamified quizzes in Malaysia
Investors include YC, GFC, 500 Global, Soma Capital, RHL Ventures, Falnas Capital, and Kembara Kapital; Pandai allows primary and secondary school students to learn using gamified quizzes and provides personalised analysis using AI and ML learning algorithms to identify their strengths and weaknesses.

ASEAN Fintech Group acquires JazzyPay for US$1.8M to set foot in Philippines
AFG looks to leverage JazzyPay’s existing partnerships with leading national banks, e-wallets and payment processors; AFG intends to expand into Vietnam and Cambodia in 2022.

Gojek, Google and Grab CEOs back Vietnam’s stock trading app Anfin’s US$1.2M round
The app enables users to buy and sell stocks actively and quickly with small capital starting at only ~US$2; Anfin will utilise the funding to improve its “fractional share” system further to assist users in real-time trading.

Ex-Tiki executives attract US$1M for their work-and-play social network for engineers startup Oi
Investors include January Capital, Goodwater Capital, and SonTech Ventures; Startup Oi plans to utilise the money to expand its global team; Its goal is to reach 2M users in the next two years, starting with engineering talent hotbeds such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and India.

Binance Labs backs Vietnamese DeFi platform Coin98
Coin98 allows users to swap, borrow, lend, invest, and earn crypto with ease, boasting over 700K users in more than 150 countries; Through the deal, Coin98 will also contribute to the DeFi infrastructure on the Binance Smart Chain.

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XCEL NEXT VENTURES
https://e27.co/investor/xcelnext/
An early-stage VC firm with a presence in Taipei, Singapore and Silicon Valley
Verticals: AI, AR, Big Data, blockchain, cybersecurity, e-commerce, enterprise solution, healthtech, ICT, IoT, logistics/supply chain, platform, robotics, smart cities, SaaS, transportation, and VR
Investment Location: All
Stages: Angel/pre-seed, seed, pre-Series A/bridge, Series A
Investment Range: US$100K to US$3M

January Capital
https://e27.co/investor/january-capital/
It invests in early-stage and high-growth technology companies that are powering the digitisation of commerce in Asia
Verticals: All
Investment Locations: Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, New Zealand, Malaysia, and the US
Stages: Seed, pre-Series A/bridge, Series A, Series B
Investment Range: US$1M to US$5M

The post Ecosystem Roundup: Bukalapak joins Allo Bank’s US$336M rights issue; Brankas, Timo bank US$20M each appeared first on e27.

VE Capital Asia, a Singapore-based management consulting and deep-tech solution and service firm, has made three new acquisitions, including robotics service startup Ourglass, for SG$13 million (~US$9.5 million).

The other two firms are point-of-sale (POS) system vendor Coobiz IT Solutions and business management and consultancy firm Arcana Advisory. All three firms are headquartered in Singapore.

The latest transactions follow VE Capital’s previous US$37 million purchase of three other startups in October. These bring its total approximate acquisition value in 2021 to US$46.5 million.

With the new deals, VE Capital Asia aims to reinforce its key business verticals specialising in management consultancy, IoT and automation, software houses, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Also read: Exit Strategies: Ways to get your money back besides IPOs and M&A

Founded in 2018, Ourglass provides its robotic technology to various sectors, such as food and beverage and shopping malls. Its offerings include delivery robots, dine and discover waiter robots, plate return robots, and customer service staff robots.

The purchase of Ourglass Robotics will assist VE Capital Asia’s retail and F&B partners and clients in implementing robotic solutions in their operations.

Ourglass, alongside the 15-year-old POS system vendor Coobiz IT Solutions, will further solidify VE Capital’s POS offerings and IoT and automation capabilities, as per a press note.

At the same time, Arcana Advisory will boost the acquiring company’s management consulting department, while Coobiz IT Solutions will help it assist more local firms to go digital.

VE Capital claims its revenue grew 5,000 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020.

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Image Credit: VE Capital Asia

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Indonesia-based gaming e-commerce platform VCGamers has received a US$2.6 million seed round of financing, co-led by Beenext and Rans Ventures.

The round is joined by Google executive Ari Fadyl and Collab Asia Vice President Jerry Soer.

With this deal, VCGamers’ valuation has touched US$20 million, said a company statement.

The startup plans to use the fresh money to speed up product development and expand to another country in Southeast Asia.

Also Read: Mobile, e-sports, live streaming shaping SEA’s gaming startup landscape in 2021

Established in 2021 by Isya Sony Subrata, Wafa Taftazani, Hartanto Lee, and Ibnu Anggara, VCGamers is an online marketplace for in-game currencies, items, and services. The platform enabled users to interact and build e-sports teams or organise tournaments.

The company is currently working on its own crypto token called VCG, which users can use for transactions on the platform.

Rans Ventures is an early-stage VC firm run by Indonesian influencers Raffi Ahmad and Nagita Slavina.

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Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

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