Borrowing has always been fuelling the growth of developing economies as corporates and even retail borrowers’ take out loans to fund expansion or other such big purchases.

In India, lending by banks and NBFCs have multiple levels of checks and balances before sanctioning the loan. A rise in NPAs (Non-Performing Assets), is making it harder for borrowers to get a loan.

There are multiple stages discussed below which the borrower has to go through during the loan application stage, right from applying for a loan to submitting his income proofs. One of the most critical stages in the lending process is credit underwriting, which involves assessing the borrower’s creditworthiness.

In this stage, the lender checks the borrower’s credit score, current debt levels, any financial frauds they have committed in the past, income, credit length, etc.

Problems with the lending system in India

After an in-depth analysis, the lender judges the borrower’s ability to repay the loan amount they have applied. Underwriting is a cumbersome process that takes a few days, even sometimes weeks or months.

The borrower’s credit score is given priority by the lenders as it tells a lot about your money management habits in the world of traditional finance. The maximum credit score in India is 900, and one has to have a credit score of at least 700 to be eligible to get the loan.

Also Read: GuavaPass co-founders new alternative lending startup Jenfi lands US$6.3M led by Monk’s Hill

If you have a credit score below 500, then there are high chances that you will face difficulty in getting a loan. This is why many borrowers are denied credit by established banks and other financial institutions in India.

Due to this a crucial loan concept called the ‘intent to pay’ and the ‘ability to pay’, are disregarded as abstract since there is no better way to measure them.

Tapping into ‘Ability to Pay’ information

Income data is not available in credit score reports given to lenders by credit bureaus like Experian, TransUnion CIBIL, Equifax, CRIF Highmark, etc. The credit score only gives you the historical repayment habits of the borrowers, thus only reflecting their willingness or intent to pay.

But, what about his ability to pay?

Income data can be extracted from APIs based on payroll data to determine the borrower’s ability to pay. Assessing the ability to pay is equally important as assessing the intent to pay. This is because, let’s say, both you and India’s richest man have a credit score of 850, indicating a very high intent to pay.

However, both your income levels are completely different and thus your ability to pay will also be different. We need income proof documents to assess this ability to pay that can be taken from payroll APIs.

Fintech to the resuce

Fintech companies have changed this dynamic completely with innovation in risk assessment in the lending process. To provide the best services to their customers, fintech companies are automating the entire underwriting process with data fed into machine learning algorithms that are super quick.

Thus, there is better transparency and no human intervention, as decision-making is data-driven and free from bias. This new technology-driven lending landscape is here to stay and rule going forward. Traditional banks are now collaborating with fintech players to harness this limitless potential of data and technology to use that data to make informed decisions.

Also Read: Matching-making for loans: Why online lending platform Lendela has set its eyes on Asia

Fintech companies are now unleashing the potential of payroll data with open banking via APIs. The lenders are now getting this data and other employment information to make informed decisions on the loan application to curb NPA frauds.

This confidential data sharing is pre-authorised by the borrower thus retaining privacy. It also helps the lenders design a repayment schedule based on the borrower’s payroll.

When the lender asks for banking data from the borrower, there are chances that the data will not be recent. On the contrary, the payroll API-based data is precise and updated to the latest minute. This accuracy and reliability of data help in credit underwriting decisions.

The lead conversion ratio is much higher in cases where payroll data is involved compared to borrowers’ banking data. Many studies conducted show that borrowers are more comfortable sharing their payroll-related information instead of their banking-related data.

Innovation in the payroll space is booming, proving it as the next frontier in the fintech landscape. Payroll attached APIs are fast, secure, reliable, efficient, and help FinTech innovators explore other use cases that deliver value to customers.

Tartan is pioneering user consent-driven payroll data exchange in India, which plays different roles in people’s daily lives behind the scenes, making their financial lives easier.

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Indonesia’s wealth tech startup Pluang announced today that it has added US$55 million more to its ongoing Series B round of financing, led by Accel Partners.

BRI Ventures, alongside existing investors Square Peg, Go-Ventures, UOB Venture Management, and Openspace Ventures, also co-invested.

Other investors who joined the round include Axie Infinity co-founders Trung Nguyen, Andy Ho, Aleksander Leonard Larsen, and Jeffrey Zirlin; ex-LearnVest CEO Alexa von Tobel; Pismo CTO Daniela Binatti; Monzo COO Sujata Bhatia; Public.com co-CEOs Jannick Malling and Leif Abraham; FalconX CEO Raghu Yarlagadda; Flink CEO Sergio Jimenez; The Chainsmokers; and Gold House.

Also Read: Pluang raises additional US$35M, bringing total funding this year to US$55M

The new infusion comes barely four months after Pluang bagged US$35 million in the round. With this, the total Series B investment raised by the company has touched US$110 million.

The fresh capital will be used to continue building its technology and expanding its offerings to more asset classes, such as Indonesian stocks and more global equities. Pluang also has plans to expand its services to other Southeast Asian countries.

Founded by Claudia Kolonas and Richard Chua while at Harvard Business School, Pluang provides easy access to micro-savings and micro-investment products in Indonesia. By logging into its mobile app, users can check or top up their accounts, make transactions or cash out anywhere anytime. Users can make micro-savings as low as ~US$0.50.

Also Read: Digital micro-savings startup Pluang raises US$3M, becomes the latest Go-Ventures’ portfolio

Pluang offers gold, US equity indices and cryptocurrencies.

Currently, the wealth tech firm claims it has over four million registered users in the archipelago. Between January 2020 and November 2021, Pluang posted a 22x growth in monthly transacting users.

Last March, Pluang announced a US$20 million pre-Series B round led by Openspace Ventures, with participation from Go-Ventures. Two years earlier, the startup bagged US$3 million in Series A funding.

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Recently, journalist Micah Carnahan published a contributed post on e27 that digs into the reason why NFTs are so widely accepted in the Southeast Asian market. In addition to its relatively low entry price, the market also has a great awareness of the digital assets relatively early, enabling it to ramp up adoption rates rapidly.

As the popularity of NFTs in the Southeast Asian market continues to soar, the market begins to see various communities launching initiatives to promote the digital asset to a wider audience.

In Indonesia, the latest such initiative includes the opening of Superlative Gallery in Legian, Bali, on Tuesday by the local NFT collector community Superlative Secret Society.

Claimed to be the first offline NFT gallery in the country, it will feature a collection of avatars of Superlative Secret Society’s artworks. These artworks are created by local artists in the community and will be available to purchase as NFTs.

“We are extremely enthusiastic about the opening and operations of the Superlative Gallery, the first offline NFT gallery in Indonesia. It is an honour for us to accommodate local Indonesian artists to participate and grow together in this era of digital assets,” says Illustrator and Superlative Secret Society Founder Moh. Arif Wijaksana in a press statement.

Following up the launch of the gallery, the community is hosting a series of events from January 11 to 16, featuring notable names in the local blockchain, NFT, and crypto ecosystems such as Tokocrypto, ID NFT and MOT.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

NFTs for everybody

In an email interview with e27, Prasetyo Budiman, CEO & Founder of Superlative Secret Society, explains that the gallery is one of the community’s ways to facilitate local Indonesian artists in their journey to understand and implement the use of NFTs.

He describes a wide array of segments as the gallery’s target audience from NFT enthusiasts, holders, local and international artists, and basically “anyone who would like to learn and understand more about how digital assets such as NFTs work.”

There are also several reasons why Bali is chosen as the ideal location to open this gallery.

“Bali is already a well-known destination with a massive base of Indonesian artists community thriving in it; residents of the island also come from different countries around the world. Our goal is to introduce the works of local Indonesian artists to international audiences,” Budiman says.

Budiman says that the gallery was designed to become a platform for artists and global NFT items collectors.

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

“All this time, we have been interacting only through online platforms. This is why the gallery is an opportunity for holders to inform and educate the general public about how NFT works, with particular focus on local artists in Indonesia,” he says. “We are hoping to contribute more to the development of digital creative industries, digital assets, and even the tourism industry through the works of local Indonesian artists.”

What is next for Superlative Secret Society

In addition to launching its first offline gallery, the community is also set to introduce other programmes to help Indonesian artists reach a wider audience. For example, they are going to display the works of Indonesian artists in Times Square, New York City, for seven days.

“We want to send out a message to the public, particularly holders and members of our community in the US. The support of our members has provided us with the motivation to provide the best, and to take part in more international NFT events,” Budiman says.

At the opening of the gallery, the community also showcased a teaser of REPUS, the second batch of its NFT collections. Some of the artworks that are being displayed in the batch already have their intellectual property rights registered and are now applying for a trade brand certification.

Superlative Secret Society entered the OpenSea platform in September 2021. Since then, the community has had 11,110 artworks avatars on board and more than 16,000 members in its Discord.

“We came from a diverse background, starting out with chats and contacts through Twitter. We have the dream to give more value to Indonesian artworks by introducing them to local and international markets. This is why we build a platform for NFT enthusiasts and start building a digital asset community … most of our members are from abroad and they are also collecting the artworks that we make,” Budiman says.

As for the future, the community wants to continue educating the Indonesian artists’ community on the advantages of NFTs. They also plan to open several pop art exhibitions in Jakarta and operates the gallery in Bali.

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Image Credit: Superlative Secret Society

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This article is part of e27’s partnership with CEO Roundtable Podcast and Asian Investors Podcast and CEO TV hosted by David Kim.

Hrish Lotlikar, founder and CEO at SuperWorld said, “About four and a half years ago, five years ago, Pokemon GO came out and became this huge world sensation. A lot of people don’t know, but it was the fastest company in history to hit a billion dollars in revenue. Back then, we thought to ourselves, what if we can build the next Pokemon GO? What if we could build a world –a place where the next 1,000 Pokemon GOs are built?”

Lotlikar previously co-founded Rogue Initiative Studios, a Hollywood film, TV, gaming, and immersive entertainment studio. He was born in India and grew up in the US. He also has spent many years living around the world in Europe, Asia and South America.

SuperWorld is a virtual world in augmented reality (AR), digitally mapped over the surface of the Earth. Plots of SuperWorld land are represented as 64.8 billion non-fungible tokens (NFT) corresponding to real-world space.

Any user in SuperWorld can explore and create AR content, engage in a virtual real estate marketplace, or buy and sell NFTs in the SuperWorld NFT Salon.

How is your platform helping people buy and sell virtual real estate? Can you walk us through SuperWorld platform in terms of customer experience? How does that work?

In SuperWorld, You can buy locations that you love, whether it’s Central Park, the pyramids in Egypt, or your own backyard. What you’re buying is the digital, or “virtual “land that covers the earth at those locations.

“Superworld” platform was established in 2017.  Can you give me some idea how virtual real property has been appreciated for the past five years?

Properties in SuperWorld are all priced as 0.1 ETH. When SuperWorld virtual real estate first launched, the price of ETH was US$200 and now the price of ETH is US$4,500.

And the price of land in SuperWorld went up significantly. So the price of some land got appreciated more than 200 times for the last three years. Properties have sold for more than US$25,000 already on the secondary market.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

What kinds of digital assets do you or your members use on SuperWorld?

The first one is Land-based on real-world earth, and others are digital assets created by individuals based on NFT such as building, music, video, podcast, arts, membership.

How are NFTs enhancing “Superworld”platform?

Alongside our AR app, SuperWorld hosts its own non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace,  the “NFT Salon,” which hosts NFT drops that aren’t just following the standard NFT formula, but give back to communities most in need, including work with indigenous peoples in the Amazon Rainforest, at-risk communities in the Caribbean, the rebuilding of Beirut, and helping to bring clean water to Flint, Michigan, just to name a few.

I’m very interested in projects that help us in our mission. Our “why” at SuperWorld is how do we build a better world?  How do we leverage technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality, blockchain, artificial intelligence?

How do we bring all these technologies together to actually improve the world and enhance humanity? Those are the kinds of questions that propel us forward.

Who are the competitors? What does set SuperWorld apart from others?

There is a variety of “worlds” out there. They are all “Metaverse” As you know, all Metaverse consists of virtual world and internet, kind of improvement of internet.

Probably, the most well-known metaverse “World” you may know are The Sandbox (CRYPTO:SAND) and Decentraland (CRYPTO:MANA). One main differentiator what we are doing on SupwerWorld vs the other virtual worlds I just named are, other virtual worlds are fully virtual but SuperWorld are mapped again on top of the real world.

We are on SuperWorld right now. Because you can buy lands around you or you can buy a location anywhere where people live in the real world. SuperWorld is the world, it is not just about NFT, digital assets, VR, AR  and AI.

SuperWorld is a movement. A movement behind SuperWorld is how to leverage technology to improve our lives and improve the real world.  We believe we are an entry point to metaverse to improve your real-world life. That is what we are doing.

Also Read: The art of blockchain: What is the NFT craze all about?

How many members or visitors do you have?  Please tell us about the acquisition of members or users at “Superworld” platform

We have more than 100,000 monthly website visitors and our average paying user spends US$3,900 in the first month.

Can you tell us about any activities that currently connect the real world and SuperWorld and what is a plan to increase that interaction going forward? 

As a platform that prides itself on building a better world “in real life” through the metaverse, SuperWorld has initiated a number of social impact projects that begin in the digital and yet have real-world impact, including our partnerships with Disaster Fighters (backed by the World Bank) to help at-risk communities in the Caribbean; Monograma, with whom we’ve partnered to increase awareness indigenous peoples in the Amazon Rain Forest; UNESCO, to help assist in the rebuilding of Beirut, in addition to partnerships with numerous other artists, companies and organizations that aim to improve the lives of others here on our physical Earth through digital mediums.

A few weeks ago, we sold members NFT, a digital asset that gave purchasers lifetime membership to a private luxury club in NY and Miami.

So buying that digital NFT they get access to a real physical place in NY and Miami, called “Custom House”.

So that is an example of how we take an activity that is virtual to provide real-world benefit, and vice versa as well.

Who are the investors of SuperWorld?

We are proud to be back by many of the top venture capital funds in the space: DraperGorenHolm, SOSV, Outlier Ventures, RedBeard Ventures, 186 Ventures, White Paper Capital, Altered Ventures, Capital Factory, Predictive Capital, and Cadenza Venture Capital.

What is your next step and vision for SuperWorld?

We are building a world that enables you to create your own SuperWorld, whatever that means for you. We are helping owners of lands and digital assets on SuperWorld to create anything anywhere and sell those digital assets anyplace in the Real World.

We are also launching “token” in SuperWorld. That token launch will enable anyone to gain currency in SuperWorld and earn a yield based on staking and voting and decision in building SuperWorld.

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

As the first augmented reality(AR) virtual world on blockchain, our overall goal is to improve and enhance the world and your personal life through AR in a fully decentralised way. Applying a combination of technologies in a user-friendly format, we enable everyone to create, connect, and monetise through content in new and unique ways.

As technologies improve across all spectrums interconnectedly, the metaverse will enable data-rich and immersive experiences across all aspects of life.

We are building a World that enables you to create your own SuperWorld, whatever that means for you.

This edited Q&A is based on the show’s original transcript. For the full interview listen to the podcast here.

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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

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Vietnamese payment app MoMo has announced an investment in sales management startup Nhanh.vn for an undisclosed amount. 

This development comes a month after MoMo raked in US$200 million in Series E round at US$2 billion for tech investments and future M&As. 

The investment is in line with MoMo’s attempt to back Vietnamese startups and boost cashless e-commerce in the country.

“We want to support small and micro businesses (SMEs) to quickly digitalise at lower cost and scale through the solution of Nhanh.vn,” said MoMo co-CEO and vice chairman of the Board of Directors Tuong Nguyen. 

Last June, the fintech unicorn acquired local startup Pique that uses AI to turn visitors into customers. It planned to capitalise on Pique’s 25 million user database to improve its product offerings further.

Also read: A horse of another: Here’s the complete list of Southeast Asia’s 28 unicorns

Founded in 2014, Nhanh.vn specialises in cloud-based omnichannel sales management solutions. Its offerings include sales management software, web design, and features linking merchants with shipping businesses. It counts Facebook Marketplace, Lazada, and Tiki among its clients. 

Nhanh.vn claims to have served more than 80,000 enterprises in Vietnam with its services.

Momo, launched in 2007, offers mobile payments and e-wallet services for iOS and Android devices. Its range of products include cash transfers, mobile phone recharges, personal loans and services, such as software license and online game cards. 

The e-wallet has been evolving into a super-app marketplace that includes insurance, credit products, and digital vouchers, among other things. It also plans to launch investment products this year.

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Image Credit: MoMo

 

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In the recent Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) 2021, Singapore was ranked 17^th globally and 5^th within Asia.

In spite of the pandemic, the island state still drew in S$5.5 billion of venture funding back in 2020, exhibiting the resilience of the Singapore Investment landscape. However, what goes behind this S$5.5 billion number?

Within the VC landscape, there were a total of 191 fundraises at the seed stage in 2020, representing almost 50 per cent of all venture deals completed.

One reason why Singapore is seen as an attractive hub for investing is that it is one of the most competitive economies and the second easiest place to do business in the world.

The island state is also primarily an English-speaking country and is uniquely located at the heart of Southeast Asia, making it a more accessible gateway for international players.

Taking a deeper look into Singapore’s startup ecosystem, we explore some of the more popular means to invest in startups and how they have evolved to suit the landscape.

Also Read: SEA tech founders playbook: A to Z of becoming a fundraising legend (Part 2)

Why traditional financing is still prevalent

In exchange for investors funds, the startup issues equity to the investors. The investors wait for the next fundraise or divestment event before cashing out their stake. Investing in the early stages allows investors to receive drastic returns on investment upon success.

However, with high rewards comes high risks. In the event a startup is not able to take off or grow, investors face losing all of their investments. Moreover, the illiquidity of private capital will require investors to hold onto their investment longer as they are required to wait for future fundraise or divestment.

As for the startups themselves, founders do not like giving up too much equity stake as they too wish to ride on the upside of their startup. Investors also prefer not to see too much dilution as they want the founders to be more incentivised and motivated to grow the company.

At some stage, the founders will be pressured by the investors to go for the next round of fundraising, even if they are not prepared to.

Should the startup be unsuccessful in raising money through traditional equity, the next alternative would be to seek a bank loan. Bank loans come with high interest rates since there is a higher chance of a startup defaulting or failing in its early stages.

With the burden of high-interest rates and monthly loan repayments, this could be highly detrimental to a startup’s growth.

Venture Debt: The rising alternative for fundraising

Venture debt is one of the emerging investment products that has increasingly gained traction over recent years. In a typical venture debt structure, the startup issues warrants, in exchange for capital, and arranges to repay the original investment and interest over a two (2) to four (4) year tenure in the form of a loan.

Also Read: SEA tech founders playbook: A to Z of becoming a fundraising legend (Part 1)

The investor has the flexibility to convert the warrants into shares, usually at a discounted price based on the valuation, set at the trigger event.

Venture debt financing allows the investor to receive capital back on a regular basis over the loan tenure. At the same time, the investor also gets to enjoy the upside by converting the warrant issued into an equity stake.

Nevertheless, venture debt does come with its own risks. As it requires fixed repayments to the loan from the onset, it can be a challenge for hypergrowth startups to manage cash flow.

The startup space is ever evolving, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Startup founders will have to properly evaluate their needs and circumstances to find out which is the most suitable for them.

Investors have also started turning their attention towards new emerging methods such as crowdfunding and frontier investment products such as revenue-based equity, which is becoming increasingly prominent within Southeast Asia.

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

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KoinWorks, one of the leading fintech platforms in Indonesia, has secured a US$108 million Series C investment round led by MDI Ventures, the corporate VC arm of Telkom Indonesia. 

Quona Capital, Triodos Investment Management, Saison Capital, AC Ventures, and East Ventures participated. 

KoinWorks will use the funding — consisting of US$43 million in equity and US$65 million in debt capital — to scale its solutions and hire 400 new employees globally. 

Indonesia has over 62 million MSMEs. It has a projected gross merchandise value of US$70 billion this year, and that number is expected to grow more than double in 2025. However, they are struggling to access finance. 

KoinWorks was founded in 2016 originally as a P2P lending company to support various levels of Indonesian society in achieving their financial goals. Focussed on underserved and underbanked markets, KoinWorks provides MSME owners and freelancers with a tool to kick off entrepreneurship and scale businesses by offering a range of products from neobank to credit and productivity tools. 

Also Read: KoinWorks secures US$10M from Lendable to help Indonesian SMEs raise funds online

“KoinWorks is here to democratise access to finance and debunk the myth that it’s only for a specific class of entrepreneurs. KoinWorks has shown that opening the doors to capital and providing educational tools helps SMEs grow their sales,” said Benedicto Haryono, CEO and Co-Founder of KoinWorks.

The platform features a marketplace of integrated applications, such as accounting software, POS, e-commerce, HRMS for SME, and a budgeting app. This is in addition to KoinWorks’s staple products such as working capital, invoice factoring, early wage access and treasury management.

The firm claims to have doubled its user base to more than 1.5 million users during COVID-19. 

The company is headquartered in Jakarta with a holding company in Singapore and has tech offices in Yogyakarta, India, and Vietnam.

In May 2020, KoinWorks bagged US$10 million from Lendable, which was preceded by a US$20 million raise in debt and equity investment from Quona Capital a month earlier.

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AMATELUS Co., Ltd. is the Japanese video technology startup behind SwipeVideo, a livestreaming software that allows multi-feed and 360-degree video viewing. Kei Oda, COO and Head of Overseas Business Development at AMATELUS described the product as a game-changer for the video viewing experience. The software gives users the ability to switch freely their point of view — simply having to swipe to change viewing angles whilst watching SwipeVideo.

SwipeVideo is a patented software featuring proprietary technology developed by the company that enables live-streaming or playback streaming of multi-angle video over any web browser.

With SwipeVideo, content creators are in control over the direction of the content to the viewer, providing a completely new video viewing experience with opportunities for increased engagement. Viewers can swipe to change angles, pinch to zoom in and out and playback in real-time, fast, or slow play.

SwipeVideo solves the problem of last-mile delivery for 360° and a multi-feed video explained Mr Oda. SwipeVideo does not require a specialised application so it can be embedded directly onto websites or viewed on popular apps like Instagram and Twitter. With VR/AR/MR content becoming popular around the world, tools for free-viewpoint video distribution and editing software, application development, and shooting are set to become more and more important for both content creators and consumers.

SwipeVideo’s early developments

 

The technology for this has been available for many years — it was first showcased in the Matrix movies over 20 years ago. Despite these early innovations, viewers have until now been unable to manipulate the viewing angle of such content due to the extremely large data requirements needed to stream simultaneously. With Swipevideo, real-time content delivery with no buffering is possible even in a 4G environment thanks to their proprietary software.

SwipeVideo can be used for both pre-recorded content and for live-streaming with as many angles as needed. Furthermore, content for such videos can be created with regular cameras available in the market, which means no specialised equipment is required. While the current market opportunities for SwipeVideo are in the B2B space, the potential is immense for applications that allow consumers to easily create and view exciting new content.

Also read: susuROBO: Anyone can become a live streamer in Southeast Asia and beyond

“Our product offerings are being streamlined with the ultimate goal for SwipeVideo to be an easily accessible SaaS product that can be used by corporations and individual creators alike,” Oda remarked about the product development roadmap. The startup is eyeing potential expansion and finds the Asian market enticing due to the rapidly growing numbers of the video consumption market in the region and a commitment to invest in network infrastructure.

Southeast Asia’s growing video consumption makes it an attractive market

“As a Japanese company, Southeast Asia is a natural expansion for AMATELUS,” said Oda. “We see Southeast Asia as a thriving and fast-growing hub where tech adoption is accelerating. Asian people embrace new technology and innovation, and we hope that SwipeVideo will soon be an integral part of video consumption in the region,” he added.

SwipeVideo use-cases are not just limited to 360° video, or multi-camera footage shot simultaneously. Separately filmed content can be merged to create a single, multi-angle movie. SwipeVideo has been deployed by businesses in projects across media, music, entertainment and fan-related content. Use cases for the free-viewpoint technology include videos that drive real-time experiences for events, e-commerce, physical stores, training, and technical instruction content.

Also read: Harnessing the power of AI to help improve gastric cancer detection

“We have been doing product iteration for the past 4yrs here in Japan. We have growing traction across a wide variety of use-cases, from technical education to sports and entertainment,” said Oda. “While we are currently laser-focused on our B2B business, we do see a future where SwipeVideo has many B2C applications,” added Oda. As the creator economy grows, the company is interested in developing new use cases for SwipeVideo.

“With the creator economy in mind, we are also considering SwipeVideo being embedded in NFTs – as a web video product, we would be able to create truly unique, tokenized content. SEA is a big hub for blockchain and tokenized economies, so we are extremely interested to explore this opportunity,” Oda explained about the future applications for the software.

Expanding to a variety of industries

In order to serve the region’s growing market, AMATELUS is focusing its efforts on making the software solution easy to deploy and use by clients across a wide variety of industries. “We have been testing out our successful applications with clients across the globe, and we are busy making sure that SwipeVideo is as easy as possible to deploy and utilize as a solution in a variety of use-cases. We realize that having a strong presence in local markets is an advantage, though like many other businesses we have suffered from the inability to travel during COVID.”

Also read: Exploring the future of connected vehicle technology and transportation industry trends with Geotab CEO Neil Cawse

Japanese agency JETRO is providing the company with vital support to help them make the expansion possible. “We are fortunate to have received strong support through JETRO – they have helped us across continents through accelerator programs, connections to local companies, mentors and potential clients,” Oda remarked. He emphasized that they are extremely committed to building a presence internationally. “We believe SEA markets to be an excellent opportunity for us, and we look forward to building upon our strong momentum in Japan,” Oda concluded.

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

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Olsera, a cloud-based point of sales (POS) startup that helps Indonesian startups to go digital, has received US$2.5 million in seed funding from Kejora-SBI Orbit, a joint US$30-million fund run by Kejora Capital and Japan’s SBI Holdings.

With this new money, Olsera looks to strengthen its technological infrastructure, recruit more talents and accelerate its merchant acquisition in 200 new cities in the archipelago.

Business owners in Indonesia face limitations in capital, internet access, and sales distribution channels on top of the need to grow their know-how to adopt and utilise their digital platforms effectively.

As a POS, Olsera helps MSMEs go digital. It records transactions and provides ERP features that allow them to control across departments from anywhere and anytime, including accounting, inventory management, promotions, employee management, and customer service.

The company claims to have helped over 10,000 MSMEs across 300 cities in Indonesia digitise their businesses.

Also Read: How tech can empower Indonesia’s 63M MSMEs in the post-pandemic era

Olsera looks to grow its partnership base and integrate with e-commerce platforms, such as Tokopedia, Lazada, Shopee, and Blibli, to allow businesses to view their business performance in each store and platform.

Data from Indonesia’s Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises shows that 64.2 million MSMEs have contributed 61 per cent to the nation’s economy, amounting to IDR 8.5 trillion in nominal value.

The government has set an ambitious target to onboard over 30 million MSMEs into the digital economy ecosystem by 2024.

“During the pandemic, we saw that quite a many MSME business partners were affected because the shops were still offline. We launched Olsera Store to pivot their offline stores to online,” said Ali Tjin, Co-Founder and CTO of Olsera.

“On the other hand, MSMEs in the services sector also suffered loss as social distancing occurred. We also need to digitalise their business. Thus we developed Zenwel. Specifically designed for the needs of services MSMEs, Zenwel provides great features such as calendar scheduling, online booking, CRM, and loyalty/membership programmes to improve their customer acquisition and retention,” he added.

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Image Credit: Olsera

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Gastrointestinal cancers are the sixth most common cancer and the third most common cause of cancer-related death in the world. Stomach malignancy diseases remain difficult to cure mainly because most patients are detected with the disease when it is already at an advanced stage. AI Medical Service Inc. (AIM) is a Japanese startup in the medical field with a mission to develop artificial intelligence-based systems that can help detect gastric cancers at an early stage.

The earlier the gastric cancers are detected, the higher the survival rate becomes. Medical research has found that about 4 – 25% of lesions get overlooked during endoscopy. This is because early gastric cancers are very difficult to detect, even for experts. Endoscopy exams are difficult and painful procedures and detecting tiny lesions in the inflamed gastric lining is challenging even for specialists with years of experience. The practice is also subject to human error as doctors in charge of double-checking images often have to read up to 3000 images per day in Japan.

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In order to aid early detection, founder and CEO of AI Medical Service Inc., Dr Tomohiro Tada — an expert endoscopist — started the company with a vision to develop an AI-based image recognition system that helps endoscopists improve their diagnosis. Starting with this goal of using deep learning technology to support endoscopists, AIM has developed and is ready to commercialise an Endoscopic AI solution that is reliable enough to detect and classify gastric cancers in real-time.

Leveraging deep learning tech to make real-time diagnosis a reality

The AI-driven software developed by the startup based in Tokyo leverages large scale training databases to analyse endoscopy images in order to support endoscopists in their diagnosis. The first product provides support for the endoscopist to aid them in stomach cancer detection, but with plans in the pipeline to cover other digestive organs including the oesophagus and intestines in the future. While the diagnosis is still made by doctors and not by the software, the technology has proven to be a trustworthy support partner, vastly improving the accuracy of clinical diagnosis.

Japan today leads the world in the advanced medical field of endoscopy owing to the use of AI image recognition technology which is contributing to the evolution of the field around the world. AI Medical Service Inc. has already applied for multiple global patents as the software has proven to deliver accuracy levels that are above the average endoscopy doctor. Not only do Japanese providers account for 70% of the world’s share of endoscopy equipment, but their specialised skills are recognised as the best in the world.

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Real-time assessments have become feasible owing to the improved hardware performance and the evolution of convolutional neural network models which form the basis of the artificial intelligence software. Making full use of deep learning image recognition technology, the company has developed an operational platform with its in-house “image anonymization processing software” and “image sorting WEB system” to maximise support for doctors’ diagnoses.

Owning to these breakthroughs, AI has advanced to the point where real-time detection of lesions during endoscopy is quite practical and set to become an indispensable tool in clinical departments around the world. Therefore, AIM is ready to embark on an ambitious expansion plan focusing on South East Asia.

Southeast Asia Expansion: AI technology to reduce non-detection of gastric cancers in the region

Since launching the company in 2017 the startup has grown to over 50 employees and is looking to expand in Southeast Asia in partnership with the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO). Masayuki Tokano, Manager for Overseas Affairs at AIM, is in charge of the SEA market business. Tokano remarked that even though their technology has potential for applications in other medical areas, AIM is dedicated to supporting endoscopists which was the original driver for their research: “We are committed to creating solutions that are truly useful in the clinical environment to save patients around the globe.”

Tokano is confident that their Endoscopic AI solution delivers accuracy equivalent to that of experts. “It is our mission to prevent gastric cancer from being overlooked, reduce the burden on endoscopists and provide cost-effectiveness to patients and hospitals with our Endoscopic AI,” he added.

Explaining their interest in exploring the Southeast Asian market Tokano says that the region is significant since gastric cancer is common not only in Japan but also in Southeast Asia. “The five-year survival rate declines significantly as the stage of the cancer advances. By supporting endoscopists in the SEA region with Endoscopic AI that is as accurate as experts, we can prevent gastric cancer from being overlooked and reduce the burden on endoscopists.” he explained.

Elaborating on the plans for the region, he said: “We are going to expand our solution, Endoscopic AI, in Singapore, Thailand and other regions with ageing populations similar to Japan with an aim to reduce the number of overlooked gastric cancers in the SEA region to ZERO.”

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The expansion to SEA will be a significant achievement for the startup as it considers setting up an R&D hub in Singapore that will serve as their regional hub to drive not only sales but also R&D. “Our goal is to establish product value through joint research with renowned medical institutions such as The National University Hospital of Singapore and Mahidol University in Thailand, and to develop our product in the SEA region,” remarked Tokano.

The use of AI in Medical Technology is a market valued at 11 trillion Japanese yen, however, currently there is no commercially available Endoscopic AI system for gastric cancer diagnosis. Tokano outlined their product development roadmap, saying: “By gaining PMDA approval next spring and HSA approval at about the same time, our product will be the world’s first AI product for gastric cancer. Our Endoscopic AI is vendor-agnostic, and the first product will have the function to classify gastric cancer. We are also developing AI products with the ability to detect gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, colon cancer and so on.”

By conducting joint research with top medical institutions in the SEA region, the company would like to develop the market in collaboration with distributors and related organisations in each country, remarked Tokano.

Support from Japanese government organisations gives their mission of overseas expansion a strong impetus. AI Medical Service Inc. has received support for R&D and overseas development from NEDO, JETRO, JICA, Tokyo Metropolitan Government and etc. “For the overseas development of Endoscopic AI, we are encouraged and certified as a J-Startup by the government,” he added.

Tokano feels that Endoscopic AI is a win-win product for all stakeholders including endoscopists, patients and hospitals. “By deploying our Endoscopic AI solution trained with over 200,000 videos collected from over 120 medical institutions in Japan and abroad to the SEA region, we would like to prevent gastric cancer from being overlooked, reduce the burden on endoscopists and contribute to the development of the SEA region,” he concluded.

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

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