Despite being Singaporean, I had never lived in Singapore until National Service. After NS, I left Singapore again to study and work in the US, but after seven years, I decided to move back to Singapore to spend time with family and be an entrepreneur. I started Rocket Academy to give back to Singapore and help more Singaporeans start businesses.

When I moved back to Singapore in 2017, I would often get questions such as, “Why did you come back from Silicon Valley [where salaries are higher]?” “Why do you want to be an entrepreneur [and forego a safe, lucrative career]?” “Why not work at another company [to learn about Singapore and develop your business idea] before working full-time on your own?”

I moved back from Silicon Valley to spend time with family, and I felt that I should get to know Singapore better as a Singaporean. I wanted to be an entrepreneur because I wanted Singapore and Southeast Asia to have more homegrown multinational companies to help us “stand up” globally.

The best way to learn entrepreneurship is to do it; It would be a long journey, I would have more obligations with age, and I felt inspired by the young entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.

Three years to find an idea

It took me almost three years to find the idea for Rocket Academy. My original idea was in senior care, an app to help family members coordinate care for their loved ones. I spent over a year iterating on this idea and learned valuable lessons about business and how societies care for their seniors.

It turned out that being a caregiver for anyone is hard, and the biggest need caregivers have is physical care for their loved ones, not a coordination tool, not even a community of caregivers.

Also Read: 27 Singapore tech startups that have made us proud this year

When I realised what the market required (medical care) was not something I could provide, I decided to move on.

After leaving senior care in mid-2018, I moved to Jakarta to join a friend’s student loans company Dana Cita; a startup recently graduated from Y Combinator that aimed to help Indonesians access education. I still had entrepreneurial ambition but needed to reset and develop new ideas.

Dana Cita’s team and mission excited me, and it would allow me to learn about Indonesia, the largest market in SEA and a centre of Malay culture. It was an incredible experience, and after one year, I decided to resume my entrepreneurial journey.

I continued living in Jakarta for six months after Dana Cita and met over 100 investors, prospective co-founders and industry experts.

I explored e-commerce logistics, e-commerce marketplace aggregation, an English-language tutoring marketplace, smartphone leasing, and even on-demand fried chicken. None of the initial ideas worked out, but many investors later invested in Rocket Academy.

After many failed attempts, I stumbled upon an innovative online coding boot camp in the US called Lambda School.

There was a large opportunity in online vocational coding education in SEA, and I happened to have the perfect background as a software engineer and former teacher.

Starting something from nothing in Singapore

The pandemic helped Rocket Academy by driving people to code online, but we still faced many challenges building the business.

Rocket Academy struggled to enrol our first batch of students. I had moved back to Singapore (again) in late 2019 created a company logo and website, but I had zero students and zero track record. As a novice entrepreneur, paid advertising did not cross my mind, and I focused on reaching out to coding interest groups and friends of friends.

Also Read: Why a Singapore coding school founder is funding a startup in Kazakhstan

After a month, I connected with 10 prospective students, of which six met me in person and three enrolled in Rocket’s pilot boot camp batch in January 2020. Those students later joined GovTech, Xfers and Glints after graduating from Rocket.

Rocket Academy’s biggest setback in 2020 was a miscommunication with government regulators, causing Rocket to stop teaching from April to September 2020. Pandemic restrictions prolonged the miscommunication, and I found myself taking long walks in the park, brainstorming other business models Rocket could pursue besides training software engineers.

I thought about quitting more than once. Luckily, Rocket and the regulators resolved the miscommunication in September and our team resumed teaching.

Rocket Academy’s next big challenge was developing course content to provide students with study material and standardised instruction. Rocket’s early team member Akira led these efforts with aplomb, burning the midnight oil for months to complete the first version of Rocket’s content while teaching. We even bought a portable air-con at one point because the air-con at our coworking space shut off at 6 PM, making the office otherwise unbearable at night.

2021 brought new challenges for Rocket Academy as we scaled. Our student numbers were almost 10x, we raised US$1.1 million, grew our team from two to 10 full-timers, and suddenly we faced challenges meeting student demand and managing the team.

In 2022, Rocket will continue to improve our student and instructor resources to empower students and software engineers to learn and teach at Rocket. I am also excited to improve as a manager, helping bring out the best in every member of our team.

Support for entrepreneurs

I have two suggestions for anyone starting a business post-pandemic.

Choose a market that is growing despite the pandemic. Examples include almost everything online, including online shopping, gaming, education, productivity and wellness.

Also Read: We are a coding and robotics school. This is how we prepare for the COVID-19 outbreak

Choose a problem to solve that you are passionate about. Only then will you persevere through the inevitable setbacks.

Entrepreneurship has been tough yet rewarding and would not be possible without the help of countless others. If I can ever be helpful to your journey, please reach out!

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Singapore-based e-commerce aggregator Una Brands today announced the acquisition of homegrown ergonomic furniture brands ErgoTune and EverDesk+ in a deal worth over eight-figure USD.

Una Brands will expand them into new regional and international markets. The brands have already been launched in Australia, where they contributed to 15+ per cent of overall revenue in Q4 2021 alone.

Further, Una Brands’ growth strategy will see the brands launch onto additional e-commerce platforms in the coming months, including Amazon in H1 2022, and further their O2O offering with a showroom in Sydney from April where customers can experience both ErgoTune and EverDesk+ products.

Also Read: Ex-CEO of Rocket Internet Asia launches new e-commerce venture Una Brands with a US$40M seed round

EverDesk+ and ErgoTune were founded in 2017 by former schoolmates Joshua Chan, Lye Yi Hao and Tan Jun Kiat shortly after they graduated.

The brands provide “affordable and high-quality” ergonomic furniture. They grew exponentially against the backdrop of the work-from-home requirements during the pandemic and the subsequent shift to hybrid working arrangements fuelling and sustaining demand for ergonomic furniture.

Their flagship products include the ErgoTune Classic and the ErgoTune Supreme Chair. They sold nearly 20,000 units in 2021 alone, grew 150 per cent, and tripled their revenue to over SGD13 (US$10) million.

Lye Yi Hao, Co-Founder of ErgoTune and EverDesk+, said: “With Una Brands’s financial backing and operational expertise, we are poised to grow our brands in various regional marketplaces and enter new markets at an accelerated timeline.”

Kiren Tanna, Co-Founder and CEO of Una Brands, said: “We aspire to grow ErgoTune and EverDesk+ into the region’s best-selling ergonomic chairs and desks in the next three years.”

Una Brands was established in 2020 by Tanna, the former CEO of Rocket Internet Asia and founder of foodpanda and ZEN Rooms. Its other co-founders are Adrian Johnston, Kushal Patel, Tobias Heusch, and Srinivasan Shridharan.

Una Brands acquires brands selling across multiple e-commerce channels such as Shopify, Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia, Amazon. It mainly primarily focuses on profitable independent brands with revenue between US$1 million and US$50 million.

So far, Una Brands has acquired over 15 brands. These brands, which generate between U$1 million to US$15 million revenues, operate in categories of home & living, baby & pets, and personal care. They are based in Singapore, Australia, China, and Taiwan.

Also Read: Una Brands nets US$15M Series A to acquire new e-commerce brands in Asia

Una Brands has worked with some of the biggest companies in the world, with its offices spanning the Asia-Pacific region with a presence in Singapore, Australia, India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

Since its launch in early 2021, Una Brands has raised US$55 million, including a US$15 million Series A financing round led by White Star Capital and Alpha JWC in November 2021. Its other investors are 500 Startups, 468 Capital, Claret Capital Partners, and Ninja Van co-founder Alvin Teo.

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Singapore-based logistics-tech company Inteluck has announced the completion of its US$15 million Series B financing round led by Creo Capital, a Hong Kong-based investment firm under New World Group.

The round also saw participation from East Ventures and Headline Asia. 

Inteluck intends to utilise the funds to expand its footprint across Southeast Asia. The firm anticipates tremendous growth in the region in the coming years.

In April 2020, the startup reportedly raised more than US$5 million as part of the Series B round led by Asia investment firm MindWorks Capital, with participation from Lalamove and Infinity Ventures.

Also read: How the logistics partner can make or break the online shopping experience

Founded in 2014 by CEO Kevin Zhang, Inteluck employs data analytics to provide a logistics platform that helps customers and supplier partners optimises resources, lower logistics costs and maximise logistics efficiency.

Tapping into the US$300 billion third-party logistics (3PL) market, Inteluck’s services include full truckload transportation, warehouse management, freight forwarding, and other bespoke supply chain services. 

The startup claims to have served over 250 companies across telecom, FMCG, manufacturing, e-commerce, express, and others. 

Inteluck said it helps alleviate cash flow pressure for over 5,000 firms by boosting the number of orders they receive for carrier partners.

Despite pandemic headwinds, Inteluck boasts of increasing revenues by 512 per cent in the last three years. 

The company has made a presence in six Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

According to Data Bridge Market Research, the Southeast Asia third-party logistics industry is predicted to develop at a CAGR of 4.7 per cent from 2021 to 2028, with a total value of US$115.6 billion.

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Image Credit: Inteluck

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After successfully connecting buyers to the textile supply chain in Japan, the e-commerce startup D-Plus Trading is setting its sights on Southeast Asia. D-Plus Trading’s goal is to fill in the gap between buyers, sellers, and suppliers of fabric, first in its home country, Japan, and later in the rest of the world.

Using a special technology called tunageru, D-Plus makes it possible for buyers and sellers of textiles to be matched directly with several small factories across the country. With this innovation, the company aims to be a leading fabric platform. Moreover, with the help of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), D-Plus will introduce its innovation to Southeast Asia’s textile industry, and by extension, to the vast regional market.

Established in 2016, D-Plus is an e-commerce platform that overcomes the physical boundaries between big and small businesses. As a Japanese startup, D-Plus untangles the difficult process of retrieving information from the fabrics supply chain to deliver it in a well-packaged and informative platform that connects businesses with each other. With D-Plus’ technology, businesses can freely access potential partners’ profiles and products—from factory information to product information.

Tunageru technology and the textile industry

D-Plus’s technology is a welcome development considering recent events. The links that connect buyers and businesses have nearly been severed by the onset of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As movement restrictions and state-sanctioned lockdowns were enforced, digital platforms responded to this need by providing avenues where companies can find their potential clients online. It is here that D-Plus introduces tunageru.

Also read: The most successful AI-Voice B2B SAAS from Japan is now expanding to build a unicorn in Southeast Asia

Tunageru operates under a business-to-business logic, which allows textile businesses to link up with factories that produce fabrics and textile accessories. Once users are registered on tunageru, the process is easy to follow. Businesses looking for a supplier can use the platform’s search functions, including its keyword search. This makes the search process for a prospective partner generally hassle-free, with all the information businesses will need right at their fingertips.

Once they’ve settled on a fabric supplier they like, users can then select a fabric from the supplier’s sample book and then request a quotation. After this, it should be as simple as checking out any item and waiting for orders to be shipped to them. Tunageru’s payment system involves fintech innovations that improve ease of access to all users.

On expanding to the Southeast Asian market

D-Plus CEO Toru Domae tells e27 in an interview that as a digital platform, D-Plus has the advantage of adaptability. In this light, the company looks forward to expanding its investment in systems. With such a mediator within the industry, textiles are bound to discover new synergies with new upstarts, while maintaining a steady growth for more established companies.

At present, most of D-Plus’s clients are domestic businesses and factories overseas, particularly in China. However, with its expansion into the Southeast Asian market, it opens up opportunities for more transnational synergy within the global textile industry.

Since big names in the fashion industry have outsourced their services to Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Cambodia, textiles have been booming in the region. Vietnam and Cambodia in particular are names often mentioned alongside China, the world’s leading exporter of textile apparel. However, the region is more than just production sites for outsourced labour.

Also read: Can agritech solve the world’s growing food security problem?

Southeast Asia is starting to respond to issues of sustainable fashion by producing local innovations themselves. According to Domae, Southeast Asia has become crucial in expanding sales as a production base for most global manufacturers, while at the same time producing plenty of potential buyers in the industry as well.

Businesses and individuals interested in apparel, general merchandise, and interior goods are part of D-Plus’ target market, and with the company’s current outlook on Southeast Asia, these are also part of the region’s demographic. Reports on the regional market’s interest in the fashion and textile industry show that consumption of these products is set for an upward trend until 2025, which is an optimistic projection for a business like D-Plus.

Ways forward and general outlook

 In 2021, D-Plus further explored its plans for expansion by participating in the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) events, as well as SLINGSHOT, a startup network also based in Singapore. With the support of JETRO, D-Plus was able to introduce itself to its prospective market alongside other upcoming players in diverse fields working with tech.

When asked about its ways forward, Domae explains to e27 that apart from JETRO, D-Plus has already received investment from Japan-based venture capitalists. Other than this, the company will also continue to raise funds for its planned extension into Southeast Asia.

Also read: AMATELUS is ready to launch multi-angle video streaming technology in Southeast Asia

The development of a tech-powered solution for businesses in an industry as central to Southeast Asia’s economy as textile is certainly something to look forward to. Still, the innovation D-Plus brought to Japan will have to make a few adjustments once it moves to an entire region, but Domae assures us with a strong optimism that D-Plus will continue to aim for the title of the world’s leading fabric platformer using tunageru.

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

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The pandemic has led to breakdowns in customer service, with contact centres still recovering from outbreaks and lockdown restrictions. Often, customers wait hours for a simple query resolution.

This is a customer service nightmare that businesses cannot afford, especially in this age where customers have abundant choices and alternatives, should they be dissatisfied with the business’ customer service.

The last two years have shown that disruption lies in opportunity, even if it proves how painful turmoil can be. The turmoil will continue to challenge how an organisation thinks about managing customer relationships and how to stay relevant amid changing customer behaviours.

Since the pandemic, we have seen automation and conversational artificial intelligence flood the market as organisations elevate the customer experience. There has been a surge in the adoption of Conversational AI-powered chatbots and voice bots by industries ranging from retail to healthcare to manufacturing.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that the conversational AI market is set to grow exponentially from US$4.73 billion in 2020 to US$18.5 billion in 2027 as 95 per cent of customer interactions become automated, as predicted by Servion Global Solutions.

Thanks to the 24/7 availability of conversational AI-powered bots, the customer support experience is enhanced. Customers can receive personalised assistance with their questions anytime, outside the typical 9 am to 5 pm office hours.

Coupled with the chatbots’ ability to handle an infinite volume of queries and topics, the number of tickets requiring a support agent’s attention is also reduced. For support teams, having significantly lower ticket volumes can translate to better service for customers they interact with and a decrease in handle times, wait times, and resolution times.

Additionally, chatbots can help reduce agent burnout and churn by eliminating monotony, thus leading to increased employee fulfilment and customer satisfaction.

Also Read: How voice AI is revolutionising the fintech scene

Onwards to advanced virtual assistants for improved CX

When it comes to increasing customer happiness, enterprises are going above and beyond basic bots to deploy advanced virtual assistants capable of integrating deeply with an enterprises’ legacy software not just to converse but converse to resolve the issue from end-to-end.

There is also high demand for advanced virtual assistants that can converse in multiple languages, be deployed across channels, and maintain the customer’s context to reach out to them proactively while being capable of Natural Language Understanding and Natural Language Generation-led responses.

With NLP, chatbots can resolve customer queries in record time and interact with customers much as a human support agent would. For instance, based on user utterances, these advanced virtual assistants are capable of auto-detecting and switching languages instantly for the current user session and the following sessions depending on its configuration.

The speed and accuracy in which chatbots can converse with customers deliver higher Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Self-Serve (Cost Savings).

Another area where AI is heavily involved in handling customer support requests, live-agent handoffs and exception handling. The AI-powered automation first approach helps streamline customer interactions from the various communication channels, such as voice, email, social media, website, and app, into a single contextual conversation, thus transforming customer support into a more logical and efficient process.

This is just the start of conversational AI potential, however. In an ideal future, advanced virtual assistants would be the first port of call for customers, potentially saving them hours in hotline wait times.

To gain that initial trust, though, conversational AI tools must not only be well-trained to steer the customer correctly but should have a voice that is friendly, dynamic and not just another robotic impersonation. Through this, the customer will encounter a seamless and even pleasant experience from the interaction and one that is more efficient for them, the employee, and the business as a whole.

A shift from silos to total experience automation

 While Customer Experience has been at the forefront of most digitisation efforts, the pandemic leading to a WFH culture and shortage of workforce has led to enterprises focusing on both:

• Organisations are investing more in their customer experience (CX) strategies for growth.
• They’re also focusing on employee experience (EX) strategies to compete for scarce talent.

CX and EX strategies, however, are often siloed and developed in a vacuum, and the need for Total Experience (TX) is emerging as a need in large enterprises. TX identifies both employees and customers’ digital and non-digital needs while simultaneously addressing their respective journeys, especially the intersecting parts.

This creates a superior shared experience for everyone. EX and CX initiatives should reuse the underlying technologies and compose the UX into a set of mutually beneficial multi-experience (MX) apps across devices, touchpoints and interaction modalities.

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

The Asian challenge

When it comes to establishing a successful TX automation strategy, this process is more challenging than in the Asian market, which is highly diverse and brimming with a myriad of languages and local, cultural slang and sentiment.

NLP needs to catch up to the point that prevents AI from becoming entangled in this linguistic melting pot. This serves as yet another illustration of the need to invest in and innovate conversational AI technology continuously.

Brands must not forget the human touch in their digital transformation journey, even as they rush to provide digital self-service. Having AI and human agents working together as one team has become ever more important, with customer service agents mostly working from home due to the pandemic.

Brands that can combine AI-powered digital experiences with efficient and effective human-assisted service will be the ones to build stronger, more valuable customer relationships and thus, gain a significant competitive advantage over their competitors.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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