Carsome completes acquisition of ASX-listed content automotive platform iCar Asia
Carsome and iCar Asia will expand a suite of digital products and services that enable an end-to-end, super-app experience for more used car dealers and consumers; Carsome has bought 19.9% of AX-listed iCar Asia for US$200M in July 2021.

How Carb0n.fi aims to establish a carbon-zero world for the people by the people
Carb0n.fi builds an online platform to allow people to put their crypto-assets to work and get rewarded with carbon offset NFTs and its native $ZRO token.

Berrybenka’s Jason Lamuda launches Grow Commerce, raises US$7M seed funding
Investors include AC Ventures, East Ventures and Irongrey; Grow Commerce is an online-first house of brands or brand aggregator focusing on acquiring Southeast Asian DTC and marketplace brands.

AI-powered food fingerprint platform ProfilePrint closes Series A
Investors include Louis Dreyfus Company, ofi, Sucafina, Greenwillow Capital, and Real Tech Global; Instead of packaging labels, reports or QR codes, ProfilePrint analyses the samples directly at the molecular level and can be used by stakeholders in the supply chain

Cyber Sierra raises US$4.3M seed funding
Investors include Leo Capital, AppWorks, Credit Saison, and angels; Cyber Sierra offers cyber risk, compliance and insurance products; It delivers cybersecurity and technology insurance offerings to SMEs with a presence on the cloud.

Animoca Brands, Brinc launch new US$30M startup programme P2E startups
New Guild Accelerator aims to enable millions of people around the world to generate income by participating in P2E gaming via crypto gaming guilds; It will invest up to US$500K each in startups.

Digital freight forwarder Andalin raises US$4M
Investors include Intudo Ventures, Cardig Group, Beenext, and strategic investors; The startup also plans to create an end-to-end one-stop solution for international trade activity by providing additional services such as trade financing, cargo insurance, and a SaaS-based freight management system.

GoZayaan enters Pakistan with FindMyAdventure acquisition
GoZayaan is an OTA booking solution for flight, hotel, inter-city bus and tour booking; Focused on Bangaldesh, GoZayaan is backed by Nordstar Partners, Wavemaker Partners, Ratio Ventures, and 1982 Ventures.

SaaS platform BiteSpeed raises US$1.9M seed funding
Investors are Sequoia Surge, First Cheque, Whiteboard Capital and angels; It builds a conversational commerce stack for D2C brands; It enables online brands to interact with their customers and sell their products on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

SG
Digital wallet HolyWally raises US$1.4M in funding
Investors include M-Daq, Finmirai, and Creitive; HolyWally is a white-label solution that offers digital wallets for banks, fintech firms, and retailers; It has a no-code approach to building wallets.

Monk’s Hill Ventures names Susli Lie as new partner
She is set to build the firm’s business in Indonesia, spearhead its Environmental, Social, and Governance programme, and support the VC’s portfolio companies on the ground; Previously, she co-founded education financing firm ErudiFi.

PasarPolis names former Amazon, Expedia exec as CTO
Kumar was a software development manager at Amazon and Expedia before joining PasarPolis. He also led the engineering team of Indian online travel firm MakeMyTrip.

AC Ventures appoints ex-GGV Capital exec as venture partner
Before joining AC Ventures, Wong served as a partner in prominent VC firms such as GGV Capital and Qiming Venture Partners; She led investments in fintech firm Akulaku and hospitality startup RedDoorz.

Circles Life hires ex-GoBear exec as VP of growth
Nelson Allen was previously the chief growth officer at GoBear (acquired by Australian fintech firm Finder); He previously spent over 20 years in various roles at Expedia Group, Microsoft, and Samsung Electronics.

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Indonesian digital freight forwarder Andalin has said today it secured US$4 million financing in a round led by Intudo Ventures.

Cardig Group, Beenext, and several undisclosed strategic investors also co-invested in this round.

Andalin will utilise the funding to expand its market coverage in the East Indonesia region, scale its headcount from 100 team members to 150-200 across all functions, and introduce new products and services integrated into its main platform.

In 2022, the startup also plans to create an end-to-end one-stop solution for international trade activity by providing additional services such as trade financing, cargo insurance, and a SaaS-based freight management system. The firm will integrate these offerings with its upcoming trading service platform, which will allow manufacturers and distributors in the Andalin ecosystem to trade with one another.

This round comes nearly a year after Andalin closed its undisclosed Series A funding to establish freight consolidation infrastructure and open branch offices in the international port cities of Semarang, Surabaya, Medan and Makassar.

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

Founded in October 2016 by Rifki Pratomo (CEO), Ivhan Famly Gunawan (CTO), and Saut Tambunan (COO), Andalin provides businesses with timely and streamlined cross-border shipment processes between Indonesia and global destinations.

Its digital platform allows customers to book shipments, receive faster freight quotations, compare services that best suit their needs, and manage hundreds of shipments in one place. So far, its logistics services cover sea freight, air freight, project shipment, and customs clearance services.

Andalin claims it helps clients enjoy savings of up to 15-20 per cent in cross-border shipping costs compared to their previous service providers, cuts down administrative work, and increases productivity.

With a coverage of over 200 global ports, the startup boasts of having worked with over 300 manufacturers and distributors, from SMEs to large corporations, such as Rentokil Initial, Hitachi, to Electrolux.

From February 2021 to December 2021, Andalin’s monthly revenue experienced 690 per cent growth, paired with a 10.6x increase in the total number of containers shipped, the startup noted in a statement.

Indonesia’s import and export value grew from around US$300 billion in 2020 to US$430 billion in 2021 and enjoyed a trade surplus of US$35.34 billion — the biggest since 2007.

Meanwhile, the value of international trade in the Southeast Asia region, both between member countries and from/to other areas, was valued at US$2.8 trillion in 2019 and is predicted to continue to rise in the next few years, per ASEAN Stats data. The sector has proven its role as one of the backbones of the Southeast Asian economy. However, it is still considered underdeveloped and overlooked, with the total value of collective investments in several local startups amounting to less than US$40 million.

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Image Credit: Andalin

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As we move into 2022, accelerated growth in the digital market has become a growing trend across Southeast Asia. According to Google e-Conomy SEA, almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic the internet economy in the region has grown by 40 million new users, increasing digital service use to 75%. After the onset of the pandemic, people more frequently turned to e-commerce and ride-hailing apps to simulate the lifestyle they once led, before quarantine measures were enforced. These new practices and habits have continued to this day.

Southeast Asian transport’s shift online

One of the industries transformed by the growing internet economy is the transport sector. Before COVID-19, digitalised transportation was already budding in the region, but with the start of the pandemic, the transport sector’s shift online has sped up. However, this shift in Southeast Asia is still in its early stages and is ripe for growth and innovation.

The digitalisation of the transport sector will require a centralised and efficient means of connecting drivers and riders to the internet. While digital platforms exist today in the region that grant access to urban transport, a single ecosystem has yet to be developed.

Creating efficient solutions with Geotab

Geotab, a global leader in IoT and connected transportation, is one of the companies guiding the transport sector in Southeast Asia into the digital era. Established in 2000, the company has grown from a modest start-up to a global titan, connecting over 2.5 million vehicles worldwide and processing billions of data points daily. The company aims to connect vehicles to the internet and provide cloud-based analytics to help customers improve productivity, enhance driver safety, achieve regulatory compliance and optimize fleet operations to help reduce and eliminate CO2 emissions.

Also read: Imagining communities: building localised digital experiences with CiPPo corporation

Geotab is helping to lead the transport sector in new directions by processing and providing telematics data. As electric vehicles continue to make waves in the transportation industry, vehicle owners and manufacturers will benefit from telematics data and telematics-driven technology innovations. Geotab currently has a complete suite of green technology to help businesses and organizations better manage and more efficiently the transition to electric vehicles.

In an interview with Geotab CEO and founder Neil Cawse, e27 gained insight into the inner workings of the world’s largest telematics company. Geotab highlights six key pillars to deliver business impact through data-driven insights and solutions. These pillars include productivity, safety, fleet optimization, compliance, sustainability, and expandability. Cawse told e27 that most customers start with engaging just one or two of these pillars but later employ all pillars holistically and experience great results. For example, customers can use solutions to improve productivity, such as routing solutions or fleet management reports.

Company successes, opportunities, and challenges

Recently, Geotab has publicly announced its commitment to climate action in its inaugural sustainability report. The report outlines the company’s corporate sustainability priorities and ambitious targets, including a target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. Along with its own sustainability targets, Geotab is also committed to providing innovation that helps organizations do things better and do better things for the environment. Between monitoring driver performance for better fuel management and delivering data insights and green technology that can help businesses and organizations make the switch to electric vehicles, Geotab is in the unique position to help decarbonize the transport sector worldwide. Fleet managers who have worked with Geotab, particularly in its customer base in North America, have leveraged tools like the electric vehicle suitability assessment (EVSA) to switch to electric vehicles smartly and efficiently.

Also read: Nexmind AI is on a mission to make AI accessible to more companies

“Geotab has set its own climate goals and is working hard to achieve them. However, we can have 1000 times the impact by helping other companies achieve theirs. We are delivering data-driven insights and technologies that can help fleets understand, take action upon and scale efforts in reducing carbon emissions,” said Cawse. “The only way to a net-zero carbon future is together – businesses, all levels of government and communities across the globe – must collaborate to reimagine the way the world moves and to leave the world a better place than we found it.”

Engaging Southeast Asia as a tech hotspot 

Cawse identified Asia as one of the world’s up and coming tech hubs that Geotab could best engage to achieve its goal of creating a global operating system of connected vehicles. While the Asian market would be a different terrain altogether—something Cawse acknowledges—Geotab foresees the adoption of telematics by most countries in the near future. Data-driven insights are necessary in reducing carbon emissions by the transport sector and forming smarter, safer and more sustainable cities, all of which are in the interest of most corporations and governments, no matter where they are in the world.

With Geotab extending its services to Southeast Asia in 2021, local businesses can now expect its services to be within reach, allowing them to harness the power of data to improve their services and become more efficient. As Geotab leadership notes, things are quickly changing in the transportation sector and Geotab is eager to help empower the region with access to telematics and data.

Also read: Designing the world a century into the future

“Last-mile delivery and the ridesharing industry represents a significant opportunity in the region,” said Louis De Jong, Chief Revenue Officer at Geotab. “These verticals would benefit greatly from connected vehicle technology. With access to vehicle data, businesses can equip themselves with the right tools to help boost their efficiency and implement more sustainable driving practices – and as a result – improve the landscape of the transport sector in Southeast Asia overall.

More and more organisations are turning to data to shape the future they see for the world, and any business that wants to get in on this trend should invest in IoT technology to help improve processes. For more information on what Geotab has to offer and how you can boost your business with their services, check out Geotab’s page.

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

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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Singapore-based SME digital financing platform Funding Societies (known as Modalku in Indonesia) said today it has secured US$144 million in an oversubscribed Series C extension round (equity).

In addition, it has received US$150 million in debt lines from institutional lenders across Europe, the US, and Asia.

The equity round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from new investors, including Vietnamese tech giant VNG Corporation, Rapyd Ventures, EDBI, Indies Capital, K3 Ventures, and Ascend Vietnam Ventures.

The extension round comes on the back of Funding Societies’s US$45 million Series C raised between 2020 and 2021.

Also Read: Samsung backs Funding Societies to drive its vision of financial inclusion for SMEs in SEA

The funds will propel fintech firm’s expense management and B2B payments services for MSMEs across Southeast Asia.

It also revealed that it provided US$16 million to former and existing employees via its stock option plan in the form of share buyback.

Started in 2015 by Kelvin Teo and Reynold Wijaya, Funding Societies intends to fill the region’s US$300 billion financing gap by offering microloans from US$500 up to US$1.5 million, which can be disbursed in as fast as 24 hours.

Instead of using a traditional corporate supply chain approach to financial inclusion, Funding Societies follows an AI-led credit model to provide value-added products to under-served businesses.

The digital lender operates in five countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. To date, it claims to have disbursed over US$2 billion in business financing to MSMEs through more than 4.9 million loan transactions in Southeast Asia.

The press release also mentioned that Funding Societies’s annualised loan origination exceeded US$1 billion in Q4 2021.

Also Read: Funding Societies appoints GoBear co-founder Frank Stevenaar as CFO, promotes Ishan Agrawal to CTO

A portion of the group’s outstanding loan exposure comes from Europe-based institutional lenders.

Last October, Funding Societies secured US$18 million in debt funding led by Helicap Investments, Social Impact Debt Fund, and an unnamed Japanese financial services group. This was preceded by a round of investment from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation. A few months earlier, it had secured US$40 million.

Funding Societies’s other investors are SoftBank Ventures Asia, Sequoia Capital India, Alpha JWC Ventures, SMBC Bank, BRI Ventures, Endeavor, SGInnovate, Qualgro, and Golden Gate Ventures, among others.

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Is all capital equal? As long as your venture gets the cash it needs, does it matter how? If you’re building corporate ventures, your answers to these questions might be more important than you think.

Today, many corporations turn to venture building to launch new businesses and capture new markets. While most understand that a diversified portfolio of innovation investments is required to secure future growth and avoid disruption, fewer know how to structure and fund each investment.

The importance of funding models

Even the most seasoned captain would find themselves lost at sea without a functional navigation system when charting unfamiliar territory. Likewise, a misaligned funding strategy with corporate ventures can spell trouble for the vessel. 

Venture capital-backed startups benefit from a large pool of potential investors who play by the same rules. Investment term sheets are today more or less standardised. The journey from angel investment to seed round to Series A and onward is predictable and well-trodden.

But while venture capital-backed startups have a single objective to build a large sustainable business, investing company resources towards corporate ventures is an exercise of balancing dual objectives:

• ventures need to be able to create long-term value for the organisation whilst also being able to
• function as standalone businesses with robust products or services at their core.

This means that the journey is not always predictable, and a ‘one size fits all approach to funding doesn’t work. 

Also Read: Gen Z is saying no to climbing corporate ladders. Here’s what it means for Singapore’s startup ecosystem

We have found four archetypes of corporate venture funding models that serve as a starting point to achieve those objectives. So, which factors determine the suitable model for a specific corporate venture?  

Risk and control: determining the sweet spot

Determining the right funding model for a corporate venture is based on two primary factors: 

• Risk exposure – The amount of risk that the corporation is willing to bear
• Strategic control – The amount of strategic control the corporation wants to retain compared to other current or future shareholders in the venture

Calibrating the optimal level of risk vs control is mainly dependent on four major factors that corporate venture builders must evaluate for each venture:

• Strategic importance – To what degree is the venture addressing a critical market to future-proofing the core corporate business?
  
• Integration with core business – How intensely is the venture reliant on close ties with the core business? Are these links there to achieve strategic goals or leverage existing capabilities and infrastructure? 
• Association risk – To what extent does the venture benefit from direct brand association with the corporation? And how much would this association impact the corporation?
  
• Affiliate and subsidiary status – Depending on the jurisdiction, would this venture be considered an affiliate or a subsidiary? To what degree would this increase bureaucratic necessities like reporting consolidated taxes and earnings? 

Also Read: BRI Agro CEO Kaspar Situmorang: Why tapping into the ecosystem is key to a digital bank’s success

Evaluating these factors helps guide a discussion to determine how much funding from outside investors will be allowed and how much equity is granted to the team building the venture (if at all).

Four archetypes of corporate venture funding models

We have found four funding models that serve as a guideline for potential funding structures, beginning with the lowest risk exposure and need for control and ending with the most risk & control. 

• Shared risk and reward – The new venture is partially funded by the corporation and external investors, and significant equity is shared with the founding team.
  
• Controlled incentives – The corporation provides 100 per cent of the funding but still allocates equity to the founding team with a buyout option. 
• Joint venture – Partially funded by two or more corporations & investors, and the founding team may be given equity, but it is shared case by case.
• Full control – Fully funded by the corporation, with little to no equity package for the founding team.

Please watch this short video to learn more about these archetypes, the tradeoffs and considerations for each. 

This article is written as part of the Corporate Venture Launchpad programme. The S$10 million (US$7.5 million) pilot programme by EDB New Ventures aims to enable large, established companies to launch a new venture in Singapore within six months.

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Image Credit: hin255

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