We’re running out of time when it comes to climate change. Our conscience is not shaken yet, even as the dire changes caused by the catastrophe are already visible in the cities we live in.

As per the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, one-third of the planet we live in is vulnerable; if the situation doesn’t improve, we will likely face huge losses in the agriculture, dairy farming, meat industry by 2050 and 2100. And it could push about 183 million people into poverty.

But there is a glimmering of hope as the likes of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos have announced massive funds to support companies addressing climate change.

However, in Southeast Asia, things are still a bit slow. There are many reasons for that, but it is changing, says Derek Handley, Founding Partner of Aera VC, a new Singapore-based US$30 million climate tech fund.

e27 recently had a conversation with Handley, who sits in his office in Auckland, New Zealand.

Below are the edited excerpts of the interview:

What is broadly climate tech from your perspective?

From our perspective, climate tech is anything that is meaningfully working to resolve or reverse climate change contributions. As we know, climate change is quite a myriad complex net. But the simplest version is how you reduce, remove or avoid CO2.

There are different ways to do it; you can substitute a current human behaviour with a new behaviour that significantly reduces CO2. Alternatively, you can find ways to trap it, suck it, or remove it.

Other things that contribute to the broader biosphere ecosystem might be as simple as the health of the oceans is linked to climate change and related issues, the health of forests and forestation.

How is climate change affecting Southeast Asia and Asia?

Well, it’s a global issue. Although it affects every nation differently, it affects everyone the same as the world is heating up. Sea level is on the rise, and it causes many issues everywhere. In some Southeast Asian and Pacific nations that are lower-lying, it becomes more problematic in terms of their sea and sea level boundaries.

Also Read: Shiok Meats backer Aera VC hits US$30M first close for climate-tech investments

Things that contribute heavily to climate change, such as petrochemical or fossil fuel, also have a vast pollution effect. Coal-fired fuel power and hydrocarbon engines impact people’s health and livelihood. Forget about the actual climate change on the planet.

There are many other factors, including the ways we engage with the world, our country’s geography and nature, the long-term sustainability of different ecosystems of species and animals, who can no longer survive, and waterways and oceans that can’t thrive in a climate-warmed world.

There are also the geopolitical issues of the reliance on fossil fuels, which has their geopolitical challenges. If each country can rely on its climate-neutral or renewable grid, they have a lot more sovereignty.

Even in this Russian crisis, you can see that oil is a significant factor. And if the whole of Europe were renewable, there would be a very different dynamic between those two sides.

Yeah, the consequences of climate change are fatal. Despite this, few are investing in climate tech in this region. One study says only 0.8 per cent of the total funding invested across the globe came to SEA. Is there a reluctance among VCs to invest in climate tech?

Southeast Asia as a startup ecosystem is still some years behind America’s or Europe’s ecosystem. There’s a delay in the overall ecosystem development and maturity. When you are one, two or three decades behind, then it’s going to be delayed. Same as Australia and New Zealand.

And then, there are factors like how many founders have created unicorns, exited and are now seeding new founders. This number is less in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. We have a thinner layer of founders seeding new ventures and new funds. So the whole ecosystem is yet to mature.

The first wave of startups in Asia has been e-commerce, mobile commerce, and digitalisation. It makes sense because there’s a solid coding base, software ethos and culture of doing things with very little capital. So the first generation of entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia is based on that ethos.

As the problems become bigger and get more attention, we hope that there’ll be more founders looking to solve climate. As we know, if you have got a fund but no founders in the space, you have nothing to invest in.

Also Read: New climate-tech venture builder Wavemaker Impact targets to raise US$25M for Fund 1

There should be an emergence of dozens and hundreds of founders looking at climate change-related issues. This is why we focus on making a much bigger presence in Southeast Asia, even India.

Climate tech is also regarded as a capital-intensive business. Is it also the reason for the lack of interest in this region?

We need to differentiate here. The rest of the world already has a huge interest in climate change at the moment. Many investors have created giant climate funds — from BlackRock, Blackstone, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos. So you have billions pouring into climate capital at the moment. Many of these investors are late-stage funds (Series C, D, or pre-IPO).

And there are more and more seed funds emerging, and I think there are a few dozen funds launched last year, a lot in Europe and the US, but not so much in Southeast Asia or Asia — barring a couple of funds in Singapore.

There was one or two launched last year in Australia. This side of the world doesn’t have many, but it is changing, and more funds are coming. And even the more general funds are looking to invest in climate.

To your question about capital intensity, people around the raise money for any business, so capital is not much of a problem. Our first investment was Solugen, which raised over US$350 million in September 2021 from Temasek, GIC, BlackRock and some others. This company is more capital-intensive because they’re building plants to create new types of chemicals.

But many of our companies don’t need that amount of capital. Their software systems don’t require that much. But I think the main thing is that they’ll raise a lot of capital if they can scale. However, you can get quite far with not too much capital.

Is there a lack of interest among big corporates and family offices to invest in climate-tech VCs?

There was a lack of interest in 2017-19 because climate tech was not popular. But in the last couple of years, it has become a hot topic.

There are quite a few climate-tech companies in Southeast Asia. But most of them are into the alternative food segment and only a few in other sub-sectors…

I am not sure if I have a perfect answer to the question. But our instinct and our feeling at the moment are it is about to change. And we have been looking at more and more companies coming out of Southeast Asia and even India.

I think that over the next year or two, we’ll be making several investments in the space. The ecosystem is developing to such a point that those founders are emerging. But you’re right; they’re mainly in the food space at the moment.

You have invested in just one company in Southeast Asia, Shiok Meats. Do you plan to support more companies, especially those in the other sub-sectors of climate change?

We have already done a lot of food deals in California, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand etc. We are invested in that segment because we think anything replacing the traditional way of trading meat, dairy, and seafood contributes significantly to a new way of being much more climate-neutral climate-negative.

Also Read: Blockchain technology for climate action? Here’s why it works

We have also invested in carbon capture/recycling/conversion and decarbonising of heavy materials or industry and material science. We hope to see more material science and heavy industry stuff coming out of Southeast Asia. This is where you can do lab-based science to create new types of materials for the built environment — be it construction, fabrics, cotton, or any materials that can be developed using synthetic biology and other methods. It is like the food space, but it’s more for the built space. So we hope those kinds of things will emerge.

Also, you still need a lot of SaaS tools for measuring, managing, monitoring and financing the climate transition. We also expect these tools to emerge in this region.

We have many deals coming up, but they’re not over the line. So we can’t talk about them. One of them will be in Asia.

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With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, various industries are being forced to reconsider how to carry on working with the minimum amount of disruption. This is also apparent in the education industry.

With government-mandated school shutdowns and going digital, there is no shortage of institutional and educator support as education could carry on through online learning.

The pandemic has opened up an opportunity for new solutions to change how students learn in even better ways than pre-pandemic, not just to act as a stopgap for school restrictions.

This is why when presented with a choice to stick to the status quo or innovate the education technology industry; entrepreneurs are the ones that turn ideas into reality. Like most good ideas, it’s simply about solving a problem. 

On my part, I was just an ambitious educator with a limited understanding of technology but a massive passion for education which grew to the establishment of the leading edutech platform, Tutopiya.

Turning a passion into a meaningful purpose

During my stint as a tutor, most of my students spent more time travelling to attend my tutoring classes than learning in the classroom. There have also been requests to teach students already living in another country.

This created the potential since options for live online teaching were limited, resulting in an opportunity to maximise my time with my students.

Interestingly enough, accessibility in education was already apparent pre-COVID-19, long before edutech became the standard today. Despite some initial scepticism, Tutopiya had succeeded in its mission of providing personalised online lessons where each student learns at their own pace and convenience.

Also Read: Edutech is surging, but here are the 3 issues it is facing

One could say that the idea of providing personalised lessons online was borne out of necessity, fueled in part by a passion for teaching. In hopes of providing the best for my students, Tutopiya’s learning options could be expanded, and students could be connected with the best resources of learning materials, technology, and educators.

The global edutech market was only worth US$76.4 billion before the pandemic. By 2025, the market is expected to have grown to a size of US$400 billion. This indicates that the education technology market was already growing at the time but reached a tipping point just as the pandemic began.

Challenges as a woman in tech across Southeast Asia

With the help of emerging technologies, education and other legacy industries are no longer confined to their previously conservative boundaries, especially in this increasingly digital and globalised world.

To be more specific, there is a common misconception that founders in technology must have extensive tech backgrounds to succeed; coding skills, knowledge, programming, and analysis. 

If you know how to code, you can create your prototype, iterate it to a strong beta, and begin acquiring users and gaining traction. From basic website development to in-depth app development, there are misconceptions that the more a founder knows about technology, the better their chances of success are.

However, I believe this is not the case. For example, Brian Chesky, the founder of Airbnb, was a designer, to begin with. Despite having no technical knowledge, he could propel the digitally-based platform to the forefront of the online hospitality industry.

The skills might be critical but not mandatory as they are other skills that are far more important when it comes to being a successful tech founder.

Then, there’s being a modern-day mompreneur. Every day I am tasked with managing the home and the office and juggling between the two.

Having to transform from a mother to a boss instantly while also meeting the expectations of both families and customers is difficult for me and working mothers across the globe.

According to one study, over 252 million female entrepreneurs worldwide, with more than 90 per cent of them being mompreneurs who are still struggling to overcome the challenges they face daily.

My journey with Tutopiya is not without difficulties. This can be said in terms of obtaining assistance, whether it is due to a lack of relevant connections, given my lack of familiarity in the tech landscape or a need for financial or emotional support from peers and investors. I also needed mentors and sponsors to help me navigate my entrepreneurial path. 

Truthfully, it was challenging. According to a survey, 48 per cent of female entrepreneurs say a lack of mentors and advisors limits their professional development.

Having a well-connected mentor will undoubtedly assist in expanding business networks and will increase your chances of being presented with opportunities such as sitting on business or investor boards.

Also, a professional support system is frequently expensive, forcing some women to put off starting on their own business ventures. Of course, a support system is even more important, especially as a mompreneur.

Also Read: ‘Education is not a content business but a human one’: Nas Academy’s Nuseir Yassin

When it comes to new ventures and ideas, people generally doubt what they don’t know or can’t conceptualise. When Tutopiya first launched, my customers and friends frequently left sceptical comments such as “Sounds like Rocket Science!”, “I don’t believe in online learning,” and “How do you even learn online?!”

Getting ahead in tech as a woman

According to Crunchbase, 844 women founded or co-founded a startup in Southeast Asia in 2014. Some of them have been instrumental in transforming the region’s start-up scene.

According to a recent Mastercard study on female entrepreneurs, women own 16.7 per cent of businesses in Malaysia. According to the survey, Vietnam has 31.3 per cent of female entrepreneurs, followed by Singapore (27.5 per cent), Thailand (25.2 per cent), and the Philippines (23.9 per cent).

Climbing the tech career ladder, on the other hand, is no easy task as it is not necessarily the easiest environment for women to break into.

In my opinion, the path to the top for women technologists is much more difficult due to bias, different standards, a lack of a robust support system, and capital raising issues that marginalise them.

Enter the imposter syndrome. Women in tech can experience stress and anxiety if they believe they are not intelligent and creative enough or otherwise deserving of their success, even though there is ample evidence of their accomplishments.

Imposter syndrome affects 84 per cent of entrepreneurs and small business owners, which is defined as the feeling of being a fraud who is undeserving of success.

This is especially prevalent in the tech industry, with 58 per cent of tech entrepreneurs and employees reporting that they are currently dealing with some form of the imposter syndrome in their jobs, particularly software engineers, developers, and designers.

These tendencies are also more common in newcomers to the tech industry, particularly women, who must contend with a steep learning curve and prejudices and preconceived biases based on their gender.

Female entrepreneurs need a solid community to help them get through the difficult times in their business journey. After all, shattering the glass ceiling is hardly a one (wo)man job. When it comes to stepping outside gender norms, the entrepreneurial world can be brutal.

Also Read: The inevitable digitalisation of education and what educators really need

Problems that you would never think would ever arise and test everything about the business, especially in Southeast Asia, where it is now thriving with techs and startups. These strikes will eventually sap our motivation and determination to succeed, and that’s where a sense of community and support can help.

In today’s high-tech world, female entrepreneurship has enormous potential for fostering socio-economic growth. As new generations take charge and the world emerges, female entrepreneurs must be primed as there will be more great opportunities for women in the future.

A woman’s potential contributions to innovation, economic growth, and business investment can definitely be recognised with the right support system and determination.

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Image Credit: Tutopiya

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Singapore-headquartered Docsumo, an AI startup to help enterprises make automated decisions from customer documents, has announced a US$3.5 million seed investment.

New York-based fintech VC firm Common Ocean led the round, which also saw participation from Fifth Wall (US), Arbor Realty Trust (US), and Better Capital (India), which invested in its previous seed funding round.

Docsumo plans to utilise the fresh funds to expand its client base in the North American market and grow the team. It also plans to grow its products to cover additional use cases: customer onboarding, income verification, financial fraud detection, data for underwriting, and other critical, everyday tasks currently handled by analysts.

Founded in January 2019 by Rushabh Sheth (CEO) and Bikram Dahal (CTO), Docsumo helps enterprises capture, validate and analyse data from unstructured documents for automated decisions. Its core technology platform helps commercial lenders and insurers read financial statements, tax returns, insurance policies and other documents required for credit and insurance applications.

Also Read: Differences between AI and Machine Learning, and why it matters

Most document processing is outsourced to Asian countries such as India, where whole floors of people process applications for financial services. Docsumo applies machine learning technology to automate a core aspect of what humans do — reading text.

CEO Sheth said: “We enable companies to unlock 10x efficiency and act on incoming documents in real-time. What differentiates Docsumo is that the technology can accurately extract data from business documents with a high degree of structural variability and automate decisioning workflows end-to-end.”

Over the last 12 months, Docsumo has grown its team in Mumbai, India and Kathmandu (Nepal) and has experienced a 6x revenue increase. It currently services major enterprises in the US, EU, and Asia, including Arbor Realty Trust, National Debt Relief, Hitachi, and PayU.

Docsumo was part of the Techstars London accelerator in 2020 and raised a pre-seed round from Barclays, Sequoia, Jiten Gupta of Jupiter Money, and Amrish Rau of Pine Labs.

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Grab’s Q4 net loss surpasses US$1B as costs rise in ‘quarter of investments’
The net losses were 73% more than the US$635M in Q4 2020; The firm has been spending more on incentives to attract drivers onto its platform as countries reopen after the pandemic.

B Capital raises US$1.1B for third global growth fund
It has drawn commitments from 101 investors; B Capital typically invests between US$10M and US$60M in Series B,C, and D stage companies; The VC firm invests in B2B ad B2B2C companies in enterprise tech, fintech, healthtech, consumer enablement tech, transportation, and logistics.

Alt-protein startups funding hits high of US$312M in 2021 in APAC: report
As per the Good Food Institute report, startups in the plant-based category dominated the funding flow, securing nearly 70% of investment in APAC; Top deals included Next Gen Foods’s record-breaking US$30M seed funding and Australian V2food’s US$110M Series B.

Sinar Mas units set to invest US$225M into Indonesian e-wallet Dana
Around US$200M will be channelled through Sinar Mas subsidiary DSST Dana Gemilang, and the rest will come from its banking arm Bank Sinarmas; An Emtek Group unit, Dana is also backed by Ant Financial.

‘We hope to see more material science, heavy industry firms coming out of SEA to address climate change’
There should be an emergence of hundreds of founders looking to solve climate change, says Aera VC’s Derek Handley.

Singapore’s Zignaly banks US$50M from Luxembourg’s GEM Global Yield Fund
Zignaly will use the funds to expand into SEA, West Asia, Turkey, India, South America, and Europe; Zignaly’s platform lowers the barrier to entry for investors looking to add digital assets to their portfolios, entrusting decision-making to expert traders.

Volopay raises US$29M Series A to expand corporate cards biz to APAC, MENA
Investors include Justin Mateen’s JAM Fund, Winklevoss Capital, Rapyd Ventures, Accial Capital, Access Ventures, and Antler; Volopay will use the funds to expand into the APAC and the MENA regions.

Taronga Ventures raises investment from CDL, others for its RealTech Ventures Fund
Taronga is looking to invest in 20-30 companies in the real estate and built environment verticals; Taronga Ventures consists of the RealTech Ventures Fund, the RealTechX innovation programme, and Taronga Advisory.

Ex-Grab Philippines head raises US$10.7M for his social commerce startup SariSuki
Investors are Openspace Ventures, SIG, Global Founders Capital, Saison Capital, JG Digital Equity Ventures, and Foxmont Capital; SariSuki claims to have grown 36x since the launch, served about 60,000 consumers and grown to over 100 employees.

Tribecar owners acquire Singapore’s first car-sharing operator Car Club
Established in 1997 as NTUC Income’s car-sharing co-operative, Car Club was acquired by Mitsui & Co. in 2016, which later entered into a joint venture agreement with another Japanese company Willers.

B2B input marketplace AgriAku raises US$6M pre-Series A
Investors include Go-Ventures, MDI Arise, MDI Centauri, and Mercy Corps Social Venture Fund; AgriAku’s platform facilitates agribusiness activities for suppliers, retailers and farmers.

Cococart nets US$4.2M to help merchants set up storefront in ‘minutes’
Investors are Forerunner Ventures, Sequoia Capital, YC, Uncommon Capital, and Soma Capital; Since its launch, Cococart claims to have grown to support over 20K businesses in more than 90 countries, taking in over 500K orders.

Thailand’s ORZON Ventures invests in lifestyle and mobility startups
They are Pomelo, Carsome, Freshket, GoWabi, and Protomate; ORZON Ventures is a US$50M fund launched by Thai oil company OR’s subsidiary SGHoldCo and early-stage investor 500 TukTuks.

Document AI startup Docsumo raises US$3.5M seed funding
Investors are Common Ocean, Fifth Wall, Arbor Realty Trust, and Better Capital; It will utilise the funds to expand its client base in the North American market; Docsumo helps enterprises capture, validate and analyse data from unstructured documents for automated decisions.

SoBanHang raises US$2.5M more to transform into an OS for micro-businesses in Vietnam
Investors are FEBE Ventures, Class5, AlleyCorp, and Trihill Capital; SoBanHang helps small and micro enterprises build digital storefronts, sell to more customers, and manage multi-channel operations on smartphones.

Umami Meats secures US$2.4M seed funding to scale its cultivated seafood business in Singapore
Investors are Better Bite Ventures and Genedant; Umami will utilise the money to advance its low-cost production system for cultivating fish by establishing production-ready cell lines from multiple fish species.

Singapore E-commerce marketplace Kyberlife raises pre-Series A
Investors include PE Global, James Simkins (GETZ Healthcare), and Dr Michael Gorriz (Standard Chartered); Kyberlife facilitates transactions between principals in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, and healthcare industries with their B2B consumers.

ScaleUp Malaysia invests in 11 startups from its third cohort
ScaleUp teams up with Quest Ventures, Indelible Ventures, and Mranti to run this accelerator programme for growth-stage startups; Kicked off August 2021, ScaleUp Malaysia said that it drew over 200 applications from 26 countries including Malaysia, the US, Egypt, Indonesia, Singapore and Japan.

Singapore neobank IN Financial Technology acquires 500 Global-backed MyCash
INFT is a one-stop employer-to-employee fintech platform; Its solutions include an online business account, virtual debit card, spend management tools, and business cash line; MyCash will expand into Malaysia and Indonesia.

Touchstone funds Vietnamese car platform Bave’s US$1M pre-seed round
Bave’s platform connects drivers with merchants selling car equipment and parts as well as with businesses providing car financing and vehicle servicing; It also runs Agara, an inventory manager for garages and body shops, and CarGo, a car service booking app.

Indonesian crypto startup Blocknom raises US$500K
Investors are Y Combinator, Magic Fund, and Number Capital; Blocknom enables users to invest in crypto-assets and gain the interest of up to 13% per year; The company said that its interest earnings are the highest in Indonesia.

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Who to better market a product if not its founders?

One way for founders to get their products out there is by sharing their journey, learnings, and failures in public.

This is called building in public.

Why does founders marketing make sense?

To increase your product awareness, you need to build an audience surrounding your product. However, as Kevon Cheung said below:

You can’t build an audience surrounding your product without a personal brand. Therefore, as the founder, you need to grow your personal brand.

To grow your personal brand, you need to have a personal voice. Choose a few topics you talk about so your audience know what to expect by following you. No one likes to hear from a person who says this and that randomly.

For example:

• My journey building Product X (building Product X in public)
• My journey as an IndieHacker who left a 6-figure salary job

To have a personal voice, you have to know yourself. Who are you? What are you good at? What have you experienced in life?

Why build in public?

Idea validation and product feedback: Find a few people in the space and share your idea. Interview them:

• What’s missing from the current solution.
• What they did to hack the current solution to achieve what they want.
• If your tool exists, would they pay for it.

Build an MVP: Ask people to beta test your MVP and gather their feedback.

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