Singapore-based cultivated seafood startup Umami Meats has secured pre-seed funding of US$2.4 million.

Better Bite Ventures, an APAC-focused alt protein VC, and Genedant, an investor in early-stage, deep-tech biomedical and agri-food startups in Asia, co-led this round.

Other participating investors are CULT Food Science, Impact Venture, Katapult Ocean, Plug & Play Ventures, Prithvi Ventures, The Yield Lab Asia Pacific, and Venture for America.

Umami Meats will utilise the money to advance its low-cost, scalable production system for cultivating fish by establishing robust and production-ready cell lines from multiple fish species.

Also Read: Alt.Flex.Eat: Flexitarianism is the flavour of the SEAson

Umami Meats produces nutritious, affordable cultivated seafood. The startup claims its cultivated, not-caught seafood offers equivalent nutrition to traditional seafood and provides a delicious culinary experience free from heavy metals, antibiotics, and microplastics.

Mihir Pershad, Founder and CEO of Umami Meats, commented: “Seafood is a US$180 billion industry faced with growing global demand and supply that is increasingly volatile and under threat from climate change, overfishing, and ocean pollutants.”

“Our investors’ commitment to a safer, healthier, and more sustainable food system, combined with deep industry knowledge in agri-food and alternative proteins, will be a valuable resource in establishing cultivated seafood as a viable, sustainable solution to the growing demand for seafood while reducing pressures on ocean ecosystems,” he added.

In Singapore, Shiok Meats is the other player in the cultivated seafood sector. However, its products are slightly different from that of Umami Meats. Launched in 2018 Shiok Meats has in its cap table a slew of investors, including Aqua-Spark, SEEDS Capital, Real Tech Fund (Japan), and Irongrey. Its latest investment came in 2020 (a US$12.6 million Series A funding led by Aqua-Spark).

“We are working on finfish, compared to Shiok Meats’ focus on crustaceans. Our USP is that we provide healthier seafood that is free from mercury, micro-plastics, and antibiotics while also providing a sustainable alternative for species that are IUCN-listed (i.e. endangered) and difficult to domesticate (farm),” said Pershad.

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Having a dedicated remote tech team can be a great solution to empower businesses’ IT capabilities to the next level. However, given the highly required investment that goes into your offshore tech team, it is crucial to ensure that your expansion happens at an appropriate time when the company truly needs a remote tech team.

During our previous webinar, Phuong Nguyen, VP of Hydra X, highlighted the top 3 signs for companies in dire need of a remote tech team.

Building a remote tech team

Tech startups and IT companies turn to offshore insourcing to take advantage of a more diverse talent pool and lower operating costs. The offshore team is internal. Thus, the level of control and commitment is higher than outsourcing.

Vietnam has been gaining recognition as a popular offshore destination for its low operation cost and high-quality tech talents in recent years.

As a result, their tech talents possess quality skills and great mindsets. Along with the low hiring cost, there is no doubt that tech startups and IT companies want to set up their offshore operations in Vietnam.

However, this strategy requires firms to overcome the challenges of cultural and language barriers as employees have to actively communicate and work with other teams in another country.

It is advisable for employees on both sides to have frequent work trips between the two countries to discover the cultural difference to ensure efficiency within the company.

Local tech talent shortage

The tech talent shortage is a big problem shared by many developed countries, with Singapore among the most served cases. Singapore is currently facing a talent crunch where more tech giants are expanding to Singapore, which means more job opportunities will be opened for hire.

Singapore is a small island, and in the years to come, there will be a point where we will run out of talent. The demand may be strong, but the supply is relatively weak.

To keep up with the customer’s growing demands and survive in a harsh landscape, businesses are trying to tap into the less contested tech talent pool from neighbouring countries.

This is where Vietnam comes in. The country has a pool of highly skilled tech talents with excellent English proficiency.

Also Read: Hiring matters: growing beyond 75 employees with Michael Podolsky

The government is investing US$150 million to improve further English Language education, digital skills and technical knowledge for the working population. This has led to a pool of well-trained candidates in the programming languages and protocols to tackle any of your company’s projects.

Limited budget for scaling up the team

Are you looking for a more workforce in the IT department but do not have a high budget to hire local talent? Is your company allocating too many funds in sales and marketing and affecting your fund’s allocation for the IT department?

Technology is an evolving sector embedded in almost every industry in the world. It seems disruptive to all sectors and improves the operational model of a company efficiently and productively. It is constantly improving, and allocating more funds to the IT department is essential to its success.

Companies that are currently fundraising or have limited capital to deploy funds to more crucial areas are starting to consider outsourcing in Vietnam to overcome these challenges. Outsourcing in Vietnam is regarded as one of the most affordable outsourcing destinations.

For instance, in 2021, the maximum salary for data scientists in Singapore can fetch as high as US$12,000, while the maximum salary for the same role is only US$4,500 in Vietnam. This is almost 3x lesser than Singapore’s salary.

The wide difference has impacted more companies outsourcing in Vietnam to reduce their costs. They can hire more than one headcount with the same budget or allocate the remaining funds to essential areas for its success.

They can also leverage highly skilled tech talents to further improve their company’s IT capabilities.

Diversify your tech team

Having just one dedicated tech team to handle all of your essential projects presents a dangerous risk of being disrupted when your only team is down. Moreover, as the company grows and expands, one big-size tech team becomes more difficult to control and sluggish.

In this context, hiring a remote tech team makes the most sense as they do not burn all of your budgets while the rest remains in-house.

Vietnam’s tech talent salaries can be 3x lower than Singapore, which allows your company to hire more headcount and scale up the number of teams for support or backup.

Also Read: What you can learn from Carsome about championing mental health for employees

With these remaining funds, your company can employ different IT roles with a fraction of the cost of traditional systems to boost the IT capabilities within your company.

Conclusion

With the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are trying to maximise their operational efficiency while still leaving some room for growth and expansion. As a result, building offshore tech teams has become a popular strategy for many companies.

If your organisation faces any of the signs mentioned above, we recommend contacting us for a quick detailed consultancy. At TechJDI, we specialise in offshore outsourcing software development and in-house tech team setup for growing firms.

Most importantly, we have a network of affordable and highly skilled tech talents to ease your tight budget.

Whether you are looking for support to set up your own IT foundation in Vietnam or external help on tech projects, our network of consultants, software architects, technical project managers, and UI/UX designers can seamlessly help you reach your goals.

If you are still unsure, do contact us to help you evaluate whether your company has what it takes to build your very first remote tech team.

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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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Taronga Ventures, a Singapore- and Australia-based tech investor focussing on the real estate sector and the wider built environment, today announced that it has secured an undisclosed investment from SGX-listed global real estate developer City Developments Limited (CDL) for its RealTech Ventures Fund.

Other investors in the most recent close of this fund include PGIM Real Estate, Ivanhoé Cambridge, APG and other leading global investors.

The fund has portfolio investments in global emerging technology companies impacting the built environment.

In an email to e27, Jonathan Hannam, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Taronga Ventures explains more details about the fund and the company it is targetting.

“When we began the fund, the target raise was AU$50 million (US$36 million). With increased investor interest we raised that to AU$75 million (AU$54 million) but we have far exceeded this amount. Under this strategy, we have now more than US$170 million (US$123 million) committed, with a number of groups completing their processes over the next few weeks,” Hannam said.

“The fund invests in emerging technology companies that are ready to scale. We have a small allocation to earlier stage opportunities but most of our investments will be in companies that have some level of customer traction and are now looking to expand either across Asia or globally. Over time, we will invest up to AU$7 million (US$5 million) to AU$10 million (US$7 million) in any one company,” he continued.

Also Read: COVID-19, the environment, and the tech ecosystem: what opportunity is available out there for us?

Taronga Ventures consists of the RealTech Ventures Fund, the RealTechX innovation programme, and Taronga Advisory.

Through its RealTechX innovation programme and direct approaches to the RealTech Ventures Fund, Taronga Ventures is “seeing many hundreds of opportunities” and aim to invest in around 20 to 30 companies.

In a press statement, CDL stated that it has identified tech solutions in the fund’s portfolio which has application across its residential, commercial and hotel asset portfolio and has embarked on feasibility assessments for the integration of these solutions. These solutions will also support the company’s goal of achieving net zero operational carbon by 2030.

“With evolving lifestyle needs and the urgent need for climate action, we are seeing a dynamic shift within the real estate sector where access to emerging technology will become a key differentiator. CDL’s investment in Taronga Ventures allows us to partner the market’s best in class to drive product and process innovation. We can leverage their expertise to glean market insights into the future of the real estate and gain access to emerging technologies that can be applied across our diversified real estate portfolio. Their focus on green innovations complements our ESG and sustainable investment initiatives, and supports our decarbonisation efforts,” said Sherman Kwek, CDL Group Chief Executive Officer.

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Vietnamese bookkeeping startup focused on small retailers, SoBanHang, has secured US$2.5 million to extend its seed investment round to US$4 million.

Existing and new investors, including FEBE Ventures, Class5 (US), AlleyCorp, Trihill Capital, and unnamed angels, also joined this round.

The company will use the new investment for product development and to transform into a business operating system for micro-businesses.

A portion of the capital will be used for market education and customer acquisition. It also plans to offer SaaS subscriptions in the next quarter and later cross-selling commissions from third-party service providers and suppliers.

Launched in mid-2021 by brothers Hai Long Bui and Hai Nam Bui, SoBanHang helps small and micro enterprises build digital storefronts, sell to more customers, and manage multi-channel operations on smartphones. Its primary clients are family-owned businesses having less than five employees. Since the launch, it claims to have onboarded over 170,000 retailers with more than 30,000 new retailers per month.

SoBanHang’s partners include Viettel, UOB, HDBank, UpSell Adtech, eRUBIK, and Selly.

In August 2021, SoBanHang received US$1.5 million in seed funding from FEBE, Class 5, and individuals, such as Business Insider founder Kevin P. Ryan.

The company has an ambitious target of signing up one million business owners, helping them serve 100 million customers and generate US$100 billion in revenue by 2025.

There are more than 16 million nano and micro-businesses contributing 65 per cent of the country’s GDP through data and technologies.

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I learnt what professional courtesy really means the hard way.

My team and I were on a location shoot. It was a full-day affair involving 20 men from different walks of life. As the editor, my main job that day was to make sure everything was running smoothly, be there to cover anyone who needed to take a break, head out to buy lunch for the crew, anything.

My art director was also present because shooting 20 people who weren’t professional models required a whole new level of directing.

With my team in the zone, I pretty much had nothing to do except make small talk with the men waiting to get their hair/makeup done. After a while, I wandered into the photoshoot area.

As I peered over my art director’s shoulder, I made a comment about how to get the guy to relax, to pose, to smile; thinking my feedback would be helpful.

Then she stopped the photographer and turned to me. I was her boss, but she did not let this stop her. She stood up taller, looked at me, and said, “Debs, do you want to do my job? Because if you don’t, leave me to run the shoot because I know what I’m doing. I don’t tell you how to run a magazine, you don’t tell me how to do a shoot.”

Five seconds. That was all it took to learn a valuable leadership lesson that I still carry with me today.

What is professional courtesy?

At the very heart of it are two things: respect and boundaries.

At the workplace, everyone has been hired to do a job that the company believed them to be good at. If I were hired as the in-house barista, it means you don’t tell me how to do latte art. You need to respect that I know my beans and how to work the coffee machine.

And so, if you were hired to be the data scientist, I would never claim to build a better dashboard than you.

Boundaries add another dimension to the idea of professional courtesy. It means recognising who you can boss around and who really needs to take your s**t. This is especially important for cross-team collaboration where it’s hard to tell who’s the “boss”.

Also Read: Beyond burn out: Why you should also celebrate the pursuit and not just wins

It’s fine to tell your own team members what to do, but it isn’t fine to expect someone from another team to take orders from you, even if you are ranked higher within the organisation.

So here’s the analogy of how these two elements work together

The barista asks the data scientist to build a dashboard to track which coffee works best for post-lunch productivity.

The data scientist then finds out what metrics the barista is after, maybe a number of lattes ordered vs long blacks, maybe pulling results from a survey about how people felt one, two, and three hours after drinking what kind of coffee.

After a few days, the data scientist comes back with a dashboard, and the barista takes it to his boss (let’s call her the Pantry Godmother).

Instead of saying thank you, the Pantry Godmother tells the barista that she feels the colours aren’t attractive enough and doesn’t think the dashboard is right. She then sends the barista to tell the data scientist how to build a dashboard.

How should the data scientist react? How would you react if you were the data scientist in this story?

What’s the deal, really?

There’s nothing wrong with collaboration and feedback. But remember: the data scientist is well within his rights to tell the Pantry Godmother, “No. I won’t make your changes because you do not understand how data science actually works.”

If the data scientist accommodates her feedback and makes some changes to his dashboard, he’s doing her a favour — not obeying her.

If the data scientist makes the changes but includes more insights into how the dashboard could work better, he shouldn’t have to justify his decisions to the Pantry Godmother.

Also Read: Keep calm and remain communicative: Startup founders share how they cope with coronavirus crisis

Please understand that this analogy illustrates two very distinct job areas interacting with each other in the workplace. By no means am I saying that pantry staff should shut up and take whatever is given to them.

Why is it important to practice professional courtesy at the workplace?

Can you imagine the angst the data scientist must feel every time the Pantry Godmother tries to be a data scientist?

Once a colleague of mine wrote “Be My Valentine!” as a cover line for her February issue and was told by a senior person of the ad team that it should have read “Be My Valentine’s” because “Valentine’s Day”.

We spent a good hour on the phone discussing how to tell this person she was wrong. The stress we went through was unnecessary because how do you say to a person who believed she was intelligent that she was actually obtuse?

Contrary to popular belief, telling someone, they are wrong or that you’re not going to give in to their requests takes an immense amount of mental and emotional energy.

Like the data scientist, many of us would like to think that our decisions when it comes to our work are for the best— not necessarily the best but for the best. To have someone second-guess us every step of the way is not just frustrating, it damages relationships at work.

The data scientist doesn’t tell the Pantry Godmother how to manage the barista, how to arrange the teabags, and when to change the kitchen sponge. Why? Because he recognises that it isn’t his space.

Mental wellbeing at work goes beyond promoting work-life balance or improving the employee experience.

It’s also about people treating each other with professional courtesy, knowing the difference between feedback and instruction, knowing who is obliged to follow your orders, and knowing who really doesn’t need to give a hoot about what you think about their work.

If you wish to give your two cents’ worth during a cross-team collaboration,

• Do it in person: Do not ever send someone to play messenger. If it’s your feedback, you should be the one to tell the other party.
• Know that the other party is allowed to reject your feedback: If that person doesn’t report to you and works in a different function/team, they are not obliged to go with everything you say.
• Take what you are given: The other party is allowed to take what makes sense and do what they think is best. They can add their own touches to the project and do not have to justify why to you.

It is frustrating enough that work-from-home has made cross-team collaboration harder, so let’s be mindful about where your involvement begins and where it really ends.

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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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Multilingualism is championing innovation in online expression and redefining boundaries through technology.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

This inspiring quote by the revolutionary Nelson Mandela holds tremendous significance in an era when society gradually acknowledges the critical role that mother languages play in empowering and educating people and spurring innovation and development.

The world is a macrocosm of multilingualism, with over 7,000 distinct languages and multiple dialects spoken across cultures.

A pluralistic nation like India mirrors this phenomenon with 22 official languages and 6,000 dialects spoken. Since the last few years, mother languages have been grabbing innovator attention globally, particularly in India.

Platform enterprises have long realised the potential of Indic languages, spoken by over 90 per cent of 1.35 billion Indians. They have re-engineered their solutions to offer intuitive experiences to speakers of native languages.

From digital banking, online shopping and payments to ordering food or booking office commute through ride-hailing apps, interfaces that support multiple languages have been re-shaping lifestyles in a digital-first economy.

But even as businesses have built complex algorithms to enable online payments and transactions in mother languages, the primary use case of ‘expression’ on the open internet, a fundamental need in society, has thus far remained largely untapped.

Speakers of mother languages, who otherwise lead virtual lives by shopping and transacting online, are left outside the realm of online expression due to their inability to speak English.

The need for multilingual expression to build language inclusive society

As people from other cultures, Indians are also known to have opinions on almost everything that happens in the world. People love to express themselves, and they speak best in the language closest to them.

‘Expression’ is inherent in each individual, and the need to express online holds tremendous significance in this ‘techade’.

Also Read: What is the next frontier for lending in India

However, ‘expressions’ have mainly remained offline and restricted to close social circles due to the English-centric approach of global tech giants, which has prevented native language speakers from joining social platforms and engaging in a language of their comfort.

A multilingual country like India, with 658 million internet users, including 467 million social media enthusiasts (as of January 2022), offers significant opportunities to social platforms to enable Indic language expression.

By leveraging disruptive technologies like the AI-backed Natural Language Processing (NLP), which decode human language and the attached nuances, platforms can build solutions that break down linguistic barriers and act as enablers towards building an inclusive society, where users express themselves and engage with one another in a language of their choice.

Key to hockey stick growth of social platforms

The real key to a digitally connected world, in addition to enabling expression in mother languages, is the real-time translation of a message across multiple languages, amplifying user outreach.

A seamless dialogue between speakers of two native languages like Punjabi and Tamil or Assamese and Gujarati on a real-time basis would take digital transformation to a whole new level.

Platforms that are architected to enable creators to build content in one language and users to consume it in another language induce immense gratification and build sticky user journeys.

The hockey stick growth in Indian language content through broader adoption of language inclusive platforms and translations of this content in multiple languages will result in content that everyone can generate and consume irrespective of their language preference, steering digital empowerment.

The incredible power that mother languages command will help catalyse growth and innovation, digitise the ‘un-digitised’, and democratise people’s voice in a transformative tech-driven world.

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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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Singapore-based corporate cards and payable management startup Volopay has secured US$29 million in a Series A round of investment, led by Tinder Founder Justin Mateen’s JAM Fund.

Winklevoss Capital Management (US), Rapyd Ventures (US), Accial Capital (US), Access Ventures (Hong Kong), Antler Global, and VentureSouq (Dubai) also joined. Fintech veteran and Acorns Founder Jeffrey Cruttenden also participated in the round.

Volopay will use the funds (a mix of equity and debt) to expand into the Asia Pacific and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions. It will also look to enhance its integrations with popular ERPs, HRMs, CRM software tools, and project management applications.

“With APAC and MENA churning out several unicorn level enterprises every year, it is indeed making a big wave on the global frontier. And this is only the beginning. Accelerating their growth would require an efficient expense management tool that is simple yet scalable, something that Volopay has always aimed for,” Rajith Shaji and Rajesh Raikwar, Co-Founders of Volopay, said in a joint statement.

Also Read: Volopay raises US$2.1M from Tinder co-founder, others to make expense tracking easier for startups

A Y Combinator startup, Volopay provides businesses with corporate cards, invoice automation, bill payments, and multi-currency business accounts without the hassle and limitations of a traditional bank. The multi-currency wallets enable clients to hold money in their base currency and any major currency (USD, SGD, EUR, GBP) and subsequently use it for payouts.

Volopay is building its own infrastructure and applying for financial licences in the markets it operates.

“Many of our competitors around the world will opt to integrate with third-party infrastructure suppliers to provide financial services. It limits the type of products you can offer clients. With each region playing host to its own network providers, it is almost impossible to deliver a consistent and delightful customer experience for our global company clients operating in different parts of the world,” Shaji commented.

“We are doing something no other company has done regionally; we are building our own infrastructure. Not being held back by the limitations of an intermediary, this foundation will not only let us create highly innovative financial products but also a pleasant and reliable customer experience across all our markets,” Shaji added.

Since its seed funding, Volopay claims to have grown to a 150+ member team spread Asia Pacific, such as Singapore, Australia, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Its clients include Funding Societies, Zipmex, Moneysmart, Smartkarma, and Austrionova.

Michael Shum, Chief Investment Officer at Accial Capital said, “Accial Capital views the B2B corporate spend vertical as a way to support entrepreneurs and SMEs with liquidity and close the credit gap. Volopay has a great ambitious team focused on redlining the finance workflows with its robust technology.”
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Why does this keep on happening?

That was the subject of e27 Daily Digest that was disseminated to our community in November 2021 –right after we published our coverage of sexual harassment cases in the Southeast Asian tech startup ecosystem. The subject was chosen by the content team due to the fact that these issues seem to happen over and over again. Despite the fact that the mainstream media no longer pay great attention to the #MeToo movement anymore. Despite the fact that survivors keep on speaking up.

During that period, our friends in Tech In Asia also published a similar coverage on the issue, sending an even stronger message to the ecosystem that this is far from over.

We entered the 21st century with the hope that our society has progressed way beyond how it was hundreds of years ago. But we were appalled to discover that some things remain the same; despite progress here and there, the minorities continue to face barriers in developing their true potentials and achieving success. Issues such as sexual harassment and unequal pay continue to haunt the workplace, inside and outside the tech startup ecosystem.

Certainly, each issue is unique and requires its own unique approach. But when we look at how issues faced by women in tech is being narrated, we might suspect that perhaps we are going nowhere because we have been using the wrong approach so far.

The problem

Analytics Insight provides a handy list of challenges faced by women in tech today, and equal opportunities come out on top.

Also Read: A woman among women: 27 female-led startups in SEA that are going places

“Just like any other industry, gender biases are permeated in the technology sector as well. This is very obvious with how the tech world is referred to as male-dominated. The survey by JobsforHer observed that 82 per cent of the women working in tech feel unheard in their jobs. With already existing gender biases that women are fighting daily, this unconscious bias impedes females from enhancing their skills and experience,” the article writes.

When it comes to dealing with the problem of unequal opportunities, the narrative that has been going around the tech ecosystem –in SEA and other major hubs such as Silicon Valley– tend to put heavy emphasis on the individual’s contribution to this problem. For example, if a woman developer receives a lower salary than her male peers, despite having the exact same level of competency, then it must be because the woman does not negotiate for a better salary.

There is rarely an emphasis on the failure of the system that leads to this issue in the first place.

This narrative becomes even more popular with the publication of books such as Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead –perhaps one of the most popular works for the topic of women in business, including tech.

Personally, I have read the book and found merits in it. But I will not deny that there are also many points that are problematic in it, particularly its emphasis on women’s lack of ‘leaning in’ as the cause of their problems.

As women, we may have been conditioned to be polite and put other people first, and this may lead us to become reluctant to speak up for ourselves. But if we think that this is the only reason why women are not making progress in the workplace, then we are missing out on a very important point.

It is all about the framework

The International Labour Organization (ILO), together with the Australian Government and Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), released a practical guideline for employers to promote equality and prevent discrimination at work in Indonesia. Despite the local context, I found that the steps detailed in the guideline can be relevant for other markets.

In promoting equality and preventing discrimination, the guideline puts emphasis on the active role that employers play. From the details, we can see that this is a process that goes from the top to the bottom; leaders need to take initiative to review how diversity and inclusion are being practised in their organisation and identify issues. Only then that they can figure out the best policy and implement it for their team members.

Also Read: Levelling the playing field: How to build a home for women in tech

As you can see here, we are moving beyond motivating the individuals to lean in here. Instead, we are doing creating an environment and a system that ensures equal opportunities.

We can keep on telling women to lean in, but if there is no legal framework to back what they are fighting for, everything will be pointless. You can send young women to workshops to teach them negotiation skills, but if there is no policy that supports equal pay for all sexes, then we are not going anywhere.

What this means for business

This means you have to do something. (Duh! What did I write these paragraphs for?)

It is easy to dismiss International Women’s Day as a ceremonial feat when we spend the whole month of March talking about women’s issues –writing about high-profile CEOs, providing discounts for women– but fail to implement concrete steps throughout the year to ensure equal opportunities. This means the event should be momentum for leaders to start reviewing how equal opportunities are provided in their organisation, see where they can make improvements, and set up the framework to make sure its implementation. This is never an easy process; in fact, it requires an investment of time and resources.

Sometimes –often– it would be easier to just focus our effort into a single momentum. Instead of investing time and resources to make slow but real, impactful changes.

But let us go back to the opening paragraph of this op-ed and ask ourselves: how long do we want these things to keep on happening?

That way, hopefully, we will be inspired to choose between what is easy and what is right.

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Singapore-based e-commerce enabler Cococart has received US$4.2 million in a seed funding round led by Forerunner Ventures (US) and Sequoia Capital.

Existing investor Y Combinator, Uncommon Capital, Soma Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures, James Park of Fitbit, and Eduardo Vivas (Curated CEO) also joined the round.

The startup will use the new funding to grow the team, accelerate product development, and expand to other countries.

“We’re just getting started. There are still so many challenges in starting and running a business that we want to solve, from deliveries to supply chain to financing. We see a massive opportunity in front of us, and we want to bring Cococart to 200 million businesses worldwide. Our goal is to define the next generation of commerce,” said Cococart Co-Founder and CEO Derek Low.

Also Read: E-commerce enabler aCommerce files for IPO in Thailand

Founded in 2020, Cococart currently has merchants present in over 90 countries. The company aims to transform local businesses and enable new ways to sell online. The firm claims merchants can set up their storefront in minutes with no code, no design, no app downloads.

Most local businesses are still taking orders on WhatsApp and managing their orders using spreadsheets. With Cococart, they can set up a website with no learning curve. The store comes with everything from inventory management to mobile payment solutions.

Since its launch, Cococart claims to have grown to support over 20,000 businesses in more than 90 countries, taking in over 500,000 orders.

In 2021, the company grew its merchant count by 3000 per cent and customer base by 4600 per cent, according to Low. In that same time, the company grew their team from two founders to 22 people across 12 countries.

“At Forerunner, we believe the next revolution in commerce will be driven by empowered sellers,” said Kirsten Green, Founder and Managing Partner at Forerunner. “Cococart embodies this shift by enabling small businesses to manage online ordering and unlock new growth easily. E-commerce tools like Cococart stand to enable a growing generation of companies to compete and scale more efficiently.”

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This series is produced in collaboration with the Fintech Association of Malaysia (FAOM), a national platform that supports Malaysia becoming the leading hub for fintech innovation and investment in the region.

While researching for this article, I brought up insurance to friends and acquaintances, only to be, more than once, immediately told they were not interested in buying any packages from me.

In many parts of Asia, where insurance has been traditionally sold through networks of commission-earning agents, it’s treated with some measure of hesitancy and disdain. After all, insurance has been a financial product viewed as opaque and confusing to navigate for the average person for a long time.

Yet insurtech, accelerated by a pandemic that has brought forth the importance of the virtual, has brought about a sea change in attitudes towards insurance.

From 2013 to 2017, overall investment in insurtech startups increased from US$3 billion to US$ 2.2 billion at a CAGR of 69.2 per cent. Incumbent insurers, too, have been getting in on the action.

However, in 2016, according to AICB-PwC Malaysia FinTech Survey, Insurance Cut, 74 per cent of them viewed insurtech as a cause of business loss. In 2022 many of them are investing in, acquiring, or otherwise partnering up with insurtech players.

The Asia Pacific is expected to be the main driver of this growth in the next decade.

Wilson Beh is one of the pioneers at the forefront of the insurtech in Malaysia. Co-Founder of PolicyStreet, an insurtech championing inclusive protection for the digital and gig economy, licensed by the Central Bank of Malaysia and Labuan FSA, and Vice President of the Fintech Association of Malaysia (FAOM), Beh strikes a stark contrast to the image of a typical “insurance guy”.

He is incredibly well structured, laying out his points methodically and calmly. His tone is more akin to that of a detached analyst than that of a peddling sales agent.

Yet, when he brings up how he started in insurance, one can tell that it also comes from a deeply personal place: his voice quivers ever so slightly with emotion.

“I grew up in Nibong Tebal, a small town in Penang. I’ve seen how quickly things can turn bad when a crisis hits and growing up, I saw how family friends and relatives got into huge financial trouble due to unforeseen circumstances. It was clear then, even as a teenager, that insurance could have been a gamechanger.”

Value of insurance

Beh holds no illusions about the value of insurance.

“At the end of the day, insurance is just a fancy piece of paper if it is not triggered. This piece of paper is often so convoluted that many people, even current policyholders, don’t understand the coverage provided. Even if coverage is clear, the claims process is often anxiety-inducing for people, especially in the aftermath of a crisis.”

In insurance, delivery of the product is a marathon, not a sprint.

“I admit, insurance is not the ‘sexiest’ part of fintech. Five years ago, there was a huge push towards payments and wealth management, but insurance was largely viewed as quaint by comparison. The pandemic has changed that.”

Almost overnight, there has been a huge surge of interest in insurtech. Homebound and glued to computer screens, selling and delivering insurance products online became the norm instead of the exception.

“But this is not enough. Insurtech isn’t just about putting things online. It boils down to three goals. Firstly, how can we use technology to make insurance simpler? Secondly, how do we help insurance be more affordable? Thirdly, how do we ensure insurance is relevant to the lives of the people we want to reach?”

Also Read: Bots vs Bodies: can insurers strike a balance between human services and tech?

Building trust

“It goes back to first principles. It’s not just about having a dot com. At the end of the day, the process of getting insured is also about trust-building. That’s why for so long it’s been dominated by friends and family to push sales. What we need to do is to improve on that trust, not by pure association, but by proving true and tangible value to consumers.”

Trust building is all fine and good, but how does one build up such a subjective measure?

“Again, we can break it down into several components. I believe in professional trust-building which means simplicity, consistency, and relevancy.

“Firstly, we should strive to be unbiased, or at least agnostic when comparing products.

“Secondly, we must ensure that the commercial arrangements are fair and proper.

“Finally, and this is where much focus should be paid, we have to ensure that the entire process of getting insured and post-sales support is of top quality and even delightful.”

Achieving financial wellness through insurtech

Beh doesn’t view insurtech as an end-all-be-all, but rather as part of an ecosystem that should accompany a customer’s life journey.

He discusses the 4 stages of financial wellness in life: accumulation, preservation, protection, and distribution, and how he sees insurance as a companion throughout these phases.

To truly reach these goals, however, the insurtech industry still has a long way to go.

“We are still in the beginning phases, and honestly, we can do much more to tackle the needs of the underserved, particularly those from low-income groups. Insurance should not be a luxury, yet that’s how it is seen now.

“Going back to first principles, we have to ask ourselves why isn’t the low-income group getting coverage? Is it not affordable, relevant, or are we taking an ineffective approach?

“People rush to investments (things like buying gold or crypto assets) because they are eager to reap the benefits. So, the issue of insurance is also that the benefits are not very visible, and often not significant enough.

“This is where I believe new pushes in insurtech can be spearheaded. For example, embedded insurance is a new concept that has been popularised by a couple of insurtech unicorns, they underwrite bite-sized, on-demand coverage, which is embedded into large and strategic ecosystems like e-commerce or airlines.

“This is in turn ensures end users are protected meaningfully and relevantly when they practice a certain lifestyle or undergo significant changes in different life stages (think entering the workforce or having a baby).

Also Read: Why the digital ecosystem is key to transforming the insurance industry

“Another example is the mutual aid shared pool concept which is huge in China. While there’s been some pullback lately, I believe this is quite an innovative concept because it gives empowerment back to the insured, back to the members of the scheme.

“The power of peer-to-peer sharing enables participants to not only co-share expenses, leveraging off the power of big data and scalability to bring down the costs, but also onboard hundreds of thousands rapidly.”

The end goal

The holy grail for insurtech, in short, is where insurance becomes part and parcel of our daily life, without the need for lengthy consideration.

“Yes exactly! Hopefully, one day there will be no discussion of whether I should or shouldn’t buy insurance, or what coverage to have, but rather it’s almost a given and a part of life. Ultimately, the right business models are the ones in tune to the customers’ needs and want.”

And what of the outlook in his home ground of Malaysia?

“I believe that we are making positive progress, as you can see from the growing number of strategic partnerships with insurtech and sizable investment in the insurtech industry.

“Earlier this month, FAOM hosted a roundtable discussion on the licensing framework for digital insurers and takaful providers, which was extremely well attended by insurers, startups, and regulators. In fact, Bank Negara Malaysia is still collecting input on the paper and all are welcome to join.”

Why go down the insurance path?

To wrap up the interview, we go back to Wilson’s favourite topic: first principles. I ask him, point-blank: Why insurance? Why not something else in the vast world of fintech?

Wilson’s answer surprises me.

“Leverage.”

Leverage is often thought to be the realm of swashbuckling financiers or more recently Wall St Bets. What does it have to do with insurance, a centuries-old industry all about mitigating risk?

“Here’s the thing. We have the underserved and emerging affluent, from the gig economy, ranging from ride-hailing workers to young professionals, who may not be protected adequately.

“For gig workers, driving every day can be a risky business, and unfortunately, some of them get involved in very serious accidents. This is often a catastrophic incident for not just the driver, but their families which rely on them.

“But think about it. Today, we have insurance products that can be bought for less than a hundred dollars. The pay-out however, can often be 100 times that of the price paid and help the families cover expenses for at least a year or so.

“While the trigger for insurance is never pleasant, it can rescue some families from the brink. I used to be a banker, and so leverage is familiar to me, but in insurtech, here we have some of the most powerful leverage, available at the most affordable prices in the most accessible packages.

“Isn’t that, in its own way, beautiful?”

With many more developments on the way for the insurtech industry, I can’t help but feel excited about a world with a little bit more of this beauty.

Note: The Central Bank of Malaysia welcomes feedback to the discussion paper of the proposed digital insurer and takaful operators. Feedback can be submitted via e-mail to DITF@bnm.gov.my or through the Fintech Association of Malaysia at office@fintechmalaysia.org by 28 Feb 2022

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