e27 and Market Access present the Market Access Series — designed to help companies expand to markets in Southeast Asia. As each country has its own regulations, culture, challenges, and opportunities, this webinar series shares invaluable insights through industry experts from each country to help you figure out the best way to get started.

Each live episode in the series will focus on a specific country and features panellists from government agencies, VCs, and global employment platform Globalization Partners discussing business and fundraising opportunities, challenges, considerations in expansion, tips, best practices, and available support.

Moderated by Dennis Poh, CEO of Legatcy, the panellists for the Market Access: Thailand episode were Woraphot Kingkawkantong, VC Investment Head at Beacon Venture Capital; Pariwat Wongsamran, Director of Entrepreneur and Enterprise and Director of Startup Thailand at the National Innovation Agency; and Charles Ferguson, General Manager – Asia Pacific at Globalization Partners.

Reasons your startup should expand to Thailand

The webinar started with a discussion on why companies should consider expanding to Thailand. Wongsamran explained that Thailand is most suited as a test market lab for companies looking to expand to Southeast Asia. “We have many people here who like to be early adopters like in the B2B and fintech sectors and we have many corporates who would like to work together with startups. Thailand is a very good test market for startups to make sure that they develop the product-market fit and are ready to expand to the rest of Southeast Asia,” he remarked.

“We have a market of about 70 million people to make sure that we can fulfil industry needs. The government wants to develop infrastructure to help foreign startups operate here and we have set up Global Startup Hubs in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Thailand is a strategic location and strategic market in Southeast Asia. Many foreign companies would like to land here but they don’t know about the local market well so we try to provide consultancy and help connect them to the local networks free of charge,” he added.

Also read: Looking back and moving forward: Leave a Nest at 20

Charles Ferguson, General Manager of Globalization Partners, added that it’s important to understand the Thai people’s impressive work ethic. “The people of Thailand have shown they have an innovative spirit and desire to progress their ambition. The incredibly well-educated population is remarkably talented across a whole spectrum of indicators.”

The latest e-Conomy SEA 2021 report valued the Thai technology industry market opportunity at 30 billion US dollars. In 2021, 1.1 billion US dollars was raised across 31 deals versus 500 million across 27 in 2020 which points to a significant amount of growth happening in Thailand.

Under the World Bank’s rating of easiest places in the world for doing business, Thailand is ranked 21st. This illustrates a well-designed infrastructure for global startups to plug themselves in and scale. This is also why if you ask any startup looking to scale, it is very rare for a company to consider expansion plans in Southeast Asia while counting out Thailand as a possible global destination.

The Board of investments in Thailand has also built tax incentives, support services, import duty exemptions, and reductions for investment costs, helping mitigate a lot of risks — all to streamline investments going in. On top of that, the country is also a generally nice place to live in which is an important variable, especially because when you’re dealing with resiliency and mental health, various structures are needed in place to support businesses and the people that run them to achieve a great balance in their lives.

Business and fundraising opportunities for startups in the Thailand market

The fundraising landscape in the Thai market shows that a majority of capital raised by startups in Thailand — 70 to 80 per cent — comes from corporate venture capital firms. “That signifies the willingness that bigger corporates are willing to work with startups unlike other countries,” said Kingkawkantong.

He added, “the more formal channel would be through the NIA or other agencies who are looking to act as a door opener for foreign businesses. So I would say either go through the formal channels or just try to reach out to different corporates or even to startups, because they would have experiences working with the bigger corporates and can refer you to the partners already working with them.”

Wongsamran said that if a startup would like to expand but is not ready to set up the company yet, Thailand has several visa options. “We work together with BOI to give the SMART visa before you execute the company — you can get the smart visa also for talent and spouses/children. We would like to let foreign startups easily penetrate the market and understand the market first before setting up here. We also have incubation programmes in vertical industries, with the first one for food technology.”

Also read: Startup scaling and the woes of corporate financing: How PikoHANA fills the gap

Kingkawkantong said that “[For] series A onwards, there are a ton of choices for you because a lot of corporates have their innovation funds or VCs. Whichever industry you’re in, there are VCs that are eager to discuss with you. Besides the corporate and financial venture capital, there are a lot of investors as well looking to invest in great companies and help you succeed in the Thai market.”

“For early-stage capital, the landscape is very active as well, and there are a lot of successful and big angel investor networks out there,” he added. Ferguson said that companies that are pre-Series A can also start looking around at accelerators and incubator programmes. “There are some phenomenally cool accelerators and innovation programmes funded by corporates in different segments like agritech and of course, fintech and NFTs/blockchain, etc.”

How can companies effectively scale in Thailand?

The discussion also included strategies on how companies can scale in Thailand quickly and effectively. What competitive advantages does Thailand’s tech talent workforce provide and how can startups leverage technology to their advantage? 

Kingkawkantong feels the best way to grow isn’t to start cold and to try to invent everything by yourself. “A lot of corporates are eager and desire to collaborate with different startups to help boost their business as well, and that means there is a ton of opportunity to grow together with businesses such as banks, construction, or property sectors. There is room to build synergy and partnership,” he pointed out. 

Ferguson suggested that startups should prepare an appropriate pre-departure checklist before expanding to Thailand. “Do your homework and understand the legal aspects of expansion. For example, there are ownership restrictions around businesses so foreign investors opening a Thai limited company are limited to a maximum of 49 per cent ownership. 

With entity setup and infrastructure deployment, there are several things to consider. Getting work permits, appointing shareholders, taxes — all these different things can be challenging, remarked Ferguson. “So I want to advocate for people to consider alternative ways and means by which you test a market before you go all in.”

He continued: “From a talent point of view, you want to be able to navigate the cultural nuances and be able to plug into local partner networks.

How technology plays a part in helping companies get a headstart

Ferguson remarked that countries like Thailand have had access to free or low-cost open-source software in the last 20 years. He explained how this led to the proliferation of innovative, technology-driven startups, which also fostered a rich talent pool. “You’ve got access to incredibly talented engineers in these markets which don’t necessarily exist in high volume in the more mature markets, so I would advocate that companies look for talent in these markets.”

Speaking of leveraging technology solutions, Ferguson said that in terms of speed, his number one key performance indicator is the time to value (TTV). Technology can have a great streamlining effect, but it depends on how you utilise it to get a strategic advantage. “When technology is deployed with a strategic partner who knows how to maximise the impact of that technology in the market, that’s where the time to value comes in,” said Ferguson.

Also read: oVice releases its biggest interface update

Technology solutions like Globalization Partners’ Global Employment Platform are already localised and ready for the Thai market with compliant labour contracts, access to benefits, and payroll specific to the Thai market so you can hire local talent quickly and compliantly. To learn more, you can schedule a demo here.

In the Q&A session that followed, more tips were offered as the panellists shared insights on the potential for Web3 startups, how startups can tap into available grants from the NIA, and how to navigate tech talent hiring in Thailand.

To learn more, view the webinar here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Globalization Partners

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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With the funding winter set in, growth-stage startups worldwide find it hard to raise capital. Many high-profile unicorns in fast-growing markets like India have started feeling the pinch and are laying off people in hundreds, if not thousands.

In volatile times like this, Pakistan could offer a golden opportunity for VCs to tap into its largely untapped startup sector. The Islamic republic has recently witnessed a steady inflow of VC.

Malaysia-based Gobi Partners is one of the most active VCs in Pakistan. The VC firm has partnered with Fatima Group to form Fatima Gobi Ventures which has invested in two dozen startups, such as Rider, Tazah, Colabs, and Fasset.

In this article, Taraec Hussein, Vice President of Gobi Partners discusses Pakistan’s emerging startup ecosystem.

Improved internet infrastructure

Pakistan is at an inflexion point of mobile connectivity. Pakistan was one of the countries lagging in 3G and 4G connectivity. If you look at some other economies like India and Indonesia, there was always a love period after the introduction of 3G and 4G infrastructure before the market caught on. Right.

For Pakistan, it happened in 2019-2021. There is now a lot of mobile connectivity, and many directly engage on smartphones. The country has over 100 million 3G and 4g mobile connections.

Abundance of talents

Pakistan has many highly skilled professional nationals working in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Singapore, and other Southeast Asian markets. These talented people, trained in some of the world’s best companies, are now returning and starting digital businesses for the country.

As we know, venture capital always seeks talent, so there is a huge talent pool at the co-founder or CEO level, software engineers, and product engineers.

Also Read: Pakistan startups, the last massive untapped opportunity in the world

Pakistan is also a market where IT export is one of the biggest GDP contributors. It has a lot of software houses. As a result, there’s a lot of trained IT talent.

COVID-19-induced digitalisation

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the push or need for digitalisation. There is now a digitalised way of doing everyday tasks. It even exceeded our expectations in terms of how fast can companies grow in Pakistan.

Given that it’s a very nascent ecosystem, how long would it take for Pakistan to catch up to other markets, such as Indonesia? And I think that the timing was right. In terms of COVID-19, the silver lining is that now Pakistanis, who cannot go to a grocery shop or walk into a bank, are looking for online ways to do basic everyday tasks.

High-profile Pakistanis in VC firms in the US

Another crucial thing about Pakistan is a lot of Pakistanis are sitting in high position partner positions in VC firms across the US. So the hurdles to understanding what the Pakistani market is or the opportunities. A lot of these challenges are being curbed by the local Pakistani partners.

Exciting opportunities in crypto, social commerce and agri

The cryptocurrency space in Pakistan presents tremendous opportunities. The Pakistani per capita is one of the world’s highest owners of crypto assets. There are no crypto platforms in Pakistan, but Gen-Z buys digital assets through money changers. This generation’s first investment assets will be either crypto or NFTs. So they are leapfrogging the local exchanges and going straight into digital assets. There is a great opportunity now, depending on how the regulators react to a crypto platform.

The other exciting space is social commerce. If you look at other markets, social commerce has surpassed the market size of e-commerce.

Social commerce is a big part of consumer behaviour in countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. This is a big space in Pakistan because it is a very social market. Whether it is group buying, whether it is a reseller, a live streaming model or the D2C model, many models within social commerce are still not explored in the early days.

Pakistan is a massive agriculture market, and there are many hurdles within the supply chain. There are some companies like Tazah that have raised decent rounds. We will see a lot more opportunities within the agri space.

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We have recently published a new Market Map report, identifying the “indigenous” ecosystem of adtech and martech companies founded and headquartered in Southeast Asia.

The origin of this report can be traced to a dinner conversation between the author and a digital media industry colleague where the question was posed, “Given the dominance of the global platforms in digital advertising and marketing, would it actually be possible to reach a meaningful audience across Southeast Asia, using only a local Southeast Asian owned and built adtech/martech stack?”

We didn’t know the exact answer, but we did know from experience that there is a wide range of locally SEA-owned and built adtech and martech available.

This report sets out to establish some answers to this question with 240+ companies listed in this report, and while achieving a complete tech stack from local players without any intersection with global platforms may require considerable work, there’s no doubt that Southeast Asia has a vibrant and growing adtech and martech sector.

The primary selection criteria for the inclusion of a company in this report is that the company is founded and headquartered in Southeast Asia. If we have inadvertently omitted your company, please let us know.

Digital ad spending in Southeast Asia in 2022 is US$4.2 billion, but still, only 32.9 per cent of total media ad is spent.

eMarketer has reported that digital ad spending in Southeast Asia has grown from US$3.13 billion in 2020 to US$3.68 billion in 2021, a 17.8 per cent growth rate, and is forecast to rise to US$4.20 billion in 2022, a further 11.3 per cent increase.

While this is certainly strong growth, what is more, revealing is the fact that eMarketer also forecasts that the US$4.2 billion for 2022 still only represents 32.9 per cent of total media ad spending for SEA, well behind other global markets.

Also Read: 5 video marketing trends that marketers can leverage in 2022

In particular, large advertising/media markets such as the US and China, and the broader Asia-Pacific region now see digital ad spending has taken a majority share of total advertising expenditure, compared to traditionally dominant broadcast and print media.

eMarketer is forecasting that total APAC digital advertising will comprise 63.4 per cent of total media advertising spending across the region.

US$500 million near-term incremental growth forecast but a larger US$3.9 billion market opportunity awaits

The gap between digital ad spend as a per cent of total ad spend for Southeast Asia and other markets represents a significant opportunity for Southeast Asia and its local adtech and martech ecosystem.

High levels of market growth and shifting ad spending will drive the sector for the rest of this decade as advertisers and marketers continue to move their advertising and marketing expenditures from traditional media to digital media.

In simple terms, if today the local ecosystem had the same per cent share as other markets, the local digital ad spend would be US$8.1 billion, representing a large opportunity for growth from the current forecast of US$4.2 billion.

The current forecast suggests there will be US$500 million in digital ad spend either from new budgets or existing budgets moved from old media to new media over the forecast period to 2024.

Key trends that are changing the game

We see several key trends underway across Southeast Asia in the advertising and marketing technologies sector:

Audience and technology convergence

The lines demarcating media content, community (social media and messaging) and commerce are rapidly blurring, driven principally by maturing technologies and audience appetite.

Also Read: 3 stages of marketing for your startup that can drive effective results

As e-commerce rises, we have seen the arrival of commerce media, with social commerce being the conjunction of community and commerce, and content marketing are where media and e-commerce meet.

Browse your favourite social media and you will see advertising presented as content, with immediate links to buy now. Whether it is the 21st-century version of TV Shopping or a great travel blog that allows you to directly book that villa in Bali and the flights, of course, the path between consumer discovery and inspiration (the content ‘stimulus’) and the ability to buy now (the commerce ‘response’) is shorter than it has ever been.

New formats: Connected TV and audio

The average consumer now likely regularly uses screens in three sizes, across smartphone, tablet/laptop and big screen Android TV to watch the content they want to watch, when, where and how they want to.

With much of the streaming video content available now being consumed by people interchangeably across these three screens, streaming platforms have connected to the programmatic advertising technology ecosystem to deliver ads seamlessly across any device, small or large.

Streaming audio and podcasts are growing rapidly. With the simplified choice this provides to marketers; to buy multiple channels of ad delivery through a concentrated range of digital buying platforms, this will deliver an increased share of ad spend to digital media players and put pressure on traditional free-to-air broadcasters.

Identity, data, attribution and the demise of cookies

For marketers, understanding who their customers are and how, when and where they were acquired is a constant challenge, with the marketer’s goal being to own rich and deep first-party data, and have clear paths of attribution for the acquisition and retention of customers.

Being able to segment an audience into cohorts and profiles to drive a personalised approach to each group via their preferred channel is key to marketing success. Global players have made wide-ranging changes to introduce and enforce stricter consumer data privacy policies and regulations.

Many countries in Southeast Asia are slowly implementing regulatory regimes similar to the EU’s GDPR, and the highly fragmented markets and various walled gardens of global players mean that the marketer’s goal is elusive, at best.

Web3 and beyond

Beyond the near-term hype and fascination with shiny new objects, there should be little doubt that Web3/VR/AR is playing a pivotal role now and will in the next generation of early-stage media and technology companies, innovating and providing new media and consumer experiences for Gen Z and the near middle-aged Millenials.

Marketers are already in this new landscape. New forms of content, interaction, advertising and associated commerce are expanding in Southeast Asia very rapidly.

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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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Edukasyon.ph said today it secured an undisclosed sum in bridge funding from several investors, including KSR Ventures, Lorinet Foundation, and Bisk Ventures.

The investment is in the form of a convertible note.

The Filipino edutech startup has used the investment to bolster EDGE Tutor, its online K-12 tutoring services in English and Maths for students aged four to 16.

Launched in 2015, Edukasyon.ph provides access to senior high schools, colleges and universities, scholarships, online courses, and other resources. Edukasyon’s products are Finder (college and career counselling) and Advance (future skills training).

The edutech firm is currently developing a new product to provide parents and their children support and education using the curriculum made by experts.

Edukasyon’s partners include Rex Publishing, Union Bank, PLDT-Smart, Amazon Web Services, Unilever, Asian Development Bank, UN Women, and Ateneo de Manila University.

Also Read: Edukasyon investor Foxmont joins Philippine proptech startup AHG’s US$1.1M seed round

Since the close of Series A in 2019- 2020, Edukasyon.ph claims to have tripled revenues and achieved profitability for its B2B division.

The company said it is close to reaching its first million registered users and has built a community of eight million students.

The Manila-based startup previously closed a pre-Series A round in May 2018 and an investment from the Gobi-Core Philippine Fund in early 2019.

The edutech landscape has changed dramatically in the Philippines, with improvements in internet infrastructure, the explosive growth of e-wallets (estimated 63 per cent penetration by 2025), and massive exposure to online education (over 7 million students in 2021). Today, the country is estimated to be over US$20 billion education market.

 

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LingoTalk, an online language learning platform for schools in Indonesia, has received an undisclosed amount in initial funding from Iterative Capital and Eduspaze.

Several angel investors from the Asia Pacific region also co-invested in the round.

LingoTalk will use the money to enhance its LingoJunior product and acquire more primary school clients across Indonesia. LingoJunior aims to transform the way children learn a language in fun and engaging ways.

Founded by two graduates from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), LingoTalk was part of the recent EduSpaze Accelerator cohort.

Also Read: Edukasyon.ph raises bridge funding to bolster K-12 English, Maths tutoring service

To date, LingoTalk has partnered with more than 150 schools in Indonesia to help them improve the language learning quality index and equip teachers with better teaching tools.

In the remaining months of 2022, LingoTalk will focus on working with schools, education institutions, and parents to uplift children’s language learning journey through innovative and impactful methods.

“At LingoTalk, we believe that a child’s story begins on day one and acknowledge the importance of giving them the learning opportunities to unleash their early potential. With the backing of our investors, we plan to refine the product and expand our reach to primary schools in Java and Sumatra Island”, Andre Benito, Co-Founder and CEO of LingoTalk.

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Astra subsidiary SMI set to pour US$259M into Bank Jasa Jakarta
Once the deal pushes through, SMI will have 1.1M shares, or a 49.56% stake, in the local bank; At the same time, WeLab will also increase its ownership in the bank to 49.56%.

Ascential acquires Singapore’s Intrepid Group for up to US$250M
Intrepid is an omnichannel e-commerce solutions company; It will become part of the digital commerce division of Ascential, which will now get a strategic entry point into Southeast Asia.

Naver-backed gaming firm Planetarium Labs raises US$31.8M Series A
Investors include Dynamic Sky Group, Krust Universe, Wemix and Greatest Enterprise; Planetarium Labs provides a moddable online gaming experience for AR/VR based on a distributed gaming architecture.

Indonesia’s Paxel raises US$22.7M in Astra-led Series C
Other backers are MDI Ventures, Central Capital Ventures, SIG, FJ Labs, and Endevour Catalyst; Paxel is a logistics startup that offers same-day delivery and smart lockers services.

Singapore cloud communication company Toku secures US$6M Series A+
It comes 10 months after Toku raised US$10M in Series A led by Deliver Hero-backed DX Ventures; Toku has been providing cloud communications to Gojek, JCDecaux, foodpanda.

Singaporean data firm Finquest bags US$5.5M funding
Investors include Capricorn Partners and Ad-Ventures Invest; Finquest leverages data and AI to identify and connect corporate buyers and PE investors with direct investment and acquisition opportunities in the private company space.

Juragan Material nets US$4M to grow its B2B marketplace for building materials in Indonesia
Investors are Go-Ventures (lead) and SIG; Juragan Material has over 9K SKUs and 180 brands across structural, architectural, mechanical and electrical products onboarded onto the platform.

Indonesian personal finance app Pina bags US$3M in seed money
Investors are AC Ventures, Vibe.VC, and Y Combinator; Pina enables users to monitor their assets and invest their wealth in stock or mutual fund products; It also has a feature that lets users learn how to manage their finances properly.

Indonesian language-learning startup LingoTalk bags financing
Investors are Iterative Capital and edtech accelerator Eduspaze; Backed by an AI recommendation system, LingoTalk’s platform teaches users to speak different languages; The firm has 10 language courses, including French, Arabic, Japanese, and Spanish.

Grab, BRI Ventures launch accelerator programme for startups
Through the Grab Ventures Velocity (GVV) Batch 5 X Sembrani Wira Accelerator Program, Grab provides mentorship sessions, workshops, access to funding, and an opportunity for founders to test their ideas or products in the Grab ecosystem.

Korea begins second round of investigation on Kwon, TFL, LUNA crash
Initially, Joint Financial and Securities Crime Investigation Team of Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office will focus on reviewing legal principles and interrogating witnesses after taking over the case.

Singapore crypto platform Vauld pauses withdrawals amid industry crisis
The platform saw over US$141.5M in customer withdrawals since mid-June, which followed a slew of hits to the crypto industry; Vauld will apply to the Singapore courts for a moratorium on any proceedings faced by the firm.

3AC team’s properties may be seized for liquidation
The trio behind the Singapore-based crypto hedge fund are said to have amassed several billions of dollars in crypto assets at their peak; Between them, they reportedly owns five upscale properties, luxury vehicles and yachts.

Zilliqa co-founder’s new blockchain firm AltLayer secures US$7.2M in seed money
Investors include Polychain Capital, Breyer Capital, and Jump Crypto; AltLayer helps blockchain app developers set up a disposable layer to withstand surges in traffic, such as during minting events.

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Despite the pandemic and movement restrictions over the last two years, Southeast Asians celebrating Ramadan have been resilient. This year felt different and celebratory as family reunions became a possibility. Family, friends and togetherness took centre stage. The need to share time, space and happiness was never stronger.

I saw a flurry of activity in brand marketing war rooms as my team and the marketers planned campaigns that spotlighted the ability to share the occasion. They recognised the sentiments and planned to cut through the festive noise and reach their target audience through personalised advertisements and trusted channels.

SHAREit has, over the last few years, served as a channel for those in the emerging markets to share non-gaming or gaming apps, shopping recommendations and entertainment or educational content.

This Ramadan revealed key consumer behaviours for app sharing that will stay for the future. We compared the categories of apps shared during Ramadan in 2022 versus last year on SHAREit.

The growing prominence of app sharing in emerging markets

Are people ‘sharing’ apps? I have heard this question many times. App sharing has grown enormously in the last five years, driven by the huge populations in emerging markets like the Philippines, Indonesia in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa, amongst others.

Also Read: Crypto earning apps: which type is the best for you?

It started mainly in areas where the internet infrastructure was not well established, yet digital adoption was rising. People began sharing apps that make their lives easier or useful with friends and family.

Heavy apps that would take a lot of time to download from the internet could be quickly transferred over SHAREit amongst peers. Now over 10 million apps are being shared daily on SHAREit.

The app economy has grown massively due to smartphone usage, which is becoming more affordable, and as the world population becomes more mobile-enabled. The global mobile application market size was valued at US$154.05 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5 per cent from 2020 to 2027.

Over the course of 2021, over two million new apps and games were released, bringing the total number of apps released to date to over 21 million, according to App Annie’s State of Mobile 2022 report.

Consumer spending on mobile apps reached US$170 billion in 2021. Download growth today is mainly driven by emerging markets like India, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Egypt.

Gaming hits a new high during the festive season

Southeast Asia is one of the fastest-growing gaming markets in the world. COVID-19, too has accelerated the rise in mobile gaming, as consumers turned to the game to beat the lockdown blues.

With the practice of social distancing reducing consumer and business activity to a minimum, gaming proved to be a distraction and an engaging activity for people at home looking for social interactions. We have seen an immense demand in markets like the Philippines and Indonesia for racing, simulation and elimination games.

Interestingly despite the fact that people could finally meet and social gatherings were back this Ramadan break, gaming continued to rise. In Indonesia, people share multiple games such as action, arcade, simulation, casual and board. Share of board games was substantial and grew by 95 per cent, but trivia games led among all game types as their sharing more than doubled compared to last year.

As travel restrictions ease, holiday is top of mind

Another interesting trend that stood out was the sharing of travel apps. A travel boom is looming, and we see increased interest, especially in domestic travel.

Also Read: Mobile app trends 2022: A global benchmark of app performance

According to a recent survey in Southeast Asia, respondents from the Philippines and Indonesia have shown the highest willingness for domestic travel.

The share of travel apps rose by 69 per cent after Ramadan as people were looking to plan holidays and getaways in the afterglow of the festive season. This is extremely good news for travel brands who have faced the brunt of the pandemic for the longest time and suffered from people not being active and even uninstalling apps.

Spike in food and fitness-related apps sharing

At the heart of most festivals lies food. While the share of food apps grew by 109 per cent during the Ramadan season since people looked for new recipes to cook and order delicacies, the health and fitness app share increased by 23 per cent.

Food delivery was one of the fastest-growing app verticals globally, becoming somewhat of a much-needed tool in consumers’ lives for ordering food safely, socially distanced and conveniently. According to App Annie, sessions in food & drink apps reached 62 billion in 2021. The rise and boom in food app usage and sharing is here to stay.

Medical app sharing shoots through the roof

With the rise in health awareness, people have become more conscious of where their food comes from, what they eat and workout and exercise regimes.

During the Ramadan season, we saw people in Indonesia turn to meal plans, schedules for suhoor and iftar, hydration guidelines, common side effects and how to deal with them. The share of medical apps increased by 491 per cent.

Consulting physicians over video conferences has gathered immense popularity due to the pandemic and is no longer a rarity.

According to App Annie, worldwide downloads of health & fitness apps surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels in 2021, despite a slight softening from a pandemic-induced high in 2020 in most countries. The top five meditation apps worldwide saw 27 per cent year-over-year growth in consumer spending.

Gaming, travel, food and fitness, and medical app landscapes will only continue to grow. For the players and app developers in the segment, it is vital to ensure they tap these growing demands from the consumers, adapt to their habits and lifestyles as we go on, and stay ready for disruption.

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

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

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Singapore-based cybersecurity startup watchTowr has announced an US$8 million pre-series A investment round co-led by Prosus Ventures and Vulcan Capital.

Its seed investor Wavemaker Partners also returned to join this round, bringing watchTowr’s total funding to US$10.25 million.

The startup raised US$2.25 million in November 2021 from Vulcan Capital and Wavemaker Partners.

watchTowr will use the new funds to improve its platform and seize growth opportunities arising from markets outside of Southeast Asia.

Launched in August 2021, watchTowr helps organisations understand and identify high-impact weaknesses in their cybersecurity defences. It provides organisations with a continuous, real-time view of their external attack surface through the eyes of a sophisticated attacker. This enables it to continuously identify vulnerabilities that would allow attackers to compromise an organisation.

Also Read: watchTowr can tell an organisation in real time if it can get compromised

By leveraging data analysis and interrogation within an agile technology framework, watchTowr codifies attacker tactics and techniques that mimic how real attackers break into organisations.

Benjamin Harris, CEO, watchTowr, said “Our technology gives organisations visibility of how they could be compromised, in real-time. Traditional assurance approaches, like penetration testing, are no longer effective or rapid enough to keep organisations secure. By continuously incorporating the latest attacker tactics and techniques into the watchTowr Platform, CISOs can understand their susceptibility to emerging vulnerabilities and threats in hours, rather than weeks or months.”

Over the last ten years, organisational attack surfaces have ballooned to include outsourced technology, shadow IT, cloud environments and supply chain risks. Most organisations have lost track of their attack surface.

Harris added, “When one combines the ballooned attack surface with the ineffective and incomplete security testing approaches that are still utilised today, organisations are not able to protect themselves adequately, especially when we consider the rapid and aggressive speed of change in cyber security. Attackers know this.”

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ORZON Ventures, a US$50-million VC fund powered by the Thai oil marketing major OR, has announced its participation in the Series A round of Hungry Hub, a local restaurant and hotel reservation platform for special occasions.

Founded in 2017, Hungry Hub is a restaurant and hotel reservation platform for special occasions in Thailand. It informs its users of the net price they will pay before walking into a restaurant. In addition, it also provides fixed-price offers and gourmet delivery services.

Hungry Hub claims to have partnered with more than 900 outlets in Bangkok, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Koh Samui and Phuket. The list includes top restaurants in Thailand, such as Copper Buffet, Audrey Café, The Coffee Club (Minor Group) and global hotel brands such as Marriott, Anantara and Banyan Tree.

The firm claims to have served over two million diners and generated over 1 billion baht (US$30 million) GMV.

Also Read: Thailand’s ORZON Ventures invests in Pomelo, Carsome, Freshket, GoWabi, Protomate

In August 2019, Hungry Hub raised seed money from Expara and 500 TukTuks (a fund under Thailand’s 500 Global network). Then, the platform received its pre-Series-A stage funding from ECG Venture Capital and MOVF Media Group.

Surasit Sachdev, Co-Founder and CEO of Hungry Hub, said: “This year, we will focus more on the luxury segment—be it the fine dining, the omakase, the chef table, and the restaurants/hotels that promise exceptional experiences to fit with our concept of special occasion offers. Our target for the next 12 months is to have 2,000 restaurant partners, generate 1 billion baht annually for our partners, and expand our services beyond Thailand.”

Rajsuda Rungsiyakull, Senior Executive Vice President, Orion Project of OR, said: “We see this investment in Hungry Hub will fulfil lifestyle ecosystem and add values to F&B business in the long run while catering to the needs of the consumers for both Hungry Hub’s partnered restaurants and those under OR’s portfolios, making OR one crucial part in daily lives of consumers of all lifestyles.”

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Indonesian edutech giant Ruangguru announced the acquisition of two edutech startups, Schoters and Kalananti, for an undisclosed sum. The two companies will complement a range of K-12 product ecosystems that is already available on the Ruangguru platform. Executives from respective companies will also continue to focus on the solutions that they have built for Ruangguru users.

“We recently acquired Kalananti and Schoters. In the past years, Ruangguru’s curriculum has been focusing heavily on [the needs of students] who are preparing to enter local public and private universities. With Schoters, we can also cater to the needs of those who are aiming to do undergraduate and postgraduate studies abroad with scholarships. Schoters is the biggest in Indonesia at the moment for this kind of service,” said Ruangguru Co-Founder and CEO Belva Devara Syah in a press conference on Monday, July 4, in Jakarta.

Executives at Schoters and Kalananti gave DailySocial their statements on different occasions. Schoters Co-Founder and CEO Radyum Ikono said that the discussion regarding the acquisition had started in November 2021, but the process was only finalised in June. Following the acquisition, there will be no significant changes in the business process for Schoters –they are even allowed to continue reaching out to potential users outside of the Ruangguru ecosystem.

Schoters solutions will be available on the Ruangguru platform, accessible by any users who might need them. “We will be part of the Ruangguru ecosystem. This is exciting as we have always been targeting high school students who intended to further their studies abroad. On one hand, Ruangguru has a pool of Indonesian high schoolers as users; as a small startup, joining them enables us to reach out to a wider array of high schoolers,” Ikono said.

Since its founding in 2018, Schoters claimed to have helped thousands of Indonesian students to study in 400 universities in 43 countries, including Cornell University, University of College London, Nanyang Technological University, and Harvard University. It has also helped hundreds of students scored scholarships with a growth number that exceeds 500 per cent in 2020-2021.

Also Read: How the metaverse opens new opportunities for education

In addition to providing college admission guidance and consultation, Schoters also provides solutions that help with foreign language skills, document preparation, and even accommodation search.

On the other hand, the acquisition process of Kalananti was finalised in March this year, enabling the two companies to accelerate their collaboration. “Our main product focuses on skills for the future, including coding. Many parents see coding as a highly relevant skill; this is why many [edutech companies] put coding on the forefront of their offerings. We are being acquired for the product itself,” said Kalananti CEO Ahmad Syahid Zakaria.

Zakaria said that, following the acquisition, he and the team will focus on developing a coding learning platform for children now that they have a more extensive resource to do it. Apart from coding, Kalananti also owns several other educational products, but they will continue on this particular product before getting back to working on the rest.

“We would like to narrow it down to a single product to mature. Prior to joining Ruangguru, we struggled with optimising the sales and marketing aspects of the product, so this is really helpful for us. This is why we are able to enter the product development stage of our flagship product, before diversifying to other products.”

Kalananti is an edutech startup that was founded in 2020. It focuses on providing coding courses and innovations for children aged 5-12 years old, exploring various future skills in a fun and exciting way.

Kalananti implements a blended learning approach that puts emphasis on concept and competence. For its ScratchJr programme, which is aimed for children aged 5-6 years old, children will be introduced to coding through creating game and animation –a process that does not require reading and writing skills. This app allows parents to help teach the basic logic with only using colours and icons.

Also Read: Openness and collaboration in education is what the world needs

Feature updates on Ruangguru

Other updates that were announced at the press conference included new products and features to welcome the new school year. One of the highlights is the launch of Ruangguru for Kids, an integrated learning ecosystem to develop the academic and non-academic potentials of children since early age.

This platform provides an array of subjects and learning modes for children aged 3-12 years old, from languages, coding, writing, reading and mathematics, to online schooling. Together with Dafa Lulu, Kalananti and Alta School complement these solutions as an interactive and animated learning platforms for primary school students, combining storytelling and gamification.

The Dafa Lulu platform is now complete with a Practice Zone feature, a special section for children to learn through various educational games; Dafa Lulu Live, to facilitate live lessons with teachers using Dafa Lulu content. Apart from the launch of Ruangguru for Kids, the company also announced new features for Adapto –an daptative learning video that adjusts its plot to students’ comprehension level– called Adapto X.

Launched in 2021, Adapto X utilises simulation and interactive games to emphasise on the more practical aspects of the lessons, helping students learn more easily. The company also introduced UTBK Centre, a university entrance exam preparation platform for high school students. Everything that a student might require to prepare for university entrance exam is available on the platform, from countdown to exam day, learning strategies, practice tests, analysis of acceptance rate, to information on universities and study programmes.

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The article was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Marsya Nabila for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

Image Credit: DailySocial

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