Mindtera, an employee assistance programme (EAP) startup in Indonesia, has closed its combined seed and seed extension round at US$850,000 funding.

East Ventures led the round with commitments from Seedstars International Ventures and other unnamed angels.

The company will use the money to expand the scope of its B2B operations and develop the products.

Founded in 2021 by Tita Ardiati and Bayu Puspito Bhaskoro, Mindtera is a platform that uses data-driven insights to build a productive and happy workplace. It manages employee development, engagement, and well-being, following employees from hiring to retirement.

It offers two platforms to address this problem.

Also Read: Mindtera bags funding led by East Ventures to grow its personal growth learning platform

Mindtera Pro is an analytics dashboard and app with an advanced suite of assessment tools designed to collect and analyse employee feedback to improve their company experience.

Mindtera Plus serves corporations by providing access to coaching and development consultants who can help tackle various challenges in employee management and culture.

The startup claims it has onboarded over 10,000 employees and fostered an increase of 94 per cent in employee well-being awareness. Providing HR optimisation for key industry players, Mindtera is leading the charge to optimise work culture across the country.

CEO Tita Ardiati said: “Investing in human capital is tricky. The benefits are not immediately visible, but the company will see a sustained impact if you build a balanced and healthy working environment. Human resources are a valuable asset for a company’s growth. Happy people inspire growth, so look after your people, and you will see productivity.”

During the Great Resignation back in 2021, a study from the global company McKinsey showed that if employees are not mentally well, it will affect the business’s bottom line in many ways.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also stated that in addition to impacting relationships and societies, mental health issues like depression and anxiety also cost the global economy US$1 trillion yearly, predominantly from reduced productivity.

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Let’s talk about food fraud, an ongoing issue that needs to be taken very seriously. Again and again, the media are feeding us new upsetting, often stomach-churning revelations about appalling lapses in the global food industry. Sometimes they threaten public health.

About 300,000 children fell sick in 2008 after Chinese dairy manufacturers adulterated infant formulas with the chemical melamine, causing, in many cases, serious kidney damage. Consumer confidence in beef products took a hit in 2013 when authorities in the UK and Ireland discovered several samples that contained different quantities of horse meat.

More recently, Malaysia was shaken by a large-scale, cartel-like criminal practice that, over decades, mislabelled imported pork, horse and kangaroo meat as halal-certified. Several government officials were bribed along the way.

While there’s not always a direct criminal intent, the problem often points to a lack of transparency and product information. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that every year, 600 million people worldwide fall ill after the consumption of unsafe food. It shows undeniably that trust in global and local food supply chains is of greatest interest.

Fighting food fraud

Fortunately, today, technology offers a solution. QR codes on product packaging, geolocation and blockchain technology are gaining momentum in the sector, as modern digital tools are no longer out of reach, even in developing countries.

Also Read: The opportunities and challenges Singapore’s agritech sector faces

They now allow to closely track foodstuffs “from farm to table,” enhancing credibility, safety, and food security. Furthermore, AI and Machine learning ensures the timely identification of possible intervention before any significant problem gets out of hand.

It should slowly end the different fraudulent practices we are still observing today: Adulteration when one or more components of the product are fake or tampering when a product and package are used fraudulently. There’s fraud by addition, where fake goods are added to the actual one to increase their quantity.

We have product imitations and copycats of the actual product sold to unsuspecting consumers, which can now be tracked down through machine learning and AI tools. Items might also be distributed or sold outside of permitted territories, a practice we call diversion. A large number of actors involved in the production and distribution of food pose a great risk to product safety, threatening supply chain integrity.

From farm to fork

The farm-to-table or farm-to-fork approach started with the idea of simplifying the food chain by establishing a direct line to the producer. Consumers should be able to buy straight from the farm, creating trust and a different type of relationship.

Fraud, nevertheless, can still happen along the way, and this is where technology comes into play. It allows customers to access the data on the product and producer, nutritional values and ingredients, its origin and journey to the point of purchase.

Producers share information, such as third-party-certified tests and lab reports, that support their claims and upload them to distributed ledgers, or blockchains, where they are publicly visible, scrutable, and where they can’t be altered. Geolocation tools track the shipment on its way to the checkout. Temperature sensors and time stamps verify the projected journey through ports and warehouses. Smart contracts will only release the goods to authorised parties.

Also Read: How the pandemic inspires Natural Trace to create a food supply chain traceability solution

At the point of sale, consumers can get the full picture by scanning the QR code that verifies from the time of harvesting to the arrival at the market. More accurate data allows buyers to confirm the exact condition of the product, which also helps to reduce wastage.

Can’t stop the tech

Technology is also progressing in the field of quality control. New techniques like DNA barcoding and fingerprinting are analysing food samples to detect the grade of its purity or to check if they have been mixed with lower-grade varieties.

Earlier this year, Yale-NUS researchers found through DNA barcoding that out of 89 seafood samples from restaurants and supermarkets, about one quarter was mislabeled or sold under a different name.

As consumers demand more sustainable and transparent food sourcing and distribution, they will further push to get exactly what they are promised on the package. For the food industry in Asia and the world, this means that they are in for a tech upgrade.

New tools, including blockchain, RFID tags, and sensors, offer the ability to track food in real time. Gone are the days of the paper document, which will forever be associated with inefficiency, bureaucracy and low-grade security. Let’s get serious in fighting food fraud!

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Singapore-based Locad, which provides a cloud supply chain for brands to store, pack, ship, and track orders for e-commerce and omnichannel retail, has raised US$11 million in Series A funding led by Reefknot Investments, a fund anchored by Temasek and logistics powerhouse Kuehne & Nagel.

Returning investors Sequoia India, its startup programme Surge, Febe Ventures, Antler, Access Ventures, JG Summit and JG Digital Equity Ventures, and Western Technology Investment also joined.

The funding will be used for network expansion, product development, and hiring talent across Asia Pacific.

To date, Locad has served over 200 brands across Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Australia. It claims to have shipped more than two million orders.

“Ultimately, our goal is to enable a frictionless movement of physical goods and data across the supply chain for any brand and merchant. This enables anyone to sell anywhere, on any sales channel, and deliver seamlessly,” said Locad CEO and Co-Founder Constantin Robertz.

“As modern consumer brands transform to direct-to-consumer and omnichannel retail, we have seen that the supply chain and fulfilment infrastructure is a key barrier to scaling the business for many brands. The bar is only rising further due to higher customer expectations for fast delivery and the complexity driven by an increasing number of sales channels,” he added.

Locad supports the e-commerce and omnichannel growth of global consumer brands such as Havaianas, Recki Benckiser, and Emma Sleep in the region.

“Over the next five years, we expect to build the region’s largest network of warehouses, enabling next-day delivery in Tier 1 to 3 cities across the region, and make this available to brands and merchants in one integrated platform,” concluded Constantin Robertz.

Also Read: Startups should adopt the glocalisation mode of design and thinking: Reefknot Investments’s Marc Dragon

Locad is the logistics engine enabling e-commerce brands with a cloud supply chain to grow their omnichannel business and automatically store, pack, ship, and track orders across Asia Pacific.

In July 2021, Locad received US$4.9 million in a seed round led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge.

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Three years serving as a senior manager at VIISA – one of Vietnam’s longest-established accelerators, Phuc Nguyen realised the gap between local SMEs, which account for about 98 per cent of the total enterprises in Vietnam, and the resources and knowledge they need to grow to a sustainable scale. 

Access to private consulting services might be one solution, but it is hindered by expensive consulting fees. Current accelerator programmes are also only available to selective technology firms that are also required to give up some shares in exchange for dedicated support and funding.  

As VIISA turned over a new leaf by halting its accelerator programme in 2021 to fully focus on venture investments, in April 2022, Nguyen teamed up with Barrett Le, a multi-award product user experience (UX) expert, to co-found a new organisation purpose-built for Vietnamese entrepreneurs.

Their new venture, named Emakase, received the mentoring support of Alexander Jansen, an expert provided by the Swiss Entrepreneurship Programme to assist VIISA in early 2020 and follow the inspiration from Japanese cuisine’s “Omakase” concept, in which customers leave it up to the chef to select and serve special dishes.

New age business consulting

“Unlike other incubators and accelerators, Emakase does not serve startups that are ‘too early’. Instead, it targets teams that have already entered the market and generated some forms of traction, or middle-market companies whose annual revenues are no more than US$75 million,” said Nguyen. “We provide business support like an accelerator but do not fund the business or take equity.”

The preliminary report, or Emakase’s comprehensive diagnosis through a 360-degree interview with the client company’s founders and stakeholders, will state the problems as well as compatible solutions to strengthen or scale up the firm.

Also Read: Vietnamese EV maker VinFast files for US IPO

When the client signs on to use any proposed solutions or services, “chefs” from Emakase will convene a consulting board meeting and construct a master plan to implement the strategy within a set time frame and a suitable level of impact. 

“After receiving our initial feedback through the preliminary reports, client companies need to be very honest with themselves to decide whether or not they should pay for services that we suggest to provide for them,” Nguyen added. “This requires them to have higher ‘self-awareness’ than many early-stage startups that often participate in typical accelerator programmes.”

With seven partners specialising in fields such as people management, marketing, finance, management, creativity, and innovation, Emakase is structuring its “menu” in three “flexible and customisable” lists of services: fundraising consulting, management consulting, and innovation consulting. 

Also Read: Vietnamese on-demand warehousing platform Wareflex closes pre-seed round

The fees, at least for Emakase’s current seven projects with clients, are “much more affordable” than that of large consulting organisations or deal advisory firms, according to Nguyen, though he said that his firm still needs a tweak to the pricing to better value its services. 

“We will ensure the deliverables, but not the client’s sure-fire result as they are still the owner of their firms and should have the highest responsibility for their successes or failures,” Nguyen added. 

Accelerator-as-a-service model

Emakase also spots a new trend buoyed by the pandemic-induced digital transformation: Vietnamese corporations seek to boost their innovation capacities to adapt to changing behaviours of customers. As a result, the consulting house forms its “accelerator-as-a-service” model, which offers corporations, government and non-government bodies tailored and full-fledged innovation programmes. 

Other ecosystem players echoed this sentiment, with Zone Startups Vietnam’s plan to offer a “basket” of startups’ technology solutions to big corporations and ThinkZone’s fund-raising from six local conglomerates for its US$60 million Fund II to finance high-growth startups.

Adding to the mix, Emakase looks to connect these ecosystem resources and even become a ‘sub-vendor’ for other ecosystem players to jointly serve corporations’ needs.

“Any collaborations should be grounded on commercial purposes as it will clarify the positioning and value of each player toward third-party companies,” said VIISA CFO Hieu Vo, considering Nguyen’s new venture as a useful supplement to bridge the service gap in the ecosystem.

Following the “consult-build-operate-transfer” process, Emakase offers programmes ranging from hackathons, incubation, and acceleration, to professional competency enhancement and business competency training, for various ecosystem stakeholders. It also especially emphasises firms’ integrity and transparency and says no to “under-the-table lobby” when providing services.

“With the government’s strong support for innovation, I believe there is fertile land for ‘upright’ innovation consulting businesses,” Nguyen said.  “If consulting firms do anything wrong or ineffective, they will quickly face blowback because this space is growing fast, and the outcomes of innovation efforts are soon to be seen.”

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Image credit: Emakase

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Meghan Bridges is the Marketing and Operations Director at Rainmaking Innovation. Based in Osaka, Japan, Bridges specialises in driving innovation, marketing, and operations. She currently works across multiple projects in the APAC region, providing help and support to startups looking to scale and enter new markets.

She is a regular contributor of articles for e27 (you can read his thought leadership articles here).

In this candid interview, she talks about her personal and professional life.

How would you explain what you do to a five-year-old?

I work in marketing for a venture-building company, which makes new companies and helps other firms grow. I work on sharing the stories of who we are and what we do, and why we are so passionate about it.

What has been the biggest highlight/challenge of your career so far?

Highlight: Having such a fantastic team passionate about what they do, fiercely kind, and going out of their way to support one another. You read about this sort of company culture sometimes, but being in a team that is the full embodiment of it is sometimes like an amazing dream – but real!

Challenge: Cutting through the noise. There are so many remarkable technologies, stories and things out there to explore and for me to also share. The world is vast, and not everyone looks in the same places, so you have to be on top to ensure that the messages we want to share and the people we reach are seeing those messages. This is something anyone in marketing has to deal with.

How do you envision the next five years of your career?

Upwards and onwards! I am passionate about the growth and development of ventures and startups. Working in a creative position to support and talk about the fantastic opportunities has been excellent.

Over the next five years, I see myself broadening my understanding and scope of the content I create and guiding someone else down their ideal path, as my co-workers and mentors have done for me in Rainmaking so far.

What are some of your favourite work tools?

Hands down, Notion. I have a weird passion for building a database for everything, be it research, articles to read, what to pack when travelling etc. Notion has been my go-to for that. I am also a very active user of Glasp, which allows me to highlight and take notes on the massive amount of content I go through in a week and synthesise it.

What’s something about you or your job that would surprise us?

I am freakishly good at breaking things unintentionally. I’m like a magnet for running head-first into bugs or finding weird issues in things.

Also Read: Consistency is key in life: Baradhwaj R of MoEngage

My work needs me to be adaptable and flexible, but I am constantly wondering how long it will take until I break the next thing I use (sorry, devs who have had to deal with me on customer support).

Do you prefer WFH or WFO, or hybrid?

Very much hybrid, with a leaning towards work from home.

I discovered during the pandemic that my focus and output improved when working from home; however, you cannot replace the value and relationship you build with your team at the office. I am currently working on a hybrid model to balance these two, which has worked well for me.

What would you tell your younger self?

You got this! School and your education are incredibly valuable, but they do not drive your future. It is you as a person and your passion. Don’t be afraid of taking leaps into new opportunities, even if you think you are not a match for them. The leaps I have taken in life have led me on fantastic journeys and growth.

Can you describe yourself in three words?

Curious, shy, and passionate.

What are you most likely to be doing if not working?

This changes so regularly that I like to keep my mind engaged, so I’m exploring different worlds in video games – mostly indie titles – or deep in a fantasy book series.

On the odd occasion, I will work on a personal project, which could be anything from coding classes to compiling previous fiction writings of mine to brush up on or rewrite.

What are you currently reading/listening to/ watching?

I just finished The War of Two Queens by Jennifer Armentrout and am waiting for the next book in the Green Riderseries from Kristen Britain. I currently have The Bitter Truth from Evanescence on loop on Spotify and just finished the docuseries called Ancient Apocalypse on Netflix.

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