With a population of 113 million, the Philippines remains an attractive destination for venture capital. In 2022, local startups raised US$1.1 billion, exceeding the US$1.03 billion amount raised in 2021, giving more confidence to Limited Partners to invest in local VC firms.

Foxmont Capital Partners is one VC that has gained immensely from this investor confidence. The early-stage VC firm recently witnessed its Fund II oversubscribed at US$21.3 million. Singapore-based Pavilion Capital, Taiwan-based AppWorks, and Netherlands-based Orient Growth invested.

Founded in 2018, Foxmont Capital has invested in 31 startups and looks to invest in more from the new fund.

On the sidelines of the Fund II closing, e27 sat with Foxmont Capital’s Managing Partner Franco Varona and Founding Partner Jelmer Ikink, who discussed their plans, the local startup ecosystem, and the funding winter.

Below are the edited excerpts:

Raising capital from Limited Partners has been challenging in the current environment. How did you manage to convince your LPs to invest in your fund?

Ikink: Given the complex macro environment and Foxmont Capital being the first independent VC fund manager in the Philippines, there was a bit of education and familiarisation to be done on the startup opportunities that the country brings.

Also Read: Monde Nissin CEO backs Foxmont Capital’s initial close of US$20M Fund II

Having said that, Philippine economic fundamentals and startup ecosystem are showing excellent traction. Foxmont is well-positioned to benefit from those. That’s why we managed to close our Fund II oversubscribed with a great group of LPs.

Can you share the details of your philosophy and ticket size? Have you changed your investment strategy, given the current situation?

Varona: Foxmont Capital has always looked at fundamentals and been diligent on entry valuations, so we haven’t had to change our process too much in response to the market. Our ticket size is around US$500,000, and we like to be the first institutional ticket for founders to accelerate their growth.

How many startups do you plan to invest in from this fund? Do you also plan to follow on in your existing portfolio from Fund II?

Varona: Foxmont Capital has thus far invested in 16 startups with this fund and expects to maintain a healthy distribution strategy in the future, both for new portfolio companies and through follow-ons.

How does the overall startup market in the Philippines perform during the recession? Are growth-stage startups struggling to raise follow-on funding? How do they cope with the situation?

Ikink: We’ve seen an increase in growth-stage deals in the Philippines in 2022. As a percentage of total deal flow, growth deals represented over 20 per cent in 2022, up from 4-5 per cent in 2017-2019.

Moreover, the share of funds raised by Philippine startups as a percentage of total funds raised in Southeast Asia has quadrupled over the past three years. We also see increased interest in Philippine deals from foreign growth funds with regional mandates.

While big startups in Indonesia and Singapore have reduced their workforce, only some Philippine startups have resorted to such steps. Does it mean the recession has not hit the local startups as severely as other countries in SEA?

Ikink: Inflation and other macro pressure have impacted us, but we continue to see significant traction with the startups in our portfolio. Philippine consumption and GDP growth remain strong, and digital adoption continues to accelerate. The entry valuations were never too high, to begin with when compared to other countries in the region.

What challenges are peculiar to the Philippine startup ecosystem in the current downturn?

Varona: The challenge for any ecosystem early in its life cycle — downturn or not — is the need for more developers. The Philippines recently digitised, and the demand for developers has ramped up quickly. We must continue growing that base through the private and public education systems.

How can growth-stage startups in the Philippines survive the current slowdown? Can you share some tips?

Ikink: Like other startups across the globe, expense control, smart and sustainable growth and the use of KPIs and ROIs of money spent will be essential to extend the runway beyond the 12 months that was more typical over a year ago.

Also Read: Fund managers have their task cut out right now: Edward Tay

Moreover, keeping close correspondence with your investors and shareholders will be essential to plan for follow-on rounds properly.

I understand e-commerce is one of the fastest-growing sectors. Which other sectors in the Philippines are growing fast?

Varona: Foxmont Capital remains sector agnostic but sees potential in the direct-to-consumer segment and so recently invested in Colourette and Pickup Coffee. The Philippines economy is primarily driven by domestic consumption, and an interesting quirk to that is that there continues to be a significant gap in the aspirational space. We have the luxury that Western brands are winning the upscale market and the older generational brands are winning the super mass market. But we are yet to service the young population that is quickly turning middle class.

Fintech is naturally a hot space in the Philippines at the moment as well.

—

Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

The post Are startups neglecting the future middle-class population in Philippines? appeared first on e27.

I refuse to believe that we have passed the first month of 2023.

Perhaps this has something to do with the back-to-back public holidays that we had in January and the fact that we mostly spend the month planning and figuring things out. But I feel like time moves at an unnaturally fast speed, and we have just woken up after a long sleep –being made aware of all the things we need to catch up with.

So, how was the Southeast Asian tech startup ecosystem in January?

One notable thing is that we are still wary about the state of the world today. While borders have reopened and we are pushing back thoughts about the pandemic to the back of our heads, there are specific issues that we remain fixated on. One of them being the funding winter.

There are many reasons to worry, especially after last year’s waves of company layoffs. The string of bad news continues as we witness notable e-commerce companies such as China’s JD leaving the Indonesian market.

Also Read: Are startups neglecting the future middle-class population in Philippines?

But there are reasons to remain optimistic.

In January, we saw how several new funds were being launched for startups in SEA. The majority of them are focusing on bigger markets in SEA such as Indonesia, with a collaboration between MUFG and Danamon for a US$100 million fund and a first close of the latest fund for Northstar Group. For Singapore, two PEs have partnered to launch a US$700 million tech fund.

Companies also continued to announce their funding, and we noticed supply chain and agritech as popular sectors for the month.

Does this mean January is the month when we can feel slightly more optimistic about the future?

Even if it does, there are still many things that we have to do.

In a special feature that e27 published, we look at the possibilities of how Chinese VCs be a “potential wild card” for SEA during funding winter.

“China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have long enjoyed close economic ties. According to a Global Times report of last August, the two-way investment between the world’s second-largest economy and the ASEAN was US$340 billion as of July-end 2022,” our editor Sainul Abudheen K wrote.

Also Read: The tale of the have-yachts and the have-nots in the proptech sector

“The Chinese VCs are turning their focus to the ASEAN because of a slowing economy back on the home turf for many reasons, including a surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths and strict lockdowns … The question is: Is China stepping up its investment activities in the region during the Funding Winter, and how vital is the role of Chinese VCs in SEA?”

SEA investors came back with various responses to this. While some believe that China might provide an alternative, others such as Monk’s Hill Ventures’s Founding Partner Peng T. Ong and Tin Men Capital’s Murli Ravi are more careful.

“There won’t be any significant rise in activity [in terms of VC investments]. Our investors are basically from our region. So China is unlikely to play a significant role here,” Ong says.

So where can we find our beacon of hope in this challenging time? I personally believe that we should learn to be okay with saying that we do not have the answer yet and that this is a moment of exploration. We look at all the possibilities and prospects and work on the ones that seem plausible.

Time moves fast, but with the right attitude, we may have it on our side.

—

Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

Image Credit: Redd F on Unsplash

The post Time flies when you’re having fun: Why January gives us reasons to be cautiously optimistic appeared first on e27.

Koina, a data-driven farm-to-business agritech platform in Vietnam, has raised US$1 million as part of its seed extension round from VinaCapital, the technology investment vehicle of VinaCapital Group.

The new funding will be used to expand Koina’s sales channels so that the startup can absorb more volume from farmers, in addition to investing in technologies.

Thi Nguyen, Co-Founder and Chairman of Koina, said: “With the new investment, Koina will expand to more sales channels creating more volume to offtake from farms. We are also investing more in technologies to manage quality better and increase value-add for Vietnam’s agriculture products.”

Also Read: B2B embedded finance company CrediLinq.Ai extends its seed financing round

Koina was founded in 2021 by Khoa Luu and a group of former executives at Grab, VinID, and GiaoHangNhanh.

The Vietnamese startup’s vision is to build an efficient agri-ecosystem by working closely with local farmers and connecting them directly with financial institutions, input suppliers, and commercial retailers.

Koina helps communities with financing, providing fair and transparent pricing, and guiding farmers on best practices. Its goal is to grow, harvest and deliver fresh produce from farms to retailers with the highest quality at reasonable prices.

Trung D. Hoang, Partner at VinaCapital Ventures noted: “Agriculture is the backbone of Vietnam’s economy and society. Koina’s mission is to be the innovative hub of Vietnam’s agriculture sector and with the Vietnamese government promoting green, environmentally friendly agriculture, we hope to play a part in not just improving the supply chain but also the lives of Vietnam’s farmers.”

—

The post VinaCapital invests US$1M in farm-to-business agritech platform Koina appeared first on e27.

BetterPlace, an India-based workforce management platform, has expanded into Southeast Asia by acquiring a majority stake in Indonesia’s blue-collar workforce fulfilment company MyRobin.

The transaction details remain undisclosed.

As per a statement, this deal is part of a series of investments being made by BetterPlace to expand into Southeast Asia. Soon, it plans to expand into Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines through organic and inorganic strategies.

“Driven by the vision to optimise frontline workforce management for enterprises, a combination of consolidation and innovation was the right way to go about building the world’s most comprehensive workforce management platform that exists today. With our technology and MyRobin’s expertise in operating in Indonesia, we could introduce equitable opportunities for the frontline segment,” said Pravin Agarwala, Co-founder and Group CEO at BetterPlace.

Founded in 2015, Bengaluru-based BetterPlace provides a SaaS and frontline workforce management platform. It caters to the entire value chain of workforce management — from verification, discovery, hiring, and onboarding to upskilling, productivity management and benefits transfer.

Also Read: How to scale talent in Southeast Asia during unprecedented times

BetterPlace’s B2C platform Rocket has partnered with enterprises to upskill frontline workers free of cost.

The company claims it has over 30 million workers on the platform and over 1,100 clients.

In December 2022, BetterPlace raised US$40 million as part of its extended Series C round from Macquarie Capital, Jungle Ventures, Unitus, BII, Capria, and 3one4 Capital.

Launched in 2020 in Indonesia, MyRobin is a workforce-as-a-service platform that provides enterprises with on-demand, pre-screened, blue-collar workers. It provides a solution for businesses with recruitment, documentation, attendance, performance, and workers’ payments all processed on the platform. For workers, MyRobin provides an online job portal, financial services, and training.

The firm claims it has an outreach to more than three million workers across around 270 cities in Indonesia.

The company claims to have recorded a 7x growth in 2022. Its clients include Shopee, Astro, Sicepat, E-Fishery, and Kopi Kenangan.

MyRobin is backed by Antler, SOSV, Accion Venture Lab, and Investible.

Ardy Satria Hasanuddin, Co-founder and CTO at MyRobin, said: “As the next chapter of our growth, we would like to take our vision and expertise to more geographies, and BetterPlace is the perfect partner who will enable us to achieve this goal.”

Southeast Asia has close to 200 million frontline workforce management and a market size of US$280 billion.

—

Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

The post Indian workforce management firm BetterPlace acquires MyRobin to enter SEA appeared first on e27.

Kickstarted in November last year, the Big Leap Roadshow is a collaborative event between e27 and CleverTap, the World’s number 1 Retention Cloud trusted by 2000 customers. Since then, the Roadshow has been touring major cities across Southeast Asia, the only platform of its kind for hundreds of business leaders, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and industry experts to come together and discuss the future of customer retention and engagement. 

On February 9th, 2023, the Big Leap roadshow is coming to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with the goal of sparking insightful discussions on actionable strategies and best practices for building strong customer relationships, reducing churn, and maximising customer lifetime value.

The event in Kuala Lumpur promises to be both informative and exciting, especially being the capital of one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-evolving and most prosperous business landscapes with a digital economy set to be worth US$35 billion (RM156. 1 billion) by 2025, and demonstrating unique customer demands for businesses in the country and nearby regions. 

Malaysia’s vibrant scenes in the digital economy

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the push towards heightened digitalisation processes has accelerated in Malaysia, signalled by the Malaysian government’s incentive programmes to realise the national digitalisation objectives that include the launch of GovTech and MyGovCloud and its 5G network.

Malaysia has been ranked as the 2nd most digitally advanced country in Southeast Asia on Huawei’s Global Connectivity Index, being ahead of some developed economies such as Hong Kong and Singapore in some sectors such as banking and e-commerce. Moreover, many training sessions and digital literacy workshops are also offered through the Malaysia Digital initiative by the government for digital upskilling for all interested Malaysians.

Also read: Building resilience through the SAFE STEPS D-Tech Awards

As such, experts see Malaysia as an upcoming regional digital hub, attracting major global tech players, data centres, and digital infrastructure service providers to the country. According to CEO Mahadhir Aziz of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Malaysia expects the digital economy to contribute 25.5% to the country’s GDP by 2025, creating 500,000 new jobs and granting internet access to almost every household. With all these developments, businesses across the country have the unique opportunity to bolster their products and services. Moreover, they can explore ways to better engage their customers in ways that inspire loyalty and retention.

Additionally, thanks to the fast-growing digital infrastructure and ecosystem, Malaysian customers can enjoy better e-commerce services and complete access to an online learning environment. This is why initiatives such as the Big Leap roadshow that seeks to tackle important business challenges on customer retention and engagement are more important than ever.

Malaysian founders must harness leadership to drive business growth 

Nevertheless, to stay competitive in the digital world, business leaders face the need to have flexible leadership styles that address new responsibilities and growth challenges. In regular time, business leaders are typically those who set the organisations’ vision and mission, propose business strategies to meet their companies’ objectives, devise the processes and procedures to manage internal and external relationships, motivate and inspire the organisational members to go above and beyond and oversee the implementation of the initiatives.

To lead in the digital-first business landscape, the imperative for business leaders to spark digitalisation efforts has become even more critical. Businesses must adopt a holistic approach towards digital transformation in all aspects of the business, starting from processes, domains, business models, and other organisational transformations.

Throughout the whole process, leaders must act as an architect and catalyst to initiate and sustain digital transformation, taking advantage of newly arisen digital business processes and tools to enhance efficiency, appealing to technologically savvy young talents, and becoming attuned to leading in a virtually connected world.

A multi-channel approach to customer engagement

With digital transformation at the heart of the Malaysian startup ecosystem not only as a response to pandemic recovery but also as a longstanding commitment made well before COVID-19, Malaysian businesses must adopt a multi-channel approach to customer engagement, utilising technologies to improve customer experience and embracing new strategies to maximise customer lifetime value. 

For example, in the context of online purchasing, the customer journey has evolved to take place over multiple digital touchpoints, searching for purchase inspirations via social media applications, researching about the products from their mobile browsers, conducting the transactions digitally with cashless payment options, and having the products delivered to them right at their doors.

As such, businesses need to make it easier for customers to switch between different channels and platforms, both online and offline if they want to guide consumers across omni-channel platforms.

Also read: The future of sustainable growth according to Dagangan

Nevertheless, with the rise of digital technologies, there are also more tools at the business’s disposal that can help them gain more understanding of consumer behaviour, enabling them to design the most desirable products, services, and shopping experiences optimised for customer satisfaction.

For instance, thanks to the availability of big data and data analytics, businesses can obtain unique insights such as customers’ journeys, their gratification points and pain points, purchasing habits and preferences to keep them engaged and motivate their decision-making process. Another scheme to maximise customer lifetime value is through a loyalty programme which rewards customers loyal to the business. The loyalty programmes become even more valuable as they are provided digitally, enabling customers to communicate openly with the businesses, keep track of their earned points, and access their benefits.

Hear it straight from experts at ‘The Big Leap’ Roadshow in Malaysia

With much excitement over the thrilling business landscape in Malaysia, CleverTap’s Big Leap Roadshow is poised to provide valuable advice from competent experts and growth leaders. These industry insiders will be providing key insights into building strong customer relationships and maximising customer lifetime value.

From understanding customer needs in the digital era, to creating a strong customer experience, and even using data analytics and loyalty programmes, the Big Leap Roadshow Malaysia’s central theme: ‟Retention Playbook Malaysia: How to engage and retain customers in a rapidly evolving market‟ will cover all the key elements of successful customer retention, customer engagement, and monetisation.

Also read: Airwallex: making business transactions easier than ever with physical cards launch

Whether you are a small business owner or a marketing professional, the Retention Playbook Malaysia will be an essential resource for building valuable, long-term relationships with your customers in today’s competitive market.

Learn from industry experts across various sectors on how they have created magnetic experiences to grow customer retention and go from good to great.

To sign up for the event, click here. 

– –

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

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.

The post How should you engage customers in a rapidly changing market? appeared first on e27.