GM.co today announced the launch of a new crypto-exclusive e-commerce marketplace catering to B2C customers.

Launched by Phantom Network co-founders Julian Chow, Daniel Whyte, Lori Liu and Ferhat Dogru, GM.co offers an opportunity for the Web3 community to buy and sell real-world items using cryptocurrency.

Its mission is to make buying real-life goods using crypto as simple as it is to go to Amazon using traditional currency.

GM.co’s Beta platform, launched in March, has already added over 1,000 items, including apparel, shoes, luxury items, and collectibles, besides extraordinary offerings like Mech pilot training, a luxurious omakase yacht experience, and the Guinness World Record-holding ‘PROTHESIS’ tetrapod exoskeleton.

The marketplace has also collaborated with The Open Network (TON), a decentralised and open internet created by the Web3 community using a technology designed by Telegram.

Also Read: Ex-Chope VP Cassandra Ong launches remote-based marketing consulting firm OtterHalf

“Our mission is to be the go-to marketplace for forward-thinking shoppers and sellers alike while providing the most secure e-commerce platform run on the blockchain,” said Chow.

Users can connect their crypto wallets like MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, or WalletConnect to make purchases on GM.co. They can choose to pay with USDC or Ether (ETH) to participating merchants while the firm plans to onboard other cryptocurrencies in the long term. For ease of browsing, shoppers can apply the ‘Shipping’ filter for a list of products and services that are available in their region.

All transactions on GM.co are verified. GM.co also offers an Escrow service for users who prefer added assurance while shopping on the platform.

GM.co has onboarded several notable brands, including OSIM, OHTNYC, and BLVCK Paris.

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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.

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Corporations can be a great asset to the climate tech startup community, especially when it comes to building a sustainable business. They can help startups grow and prosper by providing them with the kind of support that they need, from funding to networking.

However, in order to have a successful business partnership between climate tech startups and corporates, there have to be adjustments from both sides.

“The first draft is not going to be perfect, but it’s going to be beautiful. We embrace the journey together as we are all learning the space of sustainability,” says Liyana Sulaiman, Chief Product & Technology Officer / Co-Founder, Pollen, in a panel discussion on the second day of Echelon Asia Summit 2023.

“Then, coupled with the culture of experimentation, I think the transparency is needed on both sides,” she continues.

Noting the cultural difference between climate tech startups and corporates, Gavin Chua, Head of Stakeholder Engagement, APAC, Meta, stressed the importance of building an understanding.

“Startups tend to be nimble and agile, but corporates are not always able to do that, so there has to be a bridging point,” he said. “Especially when corporations do not have the organisational structure to do that.”

Also Read: Why these startups focus on informal plastic waste workers in the fight against climate crisis

At the same panel discussion, Nicole Mao, Co-Founder & CEO at Tiger China Energy,  gave an example of corporations and climate tech startups’ collaboration.

“For example, if you have a petrol station or a convenience store chain, you can join us as a partner with 70 per cent of the income going to you. You just have to provide a physical place for us,” she explains.

Pushing startups to be environmentally responsible

Still related to the topic of environmental sustainability, in a fireside chat at the same event, Susli Lie, Partner at Monk’s Hill Ventures, explains the venture capital firm’s ESG approach.

While ESG is not a part of the firm’s investment thesis as a sector-agnostic, generalist fund, it has included ESG as another layer of consideration on top of its existing investment vetting process.

“When we are getting more serious about the potential of investment, we will typically run an internal process just to make sure that we have a preliminary assessment on the ESG-related risks and opportunities that we have to watch out for,” Lie explained.

“This is typically not a huge issue because most companies that we invest in are software companies. Once we are actively in conversation with them and decide to give them a term sheet, I will start to have a direct conversation about what they are doing about ESG.”

Also Read: The key to tackling climate change: Electrify shipping

While Lie acknowledged that ESG in investment is still not a popular discourse in Southeast Asia, Monk’s Hill Ventures want to be at the forefront of this movement.

“Some people questioned the practicality of requiring early stage startups to have anything related to ESG. Like, is that even a fair demand? So, there is a fair level of scepticism still. This is true across the founders’ community and the investor community,” Lie says.

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Kazakhstan’s real estate market is unique.

In this Central Asian country, property owners don’t necessarily reside in the same cities where their properties are located. This is different from markets such as Singapore.

Two Kazakh entrepreneurs sensed a tremendous opportunity here and launched an online platform for property owners to share their properties via smart home solutions remotely.

“We have built a powerful platform that greatly simplifies the rental management process for landlords,” says Kanat Keldibekov, Founder and CEO of ApartX. “This also means tenants can directly rent the property without face-to-face interactions with property owners.”

Founded in 2020 by Keldibekov and Ivan Chalyk, ApartX is a B2B SaaS platform for landlords providing short-term rentals. ApartX automates up to 90 per cent of the operation process of 1,700 properties by using biometrics, smart locks, and digital sign technologies with integration into major rental platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com.

Also Read: Kazakh proptech startup ApartX raises seed funding for SEA expansion

Its features include managing property bookings, signing digital rent agreements, and remotely unlocking smart locks.

“We provide and install smart locks for our clients for free,” adds Keldibekov. “Our revenue comes from the rental payment for the locks + software access fee of US$20 per month or US$1 per booking.”

It does not charge the end consumers/tenants.

The startup now plans to expand locally and into Southeast Asia. To accelerate expansion, it announced a seed raise of US$250,000 from Kazakhstan-based Big Sky Capital and Activat VC early this week.

“We will use the capital to strengthen our R&D, attract experienced specialists and improve the platform’s functionality. We will also expand into new regions and increase our market share actively. A portion of the capital will go into strengthening our presence in Central Asia and establishing strategic partnerships with key players in the industry,” Keldibekov noted.

Before the latest round of funding, ApartX raised funding from Singapore-based Quest Ventures as part of the Kazakhstan Digital Accelerator programme, which was managed in conjunction with Qazakhstan Investment Corporation, the sovereign wealth fund of Kazakhstan.

ApartX was also recognised as the best IoT startup by Kazakhtelecom in 2018. In 2021, it was adjudged the best startup of the year at the International Technology Forum – Digital Bridge.

“We are determined to continue enhancing the rental process by increasing transparency and improving safety,” he concludes.

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Fintech company Longan Group has been named as the winner of the 2023 TOP100 on the final day of the Echelon Asia Summit 2023.

Longan is an ethical and inclusive debt management company supporting consumers and financial institutions to manage their finances more efficiently, on a mission to solve consumer indebtedness and promote financial health among the two billion population across Asia.

The company is currently operating in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Also Read: Our final batch of startups competing at this year’s TOP100

In addition to the company, TOP100 finalists include ALPHACIRCLE, Ayo Indonesia, Boost Capital, EkkBaz, Letitu, Longan Group, NextPay, Pajak.io, Quest, and Retimark.

TOP100 is a startup pitching competition that was held as part of the Echelon Asia Summit 2023.

One hundred startups pitched their companies to judges and thousands of delegates at the TOP100 stage for an opportunity to move on to the finals and the chance to win the The Unicorn. Prior to the pitching, the competition received hundreds of applications and make hundreds of connections over the e27 Pro platform.

The event included a panel of judges that consists of Weisheng Neo, General Partner at Qualgro Partner; Susli Lie, Partner Monk’s Hill Ventures; Martin Cu, Partner at 500 Global; Tanuja Rajah, Partner at M Venture Partner, and Johan Surani, Vice President, Peak XV Partners.

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Cassandra Ong, former Growth and Marketing Lead at Tripadvisor, Chope and Foodpanda, has launched the remote-based global marketing consulting firm OtterHalf.

OtterHalf aims to help growth-stage tech businesses with its consulting solutions.

The team behind OtterHalf has over ten years of combined experience in marketing and design within the tech industry and has executed over 100 digital marketing campaigns and partnerships for tech companies, including foodpanda, Chope and Tripadvisor.

Also Read: Echelon: How female leaders shape our tech startup ecosystem

Ong understands the growing demands of startups and also has the practical execution skills to deliver. She brings over 12 years of experience in the field of marketing and global partnerships to technology businesses around the world and has led multiple marketing and global partnership teams during her time as the Head of Marketing at foodpanda and Chope, and the Senior Growth and Marketing Manager at Tripadvisor.

“Inspired by the playful, carefree and fun-loving otters, OtterHalf, a pun played on the phrase ‘other half’, was established with the motto of being fun yet reliable team players who clients trust. Having been founded by a team that was laid off from our previous company, we strongly believe in bridging the gap in marketing expertise for tech businesses facing hiring freezes and layoffs while still striving to achieve their business objectives,” said Ong.

Founded in April 2023, the digital marketing agency aims to inspire businesses to attain sustainable growth through a blend of creativity and exceptional execution. OtterHalf offers a diverse array of services, including comprehensive hourly consulting, meticulously planned project-based campaign launches, and the invaluable option to serve as a fractional marketing team for businesses.

OtterHalf has successfully secured Tour de France Singapore and REFASH, a Carousell group company, as their initial clients.

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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.

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Five months after announcing the closing of its US$100M Series C investment round, Aspire, which provides an all-in-one finance operating system (OS) for businesses, has turned profitable.

The Singapore-headquartered company offers corporate cards, multi-currency business accounts, FX payments, and payroll and expense management to over 15,000 businesses, including 5,000 in Indonesia.

In the past 12 months, Aspire claims it tripled its yearly revenues, hitting profitability in Q2 2023 and US$15B of annualised total payment volumes.

e27 spoke with Aspire Co-Founder and CEO Andrea Baronchelli to understand how the company made the achievement amidst an unfavourable business climate.

Excerpts:

This achievement comes when most companies are struggling to stay afloat and laying off employees to cut costs etc. How has Aspire managed to achieve profitability despite this? Did you accelerate the plans to achieve profitability because of the current slowdown?

We have been charting this path for the past 24 months, developing more efficient go-to-market approaches, forging strong partnerships and working relentlessly on our unit economics.

What sets us apart is our razor focus on the mission, which leads us to be highly deliberate with every product or feature we decide to invest in, listening to our customers, and adapting quickly to the macro-environment shifts.

We are also very intentional in building one of the most talented fintech teams in the region, as we need to put great talent together to build an enduring company.

What is next for Aspire? Are there any plans to expand its services to more countries or regions shortly?

We plan to continue building a highly talented team, which is at the core of our growth philosophy and invest in technology and expansion across Southeast Asia and the broader Asia Pacific.

What is your advice for startups struggling in terms of capital management? Can you give them some tips?

• • Every dollar counts: Make sure you’re keeping tabs on hidden costs like unnecessary subscription spend. Ensure you have visibility so know what you have and are paying for.
  • Have a strong system in place to enforce budgets and approval processes and create a culture of cost-consciousness empowered by technology.
  • Start early building a solid financial foundation while your team is small will help you immensely when you scale.

Could you share any success stories or case studies of SMEs benefiting from Aspire’s services?

Verz Design struggled with a lack of real-time visibility over their budgeting as they scaled. Using Aspire’s expense management software, this digital marketing agency could streamline its budgeting and forecasting processes and distribute spending decisions and procurement across the organisation.

Also Read: Finance OS for SMEs Aspire scores US$100M, claims US$12B annualised payment volume

With real-time tracking, cost-savings and automation of manual processes, the Verz team could reinvest that time and money into scaling their business and serving their clients.

Multiplier, a global employment platform with 200+ employees regionally, lacked centralised spending visibility and struggled to implement budget controls. After it started to use Aspire’s expense management solution, it issued as many corporate cards as it wanted with full visibility of all expenses in real time. It can now generate expense reports without waiting until the month’s end. It also implemented full budget controls and merchant locks, helping to adhere to planned budgets and get peace of mind. With Aspire’s solution, Multipliers saves approximately 760 hours and US$73,000 annually.

Endowus needed a business finance partner to support it through its rapid expansion through multiple markets. With more cross-border transactions, expense processing and marketing spending expected due to this expansion, Endowus needed an all-in-one business account tailored to its cost-saving needs.

Today, it manages employee spending and all other business finance needs on one platform (Aspire’s business account), with cost-savings through Aspire cards and time-saving through our various integrations and automation. With Aspire’s solution, Endowus saves approximately 900 hours and US$110,000 annually.

What future developments or enhancements can we expect from Aspire?

We will continue to invest in our product to enhance our offerings further to cater to our growing customers’ needs.

We plan to roll out highly-requested features in the coming months across our Business Account and Spend Management plans, including increased payment capabilities and local rail coverage, advanced software features, and enhanced integrations with partners.

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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.

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Finfra, a fintech company providing credit and financial services to businesses in Indonesia, has raised US$1 million in funding.

The investors are DSX Ventures, Seedstars International Ventures, Cento Ventures, Fintech Nation, FirstPick, BADideas Fund, and Hustle Fund.

Finfra plans to utilise the funds to expedite product development, expand its engineering, data, and finance teams, and grow to become a leader in the embedded lending industry.

The company was established in 2017 by Markus Prommik and Reinis Simanovskis as a consumer lending company under the name Danabijak. It later expanded its services to cater to businesses in 2021. Danabijak is now a subsidiary and remains profitable.

Finfra enables underbanked businesses and non-financial digital platforms to embed financial products and services, particularly credit lending, into their distribution channels. It offers a complete loan management system, scoring mechanisms, and portfolio analytics and facilitates access to debt capital.

Also Read: Ex-Chope VP Cassandra Ong launches remote-based marketing consulting firm OtterHalf

Indonesia’s internet economy has grown 10x since 2015, reaching US$77 billion in annual gross merchandise value. However, credit access remains limited for individuals and businesses, with only three per cent of Indonesians owning a credit card.

Finfra aims to tap into this opportunity by offering credit and financial services to existing customers, thereby bolstering user adoption, increasing per-customer spending, fostering deeper customer loyalty, and improving retention.

“Numerous platforms fail to acknowledge the untapped demand their sellers have for capital and the inherent difficulties in building these financial products in-house. Finfra is dedicated to resolving intricate infrastructure problems to enable platforms to optimise their support for sellers,” said Simanovskis.

Finfra anticipates that the support of the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK), which aims to achieve a financial inclusion target of 90 per cent by 2024 (up from 75 per cent in 2019), will significantly contribute to its growth trajectory.

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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.

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On the first day of Echelon Asia Summit 2023 on June 14 at the Singapore Expo, two leading fintech companies in Southeast Asia (SEA) revealed the key points to their steady growth throughout the years: A careful approach to fundraising and regional expansion to neighbouring countries.

According to Richard Koh, Founder/Group CEO of M-DAQ Global at a panel discussion on Forge Stage, regional expansion is all about timing.

“There is no middle ground; you are either too early or too late. So, in the early part of our journey, back in 2010-2012, we tried to scale up, tried to grow, tried to hire a little bit too early. Earlier than what our clients are expecting us to be ready when the market is going to be ready for our product,” Koh said, adding that during this difficult time, there was a moment when his employees did not receive salaries for months.

“At the same time, if we had done it too late, the space that we were trying to get into might be overcrowded. You will become a red ocean rather than a blue ocean. So timing is something we are still trying to get right; unless you have a crystal ball. It’s still a bit of a guesswork, but I guess through various iterations, you get slightly better and better.”

The importance of timing is also something that Nikhilesh Goel, Co-Founder & Group CEO of Validus, agreed on. He also added the importance of resilience in achieving it.

Also Read: Echelon: How MoneySmart Group plans to tap into the future of personal finance in Asia

“The second is not getting swayed positively or negatively by the startup fairyland stories. There are so many startup founders who expect to be valued at US$100 million next year, a billion dollars next year, and so forth. But our stories do not always pan out like that. It takes a very long time,” he explains.

“We spent a long time in Singapore before we decided to add that second country because we wanted to make sure that we believed in our product. We are sure that when we take it outside Singapore, it will work. We did not have the FOMO to add a new country because our competitors were doing it.”

Goel also stressed on the importance of credibility when trying to expand into new markets. Validus achieved it by choosing to partner with investors that are linked to the government of Singapore; something that he dubbed as “easily” marketed to in countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam.

A slow approach to fundraising for fintech companies

The same kind of careful approach was also used by these fintech companies in fundraising.

M-DAQ is known to have a large gap of time between its funding rounds; this gap could reach all the way to five years. These funding rounds are also not well-publicised.

“We enter the market every three to four years even during the heydays of startup funding, when somebody is going to raise some funds every six months. We try to raise enough and just stop. At the same time, we also try to do something a bit unusual. On average, in the last two-three rounds, when we raise the fund, 70 per cent or more of the fund goes back to our previous investor. So we took it upon ourselves to take care of them,” Koh said.

Koh attributed this attitude to the “Asian mentality” that he grew up with, one that puts emphasis on never having to have debts whenever possible.

“Growing up, I was taught never to owe people money. This is why we sort of baulk at doing too frequent fundraising and making announcements about it. Because it feels like I was telling the world that I just borrowed US$100 million,” he said. “But during when winter time, it turns out to be a little bit of a safety net.”

Also Read: Finfra bags US$1M to provide embedded lending services to Indonesian businesses

When it comes to fundraising, Validus is also careful in choosing which deal to close.

“There are tons of VCs who claim to add value. But when you ask them to define it, most are at a loss for words. So, we have chosen our investors very carefully,” Goel said, stressing that the fintech company raised “very little” money from VCs. Instead, they opted to focus on raising money from government-linked entities and large families in the region.

“Our last round was led by Japanese and Korean banks because we believe that they are a lot slower; they are a lot more conservative in terms of valuation,” he explained.

“We have always chosen the term sheet with the lowest valuation because anybody who is giving you a very high valuation basically is not going to add any other value. So, the first term sheet that we got was from Temasek. Once you get that kind of credibility, a whole host of ecosystems opened up to us that would never open up otherwise. But that was the stingiest term sheet we got. The same goes for term sheets from banks. I think there are now too many examples, whether listed companies or private companies in India, where their market cap today … is not even 1/10 of the valuation that it used to be.”

Validus is one of SEA’s largest SME lending players focused on Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

M-DAQ is a B2B player that works with local banks and e-commerce platforms. It has just under 300 people operating over eight overseas offices.

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What we have all been waiting for is finally here. After months, hundreds of applications and hundreds of connections made over the e27 Pro platform, we ‘re down to the top ten startups who will be pitching for the TOP100 finals on Day Two of Echelon Asia Summit 2023.

One hundred startups pitched their companies to judges and thousands of delegates at the TOP100 stage on June 14, 2023 for an opportunity to move on to the finals and the chance to win the The Unicorn.

Enough with the introductions — here are the 10 startups taking on the TOP100 Stage finals, in alphabetical order:

ALPHACIRCLE

ALPHACIRCLE’s revolutionary technology enables content creators to produce pure, original VR videos with the highest possible quality. By making our software affordable and optimized for all devices, we aim to ensure that anyone can enjoy immersive VR experiences without any compromise on quality.

Ayo Indonesia

Ayo is a sport community app that allows users to meet players and communities, find sparring partners, join sport competitions, book venues and try new sports. Ayo is building an end-to-end ecosystem for sport players.

Boost Capital

Boost transforms Financial Institutions, expanding their client reach through chat-based financial services. Banks in Southeast Asia traditionally operate in-person via brick-and-mortar branch locations – Boost allows these Banks to enable their clients to apply digitally for loans in 5-10 minutes without an app download. This means massive new reach in new customers

EkkBaz

EkkBaz is a B2B marketplace that connects small businesses in the agriculture and food industries across developing countries in Asia, available in Bangladesh, Singapore and expending. The platform leverages cutting-edge technologies and data-driven financing solutions to help small businesses grow and thrive in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

Letitu

Letitu’s product, The Pond, is a data/AI based high school curriculum builder for high school students who can’t receive college counselling to achieve individual goals and successful college admission. By using The Pond students will be able to seize accuracy, availability and affordability.

Longan Group

Longan is an ethical and inclusive debt management company supporting consumers and financial institutions to manage their finances more efficiently, on a mission to solve consumer indebtedness and promote financial health among the two billion population across Asia

NextPay

NextPay provides easy-to-use financial services without high fees and barriers to entry, empowering MSMEs to automate collecting, sending, and managing of money – all from one powerful platform.

Pajak.io

Pajak.io is a leading tax software provider that offers advanced automation solutions to streamline VAT invoice management for modern businesses in Indonesia. With their innovative Host-to-Host (H2H) solution, they revolutionise the way businesses handle their tax compliance, providing a seamless and efficient experience.

Quest

Quest connects SMEs in Southeast Asia to a “cult-like” community of Gen Z gig workers within 5 minutes. Quest gives businesses everything they need to find, hire, and manage top gig talents for a fraction of the cost on agencies and freelance platforms.

Retimark

Retimark offers the easier and earlier diagnostic and prognosis solutions to prevent eye diseases like Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), and Glaucoma, which are the leading cause of blindness and allow to access to the optimal treatments for the preservation of eye health.

Congratulations to the finalists! All the best in the finals and see you at the TOP100 Stage of Echelon Asia Summit 2023 at Singapore Expo.

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Use our special promo code: GO for 75% off your Echelon tickets!

The 2023 Echelon Asia Summit is happening at the Singapore EXPO on 14-15 June 2023. Are you a startup founder, investor, corporate, or tech enthusiast? Don’t miss out on one of the most anticipated tech conferences in the region! For more information, visit the official Echelon page.

The year 2023 began with two exciting acquisition news from Southeast Asian (SEA) tech startups.

In February, Indian workforce management firm BetterPlace announced the acquisition of its SEA counterpart MyRobin.

During the announcement, BetterPlace said that this deal is part of a series of investments that it is making to expand into the region. After Indonesia, it is looking to expand into Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines through organic and inorganic strategies.

After Better Place and MyRobin, in April, we got updates about the acquisition of iVS by ShowHeroes. This acquisition is also part of the organisation’s plan to expand into the Asia Pacific (APAC) market, including notable SEA markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan.

For startups in general, acquisitions by global companies provide a promising alternative to IPOs. As written by Jeffrey Gangemi from SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, young companies used to view going public not just as “a rite of passage” into maturity but as a necessary step to access a large volume of relatively inexpensive capital. But this was no longer the case as growth companies remained private for longer.

From the perspective of global companies looking to enter a new market, local tech companies provide great value with their knowledge and presence in the markets.

Also Read: Journeying through the long, winding road of startup investments and M&A in 2023

These are the reasons why we invited speakers from these two companies to speak at Echelon Asia Summit 2023. On June 15 at 11.30 AM on Forge Stage, MyRobin CEO and Co-Founder Siddharth Kumar and ShowHeroes SVP APAC Milan Reinartz are going to share their experiences with being acquired by global tech companies. Moderated by e27 CEO and Co-Founder Mohan Belani, this panel discussion will open our eyes to how M&As can contribute to growth for both companies.

A strong foundation for growth

Prior to the acquisitions, these two companies have made a reputation for themselves in their respective fields.

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.

In 2022, the company claimed to have recorded a 7x growth with a client list that includes Shopee, Astro, Sicepat, E-Fishery, and Kopi Kenangan.

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

Known as iVS before the acquisition by ShowHeroes Group, the company served over 208 million unique users each month through its programmatic marketplace, made up of Asia’s independent publishers, advertisers, broadcasters and DooH providers. It leverages machine learning to enable monetisation and consumer engagement through its AVOD platform, proprietary video player and smart technology.

The acquisition transformed iVS CEO Milan Reinartz to the role of ShowHeroes SVP, APAC.

Also Read: Beyond the union: Understanding the complexities and impacts of M&As

After the acquisitions, these companies will have access to the resources and network that will empower them in the next stage of their journey.

“We now also have access to a global intelligence system through ShowHeroes, with all its learnings, rather than relying solely on our local expertise – in the principle of economies at scale, the cost advantages we’re seeing from this acquisition are brilliant,” Reinartz says in an interview with e27.

“Furthermore, evolving from a successful startup company – with all the work that entails – to now being part of a larger global company and team allows us to fully focus on our customers and partners, both old and new.”

Echelon Asia Summit 2023

Get to know these experts and more at this year’s Echelon!

Echelon Asia Summit 2023 is happening on 14-15 June, at the Singapore EXPO. Featuring a slew of speakers, exhibitors, business matching sessions, pitching stages, and more, the event enables participants to connect, network, and engage with the larger tech startup ecosystem.

At the Echelon Asia Summit, participants get the chance to attend a diverse range of sessions, including keynote speeches, panel discussions, and workshops, all exploring exciting topics like AI, blockchain, e-commerce, fintech, and marketing. You’ll also have the opportunity to join networking sessions and meet-ups where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders.

To learn more about Echelon Asia Summit 2023 and sign up for the event, visit the official page here.

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Image Credit: MyRobin, ShowHeroes

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