Dear Pro member,

Investments in Southeast Asian startups plummeted by 25% in H1 2023, reverting to pre-pandemic levels, as per a new study. This decline highlights challenges tied to shifting investor sentiment, economic uncertainties, and evolving market trends.

Notably, investment focus shifted towards early-stage startups, particularly in seed and Series A stages, resulting in a 41% increase in completed deals compared to the previous year.

Singapore and Indonesia remained the bright spots. While the city-state experienced a 60% surge in deal numbers and a 19% increase in invested capital, the archipelago saw steady deal counts but a 44% yo-y drop in total capital invested.

A surge in “top-up” rounds with a 315% y-o-y increase was observed, mainly at the series A stage. Valuations for Series A and B firms dropped by 34% and 42%, respectively, while seed-stage valuations stayed stable.

Overall, the joint report by January Capital, Venture Cap Insights, and Tracxn points to a bleak future for the region, at least for the next few months. But a rise in early-stage deals brings cheers to the region.

Take a look at the other major headlines also.

Editor,
Sainul.

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Total VC funding in SEA declines by 25% in H1 2023: Tracxn
One notable trend that emerged during the period was the shift in investment focus toward early-stage startups, particularly in the seed and series A stages; Geographically, Singapore and Indonesia remained focal points for VC funding.

LingoAce lays off hundreds amid expansion hurdles
The edutech startup axed hundreds of employees in China, the US, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand in about half a dozen rounds of layoffs in the past year.

Indonesia agri-fintech startup PasarMIKRO nets investment from DEG, Ceniarth
PasarMIKRO focuses on empowering smallholder farmers, fishermen, and traders in Indonesia; It will use the money to expand its trade and trade finance service offerings.

Chat-based bank client onboarding startup Boost Capital raises US$2.5M
The investors include Village Global, Iterative Ventures, and Hustle Fund; Boost Capital enables financial institutions to digitally onboard applicants for loans, savings, credit cards, and insurance quickly.

SG’s healthtech startup Neurowyzr raises US$2.1M
Peak XV is the lead investor; Neurowyzr is a deep neuroscience using the latest discoveries in neuroscience to optimise corporate and population brain health and performance.

Naman Jhawar to head India and Southeast Asia ops of German VC firm Picus Capital
Picus Capital is set to increase its investments in Southeast Asia, with a focus on fintech, enterprise software, and climate tech.

AI startup Anthropic raises US$100M from Korea’s SK Telecom
The telco says Anthropic and SKT plan to co-develop a multilingual large language model customized for global telco firms.

US-based Plug and Play partners Enterprise Singapore
They will launch the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) San Francisco Acceleration Program, providing an opportunity for Singapore startups to explore and expand their products in the dynamic tech hub of San Francisco and the US.

Blockchain gaming sees US$300M summer funding boost
In June 2023, funds going into Web3 gaming dropped to its lowest for the year at US$68M; This was mainly because of tough challenges in the market.

Tokocrypto shelves IPO plans after Binance buy-in
Tokocrypto CEO Yudhono Rawis said Tokocrypto is currently well-capitalised and has a healthy cost base; Tokocrypto was preparing to go public by 2024 or 2025.

Vingroup founder’s e-bike hailing service debuts in Vietnam
Green and Smart Mobility (GSM) has officially launched its e-motorcycle hailing service Green SM Bike in Hanoi; The launch of Green SM Bike follows the roll-out of GSM’s e-taxi hailing service in April this year.

‘Unlike traditional accelerators, Accel Atoms provides a more personalised learning environment’
The Atoms programme, targeted at startups in India, SEA and the UAE, also offers several other benefits, says Accel Prayank Swaroop.

Meet the new 10 investors joining the e27 Connect platform
These investors come from different geographies and invest in different stages and verticals.

Rise of generative AI in search: Exploring opportunities for APAC brands
Generative AI’s conversational ability and real-time training could fundamentally transform how users engage with search.

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Growth Charger

Growth Charger incubates, accelerates and builds businesses.

Verticals: Agritech, healthtech, education, smart cities, biotech, consumer, finance, AI and, Big Data
Based in: Malaysia
Investment locations: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia
Stages: Pre-seed, seed, and pre-Series A/bridge
Investment range: US$10K to US$50K.

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The post Ecosystem Roundup: VC funding in SEA down 25% in H1 2023; Job cuts at LingoAce appeared first on e27.

It’s a multi-cloud world with organisations making investments across private and public environments. A steady stream of new capabilities and tools are demonstrating the power of cloud computing as they spin up at the edge to manage the massive influx of data generated in real time.

Now, more clouds are rolling in. There are telecom and sovereign clouds and vertical industry clouds that provide support, applications and requirements specific to healthcare, finance, government, retail and even media.

The public sector, too, is steadily increasing its investments in cloud architectures. Take, for example, the Singapore government, which is leading this with plans to spend more than 30 per cent of its 2023 ICT budget on cloud applications developed on the Government Commercial Cloud (GCC) and drive efforts to move 70 per cent of its systems to the cloud by the end of the year.

Also Read: Can cloud infrastructures be both affordable and reliable?

While this is great news for organisations looking to maximise the value of their cloud investment and meet critical business objectives, it may complicate the multi-cloud landscape. The proliferation of these very specialised clouds can create yet another silo if organisations aren’t able to move data and apps freely between them.

A robust multi-cloud strategy ensures that organisations benefit from the efficiencies of public clouds, like flexibility and scale, and bring these on-premises with the advantages of performance, control, and security.

Less is more…complexity

When building a strategy, some may say the obvious answer is a monolithic cloud approach – pick one platform with one provider and rely on their apps and a small pool of partners.

But this stunts innovation. Closed platforms are the proverbial walled garden in the cloud and developer ecosystem, decreasing integration across the ecosystem and leading to vendor lock-in. While it may seem simple in the beginning, organisations miss out in the long run by limiting themselves to a proprietary set of services that impact their ability to easily access and adopt future industry innovations.

Too often, organisations that invest across multiple clouds and services are left to figure out the disparate pieces independently. On top of this, organisations want a secure multi-cloud infrastructure as they continue to pursue their digital transformation.

According to Dell Technologies’ research, 75 per cent of organisations in Asia Pacific cite the ability to protect multi-workloads across on-premises and public clouds to be among the most important capabilities for enabling hybrid, multi-cloud operations.

Workarounds take time and resources away from innovation and productivity. Organisations want these clouds, apps, platforms and services to work together seamlessly. They want multi-cloud by design, not by default.

But they don’t necessarily want a single service provider – they want a simpler way to securely manage and orchestrate data and apps across multiple cloud environments. While the nirvana state is to get a singular view, a more realistic goal may be to reduce the number of unique siloed tools for cloud management and orchestration to enhance value.

Also Read: Exposing the dark secrets of cloud visibility: Is your business at risk?

More open, less ego                                                     

We see the solution to multi-cloud complexity differently — break down silos and build an open ecosystem that thrives on a wide range of partnerships, collaboration and innovation.

A good example is what the Singapore government is currently adopting.  Launched by the Singapore government, the Government on Commercial Cloud platform provides government agencies with a consistent means to adopt commercial cloud solutions offered by cloud service providers with robust cybersecurity measures and systems to protect the data that resides on commercial cloud platforms.

This is to allow government agencies to tap into commercial cloud software to incorporate advanced functionalities into their digital services instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, delivering high-quality government digital services to citizens and businesses.

Multicloud is not just a random collection of public clouds or even those clouds’ loose connections to private clouds. Multicloud is about accessing an ever-expanding set of innovations across clouds and acknowledging that you need the capabilities of the entire ecosystem to deliver modern IT.

That’s where open ecosystems come in. They allow for interoperability and deeper integration across solutions and services – providing greater access to innovation from a variety of providers. This way, the technology not only works, but it also works in the ways organisations really need it to. It has to if we want to unleash data-driven breakthroughs through AI and automation powered by cloud computing.

No single company or innovator will deliver on the promise of technology. Nor should they. That’s what makes the technology industry so incredibly vibrant – relentless innovation that pushes the boundaries of possibilities to solve the world’s greatest challenges.

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S&P Global recently reported a significant 49 per cent year-over-year drop in funding for global fintech companies, amounting to US$23 billion during the first half of 2023. Round values for seed and early-stage firms declined by an average of 12 per cent and 14 per cent in 2022, respectively, while growth-stage and mature startups experienced even lower declines of 43 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively.

It’s not just about the year being 2023 — think about 2020, 2021, or even further back to 2008 or 2009. In the last two decades, we’ve experienced numerous game-changing events. Surviving and succeeding in such an unstable environment requires flexibility.

As the CEO and Founder of Credolab, I embarked on a challenging journey. Being flexible has allowed me to quickly adjust strategies, pivot into new business models (which we’ve done twice), and explore alternative approaches that weren’t evident at the beginning. 

Credolab is a developer of digital scorecards and data enrichment solutions for the banking industry, which are based on behavioural metadata. As of now, the company has analysed over 240 million digital footprints and scored 30 million individuals. Credolab’s solutions are currently utilised by more than 200 corporate clients across nine different verticals.

Looking back, I can confidently share some valuable tips for startup founders to thrive in an ever-changing business landscape.

Fundraising: Luck does come into play sometimes

In August 2020, we raised our Series A round. This came just a few weeks after an extreme low in June when our revenue dropped by 90 per cent. When the pandemic hit, lending came to a halt. Everyone decided to preserve cash and cut down operations. Our model, which was “pay as you go”, was affected drastically. Q2 saw the lowest revenue, maybe even lower than in 2017. 

Also Read: A guide to creating the ultimate investor pitch deck

On the other hand, venture capitalists at that time were really looking at the short term. They saw our revenue decreasing and said, “Okay, we’re not interested.” But I learned a lot about how these VCs think. It was a good learning experience.

However, it was tough, as you can imagine. But we were lucky, which does come into play sometimes. The luck was in finding an investor, GBG, who became not only the lead investor for our Series A round and a strategic partner. They knew that the decrease in revenue was not something that would stay with us long-term and that the economy would eventually recover.

GBG was looking at the value we could bring once the economy opened up, and this was a remarkable moment for our business. It goes to show highs and lows in a startup’s journey can occur very close to each other.

After all, communicating with investors may be challenging, but it can also lead to positive outcomes and value for the business. As long as the company has a solid customer base, a profitable business model, and a willingness to learn from investors, it can weather any fundraising challenges and come out stronger on the other side.

Product: Take a risk to change

We developed our first scorecard in 2016, and it was remarkable. Despite possibly being over-optimistic, it was our ticket to success. It demonstrated the immense value we could add to other businesses. A few quarters later, we confirmed the effectiveness of our data.

Since then, we have explored various use cases, not only in risk prediction but also in segmenting personas or developing look-alike models. We constantly strive to cater to different needs, sometimes even tailoring solutions to a customer’s unique request. This has led to some surprising and successful outcomes.

When the pandemic hit in 2020 and revenue dropped drastically, we had to pivot and explore new business models. We discovered that we needed to deliver value from day one and be able to charge for our services upon contract signature, not upon successful integration. Thus, we developed an anti-fraud insights module, an account takeover module, and a data enrichment module.

Now Credolab is on the cusp of securing more subscription clients, leading to increased revenue visibility. By reviewing our revenue model, we launched a new pricing strategy that has received immediate positive feedback from clients. Many clients are able to develop faster sales cycles because of it. 

To paraphrase Alice in Wonderland, you have to run with all your legs just to stay where you are and run at least twice as fast to get somewhere. So this year, we launched a new product, which is a personality-based targeting solution. It blends smartphone metadata collection, machine-learning algorithms, and insights from behavioural psychology.

Also Read: Finding the right co-founder involves having tough conversations–and a great sense of humour

This allows us to gain a deep understanding of the personality traits of top-performing potential customers. The Credolab team has already analysed 1 million data sets and built a robust framework that is currently deployed in production. 

Mindset: Be flexible enough to stay true to your principles

To be honest, I wasn’t very confident at first in 2016 launching Credolab. After years in big corporates, I took time off to complete my MBA from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. Then I was ready to get back into business.

So, the decision was partly driven by necessity – I didn’t have another job lined up after graduation. I moved to Singapore with my wife and three sons, ready to step significantly out of my comfort zone and embark on this new adventure.

I was an intrapreneur, comfortable in the corporate world, but I wanted to transform myself into an entrepreneur. Now, I find myself navigating through a dynamic, constantly changing landscape, facing unexpected challenges along the way. Adaptability and the ability to embrace change are vital for success, particularly given the volatility of our environment. 

It’s fascinating how a paradigm shift can occur in individuals, especially founders and entrepreneurs. Often, we find ourselves doing the same thing repeatedly until one day, a light bulb moment or a hard-hitting realisation makes us rethink everything.

There was a defining moment in 2016. I remember being on a flight from Vietnam to Singapore with my friend, who was also my mentor at Credolab. He made me realise that I had to transform myself, shed my risk management persona, and take on a different role. His words marked a turning point when I realised everything needed to change.

No compromising on the team

Compromises are possible in everything, except that your startup’s team should be superb.

During my whole career, my approach has always been to hire people better than myself. When hiring, one of my key criteria was looking for people more talented and smarter than myself, who would do better in the position than I could ever do.

I brought in people who had a better understanding of marketing, product management, data science, and IT development. This approach has proven most effective – always looking for people better than myself. For example, if there’s a need for credit risk management or data mining from mobile devices, you find people who excel in these areas more than you do.

This tactic effectively elevates the overall performance of your company. Most entrepreneurs tend to hold off on hiring until they can’t manage everything themselves. But our approach is slightly different. You push yourself to the limit, but when you do hire, you ensure they’re more proficient than you in their role. 

I’m gonna be honest with you; there were moments when I thought things wouldn’t work out. However, during our darkest days, we managed to secure an investment, which turned everything around. This experience taught me the importance of perseverance.

As a Founder, you must stay resilient, both mentally and physically. Taking care of yourself will enable you to make rational decisions and lead your team effectively.

Remember to trust your instincts, leverage your strengths, and build a team of exceptional individuals. The road may be bumpy, but with the right mindset and approach, you can thrive in a constantly changing business world and turn challenges into opportunities for success.

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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

Image credit: Canva

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In today’s dynamic business landscape, effective communication and strategic marketing are paramount for any company seeking to stand out. In this regard, as a platform dedicated to empowering Southeast Asia’s tech startup ecosystem, we at e27 continue to redefine how brands connect with the right audiences and also sustain that connection.

One notable success story is the collaboration between e27 and Lalamove where e27’s expert media services seamlessly brought Lalamove’s customised solutions — a new and relatively lesser-known offering — to a regional audience of tech startups.

Lalamove, a global leader in on-demand logistics, was presented with a unique opportunity to showcase their customised solutions to an audience of regional startups looking to improve their logistic processes. Collaborating with e27, Lalamove set out to produce engaging content that could translate, simplify, and convey their unique offering in ways that would both entice their existing clientele to explore their new solutions and also tap uncharted markets. This strategic partnership exemplifies the power of combining Lalamove’s solutions with e27’s in-depth understanding of the regional tech startup ecosystem and media reach.

Sharing Lalamove’s story with a wider audience

At the heart of this collaboration was the creation of an insightful article that captures the Lalamove narrative. e27’s experienced team worked closely with Lalamove to distil the essence of their custom solutions and ground it according to the needs of the e27 audience. Through in-depth interviews, e27 gained a profound understanding of Lalamove’s unique value proposition and the problems it seeks to solve for startups.

The resulting article was a testament to e27’s ability to create compelling narratives, providing a focused and careful understanding not only of Lalamove’s customised solutions but also of the gaps and demands within the emerging e-commerce space — a particular industry that Lalamove hopes to engage better.

Also read: ChatGPT expansion in Saudi Arabia is underway via BuzzAR and Choco Up

Providing a narrative that appeals to both tech-savvy entrepreneurs and newcomers to the industry, the article conveyed Lalamove’s innovative solutions to audiences from across the regional ecosystem in ways that enable complex concepts to become accessible and engaging. Moreover, it allowed the team behind Lalamove to share their story in meaningful ways.

Through the collaboration, e27 featured Alex Lin, Managing Director of Lalamove Singapore, to discuss important insights on last-mile delivery and the broader e-commerce landscape, underscoring the importance of innovations such as Lalamove’s customised solutions in helping revolutionise the industry. Meanwhile, Ms Zarifah, Business Development Manager at Lalamove Singapore, discussed comprehensively how such solutions can be harnessed in order to drive business growth among brands that are in dire need of robust, logistic solutions for merchants that require large volume transport.

The e27 advantage: Reaching the right audience

Creating exceptional content is only part of the equation. e27’s far-reaching media network played a pivotal role in ensuring that Lalamove’s message reached the right eyes and ears. Leveraging its extensive regional presence and targeted distribution channels, e27 amplified the article’s impact by placing it directly in front of a curated audience of regional tech startups.

Yielding considerable impressions at over 23,000 page views, over 10,000 clicks on Facebook, and gaining a reach of over 350,000 overall impressions on social media, e27 helped Lalamove cement its position as a leading logistic platform to a focused audience of businesses, startups, and other relevant stakeholders.

This precise targeting, facilitated by e27’s in-depth market insights, enabled Lalamove to connect with potential clients who were actively seeking solutions to their logistics challenges. The article was more than just informative; it was a catalyst for meaningful connections and tangible business growth.

The road ahead

The success of Lalamove’s project with e27 is a shining example of the media expertise that e27 exhibits and the high-quality service that we consistently deliver. While this collaboration highlighted Lalamove’s customised solutions, it is worth noting that e27’s media capabilities extend far beyond — with a portfolio that encompasses a wide variety of projects, spanning diverse industries and business models, each one meticulously tailored to resonate with specific target audiences.

From informative articles like Lalamove’s to in-depth reports, interactive webinars, and engaging events, e27 has established itself as a versatile and influential media partner. Ultimately, companies that partner with e27 gain access to a treasure trove of media opportunities that drive results — and to audiences that matter.

Also read: PayPal: A reliable payment partner to combat business uncertainty

As technology continues to evolve, so does the art of communication and marketing. The collaboration between e27 and Lalamove underscores the importance of partnering with media experts that can translate complex ideas into digestible narratives that appeal to a wide range of audiences. Through such partnerships, companies like Lalamove can effectively communicate their value propositions and achieve unprecedented growth.

All of this demonstrates e27’s commitment to driving meaningful connections and fostering growth, fostering a platform that helps you simplify complex concepts, share your authentic stories, and yield impactful and lasting results.

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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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Wiziin nets US$500K

Vietnam-based venture investment management platform Wiziin secured US$500,000 in pre-seed funding from an unnamed tech serial entrepreneur.

“The venture capital world has long adhered to traditional methods of funding and investing in startups. This funding will enable us to accelerate our next efforts in emerging blockchain technology to disrupt this industry and revolutionise how venture capital operates based on the tokenisation of assets, and smart contracts,” stated Co-Founder Thong Dang.

Founded in 2020 by experienced venture capitalist Tien Nguyen and serial entrepreneur Dang, Wiziin aims to bridge the gap between investors and founders through its new blockchain-based platform.

It provides tech platforms specialising in data-driven solutions for startups and investors in capital raising, dealmaking, and co-invest monitoring. It has a network of over 200 investors, and over 5,000 companies have raised funding via the platform.

Beep bags seed funding

Singapore-based IoT transaction platform, Beep, announced the launch of what it claims to be Southeast Asia’s largest electric vehicle roaming (eRoaming) network. Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre in Singapore (HMGICS), Tribecar, EVFY, Singapore Electric Vehicles, and Quantum Mobility are among the initial entities to use the network.

Beep also announced the completion of its seed funding round, led by GGV Capital and Wing Vasiksiri. NUS Technology Holdings, SUTD Venture Holdings, XA Network, and prominent angel investors also participated in the funding round. The amount of funding is undisclosed.

Beep will utilise the fresh funds to improve technical connectivity and deploy the largest roaming network in Southeast Asia as part of expansion plans into Malaysia, Thailand, and beyond. The company will continue collaborating with additional charge point operators, vehicle OEMs, and fleets to grow the network on a permission basis.

HealthXCapital joins hands with Jungle Ventures

Singapore-based VC firm Jungle Ventures announced the addition of HealthXCapital to lead its healthcare investments in Southeast Asia and India.

Seemant Jauhari, a seasoned leader with 22 years of experience in healthcare investments who has led HealthXCapital since its inception, will join Jungle Ventures as a Partner for healthcare.

HealthXCapital has engaged with over 1,200 founders across various healthcare segments, including home care, ambulatory care, insurtech, data sciences, and brain health. Their portfolio features names such as RED.Health, Homage, Medfin, and THB.

Jungle Ventures specialises in early to growth-stage investments in Southeast Asia and India, focusing on nurturing businesses from their inception to becoming unicorns and eventually to IPO.

Atome renews US$100M debt facility

Atome Financial, a Singapore-based buy-now-pay-later company targetting unbanked and underbanked consumers, renewed its US$100 million debt facility with HSBC Singapore.

The funds will help the fintech firm to expand its services in the Philippine market and develop new consumer financing products.

Atome entered the Philippine market in end-2021 by partnering with over 50 online and offline retailers across fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and home & living. The Philippines presents enormous opportunities for the fintech firm as 34.3 million adults are unbanked (as of 2021).

Launched in December 2019, Atome is a digital platform providing consumers across the region with flexible deferred payments through its mobile app. In addition, it offers digital consumer loans in Indonesia through the Kredit Pintar mobile app.

Antler invests in CHOYS

CHOYS, a SaaS insurtech platform for corporate employees in Southeast Asia, closed a US$1.1 million seed funding round with investors, including Wing Vasiksiri, Foremast, Antler, and Fintech Nation Fund.

The company will use the money for its go-to-market strategy across Southeast Asia and to bolster its product development initiatives.

Founded by Sharon Li and Vanessa Chen, CHOYS aims to make work life more meaningful and humanised. To achieve this, it empowers organisations with well-being tools and a platform to make a “bigger impact” through better understanding of and connecting with their people. The firm uses data analytics to create customised employee benefit experiences.

Boost Capital lands US$2.5M

Singapore-headquartered SaaS platform Boost Capital secured US$2.5 million in a seed funding round from Village Global, Iterative Ventures, Hustle Fund, Epic Angels, Xcel Next, and Insitor.

Prominent angel investors, including Shivaas Gulati, former co-founder of Remitly; Larry Hootnick, former CFO of Intel; and Puon Penn, former EVP of Venture Capital at Wells Fargo, also participated.

The firm will use the funds for market expansion, enlarging its product team, and initiating partnerships with new banks.

Founded in 2018 by Gordon Peters and Lucinda Revell, Boost Capital provides a platform that enables financial institutions to digitally onboard applicants for loans, savings, credit cards, and insurance quickly.

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The image used in this picture is AI-generated.

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