It’s always interesting to look at the trends from Meta’s Seasonal Holidays Study, and one thing to note this year is how carefully and how far in advance people are planning for end-of-year purchases.

Shoppers, especially the younger generation, agree that planning ahead financially for the holiday season is more important than ever. Mega Sales Days (MSDs) are acting as catalysts, with their promise of delivering good bargains, entertainment and cultural relevance.

Clearly, MSDs are here to stay, as the Asia Pacific (APAC) region recorded the highest MSD participation rate last year.  Our survey showed that a whopping 83 per cent of year-end shoppers in APAC made a purchase during an MSD compared to the global average of 70 per cent (in partnership with YouGov, we surveyed 14,009 people aged 18+ in December 2022 across 12 APAC markets). APAC also saw the largest increase in MSD spending at US$382 per person, which amounts to a 13 per cent increase vs the global average, which is a five per cent increase.

It’s interesting to note that APAC shoppers are still spending despite caution around global economic headwinds; they’re more open to discovering new products and services during the MSD season. This means businesses will need to rely on supercharging discovery more than ever.

AI-powered social discovery

Our survey shows that more shoppers are leaning towards social platforms for discovery and inspiration during the year-end shopping season, with reliance on in-store, search and store websites falling compared to previous years.

This was even starker when it came to purchases, with offline purchasing dropping six percentage points to 56 per cent compared to 62 per cent in 2022. Meanwhile, online purchasing increased to 87 per cent in 2022, compared to 81 per cent in 2021.

In fact, 67 per cent of APAC shoppers agreed that brands and products discovered on Meta technologies during the sales season are more relevant than those discovered on other platforms. Short-form videos emerged as powerful brand awareness drivers during the sales season, with 57 per cent of those surveyed saying they discovered new brands and products through short-form videos on social platforms.

This behaviour is especially pronounced in Gen Z and Millennials, with over 70 per cent saying they are always browsing online for shopping inspiration with a clear preference for short videos as discovery tools.

Also Read: The growth of business messaging: How it’s improving business performance in Southeast Asia

Our survey also uncovered some stark differences between Gen Z and Millennials. Gen Z shoppers appear to be more impulsive; 46 per cent of Gen Z shoppers took immediate action after discovering a brand/product by adding it to their carts, whereas for over half of Millennials (52 per cent), the online discovery led them to do more online research.

AI-driven mega sales

As we all know, something feels new this year, and that is the massive opportunity businesses have to use AI to build powerful connections with the growing ranks of Asia’s mega-sale shoppers.

So just as shoppers are planning early, marketers need to do the same if they are to offer customers value and remain competitive in a tight market. AI can help businesses automate campaigns or analyse performance and compare what works best at scale, and drive more efficient use of resources.

This is where our mature AI targeting technologies come into play, connecting businesses with valuable audiences at scale while respecting people’s choices on how their data is used. Meta Advantage is our suite of ad automation tools that help businesses maximise the performance benefits of AI to deliver superior campaign results.

Meta Advantage does this by allowing businesses to automate any or all of their campaigns. We invest in AI to help advertisers find, convert and keep customers through a variety of business objectives in a diversity of creative formats that flex to achieve outcomes that matter most to specific business growth. Put simply, AI can drive better performance by enabling brands to surprise and delight customers by intuitively serving up products they love – even before they’d even considered them.

Take the example of Pomelo, the Thai digital fashion platform that worked with us to automate some of its processes. They tested a Meta Advantage+ shopping campaign which uses machine learning to help brands reach audiences who are most likely to engage and convert.

Compared to manually created ads, Advantage+ shopping campaigns require fewer inputs during campaign creation, simplify audience options, and streamline the ad creative process. Pomelo relied on Meta’s powerful machine-learning technology to determine the best budget split to reach new and existing audiences. They achieve 2.1 times higher return on ad spend compared to the usual campaign setup.

Businesses can also use Meta Advantage for strategic targeting of segments to improve engagement and personalisation. Take the segment of ‘influencer followers’ that we identified. For this segment, creators have a stronger impact than brands when it comes to product awareness, consideration and purchase.

Among the subset of shoppers who follow creators, 79 per cent said they participated in MSD as they saw a promotion by a creator. Overall, 53 per cent agreed they look for creator/influencer recommendations to make holiday shopping decisions.

AI-assisted business messaging

One in two year-end shoppers also used Meta’s business messaging tools for inquiries, updates, tracking orders, returns and refunds management, payment/in-app checkout, and to access FAQs via chat automation or a chatbot.

Also Read: Future-proofing businesses and talent through technology

In Hong Kong, IKEA has implemented a Messenger-powered automated experience and promoted its automated care via Messenger Ads. Since doing so, IKEA Hong Kong has successfully improved the quality of its customer service and seen 300 per cent growth for Messenger as a customer care channel over a two-year period.

We are also seeing more businesses leveraging AI chatbots to provide instant customer support, guide users in purchasing decisions, and even upsell or cross-sell products, and this is all only set to grow.

AI-powered solutions and strategies

• Start early: Build enthusiasm early by setting earlier promotions or planning to launch new products to gain momentum. Leverage AI-driven solutions to hyper-personalise discoveries for shoppers that encourage conversion.
• Partner with creators: Collaborate with creators who align with your brand values and leverage co-branded marketing channels to spread the word.
• Harness AI to personalise at scale: With key segments in mind, increase your target audience by looking for new customers. Tap into AI, machine learning and business messaging to find the right audience at the right time at the best price.

To learn more about our solutions, click here.

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The past years have seen an unprecedented migration of transactions and interactions from offline to digital-first platforms, fueling the rise of a new wave of startups. In this landscape, startups have become especially vulnerable to cyber-attacks. As they expand their digital footprint through increased online transactions, data storage, and communication, they inadvertently create more entry points for potential attacks.

Case in point: Carousell, one of Singapore’s most well-known digital-first startups, announced last year that it suffered a personal data security breach which saw information from 2.6 million accounts being sold on the Dark Web and hacking forums. In a similar incident, Indonesia fintech Cermati was reported to have 2.9 million of its users’ data leaked and sold.

A single data breach can cost a startup millions of dollars in lost revenue, damaged reputation, and legal fees. While some of these can be recuperated through cyber insurance, the reputational damage can be irreversible, especially for startups trying to establish their reputation and presence in a nascent market.

That’s why it’s so important for startups to scale their cybersecurity along with the business at an early stage. By doing so, startups can build an unfair advantage over their competitors.

The benefits of cybersecurity

Having a strong cybersecurity posture can protect your organisation from cyberattacks. This can help to prevent data breaches, financial losses, and other damage. While you may be inclined to think that startups are not attractive to bad actors, that is not the case in practice. Due to the limited resources and lack of expertise, startups are more likely to be targeted by cyberattacks simply because they are seen as easy targets.

Aside from protection, ensuring that you have the right cybersecurity controls in place can also help your company stand out from your competitors. In industries that require them, attaining the right cybersecurity compliances can give you the edge that brings in the deals.

Also Read: Lessons from Echelon: Make cybersecurity a priority from day one of the business planning

Even in industries that do not require regulatory compliance, showing that you’ve achieved certain cybersecurity certifications, like ISO 27001, can help you build trust with your customers and investors. In fact, 73 per cent of APAC companies admitted that they had lost deals due to low confidence in their security strategy.

Taking the first steps

Founders do not need to hire an entire security team right at the start. Knowing the unique environment in which startups run, it’s important to focus on other functions like product, operations, and marketing. However, that doesn’t mean cybersecurity should be out of the picture.

Here are some steps you can take to begin your cybersecurity maturity journey:

• Start with a strong foundation. This includes having a clear understanding of your cybersecurity risks and developing a comprehensive cybersecurity plan. By having a security strategy in place, you’ll be able to understand your risks, what you need to protect, and which tools or services to procure to ensure its protection.
• Educate employees about cybersecurity: Employees should be educated about cybersecurity risks and how to protect themselves and their credentials from being stolen. Most cyberattacks start from a successful breach into an employee’s account through social engineering or phishing before moving laterally and accessing the company’s entire network. Building the ‘human firewall’ is essential in lowering your organisation’s risk.
• Have a plan for responding to cyberattacks: Often overlooked, startups should have a plan for responding to cyberattacks. In this plan, what counts as an ‘incident’ is defined, the incident response team from threat recovery to communications is defined, and your process of dealing with a successful attack is outlined. This document will show your company’s preparedness and provide clear SOPs when an incident occurs.

How to scale cybersecurity

As your organisation grows, cybersecurity needs to then scale accordingly. This means that they need to invest in new security technologies, hire security staff, and develop new security procedures.

Also Read: The future of cybersecurity: A plan to fill the workforce gap and protect the world

Here, depending on the size of your company and requirements, you can choose from the following:

• Hiring a Managed Services Provider (MSP): For companies without high requirements and would just like to have peace of mind over their network, an MSP may be the way to go. MSPs can provide startups with a comprehensive set of cybersecurity services, including threat monitoring, incident response, and security consulting.
• Using SaaS cybersecurity solutions: If you have a security team, a good option is to look into cloud-native cybersecurity tools and solutions for them to perform their jobs effectively without the need for high hardware investments.
• Building your dedicated Security Operations Centre (SOC): This is the costliest option, as it requires you to hire a team and procure both hardware and software for your cybersecurity. This allows you the most control over your network, and some organisations may require this right from the start, such as those operating in regulated industries that require your network to be on-prem.

This is not a one-fixed-path situation; you could start with an MSP and transition into an in-house SOC over the course of the years as your security needs grow and change. As such, it’s not as important to pick the ‘right’ solution but to pick the ‘best-fit’ solution and implement it early enough to be a part of your operational culture.

In conclusion, cybersecurity is essential for startups of all sizes. By scaling their cybersecurity along with the business at an early stage, startups can build an unfair advantage over their competitors as they’re able to lower risks, comply with regulations, and build trust with customers and investors.

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Immuno Cure bags US$12M, gears up for IPO

Hong Kong-based Immuno Cure BioTech closed the US$12 million tranche of its US$27 million Series A fundraising round, led by Gobi Partners-managed AEF Greater Bay Area Fund.

The biotech company will use the capital to accelerate the development of DNA vaccines and antibodies besides preparing for an IPO in Hong Kong.

Immuno Cure focuses on R&D of immunotherapies for cancers, inflammatory and infectious diseases based on its patented “PD-1-enhanced DNA Vaccine Platform” and “Anti-Δ42PD1 Antibody Platform” with two DNA vaccine candidates, ICVAX and ICCOV, currently in clinical trials.

GoodMorning Global secures US$4.4M via ECF

GoodMorning Global Group, a provider of “affordable” plant-based balanced nutrition for Malaysia and global communities, secured a record RM20 million (US$4.4 million) from over 1,000 investors in an equity crowdfunding (ECF) campaign.

The company will use the funds to accelerate biotechnology and food technology research while supporting its prospective IPO listing over the next two years.

Established in 2008, GoodMorning Global is a nutritional multigrain and biotechnology company. It engages in research and production of plant-based protein and multi-grain products.

Sunrate nets fresh funding

Sunrate, a cross-border payment platform for businesses, raised an extended Series D (D2) funding round from Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia (now known as Peak XV Partners).

Saudi Aramco-owned Prosperity7 Ventures and Softbank Ventures Asia co-invested.

Last month, Sunrate secured an undisclosed sum in its Series D1 led by Prosperity7 Ventures.

The startup will use the fresh funds to accelerate growth in emerging markets, such as Southeast Asia and India, and continue to onboard new customers globally. In addition, it will look to hire employees.

Peeba debuts in Southeast Asia

Y Combinator-backed Peeba announced the setting up its office in Indonesia, marking the first step of its Southeast Asia (SEA) expansion journey.

The online B2B wholesale marketplace wants to change the game for small retailers by enabling them to compete on the same footing as larger retailers through online and offline channels. The company aims to implement a “sell first, pay later” model for small retailers.

In a press statement, Peeba says it allows retail stores across Indonesia to buy products from thousands of curated global and local brands on consignment, so they can pay for goods they can sell and return the rest to Peeba. According to the company, this means that small retailers do not need to incur hefty upfront payments, allowing them to stock high-quality products in their stores.

Mirxes lands US$50M

Singapore-headquartered RNA technology company, Mirxes Holding, completed its Series D funding round, securing US$50 million.

The round is anchored by existing and new investors, including Beijing Fupu, EDBI, Mitsui & Co., NHH Venture Fund, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research.

Mirxes Holding will use the capital to scale the adoption and penetration of its stomach cancer blood test, GASTROClear, in major Asia-Pacific markets, including Southeast Asia, China, and Japan.

A portion of the funds will be used to accelerate the development and commercialisation of Mirxes’s maturing clinical pipeline, including a blood-based colorectal cancer screening test and the multi-cancer early detection test under Project CADENCE. Project CADENCE is a project to develop a single blood test for the early detection of nine high-mortality cancers powered by the company’s RNA technology and other complementary biomarker technologies.

Resolution Ventures Fund I hits final close

Singapore-based venture capital firm Resolution Ventures made the final close of its first fintech fund.

An international community of fintech-interested institutions, unnamed family offices, finance executives and entrepreneurs invested.

With Resolution Fintech Fund I, the VC firm aims to invest in Southeast Asia’s founders developing solutions that have local, regional, and international applications.

The fund seeks to back pre-seed and seed-stage firms. The ticket size ranges between US$250,000 and US$750,000.

Bunker secures US$5M

Singapore-based startup Bunker, which provides a modern financial analytics platform for SMEs, secured over US$5 million over two funding rounds.

The investors include January Capital, Alpha JWC, GFC, Northstar Group, Money Forward, Alpine Ventures, and Patamar Capital.

Angel investors, namely Chris Lin, Rosemary DeAaragon, Tiger Fang, Gaurav Gupta, Christian Sutardi, Warren Tseng, Jonathan Wong, Nakul Malhotra, and Shaun Hon, also participated.

Bunker was founded in 2021 by CEO Shivom Sinha, formerly VP (strategic finance) at Gojek and Senior Associate (Strategic Finance) at Uber.

Bunker is an intuitive platform that gives executives “deep financial visibility” by turning the thousands of overlooked rows in the general ledger into actionable insights.

GIMO closes US$17.1M Series A

GIMO, a Vietnam-based startup providing flexible pay and financial well-being solutions for underbanked workers, raised an undisclosed sum in Series A funding to close the round at US$17.1 million.

TNB Aura led the round and saw participation from existing backers Integra Partners, Resolution Ventures, Blauwpark Partners, ThinkZone Ventures, and Y Combinator.

Genting Ventures, TKG Taekwang, George Kent, and Asia-focused private credit financier AlteriQ Global also joined.

The final closing, comprising equity and debt financing, came five months after GIMO secured US$5.1 million in the first close.

2MR Labs secures funding, announces strategic partnerships

2MR Labs (Tomorrow Labs), an Asia-based digital assets launchpad co-founded and funded by Temasek-owned Heliconia Capital, raised an undisclosed sum in a new funding round from Plug and Play APAC, The Assembly Place, PG, and LucidBlue Ventures.

The additional cash injection will enable 2MR Labs to support businesses transitioning into Web3. The firm looks to build its first phygital economy and bring digital assets into the forefront of the Asia consumer landscape, driving widespread adoption and redefining how businesses operate in a new digital era.

In addition, 2MR Labs has also announced a series of strategic investments and brand partnerships. With a focus on building a robust Phygital (physical plus digital) economy, these alliances aim to drive widespread adoption of Web3 technologies and strategies.

Zuno Carbon raises US$2.5M

Singapore-headquartered climate-tech startup Zuno Carbon secured US$2.5 million in seed funding led by Wavemaker Partners.

SEEDS Capital and Blue InCube Ventures also participated.

This brings the total funds raised by Zuno Carbon in the past 12 months to over US$3 million and follows a pre-seed round in June last year.

The money will be used to ramp up Zuno Carbon’s sales and marketing efforts, launch new features to simplify compliance and catalyse decarbonisation with real, tangible actions.

Founded in 2020, Zuno Carbon provides decarbonisation solutions for organisations of all sizes to reduce their environmental impact.

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What does it take to know if a borrower is good for the money?

While credit scores may be the most obvious answer, there’s another simple way to assess creditworthiness: bank statements. The day-to-day transactions of a borrower can tell a lot about one’s financial health—from their income to spending patterns.

When combined with a robust underwriting strategy, bank statements can give lenders a holistic picture of borrowers’ finances. 

Transaction analysis, however, isn’t new—lenders have been assessing borrowers based on their bank statements for a while now. But thanks to digitisation, they can now be leveraged for better and more holistic underwriting.

The process is now automated, making it faster and more accurate, with zero human intervention. Today, bank statement analysis for digital lending happens in three ways:

• PDF upload: Much like the traditional submission of bank statements, borrowers are asked to upload their bank statements during their application/onboarding. These PDFs are then vetted for authenticity and transactions to determine the borrower’s creditworthiness. 
• Net banking:  Borrowers are requested to log in to their net banking account, from which bank statements are extracted for analysis.
• OTP-based consent to access borrower data from account aggregator: Thanks to RBI green-lighting the Account Aggregator framework in September 2021, bank statement analysis—and in the process, onboarding—has become a lot more efficient. Now, lenders can extract transactions of users with their consent with a simple OTP authentication.  

Decoding the financials of borrowers

Thanks to data analytics, automated bank statement analysers can assess the financial health of borrowers by classifying transactions and detecting patterns. This data can further be used in the underwriting process to determine the eligibility of customers and set price-based rates of interest.

Also Read: Is fintech in SEA changing its focus for further development?

Here are some of the metrics that can be used from transactions:

• Liabilities of the borrowers: Financial statement analysers look for bulk withdrawals, or patterns of withdrawals at regular intervals to determine the obligations of borrowers. When combined with credit scores, this can give a lender a clear picture of a borrower’s liabilities. And in new-to-credit cases, these liabilities can help lenders determine the affordability of the borrower, enabling them to extend an optimum credit amount. 
• Income: Bank statements are reliable proof of borrowers’ monthly income. Automated analysers can detect salaries and any other regular income that the borrower may have. Analysers can also check for the average bank balance each month to determine income-spending habits. 
• Merchant categorisation: Automated transaction analysis can also give lenders a clear picture of the borrower’s spending habits by categorising transactions from merchants. These categorisations can also help lenders check for the financial prudence of the borrowers. For example, timely payment of loans and utility bills.  

Apart from detecting transaction trends, analysers can also help flag malicious activity like tampered bank statements, wrong updation of statements, and more.

These analyses, while they sound like a lot of work, happen quietly in the background during onboarding and may simply take minutes, if not seconds!

The building blocks for modern, scalable lending

Thanks to deep data analytics, AI, and ML, lenders can disburse credit faster, at scale, and across contexts. And leveraging automated transaction analysis plays a crucial role in this endeavour too. Here’s how advancement in bank statement analysis has helped lenders scale their business digitally:

• Error-free decision-making: Automated bank statement analysers need zero human intervention, leaving less room for errors. Lenders can rely on these analysers for better decisions. 
• Lightning-fast speed: Transaction analysers can process statements in a matter of seconds. An efficient bank statement analyser, when integrated with a lender’s workflow, can help disburse credit to customers in minutes. 
• Optimal loan pricing: Bank statement analysers give lenders a holistic view of a borrower’s financial health, enabling lenders to categorise borrowers based on risk profiles. This helps set optimal disbursal amounts at optimal rates of interest.

Modern lending stands on speed, precision, and minimal friction. However, a lender’s core strength lies in constantly fine-tuning its underwriting models. Upgrading to automated transaction analysis is a sure-shot way to optimise and scale a credit product. 

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This article was first published on September 1, 2022.

Noodle Factory leverages AI to automate the creation, preparation, and grading of exams and assessments. While human teachers only teach one way of solving a problem, Noodle Factory’s AI tutors claim to learn and develop different methods and remember new approaches that students may have. It creates a personalised learning experience that gives direct instruction and feedback to learners.

The Singaporean startup, founded in 2018 by Yvonne Soh and Jim Wagstaff, serves higher education, K-12 and corporate learning institutions in Australia, Asia and the UK. In August 2021, the startup raised US$500,000 in seed funding, supported by edutech accelerators EduSpaze and SuperCharger Ventures and a consortium of angels.

Soh believes that technology helps free up valuable time so that students and educators can spend more time on meaningful interactions instead of being replaced by machines. 

At the AWS Public Sector Summit in October 2022, Soh said that the edutech platform would like to scale what educators do in order to give personalised attention to each student.

In this interview, Soh speaks about the prevalent problem of burnout in educators and the gap in the market as edutech solutions are typically student-focused. 

Edited excerpts:

Tell us about your background and its relevance to your current line of work.

I’ve always been in tech since I started work (many years ago!), although I majored in philosophy in my past life at university. I’ve done various roles in different tech companies, but they primarily focused on product management, marketing and technical sales.

I enjoy working closely with customers to understand their needs and see how tech can help make things better.

Can you talk about the moment you came up with the idea for this business?

About 13 years ago, my Co-Founder and I got into education, specifically adult education. My area of focus was developing complementary learning technologies to make the learning ‘sticky’ for learners.

During that time, I realised that one of the most significant issues in education is that educators are overworked, and it isn’t easy to scale what they do. That is when we started exploring the use of AI to automate educator tasks and engage learners better.

One of the things we thought was that “wouldn’t it be nice if we could create an AI version of ourselves (educators) so we can engage our students more and be there whenever they need us?” And that is how Noodle Factory was born!

Is there any personal experience that influences the founding of Noodle Factory?

Having personally been in education, we met many fellow educators. We realised how dedicated educators were and that many were in the profession because they genuinely wanted to make an impact.

However, they are also often neglected when it comes to educator-focused technologies and solutions. And because there is so much that educators need to do, many are burnt out and leave the profession. We then wanted to create an educator-first solution, a solution created by educators for educators.

What is the one problem you aim to solve with Noodle Factory? Why is this significant to the market/audience you cater to?

Educator burnout. We strongly believe that good teachers make great students, and we need to empower and support teachers as much as we can.

Describe your offering. What makes it unique?

We are an AI-powered teaching assistant platform. What makes us unique is that we use AI practically, the way it was intended to assist humans, in this case, teachers.

We empower teachers with simple-to-use AI to provide personalised learning experiences for their students. They can do this at scale as repetitive tasks (like marking and tutoring) are automated.

Can you tell us about the product development process? What has been the most challenging part of developing your product? How did you overcome it?

We believe in working closely with our customers to refine our product further. One of our fundamental design principles is that the product must be so easy to use that it takes only a few minutes (just like making a cup of instant noodles!).

Also Read: The future of education is AI: Here’s how it will look

One of the most challenging parts of developing the product is the user experience. Often (and we are guilty of this ourselves), we get wrapped up in trying to develop many ‘cool’ features, but they are not usable if no one knows what to do with them.

So, it’s always important to test the user interface, talk to users, and get feedback. There will be bad feedback, which sometimes does hurt if I’m being honest, as the product is like my baby. However, it’s essential to remember that we are building a product for our customers, not ourselves!

What challenges did you have to overcome when starting Noodle Factory?

Edutech is not something that is ‘sexy’, and when we started the company in 2018 (before the pandemic), there was little focus on Edutech. Being a B2B business, we needed institutions to want to invest in Edutech, and that was also difficult.

Many schools were not that open to new technology, and school budget cycles tended to be quite slow. The pandemic brought more attention to the importance of Edutech, more importantly, how overworked teachers were.

Although it is a fairly long sales cycle, it is gratifying when your product/technology can make a positive impact.

Can you tell us about your funding history? What is your plan with the latest funding?

We were bootstrapping for about three years, and in August 2021, we closed our seed round of funding with different angel investors and accelerators.

Since closing our seed round, we have grown the company in terms of our learning success team and our user base more than three times in the last nine months. We currently are running pilots with 25 institutions across several countries. We do have plans to extend our funding round so that we can expand into new markets.

Do you have any tips for fundraising companies?

Don’t give up! It can be quite discouraging at times as you will face many rejections. It takes time to build relationships and find the right partner. Don’t just chase the money; look for a long-term partner to help you grow the business.

Also, with every meeting, even if you get rejected, listening to the feedback and absorbing as much learning as possible is essential. There’s always room for improvement.

Who are your key competitors? How are you setting yourself apart from them?

We don’t have a lot of direct competitors as this is a relatively new area. However, we have met with competitors like Google’s teaching assistant, IBM Watson, and Antares. One of the key ways we set ourselves apart is to focus on providing simple-to-use AI. We can onboard our customers in just a few days, which is something not a lot of competitors can say.

What was the most challenging time that the company had gone through? How did you handle it? What lessons did you learn from it?

It’s always hard (haha!). I think a difficult time was when we worked hard on a large opportunity and had the deal fall through. It was disappointing and scary as we depended on it for our livelihood! But we learnt to be agile, adapt, and quickly refocus to get back on track.

How did the pandemic impact your organisation?

We’d always had work from anywhere culture, so the lockdowns did not really affect how we worked as we were already used to it.

From a business standpoint, we found that there was more attention on the need for edutech, and even now, post-pandemic, there is a lot of focus on leveraging Edutech to improve education.

How do you envision the next five years for your company?

I think you will see Walter, the name of our platform, in many more schools, industries and countries across the globe, supporting multiple languages. We plan to expand our footprint and establish a presence in some of our key markets.

Also Read: Why GoImpact believes that education is the key to promoting ESG investment

We also see a lot of potential for partnerships with complementary solution providers. Being early in the market, we also hope to be a market leader and well-known AI teaching assistant platform in the next few years.

What important milestones have you made so far?

We are currently running pilots with several renowned educational institutions and have tripled our user base in less than a year. Also, we have successfully expanded into our target markets: the US, UK and Australia.

Tell us about your company culture. What would be the best reason to join your company?

I always say we are a small but strong team. One of the best reasons is that we only work on what we are passionate about. We have a very flexible company culture. All of us can work from anywhere and on our own time. We also have an unlimited leave policy. We trust each other and it’s worked out well so far.

Any person, incident or philosophy that inspires your company culture?

I would say that (again, eons ago!), when I worked in the corporate world, I would often get Monday blues. And it felt meaningless to me that I spent such a large percentage of my time doing something that I somehow dread.

I realised it wasn’t that I didn’t like the work but was conflicted as I needed to manage my personal life too. So that is one thing we always believe in, which is to give our employees the flexibility to manage their time so they can be fulfilled both personally and professionally.

What is the funniest thing a team member/investor/client ever said about your company? Do you have any memorable story or incident from your journey so far (in this organisation)?

As you can imagine, we are often mistaken for a literal factory that makes noodles (because of our company name). It’s often the first thing anyone asks us.

I remember the first few times I did a sales presentation and worked hard to deliver a good presentation. When someone raised their hand to ask a question, I was waiting anxiously to answer it, wondering if it would be a difficult question, and they asked: “Why are you called Noodle Factory?”

I’m used to that now. I often receive promotional emails providing me with market information about the pasta market.

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Dear Pro member,

Akseleran, a P2P lending startup, has joined the list of Indonesian startups to resort to employee layoffs due to a funding crunch. The company’s CEO, Ivan Nikolas Tambunan, explains that this restructuring is necessary to position Akseleran for optimal operation and sustained growth, ensuring its long-term financial health. The decision aims to navigate the challenges posed by the funding shortage and create a more stable foundation for the company’s future.

Despite the setback, Akseleran remains ambitious and sets its sights on going public with an IPO in June 2024. The company’s leadership appears determined to use the current restructuring as an opportunity to streamline operations and improve overall efficiency, thereby increasing its attractiveness to potential investors during the IPO process.

By undertaking these measures and carefully managing its resources, Akseleran hopes to emerge from the funding crunch stronger and well-prepared to achieve its long-term business objectives. The success of its IPO venture will largely depend on the effectiveness of the restructuring efforts and the ability to demonstrate sustainable growth and financial stability to the market.

This is the top story of today’s Ecosystem Roundup.

Have a look at all the major recent happenings in Southeast Asia’s startup scene.

Sainul,
Editor.

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Indonesia’s Akseleran lays off 60 employees after postponing IPO
The P2P lender says this restructuring will ensure the company is in an “optimal condition” to operate, as well as drive long-term growth and maintain financial health. In other words, it is “not a shortcut”.

Carousell records 67% revenue growth in FY22 as expenses climb 57%
Revenue for the period was US$82.5M; Revenue from classifieds advertising, which includes subscription fees and business analytics tools, continued to be a major contributor.

Singaporean VC firm Resolution Ventures hits final close of fintech fund I
Resolution Ventures Fintech Fund I seeks to back pre-seed and seed-stage firms with a ticket size ranging from US$250K to US$750K.

Mirxes lands US$50M to take its cancer early detection solutions to new markets
The investors include EDBI, Mitsui & Co., and NHH Venture Fund; The startup will use the capital to scale the adoption and penetration of its stomach cancer blood test, GASTROClear, in major APAC markets.

Sea Group injects US$172.5M into its Singapore digibank
MariBank, which was rolled out in March this year on an invite-only basis, offers personal savings accounts, business accounts, and business loan products.

Jirnexu founders launch crypto fund manager Halogen Capital
The new company aims to make crypto investing mainstream in Malaysia; Halogen Capital also has a Shariah-compliant fund for Bitcoin and plans to roll out a similar fund for Ethereum.

HK biotech firm Immuno Cure gears up for IPO with US$12M funding
AEF Greater Bay Area Fund is the lead investor; Immuno Cure specialises in immunotherapies for cancers as well as inflammatory and infectious diseases.

HashKey, Animoca back Aethir’s pre-series A at US$150M valuation
The Singapore-based decentralised cloud infrastructure company Aethir plans to use the fresh capital to fast-track its expansion in key markets like SEA, LatAm, and North America.

Ex-Gojek VP’s modern financial analytics platform Bunker secures US$5M
The investors include January Capital, Alpha JWC, GFC, and Patamar Capital; Bunker gives executives “deep financial visibility” by turning the thousands of overlooked rows in the general ledger into actionable insights.

Plant-based meat firm GoodMorning Global secures US$4.4M via crowdfunding
GoodMorning Global aims to launch its first flagship product WonderMeat, a dry-mix complete nutrition plant-based meat.

Traveloka to shut down bill payment, top-up services in October
Some services, such as payments for housing taxes and other property-related bills, will be phased out starting August 11, according to a notification on the app.

Sunrate nets fresh funding to grow its cross-border B2B payment biz in SEA, India
The investor is Peak XV Partners; Singapore-headquartered Sunrate enables businesses to make payments to more than 150 countries and transact in 100+ currencies.

Peeba debuts in SEA to help small retailers stay competitive
Peeba says that it allows retail stores across Indonesia to buy products from thousands of curated global and local brands on consignment.

Peak XV names Rohit Agarwal as MD for Singapore
The VC firm said Agarwal will focus on the region’s early- and growth-stage investments; The exec’s expertise is in fintech, SaaS, consumer goods, and e-commerce investments.

‘Second and third-time founders tend to raise too much too early’: Ringkas’s Ilya Kravtsov
He also advises that entrepreneurs should see things from an investor angle, not purely from the founders’ perspective.

Demystifying the financial impacts of climate change with Intensel
Intensel leverages AI, big data, and its team’s combined expertise in climate science and finance to create its analytics platform.

AI tools enhance efficiency but can never replace human creativity: Gia Ngo of Give.Asia
AI has made remarkable strides, but what’s catalysing its impact is the recent move to make AI technologies more accessible to the public, says Ngo.

How to boost your pitch deck engagement with investors in 2023
To increase your investor outreach success rate and land meetings, your pitch deck game must be inventive.

Financial literacy in Southeast Asia is set to match industry growth
Financial literacy in the region hardly corresponds to the development of the industry. However, there is a good chance to balance the situation.

Are you ready for Asia Pacific’s first AI-driven mega sales season?
AI aids businesses in automating campaigns, analysing performance, and optimising resource allocation at scale for greater efficiency.

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Hong Kong-based Immuno Cure BioTech has closed the US$12 million tranche of its US$27 million Series A fundraising round, led by Gobi Partners-managed AEF Greater Bay Area Fund.

The biotech company will use the capital to accelerate the development of DNA vaccines and antibodies besides preparing for an IPO in Hong Kong.

Immuno Cure focuses on R&D of immunotherapies for cancers, inflammatory and infectious diseases based on its patented “PD-1-enhanced DNA Vaccine Platform” and “Anti-Δ42PD1 Antibody Platform” with two DNA vaccine candidates, ICVAX and ICCOV, currently in clinical trials.

Also Read: Mirxes lands US$50M to take its cancer early detection solutions to new markets

ICVAX, a therapeutic DNA vaccine candidate against HIV/AIDS, was developed with the aim of inducing broadly reactive polyfunctional viral-specific T cells to achieve a functional cure for HIV/AIDS. The Phase-I clinical trial of ICVAX, which is underway in Shenzhen, is designed as a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of ICVAX in a total of 45 stable HIV/AIDS patient volunteers under antiretroviral therapy.

ICCOV, a preventive COVID-19 DNA vaccine candidate, has entered the Phase IIa clinical trial in Hong Kong, which is designed as an open-label study to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of ICCOV as a booster vaccine in a total of 60 healthy adult volunteers between 18 and 75 years of age.

Also Read: How is AI transforming the future of cancer diagnosis

Dr Xia JIN, CEO of Immuno Cure, said: “Immuno Cure will continue to be at the frontier of DNA medicines, antibodies and innovative immunotherapies, conducting R&D on novel and effective vaccine technologies to enhance our arsenal against cancers and infectious diseases.”

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to transform the healthcare and life sciences landscape. Its ability to process vast amounts of data quickly and accurately is pivotal in this era of personalised medicine.

Harmonix is an active investor in life sciences and deeptech companies. The US-based global VC firm has invested in several AI-based drug discovery and other life sciences companies, including Insilico Medicine, Strateos, Sorcero, xCures, Caresyntax, and Bioz.

In this email interview, Harmonix’s General Partner talks about generative AI, its applications in medicine and 3D printing, the status of the global VC landscape, and more.

Edited excerpts:

AI has shown great promise in accelerating drug discovery processes and reducing costs. How does Harmonix assess the potential of AI-driven life sciences startups, and what specific criteria do you look for when considering such investments?

Harmonix utilises an evidence-based approach to diligence; we apply the fundamentals of scientific rigour in making data-driven investment decisions. Regarding AI and drug discovery, we look for proof-of-concept for the platform, including developing a viable in-vivo validated lead candidate.

Also Read: Unleashing the power: The fierce talent battle in deeptech innovations

Furthermore, we invest in drug development companies, not pure target discovery. We look for proprietary data access and utilisation, specifically heterogeneity in the data the algorithms are trained on. Finally, we seek mission-driven teams with computation expertise and prior therapeutic asset development experiences.

With the recent breakthroughs in 3D printing of human organs, regenerative medicine is undergoing a revolution. Does Harmonix have any ongoing or planned investments in companies working on this technology, and how do you envision its impact on healthcare in the next decade?

Yes, Harmonix was an early investor in Volumetric Biotechnologies (acquired by 3D Systems for US$400 million). Volumetric used advanced 3D printing technology to print vascularised and perfusable tissue scaffolds that pharmaceutical companies could use for ex-vivo drug testing. Volumetric’s moonshot goal was to 3D print biocompatible human organs for transplantation, and it continues to work as a subsidiary of 3D Systems in accomplishing this goal.

Harmonix is also an investor in a human cell reprogramming company called bit.bio, which manufactures human-cell-based models for next-generation human cell therapies for regenerative medicine.

We are optimistic that regenerative medicine will continue to harbour breakthroughs over the next decade, particularly in the ability to emulate human physiology outside of the body to test the pharmacokinetics and safety of drugs in development.

Asia has been rapidly growing in the tech and innovation space. How does Harmonix view the investment opportunities in Asia, particularly regarding life sciences and deep tech startups? Are there any unique challenges or advantages to investing in this region?

Given its rapidly growing technology and innovation space, Asia presents significant potential for investment opportunities, particularly for life sciences and deep tech startups.

With the rise of highly educated talent, increasing government support for science and technology, and a large and growing market, Asia has become a hotbed for innovation. Asia’s deep tech scene is thriving, from AI to biotechnology, robotics to healthcare tech.

As for the advantages of investing in Asia, the sheer size and diversity of the market are significant, given the region’s population of over 4.5 billion and its massive consumer base for new technologies and treatments. In addition, the speed of technological adoption in many Asian countries is remarkable and often outpaces Western markets.

Yet, there are unique challenges to investing in Asia. Regulatory environments can be complex and vary significantly from country to country, and cultural and language differences can sometimes pose challenges.

Furthermore, intellectual property protection might be different from what we’re accustomed to in Western markets. As a result, it’s essential to develop a nuanced understanding of each country’s unique market dynamics.

Also Read: Top 4 lessons I’ve learned building a deeptech brand from scratch

Aside from its unique challenges, Asia presents the potential for high-impact and high-return investments in life sciences and deep-tech startups that are very exciting from our standpoint.

Generative AI has shown impressive capabilities in various creative fields, from art to music. How do you see the future of generative AI intersecting with the life sciences industry?

The intersection of generative AI with the life sciences industry is an exciting frontier with enormous potential. Generative AI has already demonstrated its ability to drive creativity and innovation in numerous fields, and the life sciences are certainly no exception.

One of the most promising areas is drug discovery. Generative AI can be used to generate new potential drug molecules, predict their properties, and screen them for potential efficacy and safety. This could significantly speed up the traditionally lengthy and costly drug discovery process.

Another potential application lies within the realm of personalised medicine. Generative AI could be used to create predictive models for how specific individuals might respond to certain treatments, enabling doctors to tailor therapies to individual patients.

Moreover, in genomics, generative AI could help us understand complex genetic data and unravel the connections between genetic variations and certain diseases or conditions. This could aid in the early diagnosis and prevention of diseases.

The venture capital landscape is constantly evolving. What recent changes have you observed in the industry?

The venture capital landscape is indeed a dynamic and ever-evolving field. We’ve noticed several trends that are particularly noteworthy.

Firstly, there’s been a global expansion of venture capital activities. There are burgeoning tech ecosystems, not just in Silicon Valley but also in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world.

The growth in Asia is particularly striking. While this presents enormous opportunities, it also brings unique challenges like understanding local markets, regulatory environments, and cultural nuances.

Secondly, there’s a clear trend towards democratising venture capital, with crowdfunding and other platforms providing more people with the opportunity to invest in early-stage companies. This means increased competition but also more potential co-investors and partners.

Thirdly, there’s a growing emphasis on socially responsible investing. Investors are increasingly concerned about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.

Also Read: How Malaysia is championing regenerative medicine technology

Finally, the rise of deeptech and life sciences startups, fuelled by advancements in AI, biotechnology, and other fields, has been a significant development.

Looking ahead to the next six to twelve months, what developments or trends do you expect to shape the venture capital space? Are there any new sectors or technologies that Harmonix is particularly interested in exploring during this period?

There are several developments and trends that we expect will shape the venture capital space over the next six to twelve months:

Continued growth of AI and ML: We anticipate the ongoing maturation and growth of AI and ML technologies, especially in industries such as healthcare, finance, logistics, space, and climate tech. We expect increased interest in startups using AI to solve complex problems or streamline processes in these sectors.

Bioinformatics and genomics: With the drop in sequencing costs and increased computational power, we expect an upward trend in investment in genomics and bioinformatics companies. These companies can leverage these technologies to bring about personalised medicine, better drug discovery processes, and solutions for complex diseases.

Sustainability and greentech: Given the increasing global emphasis on climate change and sustainability, we believe startups focusing on green tech and sustainability solutions will continue attracting significant venture capital.

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Founders building their second or third venture are always highly respected in the ecosystem. Investors usually are more willing to invest in them as they believe that serial entrepreneurs come with “loads” of experience starting and growing startups. Besides, VCs perceive they tend to make fewer mistakes than they made while building their first businesses.

True, a second or third-time founder knows how to build a stronger business with less cash, what to do when his or her company is in crisis, how to manage cash flow, how to navigate an unfavourable economic climate, how to address employee churn, and how to motivate the colleagues, and most importantly, how not to repeat past mistakes. They also successfully raise multi-million dollars in their first round of investment.

In general, serial entrepreneurs try to do things differently.

Also Read: How Ringkas replaces paper-based mortgage application process in Indonesia with digital tools

In this article, the first from the e27‘s AskMeAnything series, Ilya Kravtsov takes questions from users about the experience of being a serial entrepreneur. Based in Indonesia, Kravtsov has built two businesses in two different verticals. PouchNATION is an NFC-based guest management startup, while Ringkas aims to simplify Indonesia’s complicated mortgage application process by providing easy-to-use tools for agents, property developers, customers and banks.

While investing in a company, shouldn’t the VCs go by the merit of the idea and their conviction rather than the founder’s experience? What do you think?

You are 100 per cent right; a second or third-time founder alone doesn’t mean much if the experiences you went through are not meaningful.

This can be applied to anything one goes through; one can graduate from a university but still have limited knowledge. So it is crucial to differentiate between founders who truly lived and breathed through their previous experiences and those who just ticked the box in their CVs.

What mistakes do second or third-time founders tend to make while building their new ventures?

Second or third-time founders raise too much too early as they have access to more capital and investors. They tend to over-raise before achieving the product-market fit, which is unhealthy.

Could you share some insights and strategies on how to build investor networks and maintain strong relationships with them effectively? What are the key lessons you’ve learned along the way that contributed to your success in attracting and retaining supportive investors?

Investor relations are critical and not always an easy task. Sometimes expectations are not aligned, and you lose trust. This was one of the most important growth areas in my career.

Also Read: Ringkas raises US$3.5M to digitalise mortgage process in Indonesia

When you start your business, you might be a good operator but miss the investor perspective entirely. The best advice here is always to see things from an investor angle and not purely from a founder’s perspective. Imagine what you would do if you were in their shoes (founders often forget that). The rest comes purely with experience.”

How do you manage investor expectations and demonstrate your ability to deliver a successful outcome with your current venture?

I believe communication is key. If you feel things are not going exactly in your desired direction, you must over-communicate with your investors and ask them for feedback and advice. This builds trust.

What advice would you give an entrepreneur starting his or her second company?

Spend a lot of time researching the business before jumping into it. Get validation, talk to potential customers, and understand the size of the opportunity. The earlier you clear these points, the fewer issues you will face later.

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Image Credit: Ringkas.

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Digital acceleration hasn’t been sufficient. “The ability of people to process economic information and make informed decisions about financial planning, savings, debt and retirement” (as one of the definitions of financial literacy goes) is becoming more and more important around the world. Southeast Asia is not an exception, given the rapidly growing financial needs of the population and the range of financial opportunities.

A few years ago, the average financial literacy of the population in SEA (excluding Brunei and Laos) was estimated at 34 per cent, even higher than the global average of 33 per cent (2014). However, excluding the two leaders of the region — Singapore (59 per cent) and Myanmar (52 per cent) — it equalled only 27 per cent.

So, only three out of ten adults in the rest of the region could be called financially literate. For comparison: the top ten included seven European countries, as well as Canada, Israel and Australia, with indicators of 63-71 per cent.

Since then, the situation in Southeast Asia has improved significantly. The COVID-19 pandemic had a particularly powerful impact on it due to the region’s proximity to its epicentre. The rapid digitalisation of all spheres of life, including finance, increased the financial inclusion of the population, which also affected financial literacy.

For example, according to Fintech and Financial Literacy in Vietnam, the level of financial literacy was higher for people who used fintech products than for those who did not (score of 5.1 vs 4.3).

While in 2017, the indicator of financial exclusion in ASEAN was 46 per cent, in 2022, it decreased to 23 per cent. The region set the goal to reduce financial exclusion to 30 per cent by 2025 but significantly surpassed it much earlier due to the pandemic.

At the same time, there was an increase in the level of financial literacy. In a 2022 survey by the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK), the level of financial literacy was 50 per cent, 12 per cent higher than in 2019. According to the 2020 Bank of Thailand/OECD survey, in Thailand, it equalled 71 per cent, up five per cent from 2018. Meanwhile, in the S&P 2014 report, this figure was only 27 per cent.

Nevertheless, the level of financial literacy in the region remains insufficient. The United Nations Capital Development Fund report (2022) stated that most countries in the region demonstrated little knowledge of basic financial terms, limited financial skills, including the inability to use an account without assistance and insufficient financial behaviour, such as saving for retirement.

Here is another example. According to the Philippine Financial Inclusion Survey (2021), only two per cent of respondents were able to correctly answer all six questions related to financial literacy. Only 30 per cent gave correct answers about simple and compound interest. Less than half of respondents (42 per cent) understood the impact of inflation on purchasing power, 13 per cent lower than in 2019.

No obvious connection between the development of countries and financial literacy

Despite the rapid acceleration of financial inclusion in the region, the status of financial literacy here still remains ambiguous.

On the one hand, this can be explained by the difference in the development of countries. For example, in Singapore, GDP per capita is almost US$134k, while in Laos and Cambodia, it is only US$9.8k and US$6.1k, respectively.

Another reason is different bases for accelerating financial inclusion. For example, Singapore and Thailand have already achieved high levels of financial inclusion. This has allowed reaching 98 per cent and 96 per cent of the adult population to own bank accounts, respectively. At the same time, in the Philippines, it is still only 52 per cent, in Laos — 37 per cent and in Cambodia — 33 per cent.

Finally, there is a difference in national efforts to increase financial literacy. UNCDF, for example, divides the countries into three groups: Pre-Formulation (start of creating a roadmap for increasing financial literacy — Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam), Formulation (working groups and roadmaps are ready — Brunei, Cambodia, Thailand) and Implementation (initiatives are being implemented — Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines).

Centralised strategies result in such initiatives as educational programs at schools and universities (Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam), individual public, private and business initiatives (promotions, forums, programs, etc.), a gaming component (in Vietnam, for example, they develop games and simulators for children aimed at increasing financial literacy).

The efforts of international organisations are also important: the ASEAN committee is working to promote financial literacy, the UN organises educational courses for women in Cambodia, etc.

In all three cases, it can be assumed that more developed countries should have a higher level of financial literacy. However, even in Singapore, four out of ten respondents “lack knowledge of basic financial concepts such as risk diversification, simple and compound interest”.

According to another survey, the age group from 18 to 24 years old has the lowest level of financial literacy (35 per cent), and despite the national educational program aimed at improving financial literacy, this indicator failed to increase significantly. The situation is similar in other countries. In the Philippines, for instance, only seven per cent of respondents attended financial literacy-related events.

Financial literacy determines  the future

As a result, Southeast Asia definitely shows the growth of financial literacy, with increasing financial inclusion and the spread of fintech products. On the other hand, various factors prevent it from corresponding to the current level of the regional financial system. As a result, the loan burden of the SEA population is growing, the level of cyber fraud remains high, and advanced financial instruments are not being properly spread. 

The situation will not improve quickly. However, significant progress can be expected within the next 2-3 years, facilitated by:

• The growing penetration of fintech. A recent study by Robocash Group stated that the number of fintech companies in South and Southeast Asia has been growing rapidly over the past years. The popularity of online banking, super-apps, etc., is rising, and the user experience will quickly increase financial literacy. In addition, fintech businesses are usually interested in financially literate, reliable and responsible clients and are ready to implement educational policies for it.
• State programmes for the growth of financial inclusion and financial literacy have the potential to reach a new level, taking into account the growing global challenges.
• With the accelerating pace of the financial sector development, the quantity (of time) has every chance to turn into quality. Clients who are not ready to increase their level of personal financial literacy will lack access to modern tools.

The future of the macro-regional financial ecosystem is closely connected with financially literate consumers, and the main focus for market development remains transparency, humanity and long-term relationships between customers and fintech businesses.

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