WasteX, which helps farms and agricultural producers utilise biomass waste by converting it into biochar, has secured US$450,000 in funding from P4G Partnerships, an initiative that helps businesses working on climate mitigation and adaptation solutions in food, water, and energy.

WasteX plans to leverage the funding to establish production facilities in strategic locations throughout Indonesia by partnering with local mills and poultry farms. The startup invests, develops, and operates the facilities while the mills provide biomass that is converted into biochar.

A significant portion of the biochar will be distributed for free to local farmers, alongside training programmes to equip farmers with the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate biochar into their agricultural practices effectively.

Robyn McGuckin, Executive Director at 7 P4G, said, “Small and medium enterprises are engines of growth for many economies and need catalytic capital to overcome the valley of death. WasteX delivers not only long-term positive impact to smallholder farmers but also does so in a way that contributes to Indonesia’s priorities around enhancing food security and reducing emissions.”

Also Read: WasteX helps poultry farms improve productivity, achieve sustainability with biochar solution

WasteX provides an end-to-end solution to farms and agricultural producers, helping them utilise biomass waste by converting it into biochar and then applying it in their operations for operational, financial, and environmental benefits. Its mission extends beyond immediate benefits to farmers.

At the centre of WasteX’s biochar technology is its proprietary small-scale and semi-automated carboniser equipped with a unique dual-action burner. WasteX utilises both biomass fuel and captured syngas produced during biomass pyrolysis, enhancing energy efficiency. Furthermore, by recapturing and reutilising syngas for heat generation used in biochar production, WasteX minimises the potential for methane.

Recently, WasteX deployed two biochar facilities. The first was at a rice mill in Tarlac, the Philippines, in November 2023. Biochar produced at the facility will be distributed and applied to the farms within the mill’s extensive network in the next planting cycle, with two goals in mind: to support local rice production and foster long-term sustainability by encouraging younger generations to embrace the agricultural sector.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, WasteX has partnered with a corn mill in Pasuruan, East Java, to develop a larger-scale biochar facility, with the production launched in February 2024. Currently the company is manufacturing its equipment for multiple local and international clients as well as continues developing more partner facilities in Indonesia.

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HD, the Bangkok-headquartered company behind the HDmall, a healthcare and surgery marketplace in Thailand and Indonesia, has announced the completion of its US$5.6 million Series A funding round.

SBI Ven Capital led the round through its joint fund with Kyobo Securities from South Korea and NTU Singapore’s NTUitive. Existing backers, such as M Venture Partners, FEBE Ventures, Partech Partners, Ratio Ventures, Orvel Ventures, and new investor TA Ventures also joined.

HD will use the money for expansion. The company aims to support over 5,000 healthcare providers and 300 operating rooms, enabling thousands more surgeries by 2025.

Also Read: ‘Airbnb for surgeries’ HDmall gets FEBE Ventures backing to deepen market presence in SEA

A portion of this new capital will enhance HD’s care delivery systems.

The latest capital infusion follows a round of financing it raised from Vietnamese VC firm FEBE Ventures in August 2023.

HD was co-founded in 2019 by Sheji Ho, Aditya Jamaludin, Raya Chantaramungkorn (all former top executives at Thailand’s leading e-commerce enabler aCommerce), and Frankie Shum (formerly with Ardent Capital). It connects patients to hospitals, clinics, operating rooms and surgeons while offering healthcare financing solutions to increase access to affordable care and surgeries.

HDcare works with healthcare providers – many already on the HDmall platform – to increase the utilisation of hospitals’ and clinics’ operating room capacities.

Since its launch, HDcare, often described as the ‘Airbnb for Surgeries,’ claims to have allowed over 300,000 patients to access elective surgeries like thyroid, haemorrhoid, and ophthalmic procedures at 15-20 per cent lower than the market.

The medtech firm has also announced the appointment of Dr Kulthep Rattanakovit as the new Chief Medical Officer. A gastroenterologist with training from the prestigious Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, and a fellowship in neurogastroenterology from the Medical College of Georgia, Rattanakovit brings invaluable experience from his roles as Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Vimut Hospital and seven years at the BDMS Group.

HD plans to integrate AI into healthcare, primarily through its ‘MEhdIQ’ Large Language Model. Utilising a vast, proprietary healthcare product, transaction, and chat commerce data set, MEhdIQ will initially assist HD’s internal teams and network surgeons.

Also Read: Vietnam offers a blue ocean opportunity for our healthtech biz: HD Co-Founder Sheji Ho

Sheji Ho, CEO and co-founder of HD, said: “In emerging Southeast Asian markets, the real opportunity for healthcare AI lies not in building yet another general practitioner chatbot, but in enhancing patient outcomes by streamlining operational and administrative tasks for providers and payers. Our unique MEhdIQ LLM, with its exclusive and anonymised training data, aims to significantly alleviate the administrative load, allowing healthcare and insurance professionals to focus on delivering superior patient care.”

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X marks Echelon. Join us at Singapore EXPO on May 15-16 for the 10th edition of Asia’s leading tech and startup conference. Enjoy 2 days of building connections with potential investors, partners, and customers, exploring innovation, and sharing insights with 8,000+ key decision-makers of Asia’s tech ecosystem. Get your tickets here.

Want more from your Echelon experience? Be an Echelon X sponsor or exhibitor. Send enquiry here.

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Visit Echelon X to learn more about the program. Get your tickets here!

In today’s increasingly competitive business landscape, brands grapple with a myriad of challenges. With countless competitors vying for consumers’ attention, standing out becomes increasingly difficult, compounded by the constant influx of new entrants and evolving consumer preferences.

Brands must navigate obstacles spanning measurement, analytics, engagement, fraud protection, and privacy, all while striving to deliver seamless customer experiences and stay ahead of the curve. In this dynamic environment, the pressure to innovate and differentiate is relentless, leaving little margin for error.

Challenges faced by mobile app companies

Companies face several barriers in different areas. Measurement poses a significant hurdle for brands as they strive to accurately track and analyse the performance of their marketing campaigns across diverse platforms and channels. The fragmentation of devices and operating systems complicates measurement efforts, making it challenging to obtain a comprehensive view of marketing ROI. Additionally, the absence of standardised measurement methodologies and the prevalence of fraudulent activities can lead to skewed results, hampering brands’ ability to make well-informed decisions.

Analytics present another challenge as brands grapple with extracting meaningful insights from the vast volume of data generated by customer interactions. Identifying trends, understanding consumer behaviour, and effectively segmenting audiences require advanced analytics tools and expertise. However, many brands lack the resources or capabilities to implement robust analytics solutions, limiting their ability to enhance customer experiences and drive engagement and retention.

Also read: What is Remote? Meet this top global HR platform at Echelon X!

Engagement emerges as a critical concern for brands seeking to retain customers and foster long-term success. With fierce competition for consumer attention, brands must continually deliver compelling content and personalised experiences to remain relevant. However, achieving sustained engagement demands a deep understanding of consumer preferences, effective communication strategies, and timely delivery of relevant content — all challenging to execute consistently at scale. Furthermore, the growing emphasis on data privacy adds complexity, as brands must navigate the balance between personalised experiences and respecting consumer privacy preferences and regulations.

A streamlined approach to multiple pain points

To address these pain points, brands need a streamlined platform that covers robust measurement capabilities, enabling brands to accurately track and analyse the performance of their marketing campaigns across various platforms and channels. By providing real-time insights into campaign effectiveness and ROI, brands can make data-driven decisions to optimise their strategies and maximise their marketing spend.

With the help of advanced analytics tools, brands will be able to identify key trends, understand user behaviour patterns, and segment audiences effectively in ways that enable them to tailor their offerings to meet the evolving needs and preferences of customers, ultimately driving engagement and loyalty.

Furthermore, brands need sophisticated engagement solutions to help brands effectively communicate with their customers and drive meaningful interactions. Personalised messaging, push notifications, and in-app messaging capabilities would enable brands to engage users at the right time with relevant content, fostering deeper connections and driving conversions.

Moreover, brands stand to benefit from a robust fraud protection technology that safeguards them against fraudulent activities such as fake installs and click fraud. By detecting and preventing fraudulent behaviour, brands can ensure the integrity of their marketing data and maximise the ROI of their campaigns. This also doubles as a protective measure against data privacy breaches and other related threats.

With the mission of filling this gap in the market and helping empower brands, AppsFlyer was founded. Over 10 years ago, the team behind AppsFlyer recognised a growing demand within the mobile industry. As the app economy surged, marketers, developers, and product managers faced a dilemma: they lacked a reliable method to precisely gauge the effectiveness of their efforts or foster trust-based relationships with their customers.

How AppsFlyer is revolutionising the digital marketing landscape

“AppsFlyer helps brands make good choices for their business and their customers with its advanced measurement, data analytics, deep linking, engagement, fraud protection, data clean room and privacy-preserving technologies. Built on the idea that brands can increase customer privacy while providing exceptional experiences, AppsFlyer empowers thousands of creators and 10,000+ technology partners to create better, more meaningful customer relationships,” explained Annisa Tiara, regional marketing manager for AppsFlyer.

AppsFlyer operates at the forefront of digital marketing, offering a comprehensive suite of tools and technologies designed to empower brands in making strategic decisions that benefit both their business objectives and customer relationships. Through its advanced measurement capabilities, AppsFlyer enables brands to gain deep insights into the performance of their marketing efforts, allowing for data-driven decision-making and optimisation of campaigns.

Also read: 21 more industry leaders will be taking the Echelon X stage!

Deep linking functionality offered by AppsFlyer facilitates seamless user experiences by directing customers to specific content within mobile apps, enhancing engagement and driving conversions. Moreover, the platform’s fraud protection mechanisms help safeguard brands against fraudulent activities, ensuring the integrity of their marketing data and preserving the accuracy of performance metrics. AppsFlyer also offers data clean room solutions, allowing brands to analyse customer data in a privacy-compliant manner, thereby respecting user privacy preferences while still deriving actionable insights.

At its core, AppsFlyer is built on the principle that brands can enhance customer privacy without sacrificing the delivery of exceptional experiences. By providing privacy-preserving technologies alongside its suite of tools, AppsFlyer empowers brands to cultivate meaningful customer relationships based on trust and transparency. This ethos extends not only to brands but also to the vast network of creators and technology partners, fostering a collaborative ecosystem focused on driving innovation and delivering value to customers.

Get to know AppsFlyer at Echelon X!

“We look forward to sharing our latest product innovation called Data Collaboration Platform which will help modern marketers make data-driven decisions while adhering to privacy policies. We hope this can inspire modern marketers of Singapore (and beyond) to grow their marketing campaigns,” shared Annisa Tiara.

Positioned as a prominent Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) within the industry, the company endeavours to facilitate brands in making informed data-driven choices by leveraging its privacy-preserving measurement, analytics, and engagement technologies. Participating in Echelon X, the company seeks to extend its expertise to assist a broader spectrum of brands in cultivating the growth of their mobile applications. The company’s ambitions extend beyond geographical boundaries, aiming to collaborate with brands not only in Singapore and Malaysia but also in other regions, thereby fostering mutual growth and success.

AppsFlyer will also be speaking and leading a roundtable at Echelon X.

Also read: Empowering innovators: Prudence Foundation tackles disaster challenges

Joining AppsFlyer are industry leaders, visionary entrepreneurs, and groundbreaking startups from all corners of the region who will be gathering together for two packed days. Happening on May 15 to 16 at the Singapore EXPO, Echelon X will feature dedicated content stages, exhibitions, panel discussions, and more — all to support and empower the tech startup ecosystem with actionable insights through a series of knowledge-sharing activities.

Whether you’re eager to expand your knowledge, network with key players from the tech startup scene, or showcase your innovative ideas, Echelon X offers an unparalleled experience. Join us as a participant or an official partner by securing your spot now on our official page. Together, let’s embark on a journey to shape the future and create a lasting impact.

Join us at Echelon 2024, where innovation knows no limits, and the possibilities are endless!

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Elon Musk’s Tesla is set to enter India, reports the Financial Times. A team from the company is slated to arrive this month to scout for potential locations for a groundbreaking multibillion-dollar electric vehicle (EV) plant.

This strategic move comes on the heels of India’s recent decision to slash import tariffs on EVs, a development Tesla actively advocated for.

Also Read: Is India on the verge of shifting gears to EVs?

Previously, India imposed hefty import taxes ranging from 70 per cent to 100 per cent on automobiles. However, in a bid to attract investment, this tariff has now been reduced to as low as 15 per cent, provided the investing company commits to establishing a manufacturing facility in the country with a minimum investment of US$500 million.

Last June, Musk held discussions with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing his keen interest in investing in India at the earliest opportunity. Now, Tesla’s focus is on scouting potential sites in automotive hubs such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu. These regions boast established infrastructure and port facilities, crucial for streamlining exports—a clear indication of Tesla’s global aspirations for its proposed factory.

While Tesla has enjoyed a robust presence in China, serving as a vital market and manufacturing centre, stiff competition from local rivals like BYD has intensified domestically. In response, Tesla appears poised to shake up the market dynamics by targeting the production of a sub-US$30,000 model in India. This move not only aims to bolster Tesla’s presence in Southeast Asia but also to capture markets in the Gulf countries, Africa, and Europe.

Also Read: Thinking out loud: Are electric vehicles as sustainable as we believe?

Recently, Vietnamese EV maker VinFast announced its plans to set up a factory in India. As per a report, the company is moving fast to kick-start its India operations in Q3 or H2 2024.

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X marks Echelon. Join us at Singapore EXPO on May 15-16 for the 10th edition of Asia’s leading tech and startup conference. Enjoy 2 days of building connections with potential investors, partners, and customers, exploring innovation, and sharing insights with 8,000+ key decision-makers of Asia’s tech ecosystem. Get your tickets here.

Want more from your Echelon experience? Be an Echelon X sponsor or exhibitor. Send enquiry here.

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In today’s world, seamless payment transactions for daily essentials like food, transportation, and housing are expected.

Yet, some of the most commonly used payment systems appear disconnected, clunky, rife with technical issues and fraud — rampant in everyday life. In October 2023 alone, 2.5 million transactions were affected by bank outages in Singapore, and 810,000 attempts to log in to digital banking accounts failed.

Despite the fact that advanced technology solutions are readily available, notable challenges still exist in the financial industry. With customer wants and needs rapidly evolving with technology, how can traditional financial institutions keep up?

Embedded finance is the norm today, and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is the antidote to the issues plaguing payments and the broader financial industry. Enabling banks and fintech companies to innovate as they collaborate, which then leads to better and more efficient financial products and services, BaaS simplifies the integration of banking services via the use of APIs, reducing complexity and speeding up the development of new payment solutions. The benefits are both obvious and endless, but we must first understand why it is especially crucial in Singapore’s payments market.

The payment landscape in Singapore can be divided into three categories of key players: banks and financial institutions, payment processors (think Visa or Mastercard, Stripe, Apple Pay, etc.), and fintech firms looking to disrupt the financial services landscape. It features multiple digital payment systems, schemes, and providers that operate independently, leading to complexities for both merchants and end consumers.

PayLah!, PayAnyone, and PayNow have transformed the ability to make purchases, including P2P purchases, without the need for a payment gateway or terminal.  Now, everyone with a bank account can be both a merchant and a consumer, reducing the cash transactions seen from yesteryear.  User acceptance across these applications is promising.

Also Read: The banking revolution: Balancing convenience and security in the digital era

There is also a huge range of payment providers with their own set of services, fees, and technical requirements that are complex to navigate.  Additionally, the existing services can be inefficient, partly due to the significant technical debt accumulated by banks and financial institutions over the years as new features are added and changes are made to accommodate the evolving requirements of users. Technical debt and the lack of resources utilised to play catch up sees legacy systems succumb to outages and inefficiencies.

The BaaS proposition was specifically designed to overcome these challenges. BaaS typically means that banks and financial institutions leverage scalable and modular technology solutions that allow them to expose their services to third-party platforms in a seamless manner.

On top of that, banks and financial institutions effectively providing BaaS already adhere to industry standards and best practices, especially around security and regulatory requirements that also prevent the introduction of unnecessary complexity or inefficiencies into the system.

BaaS is a one-way ticket to a world where banks work with third-party platforms, including but not limited to fintechs, to launch new products and services without having to build infrastructure from scratch. This is where innovation happens at speed, as we can test new ideas and iterate more rapidly.

On a more practical level, BaaS also enhances security in the financial services industry, as the banks and financial institutions themselves are adopting advanced security measures, compliance with regulatory standards, secure APIs and data protection measures as part of their technology stack.

However, there is still quite a way to go in terms of the widespread adoption of BaaS as a business model amongst banks and FIs in Singapore. Many banks and financial institutions are yet to fully appreciate the suite of advantages that the business models offer, whilst others are hesitant to do so due to the limitations of their existing solution in catering to the inevitable scale of a BaaS business model.

Addressing these challenges will need a multifaceted approach with regulators, third-party ecosystems, payment providers and banks or financial institutions collaborating to create an environment conducive to innovation with ample support for the integration of an easy-to-deploy and scalable solution with legacy systems.

Singapore’s readiness to be a global leader in fintech is proof of its rapid growth potential.  With the government implementing and promoting regulatory sandboxes that allow for fintechs to test products and services in a controlled environment, a revolving door of new fintech solutions to solve even the most complex problems awaits.  We’ll also start to see a higher rate of financial inclusion as the use of digital wallets and simplified banking services are more widely adopted.

Overall, the Singapore payments landscape will benefit greatly from the adoption of a BaaS business model by banks and financial institutions — especially in reducing technical debt, significantly increasing agility and offering a solution to scalability without compromising legacy systems.

With the government’s commitment to continuous improvements and fixes, the transformative impact of BaaS on the Singapore payments landscape is poised to be significant, paving the way for a more efficient, secure, and innovative financial ecosystem.

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