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Earth VC joins US-based cultivated meat startup Orbillion Bio’s funding round

Earth VC’s founder Linh Nguyen and Orbillion CEO Patricia Bubner

Earth Venture Capital, a global climate tech VC firm based in Vietnam, has made a strategic investment in US-based cultivated meat startup Orbillion Bio.

This investment round was co-led by The Venture Collective and At One Ventures and joined by Y Combinator and Metaplanet. This brings its total funding raised to date to US$15 million.

Also Read: Earth VC, Tesla co-founder invest in French aerial inspection startup HyLight

The investment will primarily fund the startup’s efforts to achieve pre-commercial scale and bring its first product to the market.

Livestock farming is estimated to contribute approximately 11.1-19.6 per cent of global GHG emissions. While plant-based proteins are popular, meat demand is still projected to rise due to income and population growth, particularly in lowand middle-income countries.

To sustainably feed the world and protect the planet, a new method of producing animal protein is needed, and cultivated meat could be the solution.

Founded in 2020 by Patricia Bubner, Gabriel Levesque-Tremblay, and Samet Yildirim, Orbillion specialises in producing Wagyu beef cells. It has developed an algorithm for scaling up cultivated meat, making commercialising low-cost cultivated beef possible.

Currently valued at US$78 billion in the US alone, this market presents significant opportunities for Orbillion’s growth and expansion.

Orbillion has partnered with Luiten Food, a European leader in premium meats, to bring cell-cultured Wagyu beef to over 35 countries pending EU regulatory approval. This partnership will leverage Luiten Food’s network of 1,200 distribution channels, paving the way for Orbillion’s premium product to reach the market.

Also Read: Earth VC supports Blykalla’s advanced nuclear reactor for advancements in the clean energy industry

In September 2023, Orbillion conducted a 200-litre production run in Singapore.

Orbillion is moving towards achieving price parity with conventional beef, targeting an output of 4 million pounds of finished product annually. It achieves this by focusing on the scalability of its technology, which lies in an asset-light production system, optimised bioprocess, and developing a predictive algorithm for cultivated cells to enable rapid scale-up.

Image Credit: Orbillion Bio.

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Temasek joins Samsara Eco’s US$65M financing round to end plastic pollution

Samsara Eco founder and CEO Paul Riley

Samsara Eco, an Australian company using advanced, enzymatic recycling to end plastic pollution, has raised US$65 million in its latest funding round led by Temasek and Australian deep-tech investment fund Main Sequence.

New and existing backers, including Wollemi Capital, lululemon, Hitachi Ventures, Titanium Ventures (formerly Telstra Ventures) and DCVC, also participated.

Also Read: AirX Carbon turns coffee grounds, rice and coconut husks into bioplastic

The capital will be used to build new commercial facilities in Southeast Asia in the next few years. These facilities will recycle millions of tonnes of plastic waste, such as discarded textiles and packaging, to produce monomers (the molecular building blocks of plastics), which will be turned into brand-new products.

Samsara Eco will also scale up its global team of chemists, engineers and technicians and increase its library of plastic-eating enzymes.

Paul Riley, CEO and founder of Samsara Eco, said: “Our enzymatic recycling technology makes it easy for brands in almost every industry to meet their sustainability and decarbonisation goals by creating a circular loop for plastics.”

Launched in 2020, Samsara Eco has developed a new way to break plastic down to its core molecules, which can then be used to recreate brand-new plastic again and again. Its patented process, EosEco, uses a combination of biophysics, chemistry, biology and computer science (such as AI) to create a family of plastic-eating enzymes. The enzymes break down plastic waste (like textiles made from nylon and polyester) into raw materials, which are then integrated into existing manufacturing processes to create new products.

Samsara Eco recycles all forms of plastics, which can be used within existing cross-sector supply chains like automotive, electronics, and consumer packaged goods.

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

“EosEco reduces the end-to-end recycling time, while also operating at a lower temperature and pressure to ultimately reduce waste and carbon emissions. By solving the circularity piece of the puzzle for all plastics, we’re making it possible to imagine a more sustainable future,” added Riley.

Since its inception, Samsara Eco has raised more than US$106 million from local and global investors, including Breakthrough Victoria, DCVC, Greycroft, Hitachi, lululemon, Temasek, Wildcard Ventures, and Wollemi.

Image Credit: Samsara Eco.

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Thailand’s startup ecosystem in 2024: Fewer funding announcements, but promising opportunities ahead

In his contributed piece for e27, Golf Sissada, Digital Marketing Manager at Seven Peaks, wrote about how businesses can hack product growth and user acquisition in Thailand. This begins with understanding how Thai people make purchases and securing the information needed to make that decision.

” … as of 2023, only 38 per cent of the Thai population used their desktop. However, 100 per cent of people living in Thailand own a smartphone. Greater audience reach, and effective product growth rely on a user-friendly mobile app,” he said.

This has provided plenty of opportunities for startups in Thailand for many years. But, just like the rest of the region, with the exception of the Philippines, the past year continued to be challenging for startups in Thailand.

Between January and May 2024, we covered five funding announcements from startups in Thailand from various stages and verticals.

We started the year with a US$1.4 million seed funding for Bangkok-based biotechnology firm UniFAHS. A2D Ventures led the investment, including the participation of ADB Ventures and InnoSpace.

Also Read: 500 TukTuks, ORZON Ventures execs launch Disrupt Health Impact Fund in Thailand

March saw two funding announcements from startups in Thailand, starting with Sleek’s pre-Series A extension round with Finnoventure Fund, followed by Spacely AI’s undisclosed pre-seed investment from SCB 10X.

In April, WYZauto, an online tyre marketplace for vehicle maintenance businesses in Thailand, secured US$2.25 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Vynn Capital through its new Mobility and Supply Chain fund.

Two Thai startups were also among the 10 finalists for PepsiCo’s APAC Greenhouse Accelerator Program 2024.

CIRAC aims to provide a breakthrough technology for recycling aluminium-laminated plastic packaging, one of the most challenging packaging waste. Meanwhile, the other startup is AIIEV, which empowers businesses to achieve sustainability and cost savings through a game-changing subscription model for electric conversions.

Opportunities for startups

Despite the so-called funding winter and a relatively quieter period for startups, there continue to be opportunities for them to grow and develop their businesses. This could be in the format of the launch of new funds or programmes that help them incorporate best practices into their operations.

In May, Disrupt Technology Venture, a startup ecosystem builder in Thailand, launched a new healthcare fund that aims to provide the local healthcare sector with access to world-class deep-tech solutions and improve healthcare services for the local people.

Also Read: Dezpax to revolutionise food packaging for SMEs in Thailand

The fund is backed by prominent Thai businesses, including Digital Health Ventures, Thana Asset Company Limited, Saha Pathana Inter-Holding Public Company, and Sripatum University.

Meanwhile, earlier in April, AIS The StartUp, a programme run by Thai digital infrastructure provider Advanced Info Service Public Company Limited (AIS), announced a collaboration with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), the National Innovation Agency (NIA), and the Thai Startup Association to educate local entrepreneurs about the importance of integrating ESG (environment, social, governance) principles into business processes.

It aims to strengthen local tech entrepreneurs by enhancing their understanding of applying ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) principles to analyse investment risks and assess company valuations, especially in establishing fundamental ethical dimensions, such as corporate governance, partnership governance, financial governance, or shareholder governance.

Image Credit: © rawpixel, 123RF Free Images

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Hubble nets US$5M funding to transform progress and payments in the built environment industry

Hubble’s co-founders and top executives with AlteriQ MD Heng Zhi Yong (second from right)

Hubble, a Singaporean startup that aims to transform progress and payments in the built environment industry, has closed a US$5 million funding round led by Asia-focused private credit financier AlteriQ Global.

The funding will be used to accelerate the expansion and growth of its financial services division Hubble.Financial into new industries and beyond Singapore.

Also Read: Understanding the role of fintech, blockchain in transitioning to net zero

Founded in 2016, Hubble digitises and automates site processes to track and expedite progress and enable on-demand liquidity through early payment solutions based on verifiable progress data. Its full-stack progress-to-payment platform synergises the progress data insights from Hubble.Build (its construction management division) with early payment solutions from the financial services division.

Given the current challenges within the construction sector, such as high interest rates and increased costs for manpower and materials, the financial services unit offers a flexible and sustainable alternative to traditional financing. By providing immediate working capital, it supports main contractors and subcontractors with the necessary liquidity to navigate these challenges.

Since its inception in mid-2023, Hubble.Financial claims to have demonstrated 655 per cent growth to reach over US$20 million across its projects. This number is expected to more than double in 2024 and beyond.

The synergy between Hubble.Build and Hubble.Financial empowers property developers and main contractors to execute early payments at scale based on verifiable progress data and injects liquidity into the built environment supply chain.

Also Read: Navigating the gender divide in Southeast Asia’s fintech landscape

The startup claims to have digitised and automated over 300 construction sites worth over US$50 billion through Hubble.Build’s integrated construction management platform and provided over US$20 million worth of financing to its customers.

With offices in Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, the company serves over 100,000 users from 3,700 companies daily.

Image Credit: Hubble

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Event reflections: Women leading the future of tech, health, and digital transformation

Women in leadership roles are breaking barriers and driving positive change across industries. These trailblazers are not only excelling in their careers but also empowering others to pursue leadership, especially in traditionally male-dominated fields.

By leveraging their unique insights and lived experiences, these leaders are fostering environments ripe for innovation, diversity, and inclusion, ultimately enhancing corporate culture and outcomes in significant sectors.

DEI-led leadership, as showcased by women leaders in technology

In sectors like technology and healthcare, women are spearheading substantial innovation and inclusivity initiatives. The recent SEA Blockchain Week saw Katashe Solutions making waves with a successful regional launch, celebrating diversity and innovation. A highlight was our Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity (DEI) panel in collaboration with DeGate and FILLiquid, which emphasized DeFi’s role in creating inclusive technology ecosystems.

Katashe Solutions demonstrated its unwavering commitment to seeking out and highlighting local ecosystem builders in Thailand who are women leaders in tech to foster a strong network of leaders that believe in DEI, aligning with a Web3 ethos of diversity and inclusion and promoting equal access to technology.

Palmy Veerapat Keerati shared how Bitkub Group is working toward balanced gender representation and cautioned against creating reverse inequality. Proud Limpongpan of Ennovie highlighted the Web3 era’s potential to regard merit over gender, signalling a shift in how we view contribution and capability in the tech space.

Wayne Tang of FILLiquid led the discussion as the moderator, acknowledging that mentorship has been pivotal in his career, where the majority of his direct managers or leaders were women, offering guidance and opportunities for him to grow. These insights underline the importance of an inclusive digital asset landscape and the regulatory frameworks that support or hinder progress.

Furthermore, Katashe Solutions has recently been appointed as the Official Venture Builder for the upcoming Malaysia Blockchain Week happening from 31st July – 1st August 2024, a testament to women-led leadership and commitment to driving digital transformation on a national level.

Also Read: Women and AI: How startups can prevent gender bias and promote responsible use of the tech

This role enables Katashe to spotlight and support women-led companies, showcasing their potential to lead and innovate within the blockchain ecosystem. By championing these trailblazing women, Katashe aims to catalyse significant advancements in technology and inclusivity, proving that gender diversity can be a powerful driver of national digital transformation.

Women’s health and its economic impact

I’d like to thank Wai Mun, a fellow alumnus from Melbourne University, for inviting me to the Saving Women’s Lives Gala, hosted in partnership with NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Institut Santé des Femmes.

The Gala underscored the critical intersection of health and leadership. As leaders, women must prioritise their health to maintain their ability to innovate and lead effectively. This event highlighted the distinct and traditionally underfunded needs of women’s health in R&D, underscoring the urgent necessity for targeted investment and research.

According to a World Economic Forum study, women live longer but spend a significant portion of their lives in poor health. Addressing this health gap is not just a matter of equity; it has profound economic implications. Improving women’s health could potentially boost the global economy by at least $1 trillion annually by 2040.

Investing in women’s health is, therefore, essential, helping to expand workforce participation and enhance the quality of life for women globally. The collaboration at events like these serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of prioritising women’s health in our broader societal and economic discourse.

Connection and integration

While leadership forums and health galas might seem distinct, they are profoundly interconnected. Effective leadership in any arena requires foundational well-being, underscoring the need for advancements in women’s healthcare to support their roles as innovators and leaders. This holistic approach to women’s roles in society illustrates why it is essential to drive more focused R&D into women’s health.

Also Read: The climate change and gender equality connection: How to support underfunded women-owned business

By bridging the gap between these traditionally siloed industries, we have witnessed a surge of female-led innovations that empower women to take charge of their health and well-being. The synergy between tech and health networks underscores the importance of fostering diverse and inclusive innovation ecosystems.

Women’s voices and perspectives are pivotal in driving femtech innovation, showcasing the value of leveraging cross-disciplinary connections to propel open innovation networks forward. By investing in health, we empower women to excel and lead across all areas of life, further enhancing their ability to innovate and effect change.

Final thoughts

The role of women in leadership extends beyond individual success; it influences broader societal transformations by promoting inclusivity and equity. These leaders are not just achieving; they are setting the stage for future generations of women in tech, health, and beyond.

As we champion women in leadership, we must also advocate for and advance research and development in women’s health, recognising it as the foundation upon which women can build their capacity to lead and innovate.

By embracing new technologies and frameworks like Web3, which prioritises capability over gender, we create more equitable opportunities for all, pushing the boundaries of innovation and societal progress. Let us continue to support women in leadership and celebrate their impact on shaping a better world.

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 groupFB community, or like the e27 Facebook page.

Image credit: Canva Pro

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Swedish firm Trine backs Vietnamese solar energy startup Stride

Vietnamese solar energy solutions company Stride has secured US$3 million in a debt financing facility from the Swedish solar investment platform Trine.

This capital injection will enable the Ho Chi Minh City-based cleantech company to expand its capacity to fund customers’ clean-energy installations in Vietnam in partnership with local installers.

Also Read: How climate tech companies in Asia measure the impact of their work

Andrew Fairthorne, CEO at Stride, said, “This debt funding facility will enable Stride to accelerate the deployment of solar energy solutions in Vietnam, a country with immense renewable energy potential. Our collaboration with Trine aligns perfectly with our mission to reduce the barriers to access solar and batteries for every Vietnamese household, and small- and medium-sized business.”

Incorporated in Singapore, Stride provides solar energy to households and small businesses in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s target of 50 per cent of residential homes and office buildings using self-produced rooftop solar power for self-consumption by 2030 aligns with Stride’s mission. The country has the potential to generate 380 gigawatts of capacity, significantly exceeding the government’s solar capacity goals.

Also Read: Clime Capital, Touchstone Partners inject US$2M into Vietnamese cleantech startup Stride

The startup offers low upfront-cost financing, complementary insurance, independent quality assurance, and a streamlined online consumer onboarding process at the point of sale. The company has received increasing interest from residential and small business consumers who want to shift to lower-cost clean energy to reduce energy bills. Stride addresses this interest with a commercial solution that removes the barrier of high up-front costs.

Last year, Stride secured US$2 million in seed-stage equity funding from Clime Capital and Touchstone Partners.

Image Credit: Stride.

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k-ID lands US$45M funding to provide safe online environment for young gamers

(L-R) k-ID co-founders: Timothy Ma, Jeff Wu, Kieran Donovan, and Julian Corbett

k-ID, a Singaporean company aiming to simplify online safety and privacy management for game developers, parents, kids, and teens, has announced a US$45 million Series A funding round.

The investors are Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Lightspeed Venture Partners, Konvoy, TIRTA, Okta, and Z Venture Capital.

Also Read: Why Asia is dominating the fight for Web3 gaming

The new deal brings the firm’s total funding raised to date to US$51 million.

Founded by Kieran Donovan, Timothy Ma, Julian Corbett, and Jeff Wu, k-ID is a cross-platform, instant sign-on solution for kids and teens. It has been built as an all-in-one answer for solving the complex issue of privacy and online safety for young players globally.

The company has also announced a partnership with the ESRB Privacy Certified programme. It has configured its parent/family and developer portals to reflect the programme’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA)-based requirements. This partnership offers game publishers a way to leverage k-ID technology to help obtain the ESRB Privacy Certified Kids Seal.

“Kids today make friends and countless memories inside games and virtual worlds, and parents need modern tools to keep them safe,” said Jonathan Lai, General Partner at a16z. “k-ID is serving this need and defining a new industry standard for digital youth safety.”

Also Read: Web3 gaming: The next big thing in online entertainment

“Publishers are navigating new challenges with growing their user base under the age of 18 and complicated global compliance standards. We believe k-ID’s innovative solutions will streamline the challenges posed by the ever-changing regulatory landscape and pave the way for a safer online environment for our kids and teens,” said Hyung Kim from Z Venture Capital.

Image Credit: k-ID

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Tiger New Energy raises US$3.5M to accelerate deployment of its battery swapping network

A battery swapping station by Tiger New Energy

Bangladeshi clean energy startup Tiger New Energy announced that it has raised a total of US$3.5 million in funding following an additional US$1 million funding from ADB Ventures.

This new funding from ADB Ventures joins a US$2.5 million seed funding round led by Wavemaker Partners in 2023, which included 500 TukTuks, Orvel Ventures, Humble, Penataran Management, Brett Barna (the founder of the Barna Family Office), an undisclosed Singaporean Family Office, and an undisclosed angel investor.

According to a press statement, the investment aims to accelerate the deployment of Tiger New Energy’s battery-swapping network across Bangladesh, advancing its mission to promote eco-friendly mobility and deliver substantial socio-economic benefits.

Tiger New Energy plans to expand its network beyond 100 battery-swapping stations to empower over 10,000 rickshaw drivers. The funds will also enhance talent acquisition, spur research and development, and facilitate the exploration of new regional markets.

The company also said it is actively forming strategic partnerships with leading EV manufacturers and energy providers to further its mission.

“This funding validates our technology and business model and strengthens our commitment to reducing carbon footprints, fostering sustainable development, and enhancing the livelihoods of local communities,” said Nicole Mao, co-founder and CEO of Tiger New Energy.

Also Read: Swedish firm Trine backs Vietnamese solar energy startup Stride

Founded by Harvard Business School alumni Nicole Mao and Yiwei Zhu, Tiger New Energy aims to solve the problem of carbon emissions and energy inefficiency that plague Bangladesh’s urban transportation sector.

According to the company, approximately four million electric three-wheelers and vehicles transport over 112 million people daily nationwide. However, using low-quality lead-acid batteries, which only last six to eight months, hinders these vital modes of transportation from being as efficient as necessary.

The absence of adequate charging infrastructure compounds the problem, posing imminent safety threats, including the risk of fire accidents.

Tiger New Energy has introduced a network of stations where rickshaw drivers can swap their depleted batteries for fully charged ones in less than one minute, compared to four hours previously.

The company said this dramatically reduces downtime and has been shown to amplify the earnings of rickshaw drivers by an impressive 60 per cent.

Its proprietary Offline Swapping and Reverse Charging features aim to ensure service continuity during power outages, while its infrastructure doubles as Decentralised Energy Storage Systems (DESS), contributing to grid stability. Advanced thermal management and data-driven optimisation algorithms further elevate the performance and lifespan of Tiger’s lithium-ion batteries over traditional alternatives.

Image Credit: Tiger New Energy

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Moosa Genetics boosts beef production in Indonesia through DNA tech, farmer support

Indonesia’s cattle industry is highly fragmented. Roughly 80 per cent is dominated by smallholder farmers, concentrated mostly on the island of Java. They often raise cattle for their savings rather than for commercial purposes, significantly impeding the potential of the domestic meat supply.

Most cattle breeders are also low-skilled farmers with low-input, low-output production systems. They face fundamental challenges in expanding their cattle businesses, such as limited access to finance and capital and the lack of collateral.

Also Read: Biotech is set to push new frontiers in precision oncology therapeutics

As a result, domestic production can only satisfy about 40 per cent of the Indonesian demand for beef, leading to a dependency on importing beef, especially from Australia.

A local company, Moosa Genetics, aims to change this scenario by improving cattle breeding and beef production, thereby increasing meat yield and quality and reducing costs.

Founded in 2016 by Ivan Rizal Sini, Arief Boediono, Deddy F. Kurniawan, and Sigit Prastowo, Moosa Genetics is an animal genomics and biotechnology company.

Genetic selection through DNA variant analysis

“We are a biotech-enabled cattle breeding farm with a fully stacked ecosystem integrated into its cattle breeding programme. We target to improve the cattle/beef industry through embryo transfer technology and a gene selection technique called CRISPR to improve the value creation process by reducing cost and improving meat yield and quality,” says Rizal Sini.

The startup uses normal artificial insemination and also in-vivo embryo production, followed by an embryo transfer programme. These technologies are accompanied by genetic selection through DNA variant analysis, part of a molecular breeding programme.

According to him, DNA selection ensures that males’ high genetic potential meets that of females, who have the same genetic potential to produce offspring with high meat yield and quality potential. This also applies to dairy cattle and other farm animals.

“At this point, we can say that reproductive technologies are the vehicle, but the driver is the genetic potential. That is what we call the molecular breeding strategies in animals,” explains Rizal Sini.

In his opinion, the most significant challenge smallholder cattle farmers face is improving their cattle’s efficiency and productivity. Moosa Genetics aims to ensure that the genetics of cattle reared by farmers have genetic potential that meets the rearing system so that they can achieve efficiency in their business.

“The DNA test is the answer in this regard because it can tell which calves are suitable for the production system that the farmers had in earlier times. By matching the genetic potential and the environment (feed, climate, etc.), then the production system will be efficient in resulting the income in terms of growth,” he says.

Also Read: The role of biotech in taking India from developing to developed

Other than this, Moosa Genetics supports, collaborates, and implements various strategies to improve smallholder farmers’ productivity, sustainability, and economic viability.

It provides training and capacity-building programmes on modern farming techniques, animal husbandry practices, and business management skills. This helps them improve productivity, optimise resources, and enhance the quality of their cattle.

In addition, the company facilitates access to essential resources, such as high-quality breeds, veterinary services, feed, and technology. Partnerships with government agencies, NGOs, and private sector stakeholders can ensure smallholders have access to necessary inputs.

Moreover, the company invests in infrastructure development, such as improved transportation networks, market facilities, and cold storage facilities. This helps farmers to transport their cattle to markets efficiently and ensures proper storage and handling of products.

“Besides, we facilitate market linkages and provide market information to farmers to ensure they receive fair product prices. This can involve establishing farmer cooperatives or working with existing market channels to connect farmers directly with buyers.

Furthermore, Moosa provides financial support through microloans, grants, or subsidies to help smallholder farmers invest in their farms, purchase inputs, and manage risks associated with cattle farming.

The biotech firm also promotes sustainable farming practices, including pasture management, waste management, and conservation efforts, to mitigate environmental impacts and ensure the industry’s long-term viability.

“By addressing these key areas, we aim to empower smallholder farmers in Indonesia’s cattle industry, enhance their livelihoods, and contribute to the sector’s overall development,” Rizal Sini emphasises.

Moosa Genetics primarily earns revenues from DNA tests, farms, gelato products, ready-to-eat meat (rendang), and live animal trading.

In October last year, Moosa Genetics received funding from lead investor East Ventures and unnamed angel investors.

To elevate the local cattle breed

Moosa Genetics’s key mission is to elevate the local cattle breed, known as Sapi Merah Putih, to superior standards, ultimately enhancing economic opportunities and meat quality.

Also Read: How biotech is changing the global agriculture game for investors

“Sapi Merah Putih is a symbol of excellence in the Indonesian cattle and beef sector,” he says. “It has to be further researched because one simple matrix of genetics improvement towards a specific phenotype could not be recognised as the ideal version of local cattle in Indonesia. We could not assume that the widely accepted features such as resilience towards a specific disease or better meat marbling would be ideal or able to give economic value as we have to prove that empirically. Collaboration between us and the researcher should be imminent before we can calculate the magnitude of the improvement over the current status.”

Image Credit: Moosa Genetics.

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Succeeding in e-commerce in China: Building AI-powered chatbots that know how to close a sale

The 618 Shopping Festival (falling on the 18 June) is China’s largest shopping extravaganza after Double 11. With presales that typically go live a month in advance, this festival marks a crucial opportunity for online merchants to showcase their offerings to a large consumer audience.

However, competition among retailers is fierce, with many businesses leveraging dynamic marketing tactics such as interactive campaigns, live streaming, and social media promotion to entice and engage new customers. The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence have further intensified competition amongst brands, where delivering excellent customer service is key to differentiating and sustaining brand loyalty.

For brands looking to enter China during this time, as well as existing local online merchants looking to cut through the noise, how can they drive sales and stay ahead of the competition for this year’s 618? Can AI-powered chatbots really make a difference to a company’s revenue stream?

The rise of AI-powered chatbots

Customer service chatbots, often powered by AI, have emerged as a game-changer in the world of customer experience at all stages of a sales funnel. These chatbots offer 24/7 service, personalised interactions, and efficient problem-solving capabilities i.e. responding to queries, processing orders, customising offerings and handling returns.

Also Read: From Amazon to AI: How GenAI Fund fuels innovation in SEA through a unique model

Chatbots can also handle a large volume of customer inquiries simultaneously in a timely fashion without compromising the quality of service, which is particularly beneficial for small business owners.

According to an MIT Technology Review survey, nearly 90 per cent of businesses report that they have recorded measurable improvements in the speed of resolving complaints. These gains in customer satisfaction in turn improve revenue performance and customer lifetime value.

According to Verint’s 2023 State of Digital Customer Experience report, 31 per cent of consumers have higher customer service expectations than last year. More worrisome is that 69 per cent have stopped doing business with a company due to a single poor customer experience.

As e-commerce merchants increasingly adopt AI-driven technologies for customer service, maintaining a consistent and authentic brand voice across customer touchpoints has become more and more important. Generative AI models, such as large language models (LLMs), have revolutionised the way chatbots can be trained to reflect a brand’s distinct personality and voice.

By infusing these models with brand-specific guidelines, tone, and language, brands can develop chatbots that seamlessly embody their brand’s identity, ensuring a cohesive and authentic customer experience across all digital channels. Additionally, it could avoid the use of inappropriate language or content and maintain a level of professionalism and trustworthiness.

For example, H&M uses a generative AI chatbot on their website that can reduce response times by up to 70 per cent over human agents.  Euromonitor International’s customer experience report found that 56.2 per cent of consumers in China responded that they used voice assistants in 2023 while making purchases.

The chatbot not only helps shoppers search for specific products but also answers FAQs and helps with orders, providing an easier and more satisfying experience for customers while significantly reducing the load on its customer service team.

Do more with less with next-gen chatbots

Leveraging chatbots to take customer experience to the next level comes at a critical time. Customer engagement has drastically evolved over the past few years. Interaction volumes are increasing while customer expectations are skyrocketing.

Meanwhile, brands are trying to do more with less to respond to rising customer expectations and deliver incredible experiences.

Also Read: With AI comes huge reputational risks: How businesses can navigate the ChatGPT era

A key aspect of solving the CX-cost equation is being able to scale interactions without drastically increasing budgets or reducing the quality of customer engagements. The Verint study reveals that 45 per cent of highly confident respondents currently share work between human employees and bots.

And 72 per cent of highly confident respondents indicated that utilisation of chatbots and messaging channels has been extremely effective for them during the past two years.

Steps in building an AI chatbot for customer service

When building an AI chatbot for customer service, there are several important steps to take to ensure its effectiveness:

  • Firstly, understand the goal of the chatbot. The primary objective should be to efficiently resolve customer inquiries while reducing workload. To achieve this, brands should analyse common customer intents to determine where automation can have the most impact. Thinking of interactions through the lens of pre or post-sales customer service can also be valuable in shaping the design of the chatbot
  • The next step is to train the chatbot using high-quality data. Valuable behavioral data can be derived from customer and agent interactions across various engagement channels as well as surveys and other feedback. For example, the Verint Intent Discovery Bot utilises advanced AI technology to process customer data from multiple channels. This enables it to truly understand what the customer is asking and, subsequently, helps the IVAs (intelligent virtual assistants) provide better responses in the future.
  • Once operational, leverage data and analytics such as the number of conversations, average response time, user engagement and conversation completion rates for optimisation. Establish a systematic feedback process to measure performance, intent recognition, and advice effectiveness. This ongoing analysis and optimisation process ensures that the chatbot is gaining deeper customer insights and improving and delivering optimal customer service.

Harnessing optimised chatbots in the digital marketplace

While older iterations of chatbots were more used as a post-sales or general enquiry function, more advanced AI-powered chatbots now have the potential to revolutionise the customer experience in the e-commerce space.

They can shift the paradigm of chatbots being a cost centre to becoming a revenue generator. Particularly in a competitive market, brands and e-commerce merchants leveraging advanced AI technologies can ensure round-the-clock availability, personalised interactions, and efficient query resolution, ultimately leading to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Embracing optimised chatbots presents a significant opportunity for e-commerce to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving digital marketplace.

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 groupFB community, or like the e27 Facebook page.

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