The Echelon X fireside chat titled ‘From the Pandemic to the Present: utu’s Strategies for Growth in the Travel Industry’ offered a deep dive into how utu, a disruptive player in the travel industry, navigated the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The session explored utu’s innovative strategies for sustaining growth, enhancing customer experiences, and driving business expansion amidst unprecedented disruptions.

Moderated by Jeremy Au, Investor and Podcaster at BRAVESEA.com, the fireside chat featured Ameer Jumabhoy, Co-Founder of utu.

The discussion highlighted utu’s resilience and adaptability in the face of the pandemic, showcasing how the company capitalised on emerging opportunities in the post-pandemic world. Jumabhoy shared insights into the innovative strategies utu employed to sustain growth, including pivoting business models, leveraging technology to enhance customer experiences, and identifying new market opportunities.

The session provided valuable lessons on how to thrive in a rapidly changing landscape and offered practical advice for businesses looking to adapt and grow in uncertain times.

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Malaysia’s Cradle Fund has announced a strategic collaboration with state-owned impact investor VentureTECH to foster structured discussions between fund providers across government and private sectors.

This partnership is a key initiative under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation’s (MOSTI) Fund Funnel program, which is designed to address the lack of continuous financial coverage from early-stage to later-stage funders.

Also Read: A startup’s roadmap to success in Malaysia: Key government agencies and their support systems

As highlighted in the Malaysia Startup Ecosystem Roadmap (SUPER) 2021-2030, this gap has been recognized as a significant barrier to growth.

Under Intervention 2 of SUPER, there is a pressing need to remodel the investment attraction framework to enhance its efficiency and attract higher-quality investments. The collaboration between Cradle and VentureTECH addresses this by establishing a more coherent and integrated funding pathway for startups, ensuring a smoother transition from early to later-stage investments.

Minister of MOSTI YB Tuan Chang Lih Kang commented: “The Fund Funnel partnership is a strategic move to streamline the funding process within our startup ecosystem, supporting the aspirations under the KL20 Action Plan. By fostering closer and stronger collaboration between early and later-stage fund providers, we facilitate a smoother funding journey for our startups.”

“Aligned with the Ekonomi MADANI framework, this initiative is crucial in ensuring that our innovative startups receive the support they need to scale and succeed, ultimately driving Malaysia’s growth as a global innovation hub,” he added.

Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke, Group CEO of Cradle, stated: “By combining Cradle’s expertise in early-stage funding with VentureTECH’s focus on technology-driven investments, we are creating a more cohesive and comprehensive support system for startups. This collaboration will enable us to better identify and nurture high-potential startups, ensuring they have the resources and guidance needed to achieve long-term success.”

Ahmad Redzuan Sidek, CEO of VentureTECH, said: “The partnership not only aligns with our mission to empower technology-driven companies but also enhances the overall investment landscape. Our focus is to ensure these companies can access the right funding at the right time, ultimately driving high-potential startups towards sustainable growth and equipping them with the necessary resources to thrive in a competitive global market.”

Also Read: pitchIN to support startups by students, lecturers of Malaysia university UMT

The collaboration between Cradle and VentureTECH was formally signed with the
exchange of the partnership documents at the Malaysia Commercialisation Year (MCY)
Summit 2024 recently. Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, YB Dato’ Haji Mohammad Yusof Bin Apdal, attended.

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Singapore-based Nexus Ocean AI, which delivers genAI-native business efficiency solutions to address the unique challenges of the maritime sector, has secured US$400,000 in an angel investment from London-based Tradeworks.vc.

This marks Tradeworks. vc’s 16th investment in supply chain & logistics technology startups in just over three years.

Also Read: Using AI to enhance maritime safety, Nautisense is looking to expand into the UK, Scandinavia

Nexus Ocean AI aims to eliminate “grunt work” by creating genAI personas, augmented by a Maritime Language Model, which interacts with knowledge graphs spanning the customer’s internal and external data silos, including mailboxes.

With Nexus Ocean AI, customers and their employees have all the organization’s knowledge and experience at their fingertips. They can then spend their time adding real value, like preventing accidents, focusing on customers, reducing costs, and ensuring business continuity.

Nexus Ocean’s genAI is deployed and trained on the customer’s own V-Net, providing unprecedented data privacy and security by design.

Tradeworks.vc is a small, specialized, and selective VC that invests in startups that develop and employ technology to solve big problems in global B2B supply chain & logistics markets.

Also Read: Studio 30 50 unveils maritime-tech startups joining its latest cohort

“There’s a huge talent gap in shipping, and the people we manage to attract and retain end up drowning in grunt work. It’s not uncommon to have to read over 1,000 emails per day to ensure no important information is missed. With Nexus Ocean, emails are summarised, prioritised, and replies are drafted, in multiple languages even. Complex processes like crew changes, maintenance plans and drydockings can be automated. Accidents can be managed correctly without delay, and the time saved spent on preventing future accidents. This single solution just solves so many big problems, and the customers love it,” said Niklas Holck, founder and CEO of Tradeworks.vc.

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Image Credit: 123RF.

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The Philippines has emerged as a compelling destination for startup founders in Southeast Asia (SEA), offering a blend of strategic advantages that set it apart from regional powerhouses such as Singapore and Indonesia.

From cost-effective operations to a dynamic pool of young talent, the Philippines presents an attractive alternative for entrepreneurs seeking to establish and scale their ventures. If you are still on the fence about building your startup in the Philippines, here are reasons why the archipelago should be on the radar of any startup founder considering where to base their company in SEA.

Competitive labour costs and a young talent pool

One of the most significant advantages the Philippines offers over Singapore and Indonesia is its cost-effectiveness, particularly regarding wages. Labour costs in the Philippines are significantly lower than in Singapore, where the high cost of living drives up salaries. While Singapore offers a highly developed infrastructure and a stable business environment, the expense of maintaining a workforce there can be prohibitive for startups, especially in the early stages.

In contrast, the Philippines provides a more affordable alternative without compromising on talent. The country has a young and growing workforce, with a median age of around 25.7 years in 2024. This young demographic is tech-savvy, adaptable, and increasingly well-educated, thanks to a strong emphasis on higher education in fields such as engineering, IT, and business management.

Also Read: Are traditional conglomerates in the Philippines finally embracing corporate investing?

While Indonesia also has a large and youthful population, the Philippines stands out for its high proficiency in English, the business world’s lingua franca. This linguistic advantage makes it easier for startups in the Philippines to operate globally and tap into international markets.

Market readiness and economic growth

The Philippines’ market readiness is another compelling reason for startups to consider establishing themselves in the country. The Philippines is experiencing rapid economic growth, with a GDP growth rate that has consistently outpaced many of its regional neighbours. This growth is driven in part by a burgeoning middle class that is increasingly embracing digital technologies and services.

With a population of over 115 million people, the Philippines represents a sizable domestic market. The country’s middle class is expanding, with increasing purchasing power and a growing appetite for new products and services. This demographic shift presents a wealth of opportunities for startups, particularly those in the tech, fintech, and e-commerce sectors, which are poised to meet the needs of a young, connected, and digitally literate population.

In comparison, while Indonesia also offers a large market, its regulatory environment can be challenging to navigate, particularly for foreign startups. Singapore, on the other hand, though business-friendly, has a smaller population and market size, which can limit growth potential for startups focused on consumer-oriented products.

Access to local and global investors

Another key factor that makes the Philippines an attractive destination for startups is the growing availability of both local and global investors. The country’s startup ecosystem has been gaining traction, with increasing interest from venture capitalists, angel investors, and private equity firms. In recent years, the Philippines has seen a surge in startup incubators, accelerators, and coworking spaces, creating a vibrant environment for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Also Read: Uncovering deeper opportunities for fintech investment and venture creation in the Philippines

The Philippine government has also been actively supporting the startup ecosystem through various initiatives, such as the Innovative Startup Act, which provides tax breaks, grants, and other forms of assistance to startups. This supportive environment has helped attract global investors who are keen to tap into the country’s growth potential.

While Singapore has long been a hub for venture capital in Southeast Asia, the high costs associated with operating there can limit returns for investors, particularly in the early stages of a startup’s growth. Indonesia, with its large market, also attracts considerable investment, but the challenges of scaling in a diverse and geographically dispersed country can be daunting.

Exploring opportunities at Echelon Philippines

Join us at Echelon Philippines 2024 for an insightful panel discussion titled “Why Philippines: The Advantages of Launching and Setting Up Your Business.”

Moderated by Ranvir Singhsachakul, Director of Marketing and Business Development at MessageSpring, this session will delve into the unique opportunities and competitive advantages that the Philippines offers to entrepreneurs and businesses. Our distinguished panel includes Jay Fajardo, Executive Director of Ideaspace; Ron Baetiong, Founder and CEO of Podcast Network Asia; Bela Gupta D’Souza, Founder of edamama; and Afansiy Petrov, Business Development Manager at inDrive.

Presented in partnership with Brainsparks, Echelon Philippines 2024 is a groundbreaking event that unites the collective expertise of the Philippines and Southeast Asia startup leaders, visionary entrepreneurs and forward thinking investors to drive the next phase of growth.

Don’t miss this chance to gain valuable insights from industry leaders on why the Philippines is the ideal destination for your business venture.

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Cyber threats are on the rise across Asia Pacific, and the potential financial damage keeps growing every year. According to a staggering forecast from the Word Economic Forum, annual cybercrime costs are set to balloon from US$8.4 trillion globally to over US$23 trillion in 2027. And by many accounts, the Asia Pacific region is one of those being hit the hardest. APAC is even being labelled the “new Ground Zero for cybercrime”.

It’s clear businesses today need to take cybersecurity seriously. But where do you start when defending against a threat landscape that evolves every day? How do you even quantify cyber risk to know where to focus your limited resources?

If one thing is for sure, for the companies that keep relying on existing security tactics, it becomes a matter of when (not if) a data breach causes massive disruption. Indeed there has to be a better way versus this non-stop game of catchup?

Current security methods come up short

Today’s common cyber risk approaches leave much to be desired:

• Preventative controls: Tools like traditional firewalls, endpoints, and IPS block some threats but are incomplete protections. You still get flooded with tons of alerts to sift through, trying to find actual incidents.
• Vulnerability management: Typically very manual and reactive. You only fix issues after some scanning tool flags an exposure, allowing months of unseen access in many cases. This band-aid approach just doesn’t cut it at businesses’ current pace.
• Compliance audits: These happen maybe once or twice a year. Auditors follow their own standards, so you get snapshots that are not optimised for business priorities. Technologists hardly ever have input to clarify actual risks, either.

What’s missing is a way to continuously expose and manage both internal authorisation risks alongside emerging external threats. Boardrooms remain in the dark, unable to quantify actual business risk exposures or potential disruption costs. Running blind, organisations miss chances to improve defences before disaster strikes.

Step into the light with threat exposure management

This is where Threat Exposure Management (TEM) comes in. TEM takes a data-driven approach to managing cyber risk enterprise-wide. Simply put, it gives you the ability to:

• Keep watch 24/7 on where assets, data, and access gaps exist
• Detect risk shifts as users, configs, and threats constantly change
• Predict business impact scenarios for smart planning
• Prevent incidents by closing exposures early

Also Read: Why does cybersecurity training for employees in Malaysia matter and how to go about it?

With the right TEM program, you gain an always up-to-date understanding of the distinct cyber risks facing your organisation. Just like advancements in medicine moved from reactive treatment to data-based prevention, TEM ushers in the next evolution of contextual, collaborative cyber defence.

Complete visibility of your dynamic environment

Gaining ongoing visibility into the entirety of your environment is the foundation for successful TEM. You need intimate intelligence on where sensitive assets reside, authorisation gaps exist, and critical data flows. This allows building an effective risk model that reflects reality.

Best-in-class solutions automatically map assets continuously across cloud, hybrid infrastructure, OT, IoT, and more. By stitching visibility seamlessly across technologies, you maintain a single source of truth through automatic updates.

Armed with this complete picture, you can track permission access across dynamic users and roles to expose combo risks. Analysing entitlements and connections illuminates potential attack paths, helping focus defenses on areas of heightened exposure likelihood.

Intelligence tracking of emerging external threats

Understanding exposure potential from approved access (internal threats) tells only part of the story. We also have to account for dynamic external threats from cybercriminals.

Motivated hackers actively scan environments each day, always finding new ways to break in through malware, ransomware, social engineering, and so on. They don’t care if they exploit some zero day vulnerability or a gap caused by one employee’s mistake.

To stay on top of these ever-evolving attack methods, advanced TEM systems continuously track global hacking trends. By ingesting intelligence from security firms and even the dark web, TEM keeps risk models updated based on real-world threats.

For example, analysts receive automatic alerts if chatter about hospital ransomware attacks spikes in Asia. Or new malware targeting manufacturing systems starts spreading. This hands-free monitoring ensures no threat goes unseen.

Rather than chasing thousands of theoretical vulnerabilities, teams can instantly mobilise incident response plans against credible threats mapped to their specific business assets. Staying steps ahead of emerging hacks before they become headlines.

Connecting the dots to business impact

When assessing risk, we tend to fixate on the likelihood of hacking threats or the number of security gaps. But not all assets are created equal for a company. We have to weigh business criticality too. For example, a vulnerability in your social media automation tools matters far less than one exposing customer financial data, right? The potential damage was done by a data breach factors heavily into how we prioritise defences.

Advanced TEM solutions help quantify bigger picture business impact by mapping out these connections:

• Linking assets and systems to key business functions that depend on them
• Modeling realistic disruption scenarios — lost revenue, recovery costs, fines, reputation hit
• Scoring risk by blending both likelihood and impact estimates

Painting this clear picture of how cyber-attacks translate to business disruption gets everyone aligned. IT security focuses on fixing higher value exposures instead of chasing every tiny issue. Leadership joins forces, realising revenue, regulatory mandates, and corporate reputation are all on the line.

Also Read: Protecting innovation: Cybersecurity as the backbone of tech independence

Because at the end of the day, informed risk decisions require seeing the forest for the trees – and TEM helps connect those dots between cyber risk and business impact.

Enabling risk-aware planning across the business

With constantly updated data on cyber risks and business impacts, the big win is enabling collaboration across your whole organisation.

• IT Security quickly spots gaps allowing hackers access to critical systems. They rally joint priorities to fix issues before damage happens.
• Finance sees forward-looking risk likelihood trends. They can account for cyber threats appropriately in investment planning and budgets.
• Legal and Compliance accurately pinpoints higher exposure areas in most need of audits, policies, and controls. Resources get allocated judiciously.
• Insurance moves from subjective questionnaires to fact-based assessments quantifying cyber risk. It helps justify policy premiums and limits through data-driven models.

By breaking down information silos, TEM gives every stakeholder shared visibility. Teams plan cyber defense strategies aware of risks based on data-backed projections – not gut feeling guesswork after major incidents strike.

Final thoughts

Playing defence against cyber threats isn’t working with how fast attacks evolve nowadays. Compliance checklists and legacy tools leave too many gaps bad actors exploit before we can even react. Businesses need to flip the script to quantify risks proactively and prevent incidents through cross-team collaboration.

That’s the power of threat exposure management. TEM gives you 24/7 visibility across your entire environment — critical for exposing authorisation risks and tracking emerging hacking threats targeting organisations like yours. With security and business leaders planning hand-in-hand armed with data-driven risk insights, you can finally get ahead of threats before they make headlines.

Sure, it takes some work to connect the dots between cyber risk and business impact. But isn’t the long-term resilience of an organisation worth investing in? No one wants to gamble on when (not if) the next data breach happens. TEM allows seeing around corners before disaster strikes so you can thrive.

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