Brian Cu leaves Grab
The story: Brian Cu is leaving his role as president of Grab Philippines.
Why: Cu has decided to focus on other business interests as an entrepreneur in the startup scene, as per a press statement.
His contributions to Grab: Cu managed Grab’s operations in the Philippines since its launch in the country seven years ago. He has steered the company since it started as a ride-hailing app and eventually transitioned into a “superapp” with multiple verticals including food and package delivery and other services.
He also oversaw the company’s merger with former competitor Uber in 2016.
NUS to nurture fintech talent
The story: The NUS School of Computing has launched the NUS-FinTechSG Programme, which aims to nurture Singapore’s next generation of fintech talents and full stack developers, FintechNews has reported.
What is it?: The programme offered by the NUS FinTech Lab and Strategic Technology Management Institute (STMI) is a platform for students to gain knowledge about contemporary issues, integration of financial domain know-how, consisting of lending, payments, insurance, regulation and management. Students will also learn about front- and back-end development, cloud systems, blockchain and algorithmic trading.
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More details: The launch of the programme builds upon the concerted efforts to strengthen Singapore’s US$861 million fintech market and to ensure that the industry can continue its growth momentum alongside financial institutions.
MDEC’s startup funding initiative
The story: The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has launched the Founders Grindstone, its sixth funding initiative in four months.
This comes after the facilitation of five alternative funding initiatives for companies seeking financial relief during the Movement Control Order that was implemented on 18 March 2020.
What is it?: The Founders Grindstone is a six-month programme, consisting of three blocks of intensive workshops conducted by global partners from venture capital firms, equity crowdfunding operators, startup-centric media and the legal practice.
Objective: It aims to offer the opportunity to leverage funding platforms of the partners on-board, granting Malaysian entrepreneurs’ access to investment offerings by the global funding network.
When: The first block of workshops will be conducted virtually by MDEC and Draper Startup House Ventures (DSH) on July 15. Participants will be guided on the creation of effective pitch decks and the art of storytelling.
Following the workshop, participating startups will be eligible to submit their pitch decks on the DSH Ventures platform where 20 chosen start-ups will be invited to pitch in the coming weeks.
Fefifo’s crowdfunding campaign
The story: Malaysian agritech startup Fefifo has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Ata Plus with a 50 per cent discount on its valuation as part of its initiatives in view of the global COVID-19 crisis.
How much: Fefifo seeks to raise up to RM4.5 million (US$1.05M) in return for a 25.25 per cent stake.
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What is Fefifo: A technology-driven, co-farming company that focuses on empowering a new generation of progressive smallholder farmers in ASEAN.
Its co-farming model enables smallholder farmers and young agriculture graduates to start their own commercial farming business with zero capital expenditure, by providing them with modern, ready-to-farm spaces called ‘co-farms’ and access to agri-science, technology and training.
‘Agropreneurs’ in Fefifo’s network can expect attractive returns and benefit from Fefifo’s established partnerships across the entire agri-value chain. Agropreneurs are also given financial support to start their farms, manage their crop growth and operations using a purpose-built digital platform, and they sell their crops to guaranteed buyers.
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