Grab in talks with banks for US$500M loan; It will be a revolving loan for 3 or 5-year tenor for 5-6 per cent interest rate. Deal Street Asia
Dropee raises US$1.3M seed-extension round; Investors include Y Combinator, Ondine Capital, Vynn Capital.
Indonesia’s Bank Central Asia launches 3rd SYNRGY Accelerator with 11 startups; Its focus areas are insurtech, data analytics, proptech, Enterprise 2.0, AR/VR, mortgage, blockchain. e27
Antler announces 15 new investees; The list also includes 2 startups from the startup generator’s COVID-19 Initiative. e27
How travel startups can survive when investors withdraw; The term of virtual travel expectedly becomes popular, and inspires several startups capturing this model to survive. e27
MDEC launches 6-month programme to empower tech startups; The ‘Founders Grindstone’ consists of 3 blocks of intensive workshops conducted by global partners from VC firms, ECF operators, media. OpenGov
How to craft your startup’s financial projections. A good starting point in looking at your projections would be the revenue forecasts. e27
Cyber resilience key as SMEs step up digitalisation efforts; To manage cyber attack threat, SMEs can conduct simulated spear phishing campaigns to test employees on a regular basis. sgsme.sg
Crystal-ball gazing: How startup models will evolve in the new, multi-dimensional connected world; The eventual goal for organisations to thrive would be to create a platform of co-creation, co-sharing and co-distribution among collaborating parties. e27
Lazada helps Asia’s malls go online after virus upends retail; The Alibaba-backed e-commerce major launched its virtual mall ‘Lazmall’ in 2018 and the number of brands working with it has grown ninefold to 18K-plus. InsideRetail
Immersive chat startups have a very different vision for the future of voice; As audio-centric platforms garner investor interest, VR founders of old are trying to push 3D audio as the next evolution, presenting the tech in a way that looks entirely different from today’s voice chat platforms. TechCrunch
4 steps for digital success in the COVID-19 era; Overnight shifts to virtual workplaces have reinforced the need for digital transformation of the HR function. hrmasia
Digital economy now contributes one fifth to Malaysia’s GDP; The country’s digital economy is worth US$63B (18% of GDP); It is expected to reach 20% by end-2020. OpenGov
DTI Philippines launches e-forum for MSME resilience amid COVID-19; As per a report, the 3 most-funded categories were all downstream — in-store retail & restaurant tech, with US$115M (across 23 deals); online restaurants and mealkits (US$86M, 13 deals); and e-grocery (US$51M, 9 deals). AgFunderNews
These 5 Asian startups are innovating sustainability solutions, from repurposing waste to clean meat; The 5 startups from Singapore Food Bowl’s latest cohort hail from Philippines, Singapore, Thailand. GreenQueen
Al-Huffaz, Ameenfarm and Yuwal top DARe’s Accelerate programme in Brunei; Over 100 startups have completed ‘Accelerate’ since the programme started in 2016. Biz Brunei
SiHub, Expara launch startup incubation programme in Myanmar capital; The programme aims to incubate at least 20 startups with products suited to the fast-growing market. Vietnam News
Filipino startup trains underskilled women in AI for free; The startup Connected Women trains them to be data annotators, which are considered to be essential in any programme that uses AI. Inquirer.Net
Thai bank SCB to launch own food delivery service to through its venture capital arm; The new company aims to bring 50K restaurants to its Robinhood app by the end of the year. Nikkei Asia Review
Is China the new global e-commerce leader?; Its growth is largely locally driven as a result of the explosive growth of affluent and internet savvy consumers. e27
Prabhjeet Singh is Uber’s new India and South Asia president; He succeeds Pradeep Parameswaran, who was promoted to be the regional GM (APAC); TechCrunch
—
Image Credit: 123rf
The post Ecosystem Roundup: Grab reportedly in talks for US$500M bank loan; SCB to launch food delivery service in Thailand appeared first on e27.