SaaS major Intuit acquires Singapore’s inventory and order management platform TradeGecko; As per Bloomberg, the deal size is US$80M; Intuit will integrate its accounting platform QuickBooks’s suite of financial, payment, reporting and accounting tools with TradeGecko. e27
Indonesian fintech startup Ayoconnect raises US$5M pre-Series B from BRI Ventures, others; This takes its total funding raised thus far to US$10M; It also named Alex Jatra (ex-HARA, Dattabot, and Kejora exec) as CFO; A a B2B company, Ayoconnect connects bill providers with online and offline channel partners. e27
Sequoia India brings on ex-gojek CTO Ajey Gore as operating partner; In this role, he will mainly work closely with the CTOs and CPOs of Sequoia’s portfolio firms; Sequoia’s investments include Byju’s, Carousell, Druva, gojek, OYO, Tokopedia. e27
Wahyoo raises US$5M Series A led by Intudo to digitise small eateries in Indonesia; The startup offers digital tools and services for eateries to attract customers, enhance marketing efforts, implement loyalty programmes, order and receive groceries; It plans to expand ops into new cities outside of Greater Jakarta. e27
Cambodia’s payment aggregator Clik raises US$3.7M seed funding led by Openway and Poems; Clik enables consumers to make payments from cards, wallets and bank accounts, and merchants to accept such payments; It has 2.5K merchants, 5 financial institutions in its beta programmes and has access to over 56K+ merchants via its partners. e27
Synagie proposes US$45M sale of e-commerce arm to founders, Gobi fund, Alibaba; The proposed sale involves the entire e-commerce, e-commerce enabler, logistics business; This will enable Synagie to focus its resources and capital on growing its insurtech biz; The S’pore firm has been loss-making — except for the net profit it foresees for H1 2020. Business Times
Swelling optimism boosts Sea’s shares by over 880%; Demand for its mobile games and e-shopping platform has surged during the pandemic; It is also bidding on a digital-banking license to accelerate its push into financial services; It is also looking for potential acquisitions in gaming, logistics and e-commerce. DealStreetAsia
Ethics and AI: Is the tech only as good as the human behind it?; When it comes to the discussion on the ethics of AI and how the tech can go wrong, the public’s minds remain affected by scenes in Hollywood movies — “What if it turns against us and starts shooting people on the street?; While we must be open to all possibilities, there are more grounded concerns on the ethics of AI. e27
New institute to lead digital finance research in S’pore; The institute AIDF will provide thought leadership and strengthen synergies between education, research and entrepreneurship in digital finance; Potential areas of focus for research include digital assets, ledger tech, AI, digital finance platforms, green fintech, next-gen financial services on 5G networks. Finews.Asia
MDEC, BNM launch fintech capacity building programme; It provides capacity building for fintech companies to develop meaningful innovative products and services by enhancing their understanding of legal, compliance and regulation requirements; Fintech Booster is open to all fintech companies including those without any presence in Malaysia. Fintech News
Storytelling: A humane way to advertise your startup; Sales storytelling seeks to create connections with potential customers by making them the protagonists in the story; The goal is to arouse emotions through convincing and relevant stories; This enables the brand to retain the attention of the target audience and positively impact it. e27
New normal preparation: How regtech can help the financial industry tackle money laundering; Some banks are working with regtech to tap on tech such as AI to assist their internal teams and better manage compliance risk; The algorithms thus created can be used to identify risky customers, accounts or transactions and file timely reports with regulators. e27
Aspire partners with Osome for same-day incorporation, account opening services; The Aspire Business Account can be opened online within minutes, Aspire claims; The account automatically comes with a debit card that allows biz owners to transact in over 40 currencies; This service claims to be 16% cheaper than doing both processes separately physically. Fintech News
10 startups awarded US$21.4K prize in COVID-19 competition; “RESQUE: Startups vs. Covid-19 Competition” is a nationwide contest that aims to help scale startups with pandemic initiatives; The programme is run by QBO Innovation Hub, Youth Business International, Google.org. NewsBytes.ph
US fintech firm Vesta gets EDBI backing for APAC expansion; It will establish its regional HQs in S’pore; Vesta’s expansion comes as online fraud losses increased by 50% in APAC in the past year due to the growth in e-commerce transactions; Vesta provides fraud protection and e-commerce payment solutions to online merchants, major telcos, payment processors, and acquirers. DealStreetAsia
Grab expands financial services including micro-investment solution AutoInvest; It allows Singapore users to invest small sums of money while spending in Grab’s ecosystem; With AutoInvest, users can choose how much they want to invest per Grab transaction, from as low as US$0.73. Vulcan Post
Thailand must leverage digital connectivity in the new normal; The nation has already taken an aggressive approach towards both mobile and fixed broadband development; To stimulate the 5G development and alleviate some of the investment required for operators, its govt. has introduced flexible payment terms that allow 700 MHz and 2600 MHz licenses to be paid over 10 yrs. Open Gov
Investment in IT, cybersecurity soars in Thailand; H1 2020 saw that cybersecurity spending predominantly concerned elements stipulated under the Personal Data Protection Act, including e-signatures; Cloud services in Thailand are forecast to grow by 29% from 2018 to 2025, with the market value projected to reach US$1B. Open Gov
Hybrid working model presents challenges for HR teams; Hybrid working could become permanent in the new world of work; In such a scenario, inclusion will become increasingly important, employee wellbeing should be a priority and collective ownership should be promoted. HR Asia
Timo joins hands with Viet Capital Bank as new banking partner; The new app Timo Plus will enable users to send and receive payments, manage savings and investments, borrow money, and create financial plans. Vietnam News
More than half of Myanmar consumers are interested in using digital banking, says Visa study; 43% consumers are interested in making payments with biometric authentication; The top-5 services consumers are looking for are bill payments (65%), money transfer to family and friends (56%), loans (41%), deposits and withdrawals (35%), cross-border money transfers (33%). Myanmar Tech Press
SEA’s and LatAm’s startup ecosystems are more similar than you think; Not only do both regions have relatively young populations, where the median age is below 30, consumers are also tech-savvy and connected to the internet; However, the regions still face complex challenges like logistics, security, financial inclusion, corruption, and pollution, that traditional players have not yet solved. TNW
Malaysia’s RHB Group launches first SME financing mobile app powered by AI; The app automates the customer on-boarding process; It enables customers to interact with RHB’s relationship managers via mobile app and submit applications remotely and securely at their convenience. MiDEC
Move over VR: XR in sports is the future; Extended reality (XR) is a solution that could get people back to playing real sports again but on a virtual scale; When applied to play sports, XR also includes real sports equipment and sensors to simulate real gameplay; When these technologies are used for sports, people can be safely socially distanced from each other while also experiencing the competition of realistic gameplay. e27
UOB launches digital bank TMRW in Indonesia; One of its key features is a game called City of TMRW, where customers can build a virtual city whenever they save; As users level up, they can unlock various options to enhance their virtual city; TMRW also offers QR code payments. Fintech News
MatchMove introduces cross-border remittance platform for businesses; This it claims will help SMEs in Singapore save up to 80% of their cost when compared to charges currently levied by most banks; According to a recent report by Google, Temasek, Bain & Company, revenue from digital remittance is estimated to hit US$28 billion by 2025. Fintech News
The post Ecosystem Roundup: Intuit acquires TradeGecko; Synagie proposes US$45M sale of e-commerce arm; Ayoconnect, Wahyoo, Clik, Vesta secure investment appeared first on e27.