Ecosystem Roundup: SEA’s tech startup investments fall 13% to US$5.6B in H1 2020; Credo Lab, Ricult receive investment

Identity data specialist GBG leads US$7M in Singapore’s fintech CredoLab; Built on over 22M credit applications across 70+ lending partners, CredoLab’s algorithm crunches millions of features to find the most predictive micro-behavioural patterns, before converting them into risk scores; The firm has approved over US$2B in loans to date. Finextra

SEA’s VC gender diversity score is out, and it doesn’t look too good; The region has 32 true investing female partners; However, about 76% of VCs with SEA operations don’t have a single female partner; For every one female investing partner, there are 5 male decision-makers in the region. DealStreetAsia

Thai agritech startup Ricult secures US$2M to take its pre-Series A funding to US$5M; Investors are Bangkok Bank’s VC arm Bualuang Ventures and Bank of Ayudhya’s VC arm Krungsri Finnovate; The startup uses AI to help farmers increase yield, access online markets, and also offers a chat line with agriculture experts. e27

SEA’s tech startup investments fall 13% to US$5.6B in H1, says a Cento Ventures research; The region’s Series B and C financing (US$10M- US$50M) totalled a record US$1.2B in H1 this year, up about 25% from a year ago; gojek raised US$1.2B in March, and in May, Ninja Van raised US$279M. Bloomberg

How startups should approach public relations; An agency will always bring more skills to the table than even a fairly large in-house PR team; The fear of underservicing a client and therefore losing out on revenue is much more acute in an agency; It means, there’s more economic alignment with the agency model for delivering good work than the in-house. e27

Why its important for SaaS startups to be frugal; The best way to be frugal here is to aim for the long run and go for a sustainable approach; the more you switch platforms in the later stages of your development, the more expenses you will suffer; Having a sustainable approach ensures frugality in the long run. e27

Why edutech is becoming an investor favourite this season; Online tutoring companies in the US, China, and India have attracted huge traction and interest from the investors; Interest and investment in tools and services designed for direct use of the students and parents are on the rise. e27

How to strategically build your brand; Business is not conducted solely based on what you provide, but also your character, credibility, integrity, and how you deal with people; The products and services are what the consumers are looking for, while personal branding is the reason why people come to you over your competitors. ABS-CBN

Nokia, StarHub conduct first live 5G non-standalone network trial in Singapore; By leveraging existing 4G infra, the trial 5G network will allow StarHub to provide higher data bandwidth and reliable connectivity to its subscribers without a major infra overhaul; StarHub will expand the network coverage and expects it to reach 70% by Sep 2020. TechCoffeeHouse

How Thailand’s renewables sector will bounce back from COVID-19; Renewable energy projects all over the world rely on getting their materials, components and equipments from China, Korea, Vietnam; However, due to supply chain disruption, the sector will need to source these parts from elsewhere; This creates room in a crowded market for Thailand to make an impression. Tech Collective

How to raise your first VC fund; Just as VCs bucket startup founders into categories, LPs have an unwritten way of categorising venture managers; Having built an innovative company, former founders/operator-turned-VCs can bring special insights in where the market is headed; Building a company, however, requires different skills from founding a fund. TechCrunch

Visa launches initiative to encourage Singaporeans to support local merchants, SMEs to go digital; As part of this, Visa will be working with Shopee to feature more than 2K local micro SMEs in its marketplace and create campaigns to enable Visa cardholders to enjoy discounts when they shop at these local merchants. TechCoffeeHouse

MDEC launches #SayaDigital to spur growth in digital initiatives; The initiative has four primary goals — to make life convenient, boost income, empower careers and accelerate biz expansion; It will feature several capacity-building programmes, providing businesses with various means to go digital and enabling Malaysians to be digitally skilled with speed and at scale. MiDEC

Banks rush to apply modern tech in digital transformation in Vietnam; Many banks already started allowing customers to open online payment accounts for immediate payment transactions without waiting; This can be seen as a turning point in tech in the experience of Vietnamese card users and a strong push to promote banking digitalisation, towards a cashless society in the nation. Vietnam News

Pandemic driving adoption of health-tech for the elderly in Singapore; Telehealth and telemedicine technologies are on the rise; Accelerating home-based health services delivered through technologies would support the transformations needed to care for older adults at home and create market incentives to develop and deploy such technologies. The Straits Times

Indonesia can expect more startup investment: Sequoia India; At least 31 funding agreements for local startups were announced in Q2, higher than the 24 deals recorded over the same period last year; There are opportunities in the “old-school” digital economy, from e-commerce and cashless payments to warung, manufacturing and financial services. Jakarta Post

E-wallet service provider Boost helps micro SMEs move biz online in Malaysia; This will be done by providing its own e-commerce catalog and integrated with Boost Payment Link feature; During the campaign period until Sept 30, participating traders have the opportunity to receive rewards and benefits. Malay Mail

Pertama Digital eyes US$120M revenue from digital biz; The firm is expected to launch its own app MyPay, which aims to offer a one-stop centre for all queries and payment related transactions with government agencies, by end-2020; Pertama Digital is the proposed name change for investment holding firm Sinotop Holdings. Malay Mail

Meet the ant collector who left his job to open an ant shop in Singapore; The shop has about 30 to 35 species of ants, ranging from the most common Carpenter Ants to the invasive Anoplolepis gracilipes; A starter test-tube kit for a beginner ant hobbyist could go for about US$9, while an established colony of 20 to 30 ants would sell for US$15. Channel News Asia

Top Thai telco Advanced Info Service urges factories to adopt 5G for robots and AI; It has set aside US$1.4B to build 5G infra in the country’s crucial Eastern Economic Corridor; It aims to bring the next-gen mobile standard to manufacturers, giving them a tool they can use to introduce cutting-edge robotics, AI and internet-connected devices to their factories. Nikkei Asia Review

Malaysian scientist uses tech to help farmers grow better crops; Dr Chew Bee Lynn has been working together with local farmers and food growers to help maximise the quality of crops through practical cultivation methods, like micropropagation (propagation of plants by growing plantlets in tissue culture and then planting them out). SAYS

More Vietnamese use ride-hailing services, survey; The percentage of surveyed participants booking a ride via ride-haling platforms on their mobile devices rose to 83% in 2019 from 45% a year ago; The survey also found that a majority of Vietnamese had demand for participating in sharing economy business models. Vietnam News

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