Antler will showcase their first batch of companies after 5-months under their leadership on Jan 10, 2019 at the Google campus, hosted by the Google Cloud Startup in Singapore during Demo Day SG1.

On Episode 12 of The Story of You, we had Magnus Grimeland, CEO of Antler, a startup generator and an early stage VC.

Antler is unlike a regular accelerator because it helps connect founders to mentors and potential co-founders in the very early stages of building a company. It leverages a rigorous selection process and funding — only 3 per cent  of applicants are accepted into their programme — to find the best candidates.

Magnus leads a global team to develop the next generation of companies, while creating a pipeline for top talent to pursue a career in entrepreneurship and innovation.

62 founders from 22 countries have founded 29 companies. Antler has invested in 13 from their first cohort in 2018. The companies created are from a wide range of industries including real estate, e-sports, hiring, robotics and automation, and e-commerce.

Here are some highlights from our conversation with Magnus.

How is Antler distinctly different from other accelerators, especially in its approach to building companies?

We focus on talent first. We really believe that all great businesses are created by amazing co-founding teams and while other accelerators and VCs invest in companies and help them make it better, we bring in great talent from around the globe in specific teams and build companies. We then invest in the companies. That is very unique.

What makes a great entrepreneur?

There are 3 factors that make an amazing entrepreneur- this is what we are looking for.

• People who have a spike- this can be different for each person. It can be a
  personality trait or that you are deeply entrenched in a particular industry—everyone
  can have a spike or strength and if you know it, you can utilise it to make something
  amazing.
• Inner engine —  the drive that enables you to execute that comes from passion.
• Tenacity — on paper everything looks amazing but in real life, all these things are
  really hard. Everyone will hit walls, but the ones who succeed in something big are
  usually the ones who never give up achieving their dreams.

What’s are the biggest takeaways after the first batch of companies?

The first major learning is that it really works—that if you put a group of passionate people in a room committed to solving a problem, it will work.

Also Read:  The Story of You with Homage Co-founder and CEO Gillian Tee

We learned a lot about forming teams- some organically, some with input from our side. How you go deep on a business model and iterate that was another.

The only way to create a great product is to get something out there quickly for the customers to use.

What have you learned about Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem?

The digitalisation of Southeast Asia is happening faster than almost anywhere else in the world—there are massive customer bases to reach in the region. We have seen giants like Go-Jek, Traveloka, Grab, Lazada emerge over the last few years.

The ecosystem has developed a lot and right now we are at this inflexion point where you have some great companies that have been built, the regulatory environment has really picked up. It has never been a better time to build something in this region. Now is the time.

What did you notice about this cohort and the way they approached building
companies?

We focus on building companies that solve problems, not follow trends. The issue with trends is people will build companies for the sake of technology. For example, when you saw the Blockchain trend, you saw a lot people trying to build businesses based on blockchain technology.

This is really the wrong way to build a business. For us, we ensure we tell the founders the way to do it is to find a real problem that needs to be solved and make people’s lives better. Then we help them get the right team to execute it and then it’s going to be an amazing business. Start with the problem.

What are the expansions plans globally?

We are a global company who want to build companies so we can support companies who want to expand globally. That’s why a global platform is better than a localised one. We will be able to execute out of Singapore. You have be international and bring in people who can add something to the company who are either stronger or have different spikes.

Also Read: The Story of You with Smartkarma CEO Raghav Kapoor

We are not creating a franchise, we are building a global partnership and all the partners coming in now as we expand into the US, Europe, Australia and Africa add amazing talent to support our companies.

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The Indonesia-based online investment app completed a US$2.1-million seed funding round co-led by SoftBank Ventures and few others notable investors

SoftBank, Y Combinator, Alpha JWC, Insignia Ventures Partners, and an undisclosed former Sequoia partner joined together to invest a total of US$2.1 million in Ajaib, a smart online investment application based in Indonesia, as reported by Deal Street Asia.

The funding is said to be used for product and engineering team improvements.

Ajaib just launched this month and was a product of Y Combinator (YC) startup incubator. It works by providing access to personal investment services for the country’s middle-class users.

Also Read: KinerjaPay signs agreement to receive US$200M investment from Wahana Group

“Our plan is to become the “Ant Financial of wealth management in Indonesia” by democratising access to personal investment services,” said Ajaib CEO and co-founder Anderson Sumarli.

The company has already obtained a license from the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) to run legally.

Ajaib will compete head-to-head with existing players in the online investment space like Bareksa that offers financial data, online tool, news, and analysis on investment and market.

With this latest investment coming from the country, Ajaib is added to the long list of startups backed by SoftBank Ventures which include the unicorn Tokopedia.

Also Read: Carput shifts roadside assistance into top gear with its on-demand service

Bearing its new name, SoftBank Ventures Asia said it is looking to expand its presence beyond Seoul, Beijing, San Francisco, and Tel Aviv by hiring investment professionals in Singapore and Shanghai.
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Image Credit: Ajaib

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The Vietnam-based startup raises funding led by CyberAgent Capital

Lifestyle tech startup from Vietnam WeFit announces that it’s just closed a pre-series A funding for US$1 million from CyberAgent Capital.

Joining the round is some other regional VCs, all done in this early January 2019.

Khoi Nguyen, the founder and CEO of WeFit shared that the investment will push the next phase of WeFit’s product development and also expand to a new market.

“We’re extremely excited to have cooperated with overseas venture capital firms. We believe this partnership will dramatically shorten the process of exploring the market and widening the accessibility of our services,” said Nguyen.

Also Read: Carput shifts roadside assistance into top gear with its on-demand service

Previously in 2017, the company also raised a seed round from ESP Capital and VIISA.

WeFit has been around since 2016 and claimed to be the pioneer in mobile-based user subscription packages for both fitness and beauty services across Vietnam’s two busiest cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. To date, the company said it has been available for booking over 1,000 locations.

WeFit works by allowing users to search and book for fitness and beauty sessions located nearby the users. WeFit partners with fitness centers and beauty spas to help them optimize operational costs and increase profit with WeFit’s traffic.

“According to a data provided by WHO, Vietnam is currently on the top rank of country with the lowest body mobilization over the world due to the lack of convenience and diversity of the solution for everybody. WeFit aims to solve this issue, we seek to bring people more benefits and less time-consuming services, as well as added value for commercial entities,” said the company’s official statement.

Currently, WeFit said that it serves more than 150,000 bookings every month.

“We believe WeFit will formulate a completely different behavior of beauty and health care in the near future,” Nguyen Manh Dung, Head of CyberAgent Capital in Vietnam and Thailand on its investment.

Also Read: KinerjaPay signs agreement to receive US$200M investment from Wahana Group

WeFit projects a million users in 2019 and plans to move forward with its Series A funding within 2019.
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Image Credit: WeFit

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Moving forward, CEO Toby Hoenisch will be the driving force behind the TenX company direction

Dr. Julian Hosp, the Co-Founder, President and public face of TenX, has left the company, as confirmed to e27. TenX said this was a mutual decision made by the executive team.

In an emotional video posted on YouTube, Hosp wished the team the best for the future.

“While we were planning [for] 2019 and beyond, it became clear to us as Founders that the only way forward is to mutually part ways. And that means, that I will be stepping down as the President of TenX. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life,” he said.

Hosp said he will be taking a few weeks off to move forward.

“I want to thank you all for the support, for having been there during good, during hard times; on this journey. There is definitely more to come,” he concluded.

Also Read: Fitness and beauty tech startup WeFit secures US$1M pre-Series A funding

As of today, TenX CEO Toby Hoenisch will be taking charge of the business direction.

“We have received a tremendous amount of community support under Julian’s leadership and want to thank him for paving the way towards further success for TenX in the years to come,” he said in a statement.

During his time, Hosp was positioned as the public face of TenX — taking press interviews, offering commentary and promoting the company to the general public.

However, he has recently come under scrutiny from the crypto blogosphere for his previous affiliation with Lyoness, an Austrian pyramid company.

TenX took to Reddit to acknowledge the past relationship, support Hosp and make the case that it had no bearing on TenX.

Also Read: Online investment startup Ajaib secures US$2.1M from SoftBank

TenX was founded in 2015 with the goal of building a credit/debit card which can be used offline and across various cryptocurrencies. In June of 2017, the Singapore-based startup raised US$80 million in a token sale to build the card. As of publishing, it has not been released.

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Southeast Asia-based e-scooter service officially operates in Cyberjaya, Malaysia

Neuron Mobility, an e-scooter sharing service based in Southeast Asia, announced today that it officially started operations in Malaysia. It is a part of the company’s regional expansion plans.

The launch comes just after a partnership with Thailand’s Sansiri Public Company Limited, and follows a recent S$5 million raise to expand their last mile connectivity services — particularly to Asia-Pacific’s biggest and most congested cities.

Also Read: Nanu Berks on how blockchain merges art with activism

In Malaysia, Neuron Mobility will deploy the e-scooter fleet at key commercial spots in Cyberjaya as part of a pilot programme. The company said that it’s to ensure feasibility and demand in the Multimedia Super Corridor of Malaysia.

“Cyberjaya is on its way to becoming Malaysia’s smartest city, and we are glad to be able to contribute towards this goal by solving the issues of last mile mobility,” said Zachary Wang, CEO of Neuron Mobility.

Neuron Mobility uses real-time telematics and geospatial simulation models for predictive analytics and network optimisation. First-time riders are required to go through an instructional series on safety before they start using the service.

The launch in Cyberjaya makes it the fourth major Southeast Asian city to offer Neuron’s personal mobility service, after Singapore, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai.

To date, Neuron Mobility claims to own and operate the largest e-scooter sharing fleet in Singapore and Thailand.

“Smart transportation is not just an alternative, to some it may soon become the de-facto choice for urban commutes. It is our vision to build reliable technologies to answer the need for personal mobility in these populated zones,” added Zachary.

Also Read: A refugee in Germany in the 80’s, this entrepreneur is now back in Southeast Asia to achieve his dreams

Neuron Mobility has shared that its core focus now is to drive growth in smart city initiatives by further funding the development of technologies. Eventually, it will lead the company to launch its own commercial grade e-scooter that would be a world first.

The plan is to produce scooter that enhances robustness and rider safety while complying with PMD laws across Southeast Asia.
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Image Credit: Neuron Mobility

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Agus Martowardojo joins Tokopedia’s Board of Commissioners as President Commissioner

Indonesia’s e-commerce giant Tokopedia announced today that it has appointed Agus Martowardojo as the unicorn’s President Commissioner.

Martowardojo joins Tokopedia as the company prepares to develop its ecosystem into infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), seeking to empower and strengthen Indonesia’s economy in an inclusive manner, both online and offline.

“Tokopedia has been consistent in its mission to empower Indonesian society through technology and support a sustainable economy. I am pleased to join Tokopedia to support the company’s aspiration for inclusive economic development,” said Martowardojo.

Also Read: A refugee in Germany in the 80’s, this entrepreneur is now back in Southeast Asia to achieve his dreams

Martowardojo was Indonesia’s Central Bank Governor from 2013 until May 2018. Prior to that, Martowardojo held posts as Indonesia’s Minister of Finance (2010-2013) in which he was recognised as Finance Minister of the Year for Asia Pacific from The Banker (Financial Times) in 2012.

He was also the President Director of Bank Mandiri from 2005-2010.

Martowardojo brings over 30 years of experience as a banker, Finance Minister, and Central Bank Governor. His achievement in past was his active role in maintaining the stability and resilience of the Indonesian economy by optimizing monetary, macro-prudential, and payment policies as well as management of Indonesia’s Rupiah circulation.

Martowardojo was the brain behind the Bank Indonesia 7-Day Reverse Repo Rate, which was said to strengthen the transmission of monetary policy and integrated inflation controls across Indonesia.

During his tenure as Minister of Finance from 2010-2013, Indonesia achieved an improvement in its debt rating from Fitch and Moody’s.

Also Read: Nanu Berks on how blockchain merges art with activism

“Mr. Agus Martowardojo’s experience and wisdom will be invaluable to Tokopedia and his guidance will help accelerate our mission to democratize commerce through technology,” said Tokopedia CEO and Co-Founder William Tanuwijaya.
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Image Credit: Tokopedia

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Takahiro Suzuki, previously CEO of Indonesian VC firm CyberAgent Ventures, has joined Genesia as a General Partner

Tokyo-headquartered VC firm Genesia Ventures has announced the launch of its second fund worth US$80 million, which aims to invest in seed-stage startups across Japan and Southeast Asia.

Genesia Venture Fund Ⅱ has already raised US$45 million, and expects to make the final close at the end of September 2019.

Headed by Soichi Tajima, the fund’s key investors include major companies and institutional investors, such as Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Capital (Mizuho Financial Group companies), TFHD Open Innovation Program (operated by Tokyu Fudosan Holdings), Marui Group, mixi, and JA Mitsui Leasing.

Also Read: A refugee in Germany in the 80’s, this entrepreneur is now back in Southeast Asia to achieve his dreams

Takahiro Suzuki, previously CEO of Indonesian VC firm CyberAgent Ventures, has joined Genesia as a General Partner. Genesia has already been making preparations for a representative office in Jakarta.

The fund’s focus areas will be the domain surrounding digital transformation by the fusion of real business and IT (finance, healthcare, medical, real estate, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, etc.)
, the domain surrounding new economy/digital media content (C2C, sharing economy, cloud sourcing, and decentralised platforms and the domain surrounding new media and content formats such as video, AR, VR, MR, etc.), and domain surrounding frontier technologies (AI, robots, drones, low-earth-orbit satellites).

Genesia’s first fund made investments in 47 early-stage startups (35 in Japan and 12 overseas, as of the end of December 2018).

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Grab will release an initial batch of 20 vehicles on January 11 with the rest being introduced over the next few weeks

Grab says ‘right time’ to introduce electric vehicles, set to roll out 200 Hyundai Konas [Channel News Asia]

Ride-hailing firm Grab is set to roll out 200 electric vehicles (EVs) into Singapore’s streets progressively from Friday (Jan 11).

Having purchased 200 Hyundai Kona 64 kWH electric cars, Grab will release an initial batch of 20 vehicles on Friday with the rest being introduced over the next few weeks, head of the company’s car leasing service GrabRentals, Kau Yi Ming said in an interview with local media.

“With these 200 cars, we will also be one of the biggest EV fleet in Singapore, and we want to be able to take this opportunity to introduce electric vehicles to both drivers and passengers of Grab,” said Kau.

Singapore-based blockchain fintech company BitRock raises US$4M [press release]

Singapore-based blockchain fintech corporation BitRock, a startup hatched by the instant messaging and social platform YeeCall, has announced that it has raised US$4 million funds to provide fintech solutions for the blockchain industry.

BitRock’s vision is to provide blockchain fintech solutions through the ‘solid triangle’ — wallet + mining pool + quant fund it has forged and tackle such problems as the high threshold for blockchain beginners and the difficulty of application landing, in an effort to facilitate the development of the blockchain industry.

BitRock consists of the following three business — Banko Wallet, Rawpool (a full set of support and services for miners, and Snake Quant Fund.

Alibaba buys German data analysis start-up [Reuters]

China’s Alibaba Group Holding has acquired German data analysis firm Data Artisans, the Berlin-based startup said, in a deal reported to be worth around 90 million euros (US$103 million).

The transaction marks the first full takeover by a Chinese company on Berlin’s growing startup scene. In the last significant deal, Alibaba’s rival Tencent Holdings participated in a US$160 million funding round for online bank N26 in March 2018.

Data Artisans CEO Kostas Tzoumas said Alibaba would also invest an undisclosed sum in the company to develop Apache Flink, its open-source software that can process large data volumes, and to expand into new business areas.

Israeli cybersecurity company Radware to acquire Bengaluru-based ShieldSquare [The Economic Times]

Israeli cybersecurity company Radware will acquire Bengaluru-based bot management ShieldSquare owned by Kaalbi Technologies in the first quarter of 2019, according to media reports. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

Founded in 2013, the startup offers protection against bot attacks and web scraping. It offers attack detection, threat research, reporting, and analysis services to business. The company It graduated from the Microsoft Accelerator programme in 2013 as well.

Reportedly, Radware CEO Roy Zisapel said that the acquisition will allow to expand the company’s portfolio with robust bot management solutions and its existing cloud security services. “Bot management can stand alone as product offerings as well as integrate into our suite of attack mitigation solutions.”

OYO appoints Sam Shih as COO for China [press release]

OYO Hotels, a leading budget hotels aggregator in South Asia, has announced the appointment of Sam Shih as its Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the China market.

Shih will be responsible for the overall regional operations, driving consumer experience and building operating efficiencies at scale across OYO China.

Before OYO Hotels, Sam served as President of Global Consumables and CEO at Asia Pulp & Paper Co., a giant in the pulp and paper industry. He also led the operations at Red Bull and Accor Group, France.

Sam started his career and spent over two decades in PepsiCo. During this time, he took senior positions such as President of Pepsi (China) Investment, Vice President of Pepsi Beverage Business in China, as well as Chief Operating Officer at Pepsi China.

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Don’t like banks? Don’t use them. Here’s how

It might be an open door but nobody likes banks, no really, almost nobody does. Let’s evaluate if any of the current stakeholders are happy:

Shareholders: Most bank stocks haven’t really gone anywhere for a decade. Sure perhaps they recovered from the 2008 debacle but in many cases, share prices are just back where they left off in 2007. The point is the rest of the stock market (especially tech) did better so shareholders can’t be too thrilled.

Employees: I’ve yet to meet an employee who’s happy with his or her banking job outside a few high ranked people with fat bonuses. Most employees are pigeonholed working on things they don’t care about. Apathy is probably the 8 to 10 of the banks’ Net Promoter Score employee satisfaction survey.

Customers: Happiness with your bank is typically defined as “I haven’t had issues with them for months, so yeah they are fine”. Has anyone really been delighted with good service, new innovative products, things that actually make your life easier?

So if nobody likes them why are they still around, why do we still use them?  The reasons are pretty straightforward:

1. Monopolies and regulations: Banks operate in one of the most protected and regulated environments possible. Try starting a new bank, it’s really hard if not impossible. This obviously kills any form of innovation, customer service or productivity gains.
2. Until now there was no alternative: We were simply forced to use the existing banking infrastructure, how else could we transact and make payments?

But fret not, an alternative has finally arrived and for the first time, it’s possible to live life with minimal banking interaction. Granted, you’ll be hard-pressed to cut their tentacles entirely for now but with a bit of education, you can kick the habit by 90 per cent. Here’s how:

1. Move your cash into crypto assets;
2. Use those assets to pay for almost everything;
3. Start earning in crypto and never visit the bank again

Sounds too good to be true or too risky? It’s really not that hard to accomplish anymore and you’ll feel a sense of relief in the process, free yourself and take control of your own assets.

Move your cash into crypto assets

Simply use an exchange like Gemini, CoinHako or a Bitcoin ATM to convert your fiat into crypto. Bitcoin is a good entry point but if you don’t like the volatility simply convert to regulated stablecoins like GUSD or USDC or decentralized solutions like DAI.

These stablecoins are a relatively new phenomenon and for now you’ll be limited to the USD but other solutions (like EUR or even currency baskets) are in the works. This way you can hold crypto assets without dealing with the volatility.

Also Read: 10 ways blockchain can help overcome the biggest challenges in commercial leasing

The next step to becoming your own bank is to buy a hardware wallet which holds the private keys of your assets. It stores these keys locally on the device so nobody but you can ever gain access to them.

The underlying protocol of Bitcoin has never been hacked but the same cannot be said for exchanges: Not your keys not your Bitcoin is a well-known expression in the industry coined by Andreas Antonopoulos so do invest in your own hardware wallet such as Trezor. After that, you’re in full control 24/7 365 days a year and nobody can freeze your assets or delay payments.

Use those assets to pay for almost everything

But nobody accepts crypto I hear you say? True for now but that’s ok as there are intermediary solutions whereby you’ll never need a bank and can still pay at 95 per cent of places:

• Get a Visa card: Crypto.com or Revolut: Order one of their cards, refill it with Bitcoin and voila, you can pay anywhere that accepts Visa. Yes, this still relies on Visa but let’s go step by step.
• Get cash: Can’t pay with Visa? That’s ok too as there are more and more Bitcoin ATM’s around the world where you can easily withdraw cash from your Bitcoin holdings. In Singapore, you’ll find one in Plaza Singapura for example.
• Pay for services directly with crypto: Over time more and more businesses will start accepting crypto directly. Need to top up your phone, for example, try Bitrefill or book flights at CheapAir.com. Or as a merchant, you can work with PundiX for example.

Start earning in crypto and never visit the bank again

Eventually, you’ll get so used to using crypto you would not want to receive bank account payments anymore. So ask your employer or clients to pay you directly in crypto and close the loop. Especially if you’re receiving international wires because this is a guaranteed cost and headache saver.

Concerned you would get even less interest than in a bank account? Again quite the opposite, there are plenty of 3rd party services like Celcius or Compound that offer anywhere from 1 to 7 per cent on your crypto holdings.

While the above steps might not be practical for most people as of today it does show that for the first time we have an actual alternative to traditional banking. We’re still early in the crypto development cycle so things still come with a steep learning curve.

However, I vividly remember the early days of the internet and the parallels are striking.

In the 90’s sending emails, streaming music, or downloading movies was technically possible but cumbersome and slow.

Regardless, the promise of peer to peer transfer of information was too powerful and the technology improved, services emerged and density of adoption increased; traditional services from back then run on top of the internet today. Let’s not forget the largest listed companies today (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) did not exist and were unthinkable just 20 years ago.

It is the task of entrepreneurs in the crypto and blockchain industry to do the same thing again, but this time we’re targeting peer to peer transfer of assets. Established middlemen of today will be cut just like the internet did to Blockbuster, the music industry and phone companies.

The difference this time is that we’re going after much higher profile targets. So if you really don’t like banks educate yourself, join a movement that will revolutionise the financial space and make the world a better place.

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Kenrick Drijkoningen is the Founding Partner of LuneX Ventures. He was also the former Head of Growth at Golden Gate Ventures.

You can follow Kenrick via LinkedIn and Twitter.

e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

 

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To get those juices flowing, relive last year with our 2018 video

Did you know the Pig was the last to arrive at the Jade Emperor’s party? This is why it is last in the Chinese Zodiac cycle. So as the Year of the Pig approaches, let’s learn from its mistake and get on top of things.

So, with that being said, IT IS ECHELON SEASON! We are hustling to ink speakers, brainstorming fun activities and organising the epic Echelon Roadshow.

This year, #Echelon2019 is a bit earlier, taking place in Singapore on May 23rd-24th. If you would like to stay up to date (and get early-bird deals) sign up here to be the first to be notified when we officially launch Echelon Asia Summit 2019.

In the meantime, why not get excited by reliving Echelon 2018 in the video above. Last year was a fantastic two-days but we can’t wait to blow your mind in 2019!

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