SEEK, having merged its Asia Pacific employment marketplaces – SEEK, Jobstreet and Jobsdb – will operate under a single platform powered by SEEK’s world-class AI technology, while retaining the individual brands. This integration brings together millions of jobseekers and employers across APAC to connect more of the right people with the right work. 

As the leading Career partner in Singapore, SEEK aims to provide a comprehensive suite of career enablement offerings ranging from job listings, a resume database, bespoke career resources, and company profiles. The Jobstreet CareerHub, powered by seekMAX, is a new feature designed to help professionals connect and grow. It’s an in-app platform that offers edutainment content and a community forum. Here, professionals can engage with each other and industry leaders, fostering ongoing learning and career discussions. The goal is to create a community where individuals can continually improve their skills and prepare for the future job market. This initiative not only builds a more future-ready workforce but also enhances the relevance of job matches for employers throughout the region.

As a market leader, it facilitates regional job mobility, contributing substantially to economic growth by connecting both job seekers and employers with opportunities – providing valuable data insights on job trends and labour market dynamics. Through its services, Jobstreet by SEEK plays a fundamental role in fostering career opportunities and enhancing the efficiency of the Asia Pacific employment ecosystem. 

Introducing Jobstreet by SEEK’s Hiring, Compensation & Benefits Report 2024

The recently released Hiring, Compensation, & Benefits Report 2024, authored by Jobstreet, is an annual hallmark publication. The report captures data collected from 673 hiring professionals in Singapore in September 2023. It extensively covers hiring activities and holistic HR-related aspects such as remuneration, annual leaves, general benefits, and working conditions among others.

Also read: 9Unicorns and Venture Catalysts launches the 2nd edition of ProStar in Singapore for growth-stage companies

To ensure objectivity, the report includes a diverse range of industries and company sizes. The data is meticulously analysed and weighed according to Jobstreet by SEEK Singapore’s employer network, ensuring a fair representation. Key findings from the report include insights into hiring trends across Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam, as well as compensation benchmarks and trends across various industries and job roles. Additionally, the report offers an analysis of benefits packages provided by top employers and their strategies to attract and retain talent, making it a valuable resource for businesses and job seekers alike.

Talent management strategies and trends

Talent management is critical for attracting, retaining, and developing top talent in competitive markets. Consequently, companies with effective talent management strategies are 2.9 times more likely to succeed at leadership development, and 3.8 times more likely to enhance employee performance and productivity and organisational innovation.

While key talent management strategies include offering competitive compensation, fostering a positive culture, and providing growth opportunities, it is worthwhile to note that employee motivation can be achieved through recognition and career advancement – a motion that remains crucial for retention. Specifically, 83.6% of employees, especially among the group of highly motivated employees, believe that receiving recognition influences their drive to succeed at work. If they receive recognition often, 77.9% of employees said they would be more productive and engaged.

Moreover, following the COVID-19 pandemic, flexible work arrangements have become more popular, allowing employees to work efficiently while maintaining their work-life balance and well-being and enhancing job satisfaction. Consequently, traditional working models have become obsolete, and a shift towards hybridisation might be inevitable. Additionally, prioritising diversity and inclusion initiatives also attract diverse talents and foster an inclusive culture, improving engagement and retention. 

Therefore, effective talent management involves a holistic approach to meet the evolving needs of employees and organisations for sustained success in today’s dynamic market.

Leveraging the insights of the Hiring, Compensation, & Benefits Report 2024 for better talent management

The implications of the Hiring, Compensation, & Benefits Report 2024 for employers are significant, offering actionable insights to optimise recruitment and retention strategies. Understanding the intricate trends of the different markets is crucial for gaining a competitive edge in strategic recruitment. With a noticeable decline in confidence for the second half of 2024, attributed to higher uncertainty influenced by economic conditions and global events, employers must adapt to changing landscapes.

Also read: Unlock growth and scalability by leveraging data with PatSnap

Large companies, which are more inclined to conduct compensation and benefits reviews, should leverage this advantage to effectively attract and retain talent. Moreover, with the growing preference for hybrid workplace arrangements, especially in high-demand sectors such as technology, companies can enhance their appeal by considering the adoption of flexible work options.

The report also sheds light on workplace stress factors, with the majority (76%) rating their companies as moderately stressful, citing heavy workload (34%), insufficient resources (27%), and lack of growth opportunities as top stressors. To address these challenges, employers can conduct comprehensive employee satisfaction surveys and engage in benefits benchmarking to refine compensation and benefits strategies, enhancing job satisfaction and fostering a competitive work environment. Moreover, fostering transparency in bonus pay-outs and prioritising leaves such as birthdays, family care, and parental leave can strengthen employer-employee relationships and support employee well-being.

Looking ahead, there is a growing emphasis on flexible benefits, indicating a shift towards more customisable financial perks to suit individual employee needs and preferences. Employers must adapt their strategies accordingly to stay ahead in talent management and create an attractive workplace environment conducive to talent retention and organisational success.

A glimpse into Jobstreet by SEEK’s Hiring, Compensation & Benefits Report 2024

Jobstreet by SEEK’s Hiring, Compensation, & Benefits Report 2024 offers crucial insights into Singapore’s job market, highlighting deal breakers for job seekers, including financial compensation, work-life balance, and relationships with bosses. It also identifies Singaporeans’ preferences for hybrid work models over full-time office or remote work, emphasising the need for flexibility. Despite a reluctance to return to full-time office work, 38% are open to the idea, indicating a shifting hiring paradigm.

Also read: Elevator Pitch Competition (EPiC) accelerates startups from SEA to the world

Additionally, the report underscores Singaporeans’ preference for a traditional 5-day workweek, aligning with global trends. These findings underscore the importance for employers to adapt their recruitment and retention strategies to meet the evolving preferences of Singaporean workers, offering flexible work arrangements while also ensuring a positive workplace environment and competitive compensation packages.

To gain more detailed insights and actionable strategies, download Jobstreet by SEEK’s Hiring, Compensation, & Benefits Report 2024 for further information.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Jobstreet

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

The post Unlocking Trends: Jobstreet by SEEK’s Hiring, Compensation & Benefits Report 2024 appeared first on e27.

Staple, a Singapore-based AI-driven document processing company, has secured US$4 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Wavemaker Partners.

The fresh funding will support Staple’s global market expansion, AI technology refinement, and expansion of its document processing solutions. As part of its expansion strategy, Staple aims to strengthen its presence in key markets to better address businesses’ document management needs.

Founded in 2018, Staple offers a comprehensive platform that leverages AI to bridge the gap between physical documents and digital workflows.

Also Read: Deep tech startup Nibertex secures funding for sustainable textile technology

Staple’s solution is able to process any document type, including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured formats. It also manages data in over 200 languages and is utilised by customers across more than 53 countries.

Designed for enhanced efficiency, accuracy, scalability, and transparency, Staple’s cloud-based platform features a user-friendly design that makes it easy to integrate with existing systems. Its suite of specialised modules, from scanning to workflow automation, caters to a wide array of document processing requirements, offering a reliable and affordable solution for businesses globally.

“We are focused on breaking down language barriers and simplifying complex document processing tasks. With this funding, we’re setting our sights on broadening our impact, particularly in regions rich in linguistic diversity and complexity, such as Southeast Asia. We aim to expand our market presence and continue innovating, making our solutions even more accessible and efficient for businesses,” said Ben Stein, CEO and Co-founder of Staple.

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Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

Image credit: Staple

The post AI-powered Staple raises US$4M to streamline global document management appeared first on e27.

Many founders view the panacea to securing funding from VCs in the fundraising process as getting the first meeting; once they are in they will win! The reality in most scenarios is different, as what you do when you are in the room, and how you happened to get there –pitch deck– have already contributed to your odds.

Let me quickly touch on two fallacies here to illustrate the preceding paragraph.

Fallacy #1: I just need to get in the room

What do you think is going to happen when you are in the hallowed ‘room’ and the VC is already not interested? Not much other than a more developed relationship, which is of course not bad, but there is only so much time for that.

Let me give you one example. I have had founders reply, “I get you don’t believe in our business model and the timing at this stage of the market is bad, but I am much better at selling in person, can we have a meeting anyway!”

In many sectors, I have already developed a thesis of what and when I want to invest in something, so selling me isn’t going to change anything.  You are spending your time with the wrong investor and you could spend that time gaining more traction, which would change your outcome with me in fact!

Fallacy #2: Once I get in the room it doesn’t matter how I got there

How I came to know about your business does have an impact. If you got one (or ideally more than one) referral to me from someone I trust and has made useful introductions before (many people send bad deal flow), then I will take everything more seriously.

If I already know something about your business and have had the chance to talk to a sector expert or research your business beforehand, then the meeting will be far more productive (read potentially more successful).

This leads to the point of this blog — why I want a pitch decks before a meeting in the fundraise process

I have been debating and analysing the ‘end-to-end’ process of investing in companies, to not only make better decisions and offer a better experience to founders (e.g. how to respond faster), but to be more efficient and effective in the use of time.

Charles Hudson writes over at SoftTech just they about why he doesn’t generally look at decks before meeting, and whilst there are valid opinions, which I agree with, my view results in the opposite position.

Also Read: Pro pitch deck tips for beginners

I must emphasise that the views here are entirely my own and do not represent that of my partners. In addition, this is the current state of my thinking, which as ever is open to be stand corrected. To founders, who I deeply respect, don’t find a reason to take offence. You need to have a thick skin and understand raising money is a game to be played to the rules of those who are setting them, and knowledge is power.

Pitch decks

Let’s dig into decks first, as once we agree on what they are, are for, do and don’t do, we can better form a view as to whether they should be a prerequisite for a meeting.

What is a pitch deck?

A pitch deck is a short (10-20 slides) PowerPoint presentation (NOT a Word doc), which succinctly summarizes your business in order to communicate to investors that they should consider investing in you and ‘invest’ time to evaluate doing so. To be clear, this should actually be a PDF, converted from PowerPoint. It prevents system error and people changing your slides etc.

What are pitch decks for?

Decks are a ‘Teaser’ sales document to get you on the path to investment, nothing else.

They:

• Communicate what you do and that your company fits into their investment mandate / investment interests;
• Elicit preliminary interest in your company from investors, so they want to know more;
• Are an opportunity to showcase your business and team on softer metrics.

What pitch decks don’t do

Decks do not serve to communicate:

• The passion and energy of the team;
• Each and every nuance of your business;
• Quite how amazing the opportunity really is;
• That an investor is going to invest on the basis of it.

Types of pitch decks

It is absolutely imperative to understand that there are different types of pitch decks for different situations and to answer different questions.

Also Read: Pitch decks are important and all startups should have it; here are 5 things to do when creating one

Fundamentally there are two types of pitch deck:

• Reading decks:

  • Situation: These are read primarily without founders.
  • Form: There are typically more words per page and there are more slides.
  • Objective: Founders are seeking to educate as well as communicate here.
  • Number/variances: There will be multiple. Firstly is a teaser to get a meeting (I said it), secondly to support due diligence and thirdly to support any ‘nagging’ questions founders may seek to ameliorate (Such as details on their NPS to show customers love them).

• Presentation decks:

  • Situation: These are presented by founders in person and/or on a call.
  • Form: They are graphical with fewer words. Founders are solely focused on communication, supporting what it is they are saying. The focus is on the founder not slide (hopefully)
  • Number/variances: Generally founders will only have one of these, but they may have another if requested, such as to address questions that have arisen during the investment process

What I believe a good pitch deck covers

There are more bad pitch decks than not. For the purpose of this discussion, I will talk specifically about the one I would like to receive before having a meeting in the fundraising process.

The key tenets of approaching a good first deck are:

• Keep it to the point and communicate the salient high-level points in a compelling manner
• Just cover the key aspects (See “What should be in a deck”). There should be a takeaway supporting each and every slide at the top or bottom of the slide, and the pitch deck needs a logical progression to a conclusion (Invest!).
• Put less faith in this document. This isn’t a silver bullet, so founders shouldn’t think “If I don’t put in these slides, I’m going to fail.” This is the key reason why I believe founders write decks that are too long.
• Spend a lot of time making it pretty and readable. People don’t like to read ugly pitch decks and it says a lot about your attention to detail (Note: I am an ex-M&A banker).
• Use images and a little humour, in most cases you aren’t talking to a robot. (Note: Most investors are actually pretty cool, not all)

What should be in a pitch deck:

• Overview: In two sentences, what is the business? Put the business in a box, even if it is not a perfect one. “We are Uber for toasters. We are the future of convenient toast in the morning for busy mothers”
• Problem: What is the fundamental problem you are solving? It needs to be a real one that a lot of people have and are not having solved.
• Solution: How are you fixing this problem and how are you approaching it?
• Market size/opportunity: How big is the market you are realistically going after. If you aren’t going to the US, I don’t want to see that on the slide, unless it is indicative of the market opportunity where you are focussed. The opportunity size I am going to use to do math to figure out your potential exit value, so make it useful and reasonable (Note: I will always do a valuation exercise on a call with founders’ data points)
• Product: Show me pictures which illustrate use cases and benefits. Your product these days needs to be polished.
• Team: Pictures of the key team I am investing in, title and name, what they focus on, bullets/logos of prior and relevant experience. Key for me is answering the question “Why will this team beat everyone else and why are they the best team to back?”
• Marketing: Simply put, how are you going to get big? If your CAC is greater than your LTV, that is good to know too. I need to see that there are scalable, repeatable channels for you to grow.
• Traction: “Up and to the right.” What milestones have been achieved, what is the stage of the business?
• Numbers: What are your high level numbers? I want to know how big you are already as it is linked to your valuation and stage. It is not because I want to get confidential information (See above regarding valuation exercise).
• Funding and application thereof: How much money are you looking for, how long does it last and broadly what are you going to use the money for?

Hopefully you will have noticed that I haven’t asked for details of the ‘secret sauce’ so I can sell it to the Russians. This is high level. Also, if you are reaching out to an investor you should already be willing to trust them, otherwise stop spamming.

Also Read: A guide to creating the ultimate investor pitch deck

What do investors fundamentally learn from decks before a meeting?

Whether we are likely to invest. Simply put, decks go into two buckets which have binary outcomes:

1. Good ones: Get founders a meeting and see if we will invest
2. Bad ones: Pass

So what are the main reasons why I want to have a deck before a meeting?

Now we discussed decks, there are two main reasons why I want them before a meeting and they all come down to working smart, not hard:

Time saving

• Do I want a meeting: If I don’t actually want to meet a founder, then why waste both of our time?
• There isn’t much new under the sun: There aren’t many fundamentally new business models. So with a few exceptions, I already have a view as to what I want to invest in broadly. I am also focussed on Southeast Asia, where I actually prefer (again generally) non-innovative businesses.
• Founders never ‘spoil the surprise’: The punchline is important when telling a joke, not raising money. I want to know what it is I might invest in and whether I am interested. Founders can subsequently ‘surprise’ me with their energy and how committed they are when I ready to be excited

Also read: What is inside the pitch deck that will woo investors to my business?

Form better decisions

• Create a ‘dot’ to form a line: Every interaction, whether email, material, call or meet is a data point or ‘dot’. Over time these dots line up to form a view or ‘line’ of the founders and the business.
• Make a meeting or call productive: I like to get down to it, so if I am interested in investing and I know something about the business, the time spent with a founder is productive.
• Focus on talking not researching: I want to focus my grey matter on responding and challenging what founders are saying. If I am distracted, such as reading your deck or researching competitors then you don’t have me, and that is a very bad thing.

What do I do with decks when they are sent to me?

I get a lot of decks and never have the time to read all the ones which are inbounded (I mainly reach out to companies actively). Founders need to understand that it is not rudeness and they aren’t special. If investors don’t reply, sometimes it is literally because their email didn’t get opened and it is stuck in a massive backlog. Understand this simple truth, and follow up a lot.

The steps:

Quick read #1:

• I may not even read your carefully crafted summary email before double-clicking on your deck and firing it up.
• I press ‘down’ every 2 seconds to get a 50,000 feet on what I am dealing with and to see if I close it. That’s a 15 second exercise.
• If I am interested a will skim through, focusing on what ‘appears’ relevant, skip anything which ‘appears’ boring or too intense and then that’s that.
• IF there is something I notice where founders are teaching me something, you have my attention and I will read the whole thing in detail. That’s pretty rare, but we invested in a company that did that.
• Decide on next step
• Email not interested and delete email, or schedule a call. Regardless, I track pitches in a system and note whether I will follow up in future in case things change.

Quick read #2 before a call

• Depending on how interested I am I will scan the deck again to refresh my memory of who and what I am about to talk about. I hate being inadequately prepared, so prep time is linked to how well I know an industry.

Read whilst we are talking (more and less)

• I always have the deck open on a call or to hand if in a meeting. I look for stand out points I need clarified. If call is going well I don’t look at the deck again after 10 minutes and focus on engaging with the founder
• If there is a new, visual presentation, I still have the deck to hand to refer to (and will pick up on any discrepancy between the two of them)

Share it internally if I am interested after a call and see about having a meeting. At that point I am really interested and any meeting is serious.

• I will circulate a deck to partners to get their view with a quick summary of our chat and a line stating whether we should push to get the deal done or wait to monitor traction.

It is worth noting that for my fundraise process, I personally prefer to have a call before a meeting. I have a predilection to be amicable with people, so by having a call to review an opportunity purely on data and the founders intellectual ability to respond in active dialogue, without the opportunity for creating interpersonal bias, I believe is has weighted advantage.

What I don’t do with your deck

Now let me be clear about what I do not do with decks. Other commentators mention experiences of founders having emotional responses to the treatment of decks, I will get frank on those.

• Study it. I almost never study a deck. If I need to, the founder has done something wrong by writing too much, or not being clear
• Think there is a correlation between founder feelings and my time spent looking at a deck, nor care if founders think I am lazy for not having studied it
  • I am not being paid to read decks by founders and nor do investors have a duty of care to whom are most likely strangers having received an email. If that were the case, the spammed community would support more Nigerian princes with difficulties getting their money out of the country (Note: I have lived in Nigeria).
• Invest in a deck, I invest in the team and the general problem they are solving
  • I am an early stage investor so I don’t invest in a deck, per se. The deck just says something about the team who authored it.
  • Later stage investors will more likely emphasise a deck as you will have hopefully large and validated numbers.  They are investing in the continued upside, not a new idea, and the team is likely fungible.
• Prepare a list of questions to ask founders
  • I don’t sit down and compose a Q&A. If something sticks out as being amazing or odd, then I make a mental note. When I chat to a founder I already know all the key questions to ask, and the ones I don’t know organically arise in response to answers
• Share it with anyone other than within the firm
  • If someone sends me a deck it is confidential. If I am helpful and make investor intros, I actually ask for permission.

Also Read: All you need to know about preparing a pitch deck, straight from an early-stage startup investor

Why a founder will get a yes or no after I look at a deck

Understand receiving a deck before a meeting is simply a ‘hack’ to spend more time looking for the next greater thing, or to allocate more time helping our portfolio, which we do a lot of. Therefore a yes or no when you email me a deck is based on a number of factors such as:

• Is your idea good or idiotic. Are you solving a real problem and will you be able to keep solving that problem whilst getting customers to pay you? Does your business have longevity; can you make barriers such as network effects?
• Is your solution awesome, or will it be with our help? Will you beat the competitions’ offers for your targeted market?
• Is your targeted market big enough to get an exit, or take a meaningful position? Will you be able to get a big exit for me to get a multiple?
• Do your team look incredible or at least good enough? If you are doing an enterprise data warehousing solution and none of the team have experience I will pass. If you have Tier 1 company logos for your experience, you get points, etc. Does your team cover all the important divisions (otherwise state you need to hire).
• Do you have thoughts on monetization and are they reasonable? If you aren’t Nielsen and you are going to make money from data, or advertising for that matter, I wont take you seriously
• How much are you raising? Are you too early or big for us to invest?
• What countries are you focussed on and is the timing right? In SEA if you only want to do one country, this doesn’t work unless there are exceptional circumstances.
• What is the competitive landscape like? Can you win and what will it take? If there is a #1 twice as big but they just got bought by a corporate that will mess it up, I am still interested.
• How is the market going to move, and how long? If timing is bad, then I will pass.
• How are you going to get big? Do you know how marketing is going to get you there? Do your unit economics allow you to shrink the market and take a large share, for example?
• For the length of time you have been operating, what traction have you got? Results divided by time matter.

Does how it came to be we are in contact change my view?

There are some arguments for not receiving a deck before a call/meeting in certain scenarios.  Personally, I prefer a standardised process where all potential investments are addressed in a fair and consistent manner. There is a lot of art to investing, so where I can apply even a weak-form science, I think it is advantageous.

Also read: Prepping for an investor pitch? Don’t get blinded by tunnel vision

Whether I get a cold call, referral, met someone at an event or even it is a friend looking for funding, I treat everyone the same. Yes, if friends reach out formally for investment rather than to meet up for advice, I insist on treating them the same way.

If I am sent a nice summary email instead, is that ok?

No. Yes, I would like a summary of the opportunity, in bullet-points, but I want the deck to be in that email.

How I think during a call or meeting is key to this analysis

To understand why I have formed my view (other than time allocation), it is critical to understand how I think and what I am trying to achieve in a dynamic interaction. There are four points here:

• I need enough information to ask the right questions to allow founders to shine and to ensure we end a call on the same page
  • See if you know the industry in and out;
  • See if you are doing the right things, or what additional things you can do and for us to debate them there and then;
  • See how you think about the opportunity;
    • Do you think big enough, are you ambitious?
    • Are our aspirations aligned? If you want to make a $20m business, that’s great, but it generally isn’t for me.
• I need the founder to help direct my thinking and bring up my comprehension (AKA what I can’t Google or don’t have the time to)
  • I expect you know your business better than I do. There is a short period of time for me to get close to sharing your vision;
  • If you can talk me through your competitors’ strategy and positioning I can get certain that there is a good chance of you being #1, which is key.
• Are these guys going to beat everyone? Do I want to win with them?
  • I like to have beer with nice, smart founders, but I want to invest in founders who will win. I want to focus on challenging founders to see how great they are.
  • I only really start to care about whether I like founders and can work with them once they help me get past my ‘crocodile brain’, the ‘fear gatekeeper’. I can focus on rapport then and dreaming of the potential, how I can help them achieve it.
• I want to put you in a box fast to understand the world you are in
  • I read a lot and talk to a lot of people, so I have seen most things before. Putting you in a box, even if it is not the right one, allows me to focus on the differences, by removing the similarity. Pattern recognition is key to being able to understand the nuances, and the devil is in the details. I want time to get into those details, not the basics.

The benefits and considerations of my approach to receiving decks before meetings

Benefits

• Save time
  • Does the startup fit our investment mandate and interests? If not we aren’t going to invest anyway;
  • No wasted meeting if there is an obvious portfolio conflict;
  • I read faster than people talk, so reading a deck before a call means more time spent on the value add bits.
• Avoid uncomfortable situations
  • If founders know I always want a pitch deck, than founders who don’t like sharing decks won’t contact me or will adjust their pitch deck before sending to me. Either way there are no situations I have to say ‘do or don’t, up to you’ which is not a nice thing to do.
• Better outcomes
  • With enough lead time the subconscious processes the opportunity;
  • More productive, focused calls lead to better decisions.
• Ethics
  • Do not have meetings where competitive information will be inappropriately shared (I expect the deck not to be sharing competitive information and founders should already know why we invested in).

Considerations

• Apprehension of entrepreneur to share
  • Founders may not want to share pitch decks and sometimes will ignore request for decks. May miss out on an opportunity, though I think the better founders know that execution matters more than ideas so will be happy to share their pitch deck.
• Missed opportunity to network
  • In many cases it matters more who you know than what you know. It is always great to meet people and exchange ideas, if you have the time.
• Form opinions
  • There is the potential to form inaccurate and damaging opinions of a startup which creative cognitive bias. No one can truly be unbiased and zen when listening to people. Whether reading a pitch deck accentuates this bias is a fair question. If one is too biased you may think that Uber is just another taxi company not solving a particular problem.
• Some people cant write pitch decks, which may mean missed opportunities
  • Tough, you need to sell and the quality of your pitch deck often links to quality of your product. In the Valley there may be a lot of tech only teams who somehow can make a beautiful product but not enunciate their business to VCs, but with my focus, I invest in balanced teams which can communicate not only to consumers but to me.

Conclusion

If you are a founder looking for an investment from me, please respectfully send me a deck before you ask for a meeting. I am open to changing my view, but I have one at present. I think this is the idealised start to a fundraise process.

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The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here.

This article was originally published on alexanderjarvis.com.

Image Credit: 123RF

The post Expert tips for crafting an effective pitch deck from a seasoned early stage investor appeared first on e27.

Last week, the Thai online tyre marketplace for vehicle maintenance businesses, WYZauto, announced a US$2.25 million in a pre-Series A investment from Vynn Capital (lead), Vincent Lee (an early investor in Carsome), Oak Drive Ventures, and Kaya Founders. The three-year-old company plans to use the money to build the team and venture into other vehicle parts.

In this interview, WYZauto Founder & CEO Louis Giraud discusses the business, marketing, USP, and more.

Edited excerpts:

How does WYZauto plan to utilise the US$2.25 million raised in the pre-Series A funding round led by Vynn Capital?

Team building. We have proved a lot since we started. It is now time to re-enforce us with great people in order to expand in more markets, product categories and complex customer segments.

Can you elaborate on how WYZauto connects vehicle maintenance businesses with top tyre brands and wholesalers?

We integrate stock, delivery options and operational processes (cut-off time for orders, etc.) of tyre professionals into WYZauto. We have close to 100 wholesalers and 200,000 tyres in stock of more than 70 different brands in both countries, and we can deliver nationwide.

Also Read: WYZauto nets US$2.25M to connect vehicle maintenance businesses with tyre brands in Thailand

What strategies does WYZauto employ to attract vehicle service centres to use its platform, and what benefits do these centres gain from using the WYZauto app?

There is no magic solution here. It is a long and difficult process of convincing sellers to join us to provide the best offer for service centres. In parallel, we visit these centres to present our solution and convince them to join. As far as I am concerned, there is no reason not to use us as we provide with a unique source of information on products they need daily. Having said that, it is always a long journey to change habits.

How does WYZauto differentiate itself from competitors in the market, particularly in terms of its value proposition and offerings?

Actually, there are not many players like us in this part of the world. It is hard to find digital platforms focused on automotive professionals and even harder to find platforms offering a network of sellers. We are really focused on speed of delivery, service quality and streamlining the ordering process. We know both the automotive and tech world and believe we can bring a new service level to this market.

How does WYZauto plan to streamline its maintenance supply chain, especially with its expansion into other vehicle parts?

There is a lot of inefficiency in our industry. Retailers all stock but are not sure they have the right product at the right time and place. While building a digitised network of stock and delivery options, we help them to find a solution if there is a customer need. This will apply to spare parts with a much higher level of complexity, given the number of references existing.

Could you share more details about the expansion into Malaysia and the significance of partnering with Vynn Capital for this expansion?

We launched WYZauto in Malaysia almost one year ago. I wanted to prove that we have the capacity and knowledge to expand into another market as I am convinced about the added value our solution brings.

By growing quickly, we are still at the beginning stage and are eager to work with key market stakeholders to help them in their tyre business and tomorrow’s spare parts. Vynn Capital is from Malaysia and specialises in mobility and supply. I have felt as well a good fit with the team during the fundraising process. I believe they are the right partner to help us to build synergy with their ecosystem and expand our solution.

Can you discuss the impact of WYZauto’s platform on increasing the e-commerce presence of wholesalers and brands in the automotive industry?

Our industry is still very traditional and fragmented. The vast majority of players have no time, money or expertise to invest in a digital platform to ease their lives and the ones of their customers. This is what we bring to them: we invest our time, expertise and resources to digitise their offer and bring a new service to the country we are targeting. We also give them access to large-scale networks requiring nationwide and sometimes complex system integration solutions.

What is your business model? How do you earn revenue?

We earn money out of each transaction. Once we have established ourselves as a significant player in the aftermarket automotive space, we believe we could bring incredible insights through the data and traffic from our platform.

Also Read: No time to have your car serviced? MisterTyre comes to your aid at the tap of a button

With nearly 3,000 vehicle service centres already using the WYZauto app, what are the company’s plans to scale its user base further?

We are only at the beginning. Our user base in Thailand is around 2,500 service centres, which we can triple once we expand to other product categories. In Malaysia, we are getting close to 300 users, which we should increase by at least ten times.

The automotive aftermarket is a big industry, and there are a lot of service centres we can bring value to in each of the countries we identified.

—

X marks Echelon. Join us at Singapore EXPO on May 15-16 for the 10th edition of Asia’s leading tech and startup conference. Enjoy 2 days of building connections with potential investors, partners, and customers, exploring innovation, and sharing insights with 8,000+ key decision-makers of Asia’s tech ecosystem. Get your tickets here.

Want more from your Echelon experience? Be an Echelon X sponsor or exhibitor. Send enquiry here.

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Dear reader,

When Storya closed its doors after a two-year journey, the founders were thrust into a whirlwind of emotions, a shared experience among entrepreneurs. Their trajectory swiftly shifted from grand aspirations to the sobering reality of practical constraints. The abrupt transition left them grappling with a sense of loss and uncertainty, a sentiment familiar to many who have poured their hearts into a venture only to see it falter.

In the aftermath of the startup’s demise, CEO Paolo Danese confronted a creative impasse. The intensity of entrepreneurial endeavour had left his creative engines sputtering, leaving him adrift in a sea of doubt and apprehension.

Yet, amidst the desolation, a flicker of hope emerged. He grappled with the question that plagues many in similar circumstances: how do we reignite our creative spark after experiencing the sting of failure? While acknowledging the need for a more grounded approach in future ventures, Danese remained steadfast in the belief that a measure of visionary zeal is indispensable in fuelling innovation and nurturing creativity.

Find out more about the discovery in this contributed post.

Anisa,
Editor.

—-

NEWS

AI-powered Staple raises US$4M to streamline global document management
The funding will aid Staple in its global market expansion, refining its AI technology, and broadening its document processing solutions

Deep tech startup Nibertex secures funding for sustainable textile technology
Nibertex’s membrane, with its proprietary formulation, offers breathability and water resistance without PFAS, meeting environmental standards

Carousell’s Laku6 laid off 17 per cent of workforce in January
The Laku6 spokesperson said that the decision was made after evaluating the evolving industry trends and growth trajectory of the company. This review had led the company to “reallocate resources strategically.”

India’s Ola to stop ride-hailing operations in international market
The company has been operating in international market since 2018. Earlier this year, it had its valuation cut down by 30 per cent to under US$20 billion.

FEATURES

Fractional helps startups figure out marketing leadership with its fractional CMO service
Fractional curates the region’s top marketing leaders to work for companies on a fractional or part-time basis

Albatroz Therapeutics takes aim at solid tumours, increasing hope for enhanced treatment outcomes
Despite its short history, Albatroz has been awarded a number of accolades, including the inaugural Amgen Golden Ticket award in 2023

FROM OUR CONTRIBUTORS

AI in fintech: Boosting your revenue by utilising top 5 CEO’s choices
In my opinion, the combination of fintech with AI is more than simply a fad; it’s a revolutionary development

The secret weapon of marketing? Why every business needs a CDP
A CDP provides crucial insights for businesses to improve services, optimise marketing, and address customer issues effectively

The perils of oversharing: How social media feeds cyberattacks
Oversharing on social media platforms may seem innocuous, but the ramifications can be far-reaching and severe

Rewiring our world: How neuroscience unlocks the secret to sustainable tech
Neuroscience offers tools designed to engage, motivate, and inspire — tools that can make sustainability a core part of the tech culture

After failure, rekindling our creativity and finding balance
Though Storya shut down after two years, it taught us that creativity and balance can be found even after a setback

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Expert tips for crafting an effective pitch deck from a seasoned early stage investor
Pitch decks are a “teaser” that can help you get on the path of investment. Find out what investors think a good pitch deck should cover

Securing tomorrow’s metaverse today: Why safety in the new frontier must leverage on hardware
As the metaverse continues to evolve and draw nearer to reality, securing data within this virtual landscape becomes increasingly vital

Entrepreneurship is at an all time high, but are you doing it right?
With so many startups unable to survive past the first year, building lasting success in entrepreneurship is easier said than done

From chatbots to therapists: How AI break ground in bridging the mental health care divide
We’re at the precipice of what could be a seismic shift in how we understand and address mental health

2024 cloud trends: AI-powered machine learning, distributed databases, and more
Cloud platforms will need to remain simple, easy to use, and developer-friendly so that our economy’s engines can enjoy long-term benefits

AI’s transformative role: Making insurance accessible and affordable globally
AI’s potential to boost insurance penetration is significant, giving tech-savvy insurers a competitive edge

Tech firms in Southeast Asia poised to ‘leap’ forward with gender equality
Within the tech industry, Southeast Asia is seen as a force leading the way for change by steadily narrowing the gender gap

Decoding roles: A guide to the varied job titles within a VC firm
Understanding the difference between each roles in a VC firm enables founders to be more strategic in their networking approach

Essential insights: Crafting a comprehensive cap table for founders
When preparing for a cap table, pre- and post-money valuations are some of the key elements that founders must consider and include

—

X marks Echelon. Join us at Singapore EXPO on May 15-16 for the 10th edition of Asia’s leading tech and startup conference. Enjoy two days of building connections with potential investors, partners, and customers, exploring innovation, and sharing insights with 8,000+ key decision-makers of Asia’s tech ecosystem. Get your tickets here.

Want more from your Echelon experience? Be an Echelon X sponsor or exhibitor. Send enquiry here.

Image Credit: 123RF

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The real estate sector is responsible for nearly 40 per cent of global carbon emissions, the majority of which come from building operations and construction. The industry at large is under mounting pressure to meet increasingly stringent global climate goals. These include significant emission reductions to limit global warming to 1.5˚C above pre-industrial levels, necessitating drastic sector-wide changes.

The push for net-zero emissions by 2050 has led to policies impacting real estate, such as higher carbon prices and tougher building standards, ultimately driving up costs and pushing investors toward more sustainable assets.

But the shift is not just about compliance; it’s a fundamental change in market preferences toward greener, energy-efficient properties. Investors now face the challenge of balancing financial returns with the need for sustainability. 

With offices in Singapore and India, Accacia is an AI-powered B2B SaaS platform that enables large property owners to monitor their carbon footprints in real time. With clients and industry partners such as AECOM, Allianz, Xander, UOB, and several others, Accacia has already been implemented across more than 20 million square feet of real estate in Asia. The company is currently expanding in key markets around the world, including Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and North America.

Accacia’s Co-Founder and CEO Annu Talreja recently sat down with Helen Wong, Managing Partner at AC Ventures, on the Indonesia Digital Deconstructed podcast for a discussion on how to decarbonise the global real estate industry.  

Accacia: A vertical-focused solution

When asked about why there is a global need for tools like Accacia, Talreja explained that real estate is inherently a complex business with many moving parts. As such, it already requires many specialised ERP tools and SaaS solutions. By integrating with existing systems already used by the world’s largest property owners, Accacia helps them do a variety of important things. 

These include measuring Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions from asset operations, assessing and improving building designs for embodied carbon, calculating financed emissions for their investment portfolios, setting net-zero targets, tracking their decarbonisation journeys, and more.  

Talreja shared that the global estimated carbon accounting software market currently stands at US$15 billion and is expected to grow to US$50 billion in a few years. Meanwhile, the green building market is valued at approximately US$25 trillion in developing regions. In developed nations, the market for retrofits (upgrading existing buildings for enhanced energy efficiency and decarbonisation) is somewhere between US$18 trillion and US$20 trillion. 

Also Read: Balancing act: Carbon Balance’s quest to tackle climate crises with tech-driven sustainability

“So, at its core, our product is a carbon emissions tracking platform. But it goes beyond mere tracking to facilitate actual decarbonisation. By doing so, it also opens the door to a vast market of retrofit solutions, advanced technologies, and innovative materials within the real estate industry,” explained Talreja. 

Early clients and key wins

The company’s founding team includes Jagmohan Gaarg, Accacia’s sales lead, who worked with Talreja previously at Oxfordcaps, a tech-enabled student housing business that she built and scaled to US$20 million in annual recurring revenue. Accacia’s Co-Founder and CTO, Piyush Chitkara, was a technical consultant for Oxfordcaps and now comes to the table with senior experience from major tech outfits like Cisco, Rakuten Mobile, and others.

Accacia launched in 2022 and spent the better part of a year experimenting in pursuit of product-market fit. After research and product development, the startup raised its first round of capital in December of that year. The following January, the team began onboarding its first paid clients to the platform. 

Highlighting some large early customers, Talreja said, “Within the first year, we managed to sign some big enterprise clients, including Hines, which has about US$100 billion in AUM. It is one of the top five real estate asset managers globally. We also signed JSW Group, which has more than US$20 billion in AUM and is one of India’s largest conglomerates. As a multinational, they are into all core sectors, including cement, steel, infrastructure, and more.”

Beyond sales, the company has also achieved notable milestones that underscore its growing influence and success. Among these, securing the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) accreditation stands out as a prominent badge.

Talreja explained, “GRESB is the largest ESG reporting platform for all large real estate companies. Globally, they report via GRESB and rely on its ratings for their ESG rankings. We became the first product company from Asia to get that.” 

The evolving green real estate market

When asked about Accacia’s go-to-market strategy, Talreja said that in Southeast Asia, one key play has been not only looking at local building assets but also targeting local asset managers, many of whom have real estate assets globally.  

She said, “So specifically when it comes to locations in Asia like Singapore, Dubai, or Abu Dhabi, we have some really large asset managers like Temasek GIC, CapitaLand, Keppel, Adia, and others. There are some really large global asset managers here, and that’s why Singapore is a very important market for us.” 

Talreja pointed out the changes in worldwide regulatory practices, specifically mentioning how the Singaporean government recently broadened its regulations. These updated rules now mandate that industries previously viewed as non-essential, such as the real estate sector, must now report their direct and indirect emissions.

Also Read: Startups should work with corporates to achieve balance between social impact, sustainability: Arcadis

“Also, we are seeing a lot of development, especially in more developed geographies in Asia, like Singapore, Japan, and Korea, seeing 10 per cent to 25 per cent rental premiums being drawn in green buildings as opposed to non-green buildings. So in all, both the quickly evolving regulatory landscape as well as the demand from the real estate client perspective has been very encouraging for us.”

A decarbonisation engine

When asked about what Accacia’s key objectives are for the next few years, Talreja explained that the majority of the company’s technical focus will be put toward developing a “decarbonisation planning engine” for clients. 

“We have taken an interesting bottom-up approach in building the decarbonisation engine, which comes from my experience being an asset manager at Marriott,” said Talreja. “So let’s say, for example, you need to optimise your air conditioning. HVAC is one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions in Asia, given the cooling requirements. We have looked at the whole suite of innovative solutions that can help you with HVAC optimisation and created a rule-based engine that can help asset managers clearly come to answers given their type of building, their type of loads, the age of their buildings, what are the best solutions within their budget, and more. For the next year or two, we will focus on making this offering more robust.”

She added that Accacia also aims to fine-tune its sales strategy. Initially, the team’s interactions have predominantly been with direct owners involved in either the construction or operation of buildings. However, Talreja notes a growing interest from financial entities, such as investment banks and other institutions with significant real estate and infrastructure portfolios (think JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, etc). 

“These institutions are increasingly keen on understanding the climate risks associated with their assets, leading to collaborations on climate risk modelling,” she added. “A new module, aimed at assessing climate risk for real estate and infrastructure, is set to launch later in the year.”

Talreja characterised Accacia’s progress in Asia as a successful client acquisition push and plans to sustain momentum with ongoing pilots and a viable pipeline. According to her, the team has also outlined a strategic focus on expanding into North America, aiming to solidify pilot projects with major clients and turn them into lasting partnerships.

—

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In an age where connectivity reigns supreme, social media platforms have become an integral part of our daily lives. From sharing snapshots of our adventures to updating our status with life milestones, the allure of social media lies in its ability to connect us with friends and family worldwide.

However, amidst the seemingly harmless act of sharing lurks, a danger that often goes unnoticed – the risk of cyberattacks fueled by oversharing.

Oversharing on social media platforms may seem innocuous, but the ramifications can be far-reaching and severe. Every update, every photo, and every check-in provides hackers with a treasure trove of personal information ripe for exploitation.

What may start as a harmless post celebrating a birthday or vacation can inadvertently expose sensitive details about our lives, including our family relationships, educational background, workplace, and even financial information.

Hackers are adept at piecing together seemingly insignificant fragments of information scattered across social media platforms to construct a comprehensive profile of their targets. From there, they can exploit this data to launch sophisticated cyberattacks, ranging from identity theft and phishing scams to social engineering attacks.

One of the most insidious consequences of oversharing is the heightened risk of identity theft. By piecing together information gleaned from social media profiles, hackers can assume the identity of their victims with alarming ease.

Personal details such as birthdates, family member’s names, and even pet names, which are often shared casually on social media, serve as valuable ammunition for identity thieves seeking to infiltrate our digital lives.

Here are some key points to remember when sharing on social media:

• Think before you share: Pause and consider the potential consequences before posting anything online. Ask yourself if the information you’re about to share could be used against you in any way.
• Limit personal information: Be mindful of the type of personal information you share online. Avoid disclosing sensitive details such as your home address, phone number, financial information, or passwords.

Also Read: Holiday cybersecurity: Safeguarding businesses amidst increased cyber threats

• Review privacy settings: Regularly review and adjust your privacy settings on social media platforms to control who can view your posts and personal information. Opt for the highest level of privacy whenever possible.
• Beware of location tagging: Avoid geotagging your posts with your exact location, especially if you’re not at home. This information can be exploited by cybercriminals to track your movements and potentially target you for theft or other malicious activities.
• Be sceptical of requests: Exercise caution when receiving friend requests or messages from unfamiliar individuals, even if they appear to know you. Verify the identity of the person before accepting requests or sharing any personal information.
• Use strong passwords: Ensure that your social media accounts are protected by strong, unique passwords. Avoid using easily guessable passwords or sharing them across multiple platforms.
• Enable two-factor authentication: Enhance the security of your social media accounts by enabling two-factor authentication (2FA). This adds an extra layer of protection by requiring a second form of verification, such as a code sent to your phone.
• Educate friends and family: Encourage your friends and family to practice safe social media habits as well. Remind them about the importance of privacy and the risks associated with oversharing.
• Regularly monitor your accounts: Stay vigilant by monitoring your social media accounts for any suspicious activity or unauthorised access. Report any suspicious accounts or messages to the platform’s support team immediately.
• Stay informed: Keep yourself updated on the latest trends and tactics used by cybercriminals to target social media users. Awareness is key to staying one step ahead of potential threats.

By keeping these pointers in mind and integrating them into your social media habits, you can minimise the risk of falling victim to cyberattacks and protect your online security and privacy.

Remember, a little caution can go a long way in safeguarding yourself in the digital world. After all, in an era where our digital footprints leave an indelible mark, discretion may well be the ultimate form of self-preservation.

—

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Nibertex, a deep tech startup based in Singapore and the Philippines, has successfully closed an oversubscribed funding round.

The investment was led by Foxmont Capital Partners and supported by a consortium of Southeast Asian families.

The new funds will help speed up the launch of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)-free membrane technology. PFAS is otherwise known as the “forever chemical” found in textiles and doesn’t break down quickly.

Founded in 2019, Nibertex is a material science venture that leverages nanotechnology to engineer advanced and sustainable materials. With a mission to drive innovation and enhance the quality of life, the company with its proprietary solution is leading the market transition toward sustainable waterproof and breathable products, offering an environmentally safe alternative without compromising performance.

Also Read:  WYZauto nets US$2.25M to connect vehicle maintenance businesses with tyre brands in Thailand

The process also opens doors for the rapid development and market launch of materials used in various applications, including EV batteries, wound dressing, EMI shields, and more. Nibertex will prioritise an initial focus on technical textiles.

“Our aim is to pioneer material science innovations that are environmentally sound, serve our customers, and positively impact society,” said Jae Hyung Park, Co-Founder and COO of Nibertex.

With over three decades of experience, Nibertex claims to be the world’s first in hybrid electrospinning and exports to over 30 countries. It has a global presence in two countries and a production capacity of 1.5 million square meters per machine.

“After years of R&D, Nibertex now has the product, experience, cost advantage, and clientele to change entire industries so that we can together help rid our daily lives of these harmful chemicals, and we are keen to support them in that mission,” said Jelmer Ikink, Founding Partner at Foxmont Capital Partners.

—

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Image credit: Nibertex

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In our increasingly digital world, innovation and technological advancement face unprecedented challenges, compounded by a myriad of factors. Geopolitical conflicts add another layer of complexity. 

Amidst these challenges, innovators must explore opportunities for global expansion not only to penetrate new markets and offer solutions where they are needed but also to partner and collaborate with other ecosystem stakeholders that can help push for better innovation.

Connecting regional innovators to the global ecosystem

With this ethos in mind, the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) completed the first Elevator Pitch Competition 2024 (EPiC) Region Semi-Final in Singapore on 22 and 23 February 2024. With the goal of bridging innovators to global markets, EPiC serves as a catalyst for regional startups to explore market expansion opportunities.

“[We want to] attract overseas tech venture companies to come to Hong Kong and provide an opportunity for them to look at the whole Asian market for [business] expansion. A lot of companies from Europe and the US interested in Hong Kong or China don’t know what to do. Elevator Pitch gives them the platform to understand the Asia market, what they need to do if they want to set up an entity here, what the market potential is, what they need if they want to be listed in the Hong Kong stock exchange, what they need if they want to expand to China, among others. All these things, through the EPiC competition, we will be able to provide,” shared Eric Or, Head of Partnerships at HKSTP.

A total of 222 of the Asia Pacific region’s brightest startups battled for 20 semi-final slots at the EPiC 2024 Grand Finale in Hong Kong on 26 April 2024. All applicants of EPiC 2024 target a US$45 million funding to be arranged through investors (including funds managed by HKSTP Corporate Venture Fund, Beyond Ventures, BitRock Capital, Gaw Capital, HKX, InnoAngel, Jafco Asia, Mindworks Capital, and Radiant Tech Ventures) all of whom consider investing in applicants (subject to terms and conditions to be agreed between the parties), and qualify for a chance to have up to US$5 million investment by the HKSTP CVF, US$240,000 in cash prizes, plus partnership opportunities.

Also read: Antler: Backing the world’s most driven founders from day zero to greatness

As Hong Kong’s largest incubator, HKSTP integrates high-growth ventures directly into its innovation ecosystem and seamlessly to the HKD2,827 billion (USD 362 billion) economic opportunity in China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA) encompassing Guangdong and the even the broader mainland China market and beyond.

Guangdong Province is China’s largest provincial economy, projecting 5% GDP growth in 2024. Being in Hong Kong, EPiC forms a critical growth launchpad which positions Asia Pacific innovators at the heart of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) innovation powerhouse and connects the surging investment and market potential of the globe, Mainland China, and beyond.

EPiC 2024 can be a great launching pad for global startups to explore opportunities in the broad Asian market, while also connecting startups from the region to major markets across North America and Europe.

Going global with the help of HKSTP

Hong Kong serves as a vital gateway for Southeast Asian startups aiming to seize the burgeoning opportunities within the Greater Bay Area, an expanding innovation hub spanning China and North Asia. EPiC 2024 strategically provides essential elements for success, including access to capital, valuable market insights, strategic partnership opportunities, and a conducive environment for scaling operations due to Hong Kong’s strategic location. Utilising Hong Kong as a launchpad enables startups not only to navigate the complexities of the Greater Bay Area but also to expand into neighbouring markets, unlocking abundant opportunities for sustained growth and expansion.

Two great examples of how EPiC helped launch global expansions are Archireef, Champion of EPiC 2021, and Ultipa, a finalist for EPiC 2023.

Archireef is a nature-tech company dedicated to providing eco-engineering solutions for active restoration and fostering nature-positivity in the future of marine ecosystems, spanning shorelines to coral reefs. The homegrown Hong Kong-based startup is on a meteoric rise, going from obscurity with no hope of funding to making waves with deals and partnerships at the recent COP28 in Dubai.

“Since clinching the EPiC 2021 award, our trajectory has been nothing short of exhilarating. We are thrilled about the prospects ahead, which fuels our commitment to restoring marine ecosystems,” said Vriko Yu, Co-founder and CEO of Archireef. “Currently, we operate in both Hong Kong and the UAE, having successfully deployed over 500 of our Reef Tiles across these regions. Our growth is continuous, and we’ve seen revenue increase eight times in Q4 2023.”

Also read: D-Tech Community Hub: Safeguarding communities through collaboration

Yu acknowledges the vital role of the HKSTP ecosystem in their journey, expressing gratitude for the diverse talent and expertise it has provided, both locally and internationally. The HKSTP incubation programs were instrumental in refining Archireef’s business model and translating academic research into viable commercial solutions. Following this support, the company has rapidly expanded and received acclaim and awards from renowned institutions like the World Economic Forum, IUCN, Forbes Asia, Bloomberg, and Geneva Inventions. Additionally, Archireef has garnered support from an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, as well as venture capital firms in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Ultipa is a Silicon Valley-originated developer of a high-performance graph database system. Selected as one of the 10 finalists in EPiC 2023, the firm is looking to expand its business to the mainland China market and more broadly across Asia. The proximity to Shenzhen, along with the seamless resources provided by Hong Kong and HKSTP for startup expansion and growth, were key factors influencing Ultipa’s decision to choose HKSTP as its starting point in Asia.

“HKSTP provides business matching, investment referrals, exclusive membership of a city-wide and cross-industry virtual lab, access to co-working space as well as an extensive talent pool by reaching out to Hong Kong’s renowned universities,” shared Monica Liu, Founder and COO of Ultipa. “We found that EPiC is a global and valuable platform and probably the fastest track for our AI solutions to expand to the Greater Bay Area and Asia-Pacific markets,” Liu added.

Ultipa’s graph technology integrates AI acceleration, augmentation, and explainability, driven by its distinctive next-gen horizontally scalable graph computing and storage engine. Renowned for delivering unparalleled computing solutions, Ultipa has garnered international recognition, notably winning the 2023 Banking Technology Awards (UK) in the category of “Tech of the Future – AI and Data.” Trusted by leading banks and financial institutions worldwide, Ultipa continues to set industry standards with its innovative solutions.

A strong showing for APAC at the EPiC 2024 Regional Semi-finals

The Singapore regional semi-final took place at The Great Room Centennial Tower, with 94 participants in the FinTech track, 65 in PropTech, and 63 in MobilityTech. The FinTech and PropTech innovations are on Day 1, with MobilityTech innovations featured on Day 2.

Hosting the first-ever Asia Pacific EPiC semi-final in Singapore is a key step in the EPiC mission to attract the very best startups from around the world. The 222 semi-finalists fiercely competed across FinTech, PropTech and MobilityTech tracks while pitching their innovative ideas and business models in a strict eight-minute period with a two-minute Q&A session to a professional judging panel.

Also read: Navigating In-Store Innovation: A Dive into Ingenico’s StartupIN Program

Eric Or emphasised the impressive showing of fintech in the Singapore semi-final, which demonstrated an array of innovative solutions and presentations. “Singapore is really up there in terms of fintech,” remarked Eric Or. “Singapore is mature in terms of doing the more advanced fintech solutions like blockchain, crypto, AI, and others. Every company we saw today had an element of AI in them, so I’m impressed with that.” He also noted a remarkable showing in robotic solutions and other related verticals.

The shortlisted 20 startups will join fellow semi-finalists from the Silicon Valley semi-final that took place on 18-19 January 2024, with further rounds in Hong Kong (29 Feb 2024) and in Stuttgart in Germany (4-5 Mar 2024), seeing over 70 semi-finalists selected for the Grand Finale at the iconic Sky100 venue atop Hong Kong’s tallest building, International Commerce Centre.

About Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation

Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) was established in 2001 to create a thriving I&T ecosystem grooming 12 unicorns, more than 14,000 research professionals and over 1,700 technology companies from 26 countries and regions focused on developing healthtech, AI and robotics, fintech and smart city technologies, etc.

Our growing innovation ecosystem offers comprehensive support to attract and nurture talent, and accelerate and commercialise innovation for technology ventures, with the I&T journey built around our key locations of Hong Kong Science Park in Shatin, InnoCentre in Kowloon Tong and three modern InnoParks in Tai Po, Tseung Kwan O and Yuen Long realising a vision of new industrialisation for Hong Kong, where sectors including advanced manufacturing, micro-electronics and biotechnology are being reimagined.

Hong Kong Science Park Shenzhen Branch in Futian, Shenzhen plays positive roles in connecting the world and the mainland with our proximity, strengthening cross-border exchange to bring advantages in attracting global talent and allowing possibilities for the development of technology companies in seven key areas: Medtech, big data and AI, robotics, new materials, microelectronics, fintech and sustainability, with both dry and wet laboratories, co-working space, conference and exhibition facilities, and more.

Through our R&D infrastructure, startup support and enterprise services, commercialisation and investment expertise, partnership networks and talent traction, HKSTP continues to contribute to establishing I&T as a pillar of growth for Hong Kong. 

More information about HKSTP is available at www.hkstp.org.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Edelman

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The emergence of AI-powered technology and machine learning has revolutionised how startups harness data for growth and scalability. By employing advanced algorithms, startups can efficiently sift through vast troves of data, extracting valuable insights that inform strategic decision-making, and ultimately bolstering their R&D process.

From identifying market trends to understanding customer preferences, AI enables startups to synthesise complex information swiftly and accurately, empowering them to make data-driven choices that drive growth. By leveraging AI to distil data into actionable intelligence, startups can optimise processes, enhance product offerings, and cultivate deeper connections with their target audience, thus propelling their expansion and scaling efforts to unprecedented heights.

While the potential benefits of leveraging AI and machine learning for data-driven growth are immense, startups often grapple with significant challenges in accessing the necessary technological infrastructure to process vast amounts of data effectively. Limited financial resources and expertise can hinder startups from investing in robust data infrastructure and hiring specialised talent to implement and manage AI solutions. Additionally, the sheer volume and complexity of data present obstacles for startups, as they may lack the sophisticated tools and systems required to collect, store, and analyse data at scale.

Without access to scalable infrastructure and adequate technical capabilities, startups risk being overwhelmed by the data deluge, inhibiting their ability to derive actionable insights and capitalise on growth opportunities.

Unlocking growth through innovative solutions with PatSnap

Building robust data governance frameworks and implementing stringent security measures require substantial investments in both time and resources, diverting attention and resources away from core business activities. Furthermore, the risk of data breaches and cybersecurity threats looms large, particularly for startups with limited cybersecurity expertise and resources, underscoring the importance of prioritising data privacy and security initiatives as integral components of their growth strategies.

Thus, to properly leverage data and unlock growth, startups need a reliable solutions provider that offers scalable infrastructure, advanced AI tools, and expertise in data analytics, enabling them to efficiently process large volumes of data, derive actionable insights, and accelerate their growth trajectory without the burden of managing complex technology infrastructures internally.

Also read: Elevator Pitch Competition (EPiC) accelerates startups from SEA to the world

With this mission serving as the building blocks of its technology, PatSnap offers ​​patented machine learning and AI-powered technology that enables users to seamlessly comb through, connect, and analyse billions of cross-industry innovation and IP data points in a fraction of the time.

Founded in 2007, Patsnap is a global leader in AI-powered innovation intelligence. The Singapore-founded tech unicorn’s user-friendly platform revolutionises how IP and R&D teams collaborate across the entire innovation lifecycle — from validating ideas to analysing the competitive landscape and beyond. More than 12,000 global companies across diverse industries trust Patsnap to innovate faster with AI.

With a team of 1,200+ Patsnappers spanning three continents and over 12,000 customers in over 50 countries, PatSnap is revolutionising the innovation process from concept to commercialisation.

Get to know PatSnap at Echelon X!

Aligned with its mission to strengthen the tech startup ecosystem, PatSnap will be joining us at Echelon X happening on 15-16 May at the Singapore EXPO. There, PatSnap will be meeting with startups, investors, SMEs, corporates, and government institutions, among other ecosystem enablers to discuss how the company can help them leverage data in their R&D processes. “We want to show Echelon X delegates how we can empower R&D teams to gain competitive advantage and innovate faster with our AI-powered innovation intelligence platform. This way, they will be keen to explore our platform to try out,” shared Guan Dian, Co-founder, APAC General Manager & CMO at PatSnap.

Guan will also be representing PatSnap as one of the esteemed speakers of Echelon X.

Also read: Antler: Backing the world’s most driven founders from day zero to greatness

Targeting IP and R&D teams and verticals that include life sciences, automotive, consumer goods, technology, manufacturing, engineering and legal, Guan explained that the PatSnap team is eager to help R&D teams in their growth journeys. “We look forward to sharing more about how Patsnap is putting AI to work to help R&D teams innovate faster and boost their productivity,” she shared.

PatSnap is one of the many exciting industry leaders from across the Southeast Asian region who will be joining us for Echelon X. Joining Antler are other key leaders, visionary entrepreneurs, and groundbreaking startups from all corners of the region who will be gathering together for two packed days. Echelon X will feature dedicated content stages, exhibitions, panel discussions, and more — all to support and empower the tech startup ecosystem with actionable insights through a series of knowledge-sharing activities.

Whether you’re eager to expand your knowledge, network with key players from the tech startup scene, or showcase your innovative ideas, Echelon X offers an unparalleled experience. Join us as a participant or an official partner by securing your spot now on our official page. Together, let’s embark on a journey to shape the future and create a lasting impact.

Join us at Echelon 2024, where innovation knows no limits, and the possibilities are endless!

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