This article is published as a part of a partnership with Recruitery. Recruitery is an all-in-one hiring platform that provides headhunt, payroll, taxes, and compliance solutions for remote teams in SEA.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been controlled, an economic downturn is still heralded due to the disruption of global supply chains and soaring inflation.

Across Southeast Asia, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have suffered massive losses in income and capital due to COVID-19. Small businesses also face new challenges, such as higher business costs, growing debt, and operational uncertainties that require structural reform to improve the local business environment.

If you’re running an enterprise, you better find ways to align your overall strategy and business model. For many company leaders, this presents a significant challenge. For example, how to deal with a recession?

After experiencing two terrible waves of the pandemic in Vietnam and achieving specific achievements, we have some practical advice below which can help small businesses better prepare for a recession:

Make decisions carefully

While you will likely need to adjust your business shortly, don’t make decisions irrationally or quickly just to make them. 

Seek the advice of boards, advisors, mentors, and others who have experienced economic uncertainty. Then, combine your complex data with realistically honest trend forecasts.

Don’t be paralysed by analysis or consensus group thinking. Instead, get your data, input from the leadership team, advice from a mentor or mentor, and then make a decision.

In 2020, our company had some problems because we were almost paralysed and did nothing. However, by making careful decisions by 2021 and this year, we can confidently state that, before any of our choices are made, we have considered them very carefully.

Pay attention to even the slightest problems

As you consider your business strategy, business model, and revenue forecast, it’s necessary to make small decisions because if you wait and assume things will be better in the future and just wait, you may be unprepared or unable to weather a recession.

Also Read: Why Southeast Asia’s locally owned adtech and martech industry will survive the recession

We have a tip: look at your business model and move people and resources into areas that will generate or protect revenue. For example, it is possible to cut spending on advertising media and use services like retargeting, email marketing, or better social media efforts soon.

Cost control

This is crucial regardless of whether you are a large or small business. You must control your costs in the best way.

For founders to make a profit first, they need to widen their runway and make the money they raise go further, especially during an economic downturn.

If you’re in a large company, you’ll receive an email, if you haven’t already, to manage your area, division, and division expenses for the rest of the year.

Cash management

Perhaps not much need to be said about the necessity of cash management. This is the “blood” of every business.

Manage your cash, whether it is through more aggressive efforts in accounts receivable, negotiating payment schedules with vendors in your accounts payable, or keeping staff expenses in line with stagnant wages and few hiring.

All are important right now as your primary goal should be to generate strong cash flow in the business.

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Intellect, a Singapore-headquartered mental health startup, has raised an additional US$10 million in a Series A extension led by Tiger Global.

K3 Ventures, JAFCO Asia, Singtel Innov8, and PERSOL Holdings, with participation from existing investors Insignia Ventures Partners, and HOF Capital, also joined the round.

This brings Intellect’s total Series A capital raise to US$20 million. Early this year, the mental health startup secured US$10 million in a Series A financing round led by US-based HOF Capital.

The fresh injection will be used to scale the startup’s commercial expansion plans and teams across Asia. The business is focused on building the region’s first digitally-enabled, fully-stacked mental healthcare system.

Intellect is a modern-day mental health company aiming to make mental healthcare and wellbeing support accessible for everyone. Launched two years ago, it claims to serve more than three million lives in over 60 countries through its therapists and coaches based in 20 countries, providing localised coverage and self-guided programmes in 15 languages.

Also read: How to tackle employee mental health to build a resilient workforce

The company currently works with various international enterprises such as Merck, Philips, foodpanda, Singtel, Shopee, Omnicom Media Group, and abrdn.

In August 2021, the firm announced the closing of its US2.2 million pre-Series A round led by Insignia Ventures Partners, alongside new investors Y Combinator and XA Network.

Theodoric Chew, Co-Founder and CEO, said: “Intellect’s mission is to normalise mental health and shift the culture towards more open conversations about personal wellbeing, ultimately removing the stigma attached. We are fortunate that Intellect is able not just to defend but heavily double down on our work to change how mental health care is done for all of Asia Pacific.”

As the current workforce struggles with burnout and adopting unhealthy coping mechanisms, focusing on mental health in the workplace is more important than ever. A 2021 APAC workplace health study by Intellect showed that 84 per cent of APAC respondents reported high levels of exhaustion, while 88% said they were disengaged from work.

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In this episode, we are excited to welcome Frédéric Mazzella, Founder, Chairman and Former CEO of BlaBlaCar, the world’s largest carpooling platform. Mazzella is also an active investor, startup board member and Co-President Entrepreneur of France Digitale.

In our conversation, Mazzella speaks to us about how to think big but act small at the beginning of global expansion initiatives, how to create a business name with global appeal, building a community of trust within an organisation, successful strategies like how to “build for two markets,” and how to hire a talented, internationally-minded local team who connect with your company culture and how to listen to them and leverage their local market expertise.

Also Read: Vietnam can be an excellent launchpad for regional, global startups: says Eddie Thai

This episode is sponsored by our partner ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets here.

Find our entire podcast episode library here and learn more about our forthcoming book on global business growth here.

Interested in learning more about our book Global Class? Be the first to get a copy (coming out August 23), and get a ton of valuable free bonuses for pre-ordering. Learn more here.

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The article was first published by Global Class.

Image Credit: Global Class

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Consumers eagerly anticipating a long-awaited vacation are set to encounter something of a frenzied return to the tourism scene. As chaotic images at airports and stories of lost baggage hit global headlines, the travel sector is looking at a less than smooth ride to normalcy. Yet beyond the headlines, there is another threat that’s quietly undermining the travel industry: ad fraud.

It is more than two years since the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to an abrupt standstill, putting a lengthy halt on leisure travel and vacations. Now, however, all signs point to an incredible rise in Asia Pacific travellers this year.

One report estimates that APAC’s travel and tourism sector is expected to approach pre-pandemic levels while another estimates that the ASEAN region will receive an estimated 155 million tourists in 2022.

Meanwhile, an estimated 430 million more passengers are predicted to fly in Asia-Pacific compared to last year as leisure and business trips return to pre-pandemic levels.

Naturally, these numbers should give business leaders in APAC’s travel industry a cause for optimism. However, travel’s resurgence should be a wake-up call for travel leaders to ensure they are safeguarding their marketing efforts.

The travel industry remains one of the most adversely affected by ad fraud than other sectors. According to our research, bots make up to 80 per cent of all invalid traffic for travel advertisers, a stark contrast to the 15-to-30 per cent effect on other industries.

Also Read: Business travel in the new normal: Strategies and tools for SME travel programme

For the uninitiated, ad fraud is when bots, click farms, ad stacking and other illegitimate tactics are utilised to sabotage a brand’s advertising efforts through invalid traffic. When a campaign is plagued by fraudulent activity, the advertiser and agency receive no return on investment and no valid metrics with which to measure their real results.

Since the explosion of digital advertising, notably display ads, fraud has posed a never-ending headache for marketers and their agencies. Already pressured following the two-year global lockdown, the travel and hospitality industries are among the most vulnerable to ad fraud.

Travel advertisers saw an 82 per cent higher brand suitability violation rate than the average rate across other verticals. In the Asia Pacific, the violation rate was up 52 per cent. Display viewable rates in APAC were 11 per cent lower for travel advertisers as compared with other industries, and video viewable rates were 15 per cent lower.

The reason travel is so vulnerable to this type of fraud is partly due to the proliferation of third-party online travel agencies (OTAs), some of which are authorised and some that are not. These OTAs function by scraping the data of airline and hotel databases and then selling them on behalf of airlines and rentals.

As airline websites and travel apps are home to a host of data such as flight and pricing, they are prime targets for bot activity. Unauthorised OTAs deploy bots to scrape flight information and fares, then hold seats to resell them later. This makes it appear as though far more people are viewing than booking flights, thus skewing airlines’ attribution data.

In addition, the travel industry also has many high-value loyalty programmes, such as frequent flyer points and hotel chain credits, and these pose an alluring target for fraudsters to assume control of. 

Moreover, in an increasingly digitised world, travel vendors are turning to apps and mobile experiences to ease the travel journey and reach their target customers. But, by trying to drive installations of their apps, travel brands are more susceptible to receiving bad quality traffic and misattribution.

According to our analysis, performance networks that are being paid to drive these installations are delivering upwards of 30 per cent invalid traffic on average. This results in many fraudulent installations and misattribution of post-install events such as flight and hotel bookings.

Also Read: How can influencer marketing help the travel industry in a post-pandemic world

This is a grim picture for travel marketers in the Asia Pacific as many markets here are particularly susceptible to high rates of ad fraud. A recent study revealed that Singapore has one of the highest fraud rates worldwide, followed by Vietnam, as other regional markets reported above-average volumes.

Taking ownership

If unresolved, ad fraud essentially remains a leaky bucket within a travel marketer’s budget. Not only are countless advertising dollars lost every day to ad fraud, but advertisers are left vulnerable to low latency and even malware from the onslaught of bad bots.

Resolving the problem requires third-party verification tools and ad fraud detection technology. Marketers and advertisers need to start adopting this technology at scale to stop the proliferation of fraudulent traffic.

For the travel industry, ad fraud technology should be regarded as a core protection tool and should be added to other cyber security measures. This kind of adoption requires a cultural change from the top-down.

Chief marketing officers, therefore, need to take ownership of this by advising their peers on which ad fraud technology they use, how they use it, and how it will impact their business.

Once ad fraud detection tools are seen as a vital part of a business’ marketing and technology stack, then the travel industry can finally solve the problem together.

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In the past few years, South Korea has emerged as a lucrative Asian destination for a lot of foreign investors and companies. As per the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, Korea was number five in 2019. Furthermore, by nominal GDP, the country has the fourth-largest economy in Asia and the tenth-largest in the world.

However, scaling a growing business entails making a lot of big and small decisions, out of which, where to expand next is probably the first and biggest one. 

As such, in the third episode of the Market Access Series in partnership with Globalization Partners, we explore why and how you should expand your business to South Korea. Featuring Bonhi Gu, Director of Invest SEOUL; Jung-hee Ryu, Partner and CEO of FuturePlay; and Charles Ferguson, General Manager – Asia Pacific of Globalization Partners; the panel is moderated by Dennis Poh, Founder and CEO of Legatcy.

Home to Samsung and Hyundai, to BTS and YG, Korea is a globalised business haven

Bonhi from SEOUL opened the discussion by making a case for Korea, stating that the country is an innovation leader. And, he is not wrong. Did you know that according to the Bloomberg Innovation Index, South Korea held the title of the most innovative country for six years until 2020 when Germany claimed the top spot only to jump back to number one in 2021?

Home to 50 million people and resting between two Asian giants, China and Japan, South Korea is often overshadowed as a business destination but it is important to remember that the country has a sophisticated and affluent populace, world-leading infrastructure, and a plethora of business opportunities.

Also read: Looking to expand your business? Head down to the Philippines!

Bonhi explained that Korea has an extremely modern infrastructure and an internet-savvy population. ​​As per Statista, around 92.7 per cent of South Koreans owned a smartphone in 2021, up from around 21.9 per cent in 2011. 

Jung-hee from Future Play believes that Korea has a very unique position among Asian countries being home to the likes of Samsung and Hyundai. He further stated that Korea also has a unique cultural aspect with global phenomenons like BTS and YG as well as a rich heritage that has infiltrated virtually every aspect of global pop culture. This ensures a very globalised ecosystem for any business setting up offices in the country. South Korea also benefits from its strategic location, acting as a bridge between Southeast Asian markets and giants like China and Japan.

Ferguson from Globalization Partners shared that Korea is at an inflexion point today and that over 70 per cent of global corporations come to Korea for some sort of collaboration, be it for marketing, hardware, or software.

Challenges and opportunities for startups expanding to Korea

Obviously, there are certain challenges for which any business expanding to Korea or any new country for that matter, needs to be ready. There can be language and cultural barriers that might slow down or even obstruct business growth. Advising startups on overcoming these challenges, Ferguson shared a lesson he learnt in business school: “Proper preparation prevents poor performance”. He emphasised the significance and value of localisation.

The panel also encouraged business owners to start networking before they actually plan to roll out the expansion. Reaching out to local players and key stakeholders and leveraging virtual networking platforms to gain a better understanding of the local scene can help eliminate a lot of these challenges. 

Korea can be an excellent destination to test products and launch new solutions. With 23 million people living in Seoul and its neighbouring province (Seoul Capital Area), the region’s population density hits 8,940 per square mile. This means people live in close communities and are thus more engaged with each other. By comparison, in global cities like New York, 1,127 people live per square mile; Shanghai records 1,406 per square mile.

Also read: Challenges and opportunities for startups expanding to Thailand

With all of these factors, it’s certainly a ready market. Korea ranks second in the World ICT Development Index (ITU). Furthermore, Korea has a highly educated talent pool with Seoul alone housing 32 universities, which take 20% of the total students in the country.

Bonhi shared that more than 70 per cent of Korean people ranging between 25-35 years have a tertiary degree, which means that most of the talent pool can leverage their specific skills and knowledge and contribute to business growth. He also added that over 35 per cent of the population have a Master’s degree or PhD.

If you are looking to leverage the burgeoning business ecosystem in Korea as well as the highly competitive talent pool, get some boots on the ground, be open to collaborations, and get ready to launch! 

To learn more, view the webinar here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Globalization Partners

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 Here’s why startups should consider South Korea for business expansion appeared first on e27.

Chris Out is a growth hacking expert, guest lecturer, keynote speaker, and consultant about, you guessed it, growth hacking and setting up a marketing team.

In this episode, you will learn about:

– What is growth hacking?
– How do you create ideas around experimentation?
– How do you know if the experiments work or not?
– Why you should reverse engineer your first 10 customers’ process?
– How does your competition do things?
– Why you should talk to your competitor’s customers?
– When should you start developing your Marketing department?
– Why founders should do 1-to-1 business development?
– Whether to hire Marketing people from the bottom-up or top-down?
– What is cohort-based analysis?
– How to institute governance?

Also Read: 5 growth hacking tips you must consider for your business

Talk with other entrepreneurs on this Discord server.

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The content was first published by We Live To Build.

Image Credit: dotshock

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The Philippines has a booming internet and mobile economy and a thriving startup ecosystem. In fact, there is no dearth of online resources making a case for the Philippines as your startup base; even we have touched on why the Philippines is an ideal destination for business growth and scalability in the past. 

However, in the past two years, the market has changed dramatically. When it comes to major business decisions such as choosing the right next destination for expansion, staying up to date and digging deep is always important. 

As such, in the second episode of the Market Access Series in partnership with Globalization Partners, we explore why and how you should expand your business to the Philippines. Featuring Joan Yao, Vice President of Investments at Kickstart Ventures; Fita Aldaba, Undersecretary for Competitiveness and Innovation at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI); and Charles Ferguson, General Manager – Asia Pacific of Globalization Partners; the panel was moderated by Dennis Poh, Founder and CEO of Legatcy.

The Philippines is on the right track

Fita from DTI opened the session by reminding everyone that in the pre-pandemic context, the Philippines was considered Asia’s economic star. “Amidst the pandemic, the country, like most parts of the world, experienced economic setbacks in 2020 but very quickly in the next year itself, we were back on track with a 5.6 per cent average growth, and the forecast for this year is that we will be able to reach 6 to 7 per cent, which is equal to or more than the pre-pandemic levels,” she shared.

Fita added that the country’s inflation has slowed down to 3 per cent, unemployment has dipped to 6.6 per cent as of December 2021, the production index has surged, and the export of goods and services has also increased by 8.3 per cent as of last year. “Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) has also increased by a whopping 52.5 per cent in 2021” Fati added.

Also read: Challenges and opportunities for startups expanding to Thailand

The Philippines is also striding ahead in the field of digital transformation with the pandemic accelerating technology adoption and innovation. Reports suggest that there were over 76.01 million internet users in the Philippines in January 2022. The Philippines’s internet penetration rate stood at 68.0 per cent of the total population at the start of 2022. Internet users in the Philippines increased by 2.1 million (+2.8 per cent) between 2021 and 2022.

Furthermore, Fati quoted a Microsoft survey that found that 8 out of ten companies in the country are ramping up industrialisation efforts while 88 per cent of the surveyed companies said that they consider innovation a must.

Ideal from a VC standpoint, business opportunities galore

Joan from Kickstart Ventures shared that when considering a certain investment opportunity from a VC standpoint, the three Ts are crucial: team, TAM (total addressable market), and timing. 

She explained, “if you think about the Philippines in this framework, the TAM is large and growing. In 2020, the digital economy of the country was valued at USD 9 billion by the end of 2021, it was valued at USD 17 billion showing almost a 100 per cent year-on-year growth.”

“For a long time, the digital consumers were just not there but this is a silver lining to the pandemic and this is what tech startups can leverage,” she added. Highlighting the third T, team, Joan pointed out that the Philippines’ large English-speaking population is an advantage in terms of global startups looking for local talent to build their local hubs.

Emerging trends: Challenges and opportunities

With almost every section of business and life being disrupted by digitalisation today, it can be difficult to focus on a specific area or niche. While almost all sectors, including fintech, healthtech, edtech, ride-hailing, and now WEB3, are burgeoning in the country, Joan said that businesses must identify gaps and inefficiencies — sectors that can genuinely benefit from technology and new business models. 

“Ranging from fields like mobility, agriculture, education, healthcare, housing, and tourism — these fields require both online and offline investments,” she added.

Fita shared that despite fintech booming in the country, even today, there are around 51.2 million unbanked Filipinos. This is around 70 per cent of the total population. “As such, the Philippines Central Bank is implementing its digital payments transformation roadmap to convert over half of the country’s total transactions to digital by 2023. The goal is also to enhance interconnectivity, interoperability, and financial integration between domestic and cross-border digital payments, and to promote financial inclusion,” she shared.

Also read: Looking back and moving forward: Leave a Nest at 20

Speaking on some of the challenges businesses should consider before moving or expanding to the Philippines, Ferguson said, “no matter where you bring your business, there are certain challenges that are a given: From trying to understand the new regulations and policies to settling in the new infrastructure and figuring out the product-market fit. So businesses need to be ready for that.” However, the Philippines is known for its liberalised and business-friendly open economy. So, it should be relatively easier to establish your company here. 

Fita reassured that irrespective of political changes that might happen in the future, which is a normal progression, the country’s strive for innovation and digital disruption and the creation of new products and services will continue. Joan added that there has been an irreversible sea change and a dramatic shift from offline to online and there is a huge opportunity for tech startups in the Philippines. Lastly, Ferguson encourages businesses looking to expand across the region to leverage the Filipino talent pool which consists of highly skilled professionals. Study the ropes around hiring remote talent from the Philippines by scheduling a demo here.

To learn more, view the webinar here.

– –

This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Globalization Partners

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.

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Turn Capital, the family office of Singaporean entrepreneur Joseph Phua, has agreed to acquire the assets of the popular Taiwanese news site Apple Daily. While the transaction details remain confidential, media reports have pegged the deal size between US$30 million and US$60 million.

According to Phua, who has successfully built Southeast Asia’s leading dating platform Paktor and Asian live-streaming entertainment unicorn 17LIVE, the aim is to transform the business digitally and venture into new markets in Southeast Asia and beyond. He has raised over US$200 million funds from more than 50 investors, including Vertex Ventures, Pavilion Capital, Infinity Ventures, KTB in Korea, Appworks, and several Indonesian MNCs.

In this interview, Phua discusses the deal, its objective, the opportunities and its expansion plans.

Edited excerpts:

Can you share the details of the acquisition?

Sure. So, we are acquiring the Taiwanese digital assets of Apple Daily from the Taiwanese arm of media company Next Digital Limited. These are primarily the technology assets, including the mobile app and website.

These are precious assets because they generate hundreds of millions of page views monthly. It’s one of the top three media sites in the country in terms of page views and subscriptions. It also has the largest Twitter fan base there.

We want to help transform the business model of this traffic. I have been in the media and internet space for the last ten years. Building sustainable business models around traffic is what I do day in and day out. When I see this type of stickiness and retention, it means the audience is very loyal. The asset with the demographic of middle to the high-end type of income status becomes precious traffic in a market with high ARPU (average revenue per user) from gaming.

When I was first approached for this potential deal, the page traffic was the first thing I looked into. Not just about the deal value, or current value, but about the inherent untapped potential.

Over the last ten years, we dealt with millions of users. In terms of building sustainable business models, we’ve processed billions of dollars globally.

In terms of the value, these are essential — solid traffic, loyal audience, and high disposable income audience. It’s a very fertile market when it comes to building digital media businesses.

How long has the deal been in the works?

I’ve been looking into media assets to acquire for five years. Since 2016, when I first merged my company Paktor with 17 LIVE, I’ve been looking at media assets.

In terms of negotiation and discussions, it has been a few months. But how long has this interest been? It has been at least six to seven years already. I’ve always been looking for assets to acquire.

There are some other popular news sites in Taiwan, such as China Times and Liberty Times. Then why Apple Daily?

No, I’ve always been looking for traffic and different video assets. We are actively acquiring and talking with at least two other high-traffic generation sources in Taiwan and three in Asia for investments or acquisitions by my family office. We are always on the lookout for media assets as long as the price is right and the asset is valuable.

How does the Apple Daily acquisition align with Turn Capital’s goals?

If you look at our past acquisitions, their operations were not only within our wholly-owned assets but they also collaborated with our shareholders and partners. 

For example, after Turn Capital acquired SoundOn, Taiwan Mobile invested in it and became its second-largest shareholder. SoundOn now works with the telco’s music platform MyMusic to cross-seed our podcast content. SoundOn processes three billion+ listens of podcasts every year.

Also Read: Kollective Ventures and Joseph Phua’s family office acquire SoundOn, a Taiwanese startup with 35M monthly podcast downloads

Likewise, with the traffic that Apple Daily generates, we can work with the other assets we currently control to cross-pollinate and potentially collaborate. 

For example, I have traffic that comes over to you, and I help you acquire traffic and then in the process, you make money, and we can have a revenue-sharing model which allows me to diversify the business model further. Then it doesn’t become a pure advertising model for Apple news media. 

Are you going to rebrand Apple Daily? What will happen to its employees once the deal gets through?

We are transitioning the business and do not have immediate rebranding plans at the moment. The key is to ensure we build a sustainable business through adapting the traffic across models.

We are working with the seller to engage with the employees, and we will work towards rehiring as many of the employees as possible.

How is Apple Daily’s loyal readers reacting to the acquisition?

The reaction has relatively been neutral.

My wife is Taiwanese and our two sons were born in Taiwan. Almost all the businesses I have built or acquired in the last ten years have ties with Taiwan, and I have reinvested heavily into my teams in Taiwan; I merged Paktor with 17LIVE, a Taiwanese live-streaming company. In just 2021, I acquired SoundOn and Dapp Pocket crypto solutions both Taiwanese companies. I very much consider Taiwan my second home. 

The important thing to note here is that we plan to retain most of the editorial team, so content generation which is the key product that the readers consume will stay the same. So are the people who generate the content. From that perspective, that integrity is kept. 

At the same time, Turn Capital is solely focused on digital transformation, and building a healthy company with strong financials. We are very interested in cultivating sustainable value in the traffic. 

Our interest lies in creating a very news media outlet that embraces technology in its true form. We can create a very sustainable business that continues to grow its business in its markets and develop a very healthy lifecycle for its employees. 

Do you have plans to infuse capital into Apple Daily?

We are open to raising capital in the future from various financial investors, as raising additional capital for the company will enable us to invest in the workforce, invest in training, invest in building new products and expand beyond the local market. All fundraising activities will be subject to Taiwan government regulations.

With any newly raised capital in the future, we’d be able to hire more people, invest in new markets, train their employees, and build new products, so this will be very good for the company. 

Also Read: ‘Companies shut down not because of crises but only when founders give up’: Joseph Phua of M17

Taiwan welcomes foreign capital and investment into their workforce and everything, so this is highly possible, but this is subject to future discussion.  

Can you share some of the business models you have in mind for Apple Daily? Do you have plans to launch it in other Southeast Asian markets?

Cross-ecosystem pollination of assets and traffic and building partnerships through other partners’ business sources are being explored. 

In terms of expansion, we want to take Apple Daily to other markets. I do not believe there should be borders when it comes to tech businesses. The borders are artificial because you have a geographical constraints — from logistics to employee base to all these different things. 

If you look at our other businesses, for instance, Paktor. It was started in Singapore and then expanded into 11 markets, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and the US. 

I believe that the restructured reinvented and redefined product of Apple news media will transcend geographical barriers into new markets. 

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The post ‘We want to create a news media outlet that embraces tech in its true form’: Joseph Phua on Apple Daily Taiwan’s assets acquisition appeared first on e27.

Kejora founder sets up new VC firm Rigel Capital
Sebastian Togelang’s new fund is headquartered in Singapore and Jakarta; Two of Rigel’s LPs are Prajogo Pangestu family and GIC; The early-stage VC firm is understood to have raised US$200M for the fund.

Joseph Phua speaks about Apple Daily Taiwan’s assets acquisition
‘We want to create a news media outlet that embraces tech in its true form’, he says; Turn Capital is actively talking with at least two other high-traffic generation sources in Taiwan and three in Asia for investments/acquisitions.

Singapore mulls tighter crypto rules for consumer protection
MAS’s considerations may include placing limits on retail participation and rules on the use of leverage when transacting in cryptocurrencies, says chairperson Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Animoca Brands leads US$32M round of Web3 gaming firm Planetarium Labs
The South Korean firm builds a gaming ecosystem based on the Libplanet blockchain, which allows players to participate in the game network and enables the community to develop open-source content.

YGG co-founder’s gaming blockchain firm nets US$20M
Investors are Republic Capital, Crypto.com and Huobi; Oasys is also looking to expand its team and reinforce strategic partnerships with firms in the gaming and crypto industries.

London-based Nexo may buy troubled Singapore crypto firm Vauld
Earlier this week, Singapore-based Vauld said it was suspending withdrawals, trades, and deposits due to financial difficulties; It plans to buy up to 100% of Vauld and aims to accelerate its deeper presence in Asia.

Cybersecurity startup watchTowr bags US$8M pre-series A.
Lead investors are Prosus Ventures and Vulcan Capital; watchTowr will use the new funds to improve its platform and seize growth opportunities arising from markets outside of Southeast Asia.

Indonesian logistics SaaS firm McEasy raises US$6.5M
The round was led by East Ventures; McEasy’s products include real-time vehicle tracking software, a transportation management system, and a fleet management app.

Indonesia’s Kitabisa to receive US$5M from IFC
The online crowdfunding platform plans to expand its business to include Shariah insurance offerings at affordable costs; The insurance product will target the middle to lower-income segments.

Metaverse launchpad Enjinstarter raises US$5M from True Global Ventures
Singapore-based Enjinstarter launched in October 2021 as a blockchain gaming, metaverse, and entertainment-focused launchpad for initial DEX offerings and initial NFT offerings.

Crypto broker Voyager files for bankruptcy after 3AC hit
Based in the US, Voyager estimated that it had over 100K creditors; It also said both its assets and liabilities were in the range of US$1B to US$10B; Voyager is “actively” pursuing all available remedies to recover the funds from 3AC.

Kini raises US$4.3M in seed funding round led by East Ventures
Other backers are Ten13, OurCrowd, K50 Ventures, and Goodwater Capital; Kini is an early wage access platform; Kini plans to use the new funding to build a new range of HR tech products and expand partnerships.

Why Gobi Partners believes it is the right time to invest in Pakistan
The cryptocurrency, social commerce and agritech spaces offer tremendous opportunities in Pakistan, says its VP Taraec Hussein; Malaysia-based Gobi Partners is one of the most active VCs in Pakistan.

Ruangguru acquires edutech startups Schoters, Kalananti
Schoters claimed to have helped thousands of Indonesian students to study in 400 universities in 43 countries; Kalanantifocuses on providing coding courses and innovations for children aged 5-12 years old.

Indonesia’s Octopus nets US$5M funding led by Openspace, SOSV
The waste treatment company connects users to local waste collectors that will buy and pick up their post-consumer products; Octopus operates five sorting facilities and 1,700 checkpoints and claims it handles 380 tonnes of waste a month.

Iterative Capital, Eduspaze fund Indonesian language learning platform LingoTalk
LingoTalk will use the money to enhance its LingoJunior product and acquire more primary school clients across Indonesia; LingoTalk has partnered with more than 150 schools in Indonesia.

GGV Capital leads Vietnamese edutech startup Azota’s US$2.4M round
Nextrans and Do Ventures also participated; Azota is an online platform that lets teachers create and grade tests automatically; It also offers real-time exam proctoring and student performance tracking tools.

ScaleUp Malaysia to pour US$1M into 10 startups in 2022 cohort
The program, which starts in the fourth quarter of this year, will include a one-month investor readiness bootcamp, along with access to venture capital networks; The program will also offer two-year support from an external management team.

Edukasyon.ph raises bridge funding to bolster K-12 English, Maths tutoring service
Since the close of Series A in 2019- 2020, Edukasyon.ph claims to have tripled revenues and achieved profitability for its B2B division; It said it is close to reaching its first million registered users and has built a community of 8M students.

ORZON Ventures joins Thai startup Hungry Hub’s Series A round
Hungry Hub is a restaurant and hotel reservation platform for special occasions which also provides fixed-price offers and gourmet delivery services; The firm claims to have served 2M+ diners and generated over US$30M GMV.

Indonesian insurtech firm Rey secures US$4.2M funding
Investors are Trans-Pacific Technology Fund, Genesia Ventures, and RDS; Rey offers health, life, and critical illness insurance to individuals and groups; It also allows users to personalise services with the level of cover appropriate to their needs.

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The post Ecosystem Roundup: Kejora founder sets up new VC fund; SG mulls tighter crypto rules; Voyager files for bankruptcy after 3AC hit appeared first on e27.

70 million is the number of micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that operate in Southeast Asia today. These businesses play a crucial role in contributing to Southeast Asia’s economic growth by also employing over 140 million people in the region.

In Singapore, SMBs account for approximately 70 per cent of employment and contribute to nearly half of the country’s overall GDP.

Yet, many of them struggled with substantial losses in sales and revenue due to the economic conditions that have taken place over the past few years. They were challenged in keeping up with engaging the consumer, including facing lower customer volumes at physical stores to forced closures due to high rent and low revenues.

However, not all has been lost. The region has become increasingly dynamic over the last three years. With more than half of Southeast Asia’s population under the age of 30, the rapid adoption of technology and people going online has not only contributed to a rising middle class but also the evolution of a mobile-first consumer, something SMBs can consider as they re-evaluate how they engage with customers for recovery and growth.

Engaging and entertaining the consumer through online platforms

Recent technological advances have reshaped the way consumers make choices. Technology is no longer viewed for business continuity, innovation of processes, or remote work; it also allows businesses to connect with consumers throughout the decision-making process.

SMBs looking to re-engage with audiences can consider utilising their existing tech resources to redesign how they conduct outreach on their products.

One way to kickstart this process is to explore marketing and advertising beyond the confines of magazines and billboards using social and content platforms. SMBs can take a page out of shoppable live stream experiences.

This format has taken the stage across the marketing world globally, allowing brands to interact with consumers from anywhere in real-time.

Also Read: 5 video marketing trends that marketers can leverage in 2022

It has also inspired new initiatives, including collaborations with popular creators, live runway shows – straight out of fashion week, luxury brands like Off-White, and even global virtual tours of museums.

SMBs can also look at using technology to creatively engage with consumers through a combination of shopping and entertainment. This is what we at TikTok like to call Shoppertainment, a marketing strategy that is redefining the consumer path to purchase.

Brands such as Sleepee have successfully engaged consumers with story-led ads that parody period dramas to highlight the benefits of their mattresses.

Sleepee’s entertainment-first strategy successfully grabbed the attention of local consumers, even amidst the hectic lead-up to the 11.11 Mega Sales Season, with their videos garnering over 2.6 million video views, fuelling record-high sales.

These instances are just some of many that highlight technology’s growing impact on engaging with the consumer and consumers’ optimism and enthusiasm for marketing innovation by businesses they resonate with.

Authenticity is key to bridging the gap between a business and consumer

Another consideration that SMBs need to pay attention to is building credibility with their customers. Over 72 per cent of consumers globally believe that reviews and testimonials submitted by previous customers are more credible than the brand sharing about their products in their content.

In other words, beyond getting online, SMBs need to humanise their brand experience with personable social content, such as sneak previews of manufactured products, experiences, and testimonials submitted by customers and creators about the brand or product or employee behind-the-scenes footage to boost consumer intimacy.

Many of us may have experienced this with brands or seen this take shape via witty responses to comments, regular re-posts of fun user-generated content (UGCs), and honest conversations with followers during live streams.

In fact, TikTok has increasingly become the go-to place for brands to engage with consumers authentically, and we have seen that 43 per cent of users try something or go somewhere new after seeing it on the platform.

Local Jagua body art class provider Henndrawn has forged genuine connections with their followers by kickstarting honest conversations about and shedding light on topics like self-love in their videos.

Beyond these, Henndrawn continues to create videos that respond to their followers’ comments and requests for tutorials, in addition to behind-the-scenes TikToks of the team preparing for workshops and online courses.

This only shows that taking a more open, authentic and playful approach to producing content on products and services via social media or online content platforms will succeed for SMBs in engaging the consumer today.

Tapping into the power of entertainment commerce

A good place to start creating these joyful, entertaining, and authentic experiences would be to keep the latest consumer trends in view.

Also Read: How small businesses can boost brand visibility via videos and messaging

In fact, a recent study by Flamingo highlighted how 61 per cent of TikTok users liked brands better when they participated in trends such as hashtags, trending challenges, and songs.

By reviewing the latest trends, businesses could identify opportunities to insert themselves into ongoing discussions to open up avenues for themselves to engage with new audiences while allowing them to discover their products.

Sustainable fashion brand Vintagewknd, showcases its latest offerings with videos inspired by popular films and iconic characters and accompanying their “fit checks” with trending sound bites on TikTok.

Beyond trends, brands can also jump on board some of the fastest-growing segments on TikTok, including gaming (+193 per cent YoY), travel (+545 per cent YoY), and education (+148 per cent YoY) through collaborations with other local stores or themed videos.

Furthermore, hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt have also since been viewed 12.8 billion times worldwide as of May 2022. Businesses can leverage these opportunities to creatively reach out to the online shopping community whilst spurring consumers to discover their brand, engage and purchase, and eventually create organic product reviews about their recent purchases.

It is remarkable to see how technology has equalised businesses’ marketing and advertising opportunity to date. With all the diverse and creative formats, any brand can involve, connect, and engage the massive audience base currently available in today’s digital ecosystem.

One just needs to be aware of and empowered to leverage said formats to fuel the growth they can be proud of. In other words, the possibilities for more are endless, and there’s simply no business too small to dream bigger, better, and bolder.

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The post Big wins for small businesses: Supercharging growth with online content appeared first on e27.