As insurtech companies grow in influence, they are revolutionising and reinvigorating the legacy insurance industry.

With the use of advanced technologies such as blockchain, AI, chatbots, big data and other digital tools, insurtech is systematically making insurance more accessible to more people than ever before.

These innovative companies are streamlining many traditional insurance functions and creating new product offerings that appeal to younger, digitally savvy underbanked consumers and micro-business owners.

One example of insurtech streamlining services is their use of robo-call channels to stay connected with customers and sign them up for new insurance policies, leading to an impressive conversion ratio of more than one per cent.

From my experience of working with them in Southeast Asia, it is clear that insurance products will continue to be offered not only in offline retail stores but also through a customer’s journey on mobile apps and websites.

This focus on hyper-personalisation, which offers contextual micro-insurance products with low coverage periods and low premiums, is key to the sector’s future success.

Also Read: How insurtech is changing the game in Southeast Asia

In 2020, insurtech in Southeast Asia registered growth of more than three times in gross-written premiums in 2020 compared with 2019. I expect to see in the near future more investment in the InsurTech sector, such as the recent investment in bolttech.

There will also be a surge in the creation of joint ventures and long-term strategic partnerships between insurance companies and digital platforms, such as the tie-up between Tiki and AIA in Vietnam, while there will be an accelerated expansion of US and China-based insurance companies in the region in 2022 and beyond.

The business models of insurtech will evolve based on the insurance coverage and the regulatory framework in different countries.

Broadly, these will include aggregator platforms that connect the insured with insurance companies, as well as the introduction of broker licences that leverage offline and online distribution channels and a model of underwriting based on digital substrates and the rewriting of insurance policies.

Who does what in the new insurance model?

It will be incumbent in the months ahead for insurtech and legacy insurers to sort out their roles and responsibilities to better serve the industry as a whole. Insurtech companies, for instance, are partnering with other digital companies such as lending and payment platforms.

The latter are transaction driven with a high level of customer engagement and large customer networks.

The partnerships help leverage strong distribution and marketing channels with innovative, bite-sized insurance products. The focus on innovation in distribution models will be key in low insurance coverage countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

As they evolve, these platforms will leverage behavioural and transactional data to create more personalized forms of insurance.

For their part, the legacy insurers are more skilled in underwriting risks, have more experience with the regulations and possess strong balance sheets, which enable them to better address unpredictable events and disasters.

At the same time, they will push for risk-based pricing for micro-insurance and auto insurance products as the losses will be calculated for each identified customer segment level.

What’s ahead for the insurance industry

The partnerships will not be without challenges. Insurtechs should focus on launching specific products for different customer segments as the approach of legacy insurers of one product fit-for-all segments is not sustainable.

Margins in countries such as India and Indonesia will be low, but protection and health products will still have margins as high as 50 per cent.

Also Read: ‘SEA is lagging behind in the growth of insurtech, financial advisory, embedded finance’: Ganesh Rengaswamy of Quona Capital

Indeed, throughout the Asia-Pacific, roughly 90 per cent of consumers who own auto, home, health and life insurance policies “are open to the idea of an ecosystem of services”, according to a 2019 report titled Making the Most of Asia’s Insurance Boom by global management consultant Bain & Company.

Both insurtechs and legacy companies alike must be mindful of the existing regulatory framework and, in particular, raise a flag over data protection considerations.

To deal with such concerns, a number of jurisdictions have set up so-called regulatory sandboxes. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, for instance, defines its sandbox as a place that “enables financial institutions and fintech players to experiment with innovative financial products or services in a live environment but within a well-defined space and duration”.

The State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s financial regulator, also plans to open a regulatory sandbox for fintechs in 2021.

The regulatory framework in India and Southeast Asia will eventually recognise the convergence of business models of different categories of players in the insurance industry.

For instance, online aggregators offering insurance products from other insurance companies will likely get a broker license and open offline retail stores to provide experience centers for customers to help resolve their queries or service requests.

To participate in the growth of the insurance sector beyond tier 1 cities in Asia, insurtech and insurance companies will need to contribute to the development of an ecosystem to provide diverse product suites that are relevant for underbanked and unbanked consumers and micro-businesses.

They will also have to innovate in the distribution of their insurance products.

The existing broker community of legacy insurers may transition as influencers that could see customers approach them for micro-insurance products. However, they will continue to sell complex insurance products in the near future.

While engagement with customers will increasingly be through digital channels, the acquisition of high-value customers is likely to continue as face-to-face interactions for the next five years.

Despite the expected growing pains and regulatory hurdles to overcome, the convergence of insurtech companies and legacy insurance firms means that millions of previously excluded people will finally have access to simpler, more personalised and affordable coverage options.

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Clevai, a Vietnamese after-school tutoring platform for K-12 students, has secured US$2.1 million in a pre-Series A financing round led by Singapore-based Altara Ventures.

Existing backers including Vietnam and SEA-focused VC FEBE Ventures and New York-based marketplace investment firm FJ Labs also joined, according to DealStreetAsia.

The fresh funding will be utilised to strengthen Clevai’s live-streaming infrastructure and improve AI-driven personalised learning capabilities. The startup will also press ahead IP with the goal of serving 20,000+ students. It claims to receive supports of advisors from Harvard, Oxford, and Google for this target. 

e27 has reached out to the company to find out more details about the funding round and their plan.

Founded in 2020 by CEO Tran Manh Thang and two other co-founders, Clevai is an AI-enabled, after-school tutoring platform for students from kindergarten (K) and the 1st through the 12th grade (K-12). 

The edutech startup’s flagship product, Clevai Math, provides live-streaming classes in mathematics with teachers from the country’s “top-tier schools”. It also offers assistance from AI to help students do additional and practical exercises.

Also Read: Edutech is surging, but here are the 3 issues it is facing

According to the company’s website, its adaptive learning approach will analyse the learning history of each student and deliver custom learning experiences through timely feedback, resources, and pathways to ensure the best individual progress.

As per a Bain & Company analysis, Vietnamese parents view education as the primary means towards a successful career. The average Vietnamese family spends approximately ~20 per cent of disposable income on education, compared to 6 – 15 per cent in other Southeast Asian peers.

As the pandemic forces students to stay at home and schools to massively adopt online learning, a slew of Vietnamese edutech startups have raised capital in 2021. They include educational services provider Equest (US$100 million investment from KKR), AI-powered language app Elsa (US$15 million Series B led by Vietnam Investments Group), Educa Corporation (US$2 million Series A from Alibaba-backed eWTP), Marathon Education (US$1.5 million in seed funding), and most recently CoderSchool (US$2.6 million pre-Series A led by Monk’s Hill Ventures).

By the end of 2023, the Vietnamese e-learning market is expected to be worth over US$3 billion, according to Ken Research, with the increase in the number of foreign players entering the market.

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The founder of a company not only needs to study the market well, come up with an excellent business idea and understand how to generate income with its help but also find money to launch a project. There are various options for raising funds, each of which is associated with certain consequences.

In the late 2000s, a new alternative for people looking to start a business became available: crowdfunding. Since then it is still gaining momentum. For instance, in May 2021, the Tencent-backed Chinese startup Waterdrop, known as the leading GoFundMe-style crowdfunding platform for medical bills, raised US$360 million through its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

Crowdfunding is a method of raising funds when large groups of individuals combine tiny individual investments to generate the cash required to get a business or project off the ground.

Individuals, non-profits, or startups can launch campaigns for specific causes, to which anybody can donate.

How does an entrepreneur procure funds for a startup? 

Funding a startup

Obtaining funding for your startup is difficult, especially if you have no product or service to sell. People will not believe your concept.

The bad news is that you won’t get funds for your business from anyone who doesn’t believe in your concept. There are a few typical sources of seed funding that can help you kick-start your business.

• Personal investment 

Self-financing, also known as self-funding, is the initial stop on their entrepreneurial path for many businesses, not only startups. There are no debts or sponsors involved, only you and your commitment, which gives you complete control over the company and is an excellent alternative if your startup is at the concept or pre-seed stage. 

• Friends and family

You can also start your search with the so-called three F’s: Friends, Family, and “Fools.” These folks have the most faith in you with the least amount of proof, so If you choose this pathway, try to be upfront about the dangers and never ask for more than somebody can afford to lose.

• Venture and angel capitalist 

They are often high-net-worth investors who want to support startups with both money and skills. They frequently like taking on the role of advisor and being hands-on with the growth of their portfolio company. 

• Grants for small businesses

Small business grants, which are often considered the closest thing to the “free money” you could ever get for your startup, are a form of startup finance that does not require repayment, unlike debt, and does not require a part of your equity, as opposed to venturing capital.

• Startup incubators  

Most business incubators offer coaching, office space and even assist startups in meeting with angel investors. Generally, they merely incubate and mature businesses for them to apply to accelerator programs.

• Crowdfunding 

Crowdfunding is one of the most secure methods of raising cash because no one is going to ask you to return it. They just want the goods or services that you committed to providing.

Check out Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Patreon, and you’ll find that these are some crowdfunding sites that allow the audience to get items to help support a company.

Also Read: In brief: SEEK invests US$48M in JobKorea, ZILHive Accelerator unveils new cohort, Rodeo raises crowdfunding

Crowdfunding for startups

Most fledgling companies struggle to obtain funding. Venture capitalists reject many early-stage firms for several reasons and borrowing money from banks or wealthy family members is not a good strategy.

Crowdfunding changes the game by reducing dependence on conventional and sometimes exclusive means of financing.

If you need funds to get your project off the ground and personal finances or friends and family aren’t an option, crowdfunding could be the way to go.

This type of financing has grown in popularity over the last decade, so much that the transaction value is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of 2.62 per cent resulting in a projected total amount of US$1.2 billion by 2025, notwithstanding that sites, such as Kickstarter and GoFundMe are pre-financing of products, art, music, and films, software, or scientific research, are based on tiny contributions.

Trending right now (September 2021) tabletop roleplaying game set Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game pledged a US$50,000 goal raising more than US$9 million.

After you’ve launched your campaign and proposed your idea, anybody who believes in it can give, lend money, or purchase equity shares, depending on the sort of crowdfunding you choose to employ. The goal here is to have an engaging origin narrative that will entice contributors or investors. 

Crowdfunding for startups works by collecting donations in exchange for a particular incentive, it can be in the form of free items, special discounts, early access to new products, premium merchandise, the opportunity to join the team, or even becoming a big capital investment.

It may be accomplished through several channels, most notably social networking sites or crowdfunding platforms.

Although many companies and campaigns have found success by using this financing technique, bear in mind that selecting the correct form of crowdfunding is critical to achieving your goals. 

Common crowdfunding mistakes

Crowdfunding can be an excellent way to generate funds for your new startup, but there are some common mistakes that startups should avoid. The most common error a company makes when entering the world of crowdfunding is to believe that it is all about money. That, however, is not the case.

Eugene Zhukov, the founder of Joon July, the company that helps startups to prepare for crowdfunding, observes that one thing that people should understand about Kickstarter is that it’s a great place to find all sorts of things, sometimes useless, but very cool and unusual nevertheless.

The project made “just for fun” has the best chances of success. A common mistake happens when companies come to do something serious.

They invest a lot of money and time to fine-tune the product quality, in the hopes that it will bring in millions for their must-have gadget.

Also Read: How your face can determine the funds you raise (while crowdfunding)

The main challenges, especially for tech founders, are marketing and sales. If you don’t know how to get media coverage– no one will know you or what’s more, give you any money. Last year, already there were around 1,000 campaigns launching each day.

All media outlets are overwhelmed with press releases. Some journalists at TechCrunch and Engadget typically receive anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 press releases every day.

So if you planned to spam them, there is some bad news. Even with the very best of press releases and PR agencies, no materials are not being read. 

Crowdfunding has become a big industry, and marketing expenses have exploded. Still, the press remains the driving force for such campaigns. Zhukov gives an example that when his company had worked with Looksery (was acquired by Snapchat for US$150 million), their Kickstarter was solely a press and marketing story, and it had not received any substantial investments before that.

Another key to success is a crowdfunding campaign pitch. On the online platform, it’s the only page that tells supporters about your campaign.

You’ll never accomplish your goal if you don’t pay attention to creating that proposal one-of-a-kind. The entire presentation is essential, from developing a suitable storyline to creating a decent video and pledge chart. 

“There are so many parts of a journey of a creative project that often people don’t focus on”, says Kickstarter CEO Aziz Hasan. “It’s hard to make businesses that really try to create that type of value for fuzzy ideas rather than very clear projects that are ready to be sold”.

Don’t underestimate the influence of social media marketing in today’s crowdfunding campaigns. It’s more than simply a platform to collect leads.

It’s a location where you can boost your credibility. For instance, merely creating a Facebook page with frequent activity will not help your campaign.

Instead, if you try to spend money on Facebook advertising to get more people to sign up for your campaign launch, you will be able to build a list of prospective backers.

“A crowdfunding campaign can be just another opportunity for founders to make their startup more recognizable, demonstrate their product, test their skills and services before the actual market entry”, suppose Tressa Whitman, a marketing director of digital agency Reverence Global.

Many companies neglect pre-marketing campaigns, which are crucial since they perform the best for outreach. You can raise awareness faster before you launch if you use the appropriate services.

As a result, on launch day, you will be able to immediately capture the attention of potential supporters who were previously intrigued by your campaign. 

Also Read: In brief: Vynn Capital invests in Velotrade; Babydash raises US$300K crowdfunding

Using the crowdfunding strategy, several credible businesses have found success. Here’s what you can get from Kickstarter, in order of probability and value:

• Declare your product to the market
• Acquire feedback from the audience
• Build a community
• Get money

Many people, unfortunately, are looking for things in the opposite order, points out Zhukov. Investors in Silicon Valley, also,  often suggest trying a crowdfunding campaign to fully understand whether anybody actually wants the product.

Getting feedback is much cheaper this way than pouring millions in production and marketing. So you need to decide for yourself: Is it all for the money, or the glory?

Crowdfunding initiatives are also distinct in their potential to pique the curiosity of new users and increase engagement.

Because it is necessary to engage the audience to be successful, campaigns give an excellent platform for raising awareness for a company, brand, item, or service.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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Upstage raises US$27M in Series A funding round

The company: Seoul-based artificial intelligence startup Upstage announced that it has raised US$27 million in Series A funding round led by SoftBank Ventures Asia and Company K Partners. The funding round also included the participation of other investors such as TBT Partners, Premier Partners, Stonebridge Ventures, and Primer Sazze Fund.

The plan: The startup plans to use the funds to recruit “a large number” of AI specialists and developers to accelerate the development of its ‘AI Pack’.

The company: Headquartered in Seoul, Upstage enables companies to easily adopt AI solutions that standardise and automate their key tasks. The is developing the ‘AI Pack’, an integrated AI solution.

Mobile Premier League raises new funding, values at US$2.3B

The story: Mobile Premier League (MPL), Bangalore-headquartered e-sports and skill gaming platform, announced that it has raised a Series E round of financing led by Legatum Capital at a pre-money valuation of US$2.3 billion. Existing investors including Sequoia, SIG, RTP Global, Go-Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Play Ventures, Base Partners, Telstra Ventures, and Founders Circle Capital also participated in the round.

The plan: MPL will use the funding to support its global expansion plan, invest in its homegrown technology, and drive continued growth in the Indian market.

The company: Headquartered in Bengaluru, MPL also has offices in Jakarta, Pune, New Delhi, Singapore, and New York. It has over 85 million users across India, Indonesia and the US. It was founded in 2018 by Sai Srinivas and Shubh Malhotra. The gaming platform currently employs over 800 personnel.

Also Read: Crowdfunding for startups: Where to begin and how to go about it

1Export raises US$800K in seed funding round led by Foxmont Capital Partners

The story: 1Export, a tech-enabled exporting company based in the Philippines, has raised a US$800,000 seed funding round led by Foxmont Capital Partners. The funding round also included participation of a consortium from the Manila Angel Investors Network and Kerubin Capital, IdeaSpace Foundation, Singapore based Iterative and other private investors.

The plan: With the new investments, 1Export aims to develop and improve its order handling capabilities, marketing services, financing, and other third-party integrations within its platform.

The company: 1Export was founded in 2016 to help MSMEs in the Philippines grow their business and expand in different countries using digital tools and platforms. In June 2021, the company said it generated around US$500,000 in export sales, accounting for 0.2 per cent of the total Philippine exports. It currently lists 450 supplier partners on its platform and distributes an overall volume of 4,000 tonnes of products, which are a mix of food and non-food products. 1Export plans to expand to 60 countries by the end of 2022.

BuzzAR raises US$630K in funding from Choco Up

The story: Singapore-based deep tech startup BuzzAR announced that it has raised US$630,000 in funding from Choco Up, a revenue-based financing and growth platform.

The plan: This funding round will enable BuzzAR to further develop localised marketing campaigns across APAC, the US and China as the firm ramps up B2B partnerships in response to rising demand.

The company: Founded in 2018, BuzzAR is a technology firm offering AR and AI solutions to Fortune 500 companies in Singapore and China. It is part of the Singapore Tourism Accelerator 2020/2021. BuzzAR’s vision is to augment places and faces, connecting the next billion users by 2025. Through its AR Billboard, BuzzAR has offered gamified wayfinding to its Fortune 500 enterprise clients.

Also Read: 500 Startups is now 500 Global, closes US$140M global flagship fund

Asumsi raises US$700K from East Ventures

The company: Indonesia-based multiplatform media company Asumsi announced a US$700,000 funding round from existing investor East Ventures.

The plan: The investment aims to further expand Asumsi’s media operation and escalate the engineering team to create a more interactive platform. The company is targeting to launch a live-streaming platform by mid-2022.

The company: Asumsi is a multi-platform digital media company that covers current affairs, politics, and social issues and targets the Indonesian youth segment. The company said that it reaches more than 10 millions audience per month through various social media channels.

It also said that its revenue has grown 10 times (year-on-year) since its last funding round in September 2020, which was also led by East Ventures.

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Launching a startup in good times is hard enough. Now, imagine launching one amid a global crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, don’t let the current challenging times deter you from chasing your entrepreneurial dream. History shows us that several iconic corporations and entrepreneurs were born during major economic upheavals.

For example, Hewlett-Packard was founded in 1939, at the tail-end of the Great Depression and just before the Second World War broke out. Proctor & Gamble and General Electric were established during the Panic of 1837, a major financial crisis in the US that triggered a six-year depression in the country.

And there are several more examples that could inspire and motivate entrepreneurs to launch their dream startup— now.

Opportunity for entreprenurs in a time of crisis

Despite the altered landscape we are operating in, optimism reigns in the Indian startup ecosystem. According to a recent report, India produced eleven unicorns in 2020, and the number is expected to touch 100 by 2025.

Startups in the areas of edutech, fintech, insurtech and the payment industry sped up innovations, responding to the changing consumer behaviour triggered by the pandemic.

Further, the unprecedented adoption of AI by large corporations and MSMEs over the last year is likely to be a trend that will continue unabated in the post-COVID-19 world.

Numerous startups have caught onto the AI trend and are exploring the untapped opportunities in this space. AI will remain a critical tool that will fuel innovation and product-market fit to enhance the customer experience.

It was also a stellar year for the cloud-based SaaS industry, which promises to be the next big export from India, bigger than the software and IT services sectors. There is exuberance among investors for SaaS.

Also Read: Alibaba-backed eWTP fund enters Indonesia by joining insurtech startup Fuse’s Series B round

A host of Indian SaaS startups, such as Zoho, Druva, Icertis, Postman and Freshworks, among others, capitalised on the growth of the SaaS industry and focused on how to become a competitive differentiator in the long run.

In other words, the pandemic has thrown open the floodgates to a plethora of opportunities for startups. Based on my observations, the best time to launch a startup is during opportunities like the current one, when multiple sectors are struggling to stay afloat.

Now is the opportune moment for new businesses to be established, offering customers better products at more competitive rates. As per recent reports, the gloom and doom of the pandemic have resulted in a surge in entrepreneurship across the globe.

For instance, in the US alone, business startups shot up from 3.5 million in 2019 to 4.4 million in 2020, witnessing a 24 per cent jump. However, a word of caution here.

While entrepreneurs need to seize new opportunities, they should act swiftly. These opportunities may not stay open for very long. Soon, the lucrative business prospects may dwindle.

The new reality of the funding ecosystem

The path to fueling a startup’s inorganic growth is through a robust funding mechanism. I urge startups to find the key pockets of opportunities; quickly test their product and get it to market; find the early customers and iteratively arrive at the right product-market fit. This is the mantra they should follow before turning their attention to raising funds.

It is pertinent to mention here that startup ecosystems have evolved to the point where they are no longer just incubators and accelerators. They are also a funding ecosystem that attracts multiple avenues of funding—venture capital, angel investments and crowdfunding.

One of the key trends that dominate today’s funding ecosystem is agility.  VCs are more amenable to coming in early as they are scouting for diamonds in the rough. For example, Sequoia Capital offers an early-stage rapid scale-up program for startups in India and Southeast Asia called ‘Surge’ that seeks disruptive new ideas to create new categories and industries.

Venture Capital advisory firm Chiratae Ventures has launched a seed fund initiative called Chiratae Sonic that guarantees a 48-hour turnaround time on pitches for investment. Shortlisted early-stage founders will get investments less than or equal to US$500,000.

Also Read: Coping with consumer behaviour during the COVID-19 crisis

Likewise, the Telangana government is in the process of creating a ‘T-Fund,’ with the assurance of making the funding mechanism simpler for early-stage startups.

Another unique phenomenon witnessed in the current funding ecosystem is the strong VC interest in funding high-potential startups at the bottom of the pyramid. The rising number of entrepreneurs mushrooming in Tier-2 cities and beyond has diverted VC funding from larger metros to smaller towns.

In my view, this is a healthy trend that demonstrates India’s focus on nurturing a robust local entrepreneurial ecosystem that is a thriving subset of the larger ecosystem.

Undoubtedly, it is a great time to leverage the maturation of the funding ecosystem across India and build big enterprises for the global market. The US$10.14 billion funding that Indian startups attracted in 2020, despite the pandemic, is a testament to the faith foreign investors have in our entrepreneurs’ capabilities.

However, one of the drawbacks of the shifting funding landscape is the sharp divide that exists between the blue-eyed startups that raise millions of dollars of funding and those whose coffers have almost dried up.

Amid the pandemic, risk-averse VCs preferred betting on those startups in their portfolio that held the promise of coming out stronger on the other side.

The true heft of a startup ecosystem is not measured only by the number of unicorns that exist or the mammoth funding that top-of-the-line startups receive.

The more critical parameters would be the number of startups that are founded every year and the distinction between metro and non-metro business entities.

This approach will pave the way for a more egalitarian funding ecosystem that will aid in finding local solutions to longstanding societal problems.

Engage in the process of discovery

The keywords in a period of crisis are ‘opportunity’ and ‘agility’. Clearly, the established corporates lack the agility to move forward quickly and take advantage of the new opportunities that have emerged amid the pandemic.

Several opportunities left unaddressed by large corporates are seized by nimble entrepreneurs that move fast in challenging times.

I believe an innovation ecosystem can realise its true potential only if large corporates collaborate with startups to leverage the advantages offered by emerging opportunities.

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It is a well-known fact that owning a car in Singapore can be costly for the average customer. Luckily, there are startups in the market that aim to make it more accessible. Car-sharing platform Tribecar is one.

Tribecar was started as a platform to help private-hire vehicle (PHV) drivers obtain cars for their trade. “Later on, the general public began to discover the convenience and affordability of Tribecar’s service through word of mouth. The competitive pricing of renting at S$2 an hour combined with the accessibility of the vehicles made Tribecar’s service very attractive to the general public,” says CEO and co-founder Adrian Lee, in an email interview with e27.

But then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, forcing customers to change their behaviour, eventually opening up new opportunities for the company.

“This is when we noticed more people are shifting to private cars for their daily commute, either to run errands or to send their children to school. Private cars have become a safe travel bubble for people who are concerned about their health and safety due to COVID-19 and as such,” Lee says.

To respond to the demand, especially in September, Tribecar introduced a subscription service that allows customers to rent a vehicle for only S$88 a month –instead of the usual price of S$128. It also introduces an initiative where new drivers (e.g. P-Plate drivers) can sign up for this subscription service without paying for an additional New Drivers’ Surcharge during the included free hours.

This subscription model will complement the existing ad-hoc car-sharing model.

How does this subscription model help the business forward, especially in a challenging time like this? How does Tribecar differentiate itself from other services using this model? What is next for the company?

Also Read: How Malaysia’s first unicorn Carsome practiced compassion to grow in the face of adversity

Find the answer in this interview with Lee.

Sustainability for both the business and customers

Before explaining the subscription model and its role in growing the business, Lee talks about the two types of Tribecar users — commercial drivers and the so-called “leisure drivers.”

“The commercial drivers are PHV drivers and courier and food delivery drivers who use our vans, lorries and motorcycles for their jobs. Leisure drivers include new drivers who have yet to purchase their first car, as well as young families that are looking for a vehicle to run errands or ferry the kids to school,” he elaborates further.

The subscription model is meant to make it easier for these two groups of users to get the right kind of service for their needs.

“Tribecar believes in striking a balance, which is why we have launched a new subscription service to complement our usual ad-hoc car-sharing services. We believe that meeting our customers’ demands requires flexibility, and we want to give our customers the best of both worlds,” Lee explains it from the users’ point of view.

“Additionally, our new subscription service also provides a more predictable cash flow as opposed to ad-hoc usage, since members who sign up with us have their subscription renewed monthly for their convenience,” he shares.

In addition to making car ownership more accessible for the Average Joes and Janes, in the long run, Tribecar also hopes to create a more sustainable future.

“When we started Tribecar, we did it intending to make driving affordable, which is why we feel budget shouldn’t be a roadblock to being able to have the convenience and flexibility of ‘owning’ a car. With this increased convenience, we believe that we will be able to convince our customers to let go of their privately-owned cars and work towards a green, sustainable future,” Lee says.

Nowadays, with the acceptance of ride-hailing services that Uber has popularised, one might think of companies such as Grab and Gojek when they are thinking of the modern way to commute. As a car-sharing platform, Tribecar doesn’t see ride-hailing services as competition. In fact, some private hire drivers even use Tribecar cars.

“Additionally, our members are also using our service to run errands and are often making multiple stops. Unlike taxi or ride-hailing services that charge more for multiple stops or are typically used to get from point A to point B, our platform allows users to have the freedom and flexibility to plan their time and destinations without having to pay more. Typically, for an errand run with four to five locations. At around S$10 per taxi trip, the trip would cost around S$50 in total,” Lee stresses.

Also Read: Adatos nets Series A for its AI-driven remote sensing solution for agri, carbon markets

“But, with our hourly rental, they may pay as little as S$6 for three hours of use for the same errand run.”

The next destination

Based in Singapore, Tribecar is run by a team of more than 50 members. Before founding the company, Lee and co-founder Paul Tan have worked together to build Drive.SG in 2011. Remaining consistent in the transportation sector, the co-founders then started Tribecar to use the concept of car-sharing rental on an hourly basis to cater to the rise of ride-hailing in Singapore.

Nowadays, Tribecar even has a partnership with Drive.SG, aiming to support environmental sustainability by including Tesla cars in its long-term car leasing initiative. According to a statement, although Tesla cars are not part of Tribecar’s fleet, Tribecar members will be able to lease them at an affordable price and experience “owning” a car with zero down payment.

Tribecar is currently a self-funded company. However, Lee states that it is open to the possibility of raising external funding.

As for its goals for the future, the company aims to put customer satisfaction first by continuously looking for ways to add value for customers.

“As such, Tribecar is constantly looking at how we can make commuting safer, more affordable, and more convenient for our customers. We will continue to invest in new technologies and will be expanding our team to provide better services to our customers,” he says.

“To do so, we are expanding locations beyond the recently added customer-requested locations at petrol stations, shopping centres, and HDBs. It will bring greater value as we did by introducing the subscription plan and providing long-term leases at wallet-friendly rates,” the CEO continues.

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Image Credit: Tribecar

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Global investing firm Capria Ventures has invested an undisclosed amount in Indonesian VC firm AC Ventures.

As per a press release, the partnership aligns with Capria’s plans to invest and impact in Southeast Asia, India, Latin America and Africa.

Capria will look to co-invest directly in the portfolio companies, alongside AC Ventures, in breakthrough solutions with global potential.

AC Ventures is Capria’s fifth fund manager of Capria in Asia, which has 14 partnerships globally.

“AC Ventures and Capria share a similar approach as hands-on, value-adding investors bringing hi-octane capital that supports founders with collective experience, network and resources,” said Dave Richards, co-founder and managing partner of Capria. 

“Capria’s global experience in startups from the 14 partnerships bring an edge to identifying and understanding emerging market ventures. AC Ventures’ proven leadership in sourcing local startups at an early stage along with their track record of supporting founders reinforced our investment decision,” he added. 

Formed in 2019 as a merger between Convergence Ventures and Agaeti Capital Ventures, AC Ventures has a total asset under management of US$300 million. 

The VC firm is currently raising a new fund of about US$120 million, which is expected to be closed this year. It aims to invest between US$1 million and US$10 million in early-stage companies in Indonesia and Southeast Asia across sectors such as e-commerce, logistics, fintech, MSMEs, and digital media-enabled businesses.

Since its first close at US$80 million in 2020, AC Ventures Fund III claims to have achieved over 2.5x gross return on invested capital in unrealised gains and witnessed over 25 follow-on funding rounds into its portfolio startups. 

Capria is a global VC firm with expertise investing in fintech, edutech, jobtech, logistics/mobility, agtech/food, and healthcare in the Global South. It invests in regional soonicorns and also backs local and regional fund managers with capital and strategic support. 

Capria has offices in Seattle, Bangalore, Nairobi, Santiago and Washington D.C.

Indonesia’s internet economy has been growing with an average annual growth rate of 49 per cent since 2015. This growth pace has exceeded all expectations and is on track to cross US$130 billion by 2025. With this acceleration, Indonesia has welcomed six regional unicorns so far, including Gojek and Tokopedia (which have merged into GoTo Group),  Traveloka, OVO, Bukalapak, and J&T Express.

 

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Image credit: AC Ventures

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SCB Abacus, a Thailand-based alternative digital lending platform, today announced that it has raised US$12 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round. Led by Openspace Ventures, this funding round also included the participation of Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and CAI Partners.

In a press statement, the company stated that it will use the funding to accelerate product development and expansion, strengthen its technology infrastructure and underwriting capabilities, and recruit additional talent.

The company also stated that it expects to raise a Series B funding round by the end of 2022 with “a fivefold growth of its current loan portfolio compared to 2021.”

SCB Abacus is a fintech spin-off in the local banking industry which enables the company to combine “the resources of a leading national bank with the expertise and scale-up experience of international venture capitals.”

Also Read: Startup x Innovation Thailand Expo 2021: A virtual world of innovation

The company’s flagship product MoneyThunder is a digital unsecured lending application that serves the underbanked population in Thailand. The platform utilises SCB Abacus’ in-house artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities to underwrite loans and provide a completely automated approval experience for consumers.

It also enables fast registration and application process in just five to 20 minutes.

“The company’s current mission is to create better access to finance through inclusive digital lending platforms. Today, at least 60 per cent of our borrowers were previously denied bank loans. With the use of our in-house machine learning credit models and AI technology, we can assess borrowers using alternative information and provide a fast and seamless loan process. We envision wider usage of our data infrastructures in other non-financial sectors as well,” said Dr Sutapa Amornvivat, founder and CEO of SCB Abacus.

As of August, MoneyThunder said that it has seen close to five million application downloads with loans disbursed surging, increasing by a multiple of 10 in 2021 versus 2020.

Lead investor Openspace Ventures has closed its third Southeast Asian fund at US$200 million in March. It has recently invested in Kumu, a Philippine-based livestreaming platform.

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Image Credit: SCB Abacus

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Ackcio, a deep tech startup developing wireless data acquisition technology for industrial monitoring, announced that it has bagged S$4 million (~US$3 million) in a Series A funding round led by Singapore-based venture capital firm Atlas Ventures.

Other participants are Enterprise Singapore, Wavemaker Partners, Aletra Capital Partners, AccelerAsia Ventures, Seasight Holdings, and angel investors.

According to the press statement, the Singapore-headquartered firm will use the new investment to fast-track its regional expansion, strengthen its research and development operations, and expand into new industry verticals.

This plan includes new hires in sales, engineering and operation around the world, which have grown beyond Asia, the Americas and Europe. Ackcio will also further expand its client and partner network in the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania regions.

“This new round of funding will enable us to expand our offerings and continue supporting our customers to make industrial operations smarter and safer,” said Nimantha Baranasuriya, co-founder and CEO of Ackcio.

Also read: Go smart or go waste? Smart construction in Asia is up for grabs

Founded in 2016 by Baranasuriya and Mobashir Mohammad, Ackcio provides cutting-edge, long-range, mesh-based wireless monitoring solutions to industries such as construction, infrastructure, rail, and mining.

Its technology helps contractors monitor geotechnical projects remotely in real-time and enables companies to increase operational efficiency, reduce costs, improve worker safety, and comply with local regulatory requirements.

Baranasuriya said that as the COVID-19 pandemic boosted the need for worker safety and remote operations, Ackcio rises to the occasion of the industrial digitisation. The firm claims to have expanded its customer base to 22 regions across six continents over the last 12 months, yielding a significant revenue upsurge. 

“Most existing solutions for industrial monitoring are manual, costly, and unreliable,” says Maxim Shkvaruk, investment director at Atlas Ventures. “Accio is one of the very few companies in the world that addresses the issue by providing a real-time, wireless monitoring solution for sensors in harsh environments.“

The startup also targets to expand into other asset-heavy industries, such as oil and gas, energy, and power infrastructure, where data-driven risk management stands at the forefront of smarter and faster operations.

Last year, Ackcio completed its pre-Series A fundraising with co-lead investors Wavemaker Partners and Michael Gryseels.

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Image Credit: Ackcio

 

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Adatos, a provider of Artificial Intelligence-driven remote sensing analysis for agriculture and carbon markets, has announced the closing of its Series A round with undisclosed investment from Malaysia’s Genting Plantations.

As per a statement, the funding will enable Singapore- and Netherlands-based Adatos to foray into the palm oil and other agriculture sectors and strengthen its carbon measuring capabilities.

Founded in 2015 by CEO Jonathan Paul and CTO Drew Perez, Adatos uses AI to analyse complicated open-source satellite data sets to give operational and strategic insights for agriculture and the fast-growing multi-trillion dollar carbon markets. 

Adatos claims its solution results in higher agricultural yields, effective fertiliser use, and better pest and disease surveillance. The use of remote sensing also speeds up and lowers the cost of carbon measurement in natural forests and peat soils.

The startup boasts that it has worked on over 150 use cases and analysed over 400 million hectares of assets for clients in agricultural production, food processing, forestry, and natural resource management.

Also read: Green for good: 9 agritech startups in Southeast Asia fighting deforestation

Adatos plans to keep developing new applications across agriculture, including remote yield estimation and crop macronutrient measurement. It also expands into international carbon asset monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) services, including remotely assessing peat depth and above-ground biomass at scale. 

“Since our investment in 2016, Adatos has demonstrated profitable use cases for advanced AI from agriculture to sustainability,” said Paul Santos, Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners, an early investor in Adatos. 

Genting Plantations, a subsidiary of Genting Berhard, owns extensive land banks and oil mills in Malaysia and Indonesia and is making inroads into manufacturing downstream palm-based products. It focuses on the use of precision agriculture to leverage its operational performance. 

“Our investment in Adatos and the deployment of its cutting-edge AI will place GENP at the forefront of the Agricultural Technology revolution,” said Tan Kong Han, CEO of Genting Plantations.

According to the Asian Development Bank Institute’s paper series in 2019, emission pricing was worth US$50 billion in 2016 with growing global interest in carbon trading programmes. The number of carbon markets has also doubled since 2012.

Singapore is working towards the “30 by 30” goal to build up the agri-food industry’s capability and capacity to produce 30 per cent of nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030. Since then, collaboration to accelerate the growth of AgriTech businesses has gained traction. 

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Image credit: Adatos

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