Unlike most sectors, edutech has been booming over the past year amidst the pandemic, as many brick and mortar education and professional training institutions in the region are scrambling to digitise. The global edutech industry is currently valued at US$ 89.49 billion in 2020 and is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.9 per cent from 2021 to 2028.

This provides ample opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors to capitalise on the growing demand locally and globally and poses a few challenges to the industry.

As industry players continue to innovate to streamline online education, Knovo’s take on three issues that must be addressed to ensure learners can fully benefit from the digitisation of education.

Unfiltered education content and fragmented industry

As of January 2021, about 60 per cent of the global population is reported to have access to the internet via mobile devices, allowing them to access hundreds of edutech platforms and making it difficult for the average student or professional to figure out which education platform is right for them.

Therefore, data aggregation and adaptive learning technologies are important in edutech platforms to help filter education content on the internet.

The high influx of edutech providers has also resulted in the industry becoming more fragmented due to various learning management systems.

The key is to democratise access to quality education tools for students, professionals and educators, thereby driving inclusiveness in e-learning.

To illustrate, Knovo recognises the importance of data aggregation and the impact adaptive learning technologies have on a user’s learning journey.

Its Virtual Interactive Knowledge Exchange (VIKE) platform actively aggregates key players in the edutech industry. Its “one-stop” learning system allows users to tap into a repository of educational content and learning resources to learn synchronously or asynchronously.

As edutech allows ‘flipped learning’ where learners can consume materials offline at their own pace, Knovo addresses the gaps in allowing students to reach out to connect with educators for validated learning and real-time interactions.

Also Read: VUIHOC gets funding from Do Ventures to provide primary school education through animation, gamification

This mode allows a recurring bond between the educators, enterprises, and learners while giving the recognition and exposure for the educators and institutions to connect with new learners globally, outside of their own market or learner base.

This creates an “edu-social” experience between students and educators, giving them flexible learning modes and technology-based features to deliver adaptive digital education content.

Knovo focusses on ‘right’ educator and supply of quality educators

With unfiltered education content comes the challenge of finding the ‘right’ educator. From firsthand experience, the right tutor could change a person’s life as it did for me.

Shadow education is deemed necessary, especially in Asian countries, as most parents believe that an investment in education will pay the best dividends in the years to come.

From a score of F to an A in Mathematics, my experience with an amazing tutor changed my life and was fundamental in earning a good degree and opening up many career options.

With the heightened restrictions and lockdowns implemented worldwide, we recognise that not many have the financial capacity or equal access to quality education. This is where Knovo’s solutions come in.

In collaboration with Singapore Brand Educators and centres, we facilitate access to quality education for underserved communities, making online learning and teaching easier through end-to-end solutions, from class booking, scheduling, virtual learning delivery tools and payment solutions for both learners and educators, all in one.

Our primary goal is to digitally connect qualified educators to learners from all over the world so that those who desire to learn can access quality education without breaking the bank.

Gaps in quality workforce

The reality is that even in this day and age, not many have access to quality education, especially in developing countries. The gaps in the quality of the workforce can directly impact standards of living, business decisions, and the economic growth of countries. These issues derive from lower education standards and have an impact on the way people think and act.

At the K-12 level, where more supervision is needed, the future of education will likely move towards a blended learning model. In tertiary and vocational education, there will be a need for more flexible learning modes to help students acquire the skills they need for jobs or provide them with the opportunity to reskill and upskill at ease.

Hence, as automation and technology transform the labour market, more emphasis will be placed on developing skills that cannot be easily automated, resulting in requirements to be retrained multiple times during their career.

Therefore, I see a rise in AI-powered training suites for enterprises to manage content for such training and drive acceleration in reskilling and upskilling over a longer term.

Also Read: How edutech startups can accelerate active learning

In that vein, the tertiary education spectrum can benefit greatly from blockchain, which provides easy records of students’ educational qualifications or admission details.

This will transform the record-keeping of certificates as well as student credentials in learning institutions and issuing credentials. While many appreciate blockchain as ‘that thing that makes bitcoin work’, there are far more applications for it.

Being secure, decentralised ledgers, blockchains can be applied in many fields, including healthcare and education. I think this is an area that edutech could look at adopting to achieve its full potential.

Our internship programmes for local tertiary and university students allow them to work on real software development projects and understand more about the tech industry and career paths through our extensive database of live instructors and industry experts.

Such courses are targeted towards industry-relevant skills required for jobs and provide lifelong learners with the opportunity to upskill or re-skill through industry-based programmes.

With more initiatives from other edutech providers, we would support a steady pipeline of industry-relevant talent and further establish Singapore as a Global-Asia technology hub.

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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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Portcast, a Singapore-based AI-powered logistics startup, announced today that it has closed a US$3.2 million pre-Series A financing led by Imperial Venture Fund.

Imperial Venture is a US$20-million joint corporate VC vehicle between Newtown Partners and South African logistics company Imperial.

The round also saw participation from Wavemaker Partners, TMV, and Innoport, among others.

Portcast plans to use the new funding to press ahead with international expansion, double the team size and product enhancement, and move from predictive AI to prescriptive AI. The startup also plans to launch new product features such as order-level visibility and scenario planning.

Founded in 2018 by Nidhi Gupta, Portcast offers global freight forwarders and manufacturers an intuitive SaaS platform and APIs to accurately predict air and ocean cargo flows and forecast daily demand.

By leveraging proprietary machine learning algorithms and real-time external market data, Portcast helps its clients achieve real-time visibility, reduce operational costs and improve customer experience, thereby improving supply chain profitability.

The company claims to have predicted the estimated time of arrivals of more than 90 per cent of ships globally and forecasted demand for over 30,000 trade routes (both air and sea) daily.

Also read: Vietnam’s supply chain amid worst COVID-19 outbreak: How tech startups are getting along

According to Gupta, record delays, unprecedented congestion at ports, and constrained capacities have led to high transportation costs of the global supply chain. This translates into the end consumers’ loss and low service reliability.

“We believe that companies with predictive visibility on cargo movements have a significantly higher preparedness to downstream planning and customer service,” said Gupta. “The cloud-based technology has the ability to map out the cascading effects of disruptions such as Typhoon In-fa and the Suez Canal congestion, allowing forwarders and shippers to respond and react more effectively in such scenarios.”

Gupta added that the technology contributes to the reductions in overall port fees by 20 per cent and manual work by 80 per cent for our customers.

“Portcast has proven its technology not just in the long-haul routes, but also in multi-port voyages and emerging economies, which are harder to predict,” said Llew Claasen, managing partner at Newtown Partners. “We believe the technology has global replicability in automating logistics workflows and digitisation.”

Before the latest round, Portcast received US$758,000 seed funding from Wavemaker and SGInnovate.

COVID-19 has enabled the global supply chain to touch its inflexion point, which empowers real-time visibility and forecast capabilities. Gartner reports that 50 per cent of product-centric supply chains will invest in real-time transportation visibility platforms by 2023. 

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Image credit: Portcast

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Rainforest, a Singapore-headquartered e-commerce brand aggregator, has bagged an oversubscribed US$20 million pre-Series A round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.

Other investors that have participated in the round are January Capital, Crossbeam Venture Partners, Amasia, Lo & Behold Group. Existing backers Insignia Ventures and Nordstar also joined. 

According to co-founder and JJ Chai, Rainforest will use the money to double down on its growth strategy to acquire more e-commerce brands in Asia Pacific, including China, Southeast Asia and Australia. 

Also Read: Former Carousell, OVO execs launch e-commerce brand aggregator Rainforest with US$36M seed funding

A portion of the capital will be used to hire new employees in the acquisition, branding and marketing, product development, supply chain, operations, and strategy.

Rainforest was launched in January 2021. In May, it secured US$36 million in seed funding, led by Nordstar, with participation from Insignia. The round also included a US$30 million debt facility from an undisclosed US-based debt fund.

The company acquires consumer e-commerce brands, providing entrepreneurs with a healthy exit. It also invests in the acquired brands to grow them globally. It leverages its proprietary technology to improve inventory management, cost optimisations, and expansions to new marketplaces and channels for these brands — mainly in home goods, mother & kids, personal care, and pet categories. 

Rainforest has used the previous financing to buy out six e-commerce brands on Amazon marketplaces. Its claims its portfolio has seen over 50 per cent improvement in annual growth rates post-acquisition. Recently, it acquired a China-based brand for US$3.6 million as part of its latest initiative to expand into the Chinese market. 

The company now aims to triple its portfolio by the end-2021 and expand across the European and American markets.

“As one of the largest Amazon sellers in Southeast Asia, Rainforest is tapping into the rise of marketplace sellers off the back of a large, fast-growing e-commerce market,” stated Peng T. Ong, co-founder and managing partner at Monk’s Hill. “JJ and his team have demonstrated thoughtfulness while being formidable operators in acquiring and significantly growing e-commerce brands.”

Additionally, Rainforest recently hired two VPs — Yev Ivanko and Christine Ng. Each brings with them over 15 years of experience in international expansion and business development.

Also read: E-commerce for the future: How open banking enables greater security and trust

According to Marketplace Pulse, third-party sellers on the Amazon marketplace sold US$300 billion worth of goods in 2020, adding a staggering US$100 billion net growth since 2019. Of which, 30 per cent are based in Asia, Chai told TechCrunch.

A recent Asian Development Bank report says B2C platforms revenues reached US$3.8 trillion in 2019, with US$1.8 trillion of it in Asia. E-commerce accounted for over half of these revenues (more than US$1.9 trillion globally), of which $1.1 trillion was generated in Asia.

In May this year, Una Brands, another Singapore-based e-commerce brand aggregator, announced a US$40 million seed round of equity and debt financing. Una was co-founded by Kiren Tanna, the former CEO of Rocket Internet Asia and founder of foodpanda and ZEN Rooms.

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Image credit: Rainforest

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Pasarnow, an Indonesia-based multi-channel e-groceries platform, has secured a US$3.3 million seed funding, led by East Ventures.

SMDV, Skystar Capital, Amand Ventures, Prasetia Dwidharma, and other angel investors also participated.

This funding will be used to expand Pasarnow’s regional coverage and strengthen its capability in the groceries supply chain and last-mile solutions.

Pasarnow seeks to expand into new cities, hire key talents, enhance its data and technological infrastructures, and develop micro warehouses called frontline mini hubs. As a complement to the current ten hubs across Greater Jakarta, the hubs are designed to enable instant delivery and provide the best last-mile fresh produce solutions to customers. They are located in densely populated areas and equipped with proper fresh and frozen products infrastructure.

“Currently, Pasarnow operates in Greater Jakarta and Bandung, with over 100 full-time employees and 200 daily workers and driver-partners,” said Donald Wono, CTO and co-founder of Pasarnow. “This funding round enables us to cater to more customers and further increase our tech capability.”

Also Read: Agritech ecosystem in Thailand: More than 60 per cent of startups have not raised external funding

Founded in 2019 by Wono, James Rijanto, and Cindy Ozzie, Pasarnow aims to streamline Indonesia’s complicated and layered fresh products supply chain and deliver quality food products to its customers through its multi-channel platform.

“Ensuring product freshness when it reaches the customers is supremely challenging. Food products like fruits, vegetables, and frozen meat are susceptible and perishable, requiring fast and temperature-controlled delivery, which causes expensive logistics costs,” said CEO Rijanto.

“That is why Pasarnow has been investing heavily in our technology and operational infrastructures to solve these issues. Furthermore, having a multi-channel platform helps us in achieving faster economies of scale and in creating greater efficiency in our operations,” he added.

Pasarnow applies a multi-channel ordering system in a single mobile application to provide a unique customer experience based on the channel segmentation: B2B and B2C.

Each channel has a different set of prices, promotions, and key features to meet customers’ specific needs. The operational back-end aggregates all the orders and develops a demand forecasting system that helps its 1,000-plus farmers and suppliers better plan and optimize their harvesting and delivery schedules. It enables Pasarnow to offer fresh and great quality products at fair-trade pricing to customers and minimize its wastages.

Indonesia’s grocery retail value is estimated at US$108 billion in 2019 with online grocery accounting for only less than one per cent of the total. Online grocery retail is projected to increase at around US$13 billion by 2025.

Also Read: Go-Ventures leads US$16M Series A in grocery social commerce startup Segari

With the vast opportunity driven by a shift in customer behaviour towards shopping groceries online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pasarnow has expanded its operations to other cities, claims to have yielded a 400 per cent increase of B2C orders and doubled its monthly revenue.

East Ventures, co-founder and Managing Partner of Willson Cuaca, said, “The changing shopping behaviour of consumers due to the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about another challenge in the grocery industry. Customers demand fresh and high-quality produce daily amidst the complex grocery supply chain. Pasarnow comes to tackle the challenge, eliminating inefficiencies in the process through its data-driven business model.”

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Image credit: Pasarnow

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It has been an interesting six years building Carsome into what we are today. We have been on a journey to digitalise Southeast Asia’s used car industry and elevate the car buying and selling experience through innovation and technology.

Over the years, we faced many challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic brought along a new set of obstacles. Most of us would know people who are struggling financially, mentally or physically, in these hard-hitting times.

I have been lucky to meet so many people from all walks of life through my role at Carsome, and I’d like to believe that we are doing our utmost best in each encounter to help those we met.

Carsome was built based on this idea to help consumers have a better experience when buying and selling cars. Ultimately, we want to support people to move forward in their lives, even if it means helping those in need and believing that we can make a difference by supporting the community in meaningful ways.

We want to be part of a thriving community that beats the odds together.

Taking care of our own people

During these difficult times, fellow Carsomers have shown true loyalty in ensuring that the business runs as smoothly as it can, notwithstanding the challenges of working from home, lockdown restrictions and at the same time battling a pandemic that threatens our health.

They are the backbone of Carsome, and their health and safety are our top priority. With this in mind, we recently launched our very own team member vaccination drive to ensure the safety of both our employees and our customers.

The initiative helps our employees, who have not already secured appointments through the national vaccination programme, get their vaccination faster. It also helps us play a part in helping the country reach herd immunity and return to normalcy in our daily lives.

At the time of writing, close to 150 Carsome Malaysia employees and Carsome Academy students have or will be vaccinated through this initiative.

We are also extending our vaccine supplies to our partners across the chain to help them get vaccinated at a faster rate so that we can work together to ensure the safety of everyone in the entire used car ecosystem – from suppliers, retailers to customers – and keep each other protected.

Also Read: Malaysia’s Carsome raises US$19M Series B round to strengthen presence in Indonesia and Thailand

Helping businesses get back on their feet

As much as it affects individuals and families, the pandemic has also hit many businesses hard. So we came up with the Used Car Dealers Buy-Back Program, where we help our partner-dealers by buying back the cars they bought from Carsome at the same price they paid.

To date, under the program, we have repurchased cars from more than 10 dealers at a total value of close to MYR1 million.

We hope to help our partner dealers maintain cash flow and liquidity to sustain their businesses in the pandemic via this program.

Giving youth a little push in the early days of their careers

Then there are fresh graduates –-what a challenging time to enter the working world. Many need a car to get to their first jobs –especially when private vehicle ownership is preferred out of hygiene and safety concerns– and the reality is that with no credit history, it is hard to get a loan approved by conventional banks.

We decided to give these graduates a little boost through our graduate auto-financing program. As long as they graduated in the last five years with at least a degree, they need an employment offer letter and a comfort guarantor with no minimum requirements, something different from the traditional guarantor required by common banks, to get a loan to purchase a Carsome Certified car.

We hope with this financing product; graduates will be able to move forward in life with one less hurdle.

Caring for the community where we operate in

Amid all our day-to-day challenges, it is easy to forget that we have already endured nearly two years of the pandemic, and everyone faces difficulties of a different kind. A recent country-wide movement that caught our attention was #BenderaPutih, which calls upon those desperately needing help to display a white flag outside their homes.

Despite facing struggles of their own, many Malaysians rose to the occasion to help. This reminded us that humanity is not lost and inspired us to support the #BenderaPutih initiative.

To aid the cause, we began an internal donation drive to buy essentials for our 48 volunteers to deliver to those in need. We also collaborated with SESO, a local non-profit enterprise against food poverty. As their transportation partner, we have been helping SESO to deliver food and supplies to various Klang Valley locations they identified.

In fact, just last weekend, we have sent out more than 100 care packages courtesy of HappyFresh, to those in need.

Make it #CarsomeCares

We have been humbled by many stories of families in need, businesses trying to stay afloat and some businesses having to close down in these difficult times. #CarsomeCares reminds us of our caring and compassionate core, which we channel through our initiatives to help society as best we can, and we welcome everybody to join us.

I am very proud of the Carsome family and their strong support for #CarsomeCares; this reverberates with what the company believes all around. I look forward to doing more with Carsomers in this regard – let us all get through this together.

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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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NOICE, a multi-vertical audio platform for Indonesian listeners, announced today it has secured an undisclosed ‘7-figure USD’ in pre-Series A round co-led by Alpha JWC Ventures and Go-Ventures.

As per a press statement, Kinesys Group, Kenangan Fund, and several unnamed business angels participated in this round.

Additionally, the company has announced that former Google Asia Pacific’s executives Rado Ardian and Niken Sasmaya joined NOICE as its CEO and CBO, respectively. 

According to CEO Ardian, NOICE will use the new capital to build the platform’s new live audio feature, develop original content and hire talents across the region to accommodate users beyond Jakarta. 

It also plans to expand its content distribution, set up content creation and monetisation tools and increase in-app community engagement.

NOICE is owned and operated by Mahaka Media Group, which was created by Erick Thohir, Indonesia’s minister of state-owned enterprises. 

Also read: The 27 Indonesian startups that have taken the ecosystem to next level this year

Launched in June 2018 as a radio streaming platform, NOICE streams local audio content, including radio, music, audiobooks and podcasts, to registered listeners across Indonesia.

NOICE differentiates itself from its global rival Spotify through the platform’s hyperlocal in-house content.

“Our USP is our high-quality original content that is only available on NOICE with numerous talented content creators, ranging from imaginative first-timers to well-known celebrities,” said CBO Sasmaya. “These individuals realise their dreams by showcasing their artistic skills across a range of genres, such as comedy, music, religion, horror, parenting, lifestyle and edutainment.”

According to the company, NOICE is “Indonesia’s largest podcast network”, with 800,000 people tuning in and 100+ original shows being broadcast. 

By Q3 2021, NOICE boasts over one billion minutes of audio content streaming, showing high levels of engagement and consumption on the platform.

“While digital content consumption has been growing in Indonesia, there is a significant gap in the audio content vertical, especially for hyper-local content. As more people are working, learning and being entertained at home, demand for quality content has increased exponentially,” said Aditya Kumar, SVP of Investments at Go-Ventures. “NOICE is well-positioned to address this unmet need, becoming Indonesia’s leading audio platform.”

NOICE said it clocked a 144 per cent surge in the number of users over the past year, which was achieved “without any major marketing spend.”

Last year, the startup received funding from Alpha JWC Ventures and Kinesys Group.

The audio streaming market has ramped up over the past years in Indonesia. According to Nielsen research, in February 2020, more than 3.6 million Indonesians is listening to podcasts. 

Meanwhile, the global streaming platform Spotify also witnessed a 149 per cent increase in Indonesian users from June 2019 to June 2020, alongside a 220-per-cent hike in music streaming across Southeast Asia.

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Image credit: NOICE

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By definition, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew or passengers on board.

These pilotless sophisticated machines come across as extremely new-age but the origin of the concept of drones can be traced back to as early as the mid-1850s when Austria used unmanned balloons during a war. 

Although originally built for military purposes, drones have seen rapid growth and advancements and, in the digital era, made a break to consumer electronics, especially after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted hundreds of new exemptions for companies to operate drones in the U.S. through FAA Part 107 in the year 2016, helping push the commercial drone market growth forward all over the world. 

The bustling market of commercial drones in APAC

According to reports, the unmanned aerial vehicle market is estimated to grow from USD 27.4 billion in 2021 to USD 58.4 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 16.4% with the Asia Pacific projected to account for the largest size of the UAV market during this period. Drones also have a wide range of applications across different industries, such as entertainment and recreation as well as logistics.

Today, almost all YouTubers and Vloggers can be easily spotted handling drone cameras at exotic holiday destinations to shoot content. Sports reviewers leverage drones to get aerial images of games while sports coaches use them to analyse team formations and train players. In the logistics industry, drones help in several ways — from saving in distribution costs to faster deliveries and reducing urban traffic to helping cut down on carbon dioxide emissions. Drones are efficient in that they can work 24 hours, 365 days a year. According to Statista, the commercial drone revenue in the Asia Pacific is expected to reach 3667.69 million USD.

Tapping into the burgeoning drone market and the emerging trends in this industry in APAC, key stakeholders from around the world are making strides in the region. One of the leading players is PABLO AIR, a drone software developer based in South Korea. Established in 2018, PABLO AIR has a keen focus on providing the most sustainable drone delivery service for the global community and people who need equal social benefits, such as medicines and emergency kits.

The founder of the company, Mr Youngjoon Kim decided to launch PABLO AIR after he watched a drone art show conducted by Intel for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic. He did extensive research on the UAV security system and found his vision for a global society with his own built technology.

“We have strengths of Ground Control System (GCS), communications utilisation, and Flight control system. These technical features enable us to operate multiple drones in real-time for delivery purposes, regardless of the flight circumstances such as offshore operation. Most importantly, PABLO AIR is focusing on Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) to use their skills for positive social impact and also obtained social impact and smart logistics funds for Pre-Series B funding,” shared by Chanjoo (Derek) Lee, Chief Operating Officer from PABLO AIR USA.

Envisioning a global business environment empowered by holistic drone solutions

PABLO AIR is actively involved in exploring global business opportunities and empowering partners with holistic drone delivery solutions that cover entire business operations in terms of software as well as hardware. Key stakeholders, including VCs and investors, see potential in this idea. In August this year, PABLO AIR obtained US$ 11 million in accumulated funding through series A and pre-series B. The most recent pre-series B round closed at US$8 million.

“We are backed by an individual investor Mr Lee Soo Man, the founder of SM Entertainment, and major Korean VCs and corporations as Strategic Investors (SI). Our investors found our vision of global business based on our reputation and successful use case in South Korea,” shared Derek. The company is planning to use this recent fundraise for global business expansion with a keen focus on Southeast Asia and the USA.

Also read: Want to strengthen your communities? Facebook and e27 are here to help

PABLO AIR also attributes its success to the Malaysian Global Innovation And Creativity Center or better known as MaGIC, through their virtual Global Accelerator Programme (GAP). This online programme focuses on accelerating local and international startups from all over the world, with an interest to expand their business in the ASEAN region, enabling them to be investment-ready in 3 months. 

Derek said, “MaGIC allowed us to develop our strategy for the ASEAN market expansion. The region has huge potential in terms of population and economic growth, and this is what caught our investors’ ears. While participating in a series of meetings with the cohorts, I was able to gain a better understanding of how the startup ecosystem in Malaysia works. During this process, I was happy to learn that MaGIC supports and guides startups’ success, regardless of the startup’s origin country and/or stage.”

Entering Southeast Asia through Malaysia to create real social impact

With the new capital and insights learned from MaGIC, PABLO AIR is all set to enter the Southeast Asia market with their starting point as Malaysia, followed by Indonesia, Vietnam, and then the rest of the region. 

Malaysia is gearing to develop an ecosystem not limited to UAVs and drones, but also VTOLs and autonomous flying objects for the local and export markets. The country sees a lot of potential in the drone market backed by an abundance of local talents. Supporting this are reports even before the pandemic suggesting that Malaysia is the emerging drone hub in the region. As such, the size of the drone tech sector is expected to grow three times larger by 2025.

For PABLO AIR’s Derek, Malaysia is not only a promising market but he also has a deep passion for the country as his family in law are all based there. “My vision through PABLO AIR is to help Malaysian people and the local community who can be supported by our drone solutions with mutual partnerships with the local government,” he shared.

Also read: 32 startups raise US$108M in 9Unicorns-VCats maiden Global Demo Day

PABLO AIR also plans on leveraging the deep relationships between the Korean government and the ASEAN region. With the Korean government’s New Southern Policy and the free trade agreement between Korea and ASEAN, this vision can be realised smoothly. At the heart of PABLO AIR’s drone solutions and expansion into the region is real social impact.

“This expansion will allow us to achieve our humanitarian mission using our drone technology to help people who are in need. When it comes to social benefits that are offered by our drone technology, enhanced approachability to people in isolated areas (currently 80km coverage proven from our previous demonstration) will greatly help state governments and social benefits that are currently widely spread. It will enable them to centralise their current governance and data and improve important aspects like medicine supply chains and more,” shared Derek. “We believe that our technology and team will be valued more when we provide direct benefits to the local community including government bodies and citizens,” he added.

How MaGIC is enabling startups with social impact to grow

MaGIC’s core vision is to enable a vibrant and sustainable startup and social enterprise ecosystem built on impact-driven innovation and inclusivity. In line with this vision, they are helping startups from different parts of the world that are leveraging technology to create real social impact by providing them with insights, knowledge, a better understanding of markets, and networks of key stakeholders, such as other startups, VCs, and investors.

PABLO AIR attributes a lot of its success to the GAP cohort 05 where they were able to build great partnerships with MaGIC and other participating startups. 

Also read: Gotrade: fractional investing powering access to US stock in 150 countries

“While pursuing these partnerships, we were able to learn more about the industry. For example, we are now an Innovation Acceleration Network (IAN) partner from NTIS who can support us to have Proof-of-Concept (PoC) to prove our technology and business model using drones. This strategy will make a huge differentiation against global competitors. We are expecting to optimise our technology and global business model after the PoC and we are confident that this will enable future partnerships with various government authorities and corporations. Moreover, we would like to actively build more partnerships with the assistance from MaGIC to prove and commercialise our technology in the Malaysian market.”

MaGIC has helped startups like PABLO AIR to build an actual business plan towards the ASEAN market and take action to make it happen. If you are a social impact startup keen on expanding business in Southeast Asia, be a part of MaGIC.

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

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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Meeting the protein needs of a projected population of 10 billion people by around 2050 in an inclusive, sustainable, and nutritious manner is a significant challenge, but one that is achievable.

Transformation of the food value chain is essential, with experimentation in the novel food space playing an important role.

Meat is a major component in the consumption patterns of most people in the world as it is perceived as a nutritious source of protein.

It is this critical importance of meat to the sustainability of the food system that so much attention is paid to trends in meat consumption and the alternative protein space.

Evolving consumer demand for alternative protein

With conversations around environmental and welfare issues gaining traction in Asia, more people are understanding the impact of a meat-heavy diet on health and the environment.

As consumers continue to lean towards sustainable and healthier products post-COVID-19, the next decade sees a potential tipping point where alternative protein may go from being “niche food” to “mainstream food” in this region.

Even before the pandemic, Singaporeans have been considering healthier options with two in five adopting a flexitarian diet. With consumers in Asia being no strangers to the idea of alternative protein, Singapore is well-positioned to be the ‘Silicon Valley of food’ in the region.

In Singapore, the city-state’s sovereign fund Temasek has invested close to US$5 billion into the agrifood sector, backing corporates and startups in areas such as agri biotech, alternative proteins, vertical farming and commodities.

Apart from this, over 15 alternative-protein startups have set up a base in Singapore according to Enterprise Singapore (ESG).

The science of food security

The concerted push towards research and development (R&D), utilisation of innovative and sustainable technologies, and biotech-based food and ingredients fuelled the potential to diversify and strengthen our food security.

Underpinning these developments is innovation, which plays a pivotal role in ensuring sustainability and accelerating local food production efforts.

Also Read: SGProtein to launch large-scale production facility to accelerate Singapore’s alternative protein market

Food development and manufacturing have been recognised as key sectors of the global economy. On a local level, Singapore has been working towards its vision of being a food and nutrition hub in Asia.

Initiatives such as FoodInnovate have brought together several agencies, such as Enterprise Singapore and Agency for Science, Technology and Research, to develop a repository of resources for local food companies to create and commercialise food products on a larger scale, at a rapid pace.

Singapore– the rising food tech nerve centre

While there has been an increasing adoption of alternative proteins, more investments and resources are needed. For instance, the Singapore government has also shown continued support for this sector by taking a major step to commit S$144 million (US$107 million) for investments in strategic sectors such as urban farming and alternative proteins.

This has, in turn, enabled local consumers to have access to a wide variety of meat-free brands that are now readily available.

The alternative protein industry is set to play a bigger role in our diets and in reshaping our food system, with meat-free options gaining popularity today. Meeting the needs of this growing demand and sector calls for greater collaboration in the food technology sector.

Ultimately, pointing towards a need to fill in the gaps when it comes to equipping the local workforce with the right skill sets and companies with the necessary capabilities to level up in the food technology industry.

Pathways to success

For food manufacturers, the common roadblocks include the lack of quality facilities, equipment being expensive, huge opportunity costs and high minimum order requirements from third-party manufacturers.

Set up to plug the gaps in the market for small batch production, SIT partnered with Enterprise Singapore and JTC to unveil a brand-new small-batch food production facility, FoodPlant, that will enable local food players of all sizes to trial new products on a smaller, more cost-effective scale.

The new facility will provide a much-needed boost to food manufacturers looking to innovate and scale the rollout of new products, post-R&D while reducing capital and operating costs through shared facilities and services.

With many hurdles to cross in Singapore’s journey towards establishing itself as an Asian alternative meat hub, educational institutions can also contribute by nurturing the local talent pipeline for the sector as the regional appetite for alternative proteins continues to soar.

Consumers form the first impression of any food during their very first taste of it. Therefore, it is key for manufacturers to create products that do not compromise on taste and mimic texture that bears a close resemblance to meat.

High Moisture Extrusion Technology for Meat Analogues (HMET) is essentially the first step towards producing meat analogue products – plant-based products that are similar to conventional meat in terms of texture and appearance.

Plant protein such as wheat gluten, soy and pea are put through an extruder machine, which uses heat and shearing to alter the protein structure to yield product textures that resemble muscle meat – a “basic requirement” to attract more meat-lovers to try out alternative protein products.

Also Read: Revolutionising the food industry with Malaysia’s StixFresh

With an aim to further build the expertise of local food companies and to see more players adopting this technology, SIT is the first university in Singapore to offer a Continuing Education Training course on HMET to the public in a practical, hands-on setting.

This is a specialised course for food tech professionals on high moisture extrusion, a process that texturises plant-based protein into viable meat alternatives.

By supporting food tech professionals with an avenue to hone in-demand skills, educational institutions can groom the local talent to meet evolving industry requirements.

At the same time, they can inspire students to pursue a wide variety of professions much needed in the food industry, ranging from food and flavour technologists to sensory specialists and production engineers.

In Singapore, significant collaborations between educational institutions and industry players help local enterprises build capabilities and foster an ecosystem that fuels the development of new food products to meet the growing demand for alternative meats.

Ultimately, such initiatives address food sustainability challenges and support the future of food in the city-state.

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Global professional services company Accenture has named three Southeast Asia-based fintech startups in its list of 11 startups that have been selected into the 2021 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific programme.

The startups are:

Alpha Fintech (Singapore)
The startup enables merchant service providers to access any product provider across the merchant service lifecycle via a single solution ecosystem, standardized into one abstraction layer. This helps providers monetise previously hidden data assets to facilitate cross-selling and better manage financial portfolio risk.

Perx Technologies (Singapore)
The startup is a category-creating lifestyle marketing SaaS platform that helps enterprise and digital-native brands deliver continuous and meaningful engagements and experiences in the mobile-first economy to monetize customer actions by creating personalized, last-mile interactive digital experiences that generate revenue.

PT Ayopop Teknologi Indonesia (Ayoconnect) (Indonesia)
Indonesia’s largest API marketplace and leading financial APIs developer, Ayoconnect builds and operates the necessary infrastructure for embedded finance while simultaneously enabling developers and companies to choose from a wide range of financial white-label products.

Also Read: Building Malaysia’s fintech ecosystem

Other companies on the list are Advanced Alternative Investment Systems Ltd (Canada), Asiabots (Hong Kong), CONTRENDIAN Limited (Hong Kong), Diginex (Hong Kong), IPification (Hong Kong), Lagoon (Israel), Qantev (France), and Seleya Technologies (Hong Kong).

The 12-week accelerator programme by Accenture provides fintech startups with mentorship from leading financial institutions to help them fine-tune and scale their businesses. It has received more than 1,350 applications since it was launched in 2014; its 59 alumni companies have raised more than US$716 million in venture financing.

Receiving submissions from 28 countries, this year’s programme is run in collaboration with Hong Kong Cyberport who is providing the startups with the opportunity to participate in the Cyberport Incubation Program (CIP). The two-year programme will provide selected startups with a range of business, professional and mentorship support.

The program will culminate in November when the participants will present their solutions at a virtual Demo Day to an audience of venture capitalists and financial industry executives.

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Image Credit: ©siraphol/123RF.COM

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Over the past decade, the online food delivery space has been growing steadily in Asia owing to ever-increasing smartphone penetration and ease of ordering food using mobile apps. This trend has been expedited in the past two years with online food delivery becoming an essential service amidst movement restrictions due to the pandemic. 

Globally, the online food delivery market is worth more than US$35 billion annually and is forecasted to reach US$365 billion by 2030. A Google-Temasek report forecasts that the food delivery market in Southeast Asia alone is expected to grow from US$2 billion in 2018 to an estimated US$8 billion in 2025. With a drastic shift in consumer behaviour towards online food delivery platforms amidst the pandemic and given increasing demand, there is a pressing need to fill this gap.

As such, global, regional, as well as local players are making strides across different markets in the region. The largest player in the online food and grocery delivery landscape in Asia is foodpanda which operates in more than 400 cities across 12 markets. Regionally, the foodpanda platform reaches more than 10 million people in Asia, building an ecosystem connecting riders, merchant-partners, and everyday customers using the platform.

foodpanda: Capturing appetites in Asia

Jakob Angele, CEO of foodpanda who comes with a background in management strategy, has been spearheading foodpanda’s expansion and growth across the region for more than six years. “When I first joined foodpanda, it was a small, independent company that looked very different. There was not much excitement among investors about food delivery platforms; we had to start with very little funding and faced many challenges. Since those early days, many things have changed and business has grown extremely fast, even before the pandemic” said Jakob.

Back in 2012 when foodpanda was first launched in Singapore with just 51 restaurants, and a focus on the CBD area, the online food delivery scene in Asia was quite young. foodpanda began its venture in the region with operations in five markets, including Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This year, foodpanda commemorates its ninth year of operations in Asia.

At a time when there were no other food delivery aggregator services, foodpanda quickly established itself as the pioneer and go-to online food delivery platform. However, convincing partners was not an easy feat. “We would knock on doors and get rejected multiple times. Interestingly, in Singapore, the first brand that agreed to try us out was Burger King and then other brands started becoming curious. There was no secret recipe though — we had to be very consistent in our efforts and eventually, things turned around,” shared Jakob.

As a pioneer in this industry, Jakob shared that the biggest switch in the business model came around in 2015 when foodpanda was growing quite well. “At that time some restaurants had their riders and that was an easy model for us that was working well for everyone. But eventually, we identified two big problems: the restaurants weren’t able to keep pace with our scale of growth in that we were getting too many orders and restaurants just did not have enough riders, and the second issue was that the subsequent customer experience was getting affected. There was a long wait time, around 60 minutes!” That’s when foodpanda decided to get riders to solve both problems. “This was a stepping stone that helped us scale — we went from 60 minutes to delivering orders within 25 minutes or in 10-15 minutes in some markets through pandamart. We have come a long way,” he added.

In 2016, foodpanda was acquired by Germany-based Delivery Hero, a global leader in the food delivery industry. Today, the online food delivery platform operates in more than 400 cities across 12 markets in the Asia Pacific, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Taiwan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Japan. For foodpanda, a major part of Delivery Hero’s Asia business saw significant growth in the region with orders increasing by 194% as compared to 2019 and GMV growing more than double. In the first half of 2021, the food delivery platform completed more than 747 million orders — almost three times the number of orders from just one year ago.

Since then, foodpanda has been aggressively expanding in the region over the past five years. From 2019 to 2020, foodpanda started operations in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. In September last year, the company launched operations in Japan, its 12th market in the region, hoping to grow a “still largely untapped” market and further strengthen its position as the leading food delivery player in the region. 

Navigating the challenges of food delivery in diverse Asia

Asia is an extremely diverse market with a wide range of demographics, and there is no one-size-fits-all business model or market condition for the region. Jakob explained that one of the main challenges in Asia is that significant groundwork is necessary. This includes educating consumers on what food delivery means and how it can make their lives easy; From a marketing point of view, creating educational videos, and tapping into local channels of social media have become an integral part of their core business strategy. foodpanda operates not just in developed and urban markets like Singapore and Hong Kong but also in developing markets, such as Bangladesh and Pakistan where user demographics are completely different.

Also read: Making construction cleaner, greener, and more climate-friendly

Jakob shared that localisation has become extremely important and relevant in a region like Asia. “Internal organisation and strategic decision-making are key to success in Asia. We have empowered local operations in terms of commercial and operational strategy, from how to run logistics, picking cities, identifying restaurants, to how we spend our money,” he said.

As the regional CEO, while Jakob is involved in those decisions, the country teams play a vital role. “We understand that no matter how smart the headquarters are, even if I travel to each country three times a month, a local understanding comes only if you live there,” he added. “One of the main reasons behind foodpanda’s success in a diverse region like Asia is the fact that a lot of tech and operational innovations are created by our local teams that understand the nuances of their markets. This is very unique to foodpanda,” he said.

Adapting to the new normal: quick commerce

Amidst the pandemic, like most businesses, foodpanda was also faced with multiple challenges. Many countries went into lockdown, and many restaurants couldn’t open. “COVID-19 was hectic. The world around us changed as we knew it, but the team did an amazing job to respond and react to this,” said Jakob. The foodpanda team worked closely with their restaurant partners to come up with the best way to cope. Suddenly, they were also faced with a huge influx of restaurants reaching out to be onboarded as partners needed to digitalise.

“Previously, we had around 14 days to help restaurants go live, but during COVID-19, they needed to go live the next day. We had to reinvent our whole onboarding process to be more responsive. For restaurants in financial trouble, we tried to support them by allowing them to defer their payments in some cases,” shared Jakob. To ensure safety for the riders and consumers while providing accessibility, variety, and convenience, the food delivery platform was also the first to launch contactless deliveries as a default option.

Also read: How businesses can maximise their growth using the right financial tools

They have also added the delivery of groceries and daily essentials to their service repertoire. foodpanda is spearheading the growth of quick-commerce (q-commerce), where groceries and daily essentials are delivered on-demand, within 25 minutes. Across the region, foodpanda partners tens of thousands of retail and SME partners as part of its foodpanda shops vertical, including supermarkets like Tesco, convenience stores like 7-Eleven and Family Mart, plus health and beauty stores like Watsons and Guardian. This is in addition to the thousands of SMEs, mom-and-pop stores, and neighbourhood bakeries or speciality foods on the platform. 

In 2019, foodpanda launched its first pandamart cloud stores in Singapore and Taiwan, offering customers a wide selection of over 5,000 groceries and daily essentials at the touch of a button. foodpanda today operates Asia’s largest network of cloud grocery stores, with more than 200 pandamarts across 40 cities in 10 markets — a number that foodpanda is looking to double within the year as it expands its grocery delivery offerings.

What’s next?

foodpanda’s main focus is to use even smarter technology to power q-commerce. Be it food or groceries, they want to deliver anything customers need in 25 minutes to their doorstep. With COVID-19, consumer behaviour has evolved and appetites for safety and convenience have grown exponentially. Previously hesitant consumers are also going online for daily needs. This is why the q-commerce model works, and it will become even more integral to everyday lives. 

Also read: Antler partners with e27 to assist startups with cross-border investment opportunities in a restricted travel environment

“There is now a higher level of interest in our offerings. There were many new downloads, including different demographics like older customers aged 55 and above who are now using our technology. We see these customers using us even after the pandemic, and this gives us a lot of confidence that we are on the right track,” shared Jakob. However, he added that COVID-19 has been a challenging time in that they’ve had to adapt to highly localised government rules and regulations that are dynamic and sometimes very complex. So, a critical focus is how to continue helping riders and merchants sustain their businesses and earnings during the crisis and beyond.

The food delivery sector in Asia may be competitive, but platforms like foodpanda have proven to offer restaurants and F&B establishments, SMEs, and even delivery riders a valuable lifeline in the midst of the pandemic. Businesses that contribute to uplifting communities and promoting digital inclusion and empowerment will play a key role in the overall economic recovery of the region.

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

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