In order to set up a business, the first important problem that owners must address is the need for capital. Back then, business owners typically have to cough up their funding to achieve this. But with all the developments in the business ecosystem particularly within the startup tech world, founders now have access to an array of options for fundraising such as VCs, angel financing, crowdfunding, and many others.

Moreover, going beyond a company’s initial launch, fundraising is also vital for expanding businesses, developing new products and services, and exploring new markets. With the help of a good fundraising round, it opens up so many doors for promising startups to take their brand to a global stage and achieve their vision of success.

With all the possibilities that are opened up through fundraising, startup founders must be equipped with the necessary skills and core knowledge to create a compelling case for potential investors to be interested in. This will allow them the ability to fully grasp complex concepts regarding legalities and due diligence, develop strategies for pitching, and design persuasive pitch decks among others.

As such, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) launched the Founders Grindstone programme (FG) last year. MDEC’s FG is a capability-building programme with a keen focus on helping local tech entrepreneurs to enhance their knowledge in areas of fundraising and equip them with the right skills to increase their chances of securing investors.

MDEC understands the amount of raw potential that many promising startups possess, and through the FG programme, MDEC is committed to helping startups maximise that potential to open floodgates of opportunities for them.

Also read: How founder-CEOs can setup their startup for a successful IPO

MDEC’s FG programme entails intensive workshops conducted by leading investors, venture capitalists, equity crowdfunding platforms, and legal firms. This programme aims to equip founders with an understanding of regulatory, legal issues, investors’ requirements, pitch deck preparation, and other matters regarding the journey of fundraising. In addition, following the series of workshops, a pitching competition and business simulation are organised for twenty shortlisted startups, giving them an opportunity to highlight their business to potential investors.

A successful run with promising startups and leading investors

In 2020, the first FG programme was held in partnership with Draper Startup House (DSH) and a legal consultancy company, Izwan & Partners. At FG 2020, the top ten participating startups were connected to DSH-world’s largest network of VCs under Draper Venture Network, with connections to 24 global funds, and three startups were awarded scholarships to participate in the virtual Draper University entrepreneurship programme.

This year, they launched the first batch of Founders Grindstone 2021 in an even bigger and better programme that included a 2-hour mentoring session with RHL Ventures, The Hive SEA, and Tenggara Capital. Moreover, the top 10 companies from the pitching session enjoyed a 1-hour mentoring session with Damien Yee (Co-Founder of Epitome Global), with a select few being given the green lane for a pitching session at ASEAN Startup Meet @ Taipei, and awarding AWS cloud credits for selected startups.

FutureLab.my, an EdTech startup that provides mentorship software for corporates, learning institutions, and start-up accelerators, was one of the lucky startups to make it to the top 10. Brian Tan, CEO and Co-founder of FutureLab, explained “it was a good experience going through the programme, we got to meet investors that we haven’t met before, got insightful mentoring sessions, and got great feedback from the Taipei pitch day panel.”

Tan added that the programme gave them more opportunities to work on their pitch deck, enabling them to pitch and get feedback from investors. “We were in the process of fundraising during the program so the extra practice was valuable and I am happy to say that we got our term sheet signed by a couple of investors”, Tan said.

Meanwhile, Junya Yoshizaki, Chief Operating Officer of Chaintope Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. shared that the programme was a great opportunity to explore networks of top-quality investors. “We had a good meeting with the mentors which MDEC connected with us. We got some advice on how to improve our pitch deck to make it more attractive to VCs and investors. Mentors were from different backgrounds, such as VCs, successful startup founders. etc., and it was great to get advice from different perspectives,” Yoshizaki explained.

Also read: Here are the most promising startups in the 5G space

Chaintope is an IT blockchain company developing a hybrid blockchain called Tapyrus. Tapyrus Platform provides useful APIs for both FinTech and non-FinTech sectors. They are mainly focusing on the fields such as supply chain traceability, energy (P2P, REC), environment, government DX.

Yoshizaki added, “since our focus area is blockchain, company introduction typically becomes too technical, and it was quite difficult to explain to the audience about what we are trying to achieve. Actually, we just prepared a new version of the pitch deck in March when we joined another accelerator programme, and Founders Grindstone helped to brush up the deck even further.”

FutureLab and Chaintope are only some of the many exciting companies that benefitted greatly from the programme. Yoshizaki elaborated that “in this COVID-19 era, it is a tough time for startups, but at the same time many opportunities are opening up. MDEC’s Founders Grindstone programme helps startups to improve our fundraising strategies. [It also provides us with the opportunity] to pitch in global events [and obtain] global exposure.”

Meanwhile, Tan affirmed his trust in the FG 2021 by saying “I would recommend this programme for all startups that are looking to meet local and international investors. MDEC did a great job looking after us and gave us the space to [hone our skills] and at the same time have scheduled meetings with potential investors and mentors.”

Exploring valuation methodologies and market readiness of a company to fundraise

“Special thanks to MDEC for organizing this initiative. It was a great experience meeting all the startups in Malaysia, reminding us that Malaysian startups have plenty of potentials. All it takes are the right exposure and guidance for them to prosper, which is what Founders Grindstone is all about. We hope that through this initiative, we can see the startups go on to achieve great things and become Malaysia’s new generation of tech leaders,” explained Raja Hamzah, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of RHL Ventures.

With online avenues becoming increasingly mainstream, geographical boundaries are getting blurred. While this opens up ample opportunities for startups to expand beyond home markets, businesses are also faced with new challenges- from data security to compliance regulations and legal due diligence. In line with these emerging industry trends, FG 2021’s main focus this year is on equipping startups with various aspects of company growth, and providing tailored training classes according to their company lifecycle. This includes sharpening pitching skills and investors relations, fundraising for market expansion and also fundraising for growth-stage companies.

Also read: Scaleup Success: How can startups tackle the challenges of international expansion?

“Founders Grindstone is a fantastic initiative for the Malaysian Startup Ecosystem. It promotes knowledge-sharing between founders and venture funds like the Hive Southeast Asia and The Hive in Silicon Valley. As Investors, we gain a better understanding of the needs of Malaysian startups and together we can help build a richer ecosystem. Definitely a great initiative to prepare our Malaysian startups for their journey to become regional and global champions,” shared Shahril Ibrahim, Advisor of The Hive.

The second batch of FG 2021 that happened in the month of May focused on different valuation methodologies for startups ranging from early-stage to growth-stage and understanding the expected needs and readiness of a company to fundraise and expand from the point of view of a VC. The first workshop exploring valuation methodologies was held in collaboration with Equidam on May 5th. The next workshop on market expansion was a deep dive into market readiness, expansion strategy, product-market fit and market outlook, held on 25th May with AC Ventures who shared on regional expansion. In addition to this, The Hive will cover more on the global perspective in another workshop scheduled to be held on 1 June.

To join the next batch, visit the Founders Grindstone website.

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Disclosure: This article is produced by e27, sponsored by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation

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Singapore-headquartered PropertyGuru Group has signed an agreement to fully acquire REA Group’s operating entities in Malaysia and Thailand.

An ASX-listed multinational digital ads business specialising in property, REA operates iProperty.com.my and Brickz.my in Malaysia and thinkofliving.com and Prakard.com Thailand.

As part of the agreement, REA will receive an 18 per cent equity interest in PropertyGuru and appoint a Director to the Board.

The transaction is expected to close in July 2021.

As per a press note, the transaction will enable both PropertyGuru.com.my and iProperty.com.my to combine resources, accelerate innovation and provide enhanced digital solutions to home seekers, property agents and developers. They will retain their independent brand names.

Also Read: Can SEA’s proptech come back to its pre-COVID-19 glory? Experts speak

PropertyGuru has been operating in Malaysia for the past decade and claims to have over 12 million monthly visits. In Thailand, it operates DDproperty.com that attracts over three million visits each month.

Hari V. Krishnan, CEO and MD, PropertyGuru Group, said: “Malaysians have shown a preference for digital research of properties and that they value the tools and services PropertyGuru.com.my and iProperty.com.my provide today. Together we make property searches, pricing trends and financing options more transparent. By combining PropertyGuru’s strengths in technology and proprietary data with iProperty.com.my’s footprint and relationships with developers and agents, we can digitize the property ecosystem and accelerate our goal of creating Southeast Asia’s property ‘Trust Platform’.”

Owen Wilson, CEO, REA Group, said: “REA Group has made excellent progress in Malaysia and Thailand. Key highlights include the successful launch of iProperty PRO, a proptech tool that provides property agent customers with property data insights, powered by Brickz.my, to reach the largest pool of property seekers in Malaysia.”

“In addition, moving into the fintech space with the launch of Loancare helps consumers establish their home loan eligibility with up to 17 banks. Loancare also identifies which banks are most likely to lend to people based on their debt to service ratio criteria,” Wilson added.

Launched in 2007, PropertyGuru and its group of companies claims to have more than 2.8 million homes on its online platforms, offer in-depth insights, and solutions that enable customers to make confident property decisions across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Despite all the uncertainties brought about by the pandemic over the past year, PropertyGuru grew monthly visits to 35 million regionally. It claims to have over 50 per cent share in Southeast Asia’s proptech market.

During the pandemic, PropertyGuru introduced mortgage offering PropertyGuru Finance, PropertyGuru FastKey, and data capabilities to empower property seekers across Southeast Asia to ‘Find.Finance.Own’ their homes.

In September 2020, PropertyGuru received S$300 million (US$226 million) in additional investment from existing investors TPG and KKR. A year earlier, the group had shelved its proposed IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange on account of “the current IPO market sentiment” back then.

REA operates Australia’s leading residential and commercial property websites — realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au. Its other properties are Flatmates.com.au (dedicated to share property), and Spacely (a short-term commercial and co-working property website).

Also Read: The world of proptech and its fate in a post-pandemic world

It also operates Smartline Home Loans, an Australian mortgage broking franchise group, and PropTrack, a leading provider of property data services.

In Asia, the group also owns squarefoot.com.hk and myfun.com (in China), and holds a controlling interest in India’s Elara Technologies (which operates Housing.com, Makaan.com and PropTiger.com).

REA Group also holds a significant shareholding in property websites realtor.com in the US, 99.co and iproperty.com.sg in Singapore and rumah123.com in Indonesia.

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Image Credit: REA Group.

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Over the last decade, ASEAN fintech brands were content to play at the shallow end of the digital financial services pool, dabbling in lending (P2P, crowdfunding) or simple payments services (e-wallets, mobile money).

This changed practically overnight in 2020, however, as lockdowns and social distancing measures put lending on the backburner. Instead, the focus turned to risk mitigation and sending new digital users toward growing insurance and investment products, while greatly accelerating payments and remittances.

The e-Conomy SEA 2020 report by Google found that while loan books were practically flat at US$23 billion last year, investment assets under management skyrocketed by 116 per cent, insurance by 30 per cent, and remittances by 43 per cent respectively.

Enemies at the gates

COVID-19 saw higher risk consciousness and larger demand for insurance coverage online. This was particularly true when it came to bite-sized microinsurance products offered in-platform thanks to partnerships between apps and insurers. 

Remittances — already a major segment pre-pandemic thanks to the Philippines’ standing as the third-largest remittance-receiving country– got a further shot in the arm in 2020 as both regulators and employers took payments online.

Google expects these behavioural changes to last through 2025 when up to 40 per cent of the total remittance value will be transacted online.

Online platforms, namely super-apps that boasted large ecosystems of transactions, took the leap into more complex digital financial services. Grab had already launched its Pay Later scheme in Singapore in 2019.

Also Read: How important is regulation for digital banks in India?

It quickly expanded the service to other ASEAN markets in 2020 as people’s spending cash took a hit and banks tightened lending. The super-app also started offering micro-investments via a robo-advisory subsidiary and then leveraged partnerships with legacy asset managers.

Gojek (now GoTo) was not to be outdone. In December 2020, its fintech arm GoPay took a major stake in a licensed Indonesian entity to convert Bank Jago into GoPay’s very own in-house digital bank. This was just months after Gojek partnered with a local insurtech company to launch the app’s microinsurance in Indonesia.

Banks cannot rest on their laurels anymore and pretend their corporate and enterprise accounts will keep them afloat. No longer can they ignore microfinancing products due to high transaction costs. The super-apps are only a year into their digital banking war, but it won’t be long before they start sizing up bigger, more lucrative accounts.

Brick-and-mortar banks still have their legacy accounts and large, on-ground networks, as well as strong KYC experience to exploit. As licensed banks with high capital buffers to withstand economic shocks and decades of specialisation (as opposed to super-apps who roll out and shut down new verticals frequently), legacy banks have a lot of fight in them yet– if, and only if, they execute fully digital plays themselves.

Regulators have stepped up quickly, with Indonesia expected to release regulations for the establishment of digital banks in late 2021.

Financial inclusion vs economic inclusion

Micro-financing products in ASEAN have long been linked to financial inclusion, which the World Bank defined as adults having access to and the ability to use a range of appropriate financial services.

At its most basic level, formal financial inclusion starts with having a deposit or transaction account at a bank/FI or through a mobile money service provider. The account can be used to make and receive payments and to store or save money.

Also Read: Digital banking platform for Filipino entrepreneurs NextPay accepted into Y Combinator, raises funding

For banks, financial inclusion (and microfinance) has been a buzzword to trot out in the name of ‘national service’ or CSR, not really seen as a real money-making segment with deposit and transfer fees all but non-existent. 

As of 2019, close to 200 million people in ASEAN were unbanked, and another 98 million underbanked (meaning they have a bank account, but nothing more). In Indonesia, there were 92 million unbanked and 47 million underbanked. But in 2021, the unbanked number is bound to be much lower, with millions of Indonesians in the super-app ecosystems using some form of e-wallet or micro-lending product.

Legacy banks should turn their focus to the underbanked, and focus on ‘economic inclusion’ instead, being banked and having real upward mobility via access to loans, investing, and insurance products.

World Bank research found that digitising social transfer payments in African countries cut down corruption, administrative costs, and most importantly, travel and wait times for beneficiaries, especially those in rural areas who had to close shop for the day.

Elsewhere, those with insurance invested in riskier, higher-return technologies. In India, index-based rainfall insurance allowed farmers to cultivate riskier cash crops that commanded higher prices. 

Formalising the informal in ASEAN

There are some similarities in our neck of the woods. In addition to farmers, ASEAN’s massive and still growing gig economy is made up of ‘warung’ owners, freelancers, solopreneurs, independent service providers, and more. While the informal gig economy is by no means a monolith, banks can leverage digital partnerships to transform it, piece by piece, while simultaneously launching new, profitable product lines.

Banks have the ability to offer competitive interest rates and lower-risk structures compared to, say, P2P and crowdfunding platforms. Those with more capital heft may choose to build their digital banking arms in-house, while smaller banks can instead form strategic M&As with digital banking startups that serve to channel the unbanked and underbanked.

In early 2020, global fintech Nium launched a remittance-as-a-service (RaaS), enabling third-party companies to offer remittance services on their own platforms. Banks in remittance-heavy countries like Indonesia and the Philippines can immediately bring a cost-effective payment offering to their corporate and enterprise clients (which doubles up as an employee benefit) while catering to the millions of overseas workers who send and receive money weekly. 

Also Read: MyMy joins forces with Sukaniaga to bid for Malaysia digital banking license

Banks bring their familiarity with local labour and financial regulations while offering low transaction fees. With informal workers using a bank’s RaaS frequently, it becomes easier to offer relevant products such as micro-insurance against health and workplace risks or micro-investments for children’s education.

Banks can also work with P2P lenders such as Modal Rakyat, which can serve as yet another channel for formal microfinance products. Apps like this usually already have a solid database of freelancers who trust them when it comes to getting working capital for projects. This gives banks an ‘in’ with an already diverse subset of gig workers.

For ‘warung’ or mom-and-pop shop owners, platforms like Awan Tunai have done a good job building trust and lending products while digitsing transactions that were before mostly made in cash. With access to this key segment, banks can offer competitive lending and risk management products and build credit scoring methods based on data collected by Awan Tunai.

There are many ways to make the digital banking leap, but simply rolling out a digital banking option is not enough. It is a cost and labour-intensive undertaking in a very competitive (yet lucrative) space that needs to pay off.

Therefore, legacy banks need to figure out how to penetrate the gig economy in ways that complement and leverage their existing product and consumer verticals.

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SEA Booster Programme, a 5-week incubation programme supported by BLOCK71, has unveiled the 32 startups selected for its latest cohort.

Of these, 28 hail from Southeast Asia. The other four come from Japan, the US, and Australia.

Launched just two months ago, the programme’s mission is to help founders scale their businesses locally and regionally in Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

During this period, founders receive mentorship from industry experts, networking opportunities with business partners, access to investors, and a global community of Asia-based tech founders.

Notable trainers, mentors, and panelists include Joel Leong, co-founder of Shopback; Binh Tran, Partner at 500 Startups; Valerie Vu, Investor at Venturra Capital; Nikhil Kapur, Partner at STRIVE; and Achmad Zaky, Founding Partner of Init-6.

The upcoming run of the SEA Booster programme will focus on solutions for smart cities.

Here are the selected startups for the latest cohort:

3km Food

A food platform and marketplace that caters to a community of home cooks to sell homemade food across Vietnam.

Aplikasir 

Provides payment gateway that monitors business transactions anytime and anywhere.

Assist.id

Helps health facilities digitise business operations and connect with patients through the web and mobile apps.

Ayoexport

A virtual assistant service and web app that helps SMEs export more easily, efficiently and integratedly.

BrainEnTech Neuroscience

Combines neuroscience and AI to enhance the rate at which humans can learn.

Belfarm

An online distribution platform that bridges the gap between sellers and buyers, eliminating the retail markup from middleman traders.

Bindcover

A platform for selling and claiming property insurance.

Carfixsg.co

Connects car owners to independent workshops for their car maintenance jobs with an aim to increase the transparency of transactions along the process.

Eden

Aims to streamline the F&B industry workflow through a collection of real-time customer requests and to improve service through data analytics.

EzCompostr

It’s developing a composting bin in order to transform household food waste into useful materials.

Fiahub

A platform that allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrency using local fiat currencies easily and instantly.

Fresh Company

An aggregator that helps consumers find the best grocery produce online through a combination of machine learning, unbiased user reviews, and sourcing.

IMI

Provides a platform for users to seek remote professional medical advice from the comfort of their homes.

InsureVite

Combines process automation solutions for the insurance business ecosystem with omnichannel apps to answer customers’ questions with zero downtime to increase efficiency, engage customers, and grow revenue.

Leng Keng Technology

Provides solutions for out-of-home advertising (OOH) media owners and brands to directly advertise to customers while reducing intermediary costs and quantifying key performance values.

Also Read: There is now a slice of Block 71 in downtown San Francisco

MoveUp

Facilitates training, onboarding, continuous development, and individual learning using the micro-learning approach with gamification. 

Origin Agriculture

Aims to meet local consumption requirements by harnessing the use of aeroponics technology to optimise the production of affordable and nutritious vegetables in a land-scarce nation.

Outside Technologies

A platform for users to help businesses and neighbours from communities in need with errands and daily inconveniences.

Otrafy

A SaaS platform that automates and digitalises the collection and transfer of food industry certification data. 

Quadusk

Builds tech solutions to modernise industrial operations for real estate and construction sectors in emerging markets.

RYTLE

Provides patented solutions for solving the last mile challenges faced by delivery companies across the globe. Solutions include an e-cargo bicycle and modular box-in-box storage to increase efficiency, lower costs, and reduce carbon emissions for last-mile fulfillment within Vietnam.

SenzeHub

An all-in-one digital health solution detecting health changes, collecting data, and helping seniors and patients identify potential dangers before or while health problems occur.

SGVenusFlytrap

A tropicalised version of temperate carnivorous plants to address challenges in the horticulture and educational industries with breakthrough research in plant tissue regeneration

Tobu

A data and document extractor that syncs with email inboxes and desktop software to automatically and seamlessly extract information.

TinggalMasak

A meal kit service focused on bringing healthy and nutritional meals to consumers at their convenience.

UICreative

A creative digital platform that provides ready-to-use graphic design solutions for freelance designers, full-time designers, and creative teams.

Ummacademy

Makes the medical learning process easier for dentists, doctors, and students by providing an accessible and affordable tech-based learning process.

Waffle

Helps offline businesses deliver the best customer experience, right from the point of sale to an ecosystem of interconnected tools to enable local businesses to make customer-centric business decisions.

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Image Credit: SEA Booster Programme

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We understand the struggle. Things get to your inbox, but there are too many emails that you are not able to respond to, and before you know it you’ve missed that all-important email from someone you’ve been waiting to hear from.

Don’t miss great opportunities. With the Connect feature of e27 Pro, investors can now access the Connection Manager, a tool that lets them efficiently manage connection requests sent by startups.

Connection Manager is an extension of the Connect Dashboard, which allows e27 Connect Investors to review, respond to, or reject the Connect requests made by the Pro startups. With Connection Manager, we aim to make this entire process more proficient, allowing investors to view their pending requests, startup’s profile, and their fundraising information. 

Exciting new features to look out for

With Connection Manager, investors are now able to utilise 3 main features:

1. View Connect Summary and Status
2. View the Startup information
3. Approve or Reject Connect requests

With these key features, investors can now manage the connection requests directly from e27. Notifications will still be available via email but with this current improvement, Connect status and summary are now also available to view on e27.

For a step-by-step guide on how to manage your request, you may check this article. 

The post How the e27 Connection Manager helps empower investor-startup partnerships appeared first on e27.

The number of early-stage investment deals of less than US$500,000 increased by 11 per cent in 2020 amidst the crisis brought about by the pandemic, says a new report.

However, the year saw a rise in terms of both deal size and deal number in the second half.

The report, titled “The Vietnam Innovation and Tech Investment Report 2020”, was jointly published by early-stage VC firm Do Ventures and the Vietnam National Innovation Center (NIC).

Also Read: Naver, Sea, Vertex invest in Vietnamese VC firm Do Ventures’s US$50M fund I

The study further reveals that there was a sharp decline in both deal size and deal number of later-stage deals in 2020 in the country. The investments of US$10-50 million were the worst hit with a significant 60 per cent fall in the number of deals, followed by a 42 per cent drop in US$3-10 million-worth deals.

As per the findings of the report, the total amount of capital invested into local startups decreased by 48 per cent to US$451 million in 2020, mostly due to the absence of outsized deals that were already closed last year by later-stage companies.

Nevertheless, the total number of deals in the year fell only slightly by 17 per cent, as the country recorded 60 deals in H2, 2020, virtually equal to the same period in 2019.

After a swift decline at the onset of the pandemic, early financings began to return to past years’ levels. Investors ultimately closed roughly the same number of pre-A and A deals in 2020 as in 2019.

The scarcity of major exits over US$20 million contributed to the sharp decline of 66 per cent YoY in realised proceeds in 2020. Trade exit and secondary sales continued to play a significant role in liquidity generation. Liquidity from IPO remained limited.

After the slowdown during the first quarter, venture capital investing began to pick up from Q2 2020.

Payment and retail went on being the dominant sectors of large amount funding, thanks to their fundamental roles in the growth of the Internet economy.

The HRtech and proptech industries continued seeing rising interest, while edutech, medtech and SaaS have gently gained favour from drastic changes in consumer and business behaviours.

Also Read: How can corporate executives, startups, and VCs stay ahead of the innovation curve?

The interest in the Vietnam market was unwavering regardless of the global crisis, as the number of investors entering the country in 2020 went through only a minor drop compared to last year. The most active investors still came from Vietnam, South Korea and Singapore, while there was a remarkable fall in the number of Japanese investors.

Vu Quoc Huy, Director of the NIC, said: “NIC is researching and proposing to develop a legal environment for innovation in Vietnam, as well as other specific policies, programmes, and regulatory sandbox to support innovative businesses. The cooperation between NIC and Do Ventures in co-publishing the Vietnam Innovation and Tech Investment Report 2020 is to equip investors with information about the innovation and tech investment activities in Vietnam, thereby enhancing both domestic and foreign capital inflows.”

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Image Credit: Unsplash.

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If one has been keeping abreast of the news agenda, one would have seen organisations being plagued with numerous data breaches. Almost every industry has been hit with an incident of some sort from aviation, telecoms companies to furniture retailers – no one has been spared.

As a result, the question facing many startups and companies today is: Will I be next?

As companies big and small pivoted digitally in 2020, work from home has become the norm. While this practice afforded workers with the flexibility of remote working and maintain business continuity, it has also introduced a new set of cybersecurity challenges.

For example, Kaspersky’s telemetry revealed that the total number of remote desktop protocol attacks jumped from 93.1 million worldwide in February 2020 to 277.4 million in March 2020, a 197 per cent increase as countries around the region began to implement lockdown procedures.

This is just the tip of the iceberg – the shift to remote working, as well as other trends as to how five in 10 organisations in the region are reportedly still using outdated and unpatched software – all paint a picture of the vulnerabilities companies and startups face in today’s digital age.

To remedy this, a shift from a reactive “will it happen” to a proactive “when will it happen” approach is crucial, with hybrid work environments and home offices here to stay. Businesses, particularly startups and their preference for nomadic life, need to be on alert as data breaches will become more commonplace.

The challenging climate of data breaches

While every startup or company is frantically pushing to be the next big thing in tech, so too, should they accelerate their efforts at enhancing their cybersecurity posture.

Also Read: How can privacy-focussed apps step up amid a world of data breaches?

In most cases, a data breach exposes confidential, sensitive, or protected information to an unauthorised person. It can occur in various forms, with the most common ones include phishing, brute force attacks and malware.

In our view, these are just some of the trends we have observed when it comes to the challenges businesses and start-ups face when it comes to guarding against data breaches in the region:

• Lack of knowledge on personal data storage and processing laws: Many governments try to safeguard the security of their citizens, whilst Asia is still playing catch up with their Western counterparts on this front, all these laws still apply regardless of whether one has read them.
• Unpreparedness in the face of DDoS attacks: Distributed Denial of Service is an efficient way to down an internet resource. On the darknet, this service goes for cheap and therefore is quite affordable for competitors and cybercriminals who need them as cover for more sophisticated attempts.
• Poor employee awareness: Humans are usually the weak link in businesses. Attackers know full well to exploit this link and often use social engineering tricks to penetrate the corporate network or fish out confidential info.

How then, should businesses and start-ups go about developing a sensible cybersecurity posture and more importantly, how can a data breach affect them?

Why should businesses care about cybersecurity?

In today’s highly digitised societies, a business’s digital reputation counts for everything. According to our Digital Economy Reputation report, 49 per cent of social media users in the region have admitted that they will check the social media accounts of a brand before purchasing their goods and services. An additional 38 per cent also stopped using a company’s or brand’s products once they were embroiled in a crisis.

Clearly, an organisation’s reputation matters to consumers and the damage caused by a data breach goes beyond the depletion of public goodwill, but also financial as well. As of 2020, a breach costs an enterprise US$1.09m and a small to medium-sized business (SMB) US$101k, compared to US$1.41 million and US$108k respectively in 2019.

However, the risk can be managed by taking proactive action. Acting now will allow your organisation to be in a stronger position to recover should a breach happen.

Planning a tailor-made cybersecurity approach for your business

Today, one of the most important ingredients for any business looking to grow is flexibility. One can always opt for the most comprehensive cybersecurity solution, but this could lead to overkill and waste whatever precious resources one could have dedicated to powering business growth.

Also Read: 5 cybersecurity strategies every startup must know

On the other hand, not investing in a cybersecurity solution is a big no-no if you’re genuinely interested in growing your business sustainably. As a starting point, it is worth establishing a few good habits that are easy and free:

• Update software regularly, including router and other network device firmware;
• Keep an eye on the expiration date of security certificates and security software licenses;
• Make backup copies of data, and if your company automates the process, periodically check that it is being done correctly;
• Revoke access permissions from employees as soon as they are no longer required;
• Use security solutions to help monitor the health and status of your corporate infrastructure.

Having established your foundation, a business should look at which areas to prioritise by adopting a cybersecurity service model that can flex and accommodate the increased needs and capacity of the business.

It may be tempting in the short term to enjoy small cost savings in buying your own infrastructure. However, don’t forget to factor in maintenance cost, replacement, scalability and fault tolerance requirements.

Finally, when the business has entered a phase of aggressive expansion, one can consider implementing threat intelligence detection (proactive threat hunting) to their cybersecurity arsenal. Driven by continuous machine learning, it can save IT security teams resources for threat analysis, investigation and response.

An example would be Kaspersky’s Managed Detection and Response (MDR) which contains an outsourced security operations centre that does not require specialised threat hunting and incident analysis skills from internal teams.

Cyber security now part and parcel of a business’s growth strategy however, it doesn’t have to be daunting – one should not face it alone. The cybersecurity community is here to help and offer advice and assistance whenever you are ready.

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The recent Earth Day celebration in late April helped to focus minds in financial services by providing business leaders with an opportunity to communicate to shareholders, and the market at large, their vision for sustainability over the coming decade. 

At around the same time, I was participating as a speaker on a panel in Singapore alongside the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Tribe Accelerator, and the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA).

As we shared our thoughts on macro trends in green finance and fintech, it became apparent that one of the questions coming up time and again was the need to balance and bridge sustainability alongside profitability (after all, corporations are for-profit enterprises and not charities).

The Financial Times, in an article this week, highlighted the challenge this poses for much of the market and global economy as we chart a path to net zero.

Finance is laser focused on green

While all stakeholders in the sector have their part to play in pushing the convergence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles in financial services, the approach taken varies depending on where you are sitting: as the technology provider, financial institution or bank, government/regulator, or something else entirely.

In the last few years, there’s no doubt we’ve seen a macro trend towards green fintech as a partnership between technology companies and financial institutions.

Also Read: The evolution from open banking to open finance

Banks are realising they have a responsibility to be able to help in tracking the greenness of a given project, investment or transaction as climate change is recognised as fact, not fiction. 

With more key players acting towards green and sustainability, a new norm is observed where sustainable companies are profitable — and to be profitable, companies have to be sustainable.

It is in this space that I think technology has a key role to play, including delivering on greater democratisation of finance and improving access for all. 

But here’s a key point: the greatest impact is only possible through technology platforms partnering with the existing financial institutions, which already have millions of users.

Fintech has arguably been at the forefront of reducing costs, improving efficiencies, and enabling greater access to markets — whether that’s through trade clearing and settlement, ESG tracking, or digital bond issuance.

But regulators, too, must do their part.

Regulators are stepping up

In Singapore, banks have to report to MAS so that it can conduct overall assessments of financial stability with regards to environmental or climate risks. 

I know from my conversations with them that MAS is focused on how to attract green finance to Singapore, and how to position themselves as leading green finance centres.

Encouraging the industry to collaborate or pilot technology solutions to solve some of the major challenges in finance remains an important mandate for any central bank. Bridging private sector sustainability with profitability is an area where regulators have a unique role to play.

This is because regulators are unique in their ability to provide grants and co-funding projects, whether it’s proof of concepts (POCs) or actual implementations, that help private businesses working towards ESG solutions to succeed.

Adopting new technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) to better monitor and track the performance of a green project, bond or loan is an area many private firms will need to look at implementing to better monitor their supply chains. 

Also Read: How can fintech help agriculture

Currently, less than 0.3 per cent of all bond financing is green, with insufficient efforts leading to a US$2.6 trillion annual funding deficit towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.

This gap stems from the absence of an efficient common data infrastructure as a nexus between the financial industry and ESG efforts, with often-fragmented data exacerbated by the lack of transparency in impact reporting and usage of proceeds.

Enter the nimble fintech

In the same way fintech companies contributed to addressing problems of financial inclusion for SMEs and underserved communities in the past decade, they have now set their sights on helping financial institutions transition to more sustainable operations.

Even something like the funding of solar panels on a small factory can be made more affordable and accessible through new technology that today’s fintech are building.

Whether it’s on the data side, blockchain, or IoT that measures and verifies said data, fintech is figuring out how to apply it to commercial green use cases.

Today, when we talk about sustainability, the stakeholders are very wide — it’s not just the banks, it’s also the investment companies, the sovereign wealth funds, every foundation, family office, and next generation wealth manager. 

Even the most profitable companies in the world, who don’t need to do any of this in order to become more profitable, are still looking at their environmental commitments and responsibilities.

Also Read: Sustainability: the new business reality

Based on the response I’m seeing from all stakeholders today, I believe there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future of green fintech.

We’re seeing increased interest from the private sector coming in, driven by the leadership of our various sovereign wealth funds like Temasek, who just declared that they’re going to be 100 per cent green.

My hope is that regulators, investors, and institutions continue to support the next generation of financial infrastructure that is being built by risk-taking fintech entrepreneurs. 

By future-proofing our financial market infrastructure for a greener decade, financial incentives or penalties can be more easily programmed towards achieving sustainable performance targets applicable to different ESG financing instruments across bonds, loans, and renewable energy certificates. 

If we get it right as an industry that comes together, I’m convinced the ESG financing gap will be bridged by 2030 — and I look forward to contributing to this green fintech revolution in my own small way.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

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(This article has been updated with more details about the trends in the industry and the impact of COVID-19 on Eezee)

Eezee, a Singapore-based online B2B marketplace for industrial hardware and supplies, has received an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round led by Wavemaker Partners.

Other investors in the round include January Capital, the Pags Group, the family office of Bain Capital’s Stephen Pagliuca, and existing investor Insignia Ventures.

Along with this equity round, Eezee also secured an undisclosed debt facility from Polaris, the strategic partnerships arm of Goldbell Financial Services.

Also Read: Infightings, quitting of key people didn’t deter this entrepreneur from realising his dream

Co-founder and CEO Logan Tan told e27 that Eezee will use the fresh capital to double down the business development effort to get wider market adoption especially within Singapore.

“We’re also looking for our first business development hire on the ground within Philippines and Indonesia,” he added.

Established in 2017 by Logan Tan, Terence Goh, and Jasper Yap, Eezee enables businesses to make small value purchases on industrial supplies such as safety gloves and helmets without the hassle of bureaucratic procurement processes and paperwork.

For buyers, Eezee acts as an online marketplace that consolidates a range of brands and products, so they can compare the prices of goods and suppliers. Its catalogue includes safety shoes, safety glasses, safety goggles, safety harness, personal protective equipment, power tools and hardware.

As for sellers, the platform helps them to manage sales orders and categorise their stock, as well as source other items from other suppliers when requested to by their customers.

“Our platform elevates business processes by integrating with ERPs such as SAP Ariba, Oracle and Coupa, thus enabling businesses remain compliant with governance objectives in an accelerated manner. In 2020, our partnership with Shell to digitalise procurement delivered 20per cent cost savings from integration, thus drastically reducing man hours while offering a wide range of competitively priced products on their marketplace,” he said in a press statement.

Logan said that the firm also delivers products outside of Singapore. “Some of our top countries are Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. We have some business dealings regionally (majority of our exports goes to regional with the top three countries dominating 60 per cent of our exports). We also ship our products beyond regional but currently very fragmented.”

The startup recently partnered with the Singapore government to enable its 150,000 civil servants to procure items directly from the platform.

Also Read: Singapore’s B2B marketplace Eezee raises funding from Insignia for Asia expansion

Eezee’s Chief Commercial Officer Shawn Seet shared: “Eezee is not just a marketplace — we’re an ecosystem. International business buyers use us as we provide an unparalleled procurement experience. Suppliers partner with us as they renew their lifespan by integrating with us to reach customers they could never serve. The potential of this connectivity is limitless.”

Over the past four years, Eezee has developed an effective template for driving digitalisation of the procurement process that they aim to bring to the rest of the region.

In September 2019, Eezee had bagged an undisclosed sum in seed funding from Insignia Ventures for business expansion.

Impact of COVID-19

According to Logan, COVID-19 has had a positive impact on the business. When the pandemic first hit, Eezee’s order volume jumped due to the rise of demand for PPE (personal protective equipment) kits and masks, etc.

“We then started to see significant interest from our clients to utilise the platform and they are more receptive to digital solutions. The panic purchases and spike in volume eventually fades away with more stable growth MoM. Overall, there’s positive impact on our business,” he remarked.

Trends

Logan is seeing a seeing a shift in behaviours towards B2B digital commerce, not just for industrial supplies but across various categories such as F&B, FMCG and many more.

“Although the shift is still in a very early phase, there’s positive signs that we have secured major clients that are very supportive of our journey. The world gets more and more connected, businesses will follow suit as well,” he said.

“My personal belief is that as the consumer world gets digitalised, businesses will follow suit. Due to the ever-growing digital gaps between the consumer and business world, it’s inevitable that the digital technology will gain a significant footing into the business world,” he concluded.
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Image Credit: Eezee

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Fortuna Cools, a Philippine startup seeking to find an alternative to plastics, has secured a seed investment round led by ADB Ventures, the impact investment arm of Asian Development Bank, and Katapult Ocean Fund.

Pasudeco Development Corporation, the Manila Angel Investors Network, she1k, and Nardo Holdings, also joined the round.

The financial terms were not disclosed.

Fortuna Cools will use the capital to grow its sales and engineering teams, as well as finance its higher production volumes to reduce unit costs and benefit more farmers, co-founder and CEO David Cutler told e27.

Also Read: This Indian startup makes cutlery using sugarcane waste

Started in 2018 by Cutler and Tamara Mekler, Fortuna Cools began working on “up-cycled, high-performance” coolers in the archipelago, alongside small-scale agricultural communities and the NGO ‘Rare‘. These coolers were designed to help fishermen preserve their catch without relying on fragile Styrofoam boxes.

According to Cutler, Fortuna Cools was soon inundated with requests for sustainable, long-lasting coolers from different sectors and locations.

“We are commercialising coolers. Our first product, the Fortuna Coconut Cooler, is available today in the Philippines as a B2B product for fresh food packaging and the transport of perishable goods,” he shared. “It is marketed to major food distributors, farmer cooperatives, and grocery stores in Southeast Asia.

Cutler said the prices are already competitive with many existing insulated packaging options, with significant discounts available at higher volumes.

The startup will soon launch its second product, the Nutshell Cooler, as an eco-conscious consumer product in key international markets. It seeks to fill a glaring gap in an eco-conscious market without any eco-friendly options.

“The Nutshell Cooler is built with our same natural fibre insulation that we’ve developed over the past few years. But there are various differences in the design to make it suitable for outdoor recreation and casual use (e.g. trip to the beach, weekend getaway, even grocery shopping),” he explained.

A portion of the capital just raised will be go into the launching of Nutshell Cooler, he said.

“Material innovation is key to solving the plastic waste problem in our oceans,” said Ross Brooks, Investment Manager at Katapult Ocean. “Fortuna’s nature-based insulation solution not only aims to replace plastic foam, but in doing so will provide communities with a more robust and lower cost cold storage solution. Fortuna’s solution has the potential to create a positive impact in both environmental and social domains.”

Also Read: Impact-tech investor ADB Ventures in talks to raise US$100M debt fund

“We hear the demand for less plastic waste among everyone from fish traders to sunbathers, while small-scale coconut farmers have no choice today but to burn their piles of leftover husks. We are proud that positive impact is built into every fibre we use,” Cutler said.

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Image Credit: Fortuna Cools

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