Mosaic Solutions, a provider of profit optimisation solutions for the F&B and hospitality industries in the Philippines, has raised US$1.5 million in pre-Series A preferred equity and convertible debt, led by Australian early-stage VC firm Investible.

Other investors are IdeaSpace (a non-profit which recently launched Opportunity Fund out of Manila), KMC Founders Fund, and JC Capital.

Several high net-worth individuals, family offices and strategic investors like RCGI, besides owners of multiple concepts in the Philippines (Barcino, Single Origin, Bluesmith, Meat Depot and Meatworld International) also joined the round.

Also Read: 4 go-to-market strategy shifts to help startups navigate the post-pandemic economy

With these funds, Mosaic will further enhance its software, which provides restaurants and off-premise food retailers a “comprehensive and immediate” view of their key cost and revenue drivers.

To date, Mosaic (one of the companies of e27’s Top100 competition in the Philippines) has raised over US$3 million from investors in the US, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.

Launched in 2016, Mosaic is a SaaS startup providing solutions including data analytics, inventory management, point of sale and purchasing, which are offered primarily to the F&B sector across Southeast Asia.

Its clients include multi-unit restaurant and bar groups, cloud kitchens, commissaries, hotels and casinos, and now retailers, such as supermarkets and convenience stores.

“Our cloud-based solutions provide customers with the information they desperately need right now — real-time, holistic data analytics, reporting and business insights, seen at the outlet and brand level,” said CEO Brett Doyle.

“Mosaic is first and foremost a solution provider for restaurants, but we made a shift in focus early in the COVID pandemic to include off-premise food retailers, signing our first off-premise retailer in March. We saw an opportunity to help this underserved sector and diversify our customer portfolio by adding a lockdown-resistant, high growth sector,” Doyle added.

Also Read: Looking east: Why the future of VC investment is beyond the Silicon Valley

Currently, Mosaic services over 100 customers across the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, India and the UAE, with a primary focus on the Philippines.

The company claimed in a press note that it grew its customer base (measured as number of outlets) at an annual rate of 300 per cent from 2016 to 2019. Further, with its expansion into off-premise, Mosaic more than tripled its footprint during 1H 2020.

The startup sees a great opportunity in the F&B sector across Southeast Asia, with on-premise F&B spending projected to double to US$5 billion by 2022, and the total F&B market projected to grow to over US$125 billion by 2023.

Besides seeking further growth in the Philippines market, next steps for Mosaic will include regional expansion supported by a Series A capital raise presently planned for 2021.

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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Dyslexics challenge their very description. The learning difficulty is, for many people like me, actually a business advantage. Figures such as Richard Branson and Jamie Oliver overcame their dyslexia to create hugely successful businesses and research suggests that dyslexics are disproportionately represented among entrepreneurs.

Commentators note the condition enables people to excel at problem-solving and focus on the wider picture. The same is true for me, a serial entrepreneur who lives with dyslexia. I realised from an early age that mixing up my letters and struggling to follow written commands made me almost invincible to failure. I did not avoid it; I expected it.

I believe this condition that grants me immunity to failure and the ability to learn visually, makes me a better entrepreneur.

Being like me

Dyslexia makes reading and writing pretty challenging and certainly hampered me inside the Singaporean education system, where grades are seen as a way to determine your future job prospects and opportunities. 

Dyslexia intrinsically changes how one communicates via the written word. In my experience, the learning difficulty makes me miss out on some words when reading and writing. For example, I might get confused with the letter “b” and “d”. This made school much more difficult than necessary. There were times when I might need five to eight hours to study for something my peers could do it within the hour. 

This felt somehow shameful for a young man who excelled at everything else apart from written tests. I have come across dyslexic peers who have simply been taught that they were born stupid or incapable. However, when I spoke to them about things that they are passionate they reveal themselves as extremely gifted and brilliant people. 

Dyslexics come to realise that our brains are simply wired differently. It does not make us stupid; in fact, it can help us to do many things that others cannot. I think about things in a very visual way, for example. This allows me to “see” multiple scenarios in the choices I make for my startup, bolstering my foresight for company growth. 

For me, dyslexia made me feel comfortable with failure and it strongly influences the entrepreneur that I have become. Interestingly, I am not an outlier in this thinking.

Our weakness is our strength

It is not correct to describe dyslexia as a hindrance to entrepreneurship. In fact, the reality is far from it. People like me actually thrive in being the boss because, well, it is how our brains are wired to function.

In my experience, people with dyslexia visualise rather than write information and this helps entrepreneurs entertain multiple business scenarios better than others. Perhaps we cannot convert this into the written word very well, but us dyslexics are excellent at considering multiple points of view and multiple possibilities in business.

Also Read: Productivity: What’s expected in the office vs what really happens

Julie Logan, emeritus professor of entrepreneurship at Cass Business School, in London, says that 20 per cent of the UK’s business self-starters have the condition. Her research into the US market showed that 35 per cent of company founders identified themselves as dyslexic, compared with 15 per cent in the general population. 

These figures are food for thought. The word “learning difficulty” implies somebody who is less than able. In the case of dyslexia, however, the opposite is true when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Why creativity is key 

Do not get me wrong – I have not always been thankful for my dyslexia. However, it has certainly carved my career path and shaped my decisions up until this point. I feel that this is a familiar story for many people like me and likely the reason there are plenty of us in entrepreneurship.

Dyslexics know how to best work through their condition. After all, it is something we grow with and learn to accommodate. This probably answers why we flock towards jobs such as entrepreneurship – more than most, we need to take charge and mould our work environment to our personal skillset. 

I now see my dyslexia as a gift. It assists me in finding unique solutions to problems professional and personal. It makes me the entrepreneur I am today, one who is adaptable and flexible to the given scenario. 

Personally, I do not think it would have been possible to find success as a serial entrepreneur without my dyslexia. My entrepreneurship has been coloured by the way the “disorder” makes me think. Dyslexia buoys my experiences with the world and undoubtedly makes me a better entrepreneur for it.

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Sunday, a full-stack insurtech startup based in Thailand, has raised US$9 million in pre-Series B bridge round of funding led by SCB 10X, the venture capital arm of the Siam Commercial Bank.

New and existing investors, including Vertex Ventures (Southeast Asia and India), Quona Capital, and LINE Ventures, also participated.

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

The Bangkok-headquartered firm aims to deploy the new capital to support its rapid growth plans in Thailand and Indonesia, while deepening its proprietary employee benefits platform and superapp ‘Sunday Service’ for health and motor insurance products and services.

Launched in 2017, Sunday uses Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and digital platforms to offer personalised insurance products and services “that suit all types of individual and business risks”. It has developed risk prediction algorithms that power its premium pricing and recommendation engines for health and motor coverages.

The insurance venture also offers self-services, such as disease symptom checker on the Sunday Service platform. Claims notification for vehicle damages is also available to make claim journey easier.

According to Sunday, corporates and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are deeply rooted in its business model as it is the number one requested employee benefits globally.

In addition, telemedicine service is available through API integration with its provider-partners. Medication delivery service will also be offered. The app also recommend suitable hospitals for customers.

Also Read: Asian insurtech on the rise: An overview of the main players

Over the past two years, the company raised two rounds of funding — US$11 million Series A extension led by Quona Capital in December 2019 and US$10 million led by Vertex in February 2019.

“In times of great uncertainty, consumer demand will shift towards affordable core insurance products that truly help with risk management. As a team, we believe Sunday is uniquely positioned to deliver one-stop personalised insurance coverages and services that meet these evolving risks and growing demands from businesses and individuals in Southeast Asia,” said Sunday Co-founder and CEO Cindy Kua.

“Southeast Asia has more than 360 million internet users, who are the most engaged mobile internet users in the world. This makes it an attractive market for insurtech companies to offer online personalised products,” said Mukaya (Tai) Panich, Chief Venture and Investment Officer, SCB 10X.

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Image Credit: Sunday

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Despite COVID-19 looming over the world, disrupting businesses and delaying launches, San Francisco-based startup Onerent is set to launch its property management platform in Singapore.

However, this is not the first time the company made an entry to Asia, the startup already has a fully remote team working from the Philippines.

When asked about further expansion plans in Southeast Asia, Onerent Co-Founder and CMO Chuck Hattemer expressed ambitious goals. He said that they are planning to work in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Part of its Asia expansion strategy includes a partnership with investor Far East, who participated in the Series A funding round for OneRent.

“We wanted to work with people on the ground locally, and that’s why we partnered with Far East Organisation. Right off the bat, they have such a great legacy within the Singaporean market and a history of real estate development, sales and leasing. So, the first thing we did was immerse our team with Far East’s team to understand the way property was in Singapore,” co-founder of OneRent, Chuck Hattemer told e27 in an interview.

Also Read: PropertyGuru raises US$220M from TPG, KKR to accelerate growth in Malaysia, Vietnam

Founded in 2014, Onerent is a proptech company which aims to digitise the rental process holistically. Its ACE technology will allow renters to take a virtual tour of the home, over messenger, WhatsApp and apple business chat.

This technology can especially be seen as more attractive during COVID-19 since it promotes a contactless way of buying and selling property.

However, there are still local companies such as PropertyGuru and 99.co which offer similar services and have been in the market for a longer time. PropertyGuru has also recently launched a similar technology which allows a fully virtual guided tour with a salesperson.

What makes Onerent different, according to Hattemer, is that it has also been backed by Google’s chief of AI Jeff Dean. Its other unique aspect is that it offers users the option to get real estate tasks done over just “a chat experience”. Through the chat, users can ask questions about their property, negotiate, and even manage contracts.

” With COVID-19 shifting consumer behaviour, we have had a lot of interest from real estate operators and developers who have been doing things in a paper-pendant-stamp way and want to adopt technology,” Hattemer said.

 

Real-estate during COVID-19

While it is true that COVID-19 is shifting consumer towards a more virtual form of reality, it is also creating a lot of economic uncertainty. When it comes to real-estate, there have been mixed reports.

According to a Bloomberg report, Singapore’s home prices fell the most in three years in the second quarter of 2020, while analysts have also made predictions that the slide may not be over.

On the other hand, while housing properties are falling the resale volume of the island city’s non-landed private homes have hit a two-year high in August, according to the Business Times.

“If we look at the past long-term property trends in Asia, it has always come back after demand shocks. This might be a testament to the fact that Asia is still urbanising and the long-term demand for property and the related proptech sector is still trending upwards,” said Kay Mok Ku, Managing Partner of Gobi Partners, a leading ASEAN-focused VC firm.

Also Read: How proptech startup iMyanmarHouse remains profitable despite COVID-19

But some skeptics argue that it is too early to get a clear view of how this pandemic will unfold in the proptech sector.

In times like this, one of Onerent’s key strategies for growth is giving people virtual tour access and rebates.

“For our primary business, we allow people to do a full virtual tour. They can even book a self-tour through a lockbox on the property and visit the property without anyone being there,” shared Hattemer.

“In the US, when they sign a lease and move in, they have, 90 days to be able to decide if they want to move somewhere else instead. So even though they signed a one year lease, we give them some leeway, if maybe it wasn’t right, wasn’t the right fit. For some of those features, in Singapore, it will be decided with Far East and how they market their properties.”

Onerent is also planning to offer rent rebates, to help with the pressures of paying rent for someone who is leasing a home with the company.

After its success in the US market, with the help of local partnership OneRent has strong ambitions for its Southeast Asian debut.

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Image Credit: One Rent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Southeast Asian tech giant Grab is in advanced talks with insurance honchos Prudential and AIA and several others to raise US$300 million to US$500 million investment, as per a Reuters report.

The Singapore-based company aims to reach investment agreements as early as October, the report added, citing unnamed sources.

Also Read: [Updated] Report: Grab is raising US$200M at a US$14.3B valuation from South Korean private equity firm

The money is being raised for Grab Financial Group.

As per this report, the deal can also support Grab in its sales pitch for the Singapore banking licence.

When contacted by e27, a Grab spokesperson declines to comment on the report, terming it “market speculations”.

The report comes close on the heels of Grab’s US$200 million fundraise from South Korean private equity firm Stic Investments. Early this year, it also managed to raise more than US$850 million in funding from Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and TIS Inc.

As per CB Insights data, Grab is currently valued at US$14.3 billion.

There have also been reports about Grab’s ongoing talks for a potential merger with rival gojek. As per a DealStreetAsia report, the two companies are still deadlocked over management and geographical control.

Also Read: Google, JD.com, Tencent confirm leads in GOJEK Series F fundraising

gojek — which counts Google, Tencent and Temasek among its key investors -recently raised US$1.2 billion from undisclosed group of investors.

Grab recently laid off employees as the pandemic hit the company, mainly its transport business.

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Image credit: Grab

 

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Kim An Group, which runs a fintech platform under the same brand in Vietnam, has received an undisclosed sum in Series A investment from Patamar Capital, Viet Capital Ventures and East Ventures.

The proceeds from this round will be used to develop Kin An’s core technology, optimise its credit scoring platform and better connect customers to financial institutions in Vietnam, it said in a statement.

Kim An connects banks and financial companies in Vietnam with local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through an online platform as well as its 80-plus branches nationwide.

Also Read: Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam the most attractive fintech hubs in SEA: Study

According to Shuyin Tang of Patamar, there is widespread interest in providing financial services to MSMEs, the backbone of the nation’s economy. However, very few have cracked the code in terms of how to serve this segment effectively.

“Kim An is one of those rare companies that have done so,” she said. “Having invested in these types of business models for over a decade, at Patamar we have learnt that serving this segment demands a deep understanding of the behavioural patterns and needs of MSMEs and their owners, as well as outstanding operational capabilities to execute successfully day-to-day.”

As a tech-enabled service provider for Vietnamese banks and financial companies, Kim An has proven that it can deliver on both these fronts. “With the investment from this round and through leveraging technology, we believe Kim An is poised to scale rapidly to meet the tremendous demand in the market,” she added.

Additionally, Kim An Group has signed partnerships with Nam A Bank and FE Credit to expand the scope of co-operation and develop consumer loans for individual customers, household business, and micro enterprises.

Binh Duc Hanh, Chief Sale Officer of Kim An Group, said: “After nearly two years of partnership with financial institutions, more than 25,000 loans have been disbursed to customers through Kim An Group. We aim to help accelerate financial inclusion in Vietnam by being extended technological arms of credit institution to bring their best products and services to customers.”

Also Read: Big banks and fintech startups: Rivals or allies?

As per a recent study by MDI ventures, Finch Capital, and Dealroom.co, Vietnam is one of the most attractive fintech hubs in Southeast Asia.

Almost 90 per cent of Vietnamese consumers opt to pay cash on delivery for their online purchases, a much higher proportion than other regional markets. However, digital payments technology is evolving rapidly. Payments through mobile banking services surged 144 per cent per year over the past five years.

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Image Credit: Kim An Group

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Insurtech company Descartes Underwriting raises US$18.5M

The story: Descartes Underwriting, an insurtech company specialised in climate risk modelling and data-driven risk transfer hailing from France, announced that it has raised US$18.5 million in Series A funding round. The fresh round of capital comes 18 months after raising US$2.5 million in seed funding from BlackFin Capital Partners.

The investors: The investors in the round include global venture capital firms Serena, Cathay Innovation, and BlackFin Capital Partners.

The plans: The new financing will be used to support Descartes’ global expansion to the US and Asia. While headquartered out of Paris, Descartes covers a wide variety of geographies including Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia and plans to open new offices in New York and Singapore. Descartes will also use the funds to grow its product range, target larger deals and deepen its tech capabilities and data science team.

What Descartes Underwriting does: Founded in 2018, the insurtech company scales up parametric insurance, leveraging new technologies and data science to challenge traditional insurance models. Founded by a team of experienced insurers and reinsurers, Descartes works with corporate brokers to design and underwrite innovative, bespoke and affordable insurance solutions.

Manny Pacquiao launches digital payment platform PacPay

The story: Technology startup Pac Technologies Pte Ltd announces the partnership with Remsea Pte Ltd, a fintech remittance firm licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in an effort to further both companies’ initiatives in the fintech space in Asia and beyond. Co-founded by boxing world champion Senator Manny Pacquiao, aims to launch PacPay this year.

Also Read: 7 lessons entrepreneurs can learn from Manny Pacquiao

What is PacPay: PacPay is a digital payment platform for global influencers, brands, and fans, providing users with seamless, faster, and safer cross-border prepaid solutions to make payments conveniently. Via PacPay’s rewards programme, users can connect with their favourite influencers for brands easily, participate in exclusive private events, and enjoy what it describes as ‘money-cannot-buy’ privileges and experiences.

During a media conference held in Manila last year, Sen. Pacquiao revealed his plan to develop PacPay. Fans of the legendary boxer have since indicated strong interest, many of whom have pre-registered for the highly-anticipated card programme.

Waze closes sales office in APAC

The story: In news shared by SGSME.sg, global navigation app Waze reportedly halts operations in Singapore, following the layoff of about five per cent or 30 people of its global workforce, due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

The affected sales offices are the ones in Asia Pacific -Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia- as well as in its smaller Latin America markets of Colombia, Argentina, and Chile.

The Chief Executive Noam Bardin’s official note said that “Waze users in many cities and countries are driving less or have stopped driving entirely due to the ongoing pandemic”.

The note emphasises that the affected employees will receive a severance package that includes career transition opportunities within Google, outplacement services from the date of the notice through six months after employment, financial help and eligibility for year-end bonuses, and healthcare benefits.

What is Waze: The Waze app is an Israeli startup, Google-owned company, that uses user-generated data to help riders on the road finding other routes to avoid traffic jams or speed cameras.

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Image Credit: Louie Martinez on Unsplash

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Panic buying, at-home needs, livestream shopping, and e-commerce accelerated the shopping landscape in Southeast Asia (SEA) during COVID-19. Thanks to these shopping trends, Shopback –which has recently expanded to South Korea– is able to continue running its annual mega shopping festival ShopFest from September to December this year. Yes, even amidst the pandemic.

“Many consumers look forward to the year-end shopping season as that is when brands compete to run attractive sales and promotions. However, it can be overwhelming for the consumer as more and more online retailers participate each year,” says Henry Chan, Co-Founder and CEO of ShopBack.

So, ShopBack created a unified platform to seamlessly connect these brands and consumers –at the same time help consumers cut through the noise and better navigate through the various sale events and deals. This is how ShopFest was born, as the first stop for a consumer’s online shopping journey.

The four-month-long ShopFest includes key dates such as 9.9, 11.11, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. In order to enhance their value offering for the 20 million user base, ShopBack has added new in-app features targeted at growing conservative shoppers that are seeking out more ways to maximise their savings. These new features will help consumers make better purchasing decisions and will roll out across ShopBack’s nine markets at different times over the next year.

Rolling out new features at a time when startups are hibernating or even shutting down, is almost like music to one’s ears. Amidst global uncertainty, how could ShopBack be so sure their new features will be well received by their 20 million strong user base spread across nine countries in SEA?

In an effort to dig deeper into how ShopBack measures customer value and used customer feedback metrics to shape its product development journey, e27 speaks to Candice Ong, Chief Commercial Officer, and Justin Lee, Chief Product Officer, at ShopBack.

What we will learn in this article:

1. The essential effect: Customer behaviour during a crisis
2. Consumers show the way: Utilising customer feedback in the product development process
3. But the process goes on: Preventing analysis paralysis

The essential effect

In the earlier stages of the pandemic, there was a natural rise in the sales of essentials and groceries across the region via e-commerce. This was unsurprising as consumers were required to stay at home to effectively manage the rapid spread of COVID-19, and therefore turned to online shopping to purchase their daily necessities.

But something interesting to note is that although consumers generally reined in their spending, the idea of what a ‘need’ is shifted during this period, says Ong.

“As consumers spent more time at home, we found that they became more willing to spend on home appliances, fitness equipment, and apparel, entertainment and gaming equipment, and food delivery.”

“These were once considered ‘peripheral’ luxuries but as people were forced to stay at home, they seem to have transitioned to be part of a ‘new normal’ of spending, where spending on these categories replaced expenditure on travel and outdoor entertainment,” adds Ong.

For instance, in Singapore alone, ShopBack saw a four-time surge in orders for product categories such as fitness and electronics, while the internet services category (e.g. VPN, anti-virus) increased by around 70 times from Q1-Q2.

The trend of consumers seeking greater value and becoming more conservative in their spending only aggravated during the pandemic as cash flow became a challenge for all societies. According to a recent report by Facebook and Bain & Company, there has been a shift to value-for-money purchasing across Southeast Asia as conservatism sets in. A survey found that on average, 57 per cent of respondents cited “value” among their top purchasing considerations.

Also Read: Building great customer experience when it matters the most

“When COVID-19 hit, we quickly ramped up on building and rolling out new features to further simplify the shopping experience and help our users make better purchasing decisions. One such feature was a price comparison feature, where users can compare prices of similar items across different online stores,” says Ong.

Others included ‘Voucher’ where users can enjoy attractive discounts and cashback when they purchase vouchers from a wide variety of ShopBack’s merchant partners, both online and offline. This also helped merchants lock in sales, while users find value in the cashback from these vouchers and store credits.

And then there is ‘Challenge’ where users can complete specific tasks or challenges set by ShopBack and receive bonus cashback and other attractive rewards.

Consumers show the way

Ong shares that while these innovative value-added features were released in response to the changing shopping behaviours during COVID-19, they were based on their continued data-centric approach to understanding customer behaviour.

Users are big contributors to the ideation stage of the features that Shopback builds. Be it in-person or virtual interactions the tech and product teams take note of the candid suggestions and enhancements consumers wish to see.

“Listening to your customers is a deceivingly simple idea, yet it is often forgotten. No matter how large a business grows, we need to remember that actual human beings are behind every click, impression, and sale,“ says Ong.

In a pre-COVID-19 world, they collected user feedback through focus groups and invited users down to test the product, and they continued to do so during the pandemic via more calls and virtual meetings with users.

“Getting early anecdotes from our customers has been instrumental in shaping the roadmaps of each of our product lines,” says Lee.

Whilst all of Shopback’s products are built with user feedback in mind, the tech and product teams decide the best time to launch these features. “To do this, we need to take into consideration supply-side dynamics and the competitive landscape,” he elaborates.

When the product first goes live, it often starts as a customised version of a design sprint, he adds. And once the feature starts taking shape, it goes into the development pipeline where the team turns their attention to key areas such as operations, sales, and marketing.

The development team does keep track of a development schedule and will also organise demos and internal usability testing prior to the official launch.

The product development cycle largely depends on the size and complexity of the features. For bigger features such as the new Vouchers, the teams involved going beyond just the standard two-pizza development scrum teams.

Vouchers had to be tightly integrated with other parts of their existing product so multiple development teams were combined into a ‘taskforce’ to accomplish the mission, says Lee. And hence it took the team six weeks, including lots of late nights and weekends –from ideation to shipping the feature to production, he continues.

Also Read: A multi-disciplinary approach to product development requires collaboration

Lee stresses the power of OKRs at ShopBack to guide product development and said they were a great way to merge top-down priorities with bottom-up problem statements.

“This (OKR) method has allowed us to stay aligned across all levels on what the focus areas are –be it new features or product improvements, how we define success, and when we aim for changes to take effect,” he says.

But the process goes on …

But it just doesn’t end there. Dishing out changes to your consumer base in such fragile times is full of risks. Which is why ShopBack teams process user feedback equally minutely.

One has to be careful with data. Metrics, if identified correctly, can yield great insights but if overdone, it can lead to the common ‘analysis paralysis’ problem.

So, in addition to dashboards that help track customer responses to the newly launched features, ShopBack also collected valuable insights directly from users. “COVID-19 has not deterred our efforts in this area, our product managers and designers work hard to ring up users who are early adopters of our features to solicit feedback,” says Lee.

For newly launched features, it also helps in quickly gauging user response and re-define ways if it becomes clear that the team is heading in the wrong direction. The user research teams also disseminated email surveys to gather feedback.

Ong says, “We also created ShopBack community groups in several local markets, including Singapore so that local teams can directly engage with customers and collect their feedback. User feedback is extremely important to us, as it helps us to understand their pain points and identify the problems to solve.”

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Bangkok Bank (BB) acquires 1 per cent stake in gojek; The Indonesian tech firm now commands US$11-12B valuation; BB is the 2nd bank after SCB to own a stake in gojek; In Thailand, gojek operates under the GET brand. DealStreetAsia

Grab in talks with Prudential, AIA for fintech investment; The tech major is seeking US$300-500M for its financial services unit; Grab aims to reach agreements as early as Oct; Grab Financial Group’s pre-money valuation has been estimated at about US$2B. Reuters

Indonesian logistics-tech firm Waresix closes US$100M Series B; Investors include EV Growth, Jungle, SoftBank, EMTEK group; This round comes six months after it secured US$25.5M Series; Waresix claims it serves 250+ corporate clients, has operates 40K+ trucks and has 375 warehouses in more than 100 cities and towns across Indonesia. e27

Naver, Sea, Vertex invest in Vietnam’s Do Ventures’s US$50M fund I; The early-stage VC firm on an average will invest US$500K-US$5M each in startups; The VC looks to invest 30 startups; It will also help set up an automatic reporting system that empowers founders to understand real-time performance of the biz. e27

SoftBank wants to burn money; As an investor, it has been an enthusiastic proponent of burning cash, spending freely to back its champions in virtually every tech market-share war witnessed in Asia over recent years; The VC firm, however, is now desperate to win; It is struggling after a series of tech bets gone badly, including WeWork and Uber’s underperformed IPO. Nikkei Asia Review

Temasek’s portfolio in China exceeds Singapore home base; Financial services remains the largest sector in its portfolio at 23%, with the fund being an investor in Ant Group; Temasek’s portfolio has its largest weighting in Asia, amounting to 66% of its exposure by underlying assets; China, at 29%, and Singapore, at 24%, are the top two countries by concentration. Nikkei Asia Review

Singapore B2B cross-border payments network Thunes raises US$60M led by African VC Helios Investment; Checkout.com, Future Shape also joined; The money will fuel expansion and growth in Africa, Asia, LatAm; Thunes connects different payment players in more than 100 countries. e27

Edutech firm Edukasyon.ph extends Series A round; Investors include Alternate Ventures, French Partners, Lorinet Foundation; The education marketplace enables students to search, compare and apply to higher education institutions and online courses; Since Dec. 2019, it brought in 700 listed school partners and achieved 500K registered student users. e27

Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam the most attractive fintech hubs in SEA, says study; The combined value of all the fintech startups in SEA has reached US$108B in 2020; Indonesia and Singapore are the most valuable ecosystems, which are worth US$60B and US$35B, respectively; The two countries are also home to 9 unicorn startups each. e27

Qapita secures US$1.8M seed funding to help startups manage their cap tables, ESOPs digitally; Investors include Vulcan Capital, Koh Boon Hwee, K3 Ventures; Qapita has offices in India and Singapore, and will initially serve customers based in Singapore, India and Indonesia before expanding into other markets. e27

Funding Societies appoints GoBear co-founder Frank Stevenaar as CFO, Nihit Nirmal as CPO, Ishan Agrawal as CTO; The SME digital SME lending platform has disbursed over US$1.2B in financing across more than 2.8M loans so far; In April, it raised US$40M Series C; Its investors include Sequoia India, Softbank Ventures Asia. e27

Quest Ventures, ScaleUp Malaysia team up to scale the growth of  local startups; The deal brought in US$1M in FDI to develop startups; 24 firms shortlisted from the 2nd cohort’s applications will start the programme in Oct; As part of the partnership, the programme will invest at least US$60,250 in up to 12 of these companies. e27

Accelerating Asia announces cohort-3 startups; Each will receive US$36.5K while top performers will get US$110K; The programme has an acceptance rate of less than 2% with only eight selected from 450 applications; The accelerator-cum-investor is also approaching the final close of its current fund. e27

Why GERO is optimistic about its chance in the race for anti-ageing drug; The Singapore- and Russia-based biotech firm is developing drugs for complex diseases with a focus on anti-ageing and says it successfully demonstrate it on mice; The firm, however, says it is hard to tell what the side effects of the drug yet. e27

How startup founders can protect themselves from getting sued; The smart solution is management liability insurance, commonly referred to as D&O or directors and officers; This is an absolute essential insurance for startup founders that covers a wide array of messy lawsuits. e27

‘There is always an opportunity to be found within a crisis’: Ben Mathias of Vertex Ventures; COVID-19 forced startups to be more efficient and they realised they can still hit their business plans with far less expense, so the path to profitability is quicker. e27

App Annie co-founder Bertrand Schmitt on why he built the leading mobile analytics platform in China; In 2020, starting a tech business in the mobile analytics space in China makes sense; But 10 years ago, the situation was vastly different and it would seem almost ludicrous, given how small the market was. e27

Growing up in coastal villages, Aruna believes in empowering fishermen as the key to prosperity; The startup has established a collaborative effort with the communications and ICT ministry to provide online programme for fishermen; It has also worked with the ministry of rural and disadvantaged regions development to provide financial access to them. e27

Most APAC consumers prefer staying at home, businesses are responding; According to a Digimind study, top on the list were consumers from India (87.8%), followed by Hong Kong (78.2%), Indonesia (77.5%), Singapore (76.6%) Malaysia (71.3%), Philippines (70.3%); The report found that consumers tend to find alternative solutions that allowed them to remain at home while supplementing their past routines and fixes, including shopping, socialising, and seeking entertainment. The Star

Accelerating the demand for proptech in APAC; The pandemic has prompted more real estate companies to consider incorporating proptech into their operations; But real estate companies are still very viscous and slow. UrbanLand

Launcho Ventures sets up startup studio in Singapore; Startups will be created in-house through internal ideation as well as co-created with other founders in the region; It will inject up to US$220K into new companies; Funders will get US$2,560monthly salary. TechInAsia

Singtel unveils 5G services at pop-up retail store UNBOXED; The telco claims it demonstrated speeds of more than 1Gbps using 5G: For instance, a 2-hour HDR movie can be downloaded in just 40 seconds; 5G can also power IoT and AI, enabling real-time intelligent connectivity and analytics in-store. Singapore Business Review

Here’s the most important thing digital leaders get right; It doesn’t matter how sophisticated your tech is; If the user experience isn’t right, the investment you’ve made isn’t going to succeed; If your organisation remains focussed on operating a process rather than delivering an outcome, you’ll struggle. The Next Web

Homegrown Thai foodtech startups race to meet plant-based demand surge; While mainstream restaurant chains expand their plant-based offerings, startups in the country are also emerging to accelerate the dietary shift to more sustainable proteins. GreenQueen

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SEA’s farmers can now monetise livestock through blockchain

The story: Singapore-based fintech startup InfoCorp has launched Sentinel Chain, an international platform to accept the use of livestock as collateral via a consortium blockchain.

The platform allows investors from around the world to finance smallholder farmer via livestock-backed financing companies.

About the market: Southeast Asia’s poultry production is expected to reach 12.3 million metric tons (mmt) by 2028 from 9.2 mmt in 2018, up to 80 per cent of which is provided by smallholder farmers.

One of the limitations faced by smallholder farmers in collateralising their livestock includes the lack of a systematic approach to verifying their ownership of livestock. There is also no verified system to help convert the value of livestock into dollars and cents.

Also Read: Hunger for no hunger: How Agrisea grows rice in the ocean to address food scarcity

This leaves farmers helpless in the face of uncertain times such as the COVID-19 pandemic when they require bank loans but are unable to provide legally recognized collateral in return.

What does Sentinel Chain do?: It addresses this issue by creating a digital system to quantify, identify and verify livestock ownership at the local market level, enabling unbanked farmers to finally unlock the value of their livestock assets.

This, in turn, paves the way for them to receive livestock insurance and collateralizable loans. Coupled with a pool of offshore investors, access to credit becomes cheaper and faster, providing these farmers with a comprehensive suite of financial services that empower them to partake in the global economy.

EduSpaze, Kaplan join hands to support Singapore edutech startups

The story: EduSpaze, a Singapore-based edutech accelerator supported by Enterprise Singapore, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Kaplan, a large and diverse education provider, to support the edutech startup community and provide real-world learning opportunities for students in this sector in Singapore.

Also Read: Why edutech is becoming an investor favourite this season

The objectives: With this partnership, both parties seek to collaborate to provide a group of over 20 Singapore-based startups with the opportunity to learn about innovative edutech solutions that can help them with different significant aspects of their business, including on-boarding, better logistics and operations, and eventually help them scale.

The partnership will tap on Kaplan’s expertise in developing industry-ready talent to grow the local talent pool for edtech entrepreneurs and professionals. Where appropriate, Kaplan will leverage its global presence to help these Singaporean startups expand and grow overseas.

The post In brief: EduSpaze, Kaplan announce partnership; InfoCorp rolls out blockchain-based livestock monetisation solution appeared first on e27.