KitaBeli, an Indonesia-based startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding round to help users do group buying through their platform. East Ventures led the deal with participation from AC Ventures and some angel investors.

The fresh capital will be used by the company to expand locally, potentially across two-to-four cities.

Founded in March this year, KitaBeli is a social commerce platform where users can invite their friends to form groups to receive discounts from suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) products. This concept is widely known as group buying and is already popular among several Chinese e-commerce companies.

“Indonesian consumers are extremely social. They love to share information about deals, discounts, and purchases with their friends and family,” co-founder of KitaBeli, Prateek Chaturvedi, said in a press statement.

“We saw that other platforms have not been able to tap into this behaviour. KitaBeli gives users a convenient way of sharing purchases with their friends and inviting them to buy together and save money. As a result, everyone can get lower prices for daily needs.”

Also Read: Indonesia’s B2B FMCG marketplace GudangAda raises US$25.4M Series A to launch new initiatives

The platform is currently only available in the Greater Jakarta Area while the KitaBeli team operates from both India and Indonesia.

The tech team is based out of Bangalore whereas the operations and marketing teams are located in Jakarta.

This funding comes at a time where the FMGC sector has seen an increase in demand because of the increase in consumption of food at home.

AC Ventures Managing partner said that consumer goods are a massive sector in Indonesia with room for growth and KitaBeli’s unique approach to uses social networks during the process of buying consumer goods can result in a high frequency of purchases.

–

Image Credit: KitaBeli

The post KitaBeli raises seed investment to enable group buying for Indonesian FMCG customers appeared first on e27.

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste and Plug and Play today jointly announced the 11 finalists selected for the Asia Pacific hub of the “End Plastic Waste Innovation Platform”, a 90-day accelerator programme that supports startups on their innovations in addressing the menace.

The pitch via a virtual Selection Day was organised from Singapore, which makes it the organisers’ third selection hub, following its previous programmes in Silicon Valley and Paris.

The first to be held in the Asia Pacific, the programme is designed to focus on three areas: collecting, managing, and sorting plastic waste; recycling and processing technologies; and creating value from post-recycled plastics.

The accelerator programme will help selected startups seek funding from companies and investors, along with a range of global resources to address these focus areas.

Also Read: One man’s trash is another’s gold: How Tridi Oasis plans to transform plastic waste management

The 11 selected startups are from Australia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and UAE:

• Agile Process Chemical LLP, a tech recycling plastics with the technology and machinery supplier for recycling end-of-life plastic waste
• Banyan Nation, an Indian startup that unlocks the market for premium recycled plastics in India through technology innovations across the value chain.
• Bintix, a startup that brings the data dimension into waste management, where all household waste is recycled and the value of waste increases ten-fold.
• BlockTexx, a clean technology company that recovers polyester and cellulose from textiles and clothing.
• BluePhin Technologies, a smart robot that can collect floating waste in commercial water bodies.
• Ishitva Robotic Systems Pvt Ltd, a tech company that designs and builds automated solutions using Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and IoT for sorting and segregation of dry waste including plastic waste.
• Myanmar Recycles, a plastic film recycling facility specialising in post-consumer plastic that collects, sorts, washes, and pelletizes often ignored, hard-to-recycle plastic film into resin for domestic and international sale.
• Plastics For Change, a marketplace platform that connects waste-pickers to global markets and ensures a consistent supply of high quality recycled plastic for brands.
• PolyCycl, a company with a patented technology that chemically recycles waste plastics to petrochemical feedstock that has been approved for the manufacturing of new monomers and plastics.
• Re>Pal, a company that does a 100 per cent mixed waste plastics from Indonesia into logistic pallets for sale across Asia from a factory in East Java.
• Rekosistem, an end-to-end zero waste management startup that aims for sustainable via digital solutions and renewable energy.

Today, some three billion people in the world have limited to no access to municipal solid waste management systems, and Southeast Asia is also in a bad shape, even with hopeful tech companies and startups striving to help put an end to it.

Also Read: One man’s trash is another’s gold: How Tridi Oasis plans to transform plastic waste management

According to a World Economic Forum’s National Plastic Action Report on Indonesia, 70 per cent of Indonesia’s plastic waste –estimated 4.8 million tonnes per year– is considered mismanaged. In many countries in the region, plastic waste is openly dumped or burned on land, deposited in poorly managed dump sites, or leaked into waterways and ultimately the ocean.

The End Plastic Waste Innovation Platform is a collaboration and shared vision by the Alliance, an international non-profit organisation, and Plug and Play, a global innovation platform. This platform seeks to tap into the best technology startups and links them with the resources, experience, and expertise from the world’s largest corporations so their innovations can be brought to scale.

The End Plastic Waste Innovation Platform has hubs in two other cities, Paris and Silicon Valley.

—

Image Credit: Bas Emmen on Unsplash

The post The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, Plug and Play announce 11 finalists selected for their startup programme appeared first on e27.

As the world grapples with the virus, one industry is quietly playing a key role in helping communities respond to the pandemic: telecommunications.

Because of our core business, robust customer base, ICT skills, and technological capabilities, telcos are uniquely positioned—and I daresay have a duty to deliver infrastructure and connectivity to customers.

Already, the industry is supporting en masse remote working and learning by upgrading services to cope with higher bandwidth demands and providing discounted services and payment flexibility to struggling individuals and businesses.

For example, during the circuit breaker period, M1 augmented its fibre broadband network capacity to support higher residential traffic as well as enhanced coverage of foreign worker dormitories. For SMEs, the focus is much more on enabling digital transformation and enhancing business continuity.

Beyond all this, telecom operators in Singapore are at the forefront of 5G rollout in the hope that it reignites growth and delivers maximum value for both businesses and consumers.

Enabling people and businesses

The pandemic has triggered mass telecommuting, but even with the restrictions easing, working from home is likely to become a fixture. To make the transition easy for people, telcos must strive to understand customers’ experience and ensure superior connectivity and reliable network quality.

Also Read: The proliferation of 5G will transform businesses and societies: Here’s how

Beyond that, telecom operators have a role to play in subsidising mobile and broadband costs and offering rebates to low-income and vulnerable segments of the population. Recently, we launched two new subsidised mobile plans to support the digital journey of Singapore’s silver generation as part of IMDA’s Seniors Go Digital Programme.

In the same vein, we must also extend this altruism to SMEs, a key engine of the country’s economy. Now more than ever, we need SME-specific initiatives to help businesses survive this trying time. Many of these companies are experiencing business disruptions due to supply chain interruptions, the inability to fulfil customer orders, and not having the proper resources in place to work remotely in a productive and effective manner.

To ensure their business continuity, M1 has partnered with IMDA to create affordable business solutions – that are available for grants – to not only help businesses stay afloat, but thrive while working remotely. And because SMEs will continue to need support even after restrictions loosen, we are committed to providing services and solutions throughout 2020 and beyond.

The potential and promise of 5G

It’s early days for 5G rollout in Singapore, but the arrival of this altogether new frontier in communications couldn’t come soon enough.

At a basic level, 5G offers lightning-fast speeds, low latency, and the capacity to carry a massive number of connections simultaneously – but its more exciting potential is in supporting internet-connected devices that will perform functions unheard of.

For aspirational Smart Cities like ours, 5G is a crucial milestone to enable an interconnected infrastructure that makes our spaces more efficient, convenient, safe, and liveable.

The upshot for telcos is huge, too. According to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), 5G has a wealth of potential for operators. In fact, 5G could add six to nine per cent to consumer revenues and 18 to 22 per cent to enterprise revenues by 2025.

For all this to happen, telecom operators will need to innovate and create partnerships to reinforce the opportunities for 5G. Earlier this year, M1 partnered with Singapore Innovate (SGInnovate) to help startups use 5G technology for their products and solutions by connecting them with corporate partners and providing technical support.

As part of this, we are also working directly with selected startups to help them with the development, testing, and application of 5G technology for their products or solutions.

Also Read: 5G and the 5 new things it will bring to the world of logistics

One area that holds tremendous promise is healthcare, specifically patient applications that are traditionally performed in hospital settings by health specialists. Some of the best use cases in this category include precision medicine, online consultations, remote surgery, and applications to monitor the health and administer medication remotely to better manage chronic ailments.

In the healthcare sector, our collaboration with SGInnovate will help to identify start-ups with a proof-of-concept, commercially ready products, and innovative applications, such as real-time health monitoring, remote diagnosis, and consultation.

For example, ECG rhythm monitoring devices that can be paired to a phone via Bluetooth can send signals directly to a cloud server database that allows doctors to view, analyse and diagnose patient information.

5G connectivity enables greater bandwidth usage, while intelligent network slicing separates and prioritises mission-critical functions. Crucially, the incredible low-latency attributes of 5G means the haptic feedback is felt in near real-time. These precious seconds saved to make a huge difference. Really, the possibilities are game-changing and limitless.

Today, as governments and frontline workers scramble to deal with COVID-19 and overburdened healthcare systems, I can’t help but consider the vital impact of 5G and its emerging applications.

–

Register for Meet the VC: Incubate Fund

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

Image credit: Jack Sloop on Unsplash

The post How 5G will empower startups and SMEs in the new normal appeared first on e27.

Zalora’s General Counsel promoted as Chief People Officer

The story: Online fashion retailer Zalora has appointed Louise Pender as its Chief People Officer.

Reporting to the CEO, Pender will be responsible for overseeing the People and Culture teams across all Zalora’s markets and will lead all HR functions, including talent acquisition, talent development, ensuring diversity and inclusion, compensation and employment best practices, workforce planning and strategic business partnering.

She will concurrently head the Legal and Sustainability team, in her existing role as Zalora’s General Counsel.

Also Read: Lazada, Shopee and Zalora are most visited e-commerce sites in Philippines

Who is Pender?: With over 20 years of experience providing legal and business advice across three continents, Pender brings with a wealth of experience in change management and organisational development. Her previous work includes senior roles at United Group Services and Siemens in Australia, Gate Group Holdings in Switzerland, and Gate Gourmet in the US.

Pender is initially qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor at the High Court of New Zealand in 1997, and was subsequently admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia in 2003. She was later admitted to the Virginia State Bar in 2013.

Nium expands presence in Latin America

The story: Global fintech platform Nium (earlier known as Instarem) has announced a partnership with Costa Rica’s fintech company Teledolar.

Through this partnership, customers of Teledolar will be able to conduct outbound payments in real-time to an expanded list of markets, including Europe, the UK and the US, among others.

Benefits: The LatAm market’s fintech industry is thriving and it is primed for innovative fintech solutions. Not only is the region one of the fastest-growing in terms of internet and mobile adoption, regulators across LatAm have been borrowing from Europe’s open-banking playbook to break up incumbent bank monopolies and are implementing measures to increase the adoption of digital payments.

Also Read: BRI, Visa join remittance firm Nium’s Series C round to facilitate tuck-in acquisitions

COVID-19 has further exacerbated fintech growth, with many turning to fintechs to maintain service level amid the pandemic or to come out of this crisis with better digital offerings than before. The expansion of Nium’s presence in LatAm will help fintechs, banks and financial institutions digitise their solutions much faster, and, in turn, provide better digital financial service offerings to their customers.

The expansion of Nium’s presence in LatAm aims to help fintechs, banks and financial institutions digitise their solutions faster, and, in turn, provide better digital financial service offerings to their customers.

Nium currently operates its Send, Spend and Receive business in over 100 countries, 65 in real-time.

India’s Virohan raises US$2.8M funding

The story: Virohan, an online health education platform based in Gurgaon, announced today it has raised US$2.8 million across seed and Series A funding.

Investors: Keiretsu Forum, elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization, Singh Family Trusts.

Plans: The fresh investment round will enable Virohan to continue to introduce and expand new virtual technologies in the vocational training segment allowing for greater accessibility, scalability and immersion at affordable costs.

Also Read: The changing face of healthcare in a post pandemic world

It will also use funding to expand their content library by introducing standardised content to students in 15 additional languages and grow its partnerships from dozens to hundreds of institutions.

What is Virohan?: A training partner of NSDC and a Yunus Social business Investee company, Virohan works with GE Healthcare and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) among others across India to provide youth with a career in the healthcare sector and make available trained workforce to the industry.

The courses offered emphasize on development of core technical skills, language abilities, and life skills in the student through gamified blended learning delivered by its facilitators in classrooms or purely online on its myCareer app.

All programmes include long internships at hospitals for hands-on practice of the skills acquired. Virohan is a fee-based model and in order to encourage young people to join, financial linkages are provided with easy installment-based payback options after a job is secured by the users.

Virohan’s vision is to educate more than a million students by 2025 through its blended learning platform.

—

Image Credit: Nium

The post In brief: Zalora names Louise Pender as Chief People Officer; Nium expands in LatAm appeared first on e27.

While the rapidly-evolving China market never fails to keep foreign new entrants up on their toes, thorough consideration of important lessons could translate into a successful entry into the world’s second-largest economy.

After a slew of pre-opening campaigns for more than half a year, Loft,  one of Japan’s most popular lifestyle specialty retailers, officially unveiled its first store in China at Shanghai Metro City. This new spot on the map was expected to become another popular location for Chinese consumers to ‘check-in’ to.

Unfortunately, among the cacophony of high expectations surfaced customer feedback that told a different story. Offering unlocalised products at non-competitive price points, Loft received critical responses on social media, leaving it at risk of brand damage in a market where reviews are integral to purchase decisions.

The story of Loft is not an isolated case. The Japanese household and consumer goods giant, MUJI, offers another case in point with its inability to adapt fast enough to the China market.

“MUJI”, as a concept, coincides with the demand of Japanese consumers in the 1980s for high-quality products sold at reasonable prices, available everywhere – convenience stores, shops at subway stations, and even vending machines.

As MUJI expanded into China, the core concept that propelled it into a Japanese household brand was lost in translation. It morphed into a premium brand that only appeared in high-end shopping malls in first-tier cities.

Consumers were turned away by its non-competitive prices and headed for prominent local competitions with the likes of MINISO, Taobao Xinxuan and Xiaomi YOUPIN. Beyond challenges in localisation, further brand damage caused by inconsistent product qualities and an episode of food safety in early 2019 paved a rocky road ahead for the Japanese retailer.

Also Read: Launching is easy but survival will be hard for Indian startups in China, say experts

Unable to compete and survive in China’s unforgiving business environment due to policy barriers, rapidly-changing consumer behaviour, and fierce local competition, many other foreign entrants have failed to find their foothold.

However, challenges to localisation do not throttle the influx of new entrants as the reasons why China should be the next market to expand to far outweighs the risks.

Why localisation succeeds

Having recounted some localisation pitfalls, there is also merit in celebrating successes, from which three key success factors were identified. They revolve around a paradigm shift – that translation alone is not enough and we need to adopt an MVP mindset and assume that product-market fit needs to be re-established.

Thorough understanding of Chinese consumers
Besides standard market segmentation and targeting activities, cultural differences is another dimension that needs to be considered. With a plethora of ethnic groups, mainland China’s complex cultural landscape proved to be a challenge for foreign entrants. Different cities need to be treated differently, by starting afresh with new paradigm shifts.

KFC, the American fast-food restaurant chain, proved that it was not easy navigating the cultural differences even between major Chinese cities. Following the opening of its first outlet in Beijing in 1987, KFC went on to establish over 5,000 more outlets across 1,100 cities by 2019.

Having only minimally-differentiated offerings across the country, KFC soon received feedback from customers in Shanghai that its food was too spicy. Conversely, reports that KFC’s food was bland came in from southwestern provinces such as Sichuan.

This highlights that the cultural nuances across Chinese cities have to be studied thoroughly. Luckily for KFC, fast adaptations of recipes, menus and even the toys that accompanied kids’ meals helped maintain its foothold.

Strategic partnerships with the right local partners

The adage “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together” perfectly describes how foreign entrants should consider localisation. Finding partners for entry into the China market helps circumvent common pitfalls and accelerates localisation by tapping into local networks and knowledge. Since a popular mode of market entry into China is through joint ventures, finding the right type of partners becomes the main point of focus.

Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffee chain, is a good example of a successful foreign entrant that worked with strategic local partners. Following the opening of its first outlet in Beijing in early 1999, Starbucks went on to establish 4,400 across 180 Chinese cities.

Also Read: How can Singapore benefit from the US-China trade war?

To increase operational efficiencies and accelerate its expansion across China, Starbucks worked with joint venture partners Beijing Mei Da Coffee in the north, Shanghai Uni-President in the east and Maxim’s Caterers in the south. The cooperation with partners avoided missteps along the expansion journey and Starbucks would later acquire controlling stakes in all three joint ventures.

In order to avoid possible legal disputes between foreign entrants and their local partners, it is crucial to clearly outline the legal structure of the collaboration. A mitigation strategy around the sensitive issue of intellectual property is to ensure multiple levels of precautionary measures are in place to prevent possible technology leaks.

The first is to make sure that an ample amount of time is spent building trusted business relationships with local partners. The second is to select and work with reputable legal service providers and ensure that protection is maximised. Finally, care has to be taken when granting local partners access to core intellectual property.

Short-cycle pivots and iteration to maintain product-market fit

Chinese companies are nimble, masters at innovation through commercialisation and would constantly challenge the ability of foreign entrants to go through pivots and iterations. Besides competition, the ever-evolving Chinese consumer landscape will also keep everyone on their toes to retain product-market fit.

Rapid retail innovations and strong synergies between online and offline channels are the drivers behind such evolutions in consumer behaviours. This highlights the importance of staying agile and preparing for short-cycle pivots and iterations, which will help retain existing foothold and further expansions.

Also Read: Plug into the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Shanghai with XNode

An example would be IKEA, the renowned Swedish furniture and home accessories giant that has taken a leap of faith with its expansion into Jing’an district in Shanghai with a “city store”. The first of its kind, the opening of this outlet was highly anticipated due to its close proximity to the city centre. The conventional offline shopping experience was also switched up by integrating an online mall through a WeChat mini-programme. Fast adaptations like the setting up of its “city store” have been well received and contributed to IKEA’s success in China.

The pivots or iteration process is also where innovation and management principles come in handy. Lean Startup’s Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop and 500 Startups’ Pivot Pyramid are effective tools to be implemented and customised to different developmental stages of different ventures.

China is and will remain a worthwhile market to venture into. Market entries, successful or otherwise, by foreign brands, ushered in key lessons to be learned and considerations to be made by successors. There will certainly still be risks but, as the mantra of Heinrich von Pierer (CEO of Siemens AG from 1995 to 2005) goes, “the risk not to be in China is bigger than the risk to be in China”.

Venturing into China: The Challenges and Key Success Factors of Localisation was originally written by the XNode Team (Emily Xu) and adapted for e27

–

Register for Meet the VC: Incubate Fund

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

Image credit: Nuno Alberto on Unsplash

The post Venturing into China: The challenges and key success factors of localisation appeared first on e27.

Could anyone have predicted the amazing success that Bill Gates, Anne Wojcicki, Jack Ma, and Byju Raveendran would see when they were just starting their businesses? What does it take to succeed as an early stage entrepreneur? How can one decide whether she has what it takes to become one? In the last couple of years, I have worked with more than 400 early stage entrepreneurs, and I‘ve come to believe that entrepreneurs are made, as opposed to born.

Here is what I think it takes to be a successful early-stage tech founder:

• Intelligence: ability to absorb and process information fast, and communicate well.
• People skills: understanding your own and other people’s emotions, and ability to influence self and others.
• Hard work: which implies discipline, grit, hunger, and the ambition to build something big.
• Deep Knowledge: of a sector, a function, a technology, or business in general.
• Network: who you know, and how you can connect with others in the ecosystem.
• Bias to action and agility: execute quickly and keep experimenting till you get something to work.
• Safety net: personal savings, other family income, or just a low burn rate will keep you going for longer.
• Luck: there are thousands of people who have all the above but only a few become unicorn founders.

Only the first two success factors; intelligence, and people skills, are primarily, although not exclusively, nature. The third one, hard work, is both natures but also how life shapes your personality.

The next two on the list, knowledge, and network, can be acquired. Yes, they do depend on the socioeconomic status of the family you were born in, however, if one is intelligent and hardworking it is likely that they will eventually acquire knowledge and build a network through their education and work experience.

Also Read: 3 mistakes early stage startups in Singapore make in product development

The crucial factor and how one can acquire it

To illustrate bias to action and agility, consider the stories of Marc and Emma; both early stage founders I‘ve worked with. They both were top university graduates with about ten years of work experience in large multinational companies. The only difference was that Emma had also worked at an early stage startup for about a year.

They both entered our programme without a co-founder, and without a business idea. Two and a half months later, Marc had produced a detailed 80-page business plan based on the extensive desktop analysis. Meanwhile, Emma had found a great co-founder (after “testing” two others), iterated three business ideas by building and testing minimum viable products with real customers, and was getting her first investment.

Contrary to all other success factors in the list above, we are all born with a natural bias to action and agility; which we then lose during several years of education in a schooling system and work environment that had been designed for the 19th century industrial era. In Peter Skillman’s design challenge, six-year-old kindergarteners always overperform Fortune 500 executives, engineers and top MBA students. This is because kindergarteners do not spend time analysing, honing ideas, strategising and planning.

They immediately start experimenting and keep trying different designs until they find what works. Kindergarteners “prototype and test”, exactly like successful early stage tech entrepreneurs. So, the question is how can this crucial skill be reacquired? The best way is by starting your own company, working for a startup, or being part of a truly entrepreneurial department within an established company.

The sky’s the limit

The safety net is another critical success factor and one that people rarely talk about. Roy quit a successful corporate job and started building his startup in our programme, partly because he wanted to have an impact and be independent, and partly to get away from a soulless job.

Things were going great for a few months. Then the market turned, and tension built up between him and his co-founder. Roy and his wife had two little kids and a mortgage. Her income was not enough to provide for the family and it could take another year before Roy’s startup started paying a meaningful salary.

He decided to quit and go back to the corporate world. Now, in hindsight, Roy thinks that if they could endure another six months of low income they would have certainly had a breakthrough.

Building a company from the ground up is already very challenging, so worrying about paying the bills makes it even more difficult. Most successful entrepreneurs had a decent personal runway; from their family, or savings from a successful previous career, or their spouse’s income, or simply due to a low burn rate.

Also Read: Entrepreneurship in a pandemic: Seeking success through economic turmoil

Luck is, by definition, outside our control. But if we see failure as an opportunity for growth, the longer we try for, the higher the chances we succeed. And that’s exactly what the safety net offers.

How have we, at Antler, been helping entrepreneurs with the success factors listed above? First, we help them build their co-founding team and become part of a trusted network of advisors and investors (it takes a village to grow a startup, to paraphrase the known African proverb).

Second, we have been motivating our founders to exhibit a bias to action and agility by validating their business ideas in the real world by building prototypes and testing them with customers. Thirdly, we help them beef up their safety net by investing in their newly formed startups.

In the course of interviewing thousands of candidates during the last two years, we realised that there are many professionals who have everything it takes to become a successful entrepreneur; but whose safety net does not suffice to justify quitting a financially rewarding full-time job, without having the basics (team, idea, investment)  in place.

So, we asked ourselves how can we remove this barrier to entrepreneurship and enable more people in Singapore to startup? Our response was to complement our regular (full-time) programme with an executive (part-time) programme; giving people with full-time jobs the opportunity to build a team, find and validate a business idea, and get an initial investment, before taking the leap.

Singapore has a job market with plenty of financially rewarding opportunities, a very high cost of living, and a culture that deeply values stability and security. These three factors lead to high-risk aversion and deter many from going into entrepreneurship. But as a candidate I was recently interviewed told me: “I decided to build my own startup because it is an opportunity with limited downside and unlimited upside; if it doesn’t work, I‘ll go back to corporate after a couple of years; a bit poorer in the short term but wiser and stronger in the long term. But if it does work, the sky’s the limit.

“Plus the pandemic has created so many problems which can be viewed as business opportunities for those who attempt to solve them.”

–

Register for Meet the VC: Incubate Funds

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

Image credit: Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash

The post The DNA of a successful early stage entrepreneur appeared first on e27.

Perks

We surveyed startups and learned that SAAS costs is something that worries Founders, and during this COVID19 period, SAAS tools are more essential that ever. Hence we have partnered with some amazing companies, including the likes of AWS, Hotjar, Airtable etc. to provide deals and discounts on some of the best cloud and SAAS tools out there. Check out Perks, our curated list of startups deals for software tools and services.

User Profiles

We want to ensure that e27 is a safe and credible place for everyone. We also would like to see users’ actions and intentions better reflected on their user profiles. User Profiles are a great way for you to share with the e27 ecosystem what Startups you have, investment funds, startup related interests etc. Our revamped User Profiles better showcase that. Here’s an example of my e27 profile.

Contributor Program

We’ve made it easier for new users to better understand how to get onboard our Contributor Program. This has been a bit of a black box for awhile, but we finally have details on what we expect from contributors and who can be part of the program

e27 Fundraise Programme

We have made a bunch of significant updates to our Fundraise Programme, where we help startups with Fundraising in partnership with Wholesale Investor. This includes visibility and a data room service, something very relevant for Series A fundraising activities. Do check it out

Better view for Startups

We have improved the way we showcase and filter startups on our e27 Startups page. Profiles that are more relevant to the search and filters get shown higher. Do check out the improvements made and let us know how we can do better.

Keep checking back for more updates as we push monthly updates to e27. Feel free to reach out to us for tweaks and improvements.

The post July Update: Perks and Startup Benefits, Better way to Search for Startups on e27, Revamped User Profiles and More appeared first on e27.

At first glance, having your startup based in Singapore seems like a bad idea due to the small market size, expensive labour force, and high operating costs. But the country has turned the tide with its business-friendly policies and highly-supportive government grants, creating a paradise for startups and SMEs to grow without excessive red tape or financial burden.

The COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on our economy and pushed businesses to the brink of bankruptcy. As a result, these grants have become the lifesaver and fuel for startups and small businesses to survive.

Unfortunately, finding out which grants are available and suitable for you is anything but simple. And more often than not, firms find themselves confused due to the sheer options available, as well as the eligibility and compliance that need to follow.

This is why we created this article to show you which grants are considered useful for startups in building internal capabilities, scaling the business, focusing on innovation, or expanding offshore operations.

Enterprise Singapore started it all

Formed on April 1, 2018, after a merger between International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and SPRING Singapore, Enterprise Singapore (ESG) is the government agency championing enterprise development. Their mission is to support the growth of Singapore as a hub for global trading and startups to upgrade capabilities, innovate, transform, and internationalise.

They administer most of the Singapore grants for startups. However, ESG is a pretty big organisation with a jungle of departments, so finding out the right one can be a daunting task – regardless, any officer in ESG will gladly help you on this matter.

Hence, the crucial part is knowing which grants you should apply to.

*The last three grants are sub-grants in the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG)

**The links above are direct to the official site, so you will have your most accurate/updated/verbose details from there.

Also Read: In brief: Malaysia’s AdEasy raises funding; Singapore’s Group-IB receives govt. grant

MRA – Market Readiness Assistance Grant

The Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) Grant is a programme offered to Singapore-based startups and SMEs who are on the journey to expand their business overseas. In summary, the government funds will help pay 70 per cent of the incurred costs (capped at S$100,000/US$72,000 per company per new market) on qualifying activities for venturing into a new oversea market, including:

• Overseas business development (Capped at S$50,000/US$36,000)
• Overseas market set-up (Capped at S$30,000/US$21,000)
• Overseas market promotion (Capped at S$20,000/US$14,582)

This is a huge deal for businesses that are struggling to keep their cash flow positive, especially in the post-COVID-19 pandemic world. The situation is even worse for startups and SMEs that are expanding their tech hub and resource overseas. From the perspective of these companies, the MRA grant is genuinely a “lifesaver” to their offshore journey.

Eligibility
Small and Medium Enterprises that meet the following criteria:

• Business entity/headquarter is based in Singapore
• Pass the new market entry requirement: overseas sales remain under S$100,000 (US$72,000) in each of the last three preceding years
• Own at least 30 per cent of the company shares in Singapore
• The Group Annual Sales Turnover must be lower than S$100 million (US$72 million) OR having less than 200 employees

Application requirements

• Get a quotation from a pre-approved third-party consultant.
• Submit an application on the Business Grants Portal.
• ON APPROVAL, sign the engagement letter with the third-party.
  Retrospective applications will not be accepted.

PSG – Productivity Solutions Grant

The Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) supports companies keen on adopting IT solutions and equipment to enhance business processes, such as customer management, data analytics, financial management, and inventory tracking.

The list of readily available solutions can be found on Tech Depot.

COVID-19 Support
To encourage enterprises on their digitalisation and productivity upgrading efforts, the maximum funding support level will be raised to 80 per cent from April 1 to December 31, 2020.

The scope of generic solutions will also be expanded to help enterprises implement COVID-19 business continuity measures, including:

• Online collaboration tools
• Virtual meeting and telephony tools
• Queue management systems
• Temperature screening solutions
• Laptop-Bundled Remote Working Solutions (April 17 until December 31, 2020.)

The last measure of “Laptop-Bundled Remote Working Solutions” is particularly attractive, and we at Tech JDI have also applied for this grant (and are approved) for Axiom’s Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 + Microsoft 365 Business bundle sets.

Eligibility
Small and Medium Enterprises that meet the following criteria:

• Business entity/headquarter is based in Singapore
• Purchase/lease/subscription of the IT solutions or equipment must be used in Singapore
• Own at least 30 per cent of the company shares in Singapore
• The Group Annual Sales Turnover must be lower than S$100 million (US$72 million) OR having less than 200 employees

Application requirements

• Identify relevant solutions from Tech Depot
• Get a quotation from a pre-approved vendor
• Submit an application on the Business Grants Portal

Also Read: In brief: BCB Blockchain launches US$15M grants for Asia’s tech, blockchain startups

EDG – Enterprise Development Grant

Aiming to foster business development and growth to its full potential, the EDG can be seen as a much broader grant compared to the MRA which only focuses on overseas operations.

The Enterprise Development Grant will help pay up to 80 per cent of the project costs (90 per cent for firms who are severely impacted by COVID-19).  Aiming to help SMEs in growing their business, the enterprise development grant work as a financial assistance programme for companies to expand their internal capabilities in three main areas:

• Market Access
• Core Capabilities
• Innovation and Productivity

Only projects that are new and not generating any revenue at the point of submission will be covered by EDG.

Additionally, unionised companies and e2i partners under the Labour Movement will receive an extra 10 per cent grant cover thanks to the NTUC-e2i’s endorsement.

From April 1, all companies applying for the Enterprise Development Grant must commit to achieving workers outcomes to qualify for up to 70 per cent funding. Companies have to select at least one of four workers outcomes:

• Wage increment
• Redesign of existing jobs
• New jobs created
• Training for better prospects

Coupled with the MRA, you can potentially secure more than S$200,000 (US$145,000) for your business! That is a lot of money.

Eligibility
Only SMEs that meet these following criteria are eligible for the EDG:

• Business entity/headquarter is based in Singapore
• Own at least 30 per cent of the company shares in Singapore
• Have the capability to carry out the project successfully

Application requirements
Project Proposal: Choose the key project category to apply and prepare the proposal. If you are unfamiliar with these procedures, here are the proposal templates to help your preparation:

• EDG Project Proposal Template-Core Capabilities
• EDG Project Proposal Template-Innovation Productivity
• EDG Project Proposal Template-Market access

* For SMEs that applying for EDG to cover consultancy-related costs, you are required to be engaged with management consultants who have the Enterprise Singapore-recognised certification.

Also Read: 3 ways to get more funding for your startup in a new market

Supporting documents: Click here for the full detail check-list.

To apply for a grant, you will need to:

1. Register an account on CorpPass
2. Get a cost quotation from the third-party vendor
3. Submit your application with the quotation to the Business Grants Portal

*For updates, check the “My Applications” section on the Business Grants Portal. If you pass, the government will send back an Offer Letter.

Too complicated? Get help from the professionals at SME Centres

ESG has teamed up with five trade associations and chambers to set up a network of five primary SME Centres and six satellite centres.

There are Business Advisors at the SME Centres to support startups in understanding the grants available, and their criteria. Business Advisors have:

• Experience consulting with SMEs across different industries from productivity, financing, human resource to overseas expansion
• Insights on ways to improve your business capabilities through capability workshops
• Ideas and support to link you up with solution providers to tackle the same trade or vicinity problems
• Project facilitation in areas of technology adoption, process design, business matching and trade fairs participation

You can find the SME Centre network here.

We are living in a time of uncertainty where businesses struggling to survive. As a result, these grants can be a great source to help keep the cash flow un-disrupted, saving your business from the grim fate of bankruptcy.

If you are looking for a way to claim those grants, please use this article as a general guideline for your application. And do let us know if it works out for you.

–

Register for Meet the VC: Incubate Funds

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

The post Every tech startup in Singapore should consider tapping on these business grants appeared first on e27.

Arijit Sengupta named B Capital’s new Operating Partner (Asia)

The story

B Capital Group, an active VC fund run by Facebook Co-founder Eduardo Saverin, has added Arijit Sengupta as its Operating Partner.

He will help lead its work supporting its portfolio of startups in Asia.

Based out of B Capital’s Singapore office, Sengupta will partner with founders and executive teams in B Capital’s portfolio of technology companies in the region, providing expertise and guidance in areas such as strategy and operations, business development, sales, and capital formation.

Also Read: Eduardo Saverin-owned tech fund closes first part of second fund at US$406M

He will be instrumental in identifying key corporates seeking to broaden innovation by working with startups through his own network as well as B Capital’s partnership with The Boston Consulting Group.

B Capital recently announced the final close of its of its second fund worth US$820 million, which, according to a Medium article, brought its total assets under management to US$1.44 billion.

Who is Sengupta?

He is a seasoned founder, operator, and investor in B2B technologies and services. He has helped found and grow several technology companies, including WNS, Mu Sigma, Antuit and Daksh, which was acquired by IBM back in 2004, and held senior leadership positions at established companies like IBM and Accenture.

What is B Capital? 

A VC firm specialising in equity investing in venture and growth-stage companies. It primarily invests in enterprise application software, infrastructure, security, AI/ML, fintech and insurtech, and healthcare-tech and bio IT.

Also Read: Do you have a burgeoning startup trying to attract investor capital?

B Capital’s portfolio companies include AImotive, Atomwise, Blackbuck, Bounce, Bright.md, CXA, Evidation Health, Icertis, INTURN, Plastiq, Ninja Van (which in May this year raised US$279 million), Notable Labs and SilverCloud Health.

Reapra launches virtual hackathon for female founders

The story

Singapore-based venture builder Reapra has announced the launch of ‘Build to Last‘, a virtual hackathon for existing or aspiring female entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia.

The objective: Collaborating with Future Females Singapore (a platform that connects, inspires, and supports existing and aspiring female entrepreneurs), Build to Last aims to bring together like-minded communities and individuals to create a platform for aspiring or existing female entrepreneurs to build their ideas into lasting and profitable businesses.

More on the programme

Revolving around the core theme of business sustainability, participants will be guided through hands-on mentorship and workshops to prepare for their Demo day where they will have to incorporate lessons learnt into their business pitch.

Also Read: Singapore’s VC firm Reapra backs Thai edutech startup Quest

The top 3 winners from the Demo day stand to receive hands-on business coaching from both Reapra and Future Females, advancement into later stage interviews for up to SG$100,000 funding from Reapra, alongside exclusive offers for Future Females Global Business School.

Applications are now open till 28th of August.

Build to Last welcomes all existing or aspiring female entrepreneurs with at least a business idea.

Participants may join as an individual or as part of a team of two, with a female lead applicant or founder.

India’s Otipy closes US$1M from Inflection Point Ventures

The story

Otipy, the social commerce venture of farm-to-fork agritech startup Crofarm, has raised US$1 million from Inflection Point Ventures, an early-stage investing platform.

Plans with the money:

The company claims it has already scaled 4x growth in the last three months. It expects the fresh funding to further boost its momentum in “Unlock Phase 3.0”.

What Otipy does

It connects consumers with farmers through women resellers. It already has more than 1,000 partner resellers (mainly women), catering to over 100,000 consumers.

Also Read: This Indian agritech firm helps farmers predict yield and improve sales, thus saving them from bankruptcy and suicides

It offers a catalogue of fresh, hygienic and chemical-free on-demand fruits & vegetables from the farm, which is usually 25 per cent cheaper than the market.

The post In brief: Reapra launches virtual hackathon for female founders in SEA; B Capital gets new Operating Partner for Asia appeared first on e27.

In 2016, Siripen Suntornmonkongsri, an entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in the sesame business in Thailand, decided to leverage her expertise to develop a product that not only encourages people to consume the seeds in the right way, but is also environmentally-friendly.

Shortly, she met and brainstormed the idea with Dr Napatrapee Luengsakul and Dr Tongchai Puttongsiri — two food scientists and professors of King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang in Bangkok.

Their mission: to develop a new super food that is not only tasty but can also be part of our daily diet.

“Our research yielded good results and it led us to develop Sesamilk in 2018,” Suntornmonkongsri tells e27.

What is Sesamilk?

Sesamilk — a product of Sesamilk Foods Co. Ltd. and member of the first batch of the Space-F accelerator run by the Nation Innovation Agency of Thailand— is an alternative to dairy milk and is extracted from premium-grade Thai sesame seeds, a rich source of fat.

Unlike other plant-based milk, Sesamilk is extracted from natural seeds — no dairy, soy, or nuts.

Also Read: Whole-plant based meat brand Karana raises US$1.7M

The product, which hit the market in March 2019, contains no ingredients that are harmful to health.

“All around the world, there is an increasing number of people who are allergic to dairy or soy milk,” says the CEO. “Coupled with this fact is that the number of vegetarians and health-conscious people is on the rise. Sesamilk targets this community.”

Sesame seeds are tiny, oil-rich seeds that grow in pods on the Sesamum indicum plant. The seeds have many potential health benefits and have been used in folk medicine for thousands of years.

Popular in Asia, the sesame seeds are used as sprinkles on buns and its oil is widely used for cooking. However, its nutrients are not absorbed by the human body in its entirety when used as oil or sprinkles.

“But when turned into a drink, sesame’s full nutrients can be absorbed by the human body. What is more remarkable is that sesame is believed to contain the cure for cancer,” she explains.

Health benefits

Suntornmonkongsri remarks that Sesamilk contains nutrients such as sesamin, sesamolin and sesamol. Sesamin can increase thermogenesis and fat oxidation, regulate fat-burning enzymes, decrease fat storage, and increase insulin sensitivity and ketone formation.

Apart from this, sesamin is also a potent antioxidant, reduces cholesterol level in the body, regulates HDL levels, decreases blood pressure, and improves liver and kidney health.

“We call it ‘functional milk’. Sesamilk contains Sesamin 128x more than soy milk-mixed black sesame and is also healthier than cow milk as it contains no growth hormone or cholesterol and is not allergic either, ” she says, sharing more details of the product.

Sesamilk is natural and can be consumed by kids as less as one-year-old and the product caters to those who are lactose-intolerant, cow milk-allergic, vegetarians and vegans.

Currently, Sesamilk is available in about 500 stores (online and offline) across Thailand. The product is also exported to Japan, Macau, Hongkong and Vietnam.

“We are getting good feedback from our customers, not just from our home country but also from countries like Japan, which is well aware of the benefits of sesame,” she remarks.

“We also see opportunities for Sesamilk in global markets. As a cow milk replacement, Sesamilk also foresees a massive opportunity in the HORECA industry, especially in cafes, as it can foam and goes well with coffee and beverages,” she says.

In addition to producing Sesamilk, the startup also promotes sesame farming in Thailand, which is economic and sustainable because the plant is drought-resistant.

Challenges

Creating awareness has been a daunting task for Sesamilk right from the start, admits the CEO. As a first mover, the company may have to invest more in the marketing activities and try to create brand awareness in many countries at the same time, she admits.

Also Read: Bühler invests in Big Idea Ventures’s New Protein Fund; to invest in up to 100 plant- and cell-based firms

“Funding is also an important part we grow. We have already received our first seed funding from two angel investors — Lee Choo Chien of Singapore and Somchai Hirunyakorn of Thailand. However, we will look to raise more investment this year to expand further,” she concluded.

The company has a competitor in Singapore, called TurtleTree Labs, which uses cell-based technology to create milk without requiring animals. In January, KBW Ventures, the VC firm owned by Saudi entrepreneur and investor HRH Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal, invested in TurtleTree.

—

Image Credit: Sesamilk

The post Why Sesamilk thinks plant-based milk is healthier than cow milk and has a bright future appeared first on e27.