PolicyStreet is joining the list of only 32 other Approved Financial Advisors in Malaysia

Malaysian insurtech startup PolicyStreet today announced that it has secured an approval from the country’s central bank Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to conduct general and Islamic financial advisory (FA) business.

With the approval, the company can now source, aggregate, compare, customise and finally advise individual consumers and businesses of the best insurance products for their needs.

It is also able to work directly with all 47 life and general insurance and takaful providers in Malaysia.

In a press statement, PolicyStreet CEO Lee Yen Ming explained that the company initially wanted to apply for a sandbox programme, to trial the aggregation of insurance products. But it later discovered that it has fulfilled all the requirements for a full FA approval.

“With this approval, we are not bound by restrictions to advise customers on which insurance products to obtain based on their circumstances. We often find that insurance providers tend to have many competing products that cater to different segments of customers. For example, Insurer A might offer a life product suited for customers above 40 years old and insurer B on the other hand offers a more compelling life product for the younger customers aged below 30 years old,” Lee wrote.

Also Read: Malaysian insurtech startup PolicyStreet wins Seedstars Kuala Lumpur

“Aggregation will not enable us to advise the right products to different target customers but FA will. We want to advise customers without prejudice and we will marry technology and innovation to remove ‘fats’ in the ecosystem by driving transparency and simplicity in insurance,” the CEO stressed.

In two years of its operations, PolicyStreet said that it has underwritten over MYR400 million (US$100 million) in sum assured and sold more than 10,000 policies.

It has raised US$500,000 in seed funding from KK Fund and was a recipient of a government grant from Cradle Fund.

With this approval, the company is joining the list of only 32 other Approved Financial Advisers in Malaysia.

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Image Credit: PolicyStreet

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The new US$100M fund aims to invest in 60 new companies with an initial check size of about US$500K

Wavemaker Partners, Southeast Asia’s leading early-stage VC firm focussed on enterprise and deep-tech startups, today announced the first close of its third fund at US$60 million.

The firm targets to make the final close at US$100 million.

Blue chip institutions such as Pavilion Capital, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Temasek invested in the fund together with the family offices of the Co-founders of Microsoft (Vulcan) and Facebook (EE Capital). Other investors include Singapore’s Keppel Corporation, multi-family office Aglaia Family Office, and Lance Gokongwei, CEO of top Philippine conglomerate JG Summit Holdings.

The new fund aims to invest in 60 new companies with an initial check size of about US$500,000.

Also Read: Why Bangladesh is the next frontier for tech investment

Paul Santos, Managing Partner for Wavemaker Partners Southeast Asia, said in a blog post titled ​Conviction & Momentum​. “Most VCs in Southeast Asia invest in consumer tech, and we’re grateful to have had our share of consumer success with Luxola (acquired by LVMH) and Coins.ph (acquired by Gojek).”

“However, 88 out the 109 investments we’ve made since 2012 have been in enterprise and deep tech startups (about 81 per cent). This is where we’ve built our experience, expertise, and network. This is where our conviction and momentum have grown. With this new fund, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to work with many of the best enterprise and deep tech founders in the region,” he added.

Wavemaker has built a wide-ranging portfolio across industry verticals (e.g. financial services, healthcare, food/agriculture), horizontal processes (e.g. HR, sales & marketing, cybersecurity), and technologies (AI, IoT, additive manufacturing). Companies that have received funding from the VC firm include Zilingo​, ThinCI​, Moka,​ and ​CashShield​. Other companies showing promising traction include L​ynk​, Wavecell,​ Red Dot Payment,​ ​Structo,​ ​Growsari,​ ​Igloohome​, and Silent Eight.​

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There was a significant drop off in visits between the first two platforms and Zalora

Three companies have consistently dominated the Philippine e-commerce market for the last two years since iPrice Group tracked e-commerce platforms’ monthly web visits and social media following in 2017: Lazada, Shopee, and Zalora.

Lazada scored a total average visit (desktop and mobile web) of 25,652,100 during the first quarter of the year, followed by Shopee with 15,373,900 and Zalora with 1,669,400. Argomall and eBay rounded up the top five list with 1,290,500 and 896,900 desktop and mobile web visits, respectively.

Lazada, Shopee and Zalora also emerged on top in a research done by iPrice Group in partnership with app analytics firm App Annie Intelligence on the most visited mobile applications in Q1 2019.

The question is why? And, perhaps, more importantly, how?

Lazada reigns supreme

While it is no surprise that Lazada’s hefty backing from giant Chinese company, Alibaba, has put it at an advantage in terms of having a solid war chest to support business strategies, the key to the company’s success lies in its ability to innovate and quickly adapt to its clients’ needs.

Lazada’s performance and its recent initiatives suggest that it understands its consumers: a fun, youthful generation adept in technology, constantly connected via social media, and always on the go.

To reach this market in the Philippines, the e-commerce company launched LazMall, in a bid to draw more attention to its mobile app with attractive shopping and entertaining content.

Launched in August 2018, we believe this additional feature played a pivotal role in helping it achieve the top spot in the country both in terms of total visits on desktop (and mobile web) and with the highest monthly active users on its app.

Harnessing the power of digital technology and pop culture appeal, Lazada created in-app games, i.e. Fruit Slash, Birthday Blast and Popping Balloons to keep users entertained for its week-long 7th birthday celebrations last March.

Winners were given redeemable vouchers as rewards. Also, the company staged a Super Party in Jakarta, Indonesia last March 27 featuring international popstar Dua Lipa and Ms. Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach.

It live streamed the concert to allow more customers from all over Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, to be part of the celebrations.

Lazada reported that by the time it wrapped up its week-long celebration, it had garnered over 318 million visits to its platform. The Super Party drew 12 million views both in-app and on television, while a total of 2.5 million people played the games.

Also Read: Why Bangladesh is the next frontier for tech investment

No wonder App Annie registered the highest monthly active users via mobile apps for Lazada in the Philippines in Q1 2019. Its e-commerce platform also ranked highest in terms of total average visits on desktop and mobile web during the first quarter.

Shopee catches up

Meanwhile, Shopee consistently plays second fiddle to its key competitor with roughly 15.4 million visits to its e-commerce platform in Q1 2019. App Annie also ranks it second in mobile app visits.

Despite being among the youngest platforms in the Philippines, Shopee has become one of the fastest growing e-commerce company in the country and in the Southeast Asian region.

It continues to expand its online catalogue of products from the current three million listings, according to Shopee’s regional marketing head, and does well in increasing its brand recall and maintaining its edge over other international and local players.

Shopee placed second in the most number of social media followers (14.4 million on Facebook, 294,400 on Instagram and 17,500 on Twitter) based on iPrice Group’s data.

This e-commerce player can be expected to catch up fast on innovations to increase its market share, as funder Sea is raising up to $1.5 billion to support its businesses.

Techcrunch reported last March that “Sea would use the capital for ‘business expansion and other general corporate purposes.”

Given that Sea’s main focus recently is Shopee, majority of the funds will likely be allocated to the e-commerce company.

Local faces for Zalora

Landing third place in the list is Zalora, as it tailors its marketing strategies to suit the Filipino fashion style and win more loyal followers.

More than just offering designs from global brands, it has partnered with Philippines’ fashion and social media icons Georgina Wilson-Burnand, Isabelle Daza-Semblat, Liz Uy, and Solenn Heussaff-Bolzico for an exclusive collection under the label, the__edit.

Interestingly, it grabbed second place in the most number of Twitter followers (29,000) and ranked third for Facebook (7,719,000) and Instagram (181,800).

Adopting a local face is a boost to the brand, allowing it to appeal to the novel Filipino aesthetics and fashion sense.

Popular US, Chinese apps 

Finally, securing the fourth and fifth spot as most visited mobile apps based on App Annie’s data are Amazon and AliExpress.

E-commerce empire, Amazon, has penetrated markets around the world. In the Philippines, customers turn to this company for products not available locally.

Similarly, Chinese e-commerce companies such as AliExpress are becoming prominent in the Asian region considering its proximity and its readiness to offer products not available in the Philippine market.

Its strong performance can also be attributed to the increasing popularity of Chinese sale events such as 11.11 or the Singles’ Day in November.

The Philippines has a total population of 107 million and 71% of which has access to the internet and social media based on Hootsuite and We Are Social’s 2019 digital report.

Also Read: Manny Pacquiao endorses celebrity-curated licensing marketplace

As the country further develops its technology infrastructure—increasing internet speed and connectivity—it promises exponential growth for e-commerce businesses to flourish in the coming years.

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Please click on one of the links below to view the data in detail for each country. More findings in the overall Map of E-commerce Report for Q1 2019.  

We are always happy to share our insights with our clients, the press, academia and more. Should you decide to utilise our data or visuals, please attribute us by including this sentence “From the Map of E-commerce, iPrice Group, April 2019” with a hyperlink to one of these URLs: 

Indonesia: https://iprice.co.id/insights/mapofecommerce/en/  

Vietnam: https://iprice.vn/insights/mapofecommerce/en/ 

Thailand: https://ipricethailand.com/insights/mapofecommerce/en/ 

Philippines: https://iprice.ph/insights/mapofecommerce/en/ 

Malaysia: https://iprice.my/insights/mapofecommerce/ 

Singapore: https://iprice.sg/insights/mapofecommerce/ 

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One trick? Don’t make them supply their own office supplies

To survive and thrive in the 21st century, many businesses are finding it necessary to pivot to a remote work model where their employees are free to achieve from the comfort of their living rooms.

Despite the increased reliance on remote workers we’ve witnessed across the market recently, some entrepreneurs and established corporate professionals don’t know where to begin when it comes to adapting the company structure for remote workers.

Attracting and retaining the best remote workers, in particular, is proving nearly impossible for some business owners.

Here’s how to make your business irresistible to remote workers, and what you’ll need to do to keep them around in the long run.

Give remote workers what they need to succeed

It should go without saying that you need to give your remote workers the tech they need to succeed, yet many businesses are still expecting remote workers to supply themselves with office equipment.

While this may seem like a nifty way of cutting down on the costs of doing business, you’re really harming yourself in the long run by restraining your remote workers’ ability to get their hands on the tech they need to stay in constant contact with you.

If communication isn’t regularly maintained, remote work schemes quickly break down, so it’s imperative that you invest thoroughly in the tech you’ll be giving to your employees.

You should take some time to read up on the best tech tools that are changing the world of remote work if you want to avoid wasting your money on a shoddy investment that produces lackluster results.

Sometimes, you’ll need to look at what others in the marketplace are doing to make the right call yourself and figuring out how other companies are outfitting their remote workers is a great way to get your own remote work program rolling if you’ve been having a rough start.

Besides giving employees the tech they’ll need to stay in touch with their managers and collaborate with one another effectively, you also need to focus on training them in necessary areas while fostering a positive company culture.

Learning how to train remote workers

You’ll quickly discover that training remote workers is fundamentally different than training traditional employees. Besides the fact that remote workers demand digital training procedures thanks to their distant nature, they’ll also need special guidance from managers when it comes to steering them towards profitability.

Learning how to train remote workers begins with modifying your existing training regime to accommodate a remote workforce and developing specific training regimes from there.

Also Read: Malaysia’s PolicyStreet gets central bank approval for financial advisory

All the money you spend training your workers will be wasted if you don’t have a positive company culture which values their efforts and makes it clear that their contributions to the team are highly valued, however.

This is why it’s imperative you don’t get too caught up in running constant training exercises and instead focus on instilling a culture of continuous learning where workers should never feel ashamed to ask for help or begin nurturing an underdeveloped skill.

You need to help them with the loneliness

If you really want your business to be irresistible to remote workers, you need to work hard to help them with the loneliness that’s a natural part of the equation when it comes to remote work.

Staying away from others and working from the comfort of your bedroom has serious perks, and not just their ability to avoid work injury.

Employees who are remote workers are often much more efficient than their traditional counterparts and must necessarily be self-starters who can manage themselves to some extent.

Nonetheless, remote work can be lonely and result in worker burnout much faster than traditional employment schemes, so companies that don’t work hard to destress their workers and make them feel appreciated will soon suffer the consequences.

If you’re committed to avoiding burnout culture and helping your remote workers succeed, you should take some time to learn about how you can help them avoid burnouts and retain robust social lives despite their remote employment status.

Also Read: Why Bangladesh is the next frontier for tech investment

Often, constant communication is the key to success, as managers who leave remote workers to wallow by themselves are effectively setting them up for failure. Making sure that your team leaders are still constantly engaging with your workers is one of the most important elements of making your business irresistible to remote workers, who will come to value the compassion your company demonstrates.

Finally, don’t think you can stiff remote workers just because they’re not in the office. Many entrepreneurs view remote workers as a means to trim down their workforce and save money, but the idea that you shouldn’t fairly compensate someone because they’re not working on your office but instead are at home is absurd.

Companies which stiff remote workers will soon have more than a strike on their hands – they’ll have a tarnished reputation. Keep your pay rates attractive and competitive, and you’ll soon find the doors of your business being flooded by remote workers seeking employment.

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Photo by Anton Shuvalov on Unsplash

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With resounding success and huge demands in Taiwan, TAIRA 2019 is designed to bring in global AI startups to grow and explore business opportunities with corporations in Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP)

TAIRA 2019 is officially launched.

A programme dedicated to establishing STSP to become an international innovation ecosystem by partnering with global startups

TAIRA, which stands for Taiwan AI x Robotics Accelerator, is a joint programme co-curated by Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) and StarFab Accelerator. It is the most well-established corporate innovation accelerator in Taiwan, and it officially kickstarted at the TAIRA 2019 launch press conference in InnoVEX, the startup arm of Asia’s Iconic B2B exhibition, COMPUTEX TAIPEI.

Several ecosystem key players have been invited to partake in this grandeur launch and co-work together to provide more international resources to accelerate the growth of STSP startup ecosystem – representing Taiwanese corporations, technology platforms, and investors, The Allied Association for Science Park Industries, Cloud Computing & IoT Association in Taiwan, Taiwan ITRI New Venture Association, and other international startup builders like TNB Aura, FocusTech Ventures, Bangkok Bank InnoHub, ParticleX, Infinity Ventures (IVP), Sphere 5200.

What is TAIRA (Taiwan AI x Robotics Accelerator)?

The founding story behind TAIRA can be traced back to 2017, when STSP and StarFab started supporting and enabling corporation-startup matchmaking, helping startups to secure over US$110 million in funding and close to US$20 million deal tractions along the way.

Since then, STSP and StarFab saw the great potential and unfulfilled gap between corporations and startups, leading to the decision to pilot the TAIRA programme in 2018. The TAIRA programme intends to facilitate collaborations by partnering with corporations to combine domain expertise with new and innovative technologies.

With that said, in 2019, STSP and StarFab have committed to putting in more resources to connect international accelerators and venture capital with the southern Taiwan startup ecosystem. This includes test beds for corporate collaborations, technical platforms, and funds to further equip AI startups with business and fundraising opportunities to expand in the Taiwan market, increasing market shares and acquiring more clients.

Why TAIRA 2019 and how to apply

In the press conference, Amanda Liu, StarFab CEO, mentioned that building on the foundations of existing industries in southern Taiwan, TAIRA 2019 has invited numerous corporations from smart manufacturing, smart healthcare, smart banking, and smart agriculture sectors to come onboard.

The key role that TAIRA 2019 plays is to partner with corporations to come up with current corporate problem statements and provide a test bed, where they can work with startups to validate different innovative ideas and technologies. This will pave the way for STSP and StarFab to reach out and bring in overseas startups with relevant and qualified technology capabilities to co-work and transform the current industry.

This year, TAIRA 2019 programme will be inviting global startups with applied AI technologies/products to work with several world-class southern Taiwan tech corporations, including United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), Castec International, AllRing-Tech (ART), Chi Mei Hospital, Taiwan Stipendiary and King’s Town Bank.

The top shortlisted startups will have the chance to receive up to US$64,000 research & development grants and product/technology development support from IBM, AWS, GCP, NVIDIA, Advantech, Epistar, Himax, Chunghwa Telecom, and Mighty Net.

TAIRA 2019 calling for global startups NOW

“TAIRA 2018 acts as a stepping stone for us to fine-tune the accelerator programme, and make TAIRA 2019 more comprehensive,” highlighted Director-General Wei-Chen Lin of the Southern Taiwan Science Park in the press conference.

TAIRA is not just an accelerator programme, but a holistic online-to-offline innovation platform designed to support local Taiwan corporations to work hand-in-hand with global AI startups. The platform will enable participants to co-create and explore business opportunities based on corporate internal growing demands, to further advance the current industries.

If you are an AI startup, keen to work with Taiwan tech corporations and expand to Taiwan market, then you are the right fit! TAIRA 2019 will be accepting startup applications until June 30. For more information, please check out the TAIRA website here: http://www.tairax.com.tw/index.aspx.

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Joining Chiang Mai Smart Mobility Alliance Network, the initiative signed by Grab seeks to bring cleaner mobility solutions for Thais

Grab announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with partners from both government and private sector organisations to establish the Chiang Mai Smart Mobility Alliance Network. By doing so, Grab marked the launch of GrabTukTuk Electric, which the company claimed to be the first in Southeast Asia.

With GrabTukTuk, Grab will work to integrate electric vehicles into the Tuk Tuk network. The goal is to reduce pollution from private vehicles by 35 per cent, which is the part of the public-private partnership.

Users in Chiang Mai can start booking their GrabTukTuk Electric ride from the Grab app.

“Over the past year, we have improved the infrastructure in the Nimmanhaemin area under the ‘Smart Nimman’ project where the development of transportation has been our top priority so as to increase the efficiency of public transportation, reduce air pollution, elevate the quality of life for the people and move towards Smart Mobility.”

“The Chiang Mai Smart Mobility Alliance Network will thus be key to unlocking the full potential of both the public and private sectors to drive Chiang Mai forward and become one of the first smart cities in Thailand,” said Wirun Panthewee, Deputy Governor of Chiang Mai.

Based on statistics from the Energy Conservation Laboratory (EnConLab), KMUTT, one electric TukTuk is estimated to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas by up to 4.18 tons per year.

Also Read: How Solve Education wants to help a billion people

GrabTukTuk Electric also allows locals and tourists to easily book this transport through the Grab app. The new service is also expected to create better income-earning opportunities for GrabTukTuk Electric driver-partners as it allows them to save 80 per cent in fuel costs (costs only THB1,400 to charge an electric TukTuk compared to THB6,000 monthly fuel expenses).

GrabTukTuk Electric service is part of Grab’s long-term push into environmentally friendly transportation options such as electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles across Southeast Asia for a more sustainable mobility network. Grab claimed that it operates the largest network of eco-friendly vehicles in Southeast Asia and welcomes partnerships with city governments and industry partners to drive greater adoption of electric vehicles across the region.

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STP claims its platform allows for the transparent tokenisation of any asset, which will improve the way digital assets behave and how individuals interact with them

Standard Tokenization Protocol (STP), an open-source standard and decentralised network for the tokenisation and issuance of any asset, has announced that it in May closed a US$7M financing round with investors, including Singapore-based NEO Global Capital, Beijing-based fund BlockVC, and crypto-asset investment company Alphabit Fund.

Additionally, the Singapore-based company has announced it will be conducting its initial exchange offering (IEO) on Bittrex International, a digital assets trading platform. Interested and qualified users can participate in the STP IEO via Bittrex, starting at 10pm SGT on Tuesday, June 11th. The token sale will end at 10pm SGT on Tuesday, June 12th, or once the total supply is sold if earlier.

Also Read: Grab launches GrabTukTuk Electric in Chiang Mai for greener transportation

Mike Chen, Founder and CEO of STP, said: “We decided to go with Bittrex because their community, like ours, is global, and the platform allows users to purchase more tokens in comparison to other IEO platforms. With the help of Bittrex, we will be able to unlock trillions of dollars of value using the STP-Standard.”

STP was co-founded by Sinhae Lee and Richard Lee.

STP claims its platform allows for the compliant and transparent tokenisation of any asset, which will improve the way digital assets behave and how individuals interact with them. Tokenised assets in the STP ecosystem are enabled with new asset features that eliminate the hassle of manual and labour-intensive back-end processes.

STP helps lower the barrier to entry for accessing digitally native assets by allowing for fractional ownership, thereby removing illiquidity discounts and creating flexibility for the assets.

Use cases

Issuers can use STP to execute the tokenisation of their assets. STP’s on-chain Compliance Validator ensures global compliance at all times, giving issuers various financing options: the liquidity of an IPO, the speed and efficiency of an ICO, and the compliance assurances of a regulated offering.

Retail investors will be able to access new STP-Standard token offerings through the mobile app as well as wealth management tools for managing their STP-Standard token holdings. This single platform for all STP offerings will help individuals find and invest in the right projects for them, while helping projects reach the right audience and grow their communities.

The STP token also enables new financial tools such as onchain crowdfunding, where investors access new offerings by sending STP tokens directly to a smart contract which automatically returns the new STP-Standard token to the investor.

Photo by Storm on Unsplash

 

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Ever wonder how to get an MVP off the ground? This is a nice first-person account of the process

Hi, I’m Nicholas Lim, the Co-Founder of Outside — a community tasking app that makes it easier for people to help each other with their daily inconveniences.

The Outside team is made out of students and fresh graduates who are passionate about tech and the sharing economy. We have previously attempted several business ideas together and ultimately got back together to build Outside.

The Beginning

I met my co-founder and friend, Dion, back at a social entrepreneurship program in secondary school. After graduation, we decided to try starting up businesses together. Within a few years, we attempted 6 different ideas, ranging from tech enabled crowdsourcing, sustainability, gaming, to even contract jobs and events.

After testing out multiple concepts, we finally arrived at the idea of creating a platform that would make it easier for people to help each other. Thus, Outside was born.

Like most people who lack the ability to build an app themselves, we resorted to outsourcing. However, the experience was not the best. The constant check-ins with the outsourced developers were very time consuming and the development process took 3 months longer than what was planned.

Worst of all, the app did not perform as expected. The 6 months of designing and gathering feedback led to more functions, and building more functions led to a much bigger price tag.

The constant unexpected delays and changes were slowly diminishing our savings. Soon, we realised that we had to raise more money or drop the app.

As 20 year-olds, this was the toughest decision that we had to make. We considered borrowing money and even tried to apply for bank loans (the banks obviously rejected). Ultimately, with rising tensions and tighter finances, we had no choice but to let go of the app.

Leveling up

However, soon after, Dion and I felt that it was possible to pick up programming by ourselves to save the app.

After numerous research, as well as four-to-five months of tumbling around and attempting two different frameworks (Dartlang+Flutter and React Native), we finally created a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) that performed the basic function of tasking and task management.

The journey was not at all smooth. While building the app, we hit roadblocks such as learning the wrong language and had difficulty seeking help. We failed to hit our targets and the release for private beta was pushed back for nearly 3 months.

While rushing for the private beta release, we were constantly in the office up till the last available bus home. This routine of pushing ourselves only resulted in burning out and increased tensions within the team.

After realising the detrimental effects of our working style, we agreed on building a proper work schedule and system to better manage our work process ( You can learn more about it here ). With everything in place, we managed to launch our private beta in December 2018.

Also Read: Grab launches GrabTukTuk Electric in Chiang Mai for greener transportation

While we also initially intended for our public beta to launch in December, we received several crucial feedback and noted problems from our private beta testers. This led to us making the decision of doing a controlled scale test instead. Doing so allowed us to focus on understanding our current testers and helped us in better adding value to the app.

After fixing up issues and restructuring the app we successfully (and proudly) launched the public beta of Outside in February 2019.

Side note: we were very lucky and thankful that we were given the opportunity to both open our first booth and pitch for the finals at Unicon Arena 2019. We came in as runner up within 48 hours of our launch too yay!

Whats Next

Although we have already launched our public beta, we are still very much at The Start of our journey. We recently onboarded new members and are currently preparing for our demo day in mid April!

We are currently getting more beta testers so that we can collect more feedback to improve on the product. There are also several pretty interesting functions coming down the pipeline that we are very excited to share!

Also Read: Asset tokenisation platform STP Network raises US$7M; to launch IEO on Bittrex

We can’t wait to see how you guys react to them. In the meantime, keep an eye OUT for us!

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Photo by Pablo Heimplatz on Unsplash

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In a world of heightened stress and anxiety, make sure you’re creating a healthy work environment where everyone can thrive

The state of the world has been extremely turbulent, with people experiencing fires, war, earthquakes and other tragedies, in addition to an increasingly competitive working environment. Lately, people have been experiencing more stress and anxiety in their lives than ever before. Some people reach for meditation apps, go to yoga sessions or take breaks to travel internationally. Humanity appears to be constantly seeking peace in its heart.

Through my experience as a startup founder, I’ve realised that mental health issues are especially prominent among founders and people who play major roles in entrepreneurial endeavors. After addressing my own mental health and witnessing many of my close founder friends sink into depression, I have taken steps to ensure my company sustains a healthy work environment in order for everyone to thrive.

Let go of negative influences

I founded Humm.ly six months ago with several others. I trusted one particular team member wholeheartedly, overlooking some questionable behaviours because I thought his skills and talent would be valuable to the team. They delivered impeccable work whenever needed. I let him lead an entire project because I trusted his high standard of work. However, trying to get a startup going can be perilous. They were highly critical of other employees in circumstances that called for patience. Gradually, this person’s temper discouraged almost everyone in the company. I was afraid to start frank conversations with him because of unreasonable criticisms and arguments. It was a difficult realisation for me. I had to convince myself that having him as a leader in the company would significantly slow down work performance and impact others’ job satisfaction. After a lot of consideration and consultation with more experienced startup founders, I made the difficult decision to let them go. Even though I had sympathy for him, his departure ultimately prevented negativity from spreading to other team members.

Encourage physical wellness

Years of research shows that physical activity can reduce anxiety and depression for healthy adults. Yet, exercising regularly can be difficult, especially when starting a new company and experiencing high levels of stress. During the beginning of my startup life, I experienced tremendous weight gain, living on spicy ramen and late-night delivery options. One of my founding members ate Big Macs for a month straight! This was not the image we wanted to present, especially with a mission to promote healthy lifestyles for our users. I encouraged the team to sign up for boxing and yoga classes with me. I reminded them to eat healthfully and sleep well every day.

Also Read: Malaysian healthtech startup Naluri raises US$250K seed funding from 500 Startups, BioMark

We have been able to maintain medium- to high-intensity exercise routines ever since then. If you are worried about how to keep your team motivated to accomplish fitness goals, lead by example. You can initiate a great sense of well-being within your company by creating opportunities for regular exercise and fitness partnerships within your team. I’ve seen that with a proper routine, memory recall and creativity can increase and team members can feel more relaxed and positive about themselves and their lives, potentially increasing their performance and attitude at work.

Develop meaningful one-to-one communication

The most challenging thing in my startup experience so far has been managing the emotional highs and lows over the past several months. Although the ups and downs are a natural part of building a new company, it’s crucial to keep track of all team members’ well being, especially during the initial development of the business. I have found that regular one-to-one meetings are valuable for building rapport between you and the individuals you work with every day. Get coffee, go for lunch, hike and even take spontaneous trips with the team member you want to check in with. One-to-one communication can develop trust, increase productivity, and support the team’s alignment and development of a shared mental model.

Foster a supportive and positive culture

Creating a supportive and positive culture became the most important priority for my company after stress and burnout caused internal discord and issues with team members. Although startups are always pushing to meet crucial deadlines, it is ultimately more important to reinforce your team and support them in going the extra mile. You want to help your team feel welcome, secure in their position and valued within the company. Lead by example and set a positive tone through supportive behaviours. As you build relationships with team members and grow your company’s culture, over time you will create a supportive and positive place that people love working at.

Competition in the startup world can be brutal. If founding team members are constantly overwhelmed and not receiving support for mental or physical wellness, the company could crumble. Every founder should consider working on their own skills, including mindfulness, listening, clear communication and empathy. The team and the company will benefit from their founder leading by example, resulting in longevity, prosperity and happiness for all involved.

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Joanna Yu
Founder and CEO of Humm.ly

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organisation comprising the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship programme that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

Photo by You X Ventures on Unsplash

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The Singapore-based mobile data plan operator is planning to launch in over five countries, starting with Taiwan and Australia

Less than four months after securing US$50 million in Series C from Sequoia India, Singapore’s mobile data plan operator Circles.Life has closed another round of funding from government-backed fund EDBI (lead investor) and Silicon Valley-based Founders Fund.

This round will help Circles.Life — which claims to have grown its subscriber base by more than 9X from Q1 2017 to Q1 2019 —  expand its presence across APAC and beyond, starting with Taiwan in June 2019. This will be followed with the launch of services in Australia.

In both Taiwan and Australia, the plan is to roll out digital mobile solutions as the first step in creating a platform of personalised digital services. In total, it will launch services in more than five countries over the next 18 months.

The new financing round will also be used to build a tech hub in Singapore and continue to innovate in the personalised digital services space in the country and beyond. It aims to grow the global team with the Singapore engineering team expanding by 50 per cent by the end of 2019.

“We have raised the bar in Singapore’s telco space and will continue our effort to digitise the global mobile services industry — delighting consumers with highly personalised digital services,” said Abhishek Gupta, Co-founder of Circles.Life.

Also Read: Circles.Life raises Series C from Sequoia India to expand abroad

With support from EDBI Circles.Life aims to align itself with the country’s ambition to make the smart nation a reality. “Homegrown Circles.Life is reinvigorating Singapore’s telco industry with its customer-first, data-driven approach enabled by its innovative digital platform. Built from ground-up, the platform not only provides a more flexible mobile service but also personalised lifestyle experiences for the consumer. As a strategic investor, EDBI looks forward to supporting Circles.Life in its next phase of growth to be a regional champion, leveraging Singapore as their springboard,” said Chu Swee Yeok, CEO and President of EDBI.

Established in 2005 by a group of technology pioneers including Peter Thiel, the San Francisco-based venture capital firm has notably been the first investor into Facebook and SpaceX, both currently leading the technology revolution in their respective fields.

“Circles.Life is demonstrating a new model for how telcos should operate. By being a digital-first telecom, they are able to provide superior customer experience, something that is very uncommon in an industry dominated by oligopolies who outsource the work on their technology stack to consulting companies,” said Jeff Lonsdale of Founders Fund.

Founded in 2016, Circles.Life’s strategy is to launch an innovative digital mobile solution and use this as the platform to build more personalised digital services. At the core of Circles.Life’s unique business model is Circles-X, a proprietary software platform in the cloud which delivers a highly flexible and completely digital customer experience across the entire service journey.

Circles.Life operates by purchasing bandwidth from the local telco M1 and then selling it to customers at discounted prices (or giving a huge amount of data). For example, in February the company pulled a clever marketing stunt by announcing it was killing its 20GB for US$20 plan at the end of the month. Then, a day later, it announced that it was offering unlimited data for US$20 a month.

Circles.Life claims to have crossed 5 per cent mobile telco market share in Singapore since its launch.

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