Taiwanese Style Stewed Veego with Basil Leaf

Finance

Grab nabs US$700M from Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group to bring financial services to users

Singapore-based ride-hailing startup Grab has announced that it has raised more than US$700 million from Japan’s bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, as reported by Bloomberg. In total, Grab now has about US$9.8 billion in its dispense.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group intends to integrate its financial services to Grab’s users.

Grab last raised an extensive Series H round in 2018 and 2019, worth US$1.5 billion investment from SoftBank Vision Fund. It was then followed by a US$300 million funding led by Invesco.

Facebook participates in Indian edutech startup Unacademy’s US$110M Series E funding

Unacademy, a Bengaluru-based edutech startup, has onboarded Facebook as one of its latest investors in its Series E round of US$110 million funding. Inc42 reports that General Atlantic also joined the Series E round, along with Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, Blume Ventures, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO, Flipkart, and Sujeet Kumar, cofounder, Udaan.

Unacademy has said that it plans to use the funds to launch more exam categories, test preparation categories, acquire top educators, and create more learning experiences for the learners through its content and product. In addition to raising the funding, Unacademy also provided exits to some of the angel investors.

Founded in 2010 by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, and Hemesh Singh, Unacademy first began with a free YouTube tutorial to teach students. In 2015, the company began offering free learning in lessons on every possible topic in multiple languages.

Also Read: Unacademy raises US$4.5M, now educators to create free online courses

India clocked a staggering US$2 billion in the edutech industry, with Datalabs by Inc42 recorded around 4450 edutech startups in India with most capital injected into the test preparation and online certification segments.

Business

Singapore’s biotech Life3 Biotech to introduce an agri-food pilot facility

Supported by Singapore Land Authority and Singapore Food Agency, the city-state will have its first plant-based alternative protein production facility to enhance food security developed by biotech startup Life3 Biotech.

Based in Singapore, the startup synergises knowledge in urban agriculture, biotechnology, and food science to develop sustainable functional food and beverages, and it will set up an integrated agri-food pilot facility located at Paya Lebar. The facility will be used to kick-start the production of Veego, Singapore’s first plant-based alternative protein source.

The pilot facility is a testament to ongoing progress in the local alternative protein scene. Life3 Biotech aims to promote health and wellness and reduce the occurrence of chronic diseases through alternative protein food production. The facility will also serve as a showcase that integrates the farm-to-table concept for intensified local production of sustainable alternative protein sources, as well as does test-bed innovative concepts and conduct deep research to achieve eco-circularity and sustainability.

Founded in 2015 by Ricky Lin, their flagship product is a proprietary plant-based protein (Veego) that aims to meet the rising demand for environmentally-friendly and healthy alternatives to meat.

Talent-focussed investor Entrepreneur First shares its newest deep techs cohorts

Entrepreneur First reveals its sixth cohort of 19 deep tech startups coming from Singapore, Bangalore, and Hong Kong. The cohort comprises startups from technologies such as using platforms to monitor the performance of electric-vehicle batteries, and others, according to a report by The Business Times.

Also Read: Foodtech in Singapore through the eyes of startups

However, because of the Covid-19 outbreak, the supposed investor day that was scheduled on February 13 had to be cancelled. The startups were instead pitching to investors directly.

Entrepreneur First’s method is matching individuals with deep expertise in various fields to each other to form a founding team. Each startup formed then pitches to investors at the end of the programme for venture-capital funding.

The new cohort has four companies that are graduates of a joint programme between Entrepreneur First and startup accelerator HAX that focuses on hardware development. Nine startups in the sixth cohort are from Singapore including Quantship, a price-prediction technology startup for freight and charter rates for bulk shipping companies, and TeOra, a startup that programs smart microbes to replace synthetic materials with natural and sustainable products.

Alchemy enters the trial phase in Singapore, integrating Binance into payment service

The CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao has announced on a Twitter post that its payment service has been integrated into the blockchain startup Alchemy’s system following a trial phase in Singapore, The Coin Republic reported.

Alchemy states the need for a strong infrastructure to enable the utility provided by cryptocurrencies. Alchemy seeks to solve the need for a base system to allow cryptocurrency transactions, smart contracts, apps, and such in the corporate sector that can be easily integrated within existing businesses.

Alchemy’s backers include Coinbase; Alphabet, Inc. Chairman, John Henessy; Samsung; Linkedin co-founder, Reid Hoffman; Yahoo’s co-founder, Jerry Yang; Chris Kelly, former legal chief at Facebook; and Stanford University.

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Picture Credit: Life3 Biotech

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SOCAR raises US$18 million to expand car-sharing platform

SOCAR, the platform which provides car-sharing services in Malaysia, has raised US$18 million in a Series A funding round from Eugene Private Equity and KH Energy.

Based in South Korea, the startup aims to use the fresh funds to enhance its platform, grow within Malaysia, and expand into new countries by Q4 2020.

“The extra capital will also be used to improve its app’s user experience, add new modes of car sharing, support more payment options, and expedite the onboarding and processing of license approvals for new users,” said Socar Malaysia CEO Leon Foong.

The company is currently operating its 27 different models in over 1,000 locations in the Klang Valley, Johor Bahru, Penang, and most recently, Ipoh.

UangTeman closes US$10M in series B round led by ACA Investments

UangTeman, an online lending platform which lends money to borrowers with no credit history, reportedly raised US$10 million in the second part of its Series B funding round, according to Tech in Asia. The round was led by Singaporean private equity firm ACA Investments with participation from Pegasus Tech Ventures and Japan’s Spiral Ventures.

The first part of the company’s Series B funding round was led by Draper Associates and Japan’s KDDI Open Innovation Fund.

Also Read: Startup of the Month, August: UangTeman, an online lending platform in Indonesia

“Whilst headline growth rate is sexy and will fetch high valuations, I believe that at the core of viability of every business – startup or otherwise – is its economic fundamentals and sustainability for the long term,” says Aidil Zulkifli, the founder and CEO of UangTeman, who expresses his desire to build loan products that are less risky and more sustainable in the market.

e27 to reveal Indonesia’s most active agritech startups in an in-depth industry report 

e27 is set to launch a report that aims to provide an in-depth analysis of Indonesia’s agritech industry along with insights and comments from multiple industry leaders.

Set to be launched next week, the report will reveal the most active and top-funded startups in the region.

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: Singapore’s Life3 Biotech to have its first plant-based alternative protein production facility

It will also reveal the most active VC firms in the agritech sector in the region.

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Image Credit:  Luke Ow

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Finance

Vietnamese IT recruiting platform TopDev raises investment from Korean recruiting company SaraminHR

Vietnam-based IT recruiting startup TopDev announced that it has closed a seven-digit deal investment from Korean recruiting company SaraminHR.

Nguyen Huu Binh, TopDev CEO and Founder, said: “With this new funding, we will continue to improve TopDev’s services quality and develop new values for our customers, while still continuing to enhance others goals besides the recruitment functions such as increasing the developers’ supply for the market through training, developing IT career programmes for young people, students, and freshers.”

TopDev is an IT recruitment platform which claims to possess 300,000 developer profiles, with the customers mostly are technology companies in Vietnam and the region.

Vietnam’s startup movement with digital transformation has made the demand for recruiting programming personnel has increased 1.5 times each year, along with the participation of companies in the region coming to Vietnam in search of tech talent.

Cambodian logistics tech ShopRunBack raises US$900K in pre-Series A funding from OBOR Capital

ShopRunBack, a French-Cambodian logistics tech startup announced that it has closed US$900,000 in pre-Series A funding led by OBOR Capital, a venture capital fund in Cambodia. Joining the round are other investors including Negocia Ventures, a Singapore-based VC firm founded by serial entrepreneur, Thierry Tea.

ShopRunBack is a reverse logistics company that was founded in 2014 with the aim to transform the returns experience for both customers and merchants, combining international logistics network with a new generation of plug & play software.

Also Read: This Hong Kong logistics startup supports the logistics of, well, startups

ShopRunBack has already counted retailers and marketplaces in Europe such as Etam and Mango in its portfolio. It recently signed a strategic partnership with Shenzhen’s 4PX Express (Alibaba Group) to propose the use of its reverse logistics platform to 4PX’s database that includes more than 300,000 merchants and to increase adoption of logistics and e-commerce best practices in the Mekong region.

Indonesian AI-powered software startup Eureka AI nabs US$20M in Series B round from host of investors

AI enterprise software company Eureka AI has raised US$20 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Apis Partners, Gobi Partners, the Riyad Taqnia Fund, and MEC Ventures, Tech In Asia has learned.

The Softbank-backed startup also welcomes SG Innovate, GDP Ventures, Pacific Bridge, and Cianna Capital into the round, joining existing investors in the company that includes SoftBank, PPF Home Credit, and East Ventures.

The company said that the funding will be used to support its expansion plans in Europe and the US, as well as develop its product portfolio.

Eureka AI was founded in 2017 in Indonesia, offering a proprietary AI enterprise software platform Spectrum, that helps organise mobile data to deliver actionable intelligence at scale for mobile operators and enterprises in fields such as banking, insurance, transportation, fast-moving consumer goods, and telecommunications. It helps these companies in making decisions, serving their customers, and acquiring new clients.

SoftBank reportedly funnels US$2.5B to the second Vision Fund

Japan’s SoftBank Group is said to have funneled US$2.5 billion cash into new investments since October to its Vision Fund, DealStreetAsia reported. There was also a report that the Japanese tech conglomerate also considers adding another US$2.5 billion of its own money.

SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said that the company may spend up to two years investing its own money in a bridge fund, to give investors enough confidence to participate in a second Vision Fund by bettering its portfolio.

Also Read: Taiwan AI tech startups to stand out for Global Recognition at CES Eureka Park 2020

For the second Vision Fund, SoftBank targeted a US$108 billion fundraise. It had committed US$38 billion of its own money toward that goal but faced delay due to investor “concerns” about the performance of the first US$100 billion Vision Fund.

The first Vision Fund spent over US$80 billion after its first major fundraising close in May 2017 backing a number of technology startups, such as office space-sharing company WeWork and ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N). However, it was faced with a loss with SoftBank forced to save WeWork from bankruptcy last year in a roughly US$10 billion financing deal.

Business

BCA partners GK – Plug and Play to launch its second edition of SYNRGY Accelerator

After the 2019 edition of SYNRGY Accelerator, PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA) continues the accelerator programme partnering global accelerator GK – Plug and Play focussing on Augmented reality (AR)/Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML).

The startups joining this batch are:

• Ai Sensum, big-data analytics & AI customer engagement platform
• Assemblr, a mobile and desktop platform to access and create AR content
• Cubeacon, a platform to build hardware dan Mobile Insight for IoT (Internet of Things) device.
• Delman IO, an end to end big data solutions focussing on data cleansing and data warehousing.
• DyCodeX, an end to end AI, IoT-based solutions. SMARTernak is a platform to support cow farming management, developed by DyCodeX.
• KYCK!, a KYC (Know Your Customer) platform that can be used to verify blockchain-based startups identity.
• Octagon Studio, a tech company specialises in AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality) dan MR (Mixed Reality) products.
• Qomodo, a market research company serving SMEs in doing automated market research and data analysis.
• Shinta VR, a software developer, and VR/AR/MR content company that focusses on training and edutech sector.
• Verihubs, a platform that provides automated verification using AI.
• Zero One, a service-based company that helps companies innovate with data optimisation

There will be two batches of SYNRGY Accelerator this year for three months each where startups will get access to investors, one-on-one mentoring, chance to collaborate with BCA, connection with the regulator, and media coverage.
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Image Credit: TopDev Vietnam

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Skymind Global Ventures Founder and CEO Shawn Tan

Skymind Global Ventures (SGV), an Artificial Intelligence-focused startup fund-cum-accelerator based in London, recently announced that it plans to expand into Malaysia and Indonesia. This precedes the launch of a US$800-million fund to back promising new AI companies and academic research across the UK and globally.

SGV was founded by Shawn Tan and Dr Goh Shu Wei to provide supported access to the market for open-source AI platforms and to invest in the AI ecosystem building.

In an interview with e27, CEO Shawn Tan talks about the fund, AI industry and the Southeast Asian market.

Edited excerpts:

Is SGV a corporate VC or a traditional VC fund?

SGV is a corporate VC fund. It is the only dedicated AI ecosystem builder focused on ecosystem growth. We are also an AI education launchpad for open-source tools, including Eclipse Deeplearning4j.

We provide hands-on training to help companies support their existing engineering teams and provide training to help new talent acquire the skills to master Eclipse Deeplearning4J and other open-source tools.

Also Read: How AI will revolutionise the boardroom through these 3 breakthroughs

Finally, we are passionate about helping enterprises, promising new startups and world-class researchers to achieve their AI destiny through venture capital funding.

Skymind launched the investment fund in 2020 to support the advancement of the AI ecosystem. The fund comes from the revenue generated through the Skymind ecosystem.

The fund will back global startups specialising in AI at seed and Series A stage. It will also support independent research and university programmes focused on artificial intelligence.

SGV aims to make its portfolio of venture-backed companies profitable and to nurture the development of AI innovation around the world. Investment decisions for the fund will be made by the executive team based in Skymind’s London headquarters.

How many startups in Southeast Asia (SEA) do you plan to invest from this fund? Have you already identified any startups for potential investments?

Skymind’s priority in SEA is building the ecosystem and developing the tech talent pool. But if we see a potential startup with good proprietary AI technology, we will invest in it.

Skymind has identified three startups through the Skymind Launchpad programme. We saw great talents from Singapore, China, Japan and Australia and what’s interesting is they are all ready to move and incubate their startups in Malaysia.

With the programmes that we are currently conducting, we hope to see more locals in the region benefitting from the foreign experts we are bringing in. With this, we hope to see more AI products or local IPs built in either Malaysia, Indonesia or the region.

Can you share details about your SEA expansion plans?

Right now, we are looking at key markets such as Indonesia and Malaysia, which we see as high-value growth markets. Our primary focus is to create a talent hub in Southeast Asia for AI talent, which is in very high demand at the moment.

We are also looking at investing in the region to enable promising and innovative companies that have potential.

Why an emphasis on these two markets in Southeast Asia and why not other markets like Singapore and Thailand? What specific potentials do you see in Indonesia and Malaysia?

Both markets have a lot of potential in terms of talent, infrastructure and partners that are keen to work with us to grow the AI ecosystem.

Indonesia and Malaysia have a large talent pool and just require the expertise and infrastructure that Skymind can provide for them to realise their potential as active AI-ready markets.

We are looking at other markets as well, and if the opportunity does present itself, we will explore the potential in those markets.

By any standards, Singapore is the most advanced market where AI is growing fast, with many industries like banking planning to integrate AI with their products. Why is this market excluded from your expansion plans?

This is a long-term plan for Skymind to build a robust AI ecosystem and at the moment are not ruling out any market. However, to ensure a planned and measured approach, we have identified markets and industries where Skymind’s involvement will have the most significant positive impact and want to focus our attention, before expanding into other markets.

Markets such as Singapore, Thailand and other countries in the region are part of our long-term vision to foster and grow a healthy AI ecosystem.

You aim to grow and boost the AI ecosystem in Southeast Asia. How do you plan to achieve this goal?

By focusing on talent in the region. We strongly believe that Southeast Asia has the necessary talents to make it a hub for the global AI industry.

Also Read: 9 digital marketing trends you can no longer ignore in 2020

By fostering and developing a scalable method to train and provide employment for AI talent in the region, we know that this will help the industry grow faster.

How do you look at the overall growth for AI in SEA? Do you foresee a massive growth for this tech across industries, particularly banking and cybersecurity, etc.?

Most definitely, we see growth in those industries. Still, overall we see significant adoption across all sectors as we work to improve the talent pool in the region while educating the market about the potential of AI.

The benefit of building an ecosystem is that it fosters growth across multiple industries through multiple stakeholders. This allows faster growth as there is more access to talent, infrastructure and technical expertise.

Which other sectors do you think can AI disrupt?

Every industry in the world from manufacturing to e-commerce can benefit from AI solutions. Most sectors already employ at least some form of AI solutions, mostly through machine learning and basic automation, but at the moment, they are barely scratching the surface.

We see a future where AI is part of every single industry, improving efficiency and quality in all aspects of the business. The opportunities are endless but require a robust ecosystem around it to nurture growth and innovation.

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The recent Coronavirus epidemic has no doubt greatly affected the business and financing of some of our venture building projects. Our entrepreneurs have worked tirelessly to get results but with little or no success.

In the face of these setbacks, calmness, wise judgement and even maintaining a positive attitude is a test of the minds for many entrepreneurs.

While being self-quarantined after my business trip to China, I took the time to read some books on Stoicism and discovered that this ancient school of Greek philosophy can give us, entrepreneurs, the ability to shed light on our inner minds and improve our personal goals.

It is fascinating! Today, let me share with you some knowledge on this important Western school of thought.

Stoicism is one of the four major and most popular, philosophical schools in Ancient Greece. From Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome to Later Europe, many of us are familiar with the famous philosophers, writers, and politicians of the Stoic school including more famous figures like Roman General Scipio Aemilianos and the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Presently, many of Silicon Valley’s technopreneurs are also practitioners of stoicism.

Also Read: In video, how fear setting can help you take action and thrive in high stress environments

What is the Stoic’s philosophy of life?

The school of Stoicism teaches that virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge. The wise live in harmony with the divine Reason (also identified with Fate and Providence) that governs nature, and are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune, pleasure and pain; to realise one’s control and tame (rather than eliminate) instinctive desire and passion with reasoning to achieve “stoic calmness and tranquillity”.

Stoicism has many unique thoughts in philosophy, politics and psychology. One of the very basic ways of thinking is called “negative visualisation” i.e. always imagining the worst situation.

Assuming that everything has been taken away by fate, what should I do?

Stoicism suggests for us to imagine the things we value to be taken away by fate –  such as the loss of jobs, the loss of wealth, the death of loved ones, and even consider our own death, and then re-examine what we have and what we are doing.

Seneca, the great ancient philosopher of Stoicism, said, “We should love all of our dear ones …, but always with the thought that we have no promise that we may keep them forever—nay, no promise even that we may keep them for long.”

Seneca takes things even further than this, adding on that, “We should live as if this very moment were our last. ” This is the most important Stoic psychological technique for “all things everywhere are perishable.”

By practising negative visualisation, we will be able to embrace whatever life we are living and love it with every bit of delight we can extract from it.

Also Read: The Jay Kim Show: Ryan Holiday and ego as the enemy

It also prepares us for events that will deprive us of the things that bring up happiness. In other words, it teaches us to embrace our life and endeavour without clinging to the pain and pleasures of vicissitudes.

Such ideas can also be found in modern thought. For example, the writer Rowland said, “There is only one heroism in the world: to see the world as it is, and to love it.” By contemplating the impermanence of everything, we will not only gain the primary benefit of Stoicism, namely  “a boundless joy that is firm and unalterable,” but also to pursue our endeavour with a significance and intensity that would otherwise be absent.

This is the life philosophy of the strong.

Philosophy is a sentence or two of life mottos that makes sense. Philosophy is the product of speculation. But you must have a concrete logic that can withstand scrutiny and debate.

Similarly, the formation of the philosophy of life and ideological concepts requires a lot of active practice: daily, in self-reflection and when faced with adversity.

Especially for entrepreneurs who face all kinds of opportunities and adversity every day, many mental methods of Stoic philosophy may help us to see clearly the goals of life and entrepreneurship, face all uncertainties rationally and calmly, and still persist with enthusiasm!

The content of Stoic’s philosophy is definitely rich and intriguing. For friends who are interested, I highly recommend reading A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine.

Startup life is full of surprise and setbacks, Keep calm, our fellow entrepreneurs.

Acknowledgement: The author would like to thank Stephanie Winata for her contribution to this article

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Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page and sign up for our upcoming webinar on how to manage founder’s burnout. 

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On Tuesday, the Singapore government announced the budget allocation for the year 2020.

It is committed to set aside S$8.3 billion (US$5.9 billion) over the next three years to help companies, including startups, to transform and grow. There is a great emphasis on collaboration between different players as a means to achieve that, through initiatives such as the GoBusiness platform, the expansion of the SMEs Go Digital programme, and the enhancement of the Market Readiness Assistance.

In this article, we are looking at the elements within the budget that will directly or indirectly impact the local startup ecosystem –and what industry players have to say about it.

Deeper into deep tech

One of the highlights of the budget was the S$300 million (US$215 million) additional funds set aside to support startups in the deep tech sector.

The government noted the larger investment and longer gestation period required by deep tech investments as the reason why the sector was given special attention in this budget.

In a written statement to e27, Steve Leonard, Founding CEO at SGInnovate, said that the additional funds “attest to the increasingly vital role of deep tech in delivering social and economic outcomes in the future.”

Also Read: Afternoon News Roundup: Singapore’s Hoolah enters Malaysia, targets growing e-commerce market

“Based on a scientific core, deep tech has the potential to improve lives for humanity and offer solutions even in clean energy and rising sea levels – both long-term focus areas highlighted in this year’s budget,” he states.

“To create scale and impact, our deep tech startups need to look beyond Singapore, and the government’s commitment to supporting deep tech startups is expected to draw in further private funding and international collaboration opportunities. With Startup SG Equity co-investment as one of our tools, we are continuing our work in growing the deep tech ecosystem and contributing to Singapore’s future,” Leonard elaborates.

Greater collaboration –at home and abroad

The budget also sets up a “70-70” target where it aims to have 70 per cent of local graduates of institutes of higher learning to have overseas exposure, with 70 per cent of the countries to be either Southeast Asian countries, India, or China.

Turochas “T” Fuad, Managing Director, Southeast Asia and Korea at WeWork, dubs this initiative as “heartening.”

“While tools and technology are important, it is the exchange of ideas and cooperation that will rejuvenate the industry,” he wrote in a statement.

“It is also great to see that more Singaporean students will have the opportunity to go abroad and gain overseas exposure. As collaboration increases, developing a broader and more nuanced understanding of different cultures will emerge a key theme,” he stresses, adding collaboration across different functions, industries and countries as the key to success for an innovation-led economy.

Stepping into automation

The budget also highlighted the importance of greater integration of technology in the workplace, with a focus on automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Also Read: Afternoon News Roundup: Singapore budgets US$215M to support deep-tech startups 

“The emphasis on advancing AI and automation capabilities is key to the success of these enterprise schemes. In fact, our benchmark data shows Singaporeans (62.4 per cent) are significantly ahead of other Southeast Asian nations (48.6 per cent) when it comes to adopting AI-enabled customer support channels. This has more than halved wait times, while improving customer satisfaction over the past year, suggesting that customer expectations also continue to rise exponentially,” writes Abhishek Deshmukh, VP of Engineering & MD Singapore at Zendesk.

Deshmukh expresses the company’s hope that these new initiatives will make AI and automation adoption to become more prevalent.

So, what is next?

Looking at the focus areas that are being mentioned in the budget, we can start predicting the trends that are going to emerge in 2020.

First of all, there is going to be greater collaboration between the government, startups, and the corporations, particularly in initiatives that aim to transform “the way we work.” Since automation and AI are the main focus here, we can even expect more investments in the sector.

We are also going to see more deep tech startups expanding their business into new markets.

Also Read: Afternoon News Roundup: MealPal changes existing business model, expands operations in Singapore

Entering the new year, Singapore –and the rest of the world– are facing a fresh challenge in the form of COVID-19 outbreak. We believe that this will also change the face of the tech industry, with some services experiencing an increase in popularity.

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Image Credit: Guo Xin Goh on Unsplash

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Singaporean fintech company Hoolah enters Malaysia

Hoolah, a Singaporean fintech company that allows consumers to pay for three-monthly instalments without any interest or fees, has confirmed entry into Malaysian waters, according to Tech In Asia.

The country marks its first international expansion.

Stuart Thornton, CEO of Hoolah, stated that Malaysia has always been a key market for the company due its proximity to Singapore as well as the rise of e-commerce in the market.

The startup has already managed to partner with two fashion tech companies Novelship and Blinq.

Singlife confirms license to operate in the Philippines

Singlife, a digital life insurance company based in Singapore, has officially received a licence to operate in the Philippines, as reported by Dealstreet Asia today. The deal reports a 65 per cent stake of SingLife Philippines to be owned by Singlife while other partners Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) and Di-Firm will own 15 and 20 per cent stake.

“The licence was issued just two months after the digital insurance company partners with Philippine-listed AEV to launch in the Philippines,” said IC Commissioner Dennis B. Funa to Inquirer.

Also Read: Unicorn startup Traveloka’s CTO has stepped down

Singlife has a current valuation of  US$360 million and is the first independent life insurance company that is fully licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Indonesia’s unicorn Traveloka launches co-branded credit card with Bank Mandiri

Indonesia’s unicorn Traveloka announced today that it has launched a co-branded credit card along with Bank Mandiri that will allow consumers to earn points from offline and online purchases among many other benefits, according to Tech In Asia.

The card will be available to Indonesian consumers in the next few months, according to a statement. Users can file for their application via Traveloka’s platforms.

This happens to be Traveloka’s second card after it had partnered with another local bank, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, to launch the PayLater Card.

Also Read:  Morning News Roundup: Vietnam’s IT recruiting platform TopDev raises investment from Korean recruiting company SaraminHR

“The collaboration aims to solve the pain points of customers who are often forced to book flights and hotels at the last minute due to a lack of credit access,” said Traveloka in the company statement according to Tech In Asia.

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Image Credit: Hoolah

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Over the last few days, Indonesia has been making headlines for its decision to propose a new bill that will allow local startups make more foreign hires.

According to A.T. Kearney, Indonesia produces 278 engineers per million people a year, which is inadequate, given the number of tech startups that reached 992 as per the data recorded in 2018.

In comparison, Malaysia and Thailand produce over 1,000 engineers per year, making the field ripe with local talents. For this reason, Indonesia’s government under President Joko Widodo proposed the new bill to invite more foreign investment and boost economic growth.

In an article we released last week, it’s stated that the draft omnibus law’s detail is on job creation, which packages a number of legal revisions into a single vote. The copy of the job creation bill says that an employer categorised as a “startup” need not “have its plans to hire foreign workers approved by the central government”, which is quite a change from the previous labour law that only allowed “representatives of foreign countries that use foreign workers as diplomatic and consular employees”.

The draft includes a simpler process for business permits and relaxed labour rules. The bill, once submitted to the legislature, is likely to pass within six months, as Widodo’s ruling coalition controls about three-quarter of the 575 seats in the People’s Representative Council.

e27 has gathered comments from the Indonesian startup community on the matter. We asked whether they currently employ any engineering foreign talents and their take on the proposed bill, as well as whether or not it will be a disadvantage for the local talents and what are the challenges in talent acquisition.

e27 received the most feedback from local, emerging tech startups from different industries. What we notice is that most of the Unicorns with the most number of foreign talents employed within its engineering team chose not to comment on the proposed bill.

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: Indonesia proposes law that makes foreign talent hiring in startups easier

Ibraham Arief, the former VP of R&D in Bukalapak, one of the five unicorns in Indonesia was an exception for lending his insight. Arief specifically said that currently, the local tech talent market in Indonesia is cooling down due to business rationalising in tech companies.

“There is a marked increase in the supply-side lately, plenty of local talents with 4+ years of experience at unicorns or Series C+ companies migrating or looking to migrate to smaller (Seed/Series-A/B) companies. So the answer is yes, the increased supply of expat talents will have a lot of impact on those in the “green” experienced local talent pool. However, I’d say it will have lesser impacts for experienced local tech talents, which I estimate numbers in tens of thousands by now,” Arief said.

Surabaya-based P2P lending startup PinjamWinWin‘s CEO James Susanto opined: “We don’t have foreign talents, but we are in the middle recruiting a German national into our management. If the new bill indeed makes it easier to hire foreign talents, I’m all in for that. There are technical, cultural, and behavioural aspects that the foreigners possess and can fit the right positions,” Susanto said, showing support for the bill.

“On the contrary, we have to think in the long term. I believe we need the ‘right’ foreign influences to rub into our local talents: in terms of mentality, technical skills, work ethics, and so on. Indonesia could learn from them with the goal to make our local talents match their level,” he added, drawing an example from China, which he said has lots of foreign workers but is able to combine the influx with right management, technical know-how, and culture, resulting in high productivity.

To Susanto’s point, the integration between foreign talent and local talent is deemed important to ensure the change really permeates.

Despite positive responses and optimistic outlooks from those in the startup industry, the bill created a backlash as more than 4,000 people protested outside the legislature on Wednesday last week when the job creation bill was submitted.

Agung Bezharie, CEO of micro-retail tech startup Warung Pintar, admits that despite its recent achievements, the company does face challenges in getting the right talents in Indonesia, even if its headcount is 100 per cent local talents. “Industry, skills and cultural match-up still don’t sync together. We see some companies compensate for that by hiring foreign talents yet for our company, we haven’t found foreign talent that fits our company for now,” Bezharie explained.

As for Indonesian P2P lending platform UangTeman’s CEO Aidil Zulkifli, the main challenge would be finding the best talent in the tech area, and to ensure that the talent hired can further share his or her knowledge to the team in order to have the same standard of SKA (Skill, Knowledge, and Attitude).

“Recently UangTeman has conducted “One Day Hiring” for the tech division in which all applicants are processed and hired within the same day. All talents hired were Indonesians. We are focussing on finding skillful and quality local talent from Indonesia as we believe that Indonesia has sufficient talents to support our business,” Zulkifli concluded.

Also Read: UangTeman raises first tranche of US$10M Series B led by Tim Draper’s fund; to acquire a P2P startup

The right mindset in approaching the proposed bill is what’s going to make or break the continuous demand of local talents.

“The challenge remains in finding the right talents who have been exposed in the right environment. We may always have talented and willing people applying for an opening, but they were not exposed to the ‘right’ ecosystem that provided them with a different outlook in life and target, resulting in plateaued progress after a while. Exposure to the right environment where talents can socialise and have role models can translate to better creativity, initiatives, and productivity,” Susanto added.

To see it as an opportunity instead of a threat like what Susanto implied, could result in empowerment and improvement of talents produced in a year.

With several edutech focussing on nurturing tech talents in a boot camp-style code learning and legit certification continue to have the seal of approval from investors in Indonesia, the future of engineering local talents are bright.

Jakarta-based developer school Hacktiv8 announced that it has raised a US$3 million per-Series A round led by East Ventures with participation from Sovereign’s Capital, SMDV, Skystar Capital, Convergence Ventures, RMKB Ventures, Prasetia, and Everhaus back in January, a testament to the untapped potential that is Indonesia’s local talents.

More foreign hires or not, Indonesia is in a good company. It will not slow down its economic growth anytime soon, as long as the talents and startups professionals keep an open mind.
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Photo by Al ghazali on Unsplash

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Singapore Budget 2020: US$300M to be set aside for deep tech startups under Startup SG Equity 

The newly released budget for Singapore announced additional support of US$300 million for deep tech startups under Startup SG Equity among US$8.3 billion for economic transformation, according to TodayOnline.

This will include emerging technologies such as biopharma, medtech, advanced manufacturing, and agri-food tech and will help them gain better access to capital, expertise and industry networks.

“As these startups need larger investments and longer gestation periods, and face higher risks, investors are less prepared to invest in them,” Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

The Startup SG programme provides equity investments to tech startups with global market potential and has helped startups launch through co-investment schemes such as Startup SG Equity.

WhatsHalal scores seed investment from crowdfunding platform for regional expansion

Indonesia-based WhatsHalal secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding from FundedHere, a Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) licensed crowdfunding platform, according to a press release statement.

The startup which provides enterprises decisions and solutions to enter the halal market internationally will use the fresh funds to continue regional expansion and further development of its technology.

“I believe we are only just scratching the surface of how powerful harnessing technology can be for the halal industry. Our platform is not just limited to the halal industry and community and we anticipate huge demand for our services and are ready to aid businesses who are keen to tap into both the domestic and global halal industry,” said Azman Ivan Tan,  CEO of WhatsHalal.

Also Read: 5 ways in which crowdfunding can help your start-up grow

WhatsHalal is currently joined Batch 6 of Plug and Play Indonesia’s innovation programme and was a part of the first batch of startups participating in Tribe Accelerator.

TikTok reportedly considering setting up HQ in Singapore

According to the WallStreet Journal, Chinese Internet giant ByteDance is looking to set up its headquarters outside of China, to distance itself from the ‘Made in China’ image.

A source told the news website that TikTok will be considering Singapore amongst other countries such as London and Dublin.

The company currently has a team of employees in WeWork office and has been speculated to be leasing a 60,000 square feet space in One Raffles Quay, one of the business hubs in Singapore.

Grab conducts joint study with Volocopter to bring air taxis to SEA

Singapore’s leading ride-hailing app Grab announced today that it will be partnering with German company Volocopte to study the prospects of bringing air taxis to SEA.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed between the two companies to explore the most suitable cities to deploy air taxis and explore joint flight tests.

The first flight test was already held in Singapore over Marina Bay, with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

“Together, we will learn from unprecedented insights into the economic and societal opportunity of launching our services on the hottest routes in the Southeast Asian market,” said Volocopte CEO Florian Reuter.

Credify raises US$1 million in a seed round led by Beenext and Deepcore

Singaporean software development company Credify raises US$1 million in a round led by AI-focused incubator Deepcore and Beenext, according to Tech In Asia.

The proceeds will be used to enhance its product, and further localising its software development operations in Southeast Asia.

According to CyberSource, an average of 1.6 per cent of online revenue is lost to fraud in Southeast Asia and the startup tackles this challenge by providing identity and trust system solutions in e-commerce and lending.

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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