As a Star Wars fan, I had a great time watching The Mandalorian recently. It struck me that there are some lessons that we can pick from the series, especially for all of us in the startup ecosystem.

(Disclaimer: I consider myself a noob. I have just enjoyed the movies but have not read any books or comics from the canon. Please excuse any errors!)

These are my reflections on what it can teach us.

Overcome your prejudices

The  Din Djarin or The Mandalorian is deeply distrustful of droids. We see many references right from the first episode when the IG-11 droid encounters Din Djarin. In chapter seven, even the re-programmed IG 11 still evokes his prejudices. Din Djarin could only benefit when he is ready to let go and move ahead.

Startup learning: Are you distrustful of a partner due to some past experience? Can you give them the benefit of doubt and start afresh? Similarly, in dealing with customers and partners, have you ensured that there is no miscommunication? Do you have an NDA, terms of engagement, and deliverable well documented?

Importance of trust

As a bounty hunter, survival is key. They do whatever it takes to be alive and fight another day. Din Djarin always looks out for people he can trust. Kuiil, Cara, and Omera  are good examples of people he starts to trust (cautiously).

Also Read: What startup founders can learn from Netflix’s “The boy who harnessed the wind”

Startup learning: People that you can trust are your safety net. Having said that, have you yourself built trust in your dealings? Do you deliver as committed?

Build  Partnerships/ alliances!

Din Djarin develops a good partnership with Cara in chapter four. He shares the big vision and recruits Cara for his trip to Nevarro. We see Kuiil, Cara, IG 11, and Din Djarin build a good alliance in chapter seven.

Startup learning: You cannot win alone. Have you developed a good partnership with ecosystem players? Have you looked at how you can help other startups, i.e sharing leads via a referral programme?

You can pivot

IG 11 shows us that it is possible to transform –with thanks to Kuiil’s craftsmanship– from a bounty hunter to a nurse or protector.

Startup learning: Do you have the flexibility to pivot if the situation so demands? Or would you like to be rigid and crumble? We have seen many successful startup pivots, from Instagram to Twitter. The current COVID-19 situation is already showing some interesting startup pivots.

Also Read: Why moving fast and pivoting is necessary for startups

Think long term

The Armorer gives Dijn Djarin a long term perspective. Until The Child discovers its origin or is united with his own kind, Dijn should look after it as his own, as its Father. She even gives him his own signet for a clan of two.

Startup learnings: What is the higher calling as a startup? Are you committed to pursuing it? Do you have mentors or coaches who can give you perspectives such as the Armorer?

Give back to the community

Dijn is grateful to be a part of the Mandalorian tribe and gratefully remembers that he was a foundling who was rescued and taken in as a Mandalorian.  In chapter three, he requests the excess Beskar steel to be given to the foundlings. That is the way.

Startup learning: Are you giving back to the community, i.e mentoring foundling startups? Buying from fellow startups?

I have spoken.

These are my reflections. What do you think?  What more can you add? I look forward to your comments below. Do tag a Star Wars fan!

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With thoughts about a more sustainable future, businesses should prepare for all scenarios that may play out in the post-coronavirus world. Companies are capable of predicting the market conditions and overcoming a recession if they accept the real state of things.

“Now” requires us to transit most of the business operations in the online world, rethink customer experience, and invest in establishing trust-based relationships with customers.

From my experience, building customer loyalty is an essential part of digital marketing for new normal that can do wonders with your conversions.

Why invest in building customer loyalty?

Customer loyalty has become the most significant value for businesses in a crisis. Loyal customers are more likely to stay with your brand regardless of changing market rules and operational conditions during the lockdown.

The loyal audience is a self-fueling organism that generates increasingly more returning customers. They leave positive feedback on the web, share information about a favourite brand with their micro-circles of influence, or in other words, they share it by word-of-the-mouth. Don’t underestimate the power of this traditional method since most of our words are “digital” today and spread at the wind speed on the web.

Customers can expand the company’s impact in the digital world by sharing comments and reviews about a brand and its products on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YourTube.

Also Read: What you need to know about digital marketing for the new normal

It helps increase brand awareness, acquire new customers, build trust with them, and grow conversions. Without further ado, let’s consider several practices that can help you increase customer loyalty during an economic downturn.

Let them know your brand cares

Let people know that your company co-experiences post-pandemic challenges together with customers. Sharing unobtrusive, un-salesy, cheerful, and useful content on social media and a corporate blog, your company can be helpful and build trust with customers. Empathise your messaging, remind customers to keep safe, update them about global news on how the world is adopting the post-COVID reality.

You can also share real-life stories on how your team and customers are adapting to the new normal collaboratively. Interviews with customers, social re-posts, and incorporating user-generated content may be helpful.

The content is a powerful medium for communicating and empathising with your audience. And yes, it brings long-term results in terms of conversions and brand popularity.

Emphasise the importance of social equality and integration

We all are small if taken separately. And we are big if gather all together. Don’t forget to remind your customers about it when nailing content for social networks, internal blogs, and online media. Inspire people to care about each other and stay “human” even during this period evoking slight associations with the pre-apocalyptic times in zombie movies.

Inside, we want to stay “human,” but often forget about it in the rush of everyday life. Show that your brand isn’t indifferent to what happens to everyone on a global scale and reflect it in your content.

Also Read: The art of customer loyalty

You would be surprised to see how many likes and shares a social media post with such messaging usually collects. That’s a great way to build trust and a positive brand reputation in online space.

Involve brand executives in building trust with an audience

Like the human body has the heart, every brand has its heart too. These are brand founders and CEOs. They dictate the rhythm of the whole brand and always evoke a huge audience’s resonance. Staying often in the shadow, they can step into light on social media and address customers personally today.

Today, many companies send exclusive newsletters and publish video-speeches of brand leaders expressing their opinions on the current situation and sharing about what measures are taken to keep customers safe and help them adapt to the new normal.

Make customer learning entertaining

You can increase custom loyalty and gain trust by offering helpful and entertaining video-content to your audience. Try to educate your customers on how to use your products and services in engaging explainer videos. Animated videos also work great for user onboarding on a website or mobile application.

Instead of writing long and boring tutorials, you can convert them in a creative and easy-to-understand format that allows people to learn and have fun at the same time.

Just imagine that your product is introduced by an animated mascot in a funny and exciting video-story that features your brand values and mission. You can also discover how illustrations can add value to your website and make educational content on your blog more “entertaining.”

Also Read: Customer is not always the king, says Tokopedia’s customer engagement expert

Address local communities

By addressing online marketing to local communities and adjusting messaging to their cultures, your brand demonstrates that it appreciates the uniqueness of every target group.

You can adjust your social media content and visuals to audiences of different demographics, religions, and nationalities. KFC Arabia’s recent tweet is a great instance of how a business can address a local culture.

Invest in a powerful customer support

It’s not surprising that brands can retain customers and grow their trust by providing outstanding customer support. Particularly now, when everything goes beyond its schedule, and there is a growing feeling of anxiety, customers need fast and round-the-clock customer care.

Give them confidence that a support team is easily accessible by incorporating AI-powered chatbots on a website, creating a separate business page for customer support queries on social media such as @Apple Support, and timely answering tickets via email.

While concerns toward the post-coronavirus future are now embracing the world, your brand and its culture may become the island of calmness and confidence for your customers. Let them feel you not only sells but also try to help and care about them.

In the current business landscape, marketing’s primary goal is simple — to establish a more personal connection with customers, cheer them up, and build trust with them in times of uncertainty.

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We’re taught right off the bat in business that cash is king. It’s all about profit, the bottom line, and expanding revenues. And while money is undeniably important in a business, I do believe our values in how we conduct business is a chief consideration.

Money should never come before ethics.

Of course, this can sound standard, like something everyone knows. But the truth is, there are many entrepreneurs who may be crossing the money and ethics line without really knowing it because we see it modelled so frequently.

I believe the only way to really know for sure is to have honest conversations about where we, as business owners, maybe valuing money over helping others.

The honest exchange of goods and services for money will always be inherently helpful. But, where does profit matter more than impact?

In thinking through examples I’ve seen in today’s “guru” oriented industry, I believe the following three scenarios demonstrate happenings that occur more frequently than many like to admit… especially in coaching.

But, assessing them is a good opportunity to determine whether you are living by an ethics-first value in your own life and business.

Also Read: Singapore’s Genesis Alternative Ventures secures investment from Capria Fund to back impact-focussed startups

Offering a service or coaching without plenty of experience

Unfortunately, there are many coaching programmes out there where ‘gurus’ teach students strategies and principles that they haven’t actually learned on their own. This happens in droves: coaches who have never actually built a business from the ground up to teach business boot camps, simply from what they have learned elsewhere (rather than from their own experience).

Even if an aspiring coach studies all the educational content in the world about how to start a business, inviting students or clients into the fold without the insights from real-world experience can be an example of valuing money over ethics. 

It comes down to this question: can you really and sincerely help the students that will trust you and buy from you? Or, do you just know that they will buy from you because of your airtight marketing strategy and PR efforts? If it’s the latter, you’re wasting peoples’ time and money for content that won’t actually help them.

This is harmful to you in the long run, too — you’ll receive less (if any) glowing testimonials, and students will be honest about how much you actually helped.

Copy-pasting someone else’s hard-earned business model or content

There’s also a tendency to completely model businesses or content after what someone else is doing since everything is so public nowadays. You can only know for sure if this is something you are doing if you are self-reflective of how you are creating, such as by getting a creative business idea only after you see someone else is launching something similar.

This isn’t fair to others in your industry. Think of it this way: what if you ideated an entirely new course module with a unique mastermind concept attached to it, and launched it only to see someone else shortly after launch something that mimicked the model?

Also Read: In Brief: Impact Partners supports US$1.1M funding round in solar energy marketplace SOLshare, CARRO opens used car automall

The truth is, people can sense the energy of authenticity. Even if you think someone’s model or content is incredible, that’s never a reason to copy it. Learn from how they think, but launch a product that’s all yours.

Only offering paid services and content with little free value

Finally, assess how often you give out value for free. I’m not at all advising you to leave your calendar open to help anyone who wants to book time with you. But, there needs to be a balance in which you are seeking to offer some type of value that doesn’t have a price tag. I firmly believe that the ethics of business is helping others, and this is where push comes to shove. Does it matter more to you to help, or to make a profit?

These can be uncomfortable questions, but the silver lining is that it’s the individuals and businesses that help others most that end up making the most profit.

You don’t have to choose ethics or money. Just put ethics first, hold your intention to help others as front and centre, and create products or services that people love.

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Make no mistake, the secret is out. The tech market potential in Southeast Asia (SEA) has been realised and the region is now the global hotbed for tech startups. Renowned global investors are chomping to enter the market and the digital payments sector in Indonesia is a testament to that.

OVO, an Indonesian digital payments company backed by Grab and Dana (an e-wallet provider backed by the financial arm of Alibaba, Ant Financial) have agreed to merge with the aim to compete against Gojek, who counts Facebook and PayPal amongst its investors.

Given that digital payments only constitute a portion of the tech industry with other sectors such as lending and insurance, the diversity and size of investors serve as validation of the fact that the region is where the next major growth will occur. However, the investing lenses have been over-focused on only the key economies such as Singapore and Indonesia.

Therefore, countries in the Mekong sub-region such as Laos, where the startup ecosystem and support is not as developed, have yet to catch the attention of institutional investors. Given the growth potential their domestic market offer, they represent hidden gems in a regional market where the world is opening its eyes towards.

Hidden gems

Countries in the Mekong sub-region represent what angel investors term, “Frontier Markets”. Consisting of countries beginning to see early signs of economic prosperity and great growth potential, they have flown under the radar when we discuss economic growth prospects in SEA.

Laos, in particular, has escaped this limelight. Research by the World Bank has shown that in the decade to 2015, the Laotian economy grew by an average of 7.8 per cent per year, with annual growth never dipping below 7.0 per cent.

Also Read: From the quieter region of Laos, ride-hailing service LOCA emerges to address the potential market that Uber, Grab overlooked

Consequently, GDP per capita increased from US$476 in 2005 to an estimated US$1,812 in 2015. Hence, it is no surprise that Laos ranks among the fastest-growing economies in Asia.

Not without hurdles

However, the startup ecosystem in Laos is playing catchup with others in the region. Research by the Emerging Markets Consulting shows the private sector development in Laos is often impeded by three main obstacles. Complex business registration, difficulty in accessing financial funding and skill gaps in the labour force.

By analysing each of the above steps, we would be able to understand why startups are far and few in Laos and the ecosystem is not currently thriving.

Red tape

Bureaucracy is often cited as the key pain point for would-be entrepreneurs. It is commonly opined that formulating the idea is the easiest part of the business journey while implementation is the hardest. The Laotian regulatory body for enterprises does little to aid budding entrepreneurs in this aspect. Simply registering a business involves visits to at least three different ministries.

While there have been efforts to streamline the process in recent years, many still complain about the complexity of these procedures and the time it takes to register a business. Therefore, the administrative burden of registering a business serves as a clear disincentive to formalise the business and execute it.

Given registration is usually the first hurdle that entrepreneurs face, they often give up due to the sheer amount of effort required to just legalise their business.

Also Read: From the quieter region of Laos, ride-hailing service LOCA emerges to address the potential market that Uber, Grab overlooked

Funding

For the few determined entrepreneurs that made it through the tedious registration process, they would face their next big obstacle, securing financial support. The lack of financial support impedes startups from achieving their optimal operating model given they will not have the necessary financial ability to invest in R&D or expand to achieve economies of scale.

Given that lack of cash is often cited as the top reasons for startups failing, it is small wonder why Laos has not seen its startup ecosystem excel even when the economy is expanding. Upon exploring the issue at a societal and institutional level, we can unmask these issues.

On the ground, Research by the Asian Development Bank to study the correlation between financial literacy and awareness of fintech development has shown that even though Laos has a relatively high financial literacy rate per capita income that is on par with Vietnam, the level of awareness and adoption of financial services and technologies to potentially secure funding for their businesses is low.

As for financial institutions, they are not inclined to supply loans given the low collateral young entrepreneurs possess and the difficulty in repossessing them if there is a default. However, actions have been taken to address this issue. The World Bank will conclude its Small and Medium Enterprise Access to Finance Project in 2020.

With the main aim to provide long-term funding sources for local banks, World Bank hopes these banks, in turn, can provide long-term credit to small and medium enterprises. Even though we are yet to be able to fully ascertain the initiative’s full effectiveness, it is nonetheless heartening to see changes being implemented to reduce financial barriers of entry for entrepreneurs and give them greater opportunities to succeed.

Also Read: Thailand E-Sports Arena raises funding from Japan’s GameWith; to foray into Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia in 2020

Human capital

Recruiting the right talent is one of the key factors for startups to succeed. Given the lean operating structure, startups adopt, it is paramount that everyone on the team has skillsets that enable them to achieve high levels of productivity. This where the quality of the local labour force matters.

Unfortunately, Laos does not perform well in this aspect. Through analysing the labour market, we will realise the root cause behind the lack of skilled labour is the local education system and skills training framework. On a tertiary educational level, there appears to be a mismatch between what students are studying and what employers are looking for. There is a surplus of university graduates with business degrees and a shortfall of technical vocational graduates such as engineering.

The lack of student demand for vocational training most likely reflects the low status of vocational training and blue-collar jobs, as well as the lack of high-quality vocational training in the country. Therefore, the labour market is highly saturated with plan makers (businessmen) but lacking in executors (engineers).

Ultimately, without the right talent and skills, business ideas would remain as thoughts on paper rather than concrete solutions in the market that address a problem.

But there is hope

Given that the overall SEA startup ecosystem is thriving and the influx of large tech companies investing in it will be the new normal, it is a matter of time before Laos and other countries in the Mekong sub-region catch up to the rest. For that to become a reality, reforms must be done on a governmental level.

Also Read: Book Excerpt: What Google, Facebook did to grow from zero to 1,000

Policies should be streamlined and educational systems need to be upgraded and linked to the future demand of the local economy to produce the required talent. Realistically, it will take a decade or two before we are able to fully assess the efficacy of such initiatives.

With the hope by then that the local startup ecosystem will be thriving together with the region, who knows? Laos might be home to a unicorn.

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Though online grocery has been around for years in Vietnam, it’s only started to gain traction since the emergence of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The country’s grocery space has witnessed the spike in demand for home delivery of fresh produce and staples, due to the reluctance of customers to step outside and go to crowded places.

A recent survey by Nielsen Vietnam and Infocus Mekong Mobile Panel stated that the COVID-19 pandemic had caused Vietnamese consumers to reduce the visit frequency to supermarkets and grocery stores by 50 per cent.

Back then, there was no denying that Vietnamese shopping habits were still very traditional when it comes to groceries, with most preferring to go directly to brick-and-mortar stores to purchase goods instead of browsing online platforms.

However, given the recent growth in e-commerce, consumers’ changing habits and preferences, and the advent of new technologies, the country’s penetration into online grocery shopping has become increasingly popular, especially in metro cities, particularly amongst the young, tech-savvy and time-crunched people.

To put it bluntly, with a broad base of young customers, the online grocery market in Vietnam holds high-growth potential.

COVID-19 changed the grocery delivery scene in Vietnam

Noticeably, there are different business models around grocery delivery services – be it the shopping model, warehouse model, platform-based model, or the combination of those means.

The shopping model is the easiest and fastest for businesses to deploy. It only manages in-house delivery networks; neither does it need to associate with existing grocery stores nor update the product catalogue on the platform.

Also Read: These 5 Vietnam-based agritech startups are tackling the country’s fragmented farming sector

Customers will provide the list of items they want to buy as well as preferred shopping places. Upon receiving the order, the platform transfers the details directly to its delivery personnel who will shop from stores on customers’ behalf. In fact, many existing online food delivery and e-commerce businesses in Vietnam have extended in this model.

With the warehouse model, delivery players import goods from producers and manufacturers, stock them in the warehouses and then run logistics operations to distribute them to customers. Some of the notable players following this model consist of US-based FreshDirect, Walmart Grocery, or China-based Miss Fresh.

On the other hand, the platform-based model utilises the logistics and distribution networks rather than operating independent warehouses. The drivers will pick up groceries directly from retail stores and deliver straight to customers’ doorsteps, eliminating the need for physical warehouses. Participants who have excelled in this space include Instacart, Peapod, Shipt, etc.

COVID-19 has proved to be a transformative moment for Vietnam’s grocery delivery market. Demand has surged, the industry has seen unprecedented growth, and a slew of service providers have decided to enter the sphere to cater to this overwhelming need.

That is to say, major delivery and e-commerce players such as Grab, Be, and Lazada has recently rolled out their grocery deliveries in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the country’s retail giants like VinMart, Big C, or Co.op Mart have also jumped on the bandwagon to facilitate home delivery.

These brick-and-mortar stores are now waking up to the fact that consumer behaviours are increasingly shifting towards e-commerce and that they need to evolve to stay competitive.

On the other end of the spectrum, Loship, a Vietnam-based aspiring unicorn startup in fields of e-commerce and delivery, seems to be one step ahead as it had stepped into the grocery game since 2018, and that was one year before the arrival of coronavirus.

Grocery delivery battle in Vietnam

With regional, resource-rich companies participating in the game, along with an army of local startups vying for space, who will win the grocery delivery war in Vietnam?

No doubt, major regional players have the resources and brand reputation to capitalise on yet another niche. However, when it comes to grocery delivery, local businesses are poised to have assets that give them a competitive advantage over foreign rivals.

The scenario is somewhat similar to David and Goliath’s classic story. That said, Goliath was tall, dense and powerful, but was also very slow to move and respond. In the business world, large companies represent Goliath, which may have huge budgets, countless resources, and significant market share, but often lack the speed and agility of a startup.

They can be lumbering in decision making or getting new products to market, even illy prepared to confront the smaller yet faster-moving players.

Also Read: Is Vietnam the new golden child of tech startups in SEA?

On the other hand, due to lacking in sheer size, small and nimble startups are more agile, adaptable, and responsive to changing customer needs and business environments. And that’s a distinct competitive advantage for these entrepreneurial Davids.

Take Loship as an example. The Vietnamese unicorn aspiring startup got into the grocery delivery game in 2018 by launching the Lomart service, way before other competitors stepped in vying for a slice of the pie. This exemplifies the startup’s ability to sniff out unique opportunities and execute more efficiently than their counterparts.

Loship is proof positive that the possibility of wearing the grocery delivery crown is not limited to the international resource-rich players. Lomart follows the platform-based business model that doesn’t require warehouses – its drivers will fulfill customer orders directly from store locations and get them delivered within an hour. Over two years, Lomart by Loship has served about 30,000 customers across four big cities in Vietnam, with nearly 1,000 transactions per day.

Loship’s promise of one-hour grocery delivery is capitalised on its vast network of more than 100,000 drivers. By making free delivery available, Loship is pulling the biggest lever it has in the grocery wars: the ability to offer fast, free delivery. The platform has partnered with nearly 10,000 variously-sized grocery stores and supermarkets conveniently located throughout the suburbs of the four major cities in Vietnam.

Grocery delivery war in Vietnam, in a nutshell, may witness another “David vs. Goliath” story in the foreseeable future – with Loship being natural Davids, fighting against larger and more established competitors who seemingly have all the advantages of strength, size, and resources.

In such a case, don’t think of an underdog that got lucky; instead, think of a brave competitor who knows to utilise its strengths and unique capabilities to overcome the odds against larger rivals.

Believe it or not, the world is full of business upstarts that took on industry giants and emerged victoriously.

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Yes, “acceloration”. That is not a typo. Read on, I’ll explain what it means and why.

‘Disruption’ is a word that many people associate with startups, especially technology startups. Often, people or companies will label themselves as disruptors to give the impression that they are game-changers or trail-blazers within their industries. However, as we will explore and examine, the disruptors are usually not the ones that actually change the game.

To do that, we will take a short walk down history to …

The industrial revolution

The first industrial revolution started sometime in about 1760 and what we saw then was the transition to adopting new technology to existing hand production methods. New technology at that time meaning machine tools or mechanised systems to be used in factories.

This was pretty much the modern-day equivalent of disruption – the adoption of new, more advanced technologies to supplement and improve existing processes.

That, in essence, is what disruption is. One can succinctly say disruption is actually technological progress and advancement, just shortened to a single and catchier word. But I digress.

Back to the Industrial Revolution. The disruption, or adoption of new technology, gave rise to a whole suite of other trickle-down effects which spawned the creation of many new companies, business practices, and social norms and standards. As industries and people adapt to and embrace the disruption, we see the accelerated collaboration between the users of technology and the technology itself.

Also Read: A survivor’s guide for businesses dealing with COVID-19-led supply chain disruption

In fact, although the term is used in a more modern context, disruption has always been how the human race has advanced forward. The discovery and control of fire by men during the Early Stone Age was a significant technological disruption.

As more people adopt and use a particular technology or innovation, it brings about more advancement of that technology, which snowballs into more people using it, and so on. As mentioned earlier, I see this as an accelerated collaboration process and this brings us back to my very first paragraph – acceloration.

Why I think we need this

Acceloration is the accelerated collaboration phase that occurs after the initial disruption phase.

It is the phase where the growing adoption of a technology or innovation causes that same technology to accelerate in its growth, thereby finding even more useful benefits and uses of the technology or innovation.

The initial disruption phase is typically a lot shorter than the acceloration phase, which can last for many, many years after the disruption phase. And, as we will see, the disruptors do not usually end up as the key leaders in the industry. It is the accelorators that take the lead because of their adoption of the technology or innovation when it is accelorating.

If we peel the layers of the onion deeper, we find many examples of leading companies that, although looking like disruptors in the first instance, are actually not. Instead, they are accelorators.

Let’s bring ourselves back to the modern era for this.

Also Read: Indonesia is ripe for further disruption by tech-enabled firms: Adrian Li of AC Ventures

Search engines

When we think of an online search engine, chances are, Google will be the name that immediately pops to mind. However, they were not the first one that entered that space. They were not disruptors in that sense. Far from it.

The very first search engine was the Archie Query Form, which was created in 1990. That lead to the Veronica and Jughead search programmes in 1992 and 1993.

In 1993, the first web bot, the World Wide Web Wanderer, was created. Followed by, also in 1993, the first web search engine to use a crawler and indexer, JumpStation.

As you can see, the technology was already starting to accelorate with more users adopting it.

Yahoo! and Lycos were founded in 1994, and then Excite and Altavista in 1995.

Finally, in 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin started BackRub, which would eventually become Google in 1998, a good eight whole years after the very first search engine was created.

Social media

Facebook could be easily be considered the largest social media company in the world currently. Again, however, they were definitely not the disruptors, or the first, in this space. Even Friendster and MySpace were not firsts.

The very first social media website was Six Degrees and it was officially launched in 1997.

Also Read: Why disruption is no longer a buzzword in the Philippines

Friendster came on board about five years later in 2002, which was the same year that LinkedIn was founded. MySpace was launched a year later in 2003.

Facebook was then launched in 2004, seven years after the very first social media website.

Many other social media businesses came after Facebook too. Twitter in 2006, Instagram in 2010, Snapchat in 2011, and, most recently, TikTok in 2018 globally (2016 for China).

Ride hailing

You would probably be thinking of Uber or Lyft in this space. However, again, ride-sharing has a very long history which began in the United States in 1942 during World War II, when the US government began requiring ride-sharing arrangements to save rubber during the war.

Even in the early 1990s, there were researchers who envisioned the future of ride-sharing similar to what exists in modern-day.

What Uber and Lyft did was to accelorate the innovation and apply modern technology to what was already in motion. Technology such as the development of the GPS, the smartphone, and electronic payments contributed to the ride-hailing apps we know of today.

We have been focused on the technology space thus far. Let’s take the example of a brick-and-mortar business to see how the accelorators are also the ones which typically become the market leaders.

Co-anything spaces

Let’s start with the concept of coworking. WeWork was definitely not a first nor a disruptor in this space.

The very first equivalent of a coworking space was c-base, although it was called a hacker space at that time, which started in 1995. But it was basically the same thing. c-base provided free access to the internet and had a focus on its community.

Also Read: Startup disruption: the good, the bad and the ugly

The first official coworking space was not launched till 2005 when Brad Neuberg opened the San Francisco Coworking Space.

Greendesk, a shared workspace business and precursor to WeWork, was founded by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey in 2008. This would eventually lead to the actual founding of WeWork in 2010, fifteen years after the first coworking space started.

Next, let’s examine coliving spaces.

The concept of co-living has been around for a long time. The term in the modern context is basically a marketing spin to appeal to a different or specific demographic.

Student accommodations have been around for quite some time and are an example of co-living spaces targeted at, well, students. Again, each individual has their own room, and there are community aspects for cohesion and networking too.

These thoughts would especially be useful for entrepreneurs or venture capital investors. Many a time, I find too much focus only on the disruptors. But, as we have explored, more attention should be paid to be accelorators because they typically are the ones that eventually become the leaders in their industries.

Disruption happened around the year 2000 for real estate when the first online property platforms emerged. Over time, disruption leads to acceloration as the industry accepted and embraced technology, and this, in turn, leads to the rise of smart building, smart leasing, and tenant engagement platforms which we see today.

Entrepreneurs should not be focussed only on finding disruptive technology or innovation but should also look at accelorative ones, the ones that have already been disrupted and are now ripe for acceloration.

Similarly, investors should look at, and look for, accelorators in a similar light.

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Korea Development Bank invests in Riiid

The story: Riiid, an AI education solutions startup based in South Korea, has secured a US$41.8 million pre-Series D funding round. This brings its total funding to date to US$70.2 million.

Investors: Korea Development Bank (KDB), NVESTOR, Intervest, IMM Investment.

Plans with the capital:

• To advance Riiid’s proprietary deep learning technology that offers personalised test-prep solutions based on precise data diagnosis.
• To work on providing a ‘formative learning’ support solution to the education market, helping achieve learning objectives through continuous evaluation and feedback on performance in the entire learning process rather than preparing for specific tests.
• To accelerate its global expansion across the US, South America, the Middle East and beyond.

What is Riiid?:

• It offers Santa, a mobile test prep application for the popular English proficiency exam, Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). Santa has been used by more than a million students in Korea and Japan, it claims.
• Riiid’s proprietary AI technology analyses student data and content, predicts scores and user behaviour, and recommends personalised study plans in real-time to help students optimise their learning potential.

500 Startups completes the first batches of Global Launch

The story: 500 Startups has announced that 24 innovative startups in the first batches of Global Launch have successfully completed the Singapore and San Francisco programmes.

Both go-to-market accelerator programmes are run in partnership with Enterprise Singapore (ESG) under the Global Innovation Alliance network.

The goal: To help global startups expand into Singapore (Global Launch Singapore) and Singapore-based startups establish a presence in the U.S. (Global Launch San Francisco).

The startups in the Singapore programme are

• Atta.ai (Japan): A flight and accommodation comparison service that predicts the best-time-to-book.
• 30 Seconds to Fly (US): Provides AI-driven workflow automation for travel management companies
• Clotify (Poland/Korea): A mobile app platform that transforms product placement on TV into a measurable sales channel
• Datagran: An AI data workspace that helps companies to build and put ML pipelines into production, fast without coding.
• Longenesis (Latavia/Hong Kong): Helps to transform clinical data into life-saving shareable assets
• Manet Mobile: A SaaS solution enabling hoteliers to offer a customisable, digital concierge service for their customers via mobile devices.
• Metigy (Australia): A decision support technology made for SME marketers.
• Naluri (Malaysia): A digital treatment programme that helps people manage their chronic disease risks and improve their mental health through personalised, digital health coaching and digital tools augmented by AI technology.
• Goama (Malaysia / Bangladesh): A casual e-sports platform focused on emerging markets, empowering super apps to drive engagement.
• Penbrothers (Philippines): An employment platform for startups and SMEs who want to scale their business through talent from the Philippines.

The startups in the San Francisco programme are

• Artifact: Helps to put every student art show online so they can build connections, get hired, and grow their fans
• Dinomao: Sells goods and services quickly through the form of entertainment
• ELXR: A DNA-based fitness training system in Asia, providing personalised fitness training programs based on an individual’s current fitness level, genetics potential and goals
• Ento: Aims to solve the problem of food insecurity. Its mission is to provide cheaper, healthier and more sustainable food source for the future
• Envolve: Automates analytics for brick and mortar retailers using AI
• Evie: Powers the next wave of intelligent automation across business operations with a next-generation cognitive collaboration platform
• Holistics: Provides a single platform to set up, run and scale analytics on top of the customer’s cloud data warehouses
• IOTA Medtech: Provides a scalable AI platform that prioritises patients that need care first and improves the workflow & productivity for clinicians
• Micepaid: An enterprise event application and event management software platform
• Plant Cartridge: Develops modern farming systems and undertakes turnkey large-scale production development for commercial growers using its patent pending cartridge system and controlled environment farming technology
• Pencil: A creative AI company providing a generative content platform to e-commerce, brand and agency marketing teams
• Wavel: Provides language solutions for businesses powered by A

 

Entrepreneur First unveils 7th Singapore cohort

The story: London-headquartered Entrepreneur First (EF) today unveiled its seventh cohort of nine deep-tech companies from Singapore.

The teams developed innovative solutions that address some of the world’s most pressing issues, including those impacting healthcare access and the environment. They cut across a diverse mix of industries, including biotech, fintech, and energy-tech.

The list of startups 

• Allozymes: Leveraging microfluidics to build a fast and affordable enzyme development platform
• BIOPONICS: Has developed a sustainable, bacteria-based solution as an alternative to chemical fertilizer production
• Cocoon: Empowers creators to become entrepreneurs with an all-in-one micro-business platform that enables them to launch and manage their brand, community, and business from one place
• DiviGas: Purifies and recovers hydrogen gas on an industrial scale with its nano-molecular filter, while helping to reduce overall carbon emissions
• inPact: Improves data-driven decision making by extracting business insights from contracts and unstructured documents through an AI-powered enterprise SaaS
• Origin Health: Its AI platform for pregnancy ultrasound scans expands access to quality prenatal care by improving the reliability of ultrasound screening procedures
• Surge Analytics: Enables rapid and cost-effective R&D for batteries and energy storage systems, with its AI-powered SaaS simulation software
• Venture L: Has developed a customisable platform for freelancers that integrates different tools, knowledge hubs and provides workflow visibility, to enable them to scale and build their business
• Waste Labs: Optimises waste collection systems in cities with a proprietary AI platform

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Image Credit: Riiid

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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world in an almost unprecedented way. We keep on seeing companies being affected, even in industries that have been perceived as more resilient in this crisis –such as e-commerce. The shutdown of Indonesian fashion e-commerce giant Sorabel, which was being announced yesterday, is an example of such incidence.

But how about other industries such as supply chain and logistics, which operations are tightly related to international and local travels, currently restricted by partial or full lockdown in various markets?

In this interview with e27, Marc Dragon, Managing Director of Reefknot Investments, a Singapore-headquartered global Venture Capital firm jointly formed by Temasek and Kuehne + Nagel, shares his insights on the major changes that have happened in the sector recently.

We also look into the available opportunities for the Southeast Asian tech startup ecosystem.

The three buckets of impacts

Before jumping into discussing the impacts that COVID-19 bring to the regional supply chain and logistics sectors, Dragon points out that significant changes have become apparent even before the pandemic strikes earlier this year.

“What the pandemic does was accelerating the need for transformation,” he stresses.

Also Read: Singapore’s new VC firm Reefknot makes maiden investment in AI startup PROWLER.io

Dragon elaborates on how the recent US-China trade war has led industry players to consider how their businesses are being run, and he divides them into the “three buckets” of impact:

1. Digitalisation and visibility of the supply chain

“It’s not only about having visibility of the supply chain and goods itself but also about being able to dynamically manage those supply chain systems, as enabled by the visibility,” Dragon says.

2. Sourcing strategy including the supply chain network design

“As soon as the US-China trade war began, companies are looking for alternatives to China … and COVID-19 has accelerated that. It is the kind of thinking that is saying, ‘We have to be aware of the risks’,” Dragon explains.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to have [the supply] much closer to the demand countries? It sort of alludes to some form of a decentralised supply chain as well,” he continues.

3. Cash flow management, resilience, and financial stability of the supply chain

“In the industry, previously, there is this general sense of looking at lean supply chain and being as low inventory as possible, as efficient as possible. But with the trade war and COVID-19, we have to ask ourselves … is being too lean really that good?” Dragon says.

“It’s even more important to be resilient. So there should be a combination of efficiency and resilience into the supply chain thinking and design,” he concludes.

Also Read: Reefknot Investments, SGInnovate enter into partnership focussing on logistics innovation

Now that the three buckets of impacts have been identified, industry players still have to tackle some challenges in order to make positive changes.

“The industry needs to figure out how to balance demand and supply. With COVID-19, what we see is not demands being cut … but different countries are coming in different waves. For example, China has pretty much passed that pandemic, the curve has flatted and the demand has come back. Manufacturing capacity has gone back by 100 per cent. But other countries in the world are still struggling to bring the curve down … So we see waves of demand,” Dragon explains.

“How this will impact ASEAN is a big question mark,” he adds.

The restriction of movement as imposed by partial and full lockdown in some markets also brought its own challenges, combined with the fact the airline and shipping industries have not started operating in full capacity. This has caused shipping rates to increase.

“Digitisation needs money, it’s urgent now, but companies are also not in a place where they can spend money freely,” Dragon stresses.

The startup ecosystem

Now here comes the question that has been on everybody’s mind: So what are the available opportunities for tech startups in the ecosystem? Especially since digitalisation is a big theme here.

Also Read: Startups should adopt the glocalisation mode of design and thinking: Reefknot Investments’s Marc Dragon

First and foremost, as investors are becoming “pickier”, there will certainly be challenges in terms of fundraising, Dragon admits.

But there is still room for startups to innovate, especially if they work in an area that is in dire need of it.

Reefknot Investments has worked with SGInnovate and NEXST to produce a white paper on digital transformation for the supply chain industry. The document displays case studies of startups that have the potential to help industry players tackle the challenges.

One example of such startup is Singapore-based DiMuto, whose technology is currently being used at an agriculture facility in San Joaquin Valley, US. The company’s Digital Asset Creation (DACky) device scans QR codes on boxes of fruits; these QR codes are associated with trade information such as purchase orders and shipping documents.

This kind of technology can help solve trade disputes such as orders that failed to be delivered.

So far, DiMuto is said to have identified, classified, tagged, and tracked over 30 million fruits (worth over US$100 million).

“The good news is that there is no one specific type of technology or one specific type of business model that will be successful,” Dragon closes.

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Image Credit: Reefknot Investments

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The startup ecosystem in China and Southeast Asia (SEA) is closely related in its own unique ways. It is often said that whatever trend arising in China at the moment will give us a preview of what might happen in SEA in the next few years. The two markets impact each other both directly and indirectly.

Within the last five years, we have seen Chinese investment in the region intensified. It reached a momentum with Alibaba’s investments in regional e-commerce giants Lazada and Tokopedia; its rival Tencent had also made its mark through investments in gojek, Sea Group, and VNG, among the few.

This year, despite setbacks and challenges caused by the outbreak that must not be named, we saw significant moves from these Chinese tech giants. There was the iflix acquisition by Tencent, as part of the effort to expand its streaming platform WeTV.

And finally, here comes the IPO announcement from Alibaba’s Ant Group.

Kickstarting the big moves

On Monday, Ant Group announced that it has commenced the process of a concurrent IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR board (SSE STAR) and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK).

While the company did not state further details about the IPO, including when it is set to happen, Reuters reported that Ant Group targets a valuation of over US$200 billion.

Also Read: Ant Financial to infuse US$73.5M into Myanmar’s Wave Money

Possibly one of the biggest IPOs of the year, South China Morning Post writes that Ant Group’s decision to list in Hong Kong and Shanghai, instead of New York City, “illustrates a shift in the balance of financial power eastward as more of China’s leading technology companies raise capital in markets closer to their users.”

Naturally, this will create a ripple effect on the industry.

For the startup ecosystem in China, the IPO can possibly trigger more Chinese startups to go public, especially as it coincides with the country’s recovery post-COVID-19 crisis.

“Everyone … wants to strike now while the iron is hot,” Brock Silvers of Adamas Asset Management told Dealstreet Asia.

For Southeast Asia, this upcoming IPO will trigger even tighter competitions among local e-payments companies, especially those with ties to Chinese tech giants.

The battleground

Last month, two major Indonesian digital payments platform OVO and Dana were reported to have agreed to merge.

Both platforms are already the top three most popular digital wallets in the country. This move will lead to the rise of a mega-player in the local market, which has begun to embrace digital payments on an unprecedented scale.

It is important to note that Dana is the result of a joint venture between Ant Group and local media and tech giant Emtek Group.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news: Ant Financial seeks digital banking license, Ctrip discusses new listing in Hong Kong bourse

Ant Group is making big moves in foreign markets such as Indonesia, and it is almost natural to link this upcoming IPO as fuel to these moves. Especially since the company itself named “develop global markets with partners and expand investment in technology and innovation” in its official statement for the IPO.

Certainly, its competitors in the market are not going to take this lightly. And we will start to see moves as early as today.

Yesterday, KrAsia reported that gojek and Grab are competing to invest in LinkAja, a digital payments platform that counted state-owned mobile operator Telkomsel as a backer. For Gojek, this move is aimed to secure GoPay’s position as a leading e-wallet player in the arena, in the face of OVO-Dana merger threat.

For Grab, who is tied to OVO, this an opportunity for them to further strengthen their position.

That was the case with big markets such as Indonesia. Ant Group’s move is certainly not limited to those; even in emerging markets such as Myanmar, it has announced plans to invest more than US$70 million in local fintech company Digital Money Myanmar (Wave Money).

As the major players consolidate with mergers and acquisitions, the junior ones will need to consider their moves more carefully. They may follow suit with another merger, but they might also come out with something entirely different which might surprise us.

One thing we know for sure is that China is moving –and we willingly follow them.

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Image Credit: Hanny Naibaho on Unsplash

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Singapore’s multichannel growth management platform Insider raises US$32M Series C led by Riverwood Capital; Total funding raised to date is US$47M; The firm serves 800 global enterprise brands and has 550 people across 24 countries. e27

gojek names Severan Rault as new CTO; He previously held leadership roles at Amazon and Microsoft; Rault is also a serial entrepreneur and founded a wireless solutions startup Kikker Interactive (acquired by Microsoft in 2008); Rault has replaced Ajey Gore, who departed gojek last month. e27

Indonesia’s AwanTunai raises US$20M debt funding led by Accial Capital; The fintech firm provides micro-merchants access to supply chain financing services; AwanTunai serves underserved micro-SMEs with inventory ordering, digital payments, and low cost-inventory purchase financing. e27

Singapore’s smart surgical robots firm NDR Medical raises US$5.8M led by Microport; NDR will form a JV in China with MicroPort Urocare, expand to the US; NDR’s solution can be applied to biopsy, ablations and other surgical procedures that require precision. e27

Can SEA’s proptech come back to its pre-COVID-19 glory? Experts say the industry is still small and in its infancy; In FY2019-20, more than US$202M VC money was invested in the industry across 25 deals; During April-June 2020, US$25M+ was invested across six deals. e27

Singapore’s Percipient raises US$5M from Stat Zero; The digital banking startup is developing a solution called TWINNTM, which will help banks to “rapidly create a lightweight, enhanced and API-ready representation of enterprise data and processes”. Finextra

Fave raises funding from Indian fintech unicorn Pine Labs; Fave provides QR payments and loyalty cashback to restaurant and retailers; Fave’s QR code will become interoperable and integrated with Pine Lab’s terminals. e27

How can Singapore benefit from the US-China trade war?; The city-state is well known to be an open economy and highly dependent on international trade; Geographically, Singapore is strategically located as it is at the crossroads of major air and sea routes within APAC and the Indian subcontinent. e27

eBay launches e-commerce accelerator in Singapore; The Global 24/7 programme provides startup tools, trainings, and assistance for business owners to tap into eBay’s global marketplace of over 174M buyers; The programme commenced on July 1 and will end Dec 31 2020. e27

How startups can aid SEA’s Open Banking landscape; In the region, it is still in a nascent stage with regulators opting for a ‘market-driven’ approach; Open Banking can bring about many benefits that are met with today’s financial system, including improving customers’ financial health by allowing them to view their financials in one place, to make payments efficiently from one place. e27

Singapore’s e-commerce market is set to double this year; During 2015-2019, the CAGR was 15.4%, bringing the market to a US$6.2B value; This growth is looking likely to double and hit over US$9.5B by the year-end. Tech Collective

How looking into Vietnam can help startups save development costs; It is one of the 30 countries that have zero cases of COVID-19 death; Its GDP growth record is brimming with an average 6% rate, which is fastest compared to Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia. e27

Singapore businesses avoid massive layoffs, move toward cautious hiring; A survey says 89% of firms are planning for different working models, such as an increase in permanently remote employees and more flexible working hours; However, the percentage of participants that confirmed layoffs rose slightly to 15% in the June survey from 13% in May and only 4% in April. HR Asia

Razer’s digital bank proposition aims to dazzle the global youth; Should they be granted a license, the Razer consortium plans to create the world’s first global youth bank; It will operate an asset-light model which will result in significant cost efficiencies as compared to a traditional bank. Singapore Business Review

Singapore’s co-living startup Hmlet appoints Pramodh Rai as CTO, Rajive Keshup as CFO; Both were Sr. VPs in the company before the promotion; The firm has pivoted into an asset-light model, and aims to bring more landlords onto its platform to diversify its offerings and scale; It aims to serve over 5K members in APAC by the year-end. The Business Times

Elon Musk is hiring people for Tesla Singapore; The positions are Parts Advisor, Service Advisor, Service Manager, Vehicle Readiness Specialist, and Vehicle Service Technician; Tesla’s parent is worth nearly US$304.6B. e27

Vietnam’s tech skills set ranks 2nd in APAC; A Coursera study says the nation outperformed Japan, Australia to finish in second place; Vietnam’s strongest skill is OS (Android, iOS) development at competitive level; Vietnam scooped 22nd place in the global ranking. VNExpress

New Google initiatives to benefit 3K job seekers in Singapore; One of these programmes will put focus on providing on-the-job training opportunities for up to 600 applicants; During the training, each participant will also receive a monthly training allowance of ~US$1.1K. HRAsia

WhatsApp launches training programme to help 3,600 Indonesian SMEs to go digital; The tech giant is partnering with UKM Indonesia to roll out the programme; Participants will learn about using WhatsApp for Business, digital safety such as fraud prevention, content creation and financial planning. The Jakarta Post

Vertex Growth, Kuok Group fund lead US$30M in agtech firm Taranis; The US startup uses high-resolution drone images with AI to identify and analyse crop threats such as insect infestation, weeds, and nutrient deficiencies; Backed by Temasek, Vertex Growth closed its first vehicle at US$290M in September 2019. DealStreetAsia

SEA’s shiny future as a digital gold haven; Indonesia has a growing demand for digital gold, Singapore has reputation as a safe-haven storage location, and Thailand is becoming the third-largest gold trading hub in Asia; Blockchain has played an active role in developing the digital gold industry. Tech Collective

Telkom Indonesia sets out on steep road as ‘telco-tech hybrid‘; The state-owned telco has begun a quest for new sources of growth, as intensifying competition erodes its revenue and local dominance; Netflix deal is part of this plan; The firm’s big new theme is a transformation into a “digital telco”. Nikkei Asian Review

How future-ready schools create immersive learning experience; VR is set to become a common teaching method in the near future; Within SEA, Malaysia is looking into using VR for employee training as part of the Skills 2.0 campaign to help citizens maintain awareness of tech advances. GovInsider

Government subsidies via blockchain launched in Korea; Key primary uses for the system will be to speed up subsidy issuance for AI-based companies and those using smart contracts in order to receive mobile subsidies cards and use electronic wallets; The platform will also share data on illegal use of subsidies between institutions in real time. The News Asia

Facebook’s Internet infrastructure to bring up to US$300M to Cambodia; In the nation, Facebook’s connectivity infrastructure includes local servers or edge networks, which support economic development, allowing local ISPs to access its content at locations closer to their own networks. Geeks In Cambodia

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