A decade has surpassed us and we are in the dawn of starting a new one. The new decade in this age of technology, without a doubt, would be something out of the futuristic movies we saw back in the ’90s. We can proudly say that the future is finally here.

So, without further ado, here are the several tech trend predictions that we have gathered for the year 2020.

Cybersecurity is taking a new level

Cybersecurity’s narrative has always been led by the “fear of breach” more than any other potential facets it has in store. This was largely due to multiple global incidents that we have seen on the news; one being the infamous case of misleading posts to be approved and circulated on Facebook as ads targeted to its billions of users.

But 2020 will be the beginning of a change in narrative for cybersecurity. We can expect to “see an increased focus on cyber resilience and how the availability and integrity of systems and data underpin the digital organisations many institutions have become”, as Richard Watson, EY Asia-Pacific Cybersecurity Risk Advisory Leader, shares.

According to recently released EY’s The Forrester Wave: Cybersecurity Consulting Services In Asia Pacific, organisations will keep a close eye on how regulators will respond to those big cyber incidents following the go-live of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Harsh punishments and penalties will prompt Asia Pacific companies to get an understanding of their GDPR readiness posture.

Also Read: Welcoming 2020: How IoT will transform everything enterprises know today

With 5G is on the horizon for some Asian countries, multi-cloud and IoT adoption is expected to follow suit –and not without security risks. According to Sandeep Bhargava, Managing Director of Asia Pacific/Japan, Rackspace, besides providing a wider potential attack surface for hackers, multi-cloud can also cause organisations to be more vulnerable to insider threats.

“For instance, the increased complexity of the IT environment due to multi-cloud adoption might lead to poor configuration management. Having more business users using the cloud also poses a challenge as not everyone fully understands cloud security risks and knows how to mitigate them,” Bhargava adds.

A recent report by Symantec found that some users may exhibit risky behaviours in the cloud such as oversharing cloud files or not storing sensitive data properly in the cloud – all of which may lead to data loss.

Rackspace added that to minimise cloud risks, organisations will need to have a multi-layered security strategy that can provide detection, response, and remediation when their IT environment is in jeopardy. Their Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) will also need to work across more departments in 2020 to ensure that security is not overlooked when innovative solutions and new business processes are introduced.

More people will recognise the value of cryptocurrency

On a related note, Facebook could eventually launch its digital currency Libra in 2020. Watson adds, “I think this has a great historical significance and may even become a landmark of the blockchain industry. Libra has established a relatively positive image for the blockchain industry in the short term.”

Libra has managed to reduce the regulatory pressure on the entire industry to some extent and has also improved the working environment of the blockchain industry.

With Facebook’s large user base in the internet industry, Libra has the potential to bring a large number of new users to the blockchain industry. Libra can also be regarded as a type of stablecoins.

In addition to that, Central Bank digital currencies could eventually become a reality in the near future. Approaching this possibility with a positive mentality, Central Bank digital currencies in themselves are also types of stablecoins.

Compared to traditional banks and fiat currencies, blockchain-based stablecoins can make payments faster, cheaper, and smoother, which is also one of the main applications of blockchain. “It shows the recognition of blockchain at the national level, which is positive for the industry, and more people will realise the value of cryptocurrencies,” said Haipo Yang, CoinEx’s CEO, in an interview with LearnBonds.

When it comes to Bitcoin, the concept remains working as before with a rising price. However, Bitcoin’s higher portion of total crypto market capitalisation means that other currencies are lacking attention and their prices are falling, which is the signal of a bear market.

In contrast, the lower the Bitcoin’s portion, the hotter the overall cryptocurrency market. “So in my point of view, the alt season will only come when Bitcoin’s portion begins to drop,” said Yang.

Decentralised peer-to-peer Exchange (DEX) to become more significant

Decentralised peer-to-peer Exchange (DEX) is an exchange run by code that exists as a decentralised application (DApp). It is a place where people can trade cryptocurrencies directly without a middleman.

According to Yang, at present, almost all blockchain exchanges are centralised, which is believed to be the biggest bug in this field. “Blockchains are known for decentralisation, but the entire ecosystem is heavily dependent on centralised exchanges, which is ironic,” Yang added.

Also Read: How China’s Greater Bay Area initiative will create a testbed for AI and decentralised tech industry

DEX is clearly the evolutionary direction of the blockchain exchange, and DEX will reshape the exchange industry through decentralisation.

In DEX, users are in charge of their own private keys. DEX can support the issuance and trading of thousands or even more tokens to meet the needs of future industry development.

“Through decentralised governance and operation, DEX has no single point of failure and takes on more vitality,” said Yang.

5G and its new tech implications

The year 2020 will be the moment for 5G to play and stay.

It is necessary to complement IoT advancements, as Watson points out. “5G itself is an attractive asset for telecom operators to offer with enterprises that have started to invest in the technology.”

“5G will lead to a rapid increase in the number of connected devices and will lower latency, therefore augmenting the capabilities that IoT offers,” Watson adds.

The presence of 5G, simultaneously, will also become solutions in the area of cybersecurity such as using AI for cyber strategy in monitoring regular management of newly introduced technology, as well as assess the cyber-physical risks they could bring. It can also create more resilient technology platforms that have the ability to predict attacks before they occur.

To date, South Korea and China have rolled out 5G networks, while Australia, Japan, and Singapore plans to do so next year, in predictions shared by Rackspace.

5G rollout will be beneficial especially for the manufacturing, retail, transportation, and government sectors, as they adopt IoT to become more connected. 5G’s low-latency, high bandwidth network will enable far-away sensors to instantly share updates about the connected devices, therefore enabling real-time processing.

“This will, in turn, drive the demand for edge computing as data can be immediately processed near where the data is generated, instead of in a centralised data-processing warehouse. Edge computing can also help reduce operational costs. It reduces the bandwidth needs as data is mostly processed locally, and only the relevant data gets transmitted to the central data repository,” says Bhargava.

Also Read: Mobile is the US$120B future of tech business, report by App Annie

Another sector that may benefit from the arrival of 5G is video games. Watson also shares that cloud gaming and 5G technology represents an opportunity for the industry as companies can harness these new technologies to edge out competitors to prevent slowing growth.

“There has been an increase in expenditure on boosting cybersecurity compliance, as well as in the tech infrastructure needed to support blockchain is being utilised as a solution to encourage trust throughout the video gaming ecosystem,” says Watson based on the result of a survey conducted by EY.

All-cloud data storage and its management

More businesses will shift their operations to the cloud and deploy data-intensive workloads with higher supercomputing footprint. According to Pure Storage’s predictions, to support these workloads, more renewable forms of data sustainability and emerging techniques will arise to make processing more energy efficient.

However, as applications are developed or re-platformed for cloud-friendly architectures, Object Storage will become the natural choice for enabling applications to decouple and disaggregate applications and their computed resources from a pool of shared storage.

Still from Pure Storage’s predictions, subscription business models will see a spike in the new decade.

In addition to that, fueling the growth for modern analytics will become more affordable infrastructure options such as more powerful CPUs, consumption-based infrastructure, available both on-prem and in the public cloud, and lower-priced flash memory. “The unbridled growth of data sources including smart devices (smart home, wearables, connected cars, industrial internet, etc.) will drive the adoption of modern analytics in order to drive more insights,” said Matthew Oostveen, Chief Technology Officer, Asia Pacific & Japan, Pure Storage.

All in all, multi-cloud will become the preferred IT foundation for more organisations as they seek to become more agile to keep up with the digital disruption.

“For multi-cloud to deliver value, it needs to be integrated, support DevOps, and scale services to meet variable workload demands. Recognising this, some cloud giants have introduced solutions – such as AWS Outpost, Azure Arc, and Google Anthos – that can ensure consistent development and operations experience across on-premise, private and public clouds,” Bhargava adds.

As the competition among cloud hyperscalers to become the provider of choice heats up, the team at Rackspace believes that more of such unified, hybrid/multi-cloud tools will be rolled out next year.

AI-driven everything

Pure Storage also added that AI will go from advisory roles to an automated action as customers want to take the backseat.

“Organisations will be more open to AI making decisions for them,” Oostveen added.

Ronen Mense, President & Managing Director, APAC at AppsFlyer added: “We are finally going to see some solid impact out of Artificial and Augmented Intelligence. It may possibly be first felt in the logistics and supply chain sector, paving the way for a new category called Logitech (not to be confused with the brand).”

Singapore, for example, has geared up with its National AI Strategy, publicly announced during the Singapore Fintech Festival in November.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat shared that the new strategy details how Singapore is set to develop and use AI to transform the economy and improve peoples’ lives.

Also Read: Infographic: Why the future of consumer goods lies in the use of AI

“The government has committed more than S$500 million (US$368 million) to fund AI activities under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 (RIE2020) plan,” Heng said.

The launch of the latest national AI strategy targeted at developing the AI ecosystem in Singapore is a part of the nation’s ongoing Smart Nation initiative. Singapore will embark on the plan by kickstarting projects in key high-value sectors and building a holistic AI ecosystem.

The National AI Strategy has three objectives that include Singapore becoming a global hub for developing, test-bedding, deploying, and scaling AI solutions, as well as learning how to govern and manage the impact of AI.

With Singapore as APAC’s corridor pledged to be an “AI-fied” nation, we can only imagine what would entail for the rest of the region in the next decade.

We are going to see more early-stage funding round being announced in the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem, particularly seed funding news.

At least, this is the direction that we began to see towards the end of this year. In the various interviews that e27 has done this year, we have seen investors expressing their interest in focussing on early-stage investments.

The latest of such kind of conversation was this one we had with Vertex Holdings on their new fund; CEO Chua Kee Lock stated that early-stage investing “will remain a robust asset class for the foreseeable future.”

The privacy-led customer journey for Gen Z

There are also other digital spheres that we think may see growth, such as the use of hyper-personalisation technology and the rise of a new era of social media such as TikTok, driven by its vast users, Generation Z.

We need to also factor that the next decade will see Generations Z as the dominant consumers that grow with technology and grown by technology, with them entering multiple stages of their lives, forcing products and services to adjust to their needs.

“With 2019 became a milestone year for data privacy and transparency, many big tech players introduced features that give consumers more control over how and when their data is collected and used. To capitalise on the positive impact this has on consumers, we can expect brands, marketers, and developers to increasingly look beyond their traditional marketing tech stack to inform their 2020 campaigns and business objectives with anonymised data throughout the customer journey,” Mense adds.

Mobile gaming reaches a new height of quality

Besides Gen Z leading the way, mobile gaming is another big disruptor this year that is predicted to continue to gain massive popularity for the coming years. In the State of Gaming App Marketing 2019 report released by AppsFlyer, it is stated that hyper-casual will make way for hybrid-casual mobile games, as players demand better quality and deeper gameplay, which means fewer ads and players are willing to pay for the experience.

The report also shared the potential of India as the next big frontier. It already has the building blocks such as a massive young population; smartphone penetration expected to reach 32 per cent in 2020; cheapest, accessible mobile data; and with more than 200 homegrown world-class gaming studios making India their home.

Also Read: How learning like babies can be the future of AI?

Besides the seven tech trend predictions mentioned, AppsFlyer also added that the new decade will thwart fintech to a whole other level, with it continues to disrupt the banking system.

“Traditional institutions will be scrambling if they aren’t already. Those who don’t keep up will be left behind in the new decade,” Mense adds.

To close up the predictions, Mense says, “There has been a consolidation of media sources in the past 24 months with inefficient players unable to be competitive with the big players.  We have reached an inflex point where the industry will start to open up, kind of like an hourglass, and we will see the likes of Bytedance, Amazon and true programmatic step up and fill the dire need of the market to be more competitive and cost-efficient.”

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Image Credit: Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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Group-IB talks about threat hunting, cybercrime trends and forecasts at CyberСrimeCon 2019

When talking about cyber-threats, the first consideration one should take is that as the world is becoming data-driven and technology-based, cyber-threats are also becoming increasingly sophisticated. In one of his recent statements, Group-IB CEO and founder Ilya Sachkov said “identifying threat actors and their motivations behind a cyber attack may help law enforcers know who they are up against, but doing so publicly could backfire.”

Cyber villains are using smarter and smarter tricks to bypass security efforts and throw researchers off track. One notable example is the infamous North Korean Lazarus gang, who tried to mask their activity by pretending to be Russian-speaking hackers.

Another problem is the existing knowledge gap. Group-IB, headquartered in Singapore, believes that without a clear understanding of relevant threats, adversaries’ tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) local companies and organizations cannot build effective cyberdefense.  “Companies spend money, but they do not understand the real thing — what threats are targeting their specific company or industry in a given region,” said Ilya Sachkov, CEO and founder at Group-IB.

“Cybercrime has no borders. Cybersecurity must not have them either. This can only be guaranteed and maintained through close cross-sector collaboration and data exchange,” said Sachkov.

These are only some of the many considerations that cybersecurity professionals need to take before navigating the sensitive, and often complex nature of cyber-threats. Group-IB’s CyberCrimeCon 2019, which was held in Singapore this year, attempted to provide a platform for local cybersecurity community to bridge this gap.

Group-IB’s CyberCrimeCon 2019

The CyberCrimeCon event has two components. In the first technology stream, experts share information on cyberthreats, trends and strategies while during the strategic stream, experts offered real-life high-profile cases of cyberthreats and how they cope.

To raise awareness on cyberthreats, Group-IB released its trademark annual “Hi-Tech Crime Trends 2019/2020” report at the conference. Cybercrime trends identified from second half of 2018 to first half of 2019, industries that will become major targets of advanced threat actors, new APTs discovered over the given period and forecasts on their development in the near future were revealed.

The report also described attacks in major sectors like the energy and financial sectors. For the telecommunications industry, Group-IB described nine groups (APT10, APT33, MuddyWater, HEXANE, Thrip, Chafer, Winnti, Regin, and Lazarus) that posed a major threat and has become a target for state-sponsored attackers. This can result in customers’ surveillance or sabotage purposes.

According to the report, the number and complexity of state-sponsored hackers’ attacks have increased with at least 38 active state-sponsored APTs having been reported in the world. These threat actors’ motivation goes beyond financial gratification. Their aim is for espionage, sabotage, and destruction and their main targets are facilities essential to keep a country running.

This year’s CyberCrimeCon was also the first of its kind to open its doors to the general public. The public needs to know “it is not possible to be 100 percent protected. But it is important to move toward achieving this goal and take some simple measures that once adopted will significantly upgrade your personal security, for example, use different passwords for different social media accounts. It is also important to always keep in mind that once you released something on the Internet it is to stay there forever,” warned Sachkov.

Group-IB hopes not only to raise awareness in the region, but to actively encourage cybersecurity practices among young professional.

No sooner said than done. At the Conference, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Group-IB and Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education (ITE). A key element of the agreement is to set up a first of its kind Threat Hunting, Digital Forensic, and Cyber Investigations Centre in ITE . The agreement aims to bring up a new generation of cybersecurity professionals in Singapore by synergizing Group-IB’s hands-on experience in fighting cybercrime globally and ITE’s unique technical education capabilities with one goal – to improve cyber resiliency of the city-state

Group-IB will set up the infrastructure for the centre so that students get real-life and hands-on experience, identifying and proactively hunting for threats relevant to the region and dealing with the ones targeting especially OT related systems.

The company will also equip the Centre with its Threat Hunting and Intelligence solutions for adversary research, malware analysis, monitoring of underground activity, and network protection. Introduction of new courses, training, and internship for ITE students at Group-IB’s offices in multiple locations to help Singapore nurture a new generation of cybersecurity professionals will also be carried out.

“Cyber threats to OT systems and the financial sector are some of the most pressing issues of today in Singapore. Raising a new generation of threat hunters now, equipped with tactical and strategic knowledge about threat actors, is the backbone of the future stability of Singapore,” said Ilya Sachkov, CEO and founder at Group-IB.

Sachkov explained, “this is an ambitious goal that we believe can be achieved by leveraging Group-IB’s experience in fighting cybercrime and ITE’s innovative approach to technical education.”

Group-IB also signed a MOU with Ngee Ann Polytechnic to increase Singapore’s cybersecurity talent pool. They will jointly develop cybersecurity curriculum, research and provide internships. NP has introduced Group-IB’s Threat Detection System Huntbox module in the Cybersecurity & Digital Forensics course to equip students with threat hunting skills and others.

Group-IB experts have trained law enforcement agencies, corporate security teams, and universities in Singapore, Bahrain, Germany, Lebanon, Monaco, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, as well as experts within INTERPOL and Europol.

The post On threat hunting and cybercrime: How Group-IB is helping the region in cybercrime prevention appeared first on e27.

In the previous part of this series, we talked about how WeWork’s failure to get publicly listed had pushed for change in the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem. As investors and the public began to be critical of a tech company’s valuation and ability to make profits –as any ‘real’ business should– startups might find themselves being under tight scrutiny.

This, as we may have noticed the last quarter of 2019, had led to several leading startups to include profitability as part of their New Year’s resolutions.

The year 2019 also saw greater collaboration between the tech community and other industries. As part of its effort to diversify its portfolio (and drive profitability), venture capital (VC) firms were also investing in sectors such as hospitality and F&B.

In this episode, we are going to focus on the key elements of the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem itself: The people who are running it and the influence that they can have.

All eyes on founders

A few years ago, I went to a demo day event in Jakarta that had 500 Startups Managing Partner Khailee Ng as a keynote speaker. In his speech, Ng likened running a startup today with “watching a spectator sport.”

Also Read: Tech powerhouse taps into the Southeast Asian ecosystem’s pool of startups

Like football games, audience gathers in a venue to see their favourite startups pitching. Also, like in football games, they comment on startup founders’ presentation and make bets on who is going to come out as first prize winner.

The startup community also produces a number of its own celebrities –very much like football players.

Like athletes who branch out to become business people or fashion models, these startup founders also find that their presence was needed in places other than tech.

After covering the Indonesian startup ecosystem for more than three years, I can tell you how the local media portrayed startup founders, particularly those of major companies such as Tokopedia or gojek. The coverage is often overwhelmingly positive: Founders are being lauded for their youth and potentials. They are seen as heroes who are set to make a positive impact on society. Think young Anakin Skywalker before he turns into the dark side, or Tom Riddle when he still had his nose intact.

These potentials did not go unnoticed by the authority.

Rise to power

I have been covering the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem for almost five years and I can tell you some moments that I am going to carry with me forever. One of them is when Nadiem Makarim was announced by President Joko Widodo as Indonesia’s new minister of education and culture.

Also Read: gojek-backer Samsung Ventures invests in Indonesian proptech startup Travelio, to focus more in Southeast Asian startups

Apparently his success in disrupting one sector has led him to be trusted with disrupting another.

Startup founders entering public service does not happen exclusively in Indonesia. In Malaysia, three startup founders had been appointed to the National Economic Action Council (NEAC). In Thailand, former StockRadars managing partner Pakornwut Udompipatskul had won a local election and is leaving the company to focus on public service.

Even in the US, Democrat presidential candidate Andrew Yang is one example of presidential hopefuls with a background in tech entrepreneurship.

The next decade

There are many reasons to be happy about this development. For the millennial generation, this is an opportunity to get their voices represented and heard. For startup founders, this is a sign that they are having an impact beyond their everyday work in the tech industry.

So, how will the next decade look like for the Southeast Asian startup community?

What we can say for sure is that there will be more coming up.

Also Read: How fintech is disrupting the Southeast Asian payments market

Soon after Nadiem Makarim’s appointment as minister of education and culture, President Joko Widodo named two startup founders — Ruangguru’s Adamas Belva Devara and Amartha’s Andi Taufan Garuda Putra– as his presidential special staff. Apart from these people, there are also startup founders who have had enlisted themselves as members of a political party.

What remains to be seen is where this is going to happen. Our prediction is that more and more countries in the region are going to be more welcoming of startup founders becoming politicians, but we are also aware that the situation is not always that simple. There are unique barriers to entry in every market. But since startup founders had proven from time to time their ability to disrupt and innovate, we are ready to be surprised.

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Image Credit: Sarthak Navjivan on Unsplash

The post Why 2019 is a game-changing year for Southeast Asian startup ecosystem – Part 2 appeared first on e27.

Keeping oneself motivated and constantly updated with new trends, thy name is entrepreneurship. And if there is one habit that helps startup founders stay inspired is reading.

An avid reader myself, I scanned the bookshelves of many founders for a peek into what they were reading in 2019 that helped them stay on track.

Everybody’s Business by Jon Miller and Lucy Parker

– Maxim Chernuschenko, CEO and co-founder of Cashwagon

This book, though it’s marketed as “how big businesses can fix the world”, is truly insightful especially with so much resonance with both my personal life and business. Especially in a work setting and the changing business landscape, I use it often to check myself when making decisions. The key takeaways the authors brought to light was of making a positive impact, something we often overlook and forget.

With Cashwagon, this is one of our founding philosophies and hold true till today– providing an alternative financing option and serving the needs of the underbanked in SEA instead of focusing on our own interest. Following the journey of mega corporations out there, we hope to continue harnessing technology and innovation to make a positive impact on society.

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

– Benjamin Wong, Co-founder and CEO of Transwap

It is a must-read for first-time entrepreneurs and a revision for serial entrepreneurs. The Lean Startup reminds us to create a vision and take a leap towards it. It also shows the approach of building a product, testing your proposition in the market to see if the idea has been validated and adapting to consumers’ feedback – in all, how to steer your startup in the right direction and accelerate to grow.

Play Bigger: How Rebels and Innovators Create New Categories and Dominate Markets by Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead and Kevin Maney

– David Wong, CEO, Booqed

Product-market fit is a common concept in the startup world. In fact, the inability to find a product-market fit is identified as a major reason why startups fail. However, this book suggests that creating a great product isn’t enough, arguing that companies must create whole new “categories” that destroy old ones.

For example, Uber created a new category, personal transportation – disrupting the taxi industry in the process. Airbnb’s category is community-based hospitality, which is disrupting the traditional hotel industry.

As a startup founder, the idea that creating a great company also means designing and building a legendary category is both highly thought-provoking and challenging. This book shows entrepreneurs how to define, develop and dominate a category over time.

Also Read: Why speed reading too many books will not make you successful

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick Lencioni

– Lukasz Orlowski, Co-founder, and CTO, Archanan

It changed my way of thinking about building effective teams and working with people.

The book is split into two parts. The first one is a leadership fable that sets a context in a manner relatable to every entrepreneur and/or a business owner.

The second one outlines a framework based on four principles showcased in part one. I managed to effectively incorporate those principles into Archanan’s existing culture and management style, which (measurably) increased the efficiency of my team by 20-25 per cent!

I communicate with the team and I understand the team much better ever since I started applying what I learned in the book.

Dare to Lead by Brenè Brown

– Anastasia Volkova, CEO and Founder, FluroSat

This book offers practical tips to help leaders empower their teams by leaning in and inviting the real conversation in times of change and challenge. Must-read for a modern-day leader.

Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do by Carl J Schramm

– Nickolas Rekeda, CMO, MGID

A practical look at creating a startup based on real-life cases and data, this book really resonated with me because I launched a startup myself, and experienced many of the common mistakes that entrepreneurs make in the early days of their business – such as trying to save money by not hiring professionals. It changed the way I think by making me realise that as entrepreneurs and business people, we all go through the same mistakes, and can only grow by learning from them.

It was truly open and honest, it was a celebration of supposed errors and a nod to all the business people who have succeeded through their toughest entrepreneurial times.

MGID also began as a startup, and it reminded me that we have deliberately retained some entrepreneurial qualities at the heart of our business, even after eleven years in the market – openness to new challenges, readiness to risk and experiment, and team management. These qualities are also essential to businesses operating in the technology sector; with our industry rapidly changing all the time, we must be agile and adaptable.

Also Read: Venture Capital Book Club: Why I make my VC team read books

Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

– Vladyslav Yatsenko, Cofounder, Revolut

I’d say it helped me to structure a bit more and confirmed, not changed, the way I think. It’s great because it’s true, it’s about real life, not like some targeted academic research (what is called “scientism” in the book).”

The post Good reads: Business books that influenced startup founders in 2019 appeared first on e27.

Hong Kong’s TravelFlan raises US$7M in Series A – Press Release

TravelFlan, a Hong Kong-based travel and lifestyle AI digital solution provider, today announced a US$7 million Series A investment led by Sogong PinPoint Kclavis AI Travel Tech Fund (SPK Fund), with the participation of Artesian Capital, Linear Venture, Construction-Radiant Tech Ventures Fund, Hong Kong Government ITVFC Fund, SOSV and its accelerator Chinaccelerator.

“Closing this round will put TravelFlan to a new level of commitment, and to motivate the team to strive more,” said Abel Zhao, CEO and Cofounder of TravelFlan, in a press statement.

“Since we launched our B2B2C-focussed AI digital solutions at the beginning of 2018, we have seen an increasing demand in the region. TravelFlan aims to bring their solutions to a much broader audience and adopt in-depth local strategies to provide more high-quality service to our clients,” he continued.

TravelFlan provides AI chatbot and backend simultaneous auto-update data processor (SADP) services for its clients. Its core solutions include text-based/voice-enabled AI personal concierge, supply chain or inventory management system, big data analytical engine and inventory aggregator/processor.

Currently, the startup is working with industry leaders including China Mobile, Samsung Group, SITA, Hong Kong Airlines and many more to tackle their revenue and customer experience issues.

Travel unicorn Yanolja eyes IPOs for Korea, Singapore units – Maeil Business News Korea

South Korean travel tech unicorn Yanolja is considering to list its local and Singapore business unit over the next two years to gain traction for its global stretch, Maeil Business News Korea reported.

“We are considering listing Yanolja’s subsidiary in Singapore in the overseas market next year or 2021 thanks to the high growth potential in the global market,” said chief executive Lee Su-jin.

“We aim to achieve KRW70 billion (US$60.2 million) in global sales in 2020, more than twice as high as this year’s KRW30 billion.”

In June, the startup raised US$180 million in Series D funding from Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC) and Booking Holdings.

Also Read: Chinaccelerator announces 9 startups in the 16th Demo Day, to bridge China to the world

Electric vehicle startup Rivian gets US$1.3B investment from T.Rowe Price, others – Reuters

US-based electric vehicle startup Rivian announced that it has US$1.3 billion funding round led by fund manager T. Rowe Price, Reuters wrote.

It also included the participation of Amazon, Ford Motor, and BlackRock Inc.

Prior to this announcement, Rivian had raised US$2.2 billion from investors (according to investor website PitchBook) and was valued at an estimated US$5 billion to US$7 billion.

Its total valuation in the wake of the latest investment round was not immediately clear.

ByteDance denies rumours of TikTok stake sales to address US pressure – SCMP

Following an earlier report, Chinese tech giant ByteDance denied that it is currently considering to sell a majority stake in TikTok as an option to deal with mounting pressure from the US over national security and privacy concerns, South China Morning Post reported.

A ByteDance spokesperson said there have been no discussions about any partial or full sale of TikTok, calling the rumours “completely meritless.”

The platform has been coming under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators recently. Last month, the US government launched a national security review of ByteDance’s US$1 billion acquisition of US social media app Musical.ly.

The US Army also banned the app from government-issued mobile devices this week.

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Use modern technology to improve daily business activities. Many medium-sized and small businesses are tapping into the new technology to help them come up with a more innovative, more efficient, and more productive workforce. Similarly, the rise in remote workers has led to an increase in the demand for on-demand data. Below are ways that technology can help you increase efficiency in your business.

Using the right technology

Ensure that your business utilises the appropriate technology to increase its productivity. Depending on how you use technology, it can build or destroy your business. Therefore, evaluate your business and come up with areas that need a boost in productivity and conduct research on the right technology to employ to realise the results.

Automate

Research and come up with the tools that will aid in the automation process. Use tools that will help you from bill paying and scheduling to updating your contact list and responding to customers’ emails. Similarly, find the technology that will help you in digitising the manual production processes to increase efficiency and minimise losses.

Additionally, you can train your workforce to use these technologies to ensure maximum production.

Password Management

When you have a password or manual logging into the system, phase them out and replace them with biometric authentication. Ensure that you manage the business passwords and data well by installing and regularly updating the security software. 

 The issuance of passwords in the process of production is both financially and operationally costly. You can manage the business credentials in any device by using tools such as 1Password and Google Cloud Security to track all your passwords from external threats.

Also Read: 7 ways to build a successful digital business

Collaboration

Although collaboration is vital in business, your employees should not be enclosed in a room to achieve it. Your remotely working staff members can share documents and collaborate easily using free applications from Google’s range of cloud products. You can use customer cloud solutions to solve your production problems and secure sensitive data. 

Your business can use Unified Communications systems that offer various worker interactions such as phone calls, video chatting, conferencing, or sending instant messages.

Additionally, your workers can use Customer Relationship systems such as Insightly, Zoho, or Salesforce to keep track of their engagement with prospects and store them in one location. When you use these systems, the consistency in prospect relations will be boosted, thus increasing profitability and productivity.

Organisation

Often, a lot of time can get wasted in searching for vital information stored in large sets of data. These data frequently get accessed through one device. When you invest in the database system, you will enable your employees to access and add any vital data easily. Your remotely working employees can use ClickTime to keep track of their expenses, mileage, and working hours.

 Employing such technology will help you in keeping your critical data accurately in one place. When implemented, your clients, employees, and managers will be productive, well-informed, and compliant.

Also Read: 2020 ready: Smart investments to help your business grow

Ease of access

Provide your remote workers with the support solutions and the updated mobile devices to ensure that they are well-connected throughout. You can think of investing in a phone solution with service providers to ensure that all your employees stay connected.

Similarly, use worker caller ID, softphones, find-me-follow-me, and voicemail to email features to ensure that your employees maintain professionalism and never miss any business opportunity with a client.

Employ virtualisation

When your business has old desktops, you can extend their lifespans through virtualisation of their operating systems to offsite servers. Conducting this will help you reduce the cost of capital expenditure, and hardware maintenance as the regular updates and the cost of service upkeep will get minimised.

When your business is already practicing redundancy, you can add your phone system to save more costs. You should task yourself with managing your office. Ensure that your employees get focussed on their jobs. Similarly, source anything that is outside the scope of your expertise and trust the hired experts to do their jobs. Use the appropriate technology and watch your business increase its productivity.

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

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or like e27 Facebook page here.

The post Planning for 2020: Leveraging technology to alleviate basic business woes appeared first on e27.

When practicing for a job interview, most people concentrate on answering typical interview questions in a dry run. This is an essential part of your interview practice, but to really make a connection with the interviewer, it’s important to practice other things such as your voice projection, tone, and conversational skills. 

Asking questions is just as important as knowing how to answer them.

Not only does it help to create a natural flow of dialogue between you and your potential employer, but it shows them that you care about the role and take a special interest in their company. Here are some things to ask the next time you’re invited to attend a job interview:

What’s a typical day for someone in this role?

If you’ve read the job description, it’s very likely that you’ve seen the outline of the role and your responsibilities as a whole. But it’s important to find out exactly what you’ll be doing day-to-day. Ask about a typical working day and what’s expected.

You can even ask about non-role specific things such as where you’ll be sitting, who you’ll be interacting with, where the team tends to have lunch. Show an interest in the social elements of work too – employers want interesting, well-rounded individuals, not just a workhorse. 

Also Read: 4 key steps to the perfect startup job interview

Is there an opportunity for progression?

Employers love candidates who are ambitious. Ask them about progression or where they see this role in a few years’ time.

Then follow up with the question of, “What can I do to achieve that?” It can even be interesting to discuss topical issues such as how AI (Artificial Intelligence) and automation may affect roles of the future.

Talking about current trends such as technology will show them your understanding of the industry and will place you as a forward-thinker who is moving with the times. 

How do you measure success?

Ask the interviewer about one-to-one reviews, appraisals, team and individual targets, and the general management structure affecting your role.

It’s important to understand how your success will be measured, and by asking this you will be showing them how keen you are to be good at what you do. 

What characteristics do you look for in employees?

This not only shows how much you want the role, but it also gives you a chance to fill in any missing gaps in your interview. It presents an opportunity to redeem yourself on certain areas, clarify certain aspects of your personality, or come back with a final statement of why you’re perfect for the job. 

What is the company culture like?

One of the most important questions to ask is about company culture. Raising this doesn’t just show the employer that you’re ready to invest your time and hard work into their business, but it also gives you a better insight into what it’s really going to be like.

The company has to suit you, as much as you have to suit them. For instance, startup culture is known for being lots of fun, with social events and great office perks. But it’s also a culture that breeds hard work and sometimes long hours.

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

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or like e27 Facebook page here.

Image credit:Van Tay Media on Unsplash

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Some people thrive in a 9-to-5 day job setup while some flourish when they work on their own pace and in their own space. If you belong to the latter category, freelancing can be a lucrative option.

But becoming a successful freelancer is easier said than done. Many professionals jump into the path of becoming a freelancer head first and often get frustrated when success eludes them. 

Working as a freelancer is not always a piece of cake, it demands exceptional will power and self-discipline. In addition to being self-motivated, freelancers also need to strategise to make it work.

If you thought being your boss would be easy, trust us, it’s not. But while all this may feel a bit overwhelming, we have 10 great tips to your rescue. Add a bucketload of hard work and sincerity to these tips and you will enjoy being a freelancer while earning a good sum of money of course. 

Consider this your business enterprise

The first step towards a successful freelancing career is considering it a business. Approach building it as you would any other business. Create short term and long term goals for your business.

This will help create a road path so that you can create set actionable tasks for your business. As you consider yourself a business, look for tasks beyond your paid projects. When you are between projects, utilise the time to market and advertise your business. 

Often new freelancers lose the direction needed to deliver on time and cover all the bases. Hence, list out what services you would be providing, the scope for these services and a practical workflow. 

Grow your network

As you plunge into the market as a freelancer or rather as a business enterprise, make sure you don’t forget about the other major component to your success. Yes, it takes more than a freelancer to become successful, you need clients.

Start building your network even before you leave your day job or finish your course. Your connections may not give you work directly but they may refer you to their contacts. Or in other cases, your past clients may talk about your work to their connections. This is word of mouth advertising and it goes a long way. 

Also read: 5 freelancers share how to thrive in the gig economy

Most of the freelancers work from home, this may feel a little lonesome at times. As humans, we crave social interactions at one point or the other.

Join networking groups with people from your industry, attend workshops or venture out to a coworking space once in a while. Such socialising is great for freelancers growth and you never know, you may strike gold and find more clients at such events. 

Build an online presence

Even when you are between gigs, create tasks for yourself for each day. One of these tasks should be creating a strong online presence. Start with setting up a powerful website, it will be your virtual sales pitch to all the prospective clients.

You need not meet each one of them, your work on your website should do that for you. 

Create professional social media accounts. Stay in touch with your industry experts through these media and build your strong profile in the meantime. This can also be a great platform for networking while working at home. 

Find your niche

Everyone has one field they can specialise and excel in quickly. And we are not talking about skills. For instance, a good graphic designer can prove to be a spectacular logo maker or a content writer can be a mindblowing fictional writer. Therefore, identify your niche and cultivate it into an in-depth service for your clients.

As you find your creative niche, you will discover that you are delivering better to your clients while enjoying the work more. And that’s exactly what you became a freelancer for. A specific specialisation also helps freelancers narrow down their clientele and market their work better.

Set up some smart numbers

Being a freelancer often requires you to be a master of multiple arts. You would not only be building your business, carrying out marketing tasks, maintaining client relationships but taking care of the numbers as well. You cannot just pull out arbitrary numbers out of thin air when sending a quote.

You would be competing with other freelancers as well and hence can’t take the risk of underselling or overselling your rates. 

Test the waters and check out what the competition is charging for similar services. You should also invest in an invoicing tool to keep your number game strong and sorted in the long run. 

Create your unique style

A unique style or flair sets you apart from others. Creating a specialisation with a unique flair will help you stand out in the industry. A unique style is building upon a certain niche.

If your niche is designing logos, then you can make designing certain kinds of a logo your unique style. Once you have refined this style, people looking for such work will prefer your services rather than hiring just any other competitor. 

Know your clients

Your clients can make or break your business enterprise. Don’t consider them as temporary employers. Build and nurture relationships with each of them. Even if you are not hired by them again, they may refer you to others. 

Create a database of all your past and potential clients. You may even need to send out cold emails in between gigs to keep them apprised of your presence in the industry. 

Collect client testimonials

As you set up your online presence with a good website and social media, showcase your client testimonials in addition to your work portfolio. This adds a personal touch and makes your past clients evangelists for your business. 

Also read: Freelancing is a new norm, but it still faces a massive problem

Testimonials also work as referrals, with each of these testimonials, potential leads are motivated to hire you for the project. Some clients may not be too enthusiastic or eager to set aside some time and write reviews for you. You can offer some incentives to get those reviews posted.  

Stay organised

Freelancers often struggle with devils of their own making. You may have left the 9to5 job to enjoy work on your leisure but that does not mean throwing up your schedule into the winds. Set up time structure for your tasks for a good work-life balance. In addition to the time management, keep an organiser with all your deadlines, work deliverables to stay you on top of things. 

Build your brand

Building your business as a freelancer goes beyond a good website and an active social media profile. Write blogs for your website as well as others in the form of guest blogging. Invest a little amount in running some adds for your target demographic on social media pages. 

The key to a successful freelancing career lies in strategic thinking and strong marketing. With the help of these tips, you can build yourself a reputable brand that is known for professionalism and quality of work. When you are starting out in the industry on your own, it all may seem daunting but staying positive as you plan and put your energy to work will go a long way.

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

Join our e27 Telegram group here, or like e27 Facebook page here.

Image credit: Shridhar Gupta on Unsplash

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The year 2019 belonged to gojek. The Indonesian ride-sharing giant hit headlines for a few good reasons — its Co-founder Nadiem Makarim quit to join the government and become Indonesia’s Minister of Education and Culture. It also raised a significant amount of investments from top VCs and tech behemoths like Google and Tencent.

The year also belonged to several other companies and people. They hit headlines and drew eyeballs for a variety of reasons.

This article discusses the 10 most-read news stories of the year.

honestbee describes CEO Joel Sng departure as resignation

While gojek grabbed headlines for all good reasons, honestbee, another popular startup in Southeast Asia, made it to the first pages of startup portals for wrong reasons.

After a great run until 2018, the company started showing the signs of deterioration when it suspended/shut operations in the Philippines in the early months. This was followed by the shut-down of its operations in Malaysia. This resulted in the firing of its CEO Joel Sng (the company, however, described his departure as resignation).

honestbee’s fall has been spectacular; it has a deep pocket with about US$46 million in funding. But the company burned US$6.5 million per month, which was unacceptable for its stakeholders. It also struggled to pay suppliers and was experiencing payroll delays.

VinaCapital Ventures invests in Vietnam-based UrBox and Wee Digital

In March, VinaCapital Ventures, the VC arm of the asset management company VinaCapital, made an undisclosed amount of investment into digital gifting platform UrBox and AI- and biometric-powered fintech startup Wee Digital.

UrBox has partnered with more than 3,000 retail outlets across Vietnam, as well as e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Tiki, Adayroi, and Grab. It received pre-seed funding from Vietnam-focussed accelerator and seed fund VIISA prior to this funding round.

Wee Digital, which was founded by serial entrepreneur Christian Nguyen, is the first fintech that applies financial biometrics.

This story also drew readers in large numbers.

Consumer credit company Experian invests in Grab’s Series H round

In July, Experian, a global consumer credit company, invested an undisclosed amount in Grab’s latest financing round, making it Experian’s fourth investment in Asia.

The investment also opened a partnership in which the two companies will see the use of technology and data analytics to support Grab’s customised offerings for its users, such as improvement in access to loans for aspiring entrepreneurs in the region.

Until July, Grab had in its kitty US$1.46 billion from Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund and added another US$300 million from existing investor Invesco, a US-based investment manager.

Grab introduces 4 new services to its core app in Singapore

In April, Grab announced the introduction of four new services to its core app in Singapore — namely hotels bookings, video on demand, movie ticketing, and trip planner.

The introduction of the new features followed the launch of GrabPlatform in July 2018, which enable partner companies to integrate their services into the Grab app.

Any story about Grab, a popular startup in the region, always grabs eyeballs.

Women-powered organisation she1K invests in drone startup

In June, Singapore drone startup, Performance Rotors, raised undisclosed funding from she1K, a women’s corporate executive network that champions, funds, and boards startups. In its first-ever investment, she1K said that it’s syndicating angel investments from its members.

Performance Rotors is a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) solutions company focussing on confined spaces inspection. she1K invested in the startup after selecting it during the first she1K private pitch to its members and co-investing partners that are held every 2 months, both in-person in Singapore and Hong Kong and via Zoom calls globally.

“We’re burning money,” says Lippo Group founder Mochtar Riady, selling 70 per cent stake in the omnipresent e-wallet OVO

Indonesian e-wallet company OVO made headlines when Mochtar Riady, Founder of Lippo Group, the major shareholder of OVO, disclosed in November that it sold 70 per cent of the stake in OVO.

The reason? The fintech firm was burning about US$50 million per month and that it cannot afford to inject any more money.

“They continue to burn money, we cannot afford it,” he said. “How are we supposed to be strong?”

OVO, one of the five Unicorns of Indonesia, was launched by Lippo Group, which also has stakes in ride-hailing firm Grab. Ovo is the second-largest digital wallet in Indonesia after Gopay, based on an iPrice Group ranking that looks at monthly active users.

Malaysian salestech startup SalesCandy sets foot in neighbouring regions

In May, Malaysian slaestech startup SalesCandy announced its entry into Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The company struck multiple contracts across Southeast Asia in the first quarter of 2019 and is readying up operation in the said countries.

SalesCandy’s product is SalesCandy LMS that features a mobile app action-based Lead Management System (LMS) with a real-time routing mechanism. This allows a salesperson to respond to enquiries coming from multiple online and offline channels within five minutes.

gojek acquires majority stake in Philippines’s blockchain fintech company Coins.ph

In January, gojek announced that it “is making a substantial acquisition of shares” of Philippines-based blockchain-powered fintech company Coins.ph.

The companies also announced a partnership, under which gojek’s payments platform Go-Pay and Coins.ph will work together to encourage cashless financial transactions in the Philippines by combining Go-Pay’s technological expertise, scalability and experience in Indonesia with ​the blockchain firm’s deep local knowledge.

honestbee names Ong Lay Ann as new CEO

As it went from bad to worse, honestbee in July announced the appointment of Ong Lay Ann as its new CEO. He replaced interim CEO Brian Koo, who was appointed in May after Joel Sng’s departure.

The company also announced the departure of its CTO and Co-founder Jonathan Low.

gojek CEO Nadiem Makarim resigns to join Cabinet

In October, following long-time growing speculation, gojek Group CEO Nadiem Makarim confirmed his resignation from the company to join President Joko Widodo’s new Cabinet (he was later appointed as the Minister of Education and Culture).

Speaking to the press at Merdeka Palace, Makarim expressed his commitment to serve Indonesia as a mission that he has been pursuing with the founding of gojek.

This story was widely covered by the media across the globe. While he is not the first tech entrepreneur to join politics, his elevation is the first such development in Southeast Asia.

Google, Tencent, JD.com to inject more than US$900M in gojek

Tech behemoths and existing investors Google, Tencent, and JD.com agreed to invest around US$920 million into gjek, the ride-sharing startup from Indonesia. The funding was meant for regional expansion and fintech development.

The post 10 most-read e27 news stories in 2019 appeared first on e27.

Myanmar’s Phandeeyar Accelerator has announced a new investment initiative, which aims to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage startups in the country.

The Yangon-based organisation has also made a US$25,000 investment in Resdi from the new fund. The restaurant bookings and discounts startup will use the money to expand its team, fuel product development and reach a wider audience.

Founded by Zay Ye Htut (CEO) and Thiha Htet Naing (COO), Resdi is an online restaurant reservation platform with the discount for off-peak hours. It helps fill up the empty tables with a low commission rate for the restaurants, then giving the discounts based on time for the users within off-peak hours.

Resdi was also the winner of Phandeeyar’s Startup Challenge 2018 and awarded a US$3,000 prize money.

According to Resdi, there has been continuous growth in Myanmar’s restaurant industry with new restaurants entering the market. However, it is a challenge for both newcomers and existing restaurants to get a favourable number of customers.

Also Read: Indonesian coffee chain Kopi Kenangan raises Series A extension from Jay-Z, Serena Williams’s VC firms

At the same time, the customers also have to pay the same prices between peak hours and off-peak hours while having long queues to get a table at their favourite restaurants.

Resdi aims to solve that problem by enabling the users to book their favourite restaurants and get off-peak hour promotions. As a result, the restaurants will be running at full capacity at all operating hours and customers will receive discounts during off-peak hours.

“At Phandeeyar, we’re always looking for resourceful entrepreneurs who are building tech products that support consumers and businesses. Resdi is a really good example of this. We have been following them since launch, and have been impressed by their initial growth. With this new investment, they will be able to capture the market for restaurant promotions and deals in Yangon, and later on in other cities in Myanmar” said Jes Kaliebe Petersen, CEO of Phandeeyar.

 

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