Sources: SoftBank to take over WeWork – CNBC

In the latest development of the WeWork IPO saga, SoftBank is said to be in “very advanced talks” to take over coworking space giant WeWork, CNBC reported.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report wrote that the deal will value WeWork between US$7.5 billion and US$8 billion on a pre-funding basis and could be announced as soon as Tuesday (local time).

It also revealed that SoftBank executive Marcelo Claure will be involved in the company’s management while former CEO Adam Neumann’s stake will fall to low double digits.

Uber remains committed to India despite no concrete plan – TechCrunch

Ride-hailing giant Uber announced that it has partnered with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to deploy parking spots and introduce new products at 210 subway stations in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida, TechCrunch reported.

The company is also rolling out a software update to its app to include real-time public transportation options.

Neither of the parties offered clarification on how many years it would take for these deployments to materialise.

A DMRC executive also stated that Uber was not an exclusive partner for the subway system.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news: Tokopedia projects to contribute US$12B to Indonesian economy; WeWork India to raise US$200M

China has the world’s largest number of unicorn startups – South China Morning Post

China is now home to the world’s largest number of unicorn startups, according to a report by South China Morning Post.

The inaugural Hurun Global Unicorn List 2019 stated that of the 494 tech unicorns founded in the 2000s that have not yet gone public as of June 30, China had 206 such firms to move ahead of the US with 203.

The world’s unicorns are based in only 24 countries around the world, spread around 118 cities and have a total value of US$1.7 trillion.

India ranked third with 21 unicorns, followed by the UK with 13 and Germany with seven.

PropertyGuru said to lean towards lower end of IPO range – Dealstreet Asia

Southeast Asian proptech company PropertyGuru is offering shares at the lower end of the A$3.70 (US$2.53) to A$4.50 (US$3.08) indicated range as it takes orders for its Australian initial public offering (IPO), according to a report by Dealstreet Asia that cited two anonymous sources.

A book message by UBS and Credit Suisse also says institutional demand is oversubscribed.

Ahead of the deal, PropertyGuru had indicated the stock would be priced to institutional shareholders to raise up to A$380.2 million (US$260 million).

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Following a long-time growing speculation, gojek Group CEO Nadiem Makarim today confirmed his resignation from the company to join President Joko Widodo’s new cabinet.

The new position that he will join in the cabinet is to be announced today.

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.

Following his inauguration on Sunday, October 20, President Joko Widodo is set to announce his new cabinet today.

Rumours of startup founders to be named as ministers have circulated since months ago, but Makarim’s appearance today at Merdeka Palace has strengthened the possibility of it.

Also Read: Indonesian edtech startup Zenius reportedly raised US$20M from Northstar Group, onboarding ex-gojek COO as its new CEO

gojek has released an official statement regarding the announcement.

The company said that Gojek Group President Andre Soelistyo and Co-Founder Kevin Aluwi will step up as Co-CEOs.

“Nadiem was summoned to the Palace by the President today to accept an appointment as a member of the new cabinet. We are very proud that our founder will play such a significant role in moving Indonesia onto the global stage. It is unprecedented for a passionate local founder’s vision to be recognised as a model that can be up-scaled to help the development of an entire country,” the company stated.

“We have planned for this possibility and there will be no disruption to our business. We will make an announcement on what this news means for Gojek within the next few days … We respect the process set out by the President and will not make a further comment until there is an official announcement from the Palace,” it continued.

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Image Credit: gojek

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It might sound surprising, but in my experience as a business model innovation adviser, startups could use a lot more entrepreneurial way of thinking when it comes to building their development plans.

Typically, startup businesses are developed with very optimistic, disruption-driven and life-changing objectives in mind. And that’s good. The opportunity to change the world is big, the chances of acquiring one tiny percent of the Chinese markets are even more appetizing.

More often than not, however, projects come along with very light strategic thinking being involved, and that usually proves difficult for the founders.

While many startups are able to present very impressive technology prototypes and app-based proofs of concepts, the founding team’s ability to provide potential partners with a plan is often questionable. How the one per cent threshold is to be attained is a mystery, the exit-strategy is rather obscure, so forth and so on.

In this op-ed, I explore the topic of entrepreneurial thinking (or the absence of it, should I probably say). I bust a myth or two, and I elaborate a little bit on what many startup entrepreneurs might want to think about prior to meeting partners and investors. Need a hint? Think Impact.

Myth #1: “we are disruptors”

For many startup-ers, a very common belief is that having a disruption in your DNA (and vocabulary) is worth gold. But is disruption the real deal?

Not really.

Yes, Uber disrupted the transportation market, and yes, Airbnb disrupted the hospitality market too. But this doesn’t mean that breaking the codes is the recipe to a million-dollars cheque.

There is a major flaw here because seeking disruption doesn’t create value on its own. Value doesn’t appear out of thin air, and just because you say that your model is disrupting doesn’t mean that the model actually makes sense.

Disruption doesn’t guarantee desirability, it doesn’t guarantee feasibility and it does not guarantee viability either (more on the Desirability, Feasibility and Viability model here). And if those criteria aren’t met, chances are that your business model will sooner than later crash into a wall.

Beyond disruption, what a startup entrepreneur should seek is a form of innovation that improves an existing model, and that provides a desirable, actionable and viable form of value.

As Joseph Schumpeter wrote about eighty years ago, innovation is not a matter of (re)inventing the wheel but a matter of getting something different into the process. And what that means is simple: startups don’t need to disrupt a market to create value. They need to find a model to improve, and they need to work hard on making that model better for someone.

That model can be a production model. For instance, Henry Ford didn’t just develop machinery, he found a way to improve the traditional operations through automation and scaling.

Innovative models can also be a matter of improving user experience. Uber didn’t just disrupt, it created a new type of value by improving the taxi onboarding experience, from a booking & payment point of view.

The bottom line? Being a disruptor won’t get you a cheque. But an entrepreneurial mindset focused on improving an existing process might…

Myth #2: “we have an MVP, it’ll be fine”

Another idea that startup founders like to put forward is that having a proof of concept – also known as a Minimum Value Proposition or MVP – is enough to secure funding. But guess what? MVPs used to open golden doors before the world wide web bubble burst, but they don’t do that anymore.

The blockchain created illusion over the past years, but many projects were shallow, and founders were totally incapable of explaining how they would produce value for people.

No business model, no knowledge of the regulatory constraints, and a lot of promises. But where did the desirable, feasible, viable model go? When the crypto folly prices dropped, the reality check fell very hard on people. Investments based on mere MVPs without actual clients failed to find investors, and the ecosystem took a U-turn.

In an analysis of the ICO peak trend published about a year ago (Nov. 2018), my friend Jack Chia wrote that “Blockchain investments in ICOs [were] reaching a peak. Investors are more careful with the way they use their capital, and choosing projects stronger than ‘Minimal Value Products’ (MVPs) has become important”. Jack concluded on the idea that he “would, accordingly, brace and prepare for a much-needed washout […] The surviving minority of tokens after the washout will be those that deliver genuine value, genuine liquidity, and genuine utility”.

Also Read: Is your entrepreneurial journey just another rat race? Here are 20 things that say it might just be so

Jack’s point made sense: expecting that a mere Minimum Value Proposition will get your startup a million-dollar paycheck is ludicrous. An MVP in itself doesn’t create value and doesn’t guarantee that an investor will obtain value for his money.

Yet I keep seeing a lot of startups investing a lot on MVP without doing any type of strategic planning.

The bottom line? Have an MVP is a good starting point, but it is nothing more than that. A starting point.

Myth #3: “We are entrepreneurs”

Last but not least, many startup founders like to call themselves “entrepreneurs” because, well, the term is trendy and sexy. Yet, many of them don’t have a vision of what their business is about to become. No real plans to present, no exit strategy, and no real ‘entrepreneur’s shirt’ either.

Again, like it or not, but there are entrepreneur and entrepreneur, and not every business-maker falls into the right category. The field reality, really, is that in many cases startups make the mistake of focusing on just ‘doing’ whilst leaving the big picture and the long-term vision aside.

The idea was formulated by Gerber two decades ago, every want-to-be entrepreneur is built around three personalities which fight each other continuously.

At first, an entrepreneur is a technician – because ‘getting shit done’ is crucial. When work overload occurs, the technician shifts into a manager responsible for operating.

But, ultimately, what really makes an entrepreneur is the ability to shift from management to vision and strategic planification. And with that often comes the question of Impact.

The question of “Impact”

Envisioning the future of a structure is key, and whether you are trying to develop a startup, an established business, a personal project or an NGO your key challenge as an entrepreneur is to figure out what Impact you plan on making.

I call this way of approaching business ‘Impact thinking’, and in my experience, the point usually talks to every entrepreneurial person out there.

Impact Thinking can change business because making money shouldn’t be and is rarely the sole purpose of an entrepreneur. Sooner or later, a business needs to find allies, staff, investors, and their own agenda will one way or another lead to making a difference.

A call for more entrepreneurial thinking in startup development – pragmatically speaking?

Pragmatically speaking, the bottom line here is that is not an entrepreneur who wants, and in practice, many startup founders have no idea that their daily routine keeps them stuck in the realm of doing without undertaking and envisioning.

Also Read: Why trust is the biggest barrier to entrepreneurship and innovation

The reality of life is rather simple. Startups won’t normally obtain the money they need just because they disrupt, just because they have an MVP, and just because they are founded by tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.

No.

An entrepreneur knows the importance of having a strong value proposition. An entrepreneur knows the importance of going far beyond just a proof of concept.

And an entrepreneur knows that being an entrepreneur is a matter of envisioning and preparing in order to make an impact down the road. And more startups should follow this way of thinking.

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Image Credit:  Kelly Sikkema

 

The post A call for more entrepreneurial style of thinking in startup development and why it is absent appeared first on e27.

When starting a business –no matter how big or small- you need to go in with a plan. Many entrepreneurs come up with a brilliant idea but struggle in delivering their message to the right audience.

This happens because they’re too focused on sales strategies and lead generation rather than getting their word out. By being “too-salesy” in their efforts, these businesses drive away their potential clientele.

Blogging is your entryway to speaking with the outside world and contacting potential clients. It allows you to share your perspective on things and demonstrate you’re familiarity with the industry.

Once your startup blog starts to grow, it will offer plenty of benefits.

Let’s dig in.

1. Increases your understanding of what customers need 

Blogging opens a channel of communication with potential customers. It can give you significant data on what the client is truly searching for. And based on that data, you can create a more effective marketing strategy.

When it’s done right, blogs have the potential of constructing a community with highly-engaged members. Put your brand at the centre of it and you have a sure-fire way of inspiring customer loyalty.

2. Makes you an authority on business

Having a range of blog posts that discuss issues, patterns and difficulties in the industry make your business seem reliable. You can either give your platform to in-house professionals or invite industry leaders to communicate their expertise. In both cases, your business will gain authenticity in the eyes of the readers.

Also Read: Bootstrapping your startup: 4 easy ways to grow faster

Many companies use blogs to document case studies and industry-related research work.

For instance, EMUCoupon is a startup that distributes coupons for a variety of products. They’ve accumulated fascinating stats related to their industry in a blog about digital coupon redemption. You’ll find similar examples across the digital realm.

3. Brings in organic traffic

Blogging is considered as a vital part of the content marketing strategy by innumerable startups. Not only does it drive organic traffic to their websites- it brings in traffic that’s relevant to their niche.

Since blogging does not require heavy investment, it’s perhaps the biggest tools startups have in their armoury.

Frequent blog posts can help any business develop an audience at a rapid speed. Once your blog gets ranked by search engines like Google and Bing, the floodgates of visitors open up.

4. Promotes your product or service

Along with influencer marketing, blogging is one of the most effective of promoting your service or product. However, your offer should be presented as a solution. If you illustrate this solution through images and video, its impact on the visitor will be extra-ordinary.

5. Has a lifetime value

A good blog entry can be a gift that keeps on giving, drawing in visitors for a great length of time. Many sites have seen a portion of their earlier blog entries keep on getting a larger number of hits than their latest post.

Also Read: How to write a business blog post in under an hour

This could be because of their higher ranking on search engines or the topic becoming relevant again due to some development. In any case, when blogs are timeless, they give long-term rewards.

6. Helps in sticking out

Every day, a big number of sites and Facebook pages pop up and despite how amazing they’re designed or how great the solution they offer is- they don’t stand apart. The standard website with a simple “about us” and “services” pages doesn’t cut it anymore in the ever-competitive online environment.

This is where having a well-maintained blog will make you immediately stand out. It gives the website an added aesthetic appeal and creates a space where your visitors can gain useful information. Suffice to say, this is a win-win scenario.

7. Can bring investment

Many startups have an exceptional pitch package for investors but they struggle in its advertisement. If this document is featured prominently on their blog through a sidebar widget, more visitors will see the pitch and some might even be enticed to invest in the startup.

8. Motivates your staff

A functioning blog journal can be an extraordinary method to produce enthusiasm among the staff. If you let employees speak out in the blog section, it will re-establish that their company values them.

But you will need to let them demonstrate their expertise in a particular field. Let your developers write on the latest tools and quirks. It will be a great confidence booster for them as their knowledge gets shared around the world.

Conclusion

Blogging has plenty of benefits for startups. It helps you understand the market, increase your authenticity and brings in organic traffic. More so, blogging lets you promote a product or service without being too direct.

Although growing your startup blog will take some time and effort, it will reap incomparable benefits in the long-run.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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Image Credit:  Patrick Fore

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Vertex Ventures China closes US$566M fund – Dealstreet Asia

Vertex Ventures China, the China-focussed venture capital arm of the Singapore-based company, has secured nearly RMB4 billion (US$566 million) in capital commitments for a USD-denominated fund, Dealstreet Asia wrote.

According to Vertex Ventures China Managing Partner and Head Tay Choon Chong, the fund was oversubscribed by overseas LPs due to its “strong past performance with good realised returns.” It is also said to be the largest fund the firm has ever raised in China.

It will back early and growth-stage startups in the fields of high-tech and mass consumption with a focus on semiconductor, artificial intelligence (AI), enterprise services, healthcare and online education.

Indonesia’s Etobee rebrands to Finfleet, pivots to focus on fintech services – DailySocial

Indonesian logistics startup Etobee announced its rebrand and pivot into Finfleet, an agent-based financial products consumer on-boarding service, DailySocial wrote.

Starting off as a last-mile logistics service provider, Finfleet now helps financial institutions to on-board new customers, particularly in areas that are currently unreached by financial services.

The pivot and rebrand have been conducted since February 2018 when the company underwent massive change in their managerial structure.

It has named Brata Rafly, former Dimo CEO, as Co-Founder & CEO.

Finfleet has raised a US$3.5 million funding from Kejora Ventures, XL Axiata, Gobi Ventures, Skystar Ventures, and Asian Trust Capital.

Also Read: Temasek-owned Vertex Ventures closed its fourth Southeast Asia and India fund at US$305m

gojek CEO Nadiem Makarim resigns to join Indonesian cabinet – e27

Speaking to the press at Merdeka Palace, gojek Founder & Global CEO Nadiem Makarim announced his resignation from the company to join President Joko Widodo’s new cabinet.

Having been inaugurated on Sunday, the president is set to announce his new cabinet on Monday.

Rumours of Makarim’s appointment have circulated among Indonesian startup communities in the past months. It remains to be seen what his new designation in the cabinet will be.

Following his resignation, Gojek Group President Andre Soelistyo and Co-Founder Kevin Aluwi will step up as Co-CEOs.

Zilingo to invest US$100M for its US expansion effort – Dealstreet Asia

Singapore-based fashion tech platform Zilingo is planning to invest US$100 million to support its expansion plan to the US, Dealstreet Asia reported.

The investment is part of its strategy to expand into new markets such as Australia, Europe, and the Middle East.

The startup has recently opened offices in New York and Los Angeles over the summer. It will also expand its sales and products teams in the country.

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Image Credit: Adi Constantin on Unsplash

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Online fraud and scams are a norm in Malaysia. Around 12,481 cases reported in 2016 were related to online shopping, as per an estimate. They resulted in a total loss of RM266 (US$64) million in 2017, and this number rose to RM398 (US$95) million in 2018.

“Existing solutions to prevent online fraud deemed ineffective and inefficient,” Nik Mohd Azri Azaha tells e27. “We hope to make a difference with our online escrow service Prepay.”

Prepay — developed early this year by Azaha and his friends Muhammad Hariz Mohd Khalil, Jeck Lim, and Mohd Norhafizan Mohd Sohimi — acts as an intermediary for both the buyer and seller and regulates the transaction. To initiate a deal on Prepay, both parties have to sign up and link their accounts with online banking.

“Prepay holds payments from the buyer until he/she receives the item. We will release the payments to the seller only when both parties have agreed to the deal,” he explains. “We essentially provide an additional security layer to online transactions. We aim to eliminate scammers from the whole C2C market in Malaysia.”

Azaha’s personal experience inspired the idea of Prepay. He was buying a second-hand laptop computer from a stranger he met online.

“Just like many others, I blindly trusted the seller. I agreed to pay him RM3,900, which included the shipping fees. I logged into my account and made the payment immediately. However, I never received the item from him. Neither did I hear from him since. It was a wake-up call for me and led us to develop Prepay.”

The platform has received approval from the bank BNM to provide the service in Malaysia.

Also Read: Southeast Asia is in plastic waste crisis, and these 16 sustainable startups strive to turn things around

The service is not restricted to shoppers; online gamers who sell and buy in-game items or accounts can also use the Prepay service. “Anyone can use the service as long as the transaction is directly between the seller and the buyer. We hope to make online shopping safer for all Malaysians, with a focus on C2C,” he elaborates.

Prepay’s business model is simple; it charges a per-transaction service fee based on the size of the amount. (As of now there is an upper limit to the amount that can be transacted, which is RM30,000). The commission varies from one per cent to 0.8 per cent based on the size of the sum.

According to Azaha, opportunities for Prepay are unlimited. The increasing popularity of Facebook and Instagram marketplaces and C2C marketplaces like Mudah, besides the rise of e-sports in Malaysia, offers massive growth potential.

However, several challenges remain. “Online escrow service concept is quite new for Malaysians. We have to work hard to educate customers and convey its benefits.”

Like any fintech company out there in the market, Prepay is also battling trust issues. “The biggest challenge is to build brand awareness. Most people are extremely protective of their money, especially when a new platform is introduced to the market.”

Currently, Prepay is being accelerated at NEXEA.

“We are looking to raise funding which will be used to create more value to the users. At the same time, we will learn from the mistakes we committed when building our previous startup,” he concludes.

The post Once a scam victim, this entrepreneur has built an escrow service to check online shopping fraud in Malaysia appeared first on e27.

 

If you’re looking to start a business you want to make sure that you’re doing it the best way possible. You want to create an environment that your employees are going to love and that is going to provide the best possible results for your future clients.

So, how are you going to do it? The best way that you can and the best way to move forward is with a coworking space. Here are some reasons why

Improve your environment

Coworking spaces provide a different environment for your employees and they’ve been proven to make it easier for those employees to communicate with one another and to feel like they’re contributing to the organization.

These environments can be more relaxed and are generally more comfortable, which makes them even more conducive to keeping employees. After all, you want to make sure that when you get the right employees you’re keeping them as long as possible and a healthy and happy environment helps with that.

Improve your output

When you have this type of environment you’re also going to have increased output from your employees. Those employees are going to feel like they are more valued.

Also Read: Coworking space or coffee shops: where to work on the go

They’re going to have the ability to feel more comfortable and more excited about what they’re doing in the business. All of this helps them to actually produce even more and to continue working toward more and more improvements. They’ll feel better about pushing themselves and keep working toward building up everything that your business entails.

Improve your communication

Communication is an essential aspect for your business, and with these spaces, it’s going to be no problem. You’ll be able to talk with each member of your team and you’re definitely going to be able to keep those lines of communication open.

The more open space is the more you’re going to be able to continue the dialogue among team members and the better your team is going to perform.

They’re going to discuss different projects and they’re going to keep exploring new and different ideas, which are going to ensure that you keep the expansion of ideas going throughout the team environment, resulting in better performance by the team and better results for the company.

Improve your collaboration

When it comes to coworking spaces, you’re actually going to have even better communication as well. That’s because you’re going to have your employees all working together within a single area.

They will have plenty of spaces in a coworking space that they can use to talk to each other and work along with everyone who is around them. They can continue to work on just about anything they want with smaller and larger groups. They’ll be able to just keep right on talking to each other and more on those assignments and that’s going to make it easier for your business to grow.

Improve your customer experience

When it comes to coworking spaces, you’re going to have better customer experience as well because your employees will be feeling great about your company.

Also Read: Coworking space: why it’s the most startup thing ever

They’re more likely to talk positively about your business and to interact with customers in a positive way. After all, they’re going to want to keep your business running because they enjoy working with you. They’re going to like the idea of pushing the products or services that you offer and that’s going to be extremely important when it comes to the success of the startup.

Improve your employee retention

People want to work in a place where they feel valued. That means they want to make sure that they are getting the results and benefits that help them feel that way.

Coworking spaces, by definition, provide comfortable environments for your employees. They provide spaces for them to work together and communicate.

They also provide some of the additional amenities that these types of workers enjoy. Often they have things like fun or comfortable seating, unique work stations, lounge areas, and fun surroundings. They might have a range of different opportunities for employees to work together and to be a part of building the business. All of these things make it more likely that your employees will want to stay with you.

Wrap up

Overall, when you create positive coworking spaces you’re going to help your entire business to flourish. It’s all about giving your employees, your customers, and everyone in between the right vision for your business.

Creating a business that is built to last and that is strong enough to stand anything is going to be difficult, but it’s definitely something that you can do and it’s something that will help you to grow along the way.

Coworking spaces are definitely the wave of the future and they are most definitely a great way to create something entirely new and appeal to the job market that’s out there today.

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Image Credit:  CoWomen

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If you have been a part of startup retail business, organising product marketing campaigns, you know very well how difficult it is to engage customers across digital media.

3D product rendering can spell numerous benefits for your online retail business. Here are 9 of them:

1) E-commerce cataloguing can be optimised

You pretty much know how difficult it is to capture images of your products in an accurate manner with cameras. These images have to be refined before publishing in online catalogues.

Making the product labels visible in thumbnails is a discouraging task. Sometimes, brand logos can get distorted while retouching images. Such efforts often make you miss deadlines and sale opportunities.

You can get over such nightmares with CGI animation which allows you to build accurately pixelated product versions for all e-commerce industry types. You can make labels legible, format logos, make thumbnails readable and arrange product catalogues on sites the way you want.

2) Call to action can be made more compelling

With CGI, you can evoke the right feeling in your targeted audience base. Prospective customers can be treated with the right visuals the way you want in alignment with your business values. You can weave the perfect mood around the product inexpensively which adds power to the call to action.

Also Read: eCommerce potential in Southeast Asia, through the eyes of Taiwanese

Conventionally, such efforts are cost-intensive and consume significant time. You had to set up extensive photoshoots with the right props. To present the product in an appealing ambience, you had to pay the photographer highly.

CGI allows you to get over such disadvantages. You can highlight the stellar aspects of the products easily which inspires potential customers to buy products more frequently.

3) Time to market is accelerated

All brands need to comply with deadlines to get their products promoted by PR partners.

When you integrate CGI in product promotional workflow, you can send pre-launch product images to distribution and online retail store partners well within scheduled timelines. As the time to market is cut short, you can book more orders for the product.

4) Product variations can be created with ease

You may need to showcase variations of your product on different pages of the e-commerce site. If you follow the traditional photoshoot method, it will take considerable time and would drain your advertisement budget significantly.

With CGI and 3d rendering, you can create many variations of the same product by differing the backdrop, lighting, texture, colour, etc. All these can be done quickly without incurring significant overhead costs.

5) Futuristic models for retail marketing can be developed

Using the technologies adopted by Hollywood, you can bring on the same table AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) for enhancing the marketing experience of shoppers.

Buyers can experience different products like furniture in customized settings with virtual staging, for example.

6) Customers can be made to experience the products

With 3D visualization, you can help potential buyers experience the product in virtual mode. This helps them connect with your brand in a better way.

Also Read: How to use the psychology of gamification to grow e-commerce sales

CGI effects can be enhanced with AR wherein multimedia, sensory inputs, graphics, etc. can be superimposed on real-world objects. Tactile feel can be simulated. Location data can be taken from GPS coordinates. Through the app, AR can be used for showcasing to customers what it would be like trying new products.

7) Virtual fitting room can be created

You enjoy the power to shape futuristic buying experience by harnessing the potential of CGI. Smart mirrors can be placed in a fitting room which will serve as touch screens.

A shopper can try various looks by experimenting with cloth sizes and colours. They can swipe the screen to try another variation. Shopper need not signal in half-clothed mode to the salesperson for another set of clothes to try.

8) ROI can be made to exponentially grow

You can leverage CGI to increase your business’s ROI substantially. The turnaround time to market as well as the cost of promotion goes down significantly. Booking for a new product can be availed of quickly.

You can customize the shopping experience for buyers. Tailored apps can be developed which will allow buyers to virtually test the product with VR driven technology. This way potential buyers can quickly purchase products that fit on them optimally.

9) A dream home can be curated in digital mode

CGI can be used in other verticals apart from the eCommerce business. You can make customers visualize how the dream home would look like by allowing them to virtually set furniture in living room interiors. Customers need not physically haul and place the furniture pieces.

Visualization of all home-related products can be made possible with CGI. You need not hire a photographer to capture snaps of real objects. Engaging and memorable experiences can be created with ease.

CGI helps your brand stand out in a market that is facing stiff competition. You can win the trust of potential buyers by leveraging CGI.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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A week ago, I stumbled upon an event listing online called “5 common traits of successful young adult novels” by Reedsy, as someone who loves part-time fiction writing, this was the perfect opportunity for me to learn about what made a good adult novel.

I signed up for the event imagining it was happening in my city, not checking the time or the location.

The day of the talk, as I tried to look over at the location of the event, I realised that it was actually an online webinar. I felt a certain disappointment as now this would mean a laggy video and no real-time connection with the speaker.

But in spite of all the negativity, with an open mind, I still decided to give it a shot.

And it really turned out to be a major game-changer for me. Here are the 3 benefits I felt about attending webinars

1. Sweats and total comfort

The biggest advantage of attending an online webinar is that you don’t have to worry about your perfectly ironed shirt or even brushing your hair before the event. You can attend it anytime anywhere, while commuting, at the office or even from your home.

Nothing beats the comfort of flexibility, especially if you are busy and cannot commute an hour, to and fro to attend the talk. This saves time, is more efficient and gives you complete freedom.

Also, the open environment of a webinar can be extremely relaxing as opposed to

2. Great way to learn from the pros …. from anywhere

There may be times when you really want to attend an event or want to listen to your favourite speaker, who is not in your city. At times like this attending the online webinar is a great option.

The format of a webinar is usually concise and focused and therefore it has great value for time. You jump straight to the point and even the interactions during a webinar are focused. Since the moderator will usually pick out the questions that are the most relevant from the comments.

3. It’s recorded, so you can listen to it anytime

Even if you don’t attend a webinar, chances are that the company organising it will have a recording of it that can be accessed either from their website or sent via email.

The only drawback with this is that you will not be able to ask questions and interact with the speaker, so it’s highly recommended that you attend a webinar if the topic is something very relevant to you.

In this faced-paced world, it can sometimes be an added pressure to do your job, attend events, network and then just do things that you like. Therefore, a webinar is a great option for people who are always mostly on the run, it offers a solution for your fast life and an opportunity to learn what you like from the best.

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Image Credit:  Simon Abrams

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Everywhere in Southeast Asia, the plastic waste outcry has emerged thanks largely to awareness raised by social media. The ever-connected world has opened eyes to the amount of trash Southeast Asia, in particular, has collected as the receiving ends of developed countries’ junk in addition to its pile of trash.

Videos of sea animal suffering death by plastic or divers swimming in the sea of trash might be a trigger to finally do something because it is finally trendy to say no to plastic.

According to an article from Southeast Asia Globe, Southeast Asia countries have started to pick up the slack, albeit late.

Malaysia last year issued a permanent ban on the import of plastic waste and announced it will be phasing out the import of other types of plastic by 2021. Thailand will also stop plastic waste imports by 2021, and Vietnam has banned the issuance of licences for the import of plastic waste in preparation for a total ban by 2025.

In another article bt Southeast Asia Globe, aside from being the destination for 75 per cent of the world’s waste -much of it plastic-, Asia also has poor waste management, resulting in the continent became the biggest ocean plastic, polluters.

According to 2017 report by the Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment, more than half of the plastic waste in the ocean comes from just five Asian countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand.

With plastic became a major problem in our waste management, the trend has caught up to recycling and minimising a single use of plastic. More people -Millennials and Gen Z to be exact- are raising awareness, which is a good thing that these 16 startups are hoping to last, and not just a fad that sizzles away.

Gringgo, Indonesia

Indonesia has repeatedly made international news because of the numerous whale found dead of plastic ingestion washed ashore. So this country is really in the deep with plastic trash.

Gringgo Indonesia Foundation was named one of 20 grantees of the Google AI Impact Challenge, receiving US$500,000 of funding from Google.org, to help put a stop to the sloppy waste management that could put trash in its 50,000 km of coastline.

Gringgo was co-founded by Febriadi Pratama, who’s also the company’s CTO. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to give waste workers tools to track their collections and productivity in hopes to boost their earning power while also helping the environment.

“Waste workers’ livelihood depends on the volume and value of the recyclable waste they collect. The idea is to build an image recognition tool that would help improve plastic recycling rates by classifying different materials and giving them a monetary value.

“In turn, this will reduce ocean plastic pollution and strengthen waste management in under-resourced communities. We believe this creates a new economic model for waste management that prioritises people and the planet,” Pratama explained.

Also Read: Can the new waste disposal app bail out Bali from its waste problem?

Pratama mentioned that trash is the country’s major problem due to the country’s topography that makes it more challenging to put a price on recyclables. It consists of more than 17,000 islands with 5 major islands, but most recycling facilities are based on the mainland of Java, making transporting recyclables from other islands expensive, causing materials with low value left unsorted, end up polluting the environment.

Addressing the issue, Gringgo launched several apps in 2017—both for waste workers and the public. One of the apps allows waste workers to track the amount and type of waste they collect to save time by suggesting a more organised route, and manually quantify their collections and earning potential.

The other app is launched for the public, connecting people with waste collection services for their homes.

Gringgo mentioned that it has Google’s support in working with the Indonesian startup Datanest to build an image recognition tool using Google’s machine learning platform, TensorFlow. With the collaboration, waste workers can better analyse and classify waste items, and quantify their value through a photo of trash they took, and through image recognition.

Klean, Malaysia

Klean is a Malaysian-based startup that was one of the six finalists for The Liveability Challenge and managed to secure up to S$1 million (US$733,000) in funding for the development of their projects. The challenge aims to close the financing gap between the ideas that will make cities better and the investments that will turn solutions into reality.

Founded by Mohamad Arif and Datuk Dr Nick Boden, Klean offers a Malaysian-made smart reverse vending machine (SRVM) with Klean operating system and an app that rewards people for recycling empty polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and aluminum cans with points scheme. The points are redeemable for rewards such as prepaid air time and discounts for transportation rides, goods, and services.

Klean also teams up with HelloGold in a mission to “tackle generational poverty” that lets users
who return bottles and cans to build up a gold portfolio, allowing the underprivileged community to save money using readily available waste and to use it as business loan collateral if they wish so.

According to an article published by The Star Malaysia last year, Klean has teamed up with a beverage company to start a proof of concept on a container deposit scheme in Singapore.

NanoMalaysia, Malaysia

A fresh invention from Malaysian young PhD student-entrepreneurs, NanoMalaysia, offers alternatives to food packing that seeks to dramatically reduce supermarket plastic waste.

NanoMalaysia won The Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Global Challenge with their approach for packing dried, loose food products by using carrageenan and starch to create dissolvable food blocks called PICAS block, in the hope of significantly reducing the amount of plastic waste from supermarkets.

Evoware, Indonesia

Edible food wrappings and sachets as alternatives to single-use plastics for packaging certainly are not something new, but it is yet to catch a wave with Southeast Asia’s food industry.

In Indonesia, Evoware, co-founded by David Christian, offers seaweed-based wrappings for instant coffee or noodle sachets that make it edible or dissolvable after usage.

Christian claimed that it uses seaweed without chemical additives in applications, allowing it to dissolve in hot water or be eaten. Seaweed, he said, has one of the best mechanical properties while still being energy efficient and very economical with friendly land cultivation.

Evoware challenges the comfort of single-use wrappings and offers a circular economy solution instead to help free the oceans from the trash. With seaweed, it plans to increase its local capacity and is in a position to expand internationally since seaweed can grow on almost every coastline.

Also, Evoware has designed a version, made using damar resin from South Asian fig trees, that holds liquids, creating readily compostable packaging for personal care products and medical supplies.

Evoware is a Circular Design Challenge winner in category Redesigning sachets. It also joined
the New Plastics Economy Accelerator Programme.

RWDC Industries, Singapore

RWDC Industries is a Singaporean biotechnology startup co-founded by Roland Wee and Daniel Carraway that develops cost-effective biopolymer material solutions in 2015. The company, according to an article from e27, produces medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoate (mclPHA) biopolymers that can be used to make eco-friendly consumable products.

In Entrepreneurs’ article, it is explained that PHAs are linear polyesters naturally produced by bacterial fermentation of plant-based oils or sugar and are widely recognised as the only commercially viable biodegradable plastic due to its versatility.

Also Read: Biodegradable plastic startup RWDC Industries raises US$22M in fresh funding

RWDC claims its PHA is certified to be fully biodegradable in soil, water, and marine conditions by agency TÜV Austria (formerly Vincotte), within weeks with no toxic residue.

RWDC said that it aims to supply bio-based materials to its clients, which can then turn them into products like single-use cutlery, straws, diapers, wipes, and agricultural mulch films.

In 2018, the startup closed a US$13 million Series A2 round co-led by venture capital firms Vickers Venture Partners and WI Harper Group. Finance firm Ridgevale Enterprises and individual investors also participated in the round.

The funding was used to expand PHA production capacity in Athens, US, to 2,000 tonnes per year, making it one of the world’s largest PHA producers.

In July, RWDC won the inaugural Liveability Challenge, presented by Temasek Foundation Ecosperity, securing S$980,000 (US$710,000) in funding for its proposal to make fully biodegradable drinking straws made of PHA.

RWDC Industries has raised US$22 million in the third tranche of its ongoing Series A round of funding, led by early-stage investment firm Vickers Venture Partners and US-based Eversource Retirement Plan Master Trust — its first institutional investor. Others who participated in the round include cross-border VC firms and existing backer WI Harper Group.

Avani Eco, Indonesia

It’s uplifting to see there is more than just one solution to replace the use of polluting plastic out there, and Avani Eco first made news when a viral video of its founder drinking a soluble plastic bag caught international news’ eagle eyes.

Avani Eco was established in 2014 by Kevin Kumala, a biology graduate, to provide a technology solution that can be adopted by businesses and end consumers. The main product was originally a cassava-based poncho before Avani Eco provides a full range of sustainable packaging and hospitality products made from renewable and natural ingredients of root vegetable cassava, that are fully compostable, from plastic bags, straws, hospital covers, to styrofoam-lookalike food packaging.

According to a CNN article, Kumala and his school friend partner studied the emerging field of bioplastics and took inspiration from new materials based on corn and soy starch. They devised their recipe using cassava starch, vegetable oil, and organic resins.

In 2017, CNN reported that Avani secured funding from a private equity group for the first time.

With Bali banning plastic bags in 2018, the company has grown significantly despite categorised as a premium product with twice the price of regular plastic.

Upp!, Vietnam

Here’s a startup that offers solutions to the already-disposed plastics, by upcycling it into a construction material. Upp! is a social enterprise startup based in both the Netherlands and Vietnam, that hopes to save plastic waste from landfills and oceans by introducing circular plastic factories in 10 cities by 2025, according to an article by Green Queen.

Founded in 2017 in the Netherlands and later expanding to operate in Vietnam as well, Upp! is supports companies, communities, and local authorities to become plastic waste-free by working alongside several local partners to make repurposed plastic products.

These repurposed plastic products can then be used in many ways, from becoming construction materials to building recycled parks.

Taraph Technologies, Singapore

Singapore-based Taraph Technologies is a green tech startup that aims to remove all plastic waste by 2050. It was co-founded by Liew Mei Shan.

The company offers Waste Management Diagnosis and Waste Management Consultancy. According to an excerpt from a Bloomberg’s piece, Taraph Technologies is one of the companies using bacteria or organic processes which harnesses natural enzymes that digest plastics and turn them into chemicals normally produced in oil refineries.

Right now, the article highlighted, mono-ethylene glycol from enzyme-eaten plastic bottles can be sold at prices 10 times higher than the value of trash, but Liew expects the technology to be commercially available in 5 to 10 years.

In April 2019, Taraph Technologies received pre-seed funding from the investment committee of Entrepreneur First.

AYA REUSABLE CUP, Vietnam

How did you put technology into a reusable cup to make it work? This Vietnam-based startup called AYA REUSABLE CUP (AYA) founded by Linh Le offers users the ability to use and return the cup to eliminate the use of single plastic.

It does so by allowing a request of an eco-friendly cup AYA at any participating coffee shop or smoothie bar with consumers’ ID code. With the Life Time Membership Pass option, consumers can drop the AYACUP at any participating locations.

According to an article published by Innolab.Asia, the startup was the most-voted idea in first CrowdPitch Vietnam 2019.

Eco-Plastics, Cambodia

Being crowned runner-up in the 12th year of The Mekong Business Challenge (MBC), two female Cambodian entrepreneurs introduced Eco-Plastic, a startup that plans to utilise Cambodia’s plastic waste to pave cheaper, more durable roads.

Eco-Plastics was co-founded by Bunhourng Tan and Sokhana Ly and it claimed to have received funding from a US investor, as reported by Phnom Penh Post.

Sokhana said: “By establishing Eco-Plastic, we can use plastic waste to improve our roads, transforming landfill waste into a road fill product.”

Cleanbodia, Cambodia

Founded by Japanese-American entrepreneur Kai Kuramoto in 2015, Cleanbodia creates an online platform that offers a biodegradable bag made of the cassava starch. According to Phnom Penh Post‘s article, Cleanbodia has two products: the biodegradable bag that contains plastic and lasts for six years, and compostable bags, contains no plastic and lasts under two years.

Right now, Kuramoto and his team of engineers are still working on having the bags produced in the country.

Also Read: Meet the 15 startups competing for SustainableAg Asia Challenge by Rabobank

“Currently, the bags are not produced in Cambodia, but are made in Southeast Asia. We have studied the possibility of building a factory here in the Kingdom and are still assessing the best way to do that with the right partners.

“Production here would allow for cheaper biodegradable bags and there is certainly enough cassava grown to supply the production of the bags,” Kuramoto concluded.

GooGreen, Thailand

Thailand-based GooGreen is a startup that builds a platform to help urbanites efficiently collect and sort waste. Founded by Chatsanan Masawangpairoj, the company said it has worked with communities, schools, and factories and found these three sectors have efficient waste sorting procedure.

According to Startup Thailand, the platform comprises of mobile and web applications as well as waste disposal kiosks at office buildings. The kiosk staff will assist and instruct people on how to do proper waste sorting, she added.

GooGreen said that the idea of the startup is to encourage attitude change from disposing of waste to “depositing waste and earning points.” Users will be able to locate GooGreen kiosks in their office neighborhoods.

Solu, Philippines

Founded in March 2018 by Matthew Barrie, Solu is a Philippine-based startup that seeks to fix waste management in developing nations, as reported by e27.

Solu allows consumers to connect with waste collection centres who will pay them for their segregated waste.

With the collected waste redirected into where they can be repurposed, Solu believes that it will help make for a cleaner environment.

According to this Eco-Business’s article, June 2019 marked the joint declaration by ASEAN countries that its members will take concrete actions and help one another to “prevent and significantly reduce marine debris”, including plastic waste, for example through the possible development of an East Asia regional plan of action and guidelines as environmentalists have called on the bloc to do more.

With encouraging and significant moves from the 16 startups mentioned, Southeast Asia’s plastic waste emergency may stand a chance to have a complete reversal. What’s left now is the backing of governments to speed up the process, and more spotlight to shine a light on the pressing issues.

In the meantime, the cliche of starting small with the simplest thing one can do such as eliminating the use of plastic remains effective.

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Photo by Daniel Chekalov on Unsplash

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