Indonesia-based manufacturing hub startup Imajin raised pre-seed funding from Init-6 for an undisclosed amount. This funding will be used to accelerate digitalisation in the manufacturing industry through market expansion and new product development.

In a discussion with DailySocial, Imajin Co-founder & CEO Chendy Jaya said that Init-6 is currently the sole investor for this round. However, the Global Fund is said to participate in this funding.

In Indonesia, Imajin plans to expand to several cities in Java and Riau Islands province. In addition to that, the company is strongly considering an expansion to Japan. After his recent visit to Japan, he implied gaining a positive response from the local companies.

“I think we’ll need representatives in the country, in order to onboard [prospective customers] to Imajin,” he added.

Imajin is a platform that bridges demand and supply in the manufacturing industry. By positioning itself as a manufacturing hub, Imajin offers three business models: (1) a platform to gather business players in the manufacturing industry, (2) project financing, and (3) a marketplace to supply raw materials.

Also Read: Startup Studio Indonesia names the 15 startups shortlisted into its third batch

Throughout the first semester of 2022, he continued, Imajin has recorded an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) contract of almost ten times growth compared to two years ago. The company has just started its expansion to East Java and released an AI-based Quick Note feature to detect 3D files and instantly determine the price range of the goods.

On his LinkedIn page, Init-6 Venture Partner Rexi Christopher believes that Imajin will have a significant role to play in revolutionising the manufacturing industry in Indonesia. Moreover, 20 per cent of Indonesia’s total GDP is projected to come from manufacturing. Its growth is also predicted to be faster due to the adoption of new technologies.

In addition, he believed that Imajin is backed by know-how founders in this sector. “We believe that Imajin can accelerate digitalisation in manufacturing so as to make its industry in Indonesia more competitive in the global market,” he said.

In fact, Init-6 was founded by Bukalapak Co-Founders Achmad Zaky and Nugroho Herucahyono with a focus on investing in early-stage startups. Recently, Init-6 channelled funding to edutech platform Dibimbing.

Manufacturing digitalisation

On a separate occasion, Imajin said that it works closely with the Sole Agents of Brand Holders (ATPM) in the automotive and other sectors and cooperates with the Ministry of Industry to accelerate the digitalisation of manufacturing in the country.

Also Read: Growthwell Foods raises US$22M Series A to manufacture plant-based meat, seafood for F&B businesses

In its efforts to enter the Japanese market, Chendy said that the automotive industry in Indonesia has great potential. Moreover, some high technology for automotive products such as servo-brakes, gearboxes, and drive-axles, are still imported from Japan. According to a report by the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo with Mizuho Bank, the import value reached US$1 billion.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian government is aggressively encouraging domestic digitalisation in order to meet the regulation of the Domestic Content Level (TKDN) of at least 35 per cent and increase to 80 per cent in 2026, especially in electric vehicles.

“We found a classic problem that often occurs in the manufacturing sector, which is finding trusted vendors. We want to digitise the procurement process to production, therefore, the Indonesian market can compete with other countries,” he said.

Currently, Imagin has more than 400 local manufacturing partners and 80 customers including Japanese companies in Indonesia. Imajin strives to provide dozens of customers from leading companies, such as Tom’s Racing, Toyota Motor Corporation, Mitsubishi Motor Corporation, so that they comply with product standards owned in Japan.

—

The article was written by Corry Anestia for DailySocial.

Image Credit: Imajin

The post Imajin raises Pre-Series A funding from Init-6 appeared first on e27.

Indonesia-based proptech startup Tanakuhas secured US$5.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by East Ventures. 

The round included equity and debt capital from an international bank. 

The fresh capital will be used to build the product, expand the team, acquire homes, and execute the go-to-market strategy.

Tanaku was founded by Jonathan Ma (CEO), Andries De Vos (Head of Product), Bhanu Prakash (Head of Marketing) and Alwin Hajaning (Head of Commercial).

Headquartered in Jakarta, Tanaku aims to build a ‘pre-mortgage solution’ for owning a home. It builds an end-to-end technology platform to facilitate the purchase and transaction of homes entirely online.

Also Read: Indonesian proptech startup Jendela360 secures US$1M led by Beenext

Prospective home buyers can get pre-qualified with Tanaku at much simpler terms than a traditional bank, pay just 2 per cent of the down payment (DP) for their home and move in immediately. 

They can then focus on building their remaining DP with monthly instalments and decide to either upgrade their house with Tanaku.

In the initial rollout, prospective home buyers can select the home from Tanaku’s curated list of properties. In the future, it will facilitate the purchase of any homes in the open market with partner agents across multiple cities in Indonesia.

Since 2000, homeownership has declined in Indonesia by 2 per cent each year, and 70 million millennials are the most impacted segment, with 70 per cent unable to afford their own home.

The problem stems from how the home needs to be purchased. Many millennials do not have large funds saved for the initial down payment, and banks reject the majority when applying for a mortgage. 

Property developers often offer instalment plans called ‘cicilan’, but they come with expensive hidden fees, high-interest rates and predatory terms. This leaves millennials frustrated and resorting to long-term rentals, causing a steady decline in home ownership.

—

The post Indonesian proptech startup Tanaku raises US$5.5M pre-seed capital appeared first on e27.

This article is published as a part of a partnership with Recruitery. Recruitery is an all-in-one hiring platform that provides headhunt, payroll, taxes, and compliance solutions for remote teams in SEA.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been controlled, an economic downturn is still heralded due to the disruption of global supply chains and soaring inflation.

Across Southeast Asia, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have suffered massive losses in income and capital due to COVID-19. Small businesses also face new challenges, such as higher business costs, growing debt, and operational uncertainties that require structural reform to improve the local business environment.

If you’re running an enterprise, you better find ways to align your overall strategy and business model. For many company leaders, this presents a significant challenge. For example, how to deal with a recession?

After experiencing two terrible waves of the pandemic in Vietnam and achieving specific achievements, we have some practical advice below which can help small businesses better prepare for a recession:

Make decisions carefully

While you will likely need to adjust your business shortly, don’t make decisions irrationally or quickly just to make them. 

Seek the advice of boards, advisors, mentors, and others who have experienced economic uncertainty. Then, combine your complex data with realistically honest trend forecasts.

Don’t be paralysed by analysis or consensus group thinking. Instead, get your data, input from the leadership team, advice from a mentor or mentor, and then make a decision.

In 2020, our company had some problems because we were almost paralysed and did nothing. However, by making careful decisions by 2021 and this year, we can confidently state that, before any of our choices are made, we have considered them very carefully.

Pay attention to even the slightest problems

As you consider your business strategy, business model, and revenue forecast, it’s necessary to make small decisions because if you wait and assume things will be better in the future and just wait, you may be unprepared or unable to weather a recession.

Also Read: Why Southeast Asia’s locally owned adtech and martech industry will survive the recession

We have a tip: look at your business model and move people and resources into areas that will generate or protect revenue. For example, it is possible to cut spending on advertising media and use services like retargeting, email marketing, or better social media efforts soon.

Cost control

This is crucial regardless of whether you are a large or small business. You must control your costs in the best way.

For founders to make a profit first, they need to widen their runway and make the money they raise go further, especially during an economic downturn.

If you’re in a large company, you’ll receive an email, if you haven’t already, to manage your area, division, and division expenses for the rest of the year.

Cash management

Perhaps not much need to be said about the necessity of cash management. This is the “blood” of every business.

Manage your cash, whether it is through more aggressive efforts in accounts receivable, negotiating payment schedules with vendors in your accounts payable, or keeping staff expenses in line with stagnant wages and few hiring.

All are important right now as your primary goal should be to generate strong cash flow in the business.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post How small companies can prepare for recession appeared first on e27.

Intellect, a Singapore-headquartered mental health startup, has raised an additional US$10 million in a Series A extension led by Tiger Global.

K3 Ventures, JAFCO Asia, Singtel Innov8, and PERSOL Holdings, with participation from existing investors Insignia Ventures Partners, and HOF Capital, also joined the round.

This brings Intellect’s total Series A capital raise to US$20 million. Early this year, the mental health startup secured US$10 million in a Series A financing round led by US-based HOF Capital.

The fresh injection will be used to scale the startup’s commercial expansion plans and teams across Asia. The business is focused on building the region’s first digitally-enabled, fully-stacked mental healthcare system.

Intellect is a modern-day mental health company aiming to make mental healthcare and wellbeing support accessible for everyone. Launched two years ago, it claims to serve more than three million lives in over 60 countries through its therapists and coaches based in 20 countries, providing localised coverage and self-guided programmes in 15 languages.

Also read: How to tackle employee mental health to build a resilient workforce

The company currently works with various international enterprises such as Merck, Philips, foodpanda, Singtel, Shopee, Omnicom Media Group, and abrdn.

In August 2021, the firm announced the closing of its US2.2 million pre-Series A round led by Insignia Ventures Partners, alongside new investors Y Combinator and XA Network.

Theodoric Chew, Co-Founder and CEO, said: “Intellect’s mission is to normalise mental health and shift the culture towards more open conversations about personal wellbeing, ultimately removing the stigma attached. We are fortunate that Intellect is able not just to defend but heavily double down on our work to change how mental health care is done for all of Asia Pacific.”

As the current workforce struggles with burnout and adopting unhealthy coping mechanisms, focusing on mental health in the workplace is more important than ever. A 2021 APAC workplace health study by Intellect showed that 84 per cent of APAC respondents reported high levels of exhaustion, while 88% said they were disengaged from work.

—

The post Singapore mental health startup Intellect raises US$10M to extend Series A round to US$20M appeared first on e27.

In this episode, we are excited to welcome Frédéric Mazzella, Founder, Chairman and Former CEO of BlaBlaCar, the world’s largest carpooling platform. Mazzella is also an active investor, startup board member and Co-President Entrepreneur of France Digitale.

In our conversation, Mazzella speaks to us about how to think big but act small at the beginning of global expansion initiatives, how to create a business name with global appeal, building a community of trust within an organisation, successful strategies like how to “build for two markets,” and how to hire a talented, internationally-minded local team who connect with your company culture and how to listen to them and leverage their local market expertise.

Also Read: Vietnam can be an excellent launchpad for regional, global startups: says Eddie Thai

This episode is sponsored by our partner ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets here.

Find our entire podcast episode library here and learn more about our forthcoming book on global business growth here.

Interested in learning more about our book Global Class? Be the first to get a copy (coming out August 23), and get a ton of valuable free bonuses for pre-ordering. Learn more here.

—

The article was first published by Global Class.

Image Credit: Global Class

The post BlaBlaCar founder on how to create a business name with global appeal appeared first on e27.

Consumers eagerly anticipating a long-awaited vacation are set to encounter something of a frenzied return to the tourism scene. As chaotic images at airports and stories of lost baggage hit global headlines, the travel sector is looking at a less than smooth ride to normalcy. Yet beyond the headlines, there is another threat that’s quietly undermining the travel industry: ad fraud.

It is more than two years since the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to an abrupt standstill, putting a lengthy halt on leisure travel and vacations. Now, however, all signs point to an incredible rise in Asia Pacific travellers this year.

One report estimates that APAC’s travel and tourism sector is expected to approach pre-pandemic levels while another estimates that the ASEAN region will receive an estimated 155 million tourists in 2022.

Meanwhile, an estimated 430 million more passengers are predicted to fly in Asia-Pacific compared to last year as leisure and business trips return to pre-pandemic levels.

Naturally, these numbers should give business leaders in APAC’s travel industry a cause for optimism. However, travel’s resurgence should be a wake-up call for travel leaders to ensure they are safeguarding their marketing efforts.

The travel industry remains one of the most adversely affected by ad fraud than other sectors. According to our research, bots make up to 80 per cent of all invalid traffic for travel advertisers, a stark contrast to the 15-to-30 per cent effect on other industries.

Also Read: Business travel in the new normal: Strategies and tools for SME travel programme

For the uninitiated, ad fraud is when bots, click farms, ad stacking and other illegitimate tactics are utilised to sabotage a brand’s advertising efforts through invalid traffic. When a campaign is plagued by fraudulent activity, the advertiser and agency receive no return on investment and no valid metrics with which to measure their real results.

Since the explosion of digital advertising, notably display ads, fraud has posed a never-ending headache for marketers and their agencies. Already pressured following the two-year global lockdown, the travel and hospitality industries are among the most vulnerable to ad fraud.

Travel advertisers saw an 82 per cent higher brand suitability violation rate than the average rate across other verticals. In the Asia Pacific, the violation rate was up 52 per cent. Display viewable rates in APAC were 11 per cent lower for travel advertisers as compared with other industries, and video viewable rates were 15 per cent lower.

The reason travel is so vulnerable to this type of fraud is partly due to the proliferation of third-party online travel agencies (OTAs), some of which are authorised and some that are not. These OTAs function by scraping the data of airline and hotel databases and then selling them on behalf of airlines and rentals.

As airline websites and travel apps are home to a host of data such as flight and pricing, they are prime targets for bot activity. Unauthorised OTAs deploy bots to scrape flight information and fares, then hold seats to resell them later. This makes it appear as though far more people are viewing than booking flights, thus skewing airlines’ attribution data.

In addition, the travel industry also has many high-value loyalty programmes, such as frequent flyer points and hotel chain credits, and these pose an alluring target for fraudsters to assume control of. 

Moreover, in an increasingly digitised world, travel vendors are turning to apps and mobile experiences to ease the travel journey and reach their target customers. But, by trying to drive installations of their apps, travel brands are more susceptible to receiving bad quality traffic and misattribution.

According to our analysis, performance networks that are being paid to drive these installations are delivering upwards of 30 per cent invalid traffic on average. This results in many fraudulent installations and misattribution of post-install events such as flight and hotel bookings.

Also Read: How can influencer marketing help the travel industry in a post-pandemic world

This is a grim picture for travel marketers in the Asia Pacific as many markets here are particularly susceptible to high rates of ad fraud. A recent study revealed that Singapore has one of the highest fraud rates worldwide, followed by Vietnam, as other regional markets reported above-average volumes.

Taking ownership

If unresolved, ad fraud essentially remains a leaky bucket within a travel marketer’s budget. Not only are countless advertising dollars lost every day to ad fraud, but advertisers are left vulnerable to low latency and even malware from the onslaught of bad bots.

Resolving the problem requires third-party verification tools and ad fraud detection technology. Marketers and advertisers need to start adopting this technology at scale to stop the proliferation of fraudulent traffic.

For the travel industry, ad fraud technology should be regarded as a core protection tool and should be added to other cyber security measures. This kind of adoption requires a cultural change from the top-down.

Chief marketing officers, therefore, need to take ownership of this by advising their peers on which ad fraud technology they use, how they use it, and how it will impact their business.

Once ad fraud detection tools are seen as a vital part of a business’ marketing and technology stack, then the travel industry can finally solve the problem together.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post How to not let the bots ruin your travel plans appeared first on e27.

In the past few years, South Korea has emerged as a lucrative Asian destination for a lot of foreign investors and companies. As per the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, Korea was number five in 2019. Furthermore, by nominal GDP, the country has the fourth-largest economy in Asia and the tenth-largest in the world.

However, scaling a growing business entails making a lot of big and small decisions, out of which, where to expand next is probably the first and biggest one. 

As such, in the third episode of the Market Access Series in partnership with Globalization Partners, we explore why and how you should expand your business to South Korea. Featuring Bonhi Gu, Director of Invest SEOUL; Jung-hee Ryu, Partner and CEO of FuturePlay; and Charles Ferguson, General Manager – Asia Pacific of Globalization Partners; the panel is moderated by Dennis Poh, Founder and CEO of Legatcy.

Home to Samsung and Hyundai, to BTS and YG, Korea is a globalised business haven

Bonhi from SEOUL opened the discussion by making a case for Korea, stating that the country is an innovation leader. And, he is not wrong. Did you know that according to the Bloomberg Innovation Index, South Korea held the title of the most innovative country for six years until 2020 when Germany claimed the top spot only to jump back to number one in 2021?

Home to 50 million people and resting between two Asian giants, China and Japan, South Korea is often overshadowed as a business destination but it is important to remember that the country has a sophisticated and affluent populace, world-leading infrastructure, and a plethora of business opportunities.

Also read: Looking to expand your business? Head down to the Philippines!

Bonhi explained that Korea has an extremely modern infrastructure and an internet-savvy population. ​​As per Statista, around 92.7 per cent of South Koreans owned a smartphone in 2021, up from around 21.9 per cent in 2011. 

Jung-hee from Future Play believes that Korea has a very unique position among Asian countries being home to the likes of Samsung and Hyundai. He further stated that Korea also has a unique cultural aspect with global phenomenons like BTS and YG as well as a rich heritage that has infiltrated virtually every aspect of global pop culture. This ensures a very globalised ecosystem for any business setting up offices in the country. South Korea also benefits from its strategic location, acting as a bridge between Southeast Asian markets and giants like China and Japan.

Ferguson from Globalization Partners shared that Korea is at an inflexion point today and that over 70 per cent of global corporations come to Korea for some sort of collaboration, be it for marketing, hardware, or software.

Challenges and opportunities for startups expanding to Korea

Obviously, there are certain challenges for which any business expanding to Korea or any new country for that matter, needs to be ready. There can be language and cultural barriers that might slow down or even obstruct business growth. Advising startups on overcoming these challenges, Ferguson shared a lesson he learnt in business school: “Proper preparation prevents poor performance”. He emphasised the significance and value of localisation.

The panel also encouraged business owners to start networking before they actually plan to roll out the expansion. Reaching out to local players and key stakeholders and leveraging virtual networking platforms to gain a better understanding of the local scene can help eliminate a lot of these challenges. 

Korea can be an excellent destination to test products and launch new solutions. With 23 million people living in Seoul and its neighbouring province (Seoul Capital Area), the region’s population density hits 8,940 per square mile. This means people live in close communities and are thus more engaged with each other. By comparison, in global cities like New York, 1,127 people live per square mile; Shanghai records 1,406 per square mile.

Also read: Challenges and opportunities for startups expanding to Thailand

With all of these factors, it’s certainly a ready market. Korea ranks second in the World ICT Development Index (ITU). Furthermore, Korea has a highly educated talent pool with Seoul alone housing 32 universities, which take 20% of the total students in the country.

Bonhi shared that more than 70 per cent of Korean people ranging between 25-35 years have a tertiary degree, which means that most of the talent pool can leverage their specific skills and knowledge and contribute to business growth. He also added that over 35 per cent of the population have a Master’s degree or PhD.

If you are looking to leverage the burgeoning business ecosystem in Korea as well as the highly competitive talent pool, get some boots on the ground, be open to collaborations, and get ready to launch! 

To learn more, view the webinar here.

– –

This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Globalization Partners

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

The post Here’s why startups should consider South Korea for business expansion appeared first on e27.

Chris Out is a growth hacking expert, guest lecturer, keynote speaker, and consultant about, you guessed it, growth hacking and setting up a marketing team.

In this episode, you will learn about:

– What is growth hacking?
– How do you create ideas around experimentation?
– How do you know if the experiments work or not?
– Why you should reverse engineer your first 10 customers’ process?
– How does your competition do things?
– Why you should talk to your competitor’s customers?
– When should you start developing your Marketing department?
– Why founders should do 1-to-1 business development?
– Whether to hire Marketing people from the bottom-up or top-down?
– What is cohort-based analysis?
– How to institute governance?

Also Read: 5 growth hacking tips you must consider for your business

Talk with other entrepreneurs on this Discord server.

—

The content was first published by We Live To Build.

Image Credit: dotshock

The post Understanding the basics of growth hacking with Chris Out appeared first on e27.

The Philippines has a booming internet and mobile economy and a thriving startup ecosystem. In fact, there is no dearth of online resources making a case for the Philippines as your startup base; even we have touched on why the Philippines is an ideal destination for business growth and scalability in the past. 

However, in the past two years, the market has changed dramatically. When it comes to major business decisions such as choosing the right next destination for expansion, staying up to date and digging deep is always important. 

As such, in the second episode of the Market Access Series in partnership with Globalization Partners, we explore why and how you should expand your business to the Philippines. Featuring Joan Yao, Vice President of Investments at Kickstart Ventures; Fita Aldaba, Undersecretary for Competitiveness and Innovation at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI); and Charles Ferguson, General Manager – Asia Pacific of Globalization Partners; the panel was moderated by Dennis Poh, Founder and CEO of Legatcy.

The Philippines is on the right track

Fita from DTI opened the session by reminding everyone that in the pre-pandemic context, the Philippines was considered Asia’s economic star. “Amidst the pandemic, the country, like most parts of the world, experienced economic setbacks in 2020 but very quickly in the next year itself, we were back on track with a 5.6 per cent average growth, and the forecast for this year is that we will be able to reach 6 to 7 per cent, which is equal to or more than the pre-pandemic levels,” she shared.

Fita added that the country’s inflation has slowed down to 3 per cent, unemployment has dipped to 6.6 per cent as of December 2021, the production index has surged, and the export of goods and services has also increased by 8.3 per cent as of last year. “Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) has also increased by a whopping 52.5 per cent in 2021” Fati added.

Also read: Challenges and opportunities for startups expanding to Thailand

The Philippines is also striding ahead in the field of digital transformation with the pandemic accelerating technology adoption and innovation. Reports suggest that there were over 76.01 million internet users in the Philippines in January 2022. The Philippines’s internet penetration rate stood at 68.0 per cent of the total population at the start of 2022. Internet users in the Philippines increased by 2.1 million (+2.8 per cent) between 2021 and 2022.

Furthermore, Fati quoted a Microsoft survey that found that 8 out of ten companies in the country are ramping up industrialisation efforts while 88 per cent of the surveyed companies said that they consider innovation a must.

Ideal from a VC standpoint, business opportunities galore

Joan from Kickstart Ventures shared that when considering a certain investment opportunity from a VC standpoint, the three Ts are crucial: team, TAM (total addressable market), and timing. 

She explained, “if you think about the Philippines in this framework, the TAM is large and growing. In 2020, the digital economy of the country was valued at USD 9 billion by the end of 2021, it was valued at USD 17 billion showing almost a 100 per cent year-on-year growth.”

“For a long time, the digital consumers were just not there but this is a silver lining to the pandemic and this is what tech startups can leverage,” she added. Highlighting the third T, team, Joan pointed out that the Philippines’ large English-speaking population is an advantage in terms of global startups looking for local talent to build their local hubs.

Emerging trends: Challenges and opportunities

With almost every section of business and life being disrupted by digitalisation today, it can be difficult to focus on a specific area or niche. While almost all sectors, including fintech, healthtech, edtech, ride-hailing, and now WEB3, are burgeoning in the country, Joan said that businesses must identify gaps and inefficiencies — sectors that can genuinely benefit from technology and new business models. 

“Ranging from fields like mobility, agriculture, education, healthcare, housing, and tourism — these fields require both online and offline investments,” she added.

Fita shared that despite fintech booming in the country, even today, there are around 51.2 million unbanked Filipinos. This is around 70 per cent of the total population. “As such, the Philippines Central Bank is implementing its digital payments transformation roadmap to convert over half of the country’s total transactions to digital by 2023. The goal is also to enhance interconnectivity, interoperability, and financial integration between domestic and cross-border digital payments, and to promote financial inclusion,” she shared.

Also read: Looking back and moving forward: Leave a Nest at 20

Speaking on some of the challenges businesses should consider before moving or expanding to the Philippines, Ferguson said, “no matter where you bring your business, there are certain challenges that are a given: From trying to understand the new regulations and policies to settling in the new infrastructure and figuring out the product-market fit. So businesses need to be ready for that.” However, the Philippines is known for its liberalised and business-friendly open economy. So, it should be relatively easier to establish your company here. 

Fita reassured that irrespective of political changes that might happen in the future, which is a normal progression, the country’s strive for innovation and digital disruption and the creation of new products and services will continue. Joan added that there has been an irreversible sea change and a dramatic shift from offline to online and there is a huge opportunity for tech startups in the Philippines. Lastly, Ferguson encourages businesses looking to expand across the region to leverage the Filipino talent pool which consists of highly skilled professionals. Study the ropes around hiring remote talent from the Philippines by scheduling a demo here.

To learn more, view the webinar here.

– –

This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Globalization Partners

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

The post Looking to expand your business? Head down to the Philippines! appeared first on e27.

Turn Capital, the family office of Singaporean entrepreneur Joseph Phua, has agreed to acquire the assets of the popular Taiwanese news site Apple Daily. While the transaction details remain confidential, media reports have pegged the deal size between US$30 million and US$60 million.

According to Phua, who has successfully built Southeast Asia’s leading dating platform Paktor and Asian live-streaming entertainment unicorn 17LIVE, the aim is to transform the business digitally and venture into new markets in Southeast Asia and beyond. He has raised over US$200 million funds from more than 50 investors, including Vertex Ventures, Pavilion Capital, Infinity Ventures, KTB in Korea, Appworks, and several Indonesian MNCs.

In this interview, Phua discusses the deal, its objective, the opportunities and its expansion plans.

Edited excerpts:

Can you share the details of the acquisition?

Sure. So, we are acquiring the Taiwanese digital assets of Apple Daily from the Taiwanese arm of media company Next Digital Limited. These are primarily the technology assets, including the mobile app and website.

These are precious assets because they generate hundreds of millions of page views monthly. It’s one of the top three media sites in the country in terms of page views and subscriptions. It also has the largest Twitter fan base there.

We want to help transform the business model of this traffic. I have been in the media and internet space for the last ten years. Building sustainable business models around traffic is what I do day in and day out. When I see this type of stickiness and retention, it means the audience is very loyal. The asset with the demographic of middle to the high-end type of income status becomes precious traffic in a market with high ARPU (average revenue per user) from gaming.

When I was first approached for this potential deal, the page traffic was the first thing I looked into. Not just about the deal value, or current value, but about the inherent untapped potential.

Over the last ten years, we dealt with millions of users. In terms of building sustainable business models, we’ve processed billions of dollars globally.

In terms of the value, these are essential — solid traffic, loyal audience, and high disposable income audience. It’s a very fertile market when it comes to building digital media businesses.

How long has the deal been in the works?

I’ve been looking into media assets to acquire for five years. Since 2016, when I first merged my company Paktor with 17 LIVE, I’ve been looking at media assets.

In terms of negotiation and discussions, it has been a few months. But how long has this interest been? It has been at least six to seven years already. I’ve always been looking for assets to acquire.

There are some other popular news sites in Taiwan, such as China Times and Liberty Times. Then why Apple Daily?

No, I’ve always been looking for traffic and different video assets. We are actively acquiring and talking with at least two other high-traffic generation sources in Taiwan and three in Asia for investments or acquisitions by my family office. We are always on the lookout for media assets as long as the price is right and the asset is valuable.

How does the Apple Daily acquisition align with Turn Capital’s goals?

If you look at our past acquisitions, their operations were not only within our wholly-owned assets but they also collaborated with our shareholders and partners. 

For example, after Turn Capital acquired SoundOn, Taiwan Mobile invested in it and became its second-largest shareholder. SoundOn now works with the telco’s music platform MyMusic to cross-seed our podcast content. SoundOn processes three billion+ listens of podcasts every year.

Also Read: Kollective Ventures and Joseph Phua’s family office acquire SoundOn, a Taiwanese startup with 35M monthly podcast downloads

Likewise, with the traffic that Apple Daily generates, we can work with the other assets we currently control to cross-pollinate and potentially collaborate. 

For example, I have traffic that comes over to you, and I help you acquire traffic and then in the process, you make money, and we can have a revenue-sharing model which allows me to diversify the business model further. Then it doesn’t become a pure advertising model for Apple news media. 

Are you going to rebrand Apple Daily? What will happen to its employees once the deal gets through?

We are transitioning the business and do not have immediate rebranding plans at the moment. The key is to ensure we build a sustainable business through adapting the traffic across models.

We are working with the seller to engage with the employees, and we will work towards rehiring as many of the employees as possible.

How is Apple Daily’s loyal readers reacting to the acquisition?

The reaction has relatively been neutral.

My wife is Taiwanese and our two sons were born in Taiwan. Almost all the businesses I have built or acquired in the last ten years have ties with Taiwan, and I have reinvested heavily into my teams in Taiwan; I merged Paktor with 17LIVE, a Taiwanese live-streaming company. In just 2021, I acquired SoundOn and Dapp Pocket crypto solutions both Taiwanese companies. I very much consider Taiwan my second home. 

The important thing to note here is that we plan to retain most of the editorial team, so content generation which is the key product that the readers consume will stay the same. So are the people who generate the content. From that perspective, that integrity is kept. 

At the same time, Turn Capital is solely focused on digital transformation, and building a healthy company with strong financials. We are very interested in cultivating sustainable value in the traffic. 

Our interest lies in creating a very news media outlet that embraces technology in its true form. We can create a very sustainable business that continues to grow its business in its markets and develop a very healthy lifecycle for its employees. 

Do you have plans to infuse capital into Apple Daily?

We are open to raising capital in the future from various financial investors, as raising additional capital for the company will enable us to invest in the workforce, invest in training, invest in building new products and expand beyond the local market. All fundraising activities will be subject to Taiwan government regulations.

With any newly raised capital in the future, we’d be able to hire more people, invest in new markets, train their employees, and build new products, so this will be very good for the company. 

Also Read: ‘Companies shut down not because of crises but only when founders give up’: Joseph Phua of M17

Taiwan welcomes foreign capital and investment into their workforce and everything, so this is highly possible, but this is subject to future discussion.  

Can you share some of the business models you have in mind for Apple Daily? Do you have plans to launch it in other Southeast Asian markets?

Cross-ecosystem pollination of assets and traffic and building partnerships through other partners’ business sources are being explored. 

In terms of expansion, we want to take Apple Daily to other markets. I do not believe there should be borders when it comes to tech businesses. The borders are artificial because you have a geographical constraints — from logistics to employee base to all these different things. 

If you look at our other businesses, for instance, Paktor. It was started in Singapore and then expanded into 11 markets, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and the US. 

I believe that the restructured reinvented and redefined product of Apple news media will transcend geographical barriers into new markets. 

—

Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

The post ‘We want to create a news media outlet that embraces tech in its true form’: Joseph Phua on Apple Daily Taiwan’s assets acquisition appeared first on e27.