Bitcoin has revolutionised the current economy and impacted the economy in tangible ways

Virtual currency Bitcoin that uses digital encryption for its operations was first introduced in the year 2008 by a pseudonymous group or individual named Satoshi Nakamoto.

In some way, Bitcoin is an alternative method to the global financial system. It has steadily worked its way towards dominating all aspects of the online community.

In Bitcoin, every transaction is recorded in blocks digitally that acts like a public ledger called “block-chain.”

Here, all the blocks are interconnected to each other through the use of hashtags and chronological order is formed, thus keeping security at a higher level.

Also Read: The differences between Bitcoin and Litecoin

From buying clothes online to purchasing a phone on credit, there is no financial transaction where crypto-currency cannot work better.

They have decentralised powers, and this is the reason why no institution or country can control it; also, it uses cryptography to create safer economies with top-notch privacy.

The most significant advantage of having these virtual “coins” or digital money is that it only exists in digital form as compared to conventional money transactions.

That is why many people have started using these bitcoins to buy goods and services. The money can only get tracked when it gets converted in cash form.

Now, banking sectors, corporates, governments, and investors have taken real-time interest in bitcoin, crypto-currencies, and block-chain.

Though experts and business to business managers are of the view that Bitcoin can have a real impact on the economy. However, it is still susceptible to know how bitcoin will shape the market and savings in the coming years.

Following are the ways how bitcoin aims to transform the world:

Eliminates the role of intermediaries

The first feature of Bitcoin doesn’t require any intermediary to step in for the transactions that occur.

The users themselves can verify the currency in a decentralised manner.

This has left banks to be wary as bitcoins eliminates their services.

The emergence of new markets and the removal of barriers

Bitcoin has opened doors for a new kind of market that unlike the current money market is controlled by no authority or person.

Cyberspace has risen as the authority to handle such disruptive markets.

Rather than having to convince the venture capitalists and financial institutions or banks for their prospective project, they can bypass the regulation and red-tapes through an ICO or initial coin offering.

Also Read: 6 private crypto alternatives to bitcoin

Through an ICO, a start-up can sell the portion of Bitcoin to backers to fund their project.

Access to a credit system

Bitcoin enables ungoverned access to a secure credit system as it is an unregulated currency that is based solely on data.

Also, Bitcoin does not require enormous fees for transactions done through it, which makes it much alluring to the users.

Complicated regulation

One of the potential challenges is that it facilitates the massive anonymous online marketplace where users get an option to buy illegal items like drugs without facing any legal action. And it has enabled many scams.

Governments are also concerned regarding crypto-currency that it helps people in tax aversion and tax evasion. Consequently, some countries have banned Bitcoin.

Separates transactions from a dollar

Cryptocurrency does not need to have any linkage with the USD. It is providing financial sectors with another way to participate in the global economy.

Enables more overseas transactions

More than 1.7 billion people in the world do not have a bank account, and some business does not work on the credit card payment system in few countries.

In such cases, bitcoin offers a way out to those people to engage with the global economy. It has a good impact on people living in countries around the world with weak economies.

A decreased assurance of authorised money

Since its inception, money has been used by the people in its paper or metallic form mainly. It is quite challenging to carry out all the transactions by everyone in digital form, as not all the people use digital means.

This way, the economy will witness a drastic change. Still, it remains susceptible to how bitcoin manages to keep its hold and replaces the current monetary system.

A lot of people are managing their bitcoin wallets, and have a full assurance that their virtual money enjoys a better level of security than real cash.

Environmentalism and the economy

Bitcoin gets minted on a sophisticated application software as well as hardware infrastructure system.

Producing bitcoin has impacted the environment in not modern ways, rather the servers used in the mining consume a lot of energy.

In response, environmental legislation has to get introduced to address energy consumption in regards to Bitcoin mining.

There are a lot of Bitcoin Plugins available on the web. With the help of those options, you can easily integrate Bitcoin into your ecosystem.

Conclusion

It is susceptible to whether there are potential harms or benefits, but Bitcoin has impeccably revolutionized the current economy, and it cannot be denied that it has impacted the economy in tangible ways. 

Also Read: Bitcoin dominance is reason to worry amidst crypto price plunge

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Image Credit: Aleksi Räisä

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In addition to fintech, travel and hospitality also remain a popular choice among tech investors in Southeast Asia in August

Just like the early-stage funding round compilation that we also published today, there are plenty of interesting takeaways that we can make from the list of August’s growth-stage funding rounds.

Travel and hospitality remain a popular choice among investors, with funding rounds into KiotViet (which included the participation of traveltech giant Traveloka) and RedDoorz (which has been competing heavily with OYO).

Fintech also remains a favourite with investment into P2P lending startup UangTeman and SME banking platform Aspire.

The following is the list of notable funding rounds that we have covered in August:

Uang Teman
Funding: First tranche of US$10M Series B funding round
Investor(s): Draper Associates, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, Global Brain

Indonesian P2P lending startup Uang Teman plans to make the final close of the Series B round at US$10 million, with the second and last tranche targetted for the end of October 2019. The startup wants to double down on growth within Indonesia.

99.co
Funding: US$15.2M Series B funding round
Investor(s): MindWorks Venture, Allianz X, East Ventures, Sequoia (India), and Eduardo Saverin

Property tech startup 99.co plans to use the funding to support its plan to build and extend its reach in Singapore and Indonesia. It also wants to launch in new markets and financial products relating to property.

Also Read: 5 leading Indonesian growth stage startups (that aren’t Go-Jek or Tokopedia)

RedDoorz
Funding: US$70M first close of Series C funding round
Investor(s): Asia Partners, Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, Qiming Venture Partners and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

RedDoorz wants to use the new funding to launch in new markets, scale technology, run customer experience projects, as well as to invest in people and marketing. It is also planning to use a “significant portion” of the investment to build a second engineering hub in Vietnam, to complement its existing on in India.

Carro
Funding: Additional US$30M to Series B funding round
Investor(s): SoftBank Ventures Asia, EDBI, Dietrich Foundation, NCORE Ventures, Hanwha Asset Management, Insignia Ventures, B Capital Group, Singtel Innov8, Golden Gate Ventures, and Alpha JWC Ventures

Carro wants to use the funding to further its expansion across Southeast Asia, starting with the acquisition of Jualo, an Indonesia-based online C2C marketplace platform.

Aspire
Funding: US$32.5M in Series A funding round
Investor(s): Mass-Mutual Ventures (MMV) Southeast Asia, Arc Labs, Y Combinator, Hummingbird Ventures, and Picus Capital

Founded in January 2018 by Andrea Baronchelli, former EVP and CMO at Lazada, Aspire aims to “reinvent SME banking in Southeast Asia”. The startup will use the capital to boost its financial product offering and strengthen local presence.

KiotViet
Funding: US$6 million in Series A
Investor(s): Jungle Ventures, Traveloka

KiotViet stated that it plans to use the funding to focus on business network expansion to all of Vietnam’s provinces and cities. It also plans to add on its leadership team.

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Image Credit: NESA by Makers on Unsplash

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This micro-lending platform is putting up a strong competition for loan sharks and traditional banks

The winner for the e27 Startup of the Month August edition is UangTeman –the startup whose name translates to Friend’s Money in Indonesian.

While Indonesia is the 10th largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power according to the WorldBank, the fact is that the nation houses 25.9 million people living below the poverty line.

That being said, banks usually do not cater to this class of the population despite it forming a major chunk of the population.

This brings UangTeman into the picture as it aims to solve the issue by lending money to borrowers with no credit card or credit history. Thus, it competes with loan sharks and traditional banks that offer micro-lending.

According to CEO Aidil Zulkifli, borrowers can simply pay back the loan at the end of their chosen tenor period. The company charges one per cent interest rate per day for first-time customers, which is said to “decrease over time if the customer shows good credit behaviour”.

“UangTeman wants to promote transparency to the consumer. We are very clear about how much you borrow and how much is due —not a single rupiah less or more,” says Zulkifli.

Funding

The startup has raised US$22.7 million in funding over the last five rounds. Backed by venture capital firms such as Alpha JWC Ventures, K2 Venture Capital, Draper Associates, and Global Brain, the company also has the co-founder of British loan company Wonga as an investor.

The company’s most recent funding round was on August 24, where it closed the first tranche of a US$10 million Series B funding round.

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

Growth

While the company has already been growing rapidly within Indonesia, it aims to grow further within the country by diversifying into micro-business lending. It plans to do that through an acquisition of an existing P2P lending platform in September 2019.

Other than that, the company also intends to set foot in the Philippines and is currently in talks of obtaining a license with the officials.

The company plans to commence its Series C financing round in 2020.

The runner-up

In addition to UangTeman, the e27 Community on Telegram and Twitter had also voted for Med247 as a runner-up for the Startup of the Month title.

Based in Vietnam, Med247 is a healthtech startup that combines the offline and online elements in their operations. Using the Med247 platform, patients are able to have follow-up consultation online, helping to make treatment more efficient for them.

The startup has recently made headline when it announced an undisclosed amount of investment from KK Fund, a venture capital (VC) firm that mainly invests in seed-stage internet and mobile startups in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

It is one of the very few pre-launched startups that KK Fund had invested in.

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Image Credit: Roman Synkevych

 

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How many slides should I use? What is opportunity verse pain point? Should I minimise text? We answer these questions and more

“They made a great deck. But it wasn’t really the slides we liked—it was their ideas, the clarity of their thinking, and the scope of their ambition” writes early Airbnb investor, Sequoia Capital, about the company’s founders on their blog.

This single line illustrates perfectly what many entrepreneurs miss when faced with the daunting task of writing a pitch deck. Investors don’t invest in slides, they invest in great ideas and in the people behind them. Even more so, they invest in the ideas and people they believe will return that investment and more.

Your job as an entrepreneur is to get investors excited about your vision. A pitch deck will never lead directly to an investment, it has served its purpose when your audience is interested enough to ask for a second meeting. To achieve that, you’ll need to cover all the bases they care about most.

Before we start:

• Keep them wanting more…Be short, direct, and focused. You want to share enough to get them excited, not to overwhelm them with too many details.
• Use 12-15 slides. If you can’t get people to understand your value in 15 slides, you won’t do it in 40.
• Use as little text as possible. People can’t read the slides and listen to what you’re saying at the same time. Use bullets, icons, graphs, diagrams, and pictures, and fill in the blanks with your speech.
• Discuss facts and avoid meaningless statements.
  “We increase global eCommerce shipping productivity by 30%” is way better than “We’re revolutionizing global eCommerce shipping.”
• Write a script. Figure out what you’re going to say with each slide and make sure you tell a compelling story that follows a logical and natural order.
• KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid
  Investors might not be well versed in your industry or familiar with your technology. Use the simplest terms to describe what you’re doing. Ask yourself “Would my grandmother understand this?” Rephrase if your answer is “no”.
• Practice!!!
  In front of the mirror, your team, family, or friends, and as often as you can. It will help you keep any public speaking anxiety to a minimum.

Now let’s get to the slides…

Please note: You don’t have to write your deck in this particular order. Each company is unique and it’s more important for your story to make sense than to stick to a template. Use this flow as a reference but feel free to move things around.

The Cover

The cover slide is the first thing investors see. It’s meant to set the tone for your pitch and should feature your company logo and an appealing background or image. Consider adding the month and year to indicate that you’re about to discuss the most recent available data.

It will usually be accompanied by a short intro like; “Hi, my name is [YOUR NAME] and I’m the [YOUR JOB TITLE] of [YOUR COMPANY NAME].”

Elevator Pitch / Vision and Value Proposition

The elevator pitch slide is technically your starting point. You need to explain your company in a single, precise sentence that:

• Gives investors a general understanding of what you do and what you’re trying to achieve.
• Piques their interest so they want to hear more.

Most entrepreneurs follow the “We provide [WHAT YOU DO] for [YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE]” structure to keep things clear and simple.

Also Read: What you need to know about building a freemium game

Another path you may choose to take is to compare yourself with a recognizable brand:

• “We’re the Uber of…”
• “We’re the Tesla of…”

The Opportunity

Keep things positive by focusing on opportunities. Instead of bringing everybody in the room down by discussing pain points, delight them by tapping into market potential.

The Opportunity slide should cover:

• Your target market.
• Market size (in people or dollars).
  Avoid trying to display your market as larger than it really is. You need to be very specific and have the data to back you up.
• Why now?
  What’s happening in the market that makes this the right time for your idea to succeed? Timing is everything in business, so what makes now the right time for you?

Remember, investors are interested in big opportunities. They look for startups that disrupt their markets and change consumers’ behavior. It’s up to you to prove that enough people will be willing to buy what you’re selling.

The Solution

After you’ve shown the scope of the opportunity, you want to demonstrate how your solution is the right match for it – the thing that makes it desirable enough to dominate the market. This slide is where you explain how your product/service works and how it provides people with value.

Now is the time to show your prototype or do a demo and give the investors a glimpse into how your solution will work in the real world.

Don’t make the mistake of giving a full description of your features or be too technical. Your goal here is to show value, so briefly describe how your tech works and how your customers benefit from it.

Also Read: An intrapreneurship playbook for CEOs

Focus on what investors are looking for:

• Better solutions than the alternatives.
• Something proprietary and unique.

Business or Revenue Model

This is one of the most important slides to an investor and with good reason. Investors fund startups for the sole purpose of generating enhanced investment returns. From their point of view, your product is not your solution but rather your ability to generate revenue. To put it gently, they care less about what you do and more about how you’re going to make money.

Explain:

• What you charge.
• How payments are made.
• How your business model is validated.

Traction and Validation

At this stage of the pitch, most investors would want to know if the business can actually work and are hoping to be impressed by your progress and achievements.

Questions you may want to answer:

• What do you plan to build in the next 3-5 years?
• What are some important milestones?
• How many paying users do you have?
• How much revenue are you generating?
• How are you growing?
• Do you have any strategic partnerships?
• Are you profitable?

Go To Market

Your job as a startup founder is not only to create a better solution, it’s also to guarantee it finds its way into the hands of your customers. It’s ok if your marketing strategy isn’t entirely done yet, identifying key marketing and sales channels lets investors know you’re giving product promotion the attention it deserves.

Cover topics such as:

• Distribution strategy.
• What you’ve done to validate sales channels.
• Early adopters and where to find them.
• LTV (lifetime value) and CAC (customer acquisition cost).

The Team

Anyone can have a great idea, the execution part is the real challenge. So, what makes your team the right mix of talent, skill, experience, and determination to beat the competition? Don’t waste energy worrying about a less-than-perfect team, investors don’t expect you to have everything figured out so early.

To avoid a text-heavy slide, use a simple picture, name, and job title format to introduce your leadership team in writing and elaborate on strengths and achievements with your speech.

Financials

Projections are educated guesses and therefore will never be 100% accurate. What investors want to see here are realistic founders. The worst thing you can do is to oversell. Stay conservative – it’s better to exceed expectations than to underperform.

Prepare a 3-year forecast in a separate Excel file in case investors want to go over it after your pitch and highlight your key metrics like number of customers and conversion rates in the deck.

Competition

VCs know markets. You need to be prepared to study your competition, talk about them, and have a clear plan to beat them.

Let investors know:

• What makes you different.
• Why people will choose your product or service over your direct or indirect competition.
• How you position yourself in the market.
• You’re confident in your ability to adapt to the market and grab your share of it.

The Ask

Whether or not to have an ask slide is a very personal choice for startups. Some prefer to be more discreet and choose to leave it out to keep their options open, others are very clear about what they need and rather have it out there. Whatever you decide is fine, but know this: in life and in business, asking for what you want significantly increases your chances of getting it.

If you do decide to include this slide in your deck, write down:

• How much capital you need.
• How much runway it will give you.
• How you plan to spend it.
• Your goals before the next round.

Back Cover

Same as your front cover, the back cover should feature your company logo and an appealing background or image. Add a “Thank you” and your contact information and you’re good to go!

Two things to keep in mind before your next fundraising round:

• You’re not asking for charity or favors, you’re presenting an opportunity. Investors need startups just as much as startups need them.
• No one owes you anything. Having a great idea doesn’t mean investors will just give you their money. VCs have to justify themselves to their investors (AKA limited partners) and therefore will only fund companies they can defend.

Put in the work, come prepared, be confident in your idea and in your skills to execute on it, and sell your dream.

Good luck!

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This article was first published on e27 on Oct 15, 2018.

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

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

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Through its digital transformation programme, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) seeks to empower more businesses in the country to go digital

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) announced nine new Digital Transformation Lab (DTL) partners that it has invited to join its commitment to “empower more Malaysian businesses to go digital”.

The move also intends to establish the country’s position as the region’s tech and digital hub.

The nine new DTL partners are ABB Malaysia, Alpha Catalyst, Ernst & Young, Fusionex, Mawea Industries, Polymath, PwC Consulting Associates, Rockwell Automation, and Siemens. They will join the existing partners such as Bosch, Deloitte, Digital McKinsey, Rainmaking, and Roland Berger, bringing it to a total of 14 partners.

MDEC is a government agency under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia with a mission to lead the nation’s digital economy forward.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Digital Transformation of Industries report, companies that understand digital transformation earn 26 per cent more profit than others.

“Businesses in Malaysia must recognise the importance of digital transformation and the limitless benefits it can bring. Public-private partnership is an essential component in Malaysia’s digital transformation journey,” said Dato’ Ng Wan Peng, COO of MDEC.

Also Read: Malaysian government-backed MDEC launches digital hub and entrepreneur initiatives; aims to help startups scale globally

To prepare itself in welcoming the Fourth Industrial Revolution, MDEC established DTAP in 2018 to equip Malaysian companies with the necessary tools to help kickstart their digital transformation journey.

The initiative was launched with objectives such as “future-proofing” Malaysian companies by helping them enhance their competitiveness, and providing a structured approach via DTL partners while adopting emerging digital technologies.

MDEC claims that DTAP is an outcome-driven programme. In this programme, the invited DTL partners help companies identify business pain points using specific methodologies. It helps them brainstorm on new ideas, design new business models, develop new products and/or services, to finally pilot the implementation plan.

To date, the DTL partners have conducted 23 workshops. The programme said has impacted more than 300 local companies in charting their digital transformation journey.

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Image Credit: MDEC

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Many popular apps and tools today are results of successful shifts from their original value propositions

Pivoting is no stranger to startups. 

Nothing has boggled the brightest minds and entrepreneurs in the scene as much as pivoting has.

By definition, pivoting is the act of shifting business strategies to find product-market fit.

It is also a core concept of the lean startup methodology which revolves heavily around using a minimal viable product (MVP) to gauge the market.

Changing business models is inevitable in most. If not all startups.

Twitter started off as a podcast subscription platform.

Slack came from a popular, yet unprofitable video game.

Yelp was an email-based recommendations site before they hit the gold mine with local business reviews.

However, the romanticisation of pivoting has masked the harsh reality of pivoting and how much it affects startups if they fail.

For every successful pivot, hundreds of other startups crash and burn.

Over 90 per cent of startups fails to meet their projections while 30-40 per cent lose investors most of their capital, mainly due to poor demand and unsuccessful pivots.

That said, pivoting is absolutely necessary for startups to succeed. 

Not a lot of ideas hit the nail on the head in terms of product-market fit, which is why founders need to be agile in adapting to the market’s reaction.

How can startups determine when to pivot, and how does moving fast help in making more successful transitions?

Is pivoting a good business strategy?

The concern for startups when pivoting is this: is it a business strategy or a desperate attempt at saving a failing business?

Reacting to the latter scenario will almost always end badly. 

A study by CB Insights showed 10 per cent of startups fail due to bad pivots, with 7 per cent citing a failure to pivot as the cause of their demise.

Although failed pivots are not as big of a challenge compared to say, unmet market needs or running out of cash. It is relevant enough to bring startups to the ground, which is why pivots must be planned meticulously instead of being a last-ditch attempt at salvation.

Also Read:3 ways startups should assess different financing options

When done right, pivots are an effective way to tweak business models and achieve growth opportunities that may have been overlooked or neglected. 

Pivoting can also overcome challenges like product validation and adapting to the market—two of the most common challenges startups face today.

The answer is yes; pivoting is a good business strategy if founders have a clear idea about why they’re pivoting and how they’re going to do it. 

Treat it as a get-out-of-jail-free card, however, and the success rate of pivots falls drastically.

When should startups pivot?

Finding the “aha!” moment is a challenge even for experienced entrepreneurs. 

For starters, it’s hard to determine your startup needs a shift in its business model.

The other tough question to answer is, where are you pivoting towards?

Contrary to popular belief, pivots don’t happen just because the business is failing. Successful, profitable startups may find reasons to change their model as well if the founders feel like they’ve come across a stumbling block.

For example, a VC-backed startup may be clearing a couple of millions a year in profit, but it’s showing zero signs of growth. 

With pressure from investors and competitors, the startup may decide to pivot to more profitable ventures even if it means risking their perfectly stable business.

When to pivot varies greatly between startups, but there are several guidelines they can use to make more timely transitions.

Hitting a plateau in the market

You may find yourself stuck in a limbo where it feels like there’s no space left to grow. 

Your customer base is not increasing, revenue stays stagnant for a long time, and increased marketing spends only results in short-term boosts rather than retaining new customers.

In this case, pivoting to a market with the potential for higher returns is a wise choice. 

Also Read: The way startups are finding out if there is a pain point to solve

You can continue reaping the benefits of a stable business, but the point of a startup is to grow, and you don’t achieve that by staying within the plateau.

Your core value proposition is not aligned with your users

Pivots often happen when founders realise users are focusing on an aspect of their product that is not their core value proposition. 

It doesn’t have to be a misaligned feature; selling the product differently to what the market needs can also be a reason to pivot in startups.

This was exactly what happened with IMVU as retold by Eric Ries in his massively popular work, The Lean Startup. 

IMVU tried to solve the problem of having too many social networks by building a platform on top of every social network. An idea that nearly caused the company to go bust.

Ries decided to hold one-on-one sessions with users to find out what they really wanted from a platform like IMVU, which slowly paved the way to the social network’s success until today.

When founders come across this moment of clarity, pivoting is, without‌ ‌doubt, the best decision to make.

Internal issues within the team

Paul Graham preaches three cardinal principles in successful startups: building a product that people want, spending as little as possible, and having good people to work on the team.

As a startup matures, moments of disagreements and fallout will occur as a result of different opinions on where and how should the company grow. 

Depending on how the matters are resolved, founders may find themselves at a stalemate, which is never a good thing for growth.

Similarly, team members may find themselves being disillusioned and losing passion for what they’re building. 

No matter how well it’s doing, a startup will never reach the next level if its founders don’t wake up every day to work on the product.

“Go slow to go fast” vs “move fast and break things”

Startups are expected to be nimble in their approach to the market. 

This means moving fast in adapting to change, releasing new features, and catering to user feedback, leading to what is known today as “move fast and break things” (MFABT).

MFABT encourages rapid development and pivots in startups by embracing failure. 

In fact, most ideas will fail, but it’s not a problem as the lessons learned from failures is valuable enough to offset the losses.

The best startups in the world move at a light speed, which serves an important lesson for aspiring founders. The quicker you are at executing your ideas, the higher your chance of success in today’s ultra-competitive landscape.

How can startups move fast?

Execute your ideas quickly. 

When a build is done, ship it to your users and gather feedback. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be usable enough for your users, akin to an MVP but in shipping updates instead.

The technology that startups have access to today is even more of a boost in helping them move fast. 

Cloud software, for example, significantly improves the flexibility of startups by opening up opportunities for teams to work fully online, further echoing the mantra of MFABT.

A developer in Seattle can collaborate with a designer in Bangkok and have their tasks managed and delivered by a project manager in Bangalore—all with the use of cloud-based tools.

What about “go slow to go fast”? Isn’t it the exact opposite of what MFABT is?

Not exactly.

Startups should only go slow at the beginning when they’re finding their footing. 

Things like negotiating deals for funding and interviewing customers to understand their wants and needs must be taken step by step to avoid easily avoidable mistakes down the road.

Also Read: 5 lessons I learned from a startup failure

Remember the big picture

Every aspiring founder dreams of landing Forbes-worthy VC deals and kicking off their ventures with a bang. 

But, it’s really easy to lose track of the big picture when you’re approaching for deals left and right without even having a clue of what your value is to the market.

In the beginning, take it slow 

Once you’ve gotten sufficient customer feedback, take some time to settle on a clear idea of what your product is and its value to the market. 

Then, you can start approaching investors for funding.

After you’ve secured funding, go full speed ahead. 

Fortune favours the bold, and for startups, nothing is more audacious than moving fast and pivoting when the time is right.

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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.

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

Image Credit: You X Ventures

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In addition to M Cash’s subsidiary NFCX, we also have updates from Blued, Tencent, and Meitu

M Cash subsidiary NFCX to invest in movie production house Ideosource Entertainment – Press Release

PT NFC Indonesia Tbk (NFCX), a subsidiary of IDX-listed Indonesian startup M Cash, today announced a plan to invest in Ideousource Entertainment (IDEO), a local film and entertainment company.

In a press statement, NFCX explained that the Indonesian film industry and OTT market are set to grow by 21 per cent, from US$512 million in 2018 to US$1.1 billion in 2022.

The investment is expected to strengthen both companies’ value chain.

“As part of a global trend, the entertainment business complements the e-commerce industry. This model has been proven well by Amazon Prime in China and India as well as Alibaba Pictures in China. This is the reason why we believe IDEO and NFCX will create a great synergistic value,” said IDEO CEO Andi Boediman.

The CEO also further explained that the company’s business included film and media investment, production, analytics platform, as well as digital marketing agency. In the future, it plans to expand to IP licensing and merchandising.

Gay dating app Blued plans US IPO at US$1B value – Bloomberg

Chinese gay dating app giant Blued is planning a US IPO, Bloomberg reported.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the IPO is expected to raise about US$200 million.

The report also stated that the company has been meeting potential advisers about the proposed listing.

The share sale will likely take place next year and could value Blued at around US$1 billion.

Also Read: NFC Indonesia, M Cash invests in adtech startup DMS

Tencent scraps plan to invest US$150M in VIPKid – Reuters

Chinese internet giant Tencent is scrapping plans to invest US$150 million in edutech startup VIPKid, Reuters wrote.

Citing two people with knowledge of the matter, the report said Tencent had initially agreed to invest in the company. But the company scrapped the plans after the Chinese government issued a regulation last month that targets online education platforms, obliging teachers to hold valid teaching license and companies to publicise information about foreign teachers’ qualification and work experience.

VIPKid dismissed the news as untrue and said it was in fundraising talks with Tencent and other investors. Tencent did not respond to a request for comment.

Meitu to acquire a majority stake in Dajie for US$50.4M – Deal Street Asia

Meitu, the Chinese company behind selfie image-enhancing app, has agreed to acquire a 57.09 per cent stake in Dajie Net Investment, operator of online social networking and job hunting platform for young people in China, DealStreet Asia reported.

The company is being acquired for HK$395.5 million (US$50.4 million).

Meitu will acquire the shares from investors that are exiting the company, including Northern Light Venture Capital, SBCVC, and Hotung Venture Group. Apart from these companies, Fine Talent Holdings and Wenkang are also exiting the startup.

Dajie Net will become a subsidiary of Meitu and will hold a 29.53 per cent share.

Rapid Recruitment Ltd and Hill Ville Ltd will hold 7.28 per cent and 6.10 per cent respectively.

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Image Credit: Kilyan Sockalingum on Unsplash

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These companies will compete in the grand finale in February next year, and top 5 teams will receive a cash prize of US$100K

Jumpstarter 2020 Global Pitch Competition, a startup competition hosted by e-commerce giant Alibaba and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) in Kuala Lumpur, has announced the five regional finalists.

These companies will compete in the grand finale in February next year, where they will face off against other finalists from Shenzhen, London, San Francisco, Toronto, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. Top five teams will receive a cash prize of US$100,000 to support their future growth.

Top Jumpstarter companies will also gain access to the Alibaba ecosystem to help them gain insight, experience, and resources to expand their businesses.

Also Read: From Lightning Lab Tourism accelerator, these 2 NZ startups are heading to Southeast Asia

Jumpstarter is a not-for-profit initiative curated by Alibaba Entrepreneur’s Fund. It is a platform for entrepreneurs and innovators to pitch and showcase their ideas. It aims to identify and support the growth of quality, high-potential startups and provide high-impact networking opportunities that can spur the growth in startup-ecosystems worldwide.

Meet the five finalists:

CARE Concierge

CARE Concierge provides nurses, therapists and caregivers (care pros) for post-hospitalisation recovery and eldercare. Its professionals are trained with its proprietary technology to manage activities of daily living to provide specialised care for dementia, stroke recovery, cancer, Alzheimer’s, post-op, and conditions that require medical procedures and therapies.

Mospaze

Mospaze is a web platform and marketplace that connects warehouse owners looking to rent their available warehouse space, and businesses who are looking for storage solutions.

MCOnline

Through fun and innovative solutions delivered through an e-learning platform, MCOnline complements textbook resources and makes teaching and learning more engaging and effective through the use of multimedia.

FMH Group

FMH helps restaurants to reduce food cost and automate supply chain to support their growth. The company uses Artificial Intelligence to reduce food cost and automate inventory from outlets, central kitchen until the supplier.

Fatiha Sakti

Fatiha Sakti offers software Capital Markets Fixed Income Trading System (FITS). It has also launched a human resources management software (HRIS) named HRD Helper for corporate users. In May 2016, Fast 8 launched a SaaS HR application named Gadjian for SME and lean enterprise organization users.

 

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MOX is a mobile-only accelerator for startups in emerging markets and is run by US-based VC firm SOSV

MOX , an accelerator programme based in Taiwan for mobile app startups in emerging markets, has announced the ten graduates of its seventh batch.

With startups from India, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia, the cohort includes already profitable global players and seed-stage startups with sizable user bases in their home countries.

“The first billion internet users accessed the internet using their PCs, but the next four billion users — Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and South America — are mobile-only. Hundreds of millions of users are getting on the internet with smartphones,” said William Bao Bean, Managing Director of MOX and General Partner of SOSV.

“MOX helps startups from around the world win in India, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia through our accelerator, focused on localisation, monetisation and free user acquisition,” he said.

Below is a brief profile of the startups:

Whatscut Pro

WhatsCut Pro turns any video into share-worthy content, shot and edited on the go. To date, the company has close to one million downloads, five million stories shared, and a community of 100,000 monthly active social media influencers.

Chekk

Chekk enables banks, insurance companies and fintechs to onboard and manage consumers and businesses to control their own digital identity, including what they share and to whom it’s shared.

NATBAY

NATBAY is a luxury fashion and lifestyle platform offering hard-to-find clothing and accessories from the world’s most prestigious designers. In just six months after launching, it has achieved US$240,000 in GMV, with 80 per cent of sales coming from social channels.

Also Read: gojek garners Amazon’s attention, possible investment is in discussion

Vidyakul

Vidyakul is an online learning platform connecting renowned educators with students. Vidyakul provides educational content in multiple languages at an affordable price. To date, the platform has over 100 teachers with a social reach of more than 15 million students all over India.

Podd

Podd is a credit trust bureau for India enabling merchants to understand their customers and consumers better to carry their reputational score from one merchant to the next.

PlayTooMe

PlayTooMe enables anyone with friends to perform in concert — live and on stage! Choose a time, sell the tickets, and Playtoome does the rest: providing the venue, production, recording and live streaming. PlayTooMe is adding 100 artists per week to its artist community, which recently exceeded 6000 artists. The company is backed by Enterprise Singapore, Venture Catalysts, and SOSV MOX.

Woovly

 

Everyone has a bucket list. Woovly is a community turning dreams into reality through content, sharing and recommendations, from climbing Mount Everest to getting that tattoo. Two million aspirations have been created on the platform.

Phable

Phable helps doctors improve patient treatment compliance by 70 per cent with continuous patient monitoring via our machine learning-enabled IoT platform. It has signed the #2 hospital group in India and is growing 35 per cent MoM.

Zotezo

Health and wellness influencers leverage the Zotezo platform to reach and engage their followers interested in curated health, beauty and fitness content, products and services. Also backed by The Times Group, India’s leading media conglomerate, Zotezo is already supporting health experts and influencers with 20 million social followers and growing by the millions every month.

PinjamWinWin

PinjamWinWin provides the 185 million unbanked in Indonesia with fast and easy loans for individuals and small businesses. The company is already profitable and still growing by triple digits every year.

MOX or Mobile Only Accelerator is an intensive programme focused on localisation, optimisation, monetisation and partnerships. MOX is operated by the VC firm SOSV with US$650M assets under management. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, SOSV operates six vertically focused accelerator programs: MOX for mobile internet (Taipei), IndieBio and RebelBio for biotech (San Francisco, London), HAX for hardware (Shenzhen, San Francisco), Chinaccelerator for internet and software (Shanghai), and Food-X for foodtech and agritech (NYC).

 

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If the retailer giant is up for it, Amazon will officially strengthen its presence in Southeast Asia

A recent report by Bloomberg said that Amazon.com Inc. is interested in investing in Indonesian ride-hailing giant gojek.

Internal sources of the reports said that negotiations are currently taking place and it will be a move that confirms the US e-commerce giant’s stronger presence in Southeast Asia.

Potentially, the source said, Amazon would join gojek’s ongoing funding round.

The first time Amazon entered Southeast Asia was in 2017 via Singapore with Amazon Prime Now, but Amazon has yet to have a presence in the ever-growing Indonesia.

Alibaba, on the other hand, has backed Indonesian e-commerce unicorns Tokopedia and Bukalapak (through Ant Financial) to mark its entrance and presence in the country.

Also Read: Malaysian youth minister to bring gojek into his country

After a recent rebranding, gojek has established its brand as a part ride-sharing service, part food-delivery business, and part digital-wallet provider with other on-demand services such as booking a cleaner and masseuse.

Now, the company founded by Nadiem Makarim is valued at US$10 billion, and for its ongoing Series F round has raised investments from Visa Inc., Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank Plc, Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Co. this year.

Recently, gojek just got a green light from Indonesia’s neighbouring country Malaysia, to commence motorcycle hailing operations, something that was previously banned in the country. The move follows gojek’s success of expanding into Thailand and Vietnam.

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Image Credit: gojek

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