Also, RB Capital, Tencent, Pearson invests in AI company Prowler.io

Rental marketplace MyRent launches in Singapore [Press Release]

Following its Beta launch in December 2018, peer-to-peer rental platform MyRent officially launches in Singapore today. MyRent seeks to help Singaporeans monetise their belongings by renting their items out to its community of users.

MyRent was co-founded by by Ishwar Dhanuka, Mark Kok, and Rahul Sharma. “The idea behind MyRent is to primarily allow users to own experiences instead of things. We want to decentralise ownership, and create a win-win for both listers and renters. Simply put, why buy something when you can rent it?” said Dhanuka, CEO and Co-founder of MyRent.

To date, MyRent claimed that it has over 2,000 registered users and over 800 active listings in Singapore – from photography equipment and drones to winter wear and sporting equipment.

RB Capital, Tencent, Pearson invests in AI company PROWLER.io [Press Release]

British AI company PROWLER.io has completed a Series B funding round at a post-investment valuation of US$100 million with backers including Amadeus Capital Partners, Atlantic Bridge, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Mandatum Life, Passion Capital, Pearson, RB Capital, SGInnovate, and Tencent, who invested US$24 million.

The company said that it plans to use the funding to accelerate the product development and application of VUKU, PROWLER.io’s decision-making platform built over the last three years.

PROWLER.io offers a decision-making AI technology that can help businesses and organisations make better decisions in processing dynamic, real-time data in complex and uncertain environments.

Also Read: Ex-Tiket co-founder Natali Ardianto to open new healthtech startup

Its core platform VUKU is founded on an integrated approach – combining branches of mathematics, engineering, and economic theory. It’s being rolled out for deployment in logistics decisions, allocating resources, and assisting financial decisions in asset management.

PROWLER.io was founded in 2016 by mathematicians and engineers following years of research into machine intelligence, probability theory, and multi-agent problems.

Arcadier launches in North America, offers enterprise marketplace [Press Release]

Singapore-headquartered online SaaS marketplace Arcadier has just had its first exhibition at Collision, the largest tech conference in North America. It also had appointed June Boo as its first General Manager and Head of Group Strategy of North America and opened its Las Vegas, NV office.

Arcadier also unveiled their full suite of revamped APIs and developer community, which will allow corporations to develop customised marketplaces with Arcadier’s platform. Developers will also be able to join Arcadier as an accredited expert partner to assist in customisation projects and build applications for the broader Arcadier user base whilst generating revenue for these value added services.

With offices in Singapore, Sydney, and Manila, Arcadier has an established user base in North America with almost 25 per cent of its over 400 monthly new marketplaces created coming from the United States and Canada.

“North American eCommerce continues to be robust and is set to grow even further, as emphasised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s opening remarks. Arcadier is incredibly proud to be the only Partner exhibitor representing Singapore at Collision,” said Arcadier’s CCO Kenneth Low.

DP Information Group (DP Info) rebrands to Experian [Press Release]

Information service provider Experian announced the rebrand of DP Information Group (DP Info) to Experian. Experian had fully acquired the DP Information Group business in 2014, after a 40 per cent stake investment in 2008.

The rebranding will create a single, unified business that provides customers increased access to a broader range of services across Credit Services and Decision Analytics, powered by the scale and industry-leading capabilities of Experian. The legal entity name will be changed from DP Information Network Pte Ltd to Experian Credit Services Singapore Pte Ltd., and the company logo will change from DP Info to Experian across the brand’s websites, marketing collaterals, products, and services.

“The Southeast Asia region is primed for digital transformation; with emerging technologies, powered by data, reshaping the way we live and work. As a trusted provider of Credit and Business Information Services in Singapore, DP Info has been a critical part of Experian for over a decade; generating valuable data for Singapore and its companies since its inception,” said Dev Dhiman, Managing Director, Southeast Asia & Emerging Markets, Experian.

Also Read: Smart wearables company KaHa secures US$6.2M Series B funding

DP was formed in 1978 and has a heritage that spans over 40 years in Singapore as a provider of Credit and Business Information Services. The move to a unified brand reinforces Experian’s commitment to the local and regional markets; helping businesses to thrive and grow, driving innovation around data and decisioning, and in launching new capabilities in the region and for existing customers.

Toy marketplace Toy Around app launches in Singapore [Press Release]

Toy Around, a free-to-download toy marketplace app that allows parents to buy, sell, or swap preloved toys locally, has officially launched its app on the App store for all Apple users.

The app, created for the Singapore market, will provide a user-friendly interface and simple functions where users can upload toys or search for them quickly and easily. Toys are listed by category, age, condition, and location which helps connect buyers with sellers more efficiently.

“With Toy Around, we hope parents and kids will view toys differently and embrace the value in reducing toy clutter in the home. At Toy Around we believe no toy should be left behind. We also endorse child development through play. The right toys at the right time can help the development of a child considerably,” said Tulika Sahai, Founder of Toy Around.

The user interface only allows ‘live’ photos to be taken without any existing photos from a user’s photo gallery to be used to ensure the quality of the toys uploaded are of satisfactory standards. Moreover, any sale of toys can only happen face-to-face unless otherwise agreed by the buyer and seller to ensure that the quality of the product is similar to how it was advertised as.
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20 stellar companies bring a dynamic range of products to Echelon Asia Summit 2019

There are lots of great reasons for you to come to Echelon Asia Summit 2019! With more than 12,000 people attending from over 30 countries, the Echelon Asia Summit brings together a full-range of personalities across the field of tech: from tech enthusiasts, to up-and-coming startup founders, and even to leaders and experts! This makes Echelon Asia Summit 2019 the perfect opportunity for you to brush elbows with potential future partners, investors, colleagues, or other like-minded people who might appreciate your ideas!

More than 120 speakers will also be sharing key insights on emerging trends and disruptive technologies across four key stages, namely: Founder stage, Future stage, Capital stage, and the top 100 stage—where 100 of the most promising startups will be pitching live!

Also read: Ready to be won over by the right ideas? 20 more exhibitors will showcase at Echelon

And finally, one of the key features of Echelon Asia Summit 2019 is how it will showcase some of the most brilliant startup products in the region. With 300 exhibitors that will sprawl all over Singapore Expo, participants can witness firsthand how these companies are changing the world.

So without further ado, here is the ninth set of Echelon Asia Summit 2019 exhibitors!

AIBC Pte Ltd

AIBC Pte Ltd uses AI to help us understand politicians better.

Amred.id

Amred.id is a building & operating vehicle sharing solution that uses gasoline motorbike & electric scooters in INDONESIA to solve last-mile transportation.

Foxwood LLC

Foxwood is comprised of a law firm, personal, and corporate services arms that focus on the delivery of legal solutions.

Aqua Grow Greens

AquaGrowGreens designs, sources, and manufactures products that enable you to become an urban-farmer and live healthier.

Asmara

Asmara® is a Singapore brand that specialises in 100% natural beverages designed for health & wellness.

Aspire-cap

Aspire is Singapore’s First Credit App made for small business owners.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Ngee Ann Polytechnic is an institution of higher learning in Singapore with more than 14,800 full-time and 3,000 part-time students, 1,800 staff, and 148,000 alumni.

Beam Mobility

Beam is a 21st century mobility company rolling out e-scooter ridesharing across the cities of Asia Pacific.

Bifrost

Bifrost helps AI engineers get better data by simulating reality.

BlueMeg

BlueMeg is an independent corporate services provider, bridging the gap between tailored quality services and the new digital era.

Bollywoo

Bollywoo is India’s first and fastest growing content commerce platform.

Buddy Holdings Pte Ltd

Buddy Holdings strives to transform the business into a more innovative and yet sustainable business model leading in the new invention, development of the industry’s most advanced channel to market company products/services offering.

Clockster

Clockster is a clock-in-and-out, scheduling and leave management system for employees in HoReCa and retail space.

Caspar Technologies

Caspar Technologies Pvt Ltd launched in 2016 & backed by the prestigious IIMK LIVE Incubation program is the first company in Asia to offer machine learning based recommendations.

ZiO Health Ltd

ZiO Health Ltd is a biosensor platform technology that allows you to instantly analyse parameters in fluids from anywhere.

Chilindo

Chilindo is a leading online auction platform offering affordable products to consumers in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam in a fun and engaging way.

ISSU

ISSU provides an online perfume subscription service.

CollabDeen

ColllabDeen is the World’s first Faith-Based social technology SaaS platform using Deep-Tech for community collaborations.

The Flying Thai Food

The Flying Thai Food overs Thai food that’s shipped China-wide by mail.

The Nurturing Co.

The Nurturing Collective is an offline/online business offering truly sustainable reduced / zero plastic packaging focused products.

Where to get tickets for Echelon Asia Summit 2019?

Catch this stunning set of companies showcase their brilliant work and more at the Echelon Asia Summit 2019! The event is happening from 23 – 24 May, at Hall 3A, Singapore Expo, 1 Expo Drive, Singapore. We don’t want you and your team to miss out on the important insights that will be shared by our speakers there, so get your Echelon Tickets today!

The post 9th set of exhibitors chime in with 20 stellar companies at Echelon appeared first on e27.

The startup, previously based in Singaore, will move its headquarters to Boston

Biofourmis, a digital therapeutics provider, announced that it has closed US$35 million in Series B financing. The company also said it plans to move its headquarters from Singapore to Boston but will continue to expand its activities in Singapore.

The funding was led by Sequoia India, part of Sequoia Capital, and MassMutual Ventures SEA, the venture fund of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual). Singapore government-linked investor EDBI and Chinese online healthcare platform Jianke also participated in the round, along with existing investors Openspace Ventures, Aviva Ventures, and SGInnovate.

Biofourmis’ digital therapeutics platform helps treat and manages a range of complex chronic conditions.

With the funding, the company said it will focus on growing its solution that combines AI, drug therapy information, wearable sensors and a smartphone app to deliver better patient outcomes. Biofourmis also plans on growing its teams focused on data science, clinical management, regulations, sales and operations.

“Our core focus has always been to optimize therapies to augment patient care and health outcomes,” said Kuldeep Singh Rajput, founder, and CEO of Biofourmis.

Also Read: Co-working space Outpost secures US$1.3M seed funding

Biofourmis was established in Singapore in 2015 and is a patient-facing companion app. It also has a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved wearable biosensor to optimise patient care and health outcomes.

The components work in synergy to drive patient adherence to medication regimens. The digital therapeutics technology can predict and prevent adverse events by remotely monitoring and analysing physiological signals.

The company built a platform called BiovitalsTM, which is based on clinical evidence that drug-software combinations can enhance clinical effectiveness. BiovitalsTM is used in tandem with Biofourmis’ lead product, BiovitalsHFTM, which is the first prescription software that utilises wearable biosensors and pharmacotherapy to manage and support patients diagnosed with heart conditions.

Once activated, a treatment algorithm dynamically prescribes guideline-directed therapies while driving adherence to the care plan through an interactive smartphone app.

“Biofourmis has already aligned with credible, high-quality institutional partners to transition digital therapeutics from concept to reality—and we support the team’s vision and ability to use technology to scale their products globally,” said Anjana Sasidharan, Principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors.

Also Read: Home design and renovation platform Livspace raises funding from IKEA

Going forward, the company said it will continue developing its product and treatment algorithms via randomised clinical trials that generate data to demonstrating safety and efficacy.

“Our products would then have treatment claims akin to a drug, and they would need to be prescribed by a clinician,” Kuldeep explained.

“Insurance providers could then reimburse for the treatment just as they do with pharmaceuticals and therapeutic medical devices. Hence our commercialisation strategy will involve forming partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies. We aim to use them as a distribution channel to commercialise our digital therapeutics product in combination with a therapy—either as a value-added service or as companion therapeutics.”

So far, Biofourmis has formed key collaborations with healthcare stakeholders, including its membership in the American Heart Association’s Center for Health Technology & Innovation’s Innovator Network to deliver personalised software-based interventions.
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Photo by Luis Melendez on Unsplash

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By vertically integrating the entire value chain from food production to delivery, its mission is to make food delivery affordable for office workers

dahmakan, a Y-Combinator-backed cloud kitchen startup in Malaysia, today announced the closing of over US$5 million in Series A round of funding with existing and new global investors, including Silicon Valley’s Partech Partners and China’s UpHonest Capital.

Y-Combinator, UK-based Atami Capital and former CEO of Nestle also joined the round, bringing the company’s total funding raised to date to nearly US$10 million.

“In the last few years, we have developed an operating system that drastically reduces the traditionally high cost structure of food delivery. The technology allows us to deliver better quality food at more affordable prices compared to other on-demand food delivery startups while maintaining a higher profit contribution margin,” said Jonathan Weins CEO of dahmakan.

“This new funding round will allow us to drive growth in existing and new markets, including launching new distribution channels such as partnering with food delivery marketplaces and retailers as well as expanding our own delivery coverage,” he added.

Besides further regional expansion, dahmakan also aims to expand its leadership team.

Founded in 2015 by former employees of food delivery marketplace Foodpanda (acquired by Delivery Hero in 2016), dahmakan aims to cut out the middleman from food delivery and pass the value back to the customers. By vertically integrating the entire value chain from food production to delivery, its mission is to make food delivery affordable for millions of office workers in Southeast Asia.

Also Read: A little bit of fun to help you attend #EchelonAsia2019

“We are applying predictive analytics including machine learning to forecast sales and in food product development. Our proprietary routing algorithms and AI-powered operating system automates 80 per cent of workflow in both the food production and delivery, solving essentially, an on-demand food manufacturing problem,” Weins added.

In 2018, dahmakan launched a new brand of lower-priced dishes. The company claims this brand has been adopted by over 200 corporate partners in Kuala Lumpur as part of its digital canteen programme, a corporate food delivery offering, which is set to launch in 1,800 offices across Klang Valley in 2019.

Nicolas El Baze, General Partner at Partech Partners, said: “We have looked at different companies in the space in Silicon Valley, Europe and Asia. dahmakan clearly stood out due to its unique operating system that orchestrates all parts of the value chain. The company has reached a crucial inflection point as the system is now ready to expand fast into other markets in Asia.”

According to a report from Temasek, demand for food delivery has grown rapidly at over 73 per cent YoY in Southeast Asia. dahmakan capitalises on this demand for delivery-only food by servicing multiple satellite kitchen around Kuala Lumpur from one factory-sized cloud kitchen.

A recent UBS report researched the global megatrend of consumers outsourcing home cooking to out-of-home prepared meals. The report predicts that by 2030 “the home kitchen might be dead” and completely be replaced.

 

The post YC-backed dahmakan raises US$5M to roll out its chef-cooked food delivery in Thailand, Malaysia appeared first on e27.

Check out these stunning technologies firsthand before they blow up into the next big thing!

There are lots of great reasons for you to come to Echelon Asia Summit 2019! With more than 12,000 people attending from over 30 countries, the Echelon Asia Summit brings together a full-range of personalities across the field of tech: from tech enthusiasts, to up-and-coming startup founders, and even to leaders and experts! This makes Echelon Asia Summit 2019 the perfect opportunity for you to brush elbows with potential future partners, investors, colleagues, or other like-minded people who might appreciate your ideas!

More than 120 speakers will also be sharing key insights on emerging trends and disruptive technologies across four key stages, namely: Founder stage, Future stage, Capital stage, and the top 100 stage—where 100 of the most promising startups will be pitching live!

Also read: 9th set of exhibitors chimes in with 20 stellar companies at Echelon

And finally, one of the key features of Echelon Asia Summit 2019 is how it will showcase some of the most brilliant startup products in the region. With 300 exhibitors that will sprawl all over Singapore Expo, participants can witness firsthand how these companies are changing the world.

So without further ado, here is the tenth set of Echelon Asia Summit 2019 exhibitors!

ZERO BrandCard

ZERO BrandCards is a mobile-first, entirely digitised and environmentally friendly social and networking platform.

CRICHubs

CRICHubs is a vertical social network to unite active cricketers globally putting them in control of their own cricket identity.

Crossworks

Crossworks is a staffing and office solution for companies to hire from Myanmar remotely. It also allows startups/creatives to co-work and repatriate to return home.

Dining Butler Limited

Dining Butler is an AIO F&B system that streamlines and enhances the dining experience for customers and business owners.

Easywork Asia Sdn Bhd

Easywork is a mobile-focused HR SaaS that allows employees to work anywhere. It is intuitive and works by default, yet customisable for various industries.

Ecomobi

Ecomobi aims at lead performance marketing and buyer data service platform in South East Asia.

Ecquitas

Ecquitas provides solutions to unlock illiquidity and increase accessibility in private markets through a platform that enables the trading of secondary equity.

Edukasyon

Edukasyon is an EdTech startup that empowers Gen Z youth to make better-informed education, career, and life decisions through our platforms.

FantasyGG

FantasyGG is a fantasy league for Esports.

Ferosh

Ferosh is the first e-commerce website distributing high-class Vietnamese fashion designer clothing. Their focus is on high-end markets, with women fashion designer clothing and accessories.

Fontrip Technology CO., LTD.

Fontrip provides top resource management on destination travel platform in Asia.

GODY

Gody.vn is a Vietnamese Travel Social network connecting and recommending appropriate information and services for travellers.

Grivy

Grivy connects brands with mobile first consumers through offline stores.

H3 Dynamics

H3 Dynamics is an end-to-end automation of remote monitoring that uses drone charging & data stations connected to an AI-enabled marketplace of use-case specific digital services on cloud.

Hello Gabby

Hello Gabby is a virtual assistant agency the helps you tackle your to-do list whilst you focus on growing your business.

HQ EZFOOD DELIVERY SDN BHD

A gem of the untouched tech virgin land, pioneer startup of Sarawak Malaysia, HQ EZFood Delivery is the largest local food delivery platform.

iFull

iFull provides instant doorstep phone repair services by connecting users to a reliable and trained technician.

Indexalaw

Indexalaw is a legal-civic tech that focuses on legal analytic and integration law information for legal professional civil society, and government.

Infofed Co.,Ltd

Infofed is a one stop services for Esports solution provider both online and offline platforms based in Thailand.

Insense Private Limited

Insense Private Limited is the world’s first cross promotion network that enables brands to find brand partners and run cross promotion campaigns seamlessly.

The Ravenry

Ravenry is an on-demand desk research platform. They gather and generate information for businesses within 48 hours.

The Startup Buddy

The Startup Buddy is the online innovation, acceleration, and fundraising platform for Founders, Innovators and Teams. They provide mentoring, toolkits, tracking, and more when and where you need it.

Time Creation Limited (FindDoc)

Being the largest virtual medical network in Hong Kong, FindDoc offers online booking service and hosts professional curated content.

Toku World

Toku is a one-stop shop for smart customer engagement via audio, text, and video APIs.

Trasso

Trasso is a tech company that strives to innovate for a digital tomorrow.

Where to get tickets for Echelon Asia Summit 2019?

Catch this stunning set of companies showcase their brilliant work and more at the Echelon Asia Summit 2019! The event is happening from 23 – 24 May, at Hall 3A, Singapore Expo, 1 Expo Drive, Singapore. We don’t want you and your team to miss out on the important insights that will be shared by our speakers there, so get your Echelon Tickets today!

The post Echelon Asia Summit 2019’s 10th set of exhibitors to showcase 25 trailblazing products appeared first on e27.

Along with the 10 finalists, four other startups will be awarded the StartupSG prizes of US$36K each

Future Food Asia, a pan-Asia Pacific competition aimed at recognising leading agri-tech and foodtech startups, has announced the 10 finalists vying for its US$100,000 grand prize.

Along with the 10 finalists, four other startups will be awarded the StartupSG prizes of S$50,000 (US$36,000) each.

The Future Food Asia 2019 conference will be held at Matrix Auditorium on the 30 Biopolis Road in Singapore on June 3 to 4, 2019.

9th set of exhibitors chime in with 20 stellar companies at Echelon

The event will allow all finalists and winners to present their innovation in front of investors, industry leaders and domain experts.

“The line-up of finalists and winners evidences the wide range of technologies that can address some of the most critical challenges of the food supply chain. It is also interesting to notice how Artificial Intelligence is emerging as distinctive feature of the region’s propositions,” said Isabelle Decitre, Founder and CEO of ID Capital, the lead organizer of Future Food Asia Award.

An overview of the 10 finalists:

AgNet (China): The Shanghai based agri-tech startup has developed a cloud solution, which promises to lower livestock production costs and lay the foundation for trusted transparency with food companies and consumers. It uses Big Data, IoT and AI.

Biotelliga (New Zealand): Biotelliga utilises fungi, nature’s plant-interaction specialists, to develop sustainable technologies to protect crops from pests and diseases, allowing increased food production with low environmental impact. Biotelliga’s bio pesticides and seed-integrated protective fungi will enable reduction in use and ultimately replacement of environmentally harmful chemical pesticides.

Inong Agriculture (Taiwan): As a bioinformatics startup that specialises in microbial genetic analysis, Inong Agriculture is a Big Data-powered soil microbe expert, which offers cash-crop-specific solutions that leverage on customised probiotics to increase crop yield sustainably, alleviating the environmental burden from overdoses of chemical fertilisers or pesticides.

Jai Kisan (India): It is an agri-fintech platform catering to rural emerging markets by providing a risk-adjusted return to lenders while ensuring a low cost of capital and quick turnaround time with minimal documentation for the borrower. Jai Kisan finances agricultural equipment, dairy, and other yield generating rural assets.

MPT AgTech (Australia): It is building a range of tech-enabled, smart equipment for large scale farming operations. Their first product is a tech-enabled planter that can monitor the conditions of the soil in real time while seeding, and self-adjust its seeding depth, and seeding rate live, based on the measured soil profile.

RapidAIM (Australia): It takes the guesswork out of pest surveillance, detection and management. Delivered as a service, RapidAIM provides high-resolution, real-time information of the location of pests for early detection, and targeted control.

SaliCrop (Israel): It develops a non-GM seeds treatment for various crops varieties, vegetables and grain seeds. The seeds treatment stimulates a specific epigenetic trait of the plant which enables crop growing and yielding in high salinity soils or when irrigated with brackish water. Salicrop is a portfolio company of Rimonim Agro fund.

Also Read: Why Isabelle Decitre left France to start ID Capital in Singapore

SatSure (India): It is an innovative large area analytics company which leverages advances in satellites, Machine Learning and Big Data analytics to provide answers to large-area questions, with agriculture, forestry, and environmental management. It combines satellite imagery with weather, IoT, social and economic datasets, etc to generate timely, location specific insights.

THE.WAVE.TALK (South Korea): It detects bacteria in liquids much faster than conventional technologies. The startup targets to save millions of hours spent just waiting for the result by decreasing test time from days to hours (applications from water/beverage plants to water purifiers at home). Moreover, by applying AI, it is able not only to detect but also identify bacteria.

UlikeKorea (South Korea): It is a livestock ICT company with a smart livestock solution called LiveCare. The solution was developed with the support of globally respected Korean R&D institutions and it builds on a bio-capsule that once ingested by the animal, enables lifelong health monitoring. As the interest in sustainable animal husbandry continues to increase, it aims to make every effort to contribute to the advancement of the global livestock industry.

An overview of the StartupSG prize winners:

Intello Labs (India): It is a deeptech startup that uses Artificial Intelligence and multispectral tools to make quality monitoring and grading solutions for food commodities. Its image-based solutions, which come in the form of smartphone apps, bring transparency and standardization to the quality assessment process in food supply chains, reducing value risk and wastage from farm to fork.

Phyto Corporation (South Korea): It is an innovative food and biotechnology company creating the future of food with Salicornia, a plant grown by seawater. Phyto Corporation has developed the world’s first 100 per cent plant-based salt ‘PhytoSalt’, extracted from Salicornia, a plant containing high contents of salt. PhytoSalt is effective on high blood pressure and is a microplastics-free salt as well. By desalinating Salicornia, Phyto has also developed a new superfood and flour alternative ‘PhytoMeal’ that can solve the global food crisis.

Shiok Meats (Singapore): It is a cell-based shrimp company. Its aim is to bring cell-based crustaceans to your table, which is health-, animal- and environment-friendly, by growing cells instead of animals.

VakSea (US): VakSea uses insect larvae to biomanufacture functional feed additives that protect farm-raised fish and shrimp from disease. Using its innovative insect larvae production platform, VakSea can produce large-scale quantities of affordable protein-based feed additives for a variety of purposes, starting with preventing viral disease outbreaks on shrimp aquaculture farms.

Startup applications for Future Food Asia 2019 opened in February and closed in April 2019. More than a hundred of contenders applied, coming from 13 different countries from Asia Pacific. While North Asia continued to be the dominant region with 35 per cent of the applications, Southeast Asia emerged in the second spot with 27 per cent, marginally ahead of South Asia with 26 per cent.

The post Meet the 10 agritech, foodtech startups pitching for Future Food Asia’s US$100K grand prize appeared first on e27.

The goal is to show how crucial cybersecurity is for any startup

Already excited for Echelon? Buy your tickets here! Enter promo code ECHELONFUTURE for free tickets!

The importance of cybersecurity has never been more important than it today. What is more, it will just get more and more vital in the coming years.

One issue for startups in Southeast Asia is that cybersecurity is both expensive and necessary. Hacks are a fairly common part of growing a young company, but that doesn’t make it less devastating.

Dexter Ng is here to help. As the Co-founder of AntiHack.me, he is building a startup that makes cybersecurity services more accessible to startups.

The company is essentially a community of white-hat hackers, a term that refers to people who hack websites with permission from the owners as a means to test security and vulnerabilities.

The service is a pay-as-you-use model and companies can upload briefs to Antihack.me to give hackers direction about which vulnerabilities to pursue.

“Startups can’t really afford to hire white hat hackers on a full time basis. But they can make use of our platform to put their sites or mobile apps for white hat hackers to test their systems for a fee. Which would save them a lot of money,” he told e27.

Also Read: What are the hurdles hindering Taiwan’s fintech from becoming no.1 in Asia?

One strategy to drive home the importance of cybersecurity is to demonstrate how easy it is to get hacked.

At #Echelon2019, Ng is going to hack the audience! (By volunteer of course). Participants will find themselves unwillingly sending texts from their phones as well as making “phone calls” without pushing a button.

When asked about the audience reactions from previous events, Ng said,

“Everyone was shocked at how this can be done live in front of everyone. There is no other company that can perform this in front of a live audience.”

The point is, if a business owner can hack random cell phones during a public demonstration, imagine what a real hacker with nefarious intentions can accomplish.

Come get your phone hacked at #Echelon2019! It is sure to entertain.

Already excited for Echelon? Buy your tickets here! Enter promo code ECHELONFUTURE for free tickets!

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The troubled grocery delivery startup reportedly will halt its food delivery service in Singapore as part of a strategic review of its business

Honestbee announced today that it will suspend food delivery and laundry service the company offered in Singapore, as reported by Channel News Asia.

The company will still operate its grocery delivery service and physical supermarket, habitat by honestbee.

Both services are confirmed to stop on May 20, just a few weeks after Joel Ng resigned from his CEO post.

With the decision, about 400 delivery staff, mostly part-time workers, will be impacted by the decision. However, Honestbee ensured that the full effect of this decision will not see its Singapore permanent headcount getting sacked.

“The decision was made to optimise the business structure, and to drive better focus and alignment with honestbee’s current strategic priorities,” said Honestbee.

Also Read: Singapore edtech startup Geniebook secures US$1.1M Pre-Series A funding

Joel Ng was replaced as CEO by Brian Koo, who had said that he would be working with the executive team to conduct an in-depth review of the business in order to align strategic interests across its various geographies and vertical.
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Pocket Money’s global system of lenders improves access to credit while enhancing ROI with a social repayment system

Statistically, two of three micro-loan applications are rejected. A rejected application usually ends up in a drawer and locked away with the applicant having no chance to apply again, often due to bad credit or lack of it altogether. In emerging economies, a loan applicant might need to travel to other cities, often quite distant, in order to apply again with another licensed lender. Some might take money from loansharks – along with exorbitant interest rates. It can be a discouraging experience for anyone seeking between US$100 and 1,000.

Those in the developed world might already have a negative stereotype of the “underbanked” or “unbanked”. These concepts are often paired with images of disparate poverty. However, the truth is that many underbanked or unbanked individuals – counting between 2 billion to 4.5 billion across the globe – think of the lack of access to traditional banking services might not necessarily be a bad thing.

In countries like Uganda for example, which has one of the youngest populations in the world, the youth have a negative image of banks, and they prefer to move funds around using mobile money. We could consider mobile money as underbanking, but in many cases it is very fast and efficient. See how tech-oriented countries like Singapore are already looking for ways to shift from physical money to cashless transactions.

In developing countries, established banks are often not too keen to tap into this market, given the risks involved with lending to unsecured borrowers. It is thus the purview of startups and telcos to take a step forward toward financial inclusion, in order to give an opportunity to anyone, anywhere to digitally store value in their local currency, safely linked to their mobile number. This industry has generally progressed in terms of giving access to credit, but there is often no viable solution for repayment.

e27 had the chance to interview Stefano Virgilli, Singapore-based Italian CEO of Pocket Money. “In an industry plagued with P2P scams, Pocket Money is bringing access to credit to anyone, anywhere, through Licensed Lenders, using the technologies that borrowers are familiar with,” he shares. “We don’t stop there. We help Borrowers to repay.”

Fintechs tend to be focussed on providing loans, but there is less focus on providing solutions for borrowers to repay. Pocket Money steps in with a solution that focusses on four different angles:

1. Giving an opportunity for rejected loan applications to be accepted by other licensed lenders located globally;
2. Developing tech tools for Lenders to simplify and make more efficient the processes of on-boarding new borrowers as well as managing existing ones;
3. Providing liquidity to small Licensed Lenders globally;
4. Helping borrowers to repay their loans through micro-tasks, in partnership with third party apps and services.

An ecosystem of credit

Pocket Money, which is currently seeking its fourth round of fundraising, does this by building an entire ecosystem for lenders and borrowers worldwide, keeping compliance as a centerpiece of its philosophy. Such a global ecosystem enables Borrowers to access credit from different sources all through a seamless interface. For instance, when a rejected application is accepted by a Licensed Lender from another country, the Lender who accepted the risk backs the loan to the Borrower on behalf of the Lender who rejected the application in the first place.

The settlement between Lenders happens in real time and automatically hedging on US dollar, while the disbursement of the loan to the Borrower, occurs in local currency, either in cash (tracked in Pocket Money Dashboard for Lenders) or directly on Pocket Money Wallet, integrated with the most popular local wallet in each country.

From the Borrower’s perspective, nothing changes. A loan application is immediately circulated among other Licensed Lenders globally. Pocket Money Dashboard allows Lenders to set automations based on amount, duration, repayment terms, borrower profile and currency.

Such steps, Apply – Reject – Circulate – Accept – Disburse, happens in a matter of seconds. Borrowers will not even realise that there had been a rejection in the first place. The best part is that the Lender who won the bid for the rejected application will now be the one offering the lowest repayment amount to the Borrower. Hence Pocket Money is effectively increasing access to credit and offering fair loan terms to Borrowers.

Also read: The financial forecast indicates fintech’s rising prominence

Innovation in access to credit

For Pocket Money, Borrowers and Licensed Lenders can connect on the innovative marketplace and through an innovative multi-currency wallet. The usual Borrower is an individual who has difficulties providing a credit score, and one who collaterals on proof-of-employment. “In a nutshell, they are unsecured borrowers,” shares Virgilli. “Lenders usually consist of low-tech mom-and-pop shops, who could not keep up with technology.”

While many other fintech startups are offering technology solutions that simplify the way operations are run, Pocket Money goes beyond this by focussing on the entire pipeline of the lending industry.

“Software might be great for on-boarding Borrowers, but offers no options to monetize rejected applications. Pocket Money does so,” says Virgilli. “Traditional loan tools are excellent at generating and managing loans, but none on the market offers micro-tasking to Borrowers, helping them to repay their debt.”

Social repayment system

One innovation that Pocket Money introduces is a social repayment system, wherein Borrowers are given the option to earn payment credits by accomplishing certain tasks. In the event that a Borrower fails to pay back at the end of the term, the Lender has an option whether to extend the loan or not. If the Lender extends, then borrowers can accomplish these tasks or requirements in exchange for small rewards.

“Currently we are partnering with a startup that offers 30 US cents for answering 5 questions about an ad. If the Borrower participates in the survey with family and friends, there is the potential for generating a small stream of income. The monetized data can then be used to pay back the loan, when extended,” says Virgilli.

He acknowledges that risks will never go away when it comes to micro credit, however. “We are not changing the industry, but rather we are adding tools to reduce risk.” The CEO adds that Pocket Money is conservative in saying only 25 per cent of rejected applicants will actually apply again, and out of that only 20 per cent would manage to get approved. “In other words, we are already quite happy with a 5 per cent chance of finding a Lender for a rejected Borrower.”

The company is confident that social credit and social repayment would provide a better means for Lenders to get their ROI and for borrowers to avoid default. “We believe that our Social Credit Score, integrating the spectacular work done by many other startups, is already offering higher chance of repayment,” Virgilli shares with e27. “We are sure that our Social Repayment Partnership would help Borrowers to pay back their loan.”

Also read: How fintech hubs will shape the future of our financial industry

“A better world for the future is built step by step”

Pocket Money would rather introduce small innovations that actually work, rather than radically disrupt the microlending industry. “Jack Ma said once that Fintech wants to reinvent the wheel, replacing traditional finance, whereas Techfin is integrating tools bit-by-bit, covering verticals that require innovation in the industry. Pocket Money sounds more like a Techfin in this perspective,” shares Virgilli.

Over the past few years, Fintech startups have created many ‘payment solutions’ that did not solve any problem, but rather added yet another option to a very crowded industry. Pocket Money has taken a different approach, strictly problem-solution based, in order to deploy innovation only when and where needed.

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BukaGlobal launches in Singapore, plans to connect the global market with over four million Indonesian sellers

Indonesian unicorn e-commerce Bukalapak announces BukaGlobal, a feature that seeks to connect the global market with more than four million Indonesian sellers. Bukalapak claims itself to be the first Indonesian e-commerce to do so, consistently carrying its mission in digitalising Indonesian SMEs.

BukaGlobal is currently available in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Brunei Darussalam, with more markets onboarded soon.

“BukaGlobal was designed to address logistics challenges in the region, such as high cost in postal and courier delivery. We want to break down barriers that hinder young and small entrepreneurs from competing on a global playing field, primarily on access, infrastructure, and connectivity,” said Fajrin Rasyid, Co-Founder and President of Bukalapak.

BukaGlobal aims to make Indonesian products readily accessible by consumers anywhere in the world.

Singapore is the first country that BukaGlobal is serving as it views the country to be a critical hub in the region. Ngurah Swajaya, Ambassador of the Republic Indonesia to Singapore, explains, “Singapore is the suitable market hub to introduce Indonesian products in the regional market field. This could be a proper strategy to advance the SMEs potential.”

Also Read: A look into one of the most active early stage VC firms this year

According to a report by Bain & Company(2), 50 million new consumers join the ranks of the middle class in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam by 2022, contributing to the region’s US$300 billion middle–class disposable income.

To prepare to join in the trend forecast, the Indonesian Government helps eight million Indonesian SMEs to transform their business model by supportingBukaGlobal.

“We feel that Bukalapak’s new initiative is aligned with what the Indonesian Government’s vision in both facilitating and accelerating the export market expansion such as vocational program, the development of Internet infrastructure, along with business and entrepreneur workshop,” said Rudiantara, Minister of Communication and Information Technology Republic of Indonesia.

All features in BukaGlobal can be accessed starting from May, 20, 2019. Consumers in Singapore, Malaysia, Hongkong, Taiwan, and Brunei Darussalam can order products starting from 0.5kg with delivery time approximately 6 – 11 days depending on the destination.

Also Read: Vietnam’s Abivin lifts Startup World Cup 2019, takes home US$1M prize money

At the moment, only qualified sellers in Jakarta and Tangerang are able to offer BukaGlobal as part of their service, with more sellers joining.
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