Despite the economic bottleneck, many tech heavyweights still surprisingly prevail at the top of the investment chain. Across the tech ecosystem, e-commerce giants from the US and China are flourishing, while startups from emerging markets like Southeast Asia are doing their best to adapt and follow suit.

While the next normal is undoubtedly shaking things up, the question remains: can Southeast Asia outclass the prominence of tech companies from the US and China that are currently dominating the global tech landscape?

It is true that Southeast Asia tech companies are still beating the odds despite the global market shift. But if anything, history has taught us that some of the unicorns we have come to know and respect were born out of various forms of crises, all because they simply had the right idea. If it is possible for them, it is certainly possible for many startups in Southeast Asia today.

Rising to the occasion

US-based taxi-hailing app Uber and accommodation matchmaker Airbnb were by-products of the financial crisis in 2008 that snowballed globally from the US housing bubble. One co-founder admitted that the crisis created a unique opportunity for companies to innovate and cater to a new market.

This time, the pandemic has certainly made a rapidly growing market demand for digital services. Companies that serve mostly by connecting people such as e-commerce and media streaming prove to be indispensable. In effect, many startups and new businesses are pivoting towards that direction to stay relevant — whether by shifting verticals altogether or by digitalising their interfaces in order to meet consumer demand.

Also Read: Why the TradeGecko acquisition by Intuit is a promise fulfilled by the SEA tech startup ecosystem

But as competition is getting stronger, the dominance of tech giants from the US and China are also outsizing the market.

BBC reported that tech moguls such as Amazon and Facebook, for instance, have seen a steep increase of activity and stocks at all-time highs during the pandemic. Both Amazon and Facebook saw stock prices rise 80 per cent and 45.5 per cent respectively compared to the previous year. Recently, Apple also hit a record-breaking $1.9 trillion market cap before a share split.

The Power of Big Tech

Everyone including world governments have growing dependencies on these companies’ products and services. The UK government, for instance, announced in June that it was switching its coronavirus-tracing app to a model based on Apple-Google technology.

They have grown so large that the US House of Antitrust Subcommittee had to hold a congressional hearing in July to probe CEOs of Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple for thwarting competition in their industry.

Ironically, platforms such as Amazon Cloud for data services, and Google and Facebook ads for advertising are undeniably essential for many types of businesses to run. In China, most businesses, especially small enterprises, highly depend on WeChat, Alibaba, and even Xiaomi to survive the crisis.

The Challenge for Startups

On the flip side, Big Tech companies can stifle innovation from a startup with policies that restrict access to their services. “We used to have a policy that restricted competitors from using our platform,” Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said.

Besides weaponising their policies, large tech companies also have the unrivalled market power to tempt a big buyout of an emerging rival before it becomes their equal. Facebook bought Instagram for US$1 billion only and WhatsApp for US$16 billion — a small price to pay when compared with its US$600 billion market valuation last year.

Also Read: A closer look at MyStartupEquity: digitising, automating, and securing company assets

But sometimes, acquisitions are risky, especially in recent times with the looming tech cold war. So, when they cannot buy, big techs have the resources and financial muscle to replicate innovations created by a smaller company and augment it into their products. For example, the 24-hour stories feature from Snapchat lost its market grip to Facebook which replicated the feature on Instagram and WhatsApp. Microsoft made the same “copycat” move to the communication platform Slack for its office messaging system, Microsoft Teams.

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for tech startups to thrive in the next normal against the giants. According to Harvard Business Review, a copy-proof innovation is essentially required to outsmart big companies like Google from wrongly taking their property.

The Spotlight on Southeast Asia

While a global economic squeeze is on the horizon, Southeast Asia unexpectedly becomes a more welcoming and attractive market to big tech dealmakers. The regional advantage, with rising internet economy and favourable demographics, inspires cross-border trade and company expansions.

“While the region is diverse and varied, the growing middle classes in ASEAN share similar demands and consumption patterns,” said former ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh. In the first half of this year, Series B and C funding in Southeast Asia is up about 25 per cent from a year ago, making a total record of US$1.2 billion.

Southeast Asia is accelerating its efforts in digital expansion in the diversified market. It is largely thanks to proliferating unicorns that provide e-commerce, fintech, and on-demand services in the region.

Also Read: How to train a diverse and dispersed workforce during COVID-19 and beyond

In general, most of Southeast Asia’s unicorns have outgrown their humble beginnings to rank third in the APAC region behind China and India. Grab, one of the most familiar Singapore-based tech giants, boasts a market valuation of more than US$14 billion as of September 2020.

Together with other Southeast Asia unicorn peers, Grab has nearly 40 mergers and acquisitions of smaller startups in Southeast Asia. Its counterpart from Indonesia, Gojek, entered Vietnam with an ambitious US$500 million international expansion plan, with Thailand next. More than that, big tech companies from elsewhere around the world like Facebook are gearing to strengthen their presence in Southeast Asia as the region’s digital economy continues to flourish, evidenced by its recent investment to Gojek.

The swift change in customer behaviours also brought growth to another Singapore-based company, Razer. The gaming hardware and brand producer was reported to have recorded US$447.5 million in this year’s first-half revenue. Meanwhile, another Southeast Asian unicorn, Sea Group, also got into the radar of investors with their share price doubling over the last six months. Chairman and co-founder Forrest Li said to Forbes that the pandemic only speeds up the disruption already in place.

Also Read: EMDDI raises funding to allow users to connect to 30K taxis across Vietnam on a single platform

Such developments resulted in diversified ventures such as Razer Fintech under Razer, and e-commerce powerhouse, Shopee, under Sea Group.

“The stock market demonstrated a fairly dramatic reaction. The whole market — the tech market in particular — is hitting the roof. Obviously, there is a lot of euphoria. But digitalisation behind small and medium-sized enterprises and their consumers is real. That’s why the market is kind of playing ahead,” said Jixun Foo, Managing Partner of GGV Capital in an interview with Dealstreet Asia.

Furthermore, Binny Bansal of Mobikon, said in an interview with Forbes “the digital world has been accelerated thanks to the pandemic, giving a boost to ventures in edtech, digital finance, and health care technology.”

With political and societal uncertainty particularly between the US, China and India, Southeast Asia is on the radar as a profitable and viable market for innovators and investors alike. Opportunities abound for those daring enough to seize them. Will Southeast Asia’s big tech reach the prominence of its counterparts in the US and China? The jury’s still out on that. But one thing’s for sure: it will be a battle for dominance unlike any we’ve seen before.

Changemakers Conversations: Our New Normal

In order to discuss strategies on how Southeast Asian startups can seize the market during today’s global crisis, Singapore Management University (SMU) Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE)’s marquee event, the 10th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC) invites all to its inaugural Changemakers Conversations – Our New Normal on 30 September 2020, 4:00pm to 5:30pm (SGT)!

Key Topics of Discussion:

● Beyond Resilience – The new playbook for growth strategies in this new era; where are the opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors?
● The Rise of Techno-Nationalism – The risk of a looming tech cold war; what does it mean for startups and investors?
● Dominance of Big Tech – A complicated yet symbiotic relationship with innovation; how can startups flourish under the new masters of the universe?

Featuring esteemed speakers:

● Foo Jixun – Managing Partner at global venture capital company GGV Capital
● Prof Gerard George – Dean of Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University (SMU)
● Piyush Gupta – Chief Executive Officer & Director at the leading financial services group DBS
● Prof Lily Kong – President, Singapore Management University (SMU)
● Oliver Tonby – Chairman & Senior Partner at global management consulting firm Mckinsey & Co
● Shirley Wong – Chairperson of Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition Steering Committee and Entrepreneur-in-Residence of SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Register HERE to be part of this revolutionary event. For more information on SMU’s Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition, click HERE.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by 
SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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.

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I won’t drag you along and leave you in suspense. The three most important words you need to remember when going out to raise funding for your startup are “know your audience.”

While this is a very good general rule of thumb in business and marketing, when it comes to fundraising, its significance is amplified.

Careful whom you take money from

A beginner entrepreneur might view fundraising as “Whoever will write a check will be our first investor. Let them do the due diligence –we’ll collect the money.”

In reality, as much due diligence as an investor should do, an entrepreneur should double it.

If an investor makes a bad investment, they can lose money. If an entrepreneur takes a bad investment, they can lose their company.

Come prepared

Knowing your audience in this context means doing research. Hence before you even begin fundraising so you know whom you want to take money from. That means speaking to founders who previously raised from that investor and knowing what to ask.

Was the investor founder-friendly? Did they bring added value to the table beyond the check? Did they get involved in decisions that they should not have?

Also Read: Lend East raising US$50M debt capital to connect institutional investors with alternative lenders in India, SEA

As part of the research stage, you also need to make sure you’re not wasting your time or the investor’s time. That means looking into their previous investments and their appetite to deploy capital.

Are they actively investing now? Do they invest in your stage or are they looking for more traction? Or maybe you’re too late for them. Do they invest in your space? If so, did they invest in a direct competitor? The last thing you want to do is send an in-depth investor deck to someone who is supporting your biggest competitor.

Contrary to popular belief, and much like entrepreneurship itself, the most important step that many ignore is the research step. That precedes the first meeting or even the first email.

You never want to give them a reason to say no

The more you know about that investor before even sending the first message, the better equipped you are to make it through the process. Lack of sufficient research is, in and of itself, a reason for an investor to say no. If you didn’t spend the time preparing yourself for the meeting, what does that say about your ability to build a market-defining company that requires endless research and hard work?

The entire world of fundraising can really be summed up in four letters: FOMO (fear of missing out).

Simply put, it is your job to create FOMO for investors so they feel the need to take out their chequebook or miss out on an amazing opportunity.

To create FOMO effectively, you need to know what that investor is interested in and excited by.

Culture plays a pivotal role in that first meeting

Another important aspect that almost no one pays attention to is that investor’s personality. Are they more laid-back or more formal? Do they have a specific way they like to conduct meetings or receive emails? Do they appreciate the small talk at the beginning of the meeting or does that annoy them?

Also Read: Wholesale Investor launches SaaS admin platform for capital raising CRIISP in Southeast Asia

These are all questions you can answer prior to the meeting by speaking to others who have experiences with that investor.

Social media is your friend

At the risk of sounding creepy or like I am encouraging you to stalk someone, I would recommend making use of platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to learn more about that investor before meeting her. What are her passions? What are her pet peeves? And, what are her most pressing agendas now? These are all questions you might find answers to in that investor’s tweets or social media posts. No one is suggesting you hire a private investigator here, but if the investor is speaking openly about this topics, perhaps that is a sign that they want you to know about them before initiating your correspondence.

The more prepared you come, the better impression you’ll make on that investor, and, let’s be honest, first impressions are everything when it comes to raising capital. Yes, you are going to have to answer many questions before the cash hits your account, but without chemistry, without that first impression, it is already game over.

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The article was first published on nfinitiv.

Image Credit: NeONBRAND on Unsplash

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Recently in the news for starting Launcho Ventures, DTribe Capital has pioneered the venture studio model in Southeast Asia.

DTribe seeks to fund, build, and scale successful companies across the region by identifying and transforming ideas with viable business cases into independent companies through collaboration with entrepreneurs and skilled professionals.

A successful serial entrepreneur, Launcho founding partner Martin Berry has built and sold companies with values in excess of US$600 million and has gone on to make over 50 venture investments in early stage technology companies to date.

He is also the founder and CEO of DTribe Capital, a Singapore-based, opportunity-focused VC firm empowering founders seeking to enhance people’s lives and create positive economic impact through technology.

Berry founded Gong Cha Korea in 2012, acquired its parent company Royal Tea Taiwan in 2016, and went on to scale the Gong Cha brand globally to 18 countries and 2,000 outlets worldwide.

Over the last 20 years, he has built, acquired and exited several companies and served as a board member for many financial and technology companies.

In our latest Meet the VC webinar, we spoke to Berry to understand this venture studio model better and the opportunities for startups in 2021.

Key takeaways

• Started a career in technology and fell in love with it. Worked in the banking sector at the onset of internet banking
• His long journey in the corporate world made the various gaps evident to him and his startup journey started as a side hustle in tech companies
• The GFC ultimately made him take the plunge to become an entrepreneur
• Gong Cha grabbed his attention although he never really understood the Asian love for tea. He literally would sit outside the store and study the audience and reverse engineer the economics

Also Read: Expansion and exposure: iGlobe talks about the traits necessary to succeed in local markets

•  He decided to franchise it to the South Korean market, a market Berry knew well. And went from zero to 400 stores in three years and became the fastest-growing beverage brand in the country.
• Eventually, with some PE support, he bought the Gong Cha brand. And sold it last year whilst retaining a majority stake
• He has so far invested in 16 tech-first companies to help the next generation of founders and that’s how DTribe Capital came into being. It invests in early-stage tech companies
• SEA has a growing population and disposable income and nascent technology but Berry feels the ecosystem to support the founders is still not where it’s supposed to be
• Hence he chose to go the venture studio route where he is working with first-time founders who have an idea but need help with other elements of running an organisation — hiring, management, financials, etc.
• Launcho Ventures is not a time-bound programme such as accelerators. It is actually milestone-driven
• Berry spoke to many founders and realised that finding a co-founder and fundraising were major pain points that averted founder attention from actually building a business
• DTribe not only provides support but also gives founders SG$300,000 to get started
• DTribe has no LPs, so they are not constrained by investment mandates. This allows it to be very open-minded
• The quality of the idea and the founder’s passion majorly drive Berry’s investment decision
• Often times, people are in love with the idea of being an entrepreneur and they are surrounded by family and friends who support it, but there is hardly anyone who can give them candid feedback that an entrepreneur needs to pivot, move and groom.

Advice for founders

• Founders should rigorously be disciplined to keep looking for their strong value proposition, study their audience, consumer choices to succeed
• Be very research-driven and consumer-centric. Build something that customers want and need. Everything will follow, the revenue, funding etc.

Also Read:Why Kay Mok Ku of Gobi Partners thinks VCs will become like influencers in a post-pandemic world

For the next year

• For 2021, VCs are keeping a lot of dry powder and this will continue as everyone is more careful about spending
• The key emphasis is going to be quality over quantity
• Helping retail to go from offline to online will be a big opportunity
• F&B is still far behind and the pandemic brought that to life. So startups that will help traditional businesses be more digitally enabled will be rewarded.
• Besides, health tech, AI for health, etc. will be undoubtedly be shining

Resources

Check out the full video recording and learn more about Berry’s thoughts on 2021 here:

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In Australia, the summer of 2020 saw China allegedly perform a calculated attack on primary Australian government resources. In response to this unprecedented provocation, the Australian prime minister does not send fighter jets.

No bombs or missiles are launched. The people called to arms are not trained in hand-to-hand combat, but every one of them can tilt the balance in historic, decades-long conflicts: Hackers.

It is no secret that in the 21st century, cyber threats are often as dangerous as bombs. A well-planned attack could shut down a city and cause massive financial losses, injuries, and even deaths. In the APAC region, digital threats reveal increasing diplomatic destabilisation.

Only several months ago, violent incidents on the Ladakh region border between China and India reportedly led to Chinese DDoS attacks on Indian sites. Similar incidents allegedly occurred in disputes between India and Nepal, North Korea, and Pakistan. Cyber violence could be the result of armed conflict, or it could very well lead to one.

In the next years, we will see them playing a crucial part in conflicts already in place, as well as future points of friction. But why, exactly, did cyberattacks become such a go-to modus operandi for countries and nations in recent years?

Both the best option and the last resort

“Cyber activity offers governments unique advantages over traditional warfare,” says Evan Davidson, VP of Asia Pacific Japan at SentinelOne. “From a contemporary point of view, the digital front is far superior to the historic battlefields of the 20th century. Using cyber-based reconnaissance, governments can collect valuable information faster, from the safety of their own country.

The lives of their agents are in far less of a risk, too. The possibilities are incredibly varied, from military to trade secrets and intellectual property. China, India, North Korea, and other military superpowers have been employing those methods for years.

What pushed cyber warfare over the edge was how hard traditional intelligence and stealth activities were becoming. There are cameras everywhere these days – nothing you do goes unnoticed. The prevalence of biometric identification and face recognition renders the use of fake identities nearly impossible.

Also Read: Cybersecurity in the age of information warfare and IoT

Consider the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in 2010 –allegedly done by one of the most prestigious covert organisations in the world. The agents were detected almost instantly, with basic security footage and rudimentary police technology.

Ten years later, any teenager with a smartphone could expose international operations with one tap. In that sense, cyberattacks carry a smaller risk for militaries.

The real threat is not military warfare

The number of cyberattacks on governments is steadily growing. In Australia, the number of cybersecurity data breaches and loss incidents rose by 78 per cent from 2017 to 2018 (BDO, 2018). Today, digital war fronts are still a playground for developed, wealthy countries with vast resources and advanced technologies.

Proven statistics from countries such as China, Russia, and North Korea are not available, for obvious reasons, but based on reports, they are well-known for taking on offensive cyber activities as part of their military strategy. This trend is already shifting in the APAC region and worldwide as more countries develop similar abilities.

However, the biggest unpredictable threats are not posed by governments, but by the real underdogs.

Digital attacks are unique in that private entities and organisations can carry them. All you really need is a computer and a network connection. This creates new subsections of threats that are hard to track and prevent. Guerilla groups, semi-formal organisations, or even individual aggressors can now cause real harm to anyone they have a grudge against.

Davidson agrees, adding, “It may be someone with a score to settle or a political or ethnic agenda. However, in most cases, the motives are economical. Countries, companies, and individuals alike work to gain a financial advantage over their enemies or competitors. In the future, we are likely to see a great deal of offensive activity coming not from militaries, but from business and financial entities.”

Also Read: Cybersecurity threats on the rise as companies shift to the WFH model

As the threat from players that are nations or entities working on behalf of nations increase, in parallel to the continued growth of cybercrime activity, new types of risks and attack models are being created. This calls for new types of solutions for cybersecurity since Nation players are often sophisticated enough to understand how to bypass existing solutions and also have the ability to combine cyber means with other more traditional means in a way that can jeopardise an existing array of cybersecurity solutions.

Such new solutions are likely to come from the startups’ ecosystem since they are usually the ones with the flexibility and speed to react fast to new types of threats.

While recently, most of the market for cybersecurity solutions was in the US, it has begun growing in Europe and lately in Asia. Today, Asia is already a ripe market for cybersecurity solutions, and we are witnessing a stream of startups from Israel and other places developing business efforts towards that market.

“Any person or company may be at risk. The good news? This is a risk you can mitigate,” sums up Davidson.  “With sound security infrastructure and air-tight solutions, you can give your assets 360-degree protection against all attack threats.”

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This article is published as a part of a partnership with Future Food Asia. Aqua Development is one of the 11 finalists of the US$100,000 Future Food Asia (FFA) 2020 Award to be hosted from September 21-25.

Asia is home to some of the largest shrimp producers and consumers in the world. Production in Asia is dominated by intensive farms of varying sizes, which produce multiple crops of shrimp every year, with a fair share of them destined to be exported overseas.

In such conditions, food safety, biosecurity, and sustainability concerns are overwhelming, as antibiotics are frequently used to prevent disease outbreaks, and significant waste is produced from frequent water exchange. This is often inevitable, not only due to poor management but also a higher likelihood of contamination and disease outbreaks in intensive conditions.

Enter aquamimicry – a system that mimics and reproduces natural ocean conditions inside the ponds. Aqua Development, based in South Korea, derives its technology from aquamimicry to reproduce the most critical elements of the natural ecosystem inside their farm.

Nature is the world’s best teacher

Co-Founder Othman has derived inspiration from nature, which has for billions of years refined, optimised, and fine-tuned its processes, balances, and systems. Humanity has managed to understand some of them, but many still remain undiscovered or not fully understood. He thus believes that mimicking natural processes and balances is key to achieving great performance in aquaculture.

Classical aquaculture, such as RAS (recirculating aquaculture system), tends to eliminate any organisms and factors aside from the cultured species, placing the emphasis on crop specialisation to gain yield.

This eliminates the symbiotic dynamics between the cultured species and its natural environment, many of which are extremely important yet not fully understood. As a result, RAS often displays unexplained issues such as slow growth, animal fragility, short longevity, and strange smell and flavour.

Also Read: 7 Asian startups putting the spotlight on agriculture

Aqua Development tries to do the opposite by introducing natural factors into their pond ecosystem as possible, with particular attention to the micro-ecosystem. The entire ecosystem ensures that the shrimp stay alive and thrive by improving shrimp health and immunity, thus obviating the need for antibiotics, further chemicals, and additional food source.

This demonstrates a younger school of thought that considers biodiversity to be an asset, which eventually can positively impact yield.

Slowly but surely…

Othman strongly believes that sustainability doesn’t have to be achieved at the cost of high profitability, and vice versa. He hopes to make this statement the new ‘common sense’ within the industry, as Aqua Develop continues to grow and gain traction.

Their announcement as a finalist at Future Food Asia 2020 has recently helped them build a connection with several VCs, other startups, and potential partners within the ecosystem.

Also Read: How can fintech help agriculture

Aqua Development hopes to further grow and expand its technology to drive down the initial setup costs so that small scale farmers in developing nations would be able to afford it. By making their technology more accessible, they can allow for domestic production in countries often reliant on food imports, thus adding resilience to the local supply chain.

Another ambition is to adapt and generalise the system to other species of crustaceans and fish, thus adding sustainability and profitability to a wider farming community. There is a long road ahead, but it’s the thrill of the process that keeps them moving forward.

Their greatest achievement thus far has been seeing their idea transition into a company with its large-scale project – slowly but surely, they’ll get there.

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NTUitive, the innovation and enterprise company of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has launched a new programme called VB18 to help graduates and working professionals explore options in the entrepreneurial space.

The programme will allow Singaporeans to build a business alongside serial entrepreneurs and get paid while doing it.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about disruptive change in many areas, including the job market. In Singapore, job prospects across all sectors have been hit hard. As a result, the conventional job hunting process by fresh graduates is being thrown into disarray, leading them to explore alternative options instead,” the company said in a statement.

VB18 provides a 12-month venture building programme which will be funded by the SGUnited Traineeships Programme, for which 18 fresh graduates will be selected as venture builders.

They will undergo NTUitive’s experiential entrepreneurship education programme and work with and learn from seasoned entrepreneurs to build disruptive, tech-enabled and regionally-focused companies.

NTUitive will be owning a minority stake in the companies. As the programme progresses, it may also inject funds and earn more shares according to the valuation.

Individuals will also learn how to raise funding, leadership, business operations and growth hacking. They will also receive training and advice from experts, along with funding support.

Besides, selected participants, known as “venture builders”, will also receive a monthly stipend of US$1,800 per month.

Also Read: This app makes your SMS inbox organised and intuitive; sends you contextual offers based on the content

The criteria

According to NTUitive Interim CEO Dr Alex Lin, applicants need to depict three qualities to be selected for VB18 which are crucial for success. They are entrepreneurial inclination, resiliency, and tenacity.

“You need to have a certain inclination to be entrepreneurially successful, this is based on the 10-year research that we have done,” he told e27.

“We have worked with the NTU Business School, Psychology and Mathematics Departments to redesign a psychological profile that studies a person’s inclination. That is our number one deciding criteria before we invite them,” he explained.

Although there are no grade requirements, the psychological profiling quiz with 150 questions is mandatory for applicants. Knowledge of a particular subject and experience are bonuses.

He also pointed out that the programme is not looking for “technical entrepreneurs”, as the founders in the programme will be provided with an extensive set of resources such as a commercialisation team and an entire software team that will help them build the product.

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Image Credit: NTUitive

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Malaysia-headqauartered online shopping aggregator iPrice Group has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from JG Digital Equity Ventures (JGDEV), the corporate venture capital arm of Philippines-based JG Summit Holdings.

This is the continuation of the group’s Series B Investment, which was announced in March this year. The round is led by ACA Investments with participation from Daiwa PI Partners, and returning investors LINE Ventures, Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund.

Also Read: Southeast Asian e-commerce group iPrice raises funding from LINE’s corporate VC arm

This financing will allow the group to tap into the Philippines’s large e-commerce market and enhance its current product. 

With the help of JGDEV, iPrice has already secured partnerships with local companies such as RewardsMart in the Robinsons Rewards mobile app and Summit Media’s online domain PEP.ph. It plans to explore more opportunities across the Gokongwei Group of Companies (a VC firm focussed on e-commerce). 

iPrice is a meta-search engine that helps customers find a wide selection of products and brands from hundreds of its partners in Southeast Asia.

“iPrice has a unique approach. It doesn’t aim to compete with other players, but instead, it enables these players to have more channels. As a result, it connects them to more consumers. It enables consumer transactions to be deeper and wider through its comprehensive understanding of the digital economy,” said JGDEV President and CEO Jojo Malolos.

Besides Malaysia, the group also operates in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Hong Kong, and claims to have about 20 million monthly visits across the region. 

While COVID-19 has affected almost all the industries globally, e-commerce has largely been spared and it has shows immense resilience and continues to grow strong.

According to a Google-backed report, Southeast Asia’s e-commerce industry is predicted to reach US$180 billion by 2025. With e-commerce’s recent accelerated adoption, the industry is expected to experience an even stronger boost. 

Also Read: Roundup: E-commerce enabler iPrice Group names new CEO

iPrice recently appointed Paul Brown-Kenyon as its new CEO.

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Image Credit: iPrice

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Merchantrade Asia, a home-grown digital money services company and e-money issuer in Malaysia, has fully acquired local fintech player Valyou from Telenor Group, following a competitive bidding exercise.

As per a press statement, Merchantrade has obtained all regulatory approvals for the acquisition.

Following the deal, the businesses, operations and staff force of Valyou will be merged with Merchantrade and operate as a single entity by the end of 2020.

Also Read: Malaysia’s cross-border remittance is going through a renaissance, say fintech experts

It will result in Merchantrade having a combined annual remittance turnover value (based on 2019 figures) of more than RM 11 billion (US$2.7 billion), which includes domestic outbound and international aggregator transactions.

The new entity will have a staff strength of over 1,200 and a network of over 1,700 touch-points and will serve a customer base of over three million.

According to Merchantrade MD Ramasamy K Veeran, the acquisition will also consolidate and significantly bump up Merchantrade’s share of Malaysia’s large migrant-worker customer base which is a major user of the cross-border remittance services.

“To serve the migrant worker segment effectively, we’ve built an ecosystem of relevant financial services through industry partnerships and collaborations. We currently work with AXA and MCIS to offer affordable micro-insurance products. The acquisition of Valyou will further strengthen and expand our digital channel and present us with new opportunities to partner with more financial services provider and set the stage for us to go regional,” he added.

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

Valyou is a player in the e-money and cross-border digital remittance services industry in Malaysia, which is going through a renaissance . It serves a customer base of over one million through its online and app-based digital channels and physical network comprising 22 branches, 20 agents and 1,200 cash-in cash-out (CICO) merchants.

Merchantrade is a money transfer, e-money issuer, wholesale currency services and foreign currency exchange service provider. It operates at 81 retail money services outlets with footprints in major and high-end shopping malls, which offer retail currency, remittance, and on-boarding of Merchantrade Money.

In July, Merchantrade acquired an additional 21 per cent stake in KLIQ, a fully digital cross-border remittance service provider based on Singapore, to increase its stake to 70 per cent.

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Image Credit: Merchantrade Asia

 

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AMTD Digital, the Singapore subsidiary of Hong Kong-based investment baking firm AMTD Group, has secured a S$386 million (US$285 million) in a new financing round.

Key investors include Value Partners, Greater Bay Area Homeland Investments, Vision Knight Capital, Ariana Capital, Maoyan Entertainment, and Infinity Power.

Calvin Choi, Chairman of AMTD Group and AMTD Digital, said: “We have chosen Singapore as our global headquarters to build a one-stop digital solutions platform that connects the ASEAN market with our solid financial services presence in Hong Kong, including a digital bank joint venture with Xiaomi. We are committed to connecting the dots across the many major markets in Asia to create a one-stop digital solutions platform.”

Also Read: AMTD Digital to acquire Singapore’s insurtech startup PolicyPal

“We are not restricting or limiting ourselves to providing financial services, but we are pushing our capabilities and strengths beyond to providing a plethora and diverse range of solutions that include digital connectors and ecosystem building, digital intelligence and data analytics, digital media and marketing,” he added.

Osman Faiz, Chief Information and Operating Officer of AMTD Digital, added: “We embrace new ideas and new value creation for the regional and international scenes. We are committed to nurturing local talent and cultivating innovation both within AMTD and in the wider ecosystem, as we grow across and along the industry.”

AMTD Digital builds a one-stop digital solutions platform that connects different stakeholders in the SpiderNet ecosystem via digital innovations.

Last year, AMTD Digital, together with Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, established Airstar Bank and had obtained one of the first eight virtual banking licenses issued by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

In March, AMTD Digital announced that it would acquire a controlling stake in Singapore-based insurtech startup PolicyPal.

Recently, AMTD Solidarity Fund, backed by AMTD Digital and the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network, invested US$8.5 million in five companies: Funding Societies, Active.ai, Cardup, Transwap, and PolicyPal.

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Image credit: AMTD Digital

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The Panasonic Deep Tech Innovation Challenge has reached its conclusion, with Demo Day successfully being held between 28^th July to 30^th July 2020. Launched in April 2020, Panasonic’s innovation call sought to collect ideas from local businesses to develop technologies and launch new businesses with Panasonic’s smell detection technologies. These technologies are unique in being able to detect smell and visualise the relevance of that to human’s life.

The technologies in the challenge include Panasonic’s Odor Sensing technology ,which have many commercial applications in industries such as healthcare, food manufacturing, industrial safety. Other than that, Panasonic’s Skin Gas Sensing technology also has deep expertise in stress detection by human skin-gas sensing which is relevant in many setting such as in the workplace, schools and homes.

This challenge was rolled out as part of Panasonic’s vision to utilise its technologies to bring impactful solutions to existing social and customer issues. Panasonic hopes to co-create new solutions and potentially launch businesses that can deliver its technology to make a significant difference to existing and new issues.

In collaboration with the Action Centre for Entrepreneurship (ACE) and ICMG to identify suitable partners, the challenge attracted over 32 project proposals in total. 7 finalist teams pitched their business ideas to a jury panel composed of experts from Panasonic Corporation (Japan), Panasonic R&D Centre Singapore and ICMG. The judges were thoroughly impressed by the quality of ideas generated by participants and finalist.

After careful deliberation, two teams were selected as Final Winners for each challenge respectively.  The finalist who presented in Challenge 1 showcased ideas that were applicable in different industries ranging from Hospitality to Supply Chain Logistics where Panasonic will collaborate to co-create and launch new solutions to critical customer issues.

Also Read: Beyond COVID-19: A new era for deep tech startups

The winners

The following are the top two prize-winners for Panasonic Deep Tech Innovation Challenge 2:

Cogniant.co, represented by Neeraj Kothari, is remote patient monitoring platform for chronic health conditions which uses behaviour analytics for outcome based tracking and preventative care. Cogniant.co’s vision for Panasonic’s business opportunity is to co-create measurements of stress through health data.

ELXR, represented by Steffan Fung, offers innovative and personalised solutions that harness the power of sports technology and science including ELXR Personalised Cloud Sports Club and ELXR Sports DNA Test Kit. Their idea includes integrating stress detection into their solution to provide a new angle of evaluation and enhancement of their complete solution.

Panasonic Deep Tech Innovation Challenge has finally reached a close with the conclusion of Demo Day! We would like to thank all participants for your support and contributing with your innovative ideas. Do continue to keep a look out on our social media for exciting new developments and innovation challenges in the future!

Also Read: Develop new solutions and technologies with Panasonic Deep Tech Innovation Challenge

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by 
Panasonic

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