A recent survey by a major publication in Singapore sparked a discussion about the value of art and artists in society. The survey found that over 70 per cent of the respondents picked artists as non-essential jobs.

It was later highlighted that the survey responses were closely tied to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic where essential needs such as health and food were arguably top of mind. However, the debate over the value of art and education in the arts persisted.

As a former scholar of an unusual combination of applied maths, engineering, and studio art, I am keen to reflect on what this will mean for the future of STEM, particularly in the field of data and AI.

There is plenty of discussion about diversity but acceptance of diversity is a larger economic, political, socio-economic question. Diversity is about accepting differences and not forcing men, women, NLP engineers, data artists, decision scientists to fit into the same mold.

In AI, this is especially true. As we advance towards a data-driven future, AI will require not just data and engineering skills but increasingly, and some argue, more importantly, there will be a need to emphasise judgment, decision-making, and people skills.

I have spent over 10 years in technology, moving from science-based health projects to pure technology across three countries. However, I didn’t choose a career path in tech. I knew from very early on that I wanted a people-focused career and tech was just the medium. My real passion was and remains mathematical storytelling.

Also Read: How learning like babies can be the future of AI?

By choosing to study the different areas that I did, I was able to combine both my analytical and creative talents and get involved in game-changing innovation like building robotic arms for smart prosthetics and then moving across the world to delve into the world of insights for large technology companies.

In my current role at GitLab, what I love most is making tech work for customers around the world through new innovation. We now have the capability to solve things that we couldn’t before through the lens of AI, but we can do this effectively only when we embrace the diversity in passions and talent.

As humans, we find comfort in certainty and reproducibility. For employers, to hire a good data scientist, they would fall back on a checklist of the robotic skills (python, stats, presentation). However, to build a good AI model, one not only needs a mathematician but also poets, storytellers, linguistic specialists, among others.

Instead of viewing analytics and soft skills as two distinct skill sets, they should be considered as part of the same genre of human problem-solving skills. How we use tools is the craft but how we apply these tools to creatively solve a human problem is an art. Analytics is, therefore, a subset of soft skills and vice versa.

In our day-to-day lives as STEM professionals, we have to be active listeners to understand the needs of customers, their problems, and their desires. Only with that understanding can we creatively craft the analytics solution to solve the need and articulate how the solution fits in the holistic journey of the customers.

We have reached the point in time where humanity and technology co-exist and our lives get more intertwined with technology in one way or another. While there is no denying that enhancing our technical skills is paramount, I believe that skills such as critical thinking, communication, and decision-making are equally important.

For example, Pure Math is a craft but Applied Math and how we use it to solve problems is art. Similarly in AI, we have data, tools, fast computing engines, fast mathematical solutions such as tensor flow, DevOps frameworks extended to Machine Learning (ML)Ops, AIOps and DataOps, but how we apply all these tools and concepts to solve a human problem is a work of art.

Also Read: How this project uses artificial intelligence to help develop restaurants’ menu

We need all sorts of minds in harmony orchestrating every gender of different myelinated fibre strength, not just in STEM but also in art to create the magic of AI. Diversity in AI is having a platform where passion and individuality are embraced and creatively used in unified machine prediction and storytelling, embracing the personalisation of strengths and complementing each other’s weaknesses, finding freedom through problem-solving in the harmony of different backgrounds, age, sex, mindsets without altering each other.

At GitLab, the phrase “Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging” (or DIB) refers to the terminology for the initiative to create a diverse workforce and an environment where everyone can be their full selves.

The approach will help us not only in creating better AI models but fundamentally change the way we interact with computers, to make human interaction and society more efficient and ultimately enable a digitised ecosystem to solve critical problems and barriers to our evolution.

In order to achieve the true potential of an AI-driven world, we need to support young people in genuinely choosing their passion without any discrimination, whether they be science, technology or art, philosophy and international relations.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been brutal to startups and small businesses. How so?

Unlike big businesses, startups don’t have large cash reserves or profit margins to keep the wheels turning during unexpected slumps.

Reverse revenue churn coupled with business overheads have pushed many startups towards bankruptcy and shut down.

Startups in the seed phase (when businesses are low on liquidity since they are mostly bootstrapped or self-funded) have been most vulnerable. As their services/products were yet to generate revenue from real customers, they were forced to fold back operations before reaching maturity. 

While new-born startups had it extra-tough, the “valley of death” (in startup language) has engulfed startups in all stages.

Now, as the business world unlocks from global lockdowns, startups that we’re fortunate to survive the slowdown are looking for recovery plans to get their revenue engine up and running.

In this post, I’ll explain a few smart survival strategies for startups to emerge stronger in a post- COVID-19 world.

Let’s get started.

Also Read: What gaming industry can teach the fashion industry amidst COVID-19

How can startups get back on track after COVID-19

Being the worst-affected demographic, startups need risk-free survival strategies to resurrect. They might need to overhaul their business plans and long-term vision.

Whatever disaster management tactics you use, first conduct a risk assessment on them. If you miss this crucial step, you might end up investing heavily in a tactic that doesn’t give proportionate returns.

As a startup owner, here are the steps that you need to take to get your business back on its feet:

Reassess your expenses

Startups with liquidity problems need to control their expenses from mounting during this slump. You need to take a good look at your balance sheet and segregate expenses into fixed and variable categories.

Expenses that have a direct impact on revenue cannot be avoided without disturbing the income stream. On the other hand, running costs such as consumables and rentals can be minimised with smart planning.

For instance, manufacturers can automate inventory management so that they are alerted when stock prices fall. They can redesign product lines to use lower-priced items. 

Travel tech startups can divert resources from hotels and entertainment (which are halted at the moment) into more profitable service areas such as facility management. 

For startups in all domains, investment in digital experiences and tools can reduce travel overheads without affecting productivity. There is virtually no key operation area that can’t be facilitated through automated tools.

Also Read: How to emerge stronger in a post COVID-19 world

Anything else?

Yes. Monitoring your cost-revenue balance should not be a one-time activity. You need to reassess your situation every three months at least. While planning resource allocation, it’s best to create short and flexible plans as the market is very unpredictable right now. 

Approach your existing investors for reinvestment

Every business needs capital to survive. Startups, in particular, rely heavily on venture capitalists (VC) or high-net-worth individuals (HNI) for funding. Since it’s uncertain when this pandemic will end, VC/HNI investors are extra-vigilant and taking their time evaluating investment opportunities.

Sound familiar?

I bet it does. But you don’t have to panic. You can approach your existing investors with reinvestment plans. Since they already have a stake in your business, there’s a good chance that they will extend the collaboration.

If you support your investment appeal with concrete business strategies and data-backed profit projections, you can make it a no-brainer for investors.

What if your investors don’t buy your story? Should you press the panic button?

Not yet. 

If you have liquid reserves, you can tide through this period and wait till you are better placed. In the meantime, keep a close watch on your business valuation. Make a strategic call about when to approach investors for round two of funding.

I might seem too optimistic, but I’m not joking when I say that you can convert this adversity into an opportunity. Use your business acumen and adaptability to create more business opportunities for yourself and your stakeholders. That can convince your investors to increase their equity stake.

Also Read: Has COVID-19 pushed us into the digital future?

Check business model for feasibility

Your startup might be marginally lucky if you are covered under essential services defined by state governments. By tweaking your working format, your business model will be feasible during and after the pandemic. 

However, if your supply chain is affected by government-imposed lockdowns, you might have to revisit business plans. You’ll have to relook your current financial position with regard to sales, bad debts, credit cycles, and collections.

Here are some ways by which you can pivot your business model to align with the “new normal” conditions:

• Renegotiate your variable expenses (equipment rentals, office leases, and salaries).
• Change your selling strategy from in-person to virtual.
• Focus on recovering bad debts.
• Cut down on travel expenses of operations teams by allowing them to work remotely.
• Scale down your marketing plans.
• Revise sales targets and product delivery timelines.

Through all this, it’s essential that you stay connected with all stakeholders, including vendors, workers, and customers. In such uncertain times, it’s easy for them to lose faith and look for other business opportunities, which can be a big setback for you. 

Explore alternative business models

The pandemic has changed buyer behaviour in a big way. Consumers prefer to engage with trusted brands who can assure them real value, deliverability, and customer service.

Startups are suddenly finding themselves locked in a heated competition with established brands.

To capitalise on the situation, your startup can try an affiliate business model.

Also Read: Humanising customer experience is the best way to build loyalty in a post-COVID-19 world

What’s that?

You can partner with reputable brands that sell complementary products. Though these brands are targeting the same audience as you, they are not direct competitors. They refer their customers to you in return for a commission. 

In this way, you earn new leads without spending a bundle on direct marketing.

However, the affiliate model is feasible only if it’s mutually beneficial. You will need to keep a watch on performance indicators that you and your affiliates mutually decide. If you have multiple affiliates generating leads for you from multiple channels, affiliate marketing platforms can help streamline things.

You can also ask existing customers for referrals and retarget lost leads to save on customer acquisition costs.

Demonstrate empathy

Lastly, brands need to be empathetic in all of their communications with workers, suppliers, and customers.

Why is that important?

Once markets bounce back, people will remember and reward brands that displayed integrity and compassion when times were tough. 

Also Read: How to organise your workforce for the volatile world

Also, there have been cases where brands have received negative publicity for mishandling their stakeholders. That can be disastrous for growing startups.

Startups need to be mindful of how the pandemic has changed customer expectations from brands. They need to step up their customer service game to beat the competition and retain customers.

You can crowd-source service ideas from customers by asking for their suggestions. Create feedback forms asking customers to share which services they expect from your brand. Implement the suggestions on priority. In this way, you can improve customer loyalty and also prevent your existing customers from going astray. 

When it comes to workers, you need to strike a balance between their professional aspirations and your business needs. While salary cuts and lay-offs might be inevitable, it’s good to go about it in a compassionate manner. Discuss the business situation with them honestly and explain why the rollbacks are necessary.

Startups that are transparent in their communication can boost their credibility and trust quotient, which can earn them new business opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has toppled the delicate ecosystem of startups. Even mature startups are finding it hard to adapt to the unprecedented challenges they are facing.

But new challenges build new capabilities. Startups need to keep up their efforts. The survival strategies in this post can help you sail through this period. Do you need more information on any of the tips I’ve mentioned? Leave your questions in the comments below. 

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Wavemaker Partners, Southeast Asia’s leading early-stage VC firm focussed on enterprise and deeptech startups, has announced the final close of its third Southeast Asia (SEA) fund at US$111 million, exceeding its initial target of US$100 million.

Also Read: Peace of mind: Meet the coworking space that aims to facilitate mental health professionals’ practices

The backers of the new fund include new investor Concentric Equity Partners will join existing ones Pavilion Capital, Temasek, IFC, and Vulcan Capital.

As per an earlier press release, Fund III aims to invest in 60 new companies with an initial check size of about US$500,000.

Since 2012, Wavemaker has built a wide-ranging portfolio across industry verticals (e.g. financial services, healthcare, food/agriculture), horizontal processes (e.g. HR, sales & marketing, cybersecurity), and technologies (AI, IoT, additive manufacturing). It has invested in over 130 startups, of which 100 (86 per cent) are enterprise-focused with over 40 (32 per cent) of these in deeptech and Artificial Intelligence.

Companies that have received funding from the VC firm include Zilingo​, ThinCI​,​ CashShield​, L​ynk​, ​Structo,​ ​Growsari,​ ​Igloohome​, Silent Eight, Novade, GudangAda and Transcelestial.

It also has some exits to its name, including Indonesian mobile point-of-sale system Moka (acquired by Gojek), cloud communications software company Wavecell (acquired by 8×8) and regional payments solutions provider Red Dot Payment (acquired by PayU/Naspers).

Wavemaker’s second fund worth US$66 million was one of the largest early-stage fund focused on enterprise and deeptech startups in the region.

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Patsnap’s software sales were actually higher in the past few months during COVID-19 than they were at the beginning of the year before the pandemic hit the world hard.

If you are wondering how, like us, then watch the latest webinar where we chatted with CEO of Patsnap, Jeffrey Tiong. He shared their transition from a sales-led to a product-led growth model and how COVID-19 actually enabled it.

Key takeaways

• In today’s hyperconnected business environment, it is not the fittest that survive, but the most adaptable one. This is in line with the idea that British naturalist Charles Darwin had proposed years ago.
• In the 1980s, when Microsoft and other software companies came into the market, purchasing decisions were made on a top-down basis. It was done with the big bosses in command.
• Patsnap traditionally relied on a sales-led growth model where the sales team would make cold calls to potential customers.
• The typical funnel looked like this: “We talk to them and ask if they are interested. If they are, we qualify them. We will do a demo. And once they’re once they agree to purchase, we will onboard them.”
• But now the department managers have the power and the budget to make these decisions. “We are entering the end-user era.”
• With examples such as Zoom and Slack, the end-user is now opening up and guiding enterprise decisions. This is the bottom-up era that has been going on for the past few years and COVID-19 has accelerated it.
• Product-led growth is when the end-user sees the value in a product and how it can aid their lives thus influencing their companies, startups, or even communities to adopt them.
• Patsnap shifted gears to the product-led growth since COVID-19 struck China and seen considerable results.
• While they still do the typical marketing approach such as using SEO, SEM, Content marketing, and other channels, they started a free use of the product in Q1 in China. Surprisingly, it has led to higher customer interest and lead generation for them.
• This “freemium” model allows the customers to use and test the product even before the salesperson gets to them. This totally changed the customer acquisition model for Patsnap. Their conversion rate was higher and user acquisition cost went down considerably.
• “Use your product to become your spokesperson and let the customers experience its value.”
• Product-led motion worked well for Patsnap across markets such as the US, China, and Europe.
• It is important to make the product journey simple and easy to use for consumers. Even if the product is free but complex for a user to comprehend and avail without guidance, it will not yield results.
• Continue to monitor and analyse metrics for users that log in but don’t continue using the free product. So keep looking for answers to the “why”.
• The funnel looks like this: Acquisition, activation, retention, revenue, referral.
• The right timing, employee buy-in, and a strong product are the only essentials you need for driving product-led growth.
• Be prepared to change your full company DNA. It will not just affect your customer acquisition but also operations, product development, and other areas.

Also Read: From sales-led to product-led: PatSnap founder shares how COVID-19 shifted their growth strategy

Silver lining

• Tiong emphasised that usually shifting to a product-led growth model would lead to resistance from the sales teams but COVID-19 is actually a good time to bring in this model. The markets are in a tizzy and this is a great time to adapt and shift gears. It is the best time to make a big change.
• Even if your product is a service or not easy to sell, there are many valuable propositions. It can be a feature, it can be a part of the product, etcetera. So look harder.
• For an entrepreneur, anything is possible.

Worth mentioning

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”- Charles Darwin

“We have seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.” – Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft

Resources

To know more about what happens to your existing sales team when you adopt this model, or how to retain the new customers and more, check out the full video recording.

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Consumer spending recovers in Singapore: Revolut data

The story: Financial super app Revolut has revealed data showing the recovery of consumer spending in Singapore as it enters Phase Two of its post-circuit breaker measures.

More data: After facing a hit during COVID-19 lockdown, restaurant and in-store shopping transactions are returning to normalcy and have increased in growth up to 125 per cent and 168 per cent respectively.

Transport has also seen a spike of growth with Gojek increasing by 96 per cent and Grab by 41 per cent. Lazada and RedMart have also seen growth of 25 per cent followed by online marketplaces.

Analysis: Digital payments are expected to grow as more consumers turn to contactless transactions solutions in the current climate.

Also Read: Peace of mind: Meet the coworking space that aims to facilitate mental health professionals; practices

Walrus raises funding

The story: Bangalore-based neobank Walrus has announced an undisclosed amount of funding for its platform.

Investor: Better Capital (lead investor), Raveen Sastry (Co-founder, Myntra), Raghunandan G (CEO of TaxiForSure), Brijesh Thakkar

Plans with the capital: Hiring and enhancing current product

More about Walrus: A digital-only banking platform aimed for teenagers to help them manage their money smartly and incorporate good financial habits.

Through the app, parents will be able to set saving goals for their children, teach them how to invest small amounts of money in SIPs and mutual funds and teach them to budget their expenses. The app is currently still in its beta stage.

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Image Credit: Revolut

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Startup Impact Summit 2020 (#SIS20), a part of StartmeupHK Festival 2020, has wrapped up its online conference. Hosted by WHub, Hong Kong’s startup community platform and connector, and organised by Invest Hong Kong, the conference claimed to have attracted over 5,000 attendees across two days.

The conference featured a series of keynote sessions, panel discussions, fireside chats, and workshops with speakers from some of the biggest players in the startup scene, including Ester Wong from Sensetime, Alex Zaccaria from Linktree, Nick Halla from Impossible Foods, and Satya Tammareddy from Stripe.

“This is the first year we’ve held the Startup Impact Summit online and we are beyond thrilled by the level of attendance, the quality of speakers and the tremendous feedback from our attendees, supporters, partners and participants. Technology is changing the way we live and work and also the way we conference,” says Karena Belin, Co-Founder and CEO of WHub and AngelHub.

“This is a testament to the true potential of the startup and tech scene in Hong Kong and the power it has for doing business on an international level,” Belin added.

One of the session talked about the role of diversity and inclusion in impact and innovation. The panel of young entrepreneurs each in their own way discussed how they have developed their businesses based on different themes of diversity and inclusion within the context of the LGBT community.

Palis Pitsuttisarun, Founder of Prism; Jason Miao, Founder of Pacific Connect Group; and Ryan Figueiredo, Executive Director of Equal Asia Foundation; all found that diversity and inclusiveness in a startup ecosystem result in incredibly innovative ideas.

Also Read: Entrepreneurs share COVID-19’s impact on their businesses in a survey by Startup Genome

In addition to Startup Impact Summit 2020, Hack.Asia, the annual hackathon hosted by WHub and powered by Jardines, also took place from July 6-8. More than 800 startups, students and innovators participated in the final round of Hack.Asia, a 36-hour virtual hackathon with the support from educational institutions and startup ecosystems around the world.

This year, the hackathon received over 1,000 applications from more than 10 countries. Eighty-four finalist teams (comprising 34 startups and 50 student-led teams) were selected for developing and designing technology-driven solutions to address challenges faced by market-leading businesses in the region.

Winners received cash prizes and the opportunity to advance a Proof of Concept with the sponsor.

The final pitches and award ceremony took place on the Main Stage (powered by Visa) during Startup Impact Summit at StartmeupHK Festival 2020. The Grand Prize was awarded to FoodieXpress, an AI-enabled business intelligence platform from Boston.

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Image Credit: StartmeupHK Festival 2020

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Burgreens investment

The story: DealStreetAsia reports that Indonesian plants-based food chain Burgreens has raised an undisclosed sum in funding.

Investors: Teja Ventures, Angel Investment Network of Indonesia.

What is Burgreens?: It is a plant-based food company which operates restaurants as well as provides Asian taste plant-based meats alternative. Burgreens was started in November 2013 by a young vegetarian couple Max and Helga.

Started as Jakarta’s first organic healthy plant-based eatery and catering, Burgreens has now grown into a community-based social business connecting local farmers, a passionate team, and conscious customers to bring great tasting plant-based meals for everyone.

Shippit enters Singapore

The story: Australian SaaS logistics startup Shippit has officially launched in Singapore. The company has partnered with Shopify to launch a cash on delivery model for Southeast Asian merchants and retailers.

Plans: It aims to expand into Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia in the near future.

What is Shippit?: The Shippit platform enables retailers to instantly ship with Asia’s leading carriers, share tracking and notifications and access dedicated delivery support. Shippit serves more than 6,000 customers a month across Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. The company is backed by Aura Group.

SEA startups in MedTech programme

The story: US-based nonprofit accelerator MedTech Innovator, in partnership with Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed), has announced the 20 companies selected to participate in its Asia Pacific Accelerator programme.

List of Southeast Asian startups:

• CellWave Technologies (Singapore)
• Credo Diagnostics Biomedical (Singapore)
• FathomX (Singapore)
• Magloy Tech (Singapore)
• Naluri Life (Malaysia)
• Recornea (Singapore)
• Sporogenics (Singapore)
• X-ZELL (Singapore)

More details: Over 170 companies applied for the programme, but only four startups from the 2020 Asia Pacific cohort will advance to compete in the Grand Finals. The winning company, which will be determined by audience vote, stands to win a non-dilutive cash prize and the title of 2020 MedTech Innovator Asia Pacific Winner. In total, up to US$300,000 in cash prizes and awards will be given out to Accelerator companies.

Plum’s seed funding

The story: Plum, a Bengaluru-based group health insurance startup, providing modern health benefits to corporates, has raised INR 7 crore (over US$900,000) in seed funding.

Investors: Incubate Fund (lead), Gemba Capital, Tracxn Labs, angel investors

Plans with the capital: To scale business and engineering teams so as to solve some of the hardest engineering challenges in insurtech and build innovative distribution channels.

What is Plum?: Plum claims to provide employers and employees with more flexibility, transparent pricing, and quality healthcare experience. The platform says it understands the needs of a corporate and guides them on setting up their group health insurance in a short time.

It is working with nine insurance companies and has got 100-plus companies as customers.

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It’s easy to assume that Fefifo is just another urban-farming-going-digital company on the surface. But dig deeper and you will understand why their approach to farming is different –if not revolutionary.

The Malaysia-based agritech startup brings in the concept of coworking space into farming. They called it co-farming, where aspiring smallholder farmers can come and rent a space to grow ready-to-buy crops and find buyers to buy the crops.

The idea of the company came when the two co-founders, Kelveen Soh and Chris Fond, were inspired by a mutual childhood friend who is a smallholder farmer. The friend started a two-acre farm three-and-a-half years ago, but still encounters many problems in ensuring the farm lives up to its standard in operation and profit.

“We realised that by focussing on solving our friend’s problem, we actually solve the smallholder farmers’ problems in general,” says Fong. So, the company was officially established a year ago in Malaysia.

The troubles with farming

After a thorough study of the problems encountered by their friend, the founders concluded that the key problems faced by smallholder farmers are along the lines of spending tons of money on farming infrastructures and securing networks of regular buyers.

Fong adds that smallholder farmers often still find it hard to grow consistently as they lack access to reliable and consistent sources of knowledge. Moreover, the number of information that they can get their hands on are also limited, such as where and how to market their harvest.

There are also issues with the management and administration side of farming itself. Things such as financials and inventory ultimately become a hiccup in smallholder farm operations.

“We aim to take over all of these problems that smallholder farmers face, so they can focus on one thing that matters: growing their farms,” says Fong.

Not to be mistaken with urban farming

During the conversation with e27, Soh and Fong highlight the fact that they are not an urban farming company.

“We provide real farming spaces that are all ready to use,” says Soh.

“What we do is digitising the process of the farm operation, making sure the smallholder farmers get immediate access not only to the farming infrastructure but also to guaranteed markets and use a standardised digital growing protocol on Fefifo’s platform,” Fong adds.

In short, Fefifo takes away all the business formality side of farming, to give agropreneurs -the term they use to describe aspiring farmers- everything they need to start in the co-farming space. Joining Fefifo’s community, daily hassles such as expensive greenhouse and fertigation systems are all taken care of.

“We use the term co-farming because it’s much like joining a coworking space. Interested agropreneurs must first register and our team will have a look at the application. Once accepted to join the co-farming community, the agropreneur will pay up three month-deposit rent for a farm space and start immediately with growing crops, all curated by Fefifo,” says Fong.

What Fefifo provides in return is pre-harvest financial support, which is a loan that can jumpstart the agropreneur in running the farm. The agropreneur will then receive a one-week training to familiarise themselves with digital protocol to run the farm.

As proper commercial farm sources, Fefifo’s proprietary platform Digital Distributed
Farms Network (DDFN) allows for a digitalised and standardised crop financial models and crop growing, with SOPs of the entire seed-to-sale process. The digital workflow platform is all AI-empowered to help farmers control, manage, and grow more with less.

Also Read: These are the 5 game-changers in Indonesia’s agritech sector

“We focus on helping agropreneurs in monitoring the farm and making sure that it’s profitable with a guaranteed market. We welcome people who want to start right away, with or without a background in farming, without access to hiring CFO or COO for the farm, but want to learn anyway and make a steady income out of it,” Soh points out.

Soh notes that the agropreneur joining co-farming with Fefifo will be business owners themselves, with US$12,000 – 16,000 per year income.

The company targets fresh graduates and smallholder farmers as well as contract farming buyers. The last group is benefited by Fefifo’s regularly available supplies of crops.

According to Soh, there are many potential parties that can be contract buyers in the future, such as chilli sauce producers and grocers in Malaysia.

Going back to its roots in Malaysia, Fefifo also works with the local community in rural areas, villages, and nearby townships.

Confidence during crisis

When asked whether or not the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down their progress, the answer is a yes for the startup.

“We’re forced to push back on the timeline, although there’s not much change in operation,” says Soh.

“If anything, COVID-19 made us relook at how to better design our systems, and how well we would stand up to in an event of a future pandemic. As long as we put a stronger scenario in a farm space and prepare from what we learned, we are optimistic that we can weather future pandemic,” he continues.

Fefifo says that having to take a second look at what they have been doing enforces the confidence in what they are doing.

“There’s a spike of visitors into our site during the pandemic, and it helps boost the confidence in this sector. Seeing the government trying really hard to keep supply chains open really propels people to open their eyes in the opportunity lies in this business model,” Fong points out.

What comes next

In August, Fefifo plans to start operating its pilot farm in Negeri Sembilan. So far, they have three agropreneurs ready to start in the first batch of five acres land, which consists of one farmer for two acres of chilli farm, and two other farmers each tending to one acre of greenhouse rockmelon crop.

Also Read: These 5 Vietnam-based agritech startups are tackling the country’s fragmented farming sector

Fong points out that while there are many new innovations meant to help smallholders farmers, such AI, vertical farming, and drones, they are still “very small and hard to work with.”

“All these wonderful things [such as] micro biotech, robots … It’s all promising for the future of farming. We play a critical role in bridging these technologies to smallholder farmers, to filter and pick out the techs, to structure the policies, and accommodate the curation that smallholder farmers can use,” he details.

Fefifo is optimistic that their 10-year plan will work out.

“Within two years, we want to get to 50 acres of land within the Malaysia market, then Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Our plan features an expansion of 25 acres each year, as we’re optimistic that it can be scaled quickly and suitable to replicate for Southeast Asia,” the co-founders said.

In the past, Fefifo has raised S$950,000 (US$682,000) from angel and corporate investors and has recently started its equity crowdfunding campaign via Ata Plus.

The development that’s already in the pipeline will get the platform starting on big data while doing research with universities in Malaysia, as well as augmented reality and machine learning to close the financial gaps between farmers. It will help them get loans with AI-based credit models, forecast problems, and assess credit risk.

The platform will also provide access to profit and loss data recorded.

“There’s no more going to the bank, where these smallholder farmers financial histories are usually required. In their case, not many smallholder farmers can provide that, and hopefully in the future, with our platform they can provide the digital record of it,” says Soh.

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Image Credit: Fefifo

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Avion School, which helps Filipinos “become software engineers in 12 weeks”, has secured an undisclosed sum in pre-seed funding, led by Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen, a top executive of the edutech startup disclosed to e27.

San Francisco-based angel fund HEX Collective, besides several unnamed angels in the US and Europe, also joined the equity round.

“We will use the capital to help finance the next 15 batches of students within the next 12 months. This will allow us to bring over 400 new software engineering jobs into the market,” Avion Co-founder and CEO Victor Rivera said.

Also Read: How Fefifo aims to make farming cool again for the younger generation

“We are also keen on bringing an even stronger pool of engineers as instructors to ensure that their graduates are not only ready to get hired in the Philippines but also all across the world,” he added.

Avion was launched in Manila in May by Rivera and John Young (COO).

Rivera previously led Customer Success for PayMongo and also worked with WeClean (as Head of Growth) and Lalamove (as Logistics Consultant), whereas Young held various product roles in PDAX and MedGrocer.

Avion is building a new way for Filipinos to learn software development and other technical skills without having to pay upfront.

Its lessons/courses are derived from the specific skills that top startups in the world look for in their new hires.

Currently, Avion teaches a full-stack web development course, designed by MIT and Stanford computer science (CS) graduates and CTOs from well-funded startups.

The course is broken down into three parts: (1) frontend development under HTML, CSS and JavaScript; (2) backend development under Ruby and Ruby on Rails, and (3) learning to work with engineering teams.

As for the business model, Avion follows a concept called ‘income-share agreements’, which enables students to only pay for their tuition after they are hired as software engineers.

Learners are also free to make upfront payments of PHP 80,000 (~US$1,600).

The edutech venture is currently running two batches, comprising students from non-CS engineering and business school graduates to product managers. It also has a few CS graduates.

“We know the struggle of learning to code. This is why we try very hard to ensure that the courses we design are not just for computer science students, but also non-technical students,” Rivera said.

“We hold part and full-time courses on software development monthly, build real projects taken from startups in the US and Europe, and push our students to get hired globally,” he explained.

In addition to the core services on offer, Avion also helps its students find a job. For this, it has partnered with several hiring partners locally.

Huge market 

Rivera said that the Philippine market is huge with over 750,000 potential students, and there is a trend among people to learn coding. “The trend of learning to code is driven by the current shift from businesses relying on traditional business models and moving towards online. With that, we’re seeing more and more people learning not only to understand the fundamentals of programming, but more to build a new wave of products.”

Plus, the local internet economy is growing, so is the demand for more engineers.

“The country’s internet market is expected to reach US$25 billion by 2025, and we’re excited to build the engine supplying new startups with engineers,” he said.

Mateen connection

Avion School marks the Tinder co-founder’s second deal in the Philippines after a capital infusion into the online payments startup PayMongo last year.

Also Read: Facebook reveals 13 participants selected for its Community Accelerator programme in Asia Pacific

Rivera revealed that Mateen was introduced to him by PayMongo founders. When Mateen got to know about Avion’s pre-seed funding plans, he jumped in and saw potential of being able to use Southeast Asia-based engineers in Silicon Valley.

Mateen has also joined in as a Direct Advisor to the company.

 

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Image Credit: 123rf.com

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