Grab-gojek merger talks gain steam as key investors push for a deal: report; Both firms are still deadlocked over management and geographical control; As per DSA sources, a core group of the Grab management strongly opposes the idea and is interested only in an Indonesia-only merger. DealStreetAsia
China’s Ant eyes SEA e-payment dominance with IPO; In the region, Ant has already invested in Thailand’s Ascend Money, with its TrueMoney brand, Indonesia’s Dana, and the Philippines’ Mynt, under partnerships with major local companies; When Ant invests in local players, it likes to highlight the benefits it brings to its new partners beyond cash, such as its tech and know-how. Nikkei Asia Review
Freshket nets US$3M from Openspace Ventures, Tanihub founders, others; It is an e-commerce marketplace that brings together farmers and food processors to supply fresh produce to B2B and B2C customers in Thailand; For the B2B segment, the local food service market is worth over US$7.7B in annual purchases spread across more than 200K restaurants. e27
CEO Nay Min Thu on how iMyanmarHouse remains profitable despite COVID-19; He says since they couldn’t do any business activities, they initially thought of hibernating throughout the lockdown; But they came to realise that this virus situation was not going to go away any time soon. The big lesson is that “adapt quickly” to the changing market situations. e27
Golden Equator Capital (GEC), Korea Investment Partners (KIP) reportedly deferred final close of US$87M joint fund; The GEC-KIP Technology and Innovation Fund has secured just US$57M, far below the target; The GEC-KIP Fund fund’s portfolio companies include Rever and Glints. DealStreetAsia
Should SEA’s super apps follow the same route as their Chinese peers?; To become super apps, each company is taking different routes; While China’s WeChat and Alipay opened their system to third-party companies via mini programmes, companies like Grab and gojek decided to add more functions into their app through in-house development of new functions or the acquisition of existing startups. KrAsia
How Supahands works with customer feedback to plan their international expansion; According to its CRO Greg Meehan, if a startup enters a new market too soon, with a shaky foundation and an unoptimised process, they can expect to burn a lot of money with no guarantee of success. e27
Enterprise Singapore launches Energy Open Innovation Challenge for startups, SMEs; The challenge is calling for innovative solutions that address 19 challenge statements spanning asset management, robotics, sustainability and workflow; Eligible SMEs and startups will get up to US$730K in grants. SGSME
Indonesia’s vehicle tracking, fleet management startup Webtrace raises funding from Corin Capital; This is the extension of its seed round, which was led by Prasetia Dwidharma; The funds will be used to strengthen its marketing and customer acquisition strategy as well as expanding sales headcounts. e27
Singapore remains APAC’s most innovative nation; The Global Innovation Index ranking is based on 80 indicators, such as mobile app creation and ease of starting a business; Singapore fared well in traditionally strong input indicators such as political and operational stability, government effectiveness and tertiary education. The Straits Times
Malaysia’s Science and Tech ministry (MOSTI) launches US$2.4M social impact match (SIM) grant to elevate social enterprise (SE) recovery; The SIM Grant aims to support local SEs and other social impact businesses to sustain their initiatives and programmes, harness their capability to fundraise, increase public awareness in social innovation and scale their solutions for good social and/or environmental outcomes. Digital News Asia
How can startups be crisis-proof?; Adaptability is the only way for companies to come out of a crisis like COVID-19; Companies that cling to old models of operations are only accelerating their demise; A good example here would be that of the fitness industry. e27
What you need to include to build an effective pitch deck; Generally, you should have two different versions of your deck; Firstly, one that has lots of white space and relatively few words; the second one that has enough words that it can stand on its own if you need to email it to someone. e27
Getting smarter with tech: How will smart cities look like 10 years from now?; To accommodate this growth sustainably, our smart city will need to address traffic congestion, air pollutants, and waste processing; Sustainability would be an overarching theme that will shape the future in the next 10 years. e27
E-wallet providers reaching out to all Malaysians; The steady growth of e-wallets signifies that Malaysians are resilient and open to exploring new ways to live, pay, and transact; To achieve widespread acceptance, there is a need to encourage behavioural changes towards a cashless lifestyle. The Star
Disruptive fintech is the best bet to economic recovery post COVID-19; Fintechs can provide solutions to SMEs that are not only more comprehensive and convenient, but also safer; Perhaps one of the most important qualities about fintech solutions today is that customers can remotely access financial services without the need to physically visit a bank, or handle physical cash. The Next Web
The architect, the sunbird or the integrator: What kind of entrepreneur are you?; Creators are very hard to find and the country, ecosystem, or government that is the most welcoming will be the one that ultimately wins; The opposite is also true; creators might leave if they find that their existing surroundings are not ideal. e27
MaGIC’s Global Accelerator Programme (GAP) cohort 4 will focus on innovation, transformation and resilience in the face of crisis; GAP is a mid-to-late startup growth programme offering startups with upskilling opportunities, access to mentorship and route-to-partners, and a chance to expand their business regionally. Digital News Asia
Singapore’s YouthTech programme to equip 1K youths with digital skills, offer work experience; It is open to all youths, but recent graduates from the Institute of Technical Education, polytechnics and universities will get priority; Unemployed people aged 35 or younger in 2021 may also apply, regardless of their educational background or qualifications. Channel News Asia
‘Not the time to be slowing down’: YouTrip CEO on pivoting from travel spend to e-commerce; With the complete halt in travel around the world, VCs-backed YouTrip ran the risk of users completely forgetting about its existence; The two-year-old company had to quickly refresh its business model to ensure that it remained relevant despite the pause in travel. Vulcan Post
Vietnam eyes development of smart cities; The nation is building three of the first 26 smart cities in the region — Hanoi, HCM City and Đà Nẵng; These three cities have seen the development of public infrastructure to provide residents services in education, health care, transportation, construction and environmental protection. Vietnam News
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