Indonesia’s e-commerce enabler SIRCLO raises US$6M Series B from East VC, Sinar Mas, others; The firm acquired 12M new users as stringent social distancing measures were on amidst the COVID-19 pandemic; In May, SIRCLO merged with local competitor ICUBE. e27
Huawei launches its deep-tech startups accelerator in Singapore; ‘The Spark’ will offer cloud credits of up to US$125K, AI development fund of up to US$100K to each startup; The Chinese tech giant will invest ‘millions of dollars’ to support deep-tech startups focusing on 5G, AI, analytics, IoT, mobile edge computing, as well as mobile and SaaS apps. TechInAsia
Singapore e-commerce firm Intrepid Group raises pre-Series B co-led by Thakral, Sun SEA Capital; The funding will be used to help brands and SMEs “accelerate their growth” on e-commerce platforms such as Lazada, Shopee across SEA; Besides Singapore, Intrepid also has ops in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong. Business Times
ASX-listed ‘buy-now, pay-later’ company Afterpay acquires Indonesian startup EmpatKali; The Jakarta-based startup also runs a similar product wherein it allows consumers to shop and pay in four equal instalments with no interest; It has 150 merchant partners in the archipelago. e27
Banks aren’t as stupid as enterprise AI and fintech entrepreneurs think; Critics complain about banks spending billions trying to be software companies; But overall, banks know their business way better than the entrepreneurial markets that seek to influence them; Banks have something most technologists don’t have enough of: domain expertise. TechCrunch
How shopping sites performed during COVID-19 in Singapore; Driven by high-value orders, Singaporeans spent an average of US$83 during the Jan-June 2020 period; The average basket size rose by 51% when compared to the same period last year, says an iPrice study. e27
How one Singaporean company came to dominate the SEO industry; Ahrefs has one of the most influential blogs in the industry, where they focus on producing high quality content in educating on SEO matters; Ahrefs prides itself on being king of backlinks and claims to have the fastest backlink crawler in the industry. Fintech News
Non-profit organisation ‘Women in Identity’ launches Singapore chapter; The chapter will contribute greatly to ensuring that women are right up there in the vanguard of those with digital identity, says Minister Indranee Rajah; It’s important to attract girls to STEM from an early age by actively guiding them when they make choices, like the combination of subjects to take in secondary schools and the careers to pursue. The Straits Times
Vast untapped e-commerce and tech employment potential in the Philippines, says Michael Page; There is interest in doing business in the Philippines due to the very strong talent here; Manufacturing is a major growth area, and the consumer market, despite the lockdown and other challenges, has remained robust; This includes retail, F&B and FMCG. HRAsia
Indonesia’s Communication, IT ministry launches startup accelerator; Named ‘Startup Studio’, it targets angel to pre-Series A stage startups; The programme will run for 3 months with intensive coaching and mentoring every week; This will be the third project initiated by the ministry after Gerakan Nasional 1000 Startup Digital in 2016 and Nexticorn in 2017. e27
Transcelestial aims to help telcos roll out 5G rapidly and cost effectively in SEA; In Singapore, the government has chosen to build a 5G standalone network but it means a huge amount of infra costs (towers and fibres); Transcelestial’s network device Centauri helps offset this massive cost and time. e27
Malaysia developing national digital infra plan (JENDELA) to improve digital communications, says PM; JENDELA will lay the foundation for high-quality broadband coverage facilities as well as prepare the country for the transition towards 5G tech; It will also involve the phasing out of 3G networks in stages until the end of 2021 for the consolidation of 4G networks and to strengthen the foundations of 5G ones. Bernama
8 most important questions to ask in your search for the right co-founder; It’s very important to know what each other’s motivations are before you commit yourself and spend 10-12 hours per day with a group of people for at least 3-5 years; There is typically a ‘honeymoon period’ of 12-18 months where everything seems to be fine. e27
Best practices to improve the e-commerce checkout process; The rise of platforms such as Amazon and Etsy has changed the digital shopping experience and elevated the expectations of consumers; As consumer expectations continue to rise, companies of all sizes are exploring how to improve the convenience and safety of their checkout process. Ecommerce Times
Adapt to survive: Why Singapore and the world need to reinvent the old order; As Singaporean businesses seek to orient themselves within the new normal, digital adoption should be top of the agenda for decision-makers and business leaders; In particular, how to embed emerging tech into their biz to streamline ops, reduce costs, and better manage info. e27
Parcel delivery major Kerry Express Thailand files for IPO in e-commerce boom; It will offer as many as 300M new shares, equivalent to 17.2% of its total issued shares after the IPO; The firm says it has 15K+ service centres with 1.2K+ distribution hubs, operates 25K+ delivery service vehicles in Thailand. Nikkei Asia Review
Femtech poised for growth beyond fertility; Last year, the global market for female-focused health products generated US$820.6M and is estimated to reach at least US$3B by the end of 2030; Femtech posted US$592.1M in VC investment in 2019, slightly down on 2018’s US$620.3 million. TechCrunch
How the pandemic can accelerate gender balance in the digital workforce; A UNDP study finds that 90% of people are biased against women and 40%+ believe men make better biz executives; The lack of significant gender diversity can mean lack of diversity in the biz thought-process and risk of pattern repetition where the status-quo is fundamentally unchallenged and expectations boxed in. PhocusWire
Google, Line and BEC veteran sets up a venture to upskill Thai workforce; Ariya Banomyong’s venture ‘Transformational’ aims to assist corporations in their pursuit of digital transformation; He claims the company has expertise in biz strategies, digital commerce and marketing, tech architecture, data analytics, Machine Learning. Bangkok Post
Digital economy continues growth momentum; As per Lazada Malaysia, the way consumers shop and pay for their purchases is evolving at a great pace; The number of new sellers on the e-commerce platform grew by more than 200% in H1; noted that Malaysians are also increasingly looking towards online solutions for their everyday needs. Bernama
Why 5G is racing ahead in Asia; APAC is the largest region for 5G adoption with 1.14B subscribers, accounting for 65% of global 5G subscriptions by 2024, according GlobalData; With more than half of all Internet users (a majority of whom only use mobile devices), it’s likely that a majority of tomorrow’s digital tools will come from the region and those mobile-first habits, says JLL’s Jordan Kostelac. JLL
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