Incomlend raises US$20M Series A led by Sequoia to expand its invoice exchange platform in Asia, Europe; To date, Incomlend claims to have facilitated over US$330M in financing and covered invoice finance trades across 50 countries; It has earlier raised funding from GTR Ventures. e27
SoGal Ventures closes debut US$15M fund, eyes second vehicle in 2021; The VC firm invests in early-stage, female-founded companies that focus on improving the quality of life, women and under-represented groups; The VC firm is associated with SoGal Foundation. DealStreetAsia
ByteDance reportedly in talks with India’s Reliance for investment in TikTok; TikTok’s business in India, where it had amassed over 200M users before it was banned in late June, is being valued at more than US$3B; An investment in TikTok could help the oil-to-retails giant Reliance, the most valuable firm in India, make deeper connections with consumers. TechCrunch
Go-Ventures, Northstar Group, Wavemaker invest in eFishery’s Series B round; The agritech startup plans to open 100 ‘one-stop physical hubs’ for farmer across Indonesia by end-2020; The firm recently ran pilot in Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam; eFishery previously raised US$4M Series A in 2018. e27
‘APAC is rich in innovation’: Airbus Ventures Partner Lewis Pinault; The VC firm made its debut in Singapore with an investment in Transcelestial; It will soon announce its second investment in new and deep space capabilities; The VC firm had raised US$150M in 2016 for its first fund; It’s now in the midst of raising a new and larger fund. e27
Why digital lending services for MSMEs are the next big thing in SEA; MSMEs account for over 95% of all firms, contribute to 50–70% of employment, constitute 30–60% of various countries’ GDP; The MSME loan to GDP ratio remains low in most ASEAN nations and the situation is particularly severe in Philippines Indonesia. e27
Indonesia’s fishery products marketplace Aruna raises US$5.5M from East Ventures, AC Ventures, SMDV; The startup plans to scale ops into new domestic and export B2B markets; It claims it recorded an 86x revenue growth in H1 2020 v/s H1 2019; It recently ventured into home delivery service. e27
How Singapore nurtured foreign trio to build tech biggie Sea; It is the city-state’s biggest company by market value; Two of its co-founders David Chen and Gang Ye arrived in Singapore as teenagers under a government effort to recruit foreign talent through scholarship programs that began in the 1990s. DealStreetAsia
The golden age: SEA’s future as a leading digital gold hub; Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam together account for over 80% of the region’s gold market; The combination of rapid digital adoption, enduring cultural traditions, and progressive government regulations will further develop the potential for digital gold and other innovations to come. e27
How to build a strong farmer engagement model for your agri e-commerce startup; In developed countries, many studies have shown that a direct marketplace between farmers and consumers help the farmers to retain 40-75% of a food dollar V/S a mere 15.6% in a corporate chain; In developing countries, where agriculture contribution to GDP is in double digits, e-commerce will be of significant benefit to the lives of farmers. e27
The future is hybrid: What will events look like post-COVID-19?; Physical events may be impossible for now, but they will still be a part of the post-pandemic world; From live streaming events to remote viewers outside conference venues, to chat rooms that facilitate interaction between online viewers and participants on-site, digital elements will see greater implementation in physical events as they prove their worth. e27
What entrepreneurs can learn from the TikTok debacle; Personal data collection involving an individual’s interests and interactions drove algorithms that curated personalised and engaging content for users and in turn, significantly increased the appeal of TikTok; Entrepreneurs, particularly those in the B2C sector, need to effectively harness data to understand customers and improve the user experience. e27
VCs get behind disaster-tech (D-Tech) in search for innovative life-saving technologies; To help D-Tech startups grow, VCs can play a significant role by acting as connective bridges with the government and established institutions. Furthermore, the backing of a reputable VC can provide much-needed credibility to early-stage startups. e27
Temasek, Bayer form new company ‘Unfold’ to develop vegetable seed varieties for vertical farming; Unfold has already raised US$30M from the two firms; Unfold will utilise seed genetics from vegetable crops and develop new seed varieties that are tailored for the unique indoor environment of vertical farms. Channel News Asia
Using video humanises the online experience; In today’s always-on virtual world, cutting through the clutter is becoming paramount, and video technology is empowering retail brands to showcase their offerings in interactive and more meaningful ways. Internet Retailing
The booming e-commerce in the Philippines: What it means for investors; The country’s huge retail corporations are now transitioning more and more to focus on online sales, and hundreds of startups and SMEs are geared to progress the industry forward by creating new solutions for consumers to purchase goods and services from their mobile phones. GovTech
Lazada joins government, MDEC’s campaigns to support Malaysian SMEs; Lazada has over 320K SMEs nationwide on its marketplace with more than 200% increase in new local sellers on-boarded in H1, 2020; The partnership with Lazada last year brought ‘Buy Malaysia’ onto a leading e-commerce marketplace and resulted in an uplift of 3,800% in contribution from local sellers on the platform to the domestic economy. Bernama
Asia is emerging as a paytech powerhouse; One emerging trend that’s worth following closely is AI-powered payments using voice command; IoT payments too are set to be becoming more commonplace in the near future; Investors’ infatuation with Asia’s paytech industry has led to the emergence of a burgeoning sector. Fintech News
Philippines central bank BSP joins digital currency race; BSP’s interest in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) comes at a time when digital payments are on the rise in the nation; In Asia, Thailand, Japan and China have been experimenting with CBDCs. Fintech News
Singapore smart nation: Establishing a digital community through hub networks; To accelerate the Smart Nation Initiative launched in 2014, IMDA is setting up around 50 SG Digital community hubs to get everyone on board in the digitalisation process; Digital ambassadors will assist every private individual, worker and company as they move through the process of using technology to enhance their lives and businesses. Tech Collective
SingPost partners logistics startup Shippit to widen SMEs’ access to courier services; Through this partnership, Shippit’s SME customers can access a larger range of delivery options, including packages delivered directly to Pick Own Parcel Stations, or POPStations, and letterboxes. SGSME
MDEC, Huawei sign MoU to spearhead Malaysia as ASEAN digital hub; It aims to develop a robust digital economy including ICT infra, 5G, AI, Big Data, IoT and digital tech talent; The partnership will see the sharing of best practices and knowledge-sharing between both parties. Digital News Asia
New Accenture study reveals emerging trends in digital health; The trends relate to digital patient experience, AI, smart devices, robots and innovation; The future of AI is already in the works, with 69% of healthcare organisations saying they are piloting or adopting it. MobiHealthNews
Exploring the role of AI and automation in education; By providing a platform that merges content with evaluation, the instructor can easily, through the use of AI, monitor and track the students’ progress. The massive advances in AI over the past seven years have allowed machine learning to use algorithms to analyse a substantial amount of data. Tech Collective
JobForesight, the first Singapore startup from Oxford incubator, launches Careershe; The career advice app helps students aged between 15 and 25 learn more about the world of work, providing them with guidance in the available pathways towards their desired careers. Techcoffeehouse.com
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The post Ecosystem Roundup: Sequoia leads US$20M Series A in Incomlend; TikTok in talks with India’s Reliance for investment; eFishery, Aruna raise funding appeared first on e27.