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Ecosystem Roundup: Should SEA startups jump the SPAC bandwagon?; SEA becomes centre for instant cross-border payments growth

Indonesian cloud kitchen startup Yummy Corp bags US$12M Series B; Investors include SoftBank Ventures Asia (lead), Vectr Ventures, Appworks, Quest Ventures; To date, Yummy claims to have served over 5M meals and has over 70 kitchens serving more than 50 brand partners. e27

Malaysia’s JomParkir secures Series A from Korean VC TheVentures; The smart parking startup will capitalise on Korea’s advance technology to be a vehicle-to-everything tech company in SEA; JomParkir is working with MARii, Cyberview, MDEC, MaGIC, Cradle towards making Malaysia a smartcity. e27

Conscious consumption is driving the trend in foodtech, says White Star Capital study; In Asia, food delivery and online grocery sales are growing at a 24.4% CAGR, accounting for a 55% share of the global online food delivery market; Pet food is a sub-sector that has grown more than 33x since 2011, reaching US$375M globally in 2019. e27

What does Peter Thiel-backed SPAC Bridgetown’s IPO mean for SEA’s startup ecosystem?; SPAC is faster than a traditional IPO and it involves less process and legwork needed to go public; It can also be a great way to introduce liquidity into tech companies as well as experienced executive talent into private companies. e27

Google Pay launches all-in-one payments solution for Singapore; Users can send and receive money as easily as sending a chat message even if the recipient is not on Google Pay; The integration helps Singaporeans who have more than one bank account to streamline money transfers from different banks on one platform. Tech Coffee House

Central Food Retail to launch B2B e-commerce platform; Named Chef Yim, it will provide access to fresh ingredients from Thailand and abroad to local restaurants, cafes, hotels, caterers; The app will source ingredients from a network of over 1K suppliers nationwide. Bangkok Post

Policymakers must be sensitive to impact of digital tools on inequality, says S’pore Minister Desmond Lee; Lower-income households in the city-state faced more challenges with tasks such as online learning during the circuit breaker period. The Straits Times

As Chinese funding dries up in India, local tech startups are looking elsewhere; Following political tensions between the two countries, Indian government rolled out a new policy in April to block opportunistic takeovers; China is by far the largest supplier of foreign investment, and the initial effects of the funding roadblock are already felt. KrAsia

SEA becomes centre for instant cross-border payments growth, says research; ASEAN is moving towards having its very own Europe’s SEPA-style payments network; SEA has been making strides in terms of innovation in real-time payments with many regulators launching tools including instant payments, QR codes, and real-time direct-debit networks. Fintech News

Malaysia’s Kenanga partners with Merchantrade to launch own e-wallet; Kenanga Money will enable clients to easily transfer funds from their stock trading account into an e-wallet and prepaid card for retail payments, remittance and withdrawals worldwide. Fintech News

Mobile operator M1 enables 5G in Singapore; Starting at just S$15 for 25GB and up to S$40 for 100GB, the 5G Booster packs will be extended to all M1 customers with compatible 5G non-standalone devices; M1 is on track to start the rollout of its 5G Standalone network early next year. Tech Coffee House

Prudential Myanmar and Pun Hlaing Hospitals collaborate to provide AI-based digital healthcare service; The partnership will focus on the development and delivery of digital solutions to provide affordable and accessible healthcare to people across all socioeconomic segments in Myanmar. Myanmar Tech Press

5G is raising ahead in Asia as it is poised to reshape connectivity; In May, Bangkok became the first city in SEA to roll out 5G, while Singapore in Aug started a 6-month trial; With 1.14B subscribers, APAC is the largest region for 5G adoption; It could account for almost 65% of global 5G subscriptions by 2024. Yahoo News

Razer Fintech keeps options open on digital banking licence in Malaysia, says CEO; In Singapore, it leads a consortium of Sheng Siong Holdings, FWD, LinkSure Global, Insigna Ventures Partners and Carro to bid for digital full bank licence; It will take up 60% stake in Razer Youth Bank. Bernama

Is your startup the next Tik Tok?; The Bytedance-owned app developer appears headed for a shutdown in the US, after the already convoluted talks stalled out this past week; For startups with physical supply chains, existing tensions are squeezing business activity from Chimerica out into other parts of the world. TechCrunch

Logistics firms wield digital tools to boost operations; Besides safety concerns, logistics players have also been using digital tools to improve operational processes; The overall efficiency that technology brings to asset and manpower management can help companies optimise resources and streamline operations. SGSME

Amidst COVID-19, where are the unicorns of SEA; Most unicorns in Southeast Asia have to face reality and reassess their business strategy to survive the winter; Here is a look at how these unicorns –Traveloka, gojek, Grab, Bukalapak — are helping build the SME ecosystem. Tech Collective

In the tough market of co-working spaces, WORQ believes it has what it takes; Its recent US$2.4M funding shows that not all investors are negative on the co-working model; It predicts real estate will be consumed on a buy-as-you-need basis and if companies need a bite-sized space one desk at a time, they should have access to it. Digital News Asia

Entrepreneurship and investing as social good; Increasingly, angels, institutional funds have begun allocating a portion of their funds to startups focused on diversity and social good; For startups of all sizes, democratized access to investors will accelerate the use of capital for social good. TechCrunch

WeWork pulls back on Asia ambitions with sale of China business; With this, the firm will give up majority control of its Chinese JV; Its local partner Trustbridge Partners will invest an additional US$200M in the JV which will give it a majority stake in WeWork China; The co-working spaces giant manages more than 100 locations in 12 Chinese cities. Nikkei Asia Review

Why digital events should be part of your marketing mix; The opportunity for your company in participating and sponsoring digital events is huge, arguably equal or even bigger than in person events because digital event presence scales better. The Next Web

Ohmyhome shares the reason behind its incursion into Philippines; For co-founder Rhonda Wong, the expansion is a timely move for both Ohmyhome and the country’s real estate industry; With over 5K property transactions in Singapore and Malaysia and a customer satisfaction rate of 99%, Ohmyhome expects to replicate the feat as it advances its technological capabilities in Philippine. Pinoy Manila

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