Vietnam emerges as the top funding destination in SEA in 2021; The local tech startup ecosystem has significantly benefited from the young, tech-savvy population and growth of the middle-class; In 2019, Vietnam’s startup scene raised US$861M; Despite the COVID-19 snag, the trends for the next 12 months show they are still in the running to be at the top of the region’s investment list. More here
Global VC funding to female founders dropped dramatically this year; Crunchbase data shows more than 800 female-founded startups globally have received a total of US$4.9B in venture funding in 2020, representing a 27% decrease over the same period last year. More here
SEA to drive global demand for e-commerce; Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam are the top 5 markets; Singapore’s e-commerce market has advanced rapidly over recent years, but 2020 saw consumers in the country increase the value of their online transactions by 51% across Shopee, Lazada, Qoo10, Amazon and Ezbuy. More here
Asia is ready for a digital banking revolution; In the next 3 years, Asia will see 50+ new digital banks that will completely change the financial services landscape; The region will also see broader adoption of blockchain technology with new private exchanges, multi-currency e-wallets and digital assets. More here
Vietnam digital development among the fastest in the world; The nation scored 62.37 points in digital evolution momentum, standing behind China (85.51 points), Azerbaijan (65.28), Indonesia (64.03) and India (62.95); The key drivers were supply conditions, demand conditions, institutional environment, and innovation and change. More here
Thailand working to upskill vocational students in robotics; The scheme aims to cater to the anticipated demand for 200K robotics-trained workers by 2024; It will begin with mechatronics and robotic courses of the Human Capital Excellent Center, which are taught to a total of 5,200 students annually at 161 private and state schools. More here
Elderly 2.0: China looks to tap digital ‘silver dollar’; Brands worldwide are chasing the so-called “silver dollar” and governments also are keen to get elderly savings flowing into economies to boost growth; Most retirees in China are keen to adopt new tech and tap into a growing range of mobile services catering to them. More here
Chinese company develops sensorless motion capture technology; YunBo’s technology does not require people to wear inertial sensors or markers; Images taken with ordinary cameras are analysed using AI to accurately record body movements and reproduce even finger motions and facial expressions. More here
Japan support group for startups targets enterprising foreigners; BooSTAR X plans to set up an investment fund next year to support foreign residents looking to become entrepreneurs; While foreigners account for more than 20% of graduate school students in the country, the ratio of foreigners to entrepreneurs is less than 2%. More here
How Japanese startup ecosystem fared in the time of crisis; The country has witnessed some fascinating trends emerging in the advent of the pandemic; There has been a growth of SaaS startups in terms of catalysed digital transformation led by the government, growing SaaS adoption in enterprises, and maturing capital markets for the startup ecosystem. More here
Tencent-backed Chinese edutech startup bags US$210M in round led by TPG’s fund; Meishubao applies AI and AR to provide online arts lessons for users aged between three and 18 years old; The company claims that it has nearly 1K employees and over 20K teachers on the platform; It has over 5M registered users and a total of 500K paying users across 160 countries. More here
Cybersecurity to remain hot in the new year; According to Crunchbase data; the sector saw more than US$8.1B invested to date globally this year v/s US$7.4B globally last year; Cybersecurity as a whole will see high single-digit to low double-digit growth in spend next year, with strategics and investors eyeing bigger slices of the pie. More here
Data will help PPP build future resilience in SEA. Here’s how; Across the globe, the monitoring and analysing of big data for actionable insights is being put to use; But state-sanctioned measures or corporate-led campaigns can only go so far; To make a real impact, the public and private sectors must work together, sharing information and combining resources. More here
Philippine digital growth and resilience spurred on by new grant; The World Bank unveiled the granting of a US$600M grant called Promoting Competitiveness and Enhancing Resilience to Natural Disasters Development Policy Loan that will be used to adopt a string of digital technologies in the country. More here
Vietnamese OTT app Zalo debuts AI-powered virtual assistant; Called Kiki, the assistant offers services to assist driving, listening to music, and language translating; It can help with calculations, weather updates, and has an information search command. More here
Spanish laundry startup Jeff expanding into Philippines; It offers solutions for entrepreneurs who can launch their own business after choosing from the brand’s range of business lines: home-delivered laundry and dry cleaning, beauty, fitness, and wellness services; Jeff recently raised US$21M from investors such as Alibaba, Dropbox, Uber. More here
Seoul Fintech Meet helps SEA startups on global market entry; Seoul Fintech Lab and Singapore Fintech Association agreed on cooperation to develop the fintech industry and foster fintech startups, raising expectations to play important roles in shared growth of both cities. More here
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