Grab CTO Mark Porter quits to join MongoDB

Mark Porter, CTO (Core Technologies and Transport) is leaving Grab, making him the second CTO to depart the firm since the start of 2019.

Group CTO Theo Vassilakis had relinquished his position in April last year but remained an advisor at the Singapore-based company.

Porter wrote in a blogpost that he will be assuming the CTO role at NASDAQ-listed SaaS firm MongoDB on July 20.

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“Grab has been a privilege and a gift; being a tech leader with the mission to bring the economy and people of Southeast Asia forward has been amazing. I’m leaving one family and joining another – and for anybody who knows me, they know that’s hard – I’m pretty sappy and emotional about this kind of stuff,” he said.

“My goal at MongoDB is to help our great teams develop technology and products that delight anybody who touches them. That’s been my goal for over 40 years, from my first 6502-assembly game or HP41CX program, to the latest Grab ride-hailing app,” he added.

Singapore’s health-tech startup Plano receives investment from Santen

Singapore-based health-tech startup Plano has received an undisclosed sum in investment from Japanese company Santen Pharmaceutical as part of strategic alliance between the two firms.

Under this deal, Santen, through Plano, will initiate to tackle the burden of myopia using both a holistic approach and innovative technological solutions.

“This funding and strategic alliance with Santen will play an instrumental role in growing Plano’s user engagement, strengthen its Big Data analytics and Artificial Intelligence capabilities, and drive its international expansion plans,” said Plano’s Managing Director Associate Professor Mohamed Dirani.

Launched in 2017 by Dirani, Plano is an eye health-tech company and is a spin-off from the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). Its key products include the plano application and the online optometry booking system, Plano Eyecheck.

The science-based plano application has been adopted by more than 250,000 households.

Santen specialises in ophthalmology based on a thorough customer orientation, including patients and healthcare professionals.

In recent years, it has focused its attention on medical devices and digital technologies, and has continued to take on the challenge of contributing to the health of the eyes of people around the world through activities that meet the needs of customers in each region, as well as offering products and solutions that cover a wide range of disease fields.

Eko acquires Thai chatbot platform ConvoLab

Eko, a virtual workspace technology platform in Thailand, has acquired Artificial Intelligence (AI) and chatbot platform ConvoLab in a “8-figure USD” deal.

Additionally, Eko has has launched parent company Amity, which is focused on helping organisations, teams, and people to fully-benefit from new mobile technologies and digitisation.

Amity brings together three pre-existing technology solutions to make up its portfolio — Eko, Upstra (an app development kit for building in-app community experiences), and ConvoLab.

Further, the company will continue to power and expand these products out of their four core global offices in Bangkok, London, Austin, and Milan.

ConvoLab’s acquisition, completed through a mix of stock and cash, was finalised ahead of Amity’s launch.

Established in 2016, ConvoLab automates business processes by helping their clients engage with their customers through various channels using best-in-its-class AI natural language processing (NLP).

“ConvoLab is at the forefront of developing machine learning, chat management platforms and work automation. By joining forces, we’ll be able to provide customers with an ecosystem of expertise and services competitive and unique at a global level,” said Korawad Chearavanont, who now becomes the CEO of Amity.

Cocoon Capital launches Female Founders Mentoring Hours in SEA

Cocoon Capital has launched Female Founders Mentoring Hours (FFMH) for Southeast Asian entrepreneurs.

FFMH will offer female founders 1-on-1 remote mentoring sessions with some of the region’s most prominent VCs, creating a rare opportunity to both pitch ideas and to receive friendly, on-the-spot advice.

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Supported by Enterprise Singapore and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the inaugural FFMH event will allow over 50 female founders to meet investors over four 15 minute sessions to discuss their tech business ideas, ask for advice, and/or simply pitch for investment.

The focus will be on tech startups at the seed and Series A stages.

The venture industry has long acknowledged that there is still a huge funding gap between male and female founders. A large part of a successful fundraise is in building relationships with investors over time.

FFMH aims to give female founders a good starting point, with the chance to cultivate relationships with the best of the best early on.,

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