Singapore-based Qapita, a fintech startup focused on employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) and cap table management, has received US$15 million in a Series A round of investment.

East Ventures (Growth Fund) and Vulcan Capital co-led the round, with participation from NYCA and other existing investors MassMutual Ventures and Endiya Partners.

Several existing angel investors, including Alto Partners; partners of the Northstar Group, K3 Ventures, and Mission Holdings; Anjali Bansal (founder of Avaana Capital); and Sujeet Kumar (co-founder of Udaan), also co-invested.

Also Read: Qapita banks US$5M pre-Series A to enable companies to digitally manage their ESOPs and cap table

Qapita intends to utilise the money to add more products to its platform to provide solutions for private companies, startups, investors, shareholders and employees. It also plans to facilitate liquidity solutions via a digital marketplace, enabling transactions for companies between investors and employee stakeholders.

A part of the capital raised will amplify Qapita’s client base across Singapore, Indonesia and India.

The new round comes less than six months after Qapita bagged US$5 million in pre-Series A. Before that, it attracted US$1.8 million in seed funding in September 2020.

Qapita was founded in September 2019 by Ravi Ravulaparthi (CEO), Lakshman Gupta (COO) and Vamsee Mohan (CTO). Its SaaS platform helps private companies and startups record and manage their cap tables and ESOPs. It also aims to digitise the issuance of equity awards and shares.

In other words, it solves the pain points relating to HR (ESOP), finance and fundraising for private companies, investors, shareholders and employees. The firm’s marketplace will enable secondary transactions for these stakeholders.

Qapita estimates that more than US$150 billion of equity will need liquidity solutions. The startup expects the value of private securities in this region to exceed US$1-1.5 trillion (with 200-250 unicorns) in the next few years. So scalable digital solutions will be critical for such an ecosystem to thrive.

Currently, Qapita employs 65 people across Singapore and India. It plans to scale up talent across India, Indonesia and Singapore shortly.

Also Read: Future Flow’s cap table helps founders easily monitor the evolution of their stake, equity dilution

CEO Ravulaparthi said: “We are in some of the fastest-growing private markets in the world. It is an incredible time to build an operating system and transaction rails for private company ownership in this region. This is about leveraging tech to enhance transparency, access, efficiency and liquidity in private markets.”

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Image Credit: Qapita

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VFlowTech, an energy storage solutions provider in Singapore, today announced the raising of US$3 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Wavemaker Partners. 

 SEEDS Capital, Sing Fuels and other angels also participated.

VFlowTech will use the funds to expand its operations and scale up the production of its “redox flow battery energy storage solutions”.

The startup was established in 2018 by Dr Avishek Kumar (CEO) and Dr Arjun Bhattarai (CTO), in collaboration with Entrepreneur First. It also received generous support from SG Innovate and the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Also Read: VFlowTech’s recyclable energy solution with an expected lifespan of 25 yrs seeks to replace Li Ion batteries

VFlowTech has developed a low cost, reliable, and long-duration energy storage solution, called vanadium redox flow (VRF) battery. This battery works through the continuous reduction and oxidation reaction between the vanadium redox couples with no detrimental issues and with the cross-mixing of the redox couples. Due to this unique setup, and the battery provides stable performance over 20 years.

The firm’s vision is to achieve diesel-free status in remote and rural areas by providing communities there with low-cost, reliable cleantech solutions.

So far, VFlowTech has built and deployed energy storage systems in Singapore, Australia, and Japan to support various applications, with a pipeline of large-scale infrastructure projects in key markets like Australia and Africa.

VFlowTech also plans to collaborate with strategic partners in other countries to develop and install self-reliant green charging stations for the burgeoning electronic vehicle (EV) industry. Its latest project is to develop an intelligent electric car fast-charging station concept for existing gas stations in South Korea.

“The energy storage market is growing exponentially and plays an important role in the cleantech transition across the globe,” said CEO Kumar. “We are on a mission to reinvent the energy storage solution with our modular vanadium redox flow batteries to enable a 24/7 shift to renewables.”

The company has developed three main modular products, namely 5 kW/30 kWh, 10 kW/100 kWh, and 100 kW/500 kWh systems.

According to a press statement, its 10kW-100kWH system can provide up to two days of energy autonomy on average for most small households and remote communities in the region. It also solves the concerns of performance degradation, thermal runaway, and product safety of current battery systems.

Also read: 13 cleantech startups to watch in Asia

Unlike lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries, flow battery systems can scale their storage power (kW) and energy (kWh) independently, with power and energy deployments varying depending on the size of the battery stack and the volume of electrolyte contained in the tanks.

As stated by the International Energy Agency’s latest market update, worldwide renewable energy capacity increased by 45 per cent in 2020, the greatest year-on-year growth rate in the last two decades. The “Battery Energy Storage Market, 2021-2028” reported that the sector is slated to be worth US$26.81 billion in 2028, up from US$7.81 billion in 2020.

The development of cheaper long-duration storage than lithium-ion batteries also draws attention from worldwide investors, including tech celebrities Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson.

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Image Credit: VFlowTech

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Komunidad, a provider of environmental intelligence services in the Philippines, has attracted US$1 million in a seed financing round.

Wavemaker Partners led this round, which also saw participation from ADB Ventures.

As per a press statement, this transaction will pave the way for Komunidad’s further expansion in the Philippines and the rest of Asia.

“Our expansion in Asia will focus on the Philippines, India and other emerging and developing countries where the risk index is higher. The investment will be used to grow our collection of weather and environmental intelligence datasets and to develop a more robust and intelligent platform to be released by Q1 2022,” said founder Felix Ayque.

Founded in 2019 and located in Singapore and the Philippines, Komunidad started as a tropical cyclone email service. It later evolved into a web-based environmental intelligence platform.

A SaaS company, Komunidad aims to help businesses and communities adapt to the consequences of climate change. It focuses on weather and environmental intelligence information services, with a team of meteorologists, data scientists, software developers and business development managers spread across Southeast Asia and India.

Also Read: Need of the hour: How agritech platforms can protect farmers from climate change

The startup’s proprietary platform helps environment-critical industries make informed decisions regarding safety, operational efficiency, business continuity, and natural disaster preparedness. It allows relevant weather and environmental data “to be quickly organised” into visualisations, reports and alerts that users can access via a dashboard and use to build the most suitable decision-making tools to support their operations.

Komunidad currently provides services for clients in the utilities, agriculture, mining, education, business process outsourcing, and local government sectors in Southeast Asia and India.

“The Philippines, because of its geographic circumstances, is highly prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tropical cyclones, and floods, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world,” Ayque said.

“I grew up in the southern part of the Philippines, where all these events happen annually. I have seen their impact on people’s lives and businesses. On top of that, the world around us is changing. Climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying, according to the latest studies. It will impact the way we live, work, and do business in the future, and many countries in Asia will be most affected,” Ayque explained.

Before closing the seed round, Komunidad won contracts with local governments and companies in the utilities/energy, agriculture, mining, and business process outsourcing industries. Most recently, Komunidad won a contract in an Indian State for its impact-based weather monitoring and forecasting system.

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Image Credit: Komunidad

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Decentralised finance (DeFi) is gaining increasing attention thanks to mainstream interest in crypto, such as Bitcoin. With billions of dollars flowing into DeFi protocols, offering alternative financial solutions, it’s giving people a way of earning money with the aid of innovative contract technology.

Although this industry is slowly growing in popularity across the globe, it has a much stronger appeal in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region mainly because of its potential to solve one of the region’s biggest challenges– equal financial opportunities for all.

A large chunk of the population in Asia is mainly unbanked, and one of the main reasons is steep barriers to entry. For example, banks require a minimum deposit fee or upfront charges to start their bank account. Other reasons include high transaction fees.

According to a report from the World Bank, ASEAN is home to an unbanked population of about 290 million, with only 18 per cent having access to credit, financial services, or investment products, leaving a large part of the population underbanked.

DeFi’s core technology can eliminate intermediaries, thus making transaction costs much cheaper and faster than any other digital banking service, making it a much more appealing alternative.

But then why hasn’t mass adoption of DeFi in the region still take place?

One of the key reasons is that many people still do not understand the concept of DeFi because of its rather complex nature. Even Mark Cuban, a billionaire investor well known from Shark Tank, who has been experimenting with DeFi, shared with the Defiant that it takes a lot of time to understand how to use DeFi protocols.

As a storyteller and communicator working closely with DeFi companies, I can impart a few insights into the promise of this industry to give context to it and offer tips on how to keep up.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Aspire lands US$158M funding; SG gets new US$75M crypto, blockchain fund; Ascend Money is now unicorn

A new financial system without centralised banks

As institutional investment into bitcoin and cryptocurrencies flow into the market signalled by Tesla, Square, PayPal, Mastercard, among others, it’s time for the world to start paying attention to the financial mechanisms DeFi has enabled.

DeFi platforms or protocols such as Compound (lending and borrowing), CREAM Finance (lending), and Uniswap (decentralised exchange) are enabling users to invest, borrow, lend, trade, and transact peer to peer using cryptocurrencies or digital assets.

They achieve this without needing to go through a bank or a centralised platform. This can all happen thanks to innovative contract technology created by Ethereum.

Digital lending and borrowing are not new; blockchain technology allows faster and cheaper transactions by cutting down intermediaries.

Beyond value transfers, the main growth driver of the DeFi sector is “yield farming”. Yield farming is the practice of lending crypto assets to generate high returns in the form of cryptocurrencies.

This is similar to locking money in a fixed deposit account to generate interest after a set amount of time, whereas the “financial” work is done automatically via protocols.

Though it’s highly risky, the DeFi rewards are much higher than the 3 per cent interest one might earn from a bank, and the dividends get paid out daily.

One thing that might take new users to get used to is that most of these protocols are “web3.0 native” and fully decentralised, meaning that they are run by decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) that have inbuilt governance systems.

Ultimately, it comes down to whether you trust a centralised organisation run by a central authority or a decentralised organisation where no single party can control the network.

We are now also seeing the first signs of these yield-bearing technologies being embedded into everyday applications such as offline map provider MAPS.ME.

As startups in this space grow, they are also receiving more attention from crypto investors and mainstream institutions, like Thailand’s oldest and largest bank Siam Commercial Bank (SCB).

Early this year, SCB launched a US$50 million fund via its investment arm SCB 10X to invest in early and growth-stage blockchain, digital assets, and DeFi startups. Calling it a “disruption”, the firm said that “it is preparing for the potential day that DeFi upends traditional banking”.

Expanding the fintech horizon

The fintech industry now needs to expand its horizon to consider DeFi, and CeFi (centralised finance) systems, as both ecosystems will play an essential role in shaping the future of finance. CeFi refers to centralised systems that bridge legacy finance platforms with the new digital asset industry. These include exchanges like Coinbase or crypto lenders such as Nexo.

The current sentiment in the market is that DeFi is multiplying and will eventually “eat” CeFi. While we will see the gap between DeFi and CeFi narrow, the natural next bridge is to the fintech industry.

Also Read: Taiwan’s blockchain ecosystem’s moment towards mass adoption

The fintech industry has come a long way with an ecosystem of challenger banks that have consumer-friendly applications and widely used products.

All it will take is one fintech to enable DeFi features on its platform to see the domino effect of fintech products and DeFi offerings collide. Fintechs should start learning about the benefits of DeFi and start integrating with projects today to stay ahead.

Keeping up with DeFi

The DeFi industry is growing fast.  In January 2020, it had a US$500 million market value. As of September 2021, its market size is nearly US$166.45 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL). Keeping up is a job on its own, which is why education is key to everything.

Allow me to share some newsletters and platforms you can start with to watch this lighting speed innovation.

Firstly newsletters like Defiant and Bankless help a lot with learning about what is upcoming. To track the activity of the growth of Defi, there are wallet platforms such as DeBank that has a good analysis tracking site; there’s also Defi Llama and DeFi pulse with variable data.

CoinGecko, the go-to crypto price and analysis tracker, is another source to consider. The top leading exchanges are Uniswap and SushiSwap, which have the most volume.

A typical inside joke in the industry is that the amount of knowledge we absorb in one month in crypto is equivalent to one human year. Cryptocurrency’s promise is to make money and payments universally accessible to anyone, no matter where they are in the world.

To see cryptocurrency fulfil this promise starts with people getting educated about industries like DeFi, holding cryptocurrency, and eventually using it in our day-to-day lives.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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Image credit: welcomia

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Sky Mavis, the creator of the popular NFT-based game Axie Infinity, has attracted US$152 million in a Series B financing round led by US-based VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

Accel Partners and Paradigm also joined this round.

The Vietnamese startup will use the money to build a global team, scale infrastructure, and build its distribution platform to support game developers in creating blockchain-enabled games.

The new deal follows a US$7.5 million Series A funding in May. Led by Libertus Capital, the round also saw participation from investors, including Collab + Currency, Blocktower Capital, Mark Cuban, Alexis Ohanian.

Also Read: Metaverse is around the corner and you should play a role in it

Axie Infinity was founded in early 2018 by Aleksander Leonard Larsen, Nguyễn Thành Trung, Đoàn Minh Tú, Hồ Sỹ Việt Anh and Jeffrey Samuel Kim Zirlin.

Sky Mavis invented the play-to-earn (P2E) concept for people to play, live, work and earn within virtual worlds. Its first P2E game is Axie Infinity, where players breed, battle, and trade digital pets called Axie.

NFT-based P2E games are decentralised, meaning that the players own the in-game assets that they purchase and can generate real-world rewards for their in-game activities.

Axie Infinity says it has helped create income-generating opportunities for underserved people worldwide; 25 per cent of players are unbanked, and 50 per cent have not previously used cryptocurrencies.

Axie Infinity has amassed players worldwide, with more than 1.8 million daily active users logging into the platform in August. It claims to have achieved US$33 million in everyday transactions, for a total volume of over US$2 billion.

The Mavis Hub distributes games on both PCs and Macs and will connect to Sky Mavis’s proprietary Ronin Blockchain. In addition to supporting Axie Infinity, The Mavis Hub will help game developers build and distribute blockchain-enabled games.

Also Read: Vietnam’s Sky Mavis receives US$7.5M Series A to grow its blockchain game Axie Infinity

Arianna Simpson, the general partner at a16z, said. “The Axie team has unlocked a new way to build and play games that are already completely redefining this category. The game’s growth is a remarkable testament to how deeply this model resonates with people around the world. The Axie team has triggered an earthquake in gaming, and the industry is now forever changed.”

“We are on a mission to create economic freedom for gamers. We are making this happen by turning players into owners of in-game assets unlike the traditional model where publishers, distribution platforms and game developers retain control and benefit the most,” noted Trung Nguyen, Sky Mavis CEO.

Previously, Sky Mavis raised US$1.5 million from several backers such as Animoca Brands, Hashed, Pangea Blockchain Fund, Consensys, and 500 Startups Vietnam.

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Vouch, a Singapore-headquartered travel-tech company, has received US$1.1 million in a seed investment round led by Singapore’s institutional seed VC firm Forge Ventures.

The startup will use the funds to innovate its new product line of guest experience platforms and expand its business into global markets, including Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and the UK. 

Vouch has also set up its third in-country branch in the UK to mark its entry into Europe. 

Founded in 2016 by Joseph Ling, Vouch offers digital solutions for hotel operation, aiming to transform the technology of the hospitality and travel industry in the area. 

By incorporating Vouch into their operations, businesses managing attractions and malls can strengthen productivity, increase revenue and upgrade the overall guest experience.

The firm noted in a press statement that its technology serves as an “enabler” for properties to “have the freedom and the ability to focus on things that truly matter.”

Also read: PouchNATION to launch contactless hospitality tech beyond Asia after the undisclosed bridge round

Vouch’s new guest experience platform leverages both AI and chatbot-based technologies. It allows guests to scan a QR code on their mobile phones to check-in, make room requests, order food and beverage and receive instant answers to commonly asked questions. This process steers clear of the need to download an app for a short-term stay.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, hotels apply Vouch’s solutions to minimise their physical interaction with guests during check-in and other administrative tasks and navigate social distancing requirements in those premises.

“There is a genuine need for a solution that helps hotels improve manpower efficiency, and the pandemic has accelerated this need,” said Ling.

The startup claims that its services have covered more than 25 per cent of hotel rooms in Singapore, with brands such as Frasers Hospitality, Pan Pacific Group and Hyatt Hotels joining the network.

Digital transformation in the hospitality segment has become a global trend. The applications of online, mobile, cloud, IoT, blockchain, AI technologies make their marks on all fronts of the industry, including hotel management, customer service, distribution, CRM and marketing. 

According to a survey by Statista in 2020, providing a consistent, high-quality customer experience is the main business priority of travel and hospitality companies worldwide. 

Consumers also pay close attention to which aspects of the guest experience hoteliers would digitalise. Another survey conducted between July and August of 2020 showed that 73 per cent of hotel guests would use an app to open their room door. 

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Image Credit: Vouch

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In the new normal, there is a distinctive lack of ability for different parts of the Southeast Asia tech ecosystem to reach out to each other. We used to have thousands of offline activities happening monthly, connecting various local and regional ecosystems, connecting startups, corporates, governments, and investors. Even our very own Echelon used to bring in more than 10,000 people over two days to achieve these meaningful, often serendipitous, connections. 

This is a real pain especially if you are new to the ecosystem and do not have existing networks that can introduce you to new connections. Online webinars and conferences seem to alleviate this issue temporarily, but we find the ecosystem to be craving for more.

e27’s vision has always been to assist startup founders in their journey and we have to go back to our roots, starting from fundraising. Building up the e27 Pro onto the existing e27.co platform to achieve this, today, we have served over 3000+ connections between startups and investors,  starting new conversations, and updating on each other’s progress.

To further accelerate this process and keep it as a permanent fixture of the Southeast Asia ecosystem tools, we have partnered with accelerators to further assist the startups’ in their engagements and conversations with regional investors. 

How e27 and ScaleUp Malaysia are collaborating

ScaleUp Malaysia portfolio companies are expanding their presence in new markets beyond Malaysia, with many actively raising capital from investors across the region. Using e27’s Pro capabilities, early-stage VCs can access a diverse group of emerging startups from Malaysia who are looking to scale up and take their business to the next level. 

“When I was running my last startup, e27 provided a truly valuable platform for me to connect with investors and partners from around the world. And over the last year, we have met several great companies from all over the world through e27 Pro. This is the same aspiration that we have for our companies at ScaleUp — to build their networks and be ready to expand beyond our shores,” said Aaron Sarma, Co-Founder and General Partner of ScaleUp Malaysia.

Also read: Kawasaki Heavy Industries invites innovators to co-create solutions to global challenges

“Through this partnership we aim to help investors and partners connect with some amazing scaleups without having to board a plane!” 

ScaleUp Malaysia’s partnership with e27 helps bring together the global technology ecosystem so companies and investors can efficiently collaborate, connect, and crystalise opportunities. 

Backing the best entrepreneurs in Malaysia

In 2019, ScaleUp Malaysia saw a gap in the Malaysian technology ecosystem. Many startups were unable to get beyond ideation and initial product market fit to the next stage of growth. Founded by 6 entrepreneurs and industry veterans, ScaleUp Malaysia formed to help companies build businesses with strong fundamentals towards a path to profitability, raise follow-on funding, and expand geographically. 

To date, ScaleUp Malaysia has announced investments in 21 companies within various industries from smart farming, education, services, logistics, and impact-driven scaleups. ScaleUp aims to help 100 companies through their programmes with a target to invest in 50 by 2023. 

ScaleUp Malaysia recently launched Cohort 3 of their programme targeting high growth scaleups in partnership with two venture capital firms, Singapore-based Quest Ventures and US based Indelible Ventures. Collectively these firms bring access to partners, investors and other networks in Southeast Asia and the United States of America, accelerating targeted growth in new times. For Cohort 3, ScaleUp Malaysia is looking towards working with more scaleups eyeing the regional and global stage.

ScaleUp Malaysia continues to champion Malaysian entrepreneurs and aims to uncover more underrated, untapped, and unknown startups in the ecosystem who deserve a shot at building high growth, sustainable businesses. 

ScaleUp Malaysia’s portfolio companies

With its commitment to fostering a strong ecosystem, ScaleUp supports a diverse array of companies hoping to push for business growth. With that, here is a list of companies from ScaleUp Malaysia’s first and second cohorts

ATX – A pioneering digital payments service provider with 8 years of track record that provides a solution to help micro SMEs participate in the digital economy.

Auto Craver – A cloud-based end to end management software called “Turbo” for car dealers to automate processes and facilitate car sales.

Batik Boutique –  A premier Malaysian gift brand with an artisanal story that creates social impact by empowering the B40 segment through education, training and job creation.

Iimmpact – An out-of-the-box technology solution that enables digital payments to over 100 billers inclusive of mobile top-ups, utility bills, entertainment portals, local councils and many more.

Kwikcar – A peer-to-peer car-sharing platform that aims to change the future of mobility and car ownership.

AOne – An educational platform for learning centres to manage their classes, teachers and students through scheduling, fee collection and process automation.

BiiB – A community platform that creates gamified virtual events for runners and transforms running into a team sport.

Agiliux – A cloud-based core insurance platform with extensive policy and claims management capabilities.

Also read: Industrial IoT startup Sophic Automation set to scale up Industry 4.0 projects in the region

Tripcarte – A travel technology company that provides a distribution platform for travel activity and attraction tickets.

Recqa – A platform that preserves collective knowledge so that organizations can connect and align people, processes, and best practices.

ERTH – (e-Waste Recycling Through Heroes) is an award-winning social enterprise that specialises in collecting and recycling electronic waste (e-waste) from households and businesses.

Fefifo – Fefifo is pioneering digitalised, standardised farming in ready-to-farm modern farmspaces called co-farms, to make sustainable, profitable smallholder farming commonplace in South East Asia.

Hauz – Hauz is a data-driven enterprise solution that manages and monitors mobile workforce operations in the service industry, be it in Malaysia or regionally.

Homa2u – Homa2u is an online to offline (O2O) building materials and interior finishes marketplace where you can find a wide range of high quality, branded and bargain materials for your house project.

Kiddocare – Kiddocare is an online platform that connects parents with trained Malaysian baby sitters and early childhood education providers for personalised, on-demand services.

Load2Go – Load2Go offers an on-demand logistics platform for booking big trucks for large freight, construction and manufacturing industries.

MMC – MMC is a food-based company that operates several different businesses, including a central kitchen, food mart, cafe and vending machines. Their businesses are tracked and run on a proprietary technology solution.

MyBump – MyBump media is a car wrap advertising company that matches brands with drivers (Brand ambassadors) for data-backed creative execution outdoor advertising.

Pomen – Pomen is SaaS automotive maintenance platform that specialises in fleet companies and vehicle owners to connect with workshops and service providers to benefit them with the valuable vehicle and financial insight.

Quadby – Quadby is the Nextdoor for universities. They are a community app for students to find and chat with peers on campus.

About ScaleUp Malaysia

ScaleUp Malaysia is an accelerator that focuses exclusively on growth-stage companies in Malaysia – helping them position their business for exponential growth. ScaleUp Malaysia is founded by a team of experienced entrepreneurs, professionals and seasoned investors.

Also read: Protégé Ventures as a gateway for VCs to invest in the future

Championing the concept of building “Pegasus” companies of building fast-growing profitable businesses, ScaleUp Malaysia companies go through a program that includes in-class training, one to one coaching, and equity investment for selected companies. You can visit them at their official website at www.scaleup.my or their official social media pages, Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

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Ula, a B2B e-commerce marketplace in Indonesia, has secured US$87 million in a Series B financing round co-led by Prosus Ventures, Tencent and B Capital.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s investment firm Bezos Expeditions, Northstar group, AC Ventures, and Citius also joined.

Existing backers Lightspeed India, Sequoia India, Quona Capital, and Alter Global also participated in the round, which comes eight months after its US$20 million Series A round in January 2021.

The company will use the latest capital to grow its presence across Indonesia and exploring international expansion across Southeast Asia. Besides, Ula will add new categories, expand its buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) offering, and build new technology and a local supply chain and logistics infrastructure.

As part of the new round, Ula has also brought in seasoned investor and entrepreneur Pandu Sjahrir as an advisor.

Also Read: Ula’s CTO on tech for good, Coinhako’s founder story, talent shortage in SEA and more….

Ula was founded in January 2020 by Nipun Mehra, Alan Wong, Derry Sakti, and Riky Tenggara — a team of experienced e-commerce and FMCG professionals from Indonesia, India and the US with decades of experience spanning Amazon, Flipkart, Lazada, P&G and Booking.com.

It is a horizontal multi-category wholesale e-commerce marketplace that combines modern retail’s technology, tools and skills with the lean cost structure of traditional micro-retail. According to Ula, this brings the best in selection, prices and working capital to small store owners to increase their overall income.

Since the launch, Ula claims to have grown 230x, currently offering over 6,000 products and serving more than 70,000 traditional retail stores on its platform.

The firm also offers a BNPL option, which is expected to be a US$150 billion market in Indonesia.

Previously, Ula bagged a US$10.5 million seed round in June 2020.

“We launched in 2020, with a single-minded mission to empower small, neighbourhood retailers with technology to increase their income. We take a long-term approach to solve the underlying problems of traditional retailers by investing in technology, supply chain and data-enabled credit offering,” said Nipun Mehra, CEO and co-founder at Ula.

“With Ula, traditional retailers no longer have to worry about sourcing, product availability, or even payments, which frees up their time to focus on other important things. Seeing the impact that we’re able to have in the lives of our customers is what drives our team,” said Derry Sakti, co-founder and chief commercial officer at Ula.

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Image Credit: Ula

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SoftBank-backed Oyo files for US$1.1B IPO in India
Oyo aims to raise US$942.7M through the public offering and the rest of the targeted capital from the sale of secondary shares; According to the prospectus, founder Ritesh Agarwal, RA Hospital Holdings (Agarwal’s holding company), and SoftBank Vision Fund are Oyo’s largest shareholders.

Accredify raises US$2M to combat the rising fake degree certificates issue in education sector
Investors are Qualgro, Pavilion Capital, Endeavour Ventures, and K2 Global; The firm works with more than 900 clients in Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Singapore, and UAE; It claims it has verified 7M+ documents so far.

East Ventures leads US$1.1m round of Singapore logistics startup Luwjistik
The e-logistics startup will use the funds to improve the platform and expand its workforce to go deeper into Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia; Luwjistik already counts companies such as Ninja Van, J&T Express, and JNE Express as its network partners.

Indonesia aims to launch rules on dual-class shares this year: Exchange official
Authorities are trying to sort out issues related to the ratio of voting rights and the duration of such rights, among others; The flurry of investor activity led to Indonesia’s biggest listing, with e-commerce firm Bukalapak making its debut here in August after raising US$1.5B.

Neobank for freelancers Friz receives US$1M seed financing
Investors include Amand Ventures, Iterative VC, Y Combinator, an Ivy League University Endowment Fund, and angels; Friz leverages data insights to provide financial products including credit cards, personal loans, insurance, savings and investment products for freelancers.

MAS to launch digital platform to curb money laundering, terror financing
The platform, named COSMIC — short for collaborative sharing of ML/TF information and cases — will be rolled out in the first half of 2023; Singapore is one of the biggest destinations for suspect transactions in Asia, according to a Bloomberg report.

Telkom Group’s MDI Ventures joins FinAccel private investment prior to IPO
The announcement comes amid the fintech firm’s plans to go public in the US; The funding, which comes from Cathay Innovation, Endeavor Catalyst, and Telkom Group investment arm MDI Ventures, will boost the total commitment for the company’s PIPE deal to US$125M+.

Dutycast gets VinaCapital backing for its browser extension that helps consumers buy online globally with ease
After adding DutyCast to the browser, users can shop and put products of multiple stores in one single Dutycast cart, checkout once, and pay in local currency; The solution can scale beyond Vietnam and said that the VC would assist DutyCast in realising this international ambition.

‘The car-sharing biz has taught me that mobility is hyperlocal’: SOCAR CEO Leon Foong
Hyperlocalisation in terms of products and service offerings can push consumers to continue using the product or service, the SOCAR CEO says; Unlike most developed countries where consumers have established credit scores and prefer post-paid accounts, Malaysia is still predominantly a pre-paid country.

The Incubation Network (TIN) joins hands with ECCA Family Foundation to support circular economy startups in Thailand
As part of the initiative, ECCA Family has committed US$2 million of strategic funding to spearhead the effort; TIN’s partners Seedstars, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, and STEAM Platform, will launch incubators and accelerators for entrepreneurs.

Crypto exchange Independent Reserve gets license from MAS
This license allows the Australia-based virtual asset service provider to operate in Singapore as a regulated digital payments service provider for cryptocurrency, making it easier for users to buy digital tokens with Singapore dollars.

EduSpaze backs pre-series A round of Malaysian mentorship platform;
Other investors are Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation, Indelible Ventures; FutureLab connects fresh graduates and young professionals to industry mentors; It currently has over 3K industry mentors across Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia on its online platform.

Social commerce booming in Asia with live-stream shopping growth
The strategy gives brands a presence right where their consumers are spending many of their hours online – and it now occupies an estimated 44% of the US$109B Asian e-commerce market; In Southeast Asia, the average growth of social commerce in terms of gross merchandise value has grown by 307 per cent in the past year.

Vietnam’s digital banking adoption catches up with developed markets
Between 2017 and 2021, 88% of APAC consumers in emerging markets actively use digital banks, a 33 percentage points increase; In Vietnam, the numbers rose by 41 percentage points to 82% in 2021; This information was released in the McKinsey report on the digital banking behaviours of 20K urban banking consumers across 15 APAC markets.

DeFi is pushing finance towards its e-commerce moment
Banks need to stay on top of how DeFi can change the modern financial system, similar to how e-commerce has disrupted industries. With banks trying to adopt DeFi, fintech will become increasingly meaningless.

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Many people assume that working in tech requires a very analytical and orderly “left-brain” way of thinking and working. As the co-founder of Southeast Asian leading logistics tech startup Ninja Van, I’d like to challenge that notion and argue that taking a creative approach is essential for anyone thinking of, or currently working in tech. 

To illustrate my point, I’d like to start by sharing a bit about the tinkering I used to do in my earlier years. When I was a child, I was fascinated by how things worked and were always trying to understand how they were created.

Whenever my parent’s Discman (anyone remembers these?), television, or toaster broke down, it would be passed on to me and I would happily spend hours disassembling them and inspecting their insides.

These childhood “adventures” in tinkering have helped to train and rewire my brain to make the most of my ability to generate original ideas.

When we first started Ninja Van, none of the co-founders or myself had any logistics background or experience and we had to learn so much about the operational intricacies of the business. We were jacks of all trades, often wearing multiple hats and working across various roles of warehouse sorters, delivery drivers, account managers, customer service officers, and software developers.

Through these tough times, we translated our experiences into lines of code, creating hassle-free logistics solutions.  Since then, the company has grown exponentially to become Southeast Asia’s largest and fastest-growing tech-enabled logistics company, providing supply chain solutions for business across the region.

Why pushing the boundaries could be the best thing for your creativity

We’ve all heard the overused cliche “think outside the box” but this adage does ring true in some instances. Ninja Van’s ability to create meaningful and relevant products and solutions meant we had to brainstorm beyond the boundaries laid out by more established logistics companies at that time.

Also Read: The workspace you need to become more productive and creative

We were able to do that by being obsessed with solving an important problem: How do we provide hassle-free delivery services for businesses of all sizes across Southeast Asia?

I recall the early days at Ninja Van when we were managing our warehouse and sort centre operations within a tiny office, with our desks propped up against the racks where we stored our parcels. Out of this tiny facility, we were able to deliver up to 100 parcels a day with the three vans we had at that point.

As our customer base grew, we realised that our operational processes were not linearly scaled; delivering and sorting 500 parcels took more than five times the amount of time it usually did with 100 parcels. We required way more floor space and much more time. 

One night, the three of us co-founders (Chang Wen, Boxian and myself) finished sorting the parcels at close to 5 AM, giving us only three hours of sleep before we had to start our morning delivery runs. At that point, thinking ahead to more of such days and nights almost gave us second thoughts about whether we were in the right business!

Right after we wrapped up the deliveries for the day, we all sat down to re-work the sorting process. We pushed on, wrote lines of codes, and deployed our very first “parcel router” module that very same day. The result? Sorting 500 parcels now took 30 mins!

Side projects can help you move forward

What helps you tap into your imagination and creative self? Build a portfolio of projects. When I was a teenager, I had way too many side projects. One of which I am proud of (or maybe not so proud of) is an electronic poker-style game where the loser had to gulp an alcoholic drink which would be dispensed automatically by a pump. 

Side projects serve as a powerful medium to explore different careers, test out business ideas and gain new skills, even at the workplace. Employees were pleasantly surprised when I floated an idea to build a pizza oven at our office’s patio last year.

But I believe that setting aside time for creative pursuits such as gardening (we have our very own gardening club at Ninja Van) and building things from scratch helps our minds to focus and devise fresh approaches to solving problems.

Today’s challenges require a creative approach

The world we live in today needs creativity because problems aren’t getting simpler. We need to develop new ways of thinking in order to design better solutions, especially given the higher expectations that customers have these days. Companies that fail to innovate will be left behind.

Case in point, the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated the digital transformation in both the professional and personal lives of the communities we serve. Ninja Van has progressively built up our digital infrastructure and engineering capabilities as the foundation of the business since day one of our inception, and we knew we had to find a safe and fuss-free solution that would give our parcel recipients the choice to customize their delivery experience.

Also Read: Singapore’s Janio raises US$8M to expand its logistics solutions to emerging markets

Instead of creating a Ninja Van app that users would have to download, we decided to explore creating a system that would work across the most commonly used social messaging platforms already ubiquitous in Southeast Asia.

After weeks of late nights and user trials, we were finally able to launch the first version of our proprietary NinjaChat system, with the option to select contactless deliveries being one of the first functions available.

A word of advice from Ninja Van

I believe that creativity is one of the key skills of the future;  it is essential for problem-solving, strategizing, and generating ideas that will drive businesses forward. Does the way you conduct meetings need a rethink? Could you be more proactive in sharing your ideas with others? How can you mix things up and allow your mind to be more creative?

If you have some time, take a step back and relook what a typical workday could be structured – try questioning everything and you’ll soon find yourself becoming more engaged and innovative.

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