Singapore-headquartered Workmate, which offers an end-to-end online staffing platform, announced today that it has received a US$10 million loan from the UK-based lending platform Lendable.

The startup has raised a total of US$15.2 million so far from a slew of investors, including  Atlas Ventures, Gobi Partners, and Beacon VC, the corporate venture capital arm of Kasikornbank,

With the fresh funds, Workmate intends to onboard more workers in Indonesia and Thailand.

Founded in 2015, Workmate aims to make it easier for companies to find reliable and consistent blue-collar employees.

The way it works is that all workers are pre-screened by the startup before being made available for hire on the platform, in order to ensure quality and safety.

Also Read: On-demand staffing platform Workmate raises US$5.2M funding, looking to put orders in region’s informal labor economy

Businesses then request staff through the platform and are matched with workers nearby who have the required experience. They can view each worker’s experience, ratings, and performance history, before confirming which workers they want.

The platform also manages contracts, attendance, timesheets, and worker payments.

In addition to that, workers also receive protection from wage fraud and are provided social security, insurance incentives, and access to financial support.

“The traditional staffing model is very manual and has very little technology adoption, it hasn’t changed much in 40 years. It’s a big market that is ripe for disruption. This model is gaining traction internationally – even Uber has just announced it launched a staffing solution called Uber Works in the US,” Mathew Ward, co-founder of Workmate, had previously stated in a press release.

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Image Credit: Workmate

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In this year’s SelectUSA Investment Summit, an annual flagship event organised by the US Department of Commerce to promote foreign investment to the country, four startups from Singapore drew attention and won top places.

Sophie’s BioNutrients (alternative protein company) and NextBillion.ai (an AI-powered hyperlocal solutions startup) came in top at the CleanTech and Software industry pitch sessions, wheras NDR Medical Technology (aims to simplify surgery using AI and robotics) and Zero-Error Systems or ZES (develops ultra-low soft-error solutions for space and autonomous vehicles) bagged second place in the MedTech and Asia Pacific regional sessions at the event, which saw US President Joseph Biden making welcome remarks.

A total of eight Singaporean startups competed against more than 100 early to mid-stage global startups from 46 countries in 12 categories and pitched to VCs, corporate investors, and tech ecosystem partners based in the US.

Also Read: Alt.Flex.Eat: Flexitarianism is the flavour of the SEAson

These startups stand to gain several benefits, including assistance in expanding and growing to the US market.

In this email interview, Christian Koschil, Acting Senior Commercial Officer, US Department of Commerce, US Embassy, Singapore, talks to e27 about the summit, the four Singapore startups, and compares the ecosystems of the two countries.

Edited excerpts:

What is SelectUSA? What are the key objectives of this competition? How many startups from Southeast Asia get selected every year?

SelectUSA is a US federal-level programme dedicated to facilitating and promoting high-impact business investment into the country.

The event provides services to two primary clients: economic development organisations (EDOs) at the regional, state, city, and local levels; and business investors from outside the US.

The SelectUSA Tech programme connects early-stage and global tech startups/companies to prospects for advancement in the US market.

This year’s summit was held virtually from June 7-11. Startups that fulfilled certain criteria were picked to take part in the industry-focused and regional pitching sessions. The criteria were: 1) they needed to be less than eight years old, 2) had up to US$10 million in revenue, 3) had up to 40 employees, and 4) were developing a new technology product or service, or delivering an existing technology to a market in new ways.

This year, startups from around the world competed across 13 pitching sessions. Four regional pitching sessions allowed winners of in-market pitching events held earlier in 2021 to compete against other winners from their region.

Meanwhile, over 200 companies worldwide applied for a spot in one of the nine industry pitching sessions. More than 110 companies representing 46 markets took part across these 13 pitching sessions.

Eight Singapore-based startups and eight more startups from the rest of Southeast Asia were selected to participate.

Sophie’s BioNutrients and NextBillion.ai emerged winners in the cleantech and software industry pitch sessions. NDR Medical Technology and ZES came in second in the medtech and Asia-Pacific regional sessions.

The top-placed startup for each session was awarded legal and investment structuring advisory services sponsored by the International Network of Boutique and Independent Law Firms.

What potentials does the US government see in these four Singaporean startups?

Singapore has one of the most vibrant startup ecosystems in the world and it focuses on cutting-edge technologies that address global business challenges.

Singapore-based tech startups have successfully scaled and commercialised their products in the US by tapping on strategic market opportunities, a talented workforce, strong R&D and intellectual property protection systems, and robust supply chains in the US.

Similarly, the four Singapore startups that won have great potential to grow their businesses in the US market.

Will the government assist these build and grow in the US?

We work closely with EDOs in 50 different states across the US. We connect companies to the EDOs based on the states they would like to establish a presence in. The local economic developers can share information about the available grants and incentives, which foreign companies can leverage.

Also Read: Fixing food waste problem means less hungry people and a great economy

SelectUSA also provides bespoke market research reports and helps companies navigate the federal system and regulations.

Since it is a government-run programme, will the government closely monitor these companies? Will the US government partner with these startups on their new business and projects?

We provide the companies with the initial support they need to enter the US market, and we provide continuous support as they expand their operations across the country.

The SelectUSA programme does not monitor their business in the US and does not require any partnership agreements to provide support.

Does the US government plan to further boost bilateral relations with Singapore through new programmes and initiatives?

A trade financing and investment cooperation MOU was signed by the US Department of Commerce and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), Singapore, in December 2020. The US Commercial Service in Singapore works closely with MTI and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on several initiatives.

One good example is the SelectUSA Tech ASEAN event, which took place January 26-27, 2021. Minister Chan Chun Sing was a key speaker during the event and he shared with the participating tech companies on investment and business opportunities in the US.

Moving forward, would you be looking to partner with more startups and bring them to the US market?

We work closely with our partners such as Enterprise Singapore, IMDA, startup accelerators, venture capitalists, and local universities, and we share with startups on US market entry strategies and the support we can provide as they expand into the US.

What are the key differences between the US and Singapore’s startup ecosystems? What lessons can Singapore’s startups draw from their US peers?

Both the US and Singapore have strong, vibrant, and diverse startup ecosystems. Startups in the US practise a global mindset that drives them for exponential growth from day one. This is supported by access to funding but is also supported by other driving factors like risk tolerance, and an open and collaborative mindset, where there is a flow of information and ideas.

Also Read: Microsoft’s VC arm infuses US$6.25M into hyperlocal solutions startup NextBillion.ai

The US has some of the highest-valued startups in the world and access to alternate funding sources through crowdfunding, angel investors, and VCs in comparison to European and Asian startup ecosystems.

Singapore has one of the fastest-growing startup ecosystems, globally. As per Startup SG, an initiative by Enterprise Singapore, the local ecosystem comprises 3,458 startups, 635 investors, and 199 incubators. Singapore government agencies such as Enterprise Singapore and IMDA organise many initiatives and programmes in collaboration with public and private sector partners to provide the local startup community with tools and resources to innovate, test, and scale their ideas.

We will continue to work closely with Singapore-based startups to help them launch and expand their presence in the United States. The U.S. market provides abundant opportunities for foreign companies to scale their businesses globally.

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Image Credit: US Department of Commerce, US Embassy, Singapore.

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Singapore- and New York-based insurtech company, bolttech, has announced the completion of an oversubscribed US$180 million Series A funding round led by US- and Germany-based global investment firm Activant Capital Group.

Tony Fadell (Principal at Future Shape, inventor of iPod, and co-inventor of iPhone), Alpha Leonis Partners, Dowling Capital Partners, B. Riley Venture Capital, and Tarsadia Investments also joined.

Also Read: Swiss insurtech startup Riskwolf attracts funding, to launch ‘outage benefit product’ in SEA

This round takes bolttech’s valuation to more than US$1 billion, giving it a unicorn status only one year after its launch in 2020.

The investment will accelerate bolttech’s continued growth. Over the past year, it claims to have grown its enterprise customers by three-fold and distribution partnerships by nine-fold in the US. The additional capital will help bolttech further enable its partners and customers with enhanced technology and digital capabilities, and strengthen its presence in its existing markets while continuing to expand internationally.

The insurtech startup was founded with a mission to transform the way insurance is bought and sold. With a suite of digital and data-driven capabilities, bolttech aims to make connections between insurers, distributors, and customers easier and more efficient to buy and sell insurance and protection products.

With 1,400 employees, bolttech works with partners such as insurers, telcos, retailers, banks, e-commerce and digital destinations to embed insurance into their customer journeys at the point of need.

The insurance exchange claims it transacts US$5 billion in premiums on its platform, providing a gateway to more than 5,000 products and 150 insurance providers.

Also Read: The future of insurance isn’t just digital — it’s efficiently digital

To date, it claims to have built a global footprint that serves more than 7.7 million customers in 14 markets across three continents: North America, Asia, and Europe. It has licenses in 50 states in the US and several key markets in Asia and Europe-wide.

As part of the investment, Richard Benson-Armer, Partner at Activant, will join bolttech’s board of directors which already includes Peter Hancock, Robert Kyncl, and Malcolm Turnbull, amongst others.

 

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Taiwan has a bustling startup ecosystem with many first-time entrepreneurs taking the plunge to start their own business. In fact, according to a PwC survey, over 73 per cent of the startup founders in Taiwan last year were first-time entrepreneurs. Interestingly, these founders had an average prior work experience of more than 11 years. This indicates that mature players who have been working as a part of key industries for decades are also motivated to build their own business in Taiwan and take the jump. As such, the country’s burgeoning startup ecosystem has emerged as one of the leaders in the APAC region in the past few years.

However, there is still a lot of scope for growth for the region’s startups and that can come with scalability. To attain new markets and reach new heights, local startups need to expand beyond borders, and Southeast Asia is just the right market. With a rising middle class, increased internet penetration and smartphone usage, as well as a peaking internet economy, Southeast Asia has a lot of untapped potential.

But while Taiwan’s startup ecosystem has been steadily gaining momentum, the startups are still struggling to enter the region and establish a base here. As per reports, in 2020, only 26 per cent of startups were able to enter Southeast Asia (and this is including India) — this was a significant drop from 46 per cent in 2019.

Also read: Scaling your startup: A closer look at building your local entity and remote teams

To help Taiwan-based startups expand their reach across Southeast Asia, the Science & Technology Policy Research and Information Center (STPI) launched its Vision Programme. With the main goal of giving high-potential tech startups a global boost, this initiative has been helping Taiwan-based startups make meaningful partnerships and collaborations to realise their full potential for four years now.

Organised by STPI and supported by MOST, the Vision Programme seeks to help Taiwan-based startups build global connections.

For the Southeast Asia track of the Program, STPI chose to partner with e27 to help empower Taiwan-based startups to boost their chances of success when it comes to entering and scaling in the region. For years, e27 has been one of APAC’s go-to platforms for news, community, events, talent, funding, and more. Its competence in designing and running successful accelerators, private partner deal flows, and matching programmes has established its track record of bridging access to markets and building many different partnerships in its vast network.

Fostering meaningful connections and collaborations through networking sessions and more

This year, in its fifth edition, STPI’s Vision Programme successfully facilitated ecosystem connections to support the business development goals of participating startups.

From one-on-one mentorship sessions to focused roundtable discussions and country insights — the programme entailed various activities with a keen focus on sharing insights on business growth and scalability across different markets in Southeast Asia.

e27 also facilitated connections between local startups and potential partners. The ecosystem connection exercise under the Vision Programme this year yielded notable positive results in terms of insights, revenue, and funding potential for the participating startups.

“The reason we applied for the Vision Programme is because we would like to do business development in the SEA market. Singapore is the heart of the SEA. Our goal is to build connections with potential strategy partners and do business together to provide values to our target audience, manufacturing SMEs,” shared Bruce King, Business Development at GoodLinker.

Also read: How Malaysia nurtured Slurp and why the company is ready to take on the region

King believes that joining the programme allowed them to meet their goal of establishing connections across the region. “First, a professional media coverage caught the eye of some business owners from Malaysia and Indonesia. Our local partners [also] had a site visit. We had more than 10 online meetings to pitch with different organisations, investors, and cooperates. Now, we are able to keep sharing our successful cases with them until we launch our series-A fundraising project in 2022.”

e27 secured experienced Taiwan-based entrepreneurs and investment professionals to coach the startups. To help foster scalability, selected country mentors offered assistance to support startups as and when they are ready to enter their respective markets.

Another winning element of the programme was the Founder’s drinks conducted on April 14th 2021. This casual networking session organised at the Taiwan Tech Arena successfully connected startups from the US and Southeast Asian markets to local mentors and VCs.

The Online Demo Day conducted virtually on April 28th 2021 was attended by over a hundred participants including investors, startup founders, government representatives, accelerators, and innovators.

Bou-Wen Lin, STPI Director, thanked all participants and supporters and shared that despite most of the events shifting online due to COVID-19, this year’s programme has been quite successful.

Finding a global audience

Through the programme’s partnership with e27, participating startups gained exposure that allowed them to establish important visibility on a worldwide platform. Jeff Hu, CEO and Co-founder of Turing Chain explained that through e27’s coverage, Turing Chain was introduced to a slew of opportunities across the region.

“e27’s great article has helped us to be reposted by UNESCO’s IIEP ETICO to address Turing Certs’ commitment to deal with education fraud. We became in touch with reputable organisations such as Accenture Ventures (Singapore), Invest Tokyo (Japan), Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines, Asian Institute of Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaysia), NIA (Thailand), Scape (Singapore), XS APAC (Singapore), and Dusit (Thailand),” shared Hu.

Also read: MaGIC kicks off Malaysia Startup Hub for regional expansion

Not only that, the company also earned active contacts from the Malaysian government and a popular university in the Philippines. Hu added, “more than 15 thousand Taiwanese students from the National Tsing Hua University and the National Taipei University of Business will be using Turing Certs for official diplomas since July. Thanks to e27’s promotion.”

These are only some of the benefits yielded through the e27 partnership, whose mission has always been about empowering startups to grow and succeed in Southeast Asia and beyond. Dustin Masancay of e27 shared, “We’ve forged a solid relationship with STPI through the years. We thank them for continually believing in us to plan and execute this programme with great success. To this end, I would like to acknowledge the generous support of our friends from the ecosystem — government agencies, corporates, association and entrepreneur support organisations — for mentoring and discussing partnership opportunities with the Vision Programme startups.”

Helping startups realise their full potential in the new normal

Created specifically as a support system for the Taiwan government’s technology-based policies, STPI exists to help Taiwan address the growing demands of globalisation and the emerging knowledge economy. STPI functions as the government’s think-tank for science and technology policy and the major platforms for incorporating Taiwan’s research communities whose primary mission is to empower Taiwan’s digital economy.

Their role becomes even more pertinent in the new normal where digital is becoming more of a necessity than a choice. With digitalisation, limitations of geographical boundaries are blurring, opening up new avenues for Taiwan-based tech startups to explore markets beyond borders and STPI’s Vision Programme seeks to help them do that.

To learn more about the Vision Programme and future updates, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/vision.most.

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When COVID-19 struck in early 2020, the startup world went to a standstill. Most startups were scrabbling around to stay afloat. Many had to wind up their businesses but some emerged stronger by pivoting products/business models, forging partnerships, and securing investments.

Here, we bring you a list of the three e27 Luminaries startups that managed to secure partnerships right in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis.

Ayannah’s partnership with ECAP

In June 2020, Ayannah, a Filipino company providing affordable and accessible digital financial services, signed a merger agreement with Indian payments firm Electronic Cash and Payment Solutions (ECAP) to form a pan-Asian company.

Also Read: These e27 Luminaries secure notable fundings, acquire companies at the height of the pandemic

Christened Ayannah Global, the merged entity aims to provide accessible digital financial services to the region’s middle class. Headquartered in Singapore, it also aims to draw from the city-state’s talent pool and forge new partnerships with companies there.

Established in 2010, Ayannah is an AI-enabled technology platform that provides financial services to the emerging middle class, with a significant presence across geographies with customers in India, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The company claimed that its AI tech is designed to launch a comprehensive range of financial and lifestyle products and services ranging from payments, remittance, insurance, and telemedicine.

Ayannah’s products include PanaloCare, a hospital income insurance plan in partnership with AXA, which supports the insured with a daily supplementary income whenever hospitalised.

Also Read: Digital payments startup Ayannah diving deep into Big Data

Since 2013, Bengaluru-based ECAPS has catered to the needs of domestic migrants and the unbanked populations in India. The company provides services such as domestic money transfers, utility bill payments, recharges and travel ticketing for emerging middle-class consumers in India.

Biofourmis’s partnership with Brigham

In March 2020, Singapore-based digital therapeutics company Biofourmis launched a Biovitals Hospital Home in partnership with Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Biovitals Hospital Home is an AI-based, turnkey technology platform that enables hospitals and health systems to quickly deploy a ‘hospital at home’ programme.

Also Read: Biofourmis closes US$100M led by SoftBank to push remote monitoring, digital therapeutics to the forefront of medicine

Over the past few years, the two organisations have worked together to refine and scale the platform for use by healthcare organisations to fuel programmes in which patients are ‘admitted’ to their homes for hospital-level care.

The programme provides 1:1 parity with inpatient payment rates to treat patients in their homes for conditions that include more than 60 diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) such as infections, asthma, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Started in 2015, Biofourmis discovers, develops and delivers clinically-validated software-based therapeutics to provide better outcomes for patients, advanced tools for clinicians to deliver personalised care, technology to demonstrate the value of and complement pharmacotherapy, and cost-effective solutions for payers.

It has built Biovitals, a highly sophisticated personalised AI-powered health analytics platform that predicts clinical exacerbation in advance of a critical event, which is the backbone of their digital therapeutics product pipeline across multiple therapeutic areas—including heart failure, oncology, infectious disease, chronic pain, acute coronary syndrome and COPD.

DiMuto’s partnership with OPAL

In May 2021, global agri-fintech trade solutions company DiMuto announced a partnership with OPAL, a major payment institution (MPI) licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The partneship aims to provide payment services on the blockchain-powered DiMuto Platform.

The duo will develop a new payment module that will allow DiMuto’s agrifood customers to make payments directly tagged to the movement of goods on the DiMuto Platform. This will create visibility of both the movement of goods and money for physical agrifood products tracked with DiMuto’s existing trade digitalisation technology.

Also Read: SG Innovate invests in agri-food tech startup DiMuto, raising awareness to food sustainability issue

The two companies intend to combine their strengths and transform payments and financing in the agri-food trade space. They will leverage OPAL’s expertise in international payment, multi-currency wallets, FX management, and financing solutions alongside DiMuto’s strong network of agrifood clientele, trade digitalisation technology, and capability to collect asset-based data.

DiMuto provides end-to-end supply chain visibility for global businesses. DiMuto uses blockchain, IoT, and AI in its trade solutions digitises the agri-food supply chain for data visibility and trade transparency to solve the industry’s challenges such as food safety breaches, that reportedly experienced a US$110 billion loss, as discovered by a 2018 World Bank study.

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Photo by Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash

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July 5, 2010 was the day taxis started dying. On that date, the very first Uber ride was requested in San Francisco. In the future, when we look back on 2021, what date will we say banks started dying? Or has the death knell already sounded, and we just can’t hear it?

Conditions in 2010 were ripe for Uber. San Francisco was selling taxi medallions at US$250,000 while its taxi industry refused to improve, be it by tracking cabs or even accepting credit cards. The rest, as they say, is history. The city has not sold a single medallion since April 2016.

Worse, taxi associations across the globe could see the ride-hailing tsunami coming. Yet they dug in, buried their heads in the sand, and pressured governments to ban the apps. They, too, had sealed their own fate.

The similarities between taxis in the US and most legacy banks in Southeast Asia today are uncanny: inefficient and unreliable service, dependent on protectionist systems, refusal to adapt to the new digital reality, and even widespread discrimination against certain client segments deemed low-value (like micro-businesses).

Even as 2020 arrived, legacy banks still expected regulators to protect them from neo banks and other digital usurpers. After all, how did the P2P craze pan out in China in 2014?

A proper meltdown. Banks sat safely ensconced in the knowledge that regulators had their backs, afraid of triggering another financial disaster.

But then the world stopped. COVID-19 all but destroyed the last barriers between neo banks and legacy brick-and-mortar players. The 2020 Google e-Conomy SEA report found that cash transactions had declined to just 37 per cent of total transactions post-COVID-19, as more merchants shifted online and began accepting e-wallets.

Google now expects Southeast Asia to see gross transaction values for digital payments reach US$1.2 trillion by 2025. Currently, digital payments account for three per cent of consumer expenditures in ASEAN, a far cry from 30 per cent in China, where digital banks like WeBank and AliBank are leveraging the transactional ecosystems of WeChat and Alibaba/Taobao respectively.

Also Read: Why neobanks are better than digital banks

Regulators, too, are no longer holding the bag for legacy financiers. Increased consumer demand, coupled with the ability of e-wallets by super apps to bring more underbanked and unbanked Southeast Asians into the formal financial fold, has set off a chain reaction across the region.

Malaysia will award five digital banking licenses by early 2022. Indonesia is set to announce digital banking guidelines by mid-2021 but multiple entrants are already providing neo banking services in some form. Meanwhile, OFBank snagged the Philippines’ first digital banking license back in March.

Even legacy banks who believe that “he who controls payroll deposits, controls assets” have had their assumptions challenged during the pandemic. As full-time employment dipped, many turned to gig to supplement their incomes and, in some cases, as their main source of income.

Suddenly, legacy banks weren’t even the primary banks anymore, and e-wallets and fintech apps were processing payments and offering microfinancing.

Micro businesses are typically family-run and employ less than ten (often less than five) workers. Freelancers such as artisans or general handymen tend to be solopreneurs within this definition. Micro-businesses have long been ignored by banks, even during a healthy economy, as they are seen as low-value or hard to reach due to a lack of credit history.

Gig platforms have brought freelancers out of the invisibility of informality. Over the past decade, opaqueness has been reduced via gigging apps that retain transactional data and build trust for both vendors and buyers.

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic made banks even more risk-averse to giggers and other micro-businesses, allowing fintech platforms such as GrabPay and neo banks such as Bank Jago (Gojek’s own digital bank) to swoop in on this largely untapped customer pool.

In Malaysia, four million people (25 per cent of the nation’s workforce) ply their trade in the gig economy. In Indonesia, the number is even higher (32 per cent or 40 million people), especially in rural areas where informal economies are most prevalent.

With niche ecosystems such as Payfazz (rural entrepreneurs) and TaniHub (farmers) making informal economies visible, micro-businesses are no longer hard to reach.

Also Read: Neobanks: the future of banking?

And with new AI-powered and automated KYC processes that draw on in-app transactional data, the “low-value customer” moniker will soon be out the window as well.

Tech investors would do well to look at the success of WeBank, WeChat’s digital bank that serves mom-and-pop shops across China. By leveraging AI, blockchain, and Big Data, WeBank’s per-account operation cost is just RMB3.6 (US$0.50), a tenth of what it costs legacy banks.

But with so much noise in ASEAN, tech investors may find it difficult to identify the right horse to bet on.

Investors need to find niche apps that effectively capitalise on their ecosystems with AI and complete automation. The neo banking players worth investing in will prioritise cost-efficient models such as APIs and fully automated approval processes, not expensive marketing blitzes.

VCs should be wary of throwing money at neo banks that are not already entrenched in existing ecosystems of transactions (such as third-party e-marketplaces, freelancer platforms, lending apps, etc).

In the end, simply having a snazzy app on app stores will not bring in a critical mass of new customers. Early-stage investors should watch out for self-proclaimed neo banks that can’t yet demonstrate that they’re at least rich in partnerships.

Neo banks need to be ubiquitous, ingrained in every nook and cranny of say, a rural micropreneur’s digital life — be it in their favourite gigging apps, P2P tools, with their village agent banker, or online supply chains.

With traditional banks painted into an eerily similar corner that taxis were a decade ago, the race is on. Smart venture capitalists and institutional money need to make their bets in ASEAN today. It’s not a matter of whether to back a neo bank. It’s about which neo bank to back.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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Carro launches “green car financing” to help Singaporeans switch to hybrid, EV cars

The story: Genie Financial Services, a subsidiary of Carro, Southeast Asia’s automotive marketplace unicorn, today announced the launch of GoGreen.

The purpose: GoGreen helps private hire vehicle (PHV) drivers switch to hybrid or electric vehicles (EVs).

More about the story: PHV drivers who intending to purchase a new or used hybrid car or EV can apply for financing from Genie under the GoGreen initiative to receive an interest rate of 1.98 per cent per annum for up to 100 months.

“PHV drivers spend much more time on the road compared to usual car users, but ‘going green’ is a challenge for them as they often find it difficult to obtain environmentally friendly car financing from traditional institutions. Thus, GoGreen was designed to support their transition to greener vehicles and include them as part of the larger sustainability equation,” says Helen Neo, co-founder of Genie Financial Services.

Drivers can apply for this via the Genie website.

NEXEA partners AWS, MaGIC to accelerate Malaysian startups

The story: NEXEA has announced a partnership with leading players of the startup ecosystem to guide early-stage Malay tech companies with exponential growth.

Who the partners are: Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), MBAN, AWS, Cyberview, and MDEC. 

What startups will receive: Up to US$12043 in investment, potential grants, support, and other incentives. 

More about the story: With regards to partnering with the startup ecosystem on the programme, NEXEA Managing Partner Ben Lim said: “NEXEA has decided to partner with top ecosystem players because each ecosystem player brings unique benefits and programmes to support startups – and together, we can help grow the next unicorns for Malaysia.”

Also Read: Roundup: NEXEA, MDEC launch programme to help Malaysian firms explore biz opportunities

The corporate accelerator 2021 applications are open until 31 July 2021.

About NEXEA: A Malaysia-based venture capital firm-cum-accelerator that invests in tech startups. Since its inception, NEXEA has invested in over 35 startups including  Lapasar, WeStyleAsia, and more

Grab partners WeWork to provide business clients with incentives

The story: Grab has partnered with co-working space WeWork to provide one-month free access and discounted membership of up to 25 per cent to selected Grab for Business clients.

More about the story: With the pass, Grab for Business clients will be able to access WeWork’s locations across Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, where they can enjoy fully-equipped workspaces,  conference rooms, and meeting rooms.

Members will also gain access to a network of business services to help them grow, reduced capital expenses, and business-class amenities to enhance their work experience.

Neo banking market in SEA to grow by 50 per cent

The story: Analysts of UnaFinancial have revealed that the neo banking market in 2021 will grow by 24 per cent in APAC, and by 50 per cent in Southeast Asia.

The reason: The lockdown restrictions and remote work was a major factor that led to the increase.

Other key findings: Funding of neo banks in APAC countries in 2020 increased by 22.8 per cent, development of neo banks will be led by Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, while in South Asia the leading country will be India.

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Image Credit: Carro

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Grab’s US$40B SPAC deal set to light up IPO path for SEA startups; Recently, the performance of SPACs has faltered in the market, putting extra pressure on blank-cheque firms trying to woo startups that are becoming wary of the IPO process; US regulators have been warning investors for months about the potential risks around SPACs.

Carousell mulling US listing via SPAC merger at US$1.5B valuation: Bloomberg; The listing could take place as soon as the end of this year, and Carousell is already working with an adviser on the potential deal; Carousell began in Singapore and now has a presence in eight markets across Asia; As of last Sept., the firm is said to have over 250M listings across Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

PayMaya nets US$167M to provide smart digital banking services to unbanked Filipinos; Besides PLDT, KKR, and  Tencent, IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund also participated; PayMaya will use the fresh capital to expand its services, including mobile wallet, payments processing, and digital remittance businesses; It has applied for a digital bank license with the Philippines’s central bank BSP.

Velocity Ventures to back distressed hospitality & travel startups with the new US$20M fund; It has announced the first close; Velocity Hospitality and Travel Fund I has also announced its maiden investments in two startups: Aigens and Zuzu Hospitality; The fund expects to make the final close at the end of 2021.

Singapore’s wealthtech platform Endowus secures US$4.5M; Investors are UBS, Samsung Ventures, Singtel Innov8, Lightspeed, and SoftBank Ventures; Endowus provides retail, accredited, and institutional investors with a digital experience to invest all their cash, SRS, and CPF savings; It offers expert personalised advice at a lower cost with no sales charges.

Fairbanc raises funding to help Indonesian SMEs get credit access sans loan application, smartphones; Investors include ADB Ventures, Accion Venture Lab, East Ventures, and Sampoerna Strategic Group; This new financial backing comes on the heels of its recent investments from 500 Startups and Indonesian billionaire Sampoerna; Fairbanc’s AI-powered platform can read digital footprints, such as transaction history with large suppliers, and data to grant instant digital credit

Singapore’s decentralised document infra platform Dedoco bags US$2.45M seed led by Vertex Ventures; The startup enables document authentication by securing real-time verification options while an audit trail is recorded on the blockchain to maintain transaction integrity; It also provides a new feature “Sign with Singpass” by the Government Technology Agency of Singapore to 2.5M+ registered Singpass app users.

6-month-old Infina wants to become the “RobinHood” of Vietnam with a US$2M funding; Investors include Saison Capital, Venturra Discovery, 1982 Ventures, 500 Startups, and Nextrans; Infina aims to make investment accessible, easy, and engaging for Vietnam’s middle and lower classes.

Singapore is leading in banking-as-a-service adoption globally: survey finds; The Finastra survey further finds that Open Banking has become important to 97% of Singapore businesses, with over 50% calling it a “must have”; Open Banking has provided a number of benefits to their organisations, including improving the customer experience (79%), delivering new services (93%), and improving internal systems (57%).

Payments firm MoMo buys Vietnamese AI startup Pique that turns visitors into customers; MoMo has bought all of Pique’s intellectual property and has hired its data science and engineering team, including its founder; With this deal, MoMo plans to capitalise on Pique’s 25M user database to further improve its product offerings.

Gojek CEO invests in Singapore’s YC-backed Gotrade; Other investors are Amand Ventures, Prasetia Dwidharma, and Brama One Ventures; Gotrade offers ease and convenience in buying and trading stocks for US-listed companies in Indonesia; According to statistics, Gotrade has secured more than 100,000 users only 13 weeks since its launch.

KLAR bags seed funding to develop high-tech ‘ultra-clear’ teeth aligners in Indonesia; Investors are AC Ventures (lead) and Kenangan Fund; Currently, KLAR has partnered with 600+ dentists and orthodontists throughout the archipelago; The firm is now present in 100+ dental clinics across 32 cities; Jakarta, Bali, and Surabaya are its key cities.

Carro’s fintech arm launches financing plan ‘Genie’ for electric vehicles, hybrid cars; It aims to help private-hire vehicle (PHV) drivers switch to hybrid or EVs; Under Genie’s GoGreen initiative, PHV operators can purchase new or used hybrid or electric cars by applying for financing from Genie, where they can get a special interest rate of 1.98% per annum for up to 100 months.

Sequoia Surge’s new cohort comprises a vegan makeup startup, an innovative email marketing platform, and more; The programme, which kicks off on June 30, has 10 woman founders, the largest in a cohort since it first started two years ago in March 2019; Surge, along with other co-investors, has invested a total of US$55M in the latest batch comprising 23 startups.

Bukalapak founder Achmad Zaky Foundation launches edutech incubator in Indonesia; Startup Campus 2021 was kicked off online on June 29 through a partnership between the foundation and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology; The incubator is said to be a guidance programme for students who are interested in creating businesses startups in Indonesia.

7 non-dairy milk startups that can make your vegan transition easier; It is not just the meat industry that is undergoing a sea change but the dairy sector, too, and nowadays, alternative dairy products are the talk of the town; Sesamilk, Sophie’s Bionutrients, and TurtleTree Labs, etc. are already making their presence felt in the region.

How a global pandemic changed (and continues to change) the way we pay; Out of social distancing necessity, the pandemic led to increased use of contactless, digital payment methods like mobile e-wallets, bank transfers, and QR codes; Many retailers who have long resisted installing contactless technology due to processing fees have now been compelled to offer it.

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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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SCI Ecommerce, a  Singapore-headquartered cross-border e-commerce enabler, has announced the final close of its ongoing fundraising, bringing the total capital raised from this round to approximately S$88 million (US$65.4 million).

The first tranche of this round worth US$38 million, announced on May 3, 2021, was led by Asia Partners.

As per a statement, the additional capital came from EDBI, private asset management firm Financial Investments Corporation, Philippine conglomerate Soriano Corporation, and several unnamed investors from Asia, North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

“The expansion of our fundraising round is a strong endorsement of our integrated e-commerce business model, which already serves many of the world’s most iconic consumer brands,” said group CEO Joseph Liu Jiannan. “With these resources in hand, we look forward to investing in new technologies and capabilities to serve our clients, while completing our preparations to become our region’s first publicly traded e-commerce enabler.”

Also Read: SCI Ecommerce raises US$38M led by Asia Partners, plans US IPO in end-2021

Founded in 2014 by Liu Jiannan, SCI provides e-commerce solutions for Southeast and East Asia’s leading e-commerce platforms, including Alibaba’s Tmall platform, Lazada, and Shopee.

SCI provides a comprehensive suite of services to its brand partners, which include Unilever, Abbot, Stanley Black & Decker, Crayola, Nestle, Vinda, and Danone.

Its integrated business model helps its brand partners expand into the Southeast Asia e-commerce market and China Cross Border E-commerce (CBEC) market by setting up and managing over 6,000 online stores across both regions’ major e-commerce platforms and social media channels

Additionally, SCI applies data analytics and e-commerce software tools to optimise online traffic to gross merchandise value (GMV) conversion, brand awareness, consumer loyalty, and the customer service experience, and

It also closely measures e-commerce results for brand partners, which creates a feedback loop that enable partners to refine their products and be more responsive to consumer needs.

With offices in Singapore, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, the company claims to have grown its revenues more than 75x over the past three years.

The company further claimed that it more than doubled its 2019 revenues to over US$100 million in 2020. It has been cash flow positive and profitable since 2019.

Also Read: Asia Partners’s maiden fund hits final close at US$384M

In addition to Asia Partners, two of Alibaba’s co-founders, Singapore-based venture capital firm Jubilee Capital Management, the family office of Sam Goi, and several ultra-high net worth technology entrepreneurs from across Asia are among SCI’s existing investors.

TikTok collaboration

SCI has also inked a partnership with TikTok, starting with a launch in Indonesia. With the help of SCI, brand partners in the archipelago can carry out sales directly through the TikTok app, activating a new channel for social commerce on one of the world’s most popular mobile apps.

The company claims it is the only e-commerce enabler in Southeast Asia with this dual capability across both marketplace e-commerce and social e-commerce platforms.

“SCI’s exponential growth is testament to its ability to offer global and local consumer brands end-to-end e-commerce services integrated with a vast network of Asian marketplaces through its platform,” said Chu Swee Yeok, CEO and President of EDBI.

“With plans to deepen R&D capabilities in data analytics and automation tools at its HQ here, SCI is well placed to strengthen Singapore’s position as a global e-commerce hub, enabling accelerated market scaling for its partners and promoting trade flows across Southeast Asia and East Asia,” Swee Yeok stated.

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Image Credit: SCI Commerce

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Surge, Sequoia Capital India’s rapid scale-up programme in India and Southeast Asia, has announced the 23 early-stage startups participating in its fifth cohort.

According to a press release, Surge, along with other co-investors, has already invested a total of US$55 million in the current batch.

The programme, which kicks off on June 30, has 10 woman founders, the largest in a cohort since it first started two years ago in March 2019.

The Surge community now has 203 founders from 91 startups building companies across more than 15 sectors.

“We are incredibly proud of all 23 companies who have joined Surge 05 and the founders who have forged their businesses in sectors that have seen tremendous tailwinds. These leaders have displayed grit, exceptional talent, and relentless purpose in shaping the world. At this inflection point of global regrowth, we are excited to be part of the journey of our founders and their companies, many of which we believe will grow into large, enduring businesses,” said Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Surge and Sequoia India.

Below is a snapshot of the 23 startups:

Absolute

A plant bioscience- and AI-driven adaptive platform for precision agriculture, which helps horticulture growers radically transform yields, grade, and nutritional value of the produce.

ADPList

Aims to democratise mentorship and make it accessible for everyone through a community platform where people can find, book, and meet mentors around the world.

ApnaKlub

An agent-led B2B wholesale platform for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).

Belora

It aims to produce clean, high-performance, vegan makeup — free from toxins and harmful ingredients. The company’s mission is to create makeup that doubles up as skincare so that women can wear products, which are not only dermatologically tested, but also good for their skin.

Durianpay

A fully integrated and comprehensive payments stack that enables businesses to grow and scale. The company’s goal is to modernise payments across SEA which helps improve both customer and merchant experiences.

Dyte

A developer-friendly real-time audio and video calling software development kit (SDK) that allows developers to integrate live video into their apps in interesting and innovative ways.

Also Read: Rajan Anandan to entrepreneurs: ‘Trim the fat and build a leaner organisation’

Gumlet

A new-age media delivery infrastructure that provides low code or no-code integration plugins, which automates the entire media publishing pipeline.

Locad

It makes multi-channel e-commerce fulfilment easier. It does this by offering a distributed warehousing network, which reduces shipping time and costs by storing products closer to customers.

Mailmodo

An email marketing platform that helps marketers create app-like experiences within emails and increase conversions.

Mesh

A new-age people management platform that makes it easy for employees to manage goals, get timely feedback, and grow faster.

Multiplier

The platform makes it easy for companies to hire teams internationally by managing the complexities of local compliance, labor contracts, payroll, benefits, and taxes.

OneCode

An app that connects companies with sales agents, giving these agents access to sell the products and services to less tech-savvy buyers.

PowerPlay

A mobile-first, vernacular construction site management app that enables project managers and workers to communicate and collaborate more effectively.

Pankhuri

A social community platform where women can network, learn, and shop online through live streaming, chat, and micro-courses.

Rara Delivery

A platform revolutionising instant delivery for e-commerce in Indonesia through data-driven logistics.

Revery

It uses game thinking to revolutionise wellness, and the team is on a mission to make wellness affordable and accessible to anyone with a mobile phone.

TWID

A rewards-based payment network that enables customer reward or loyalty points to be used as a payment instrument.

Vah Vah

A live, online vocational training platform that offers professional beauty courses.

Vara

An easy-to-use and lightweight staff management platform that enables small companies in Southeast Asia to effortlessly manage their attendance and payroll.

Veera Health

A digital therapeutics platform that helps women identify and navigate Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), with a comprehensive offering of therapy, coaching, and specialist support.

Also Read: Meet the 4 SEA startups who have made it to Sequoia Surge’s new batch

Virtual Internships

Virtual Internships are redesigning internships for the 21st-century workforce, mirroring the future of work. The company believes in the democratisation of the global workforce by widening participation and creating global talent pipelines and access to jobs worldwide for students of all backgrounds and nationalities.

WATI

It helps companies have personalised conversations with customers at scale with an easy-to-use customer engagement software that’s built on WhatApp’s Business API.

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Image Credit: Sequoia Capital

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