The COVID-19 pandemic has forced society to reexamine its ways and develop new strategies for life and work to continue despite the many setbacks that have surfaced because of the global health crisis. As such, trends like segregated work environments and long-distance family relationships have emerged, along with a stronger need for digital solutions.

The need for smarter digitalisation has existed long before the pandemic, but current events have certainly accelerated these trends. Now, as billions of consumers across the globe are able to accomplish more and more tasks within mobile apps, across both their home and work lives, the role of mobile messaging tools and chat APIs have become increasingly prominent.

One particular company that has been making waves in the market is Sendbird, the largest white-label mobile conversations platform that companies can integrate into their apps and brand experience with just a few lines of code. Sendbird is the leading mobile engagement and communication platform trusted by modern digital and mobile-first companies like Reddit, Delivery Hero, and Paytm.

Also read: Open Banking: why this risky pursuit is the key to accelerating Fintech innovation

With the emergence of new trends in various areas including Chat API, Messaging SDK, In-app Messaging, Real-time Communication, Chat Platform as a Service (CPaaS), Cloud Communication, IP Messaging, Conversational Commerce, Enhanced Messaging, live commerce, and live video, Sendbird has seen heavy demand for its products across different industries.

Sendbird connects users with each other and with the brands they care about through rich in-app conversations across chat, voice, and video. “From food delivery to healthcare, education, entertainment, shopping, and so much more, every business is looking to connect digitally with its customers,” said Sendbird co-founder and CEO, John S. Kim.

Kim added, “users now expect to have meaningful conversations with each other, and with the brand, inside of the mobile app — and that’s where we come in. Whether it’s coordinating with a delivery provider, getting a question answered from a seller in an online marketplace, asking another user for advice in a hobby community, or talking to a doctor in a virtual video call, Sendbird helps hundreds of millions of users connect with the brands they love and get stuff done.”

Conversations as the centre of the mobile experience

Billions of users now engage in real-time mobile conversations on a monthly basis making it the most popular way for users to communicate. Companies are increasingly harnessing the power of mobile conversations within their own apps both to drive better business outcomes, but also to avoid risks of losing their users to other real-time channels owned by the technology giants.

More and more, brands are making the conversation with the customer the centre of the mobile experience. From within a chat thread, users can authorise a replacement item from a delivery provider, cancel a ride, make a payment to a friend, or check the status of an order.

“Modern brands in all verticals are increasingly adopting in-app chat to power digital, real-time, and authentic conversations with their customers to drive engagement and retention,” said Sendbird board member Karan Mehandru.

Also read: The 5G era is here, and you can be part of the revolution

“We believe Sendbird’s market leadership and product scalability put them in pole position to capture these tailwinds and become the first choice for every brand in the world looking to communicate authentically with their audience. We are thrilled to lead this investment and partner with John and the team as the company defines and owns this next dominant channel of customer communications,” Mehandru added.

Sendbird’s customer base currently spans communities such as Reddit and Yahoo Sports as well as two-sided marketplaces like Carousell, Handy, and Yell. It also includes food delivery and ride-sharing leaders like Delivery Hero, Ola, and iFood; digital health innovators such as Rally Health, Teladoc, and DocPlanner; fintech companies like PayPay, Paytm, and Picpay; as well as enterprises including Virgin Mobile UAE, ServiceNow, and Kookmin Bank.

“We needed to quickly find new digital ways for our users to build meaningful connections, and Sendbird’s video calling and chat APIs do just that,” said Ben Celebicic, CTO of Hinge, one of the largest dating sites in the U.S. and a member of the Match Group.

Celebicic explained that “with millions of daters looking for connection, we needed a partner that we could trust with our scale.“

New money for a new world

Last April, Sendbird announced that it closed $100 million in Series C funding in an oversubscribed round led by STEADFAST Capital Ventures. STEADFAST Managing Director and Head of Venture Capital Karan Mehandru will join Sendbird’s board of directors. Emergence Capital, Softbank Vision Fund 2*, and World Innovation Lab also participated in the round, as well as previous investors, ICONIQ Growth, Tiger Global Management, and Meritech Capital.

Funding comes as Sendbird has achieved new milestones. Now valued at $1.05 billion, it has become one of only 12 current unicorns founded out of Korea and the first in the B2B enterprise software space. Sendbird has also grown its monthly active users (MAU) and the number of applications powered by Sendbird by 3x since its Series B announcement. Over 150 million users interact on Sendbird’s chat and video platform every month through the apps of digital and mobile leaders including Reddit, Hinge, Paytm, Teladoc, Virgin Mobile UAE, and Delivery Hero.

Also read: Want to fast-track your growth? Fast-track your way to improved customer experience

Sendbird will use its latest influx of capital to aggressively accelerate its R&D efforts to help customers get more value out of both existing and new products. The company will continue to scale its workforce in its Silicon Valley headquarters, as well as in its other locations around the globe — New York, London, Munich, Singapore, Seoul, and Bengaluru — to make this happen. In addition, Sendbird also plans to enter new markets as the world looks for ways to incorporate meaningful digital conversations over chat, voice, and video into their mobile applications.

“Our customers operate in highly dynamic and competitive environments,” said Kim. “Helping them launch new mobile experiences quickly and see better business outcomes — that’s where our focus is. Last year we launched Sendbird Calls, APIs to embed voice and video experiences into mobile apps, and we’ve seen strong demand. The explosion of Clubhouse has shown that companies are just getting started on where to take voice and video. We’re excited to build the future of mobile experiences with our customers.”

These are only some of the exciting new developments in the messaging world, and we are excited to see catalysts like Sendbird further revolutionise mobile experiences and bridge gaps as we usher in the new normal.

For more information, you may visit Sendbird’s official page here.

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Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by 
Sendbird

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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It’s no secret that the race to digital adoption has greatly benefited consumers. Companies are proudly sharing their digital touchpoints and success stories, with a renewed focus on creating the very best customer experiences (CX). That’s great news for consumers everywhere, but businesses have an additional layer of responsibility to make sure their employees, the people turning this goal into reality, are not forgotten.

As a company’s ‘internal customers’, employees are just as powerful and relevant to your success. In fact, a study by KPMG shows businesses that invest in EX are four times more profitable than those that don’t. In the same way we champion great customer relationships, a new kind of EX is the way forward to help employees reach their full potential — one that is personal, relevant, and responsive.

After all, when your people are happy, they’re more likely to deliver the best interactions for your customers, creating a better experience for everyone.

Understanding the landscape of employee experience today

The pandemic has brought about a huge shift in the meaning of ‘good’ EX. With more teams working remotely, companies must now pay closer attention to their employees, finding innovative ways to improve visibility, gather feedback, and encourage engagement. 

In Singapore, our Zendesk CX Trends 2021 report found 77 per cent of employees on support teams feel overwhelmed by unprecedented change. As we navigate new ways of working, seamless communication and flexibility must stand at the core of great EX, allowing everyone across the organisation to respond to business challenges and employee needs with agility.

In response to volatility, leaders must put in place the right processes and culture to help their teams feel connected, supported, and included, so that they can be empowered to do their best work.

Also Read: How Globe Telecom used Google’s cloud-based services to empower its employees

Always respond with empathy

Empathy sits at the heart of any healthy relationship, and building up great EX starts with understanding and responding to the needs of your people. More than a year into the pandemic, we still can’t fully claim ‘business-as-normal’ but we have stepped up to the challenge of ‘business-as-adaptable’.

We’ve become better at dealing with changes and uncertainties, and more comfortable with springing into action to respond to new needs and the same flexibility needs to extend to the workplace. There must be a willingness for leaders to listen with compassion, communicate with honesty, and actively work to remove barriers that might stop employees from getting help. 

Our research shows that more than half (57 per cent) of agents in Singapore think a supportive environment is the most important factor in doing their job well.

That’s over half of a workforce who are at risk of losing motivation and belief in the company’s goals if they don’t feel heard and understood. Businesses would be remiss to ignore the importance of empathy when it comes to building up a strong, resilient, and productive workforce. 

Seek to empower with technology

If it wasn’t already clear, the two experiences—employee and customer—are tightly linked. When employees have the right tools to succeed, they can keep better track of performance indicators, stay connected with colleagues, and feel supported by their companies.

Yet, our research shows that despite the shift to remote work, 49 per cent of agents don’t have the right tools to work successfully from home.

Companies that want to drive great customer experiences must first think about investing in technological tools to support their people and the ongoing health of the business. 

Internally, leveraging a flexible, easy-to-use portal for communication and collaboration, such as an internal help desk, will help employees find the resources they need. When facing consumers, employees must also be equipped to provide customers the same stellar support they receive from their own companies.

Together, these tools can help employees communicate with each other as well as engage customers across various channels, including messaging, chat, email, and phone, improving the overall experience for everyone.

Also Read: As Glints CTO, this is what I want you to know about building an engineering team in Southeast Asia

To all businesses aiming to do the best by their customers, take a moment to remember that your employees will always be the greatest champions of your brand.

If you are serious about creating the best customer experiences, start by looking within and making sure you have the right focus on caring for your own internal customers.

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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.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

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From gaining popularity in retail and e-commerce to getting reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) is picking up even more attention in Singapore.

Despite having already shed some light on the misconceptions about BNPL financial services, plenty of myths still surround the industry. As a new form of financial service in Singapore, it is only natural for people to misinterpret and make judgements based on surface-level knowledge.

But the fact is, the myths the public holds about BNPL — such as viewing BNPL as an insecure cyber platform, a service that encourages irresponsible spending behaviour, or a credit trap that profits off customer penalties — are by and large, untrue.

It is first important to note that not all BNPL services are the same. While there are businesses that label themselves as a BNPL, some are actually a lending business that allows consumers to make borrowed payments at a later date. To be more specific, BNPL actually refers to platforms such as hoolah, that allows consumers to purchase what they need now, and pay for that particular purchase later in three interest-free instalments. 

As a consumer-centric business, hoolah helps customers purchase responsibly, values transparency, and even encourages quality, sustainable consumer decisions. In fact, we believe that BNPL may even be a superior alternative to credit cards or traditional bank loans, where interest fees are a main revenue driver for their business.

Studies back up our claims. It has been observed that concern over credit card interests, hidden debts and revolving debts have led to increasing demand for BNPL. A 2020 Finder report shows that about 1.1 million Singaporeans have used a BNPL platform, and 87 per cent of the surveyors who are millennials are the most likely age group to have used BNPL.

Also Read: Fundiin receives financing for its Vietnam-focused BNPL platform

So, instead of fearing that which you don’t understand, here’s the lowdown on some misconceptions about BNPL.

Myth #1: Encouraging overspending

Often, people claim that BNPL encourages overconsumption. This is because it allows users to think that they are able to spend more on the platform as using BNPLs would make the purchase seem more affordable due to the instalment format.

On the contrary, according to the same report by the Finder, it was found that BNPL has in fact had little to no effect on consumer spending habits. 73 per cent of Singaporeans surveyed claimed that they were not financially worse off while using BNPL services.

We take it one step further by implementing spending limits that are personalised to each user. If a hoolah user has hit their spending limit, our algorithm automatically rejects further transactions from being charged, deterring overspending.

We also encourage our users to practise responsible spending by creating social content that is educational in nature, such as financially savvy articles on our blog. We take our role in educating the public about financial literacy and responsibility seriously, and our BNPL services are intended to help the public reduce the impact of price, upfront spend, and ultimately cash flow affordability.

Interestingly, consumers are also moving away from fast consumption, to making better quality purchases, because of the financial stability that BNPL provides. A recent survey revealed that 72.6 per cent of consumers agreed that using BNPL services have allowed them to increase their purchases or to buy products that are of higher quality.

Similarly, RetailBiz shares how BNPL helps to ease cash flow problems for consumers by splitting up the payment into bite-sized instalments. This has two benefits to the consumers: their monthly cash flow has expanded and is thus more flexible. This, at the same time, allows them to make smarter, better quality decisions about the products and services they are introducing into their lives.

Indirectly, BNPL can help consumers make responsible and sustainable purchasing decisions – buying fewer, but better quality products, while reducing waste and the impact of their purchases on the environment.

Also Rsenead: Buy now, pay later: The changing face of finance for a mobile generation

Myth #2: Unreliable cybersecurity

 As technology advances and e-commerce increases in popularity, the digitalisation of our lifestyles also raises concerns about the security of one’s personal data. With horror stories of data breaches and virus attacks abound, it is understandable why consumers are concerned regarding the cybersecurity of BNPL platforms.

A 2018 report done by Shape Security, a cybersecurity firm, revealed that about 90 per cent of e-commerce websites’ global login traffic came from attempted credential stuffing attacks that year. This means that user accounts were breached using bots, leaving user information vulnerable to be used for irresponsible usage.

That’s why at hoolah, we’ve invested in building a bank-grade infrastructure that is robust and secure. Within our tech stack is our own proprietary risk decision engine, built and operated by our CTO, Jason Van, who previously spearheaded the technology for a global BNPL company and has a deep expertise in creating and implementing systems that are considered benchmarks in the industry for managing fraud and resilient payments.

Our proprietary fraud and risk management engines dynamically score each consumer’s interaction every time that consumer enters our environment. A wide range of consumer attributes are reviewed and assessed in real-time during an order process. Our risk engines heuristically learn from past behaviours of consumers to continually assess the purchase limits that we will allow for each individual consumer.

Myth #3: Profiting from late fees

 A financial service that helps consumers spend responsibly without profiting from them? Sounds a little too good to be true.

But it is the truth. We generate revenue from merchants, not consumers. While we charge late fees for users who miss the deadline for their installment payments, it is not an income driver for the business.

Also Read: Lessons from the buy-now-pay-later boom

For late fees, hoolah charges S$5 for orders under S$100 and S$15 for orders under S$1,000. This is subject to a cap of S$60. This amount is only charged when a consumer misses the scheduled due date or the 48-hour grace period. Otherwise, the main source of our income comes from our merchants such as global brands Nike, PUMA, Secretlab, Samsung, and more.

We take any penalties imposed on our customers seriously. Our first step of action for consumers with overdue payments is not to make an automatic charge, but to reach out and notify them of a pending payment that needs to be resolved.

Usually, late payments are often caused by forgetfulness and oversight. In cases where urgent reasons like health issues or a change of employment status have caused such delays, we have even waived the penalties.

In summary, encouraging spendthrift behaviours, cybersecurity breaches and profiting from consumers only make up a few of the many myths around BNPLs. 

Again, these concerns around BNPL platforms are understandable as it is a relatively new concept to the retail scene in Singapore. However, we always urge users to be financially savvy and make more informed purchasing decisions. Moving forward, there will always be newer establishments that may seem skeptical at first, but it is important that we remain open to new ideas and look for the right information from the correct sources.

The world is constantly evolving and all we can do is to learn and adapt to it. Who knows, maybe BNPL will be the next primary mode of payment in Singapore and beyond?

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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.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: Christiann Koepke on Unsplash

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Secai Marche, an online marketplace that connects farmers with restaurants in Japan and Malaysia, has bagged JPY150 million (~US$1.5 million) in a pre-Series A funding round from Japanese VC firms Rakuten Ventures and Beyond Next Ventures.

The company will use the fresh capital to expand fulfilment services (including its own fulfilment services, logistics, inventory, packing and picking, co-founder and CEO Ami Sugiyama told e27.

A portion of the money will also go into hiring and sales and marketing.

Also Read: Eat Just’s unit GOOD Meat secures US$170M to bring meat made from animal cells to Singapore

Secai Marche — which aims to be the Amazon for fresh farm produce in ASEAN — earlier raised US$1 million from Beyond Next, Monex Ventures and some unnamed angels in October last year for expansion into Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. However, the rapid spread of COVID-19 forced it to put off the plans.

“We want to expand rapidly to counties in Southeast Asia. But we need to see how the COVID-19 situation improves before going ahead with the plans,” she said.

Founded in 2018 by Sugiyama and Shusaku Hayakawa, Secai Marche is an online B2B farm-to-table platform that enables F&B businesses to purchase “high-quality products with competitive prices” directly from farmers.

The firm sources ingredients, of around 3,000 items, directly from farmers in Southeast Asia and Japan. Among the products sourced, 30 per cent are from Japan, 50 per cent from Malaysia and the rest from other parts of ASEAN.

Secai Marche does everything itself — from purchasing, trading, picking and packing, to arranging the logistics.

Also Read: Secai Marche lands US$1M to become the Amazon for fresh farm produce in ASEAN

The foodservice distribution industry in Southeast Asia is huge but highly fragmented and inefficient.

“As one of the fastest-growing online grocery platforms in Southeast Asia, more than 300 retailers and HORECA customers are satisfied with our product quality, variety and impeccable services including the whole fulfilment services — from collection of items at farm, sorting, packing, quality management and last-mile delivery according to individual orders,” she explained.

Sugiyama also said that Secai Marche will reach out to investors for Series A round of funding year later.

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Image Credit: Secai Marche

The post Rakuten joins Secai Marche’s US$1.5M pre-Series A as it expands B2B farm-to-table platform appeared first on e27.

The global corporate landscape of today is in constant flux, expected to evolve continually in the coming years. Business leaders are now more conscious of the growing importance of innovation in their corporations. Driving innovation at pace helps established enterprises become invincible, where they constantly reinvent themselves before becoming obsolete, as suggested by a leading innovation expert and entrepreneur, Alexander Osterwalder.

Successful innovation is about driving brilliant ideas into a business with a sustainably profitable business model, which creates value for customers. Startup entrepreneurs, innovators, corporate executives, and investors have to keep themselves abreast of the latest market developments and explore opportunities for learning and growth to survive and scale.

This is especially true in the current context where in the past one and a half year, a global health pandemic has rapidly opened up the era of digital transformation across all sectors. As such, there has been a lot of emphasis on a collaborative ecosystem for success in the digital era. Studies have proven time and again that emerging players need to come together and learn from insiders and industry experts for business growth and development.

Also read: Sendbird reaches unicorn status amidst growing need for mobile communications

Helping create avenues for growth is the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), which will host the Corporate Innovation Summit and Global Matching 2021, with an aim to providing an unparalleled experience of innovation explosion and accelerating corporate innovation. With five key elements at its core focusing on change, connection, collaboration, growth, and forward, the event serves as a perfect platform for corporate executives and innovation specialists as well as regional investors to deep dive into the latest industry trends, network with potential partners, and tap into the minds of experts and insiders.

Fostering innovation and collaboration between corporate giants and deep tech startups

Considering the current global scenario under the pandemic, the Corporate Innovation Summit is organised in a hybrid format from 26th May to 2nd June 2021, allowing interested parties to join remotely and attend workshops and seminars in real-time. Participants can connect in real-time with the speakers via second screen technology and have an informative and personal experience.

While deep tech is becoming the next great wave of innovation, deep tech startups have been receiving increased attention among corporations, entrepreneurs, investors and media. Investment in deep tech startups has more than quadrupled over the past years, from approximately $15 billion in 2016 to more than $60 billion in 2020.

A new study authored by IESE Business School and supported by HKSTP will be released on the first day of the Corporate Innovation Summit, where the study explores how corporate giants can better collaborate with deep tech startups in East and Southeast Asia.

Also read: Open Banking: why this risky pursuit is the key to accelerating Fintech innovation

“Companies such as Toyota, Samsung, Alibaba and Lenovo are already innovating with startups in the deep tech field – a group of emerging technologies based on scientific discoveries or meaningful engineering innovations, offering a substantial advance over established technologies, and seeking to tackle some of the world’s fundamental challenges”, says IESE Business School coauthors, Josemaria Siota and Prof. Mª Julia Prats.

Covering Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Mainland China, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, the study incorporates invaluable insights from 70+ interviews done with innovation leaders.

Learn about the latest trends and network with industry experts from anywhere

Keen stakeholders can join the summit from anywhere to learn about relevant issues, including global macroeconomic, sustainability, and corporate innovation trends shaped on the findings of academia. They will have access to prominent industry leaders, including the likes of Sebastian Paredes, CEO at DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited and Cat Rűst, Global Head, Technology at Standard Chartered Bank, among others.

From thought leadership sessions to executive roundtables and panel discussions to seminars — the event has a lot to offer. HKSTP will be co-hosting Global Matching 2021, the third biannual business and investment matching event from 26th May to 2nd June 2021. The Global Matching event serves as a launchpad for corporate buyers and regional investors to match potential startups and technology ventures worldwide for sourcing the best fit market-proven solutions and valuable portfolios.

Also read: The 5G era is here, and you can be part of the revolution

Another highlight of the summit is the online workshop, where participants can watch in real-time on 27th May. The workshop on “building invincible companies” by the leading author and in-demand speaker, Alexander Osterwalder, is specifically curated for corporate innovation specialists and decision-makers to help shape their corporate innovation strategies through real-world experiences and case studies.

While innovation takes on paramount importance than ever to business growth, Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), a statutory body dedicated to driving the development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong, is putting forward disruptive solutions around the globe for the corporates. Spearheaded by HKSTP, the Corporate Innovation Summit and Global Matching 2021 brings about opportunities for all key stakeholders of the corporate tech landscape worldwide to come together, learn, innovate and build a better, more resilient future.

Get a free virtual pass for the summit here: https://www.cisummit2021.com/

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by 
HKSTP

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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Why IPOs – not SPACs – will run a longer course in Asia’s future; While the Southeast Asia’s unicorns are indeed signalling a shift, it won’t necessarily mean the death-knell for IPOs; One reason why IPOs won’t be going away in SEA anytime soon is that last year alone, there were 100+ IPOs conducted in the region – raising nearly US$50bn in funds and contributing to a regional capitalisation of almost US$30bn.

Gojek, Tokopedia merge to become GoTo; It has estimated combined valuation of US$18bn; Gojek’s Andre Soelistyo will become GoTo Group CEO and Tokopedia’s Patrick Cao as group President; GoTo will continue to focus on markets where Gojek already operates, including Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam; It will also form GoTo Financial, which encompasses GoPay and the group’s merchant and financial services offerings.

SEA’s VCs close US$694mn in total funding in Q1 2021; B Capital led the pack with US$415mn; Openspace Ventures followed with US$200mn third fund; Global VCs with a mandate to invest in SEA also secured capital for new funds in Q1.

Eat Just’s unit GOOD Meat secures US$170M to bring meat made from animal cells to Singapore; Investors include UBS O’Connor, Graphene Ventures and K3 Ventures; GOOD Meat will replace conventional chicken for delivery on Thursdays beginning May 20 at Madame Fan, which is run by JW Marriott Singapore.

Singapore biotherapeutics firm Hummingbird bags US$125mn Series C; Investors are Novo Holdings (led), Frazier Healthcare Partners, Octagon Capital, and EDBI; Hummingbird will use the funds to advance the clinical development of its assets, including its antibody products for fighting tumours.

B2B cross-border payments company Thunes bags US$60mn Series B; Investors include Insight Partners, GGV Capital, Helios Investment and Checkout.com; Thunes is used by global banks, money transfer operators, platforms and other businesses to make payments to bank accounts, mobile wallets and cash pick-up providers around the world; It claims to connect 260+ customers and network partners from 110 countries.

Digital ledger app BukuKas bags US$50mn in Series B to expand its services offered to merchants; Investors include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash and Wise founder Taavet Hinrikus; By the end of 2022, it aims to onboard 20mn MSMEs on its platform; Early this year, it raised US$10mn Series A led by Sequoia India.

E-commerce enabler Great Deals closes US$30mn Series B; Investors are Fast Group (lead), CVC Capital Partners, and Navegar; Great Deals will use the money for tech development and the construction of an automated state-of-the-art fulfilment centre in Philippines; The firm caters to brands such as Abbott, L’Oréal, Unilever, Nestle, Samsonite, GSK, Bayer, and Fila.

UTEC, one of Asia’s largest deep-tech investment firms, launches new US$275mn fund; UTEC is an independent firm that works closely with universities, including Singapore’s NUS; UTEC focuses on healthcare and life sciences, IT and physical sciences and engineering; It will invest in seed/early to pre-IPO/M&A stages in Japan, SEA and worldwide.

Affable.ai raises US$2mn to expand its influencer marketing service to the US; Investors are Prime Venture Partners, Decacorn Capital, and SGInnovate; Affable.ai uses Machine Learning and Big Data analytics to help brands run high-impact influencer marketing campaigns.

Woowa Brothers injects US$1.5mn into Malaysian shopping aggregator iPrice; The capital will go into enhancing product and accelerating the rollout of partnerships; In March 2020, the products comparison startup raised Series B led by ACA Investments.

Indonesia’s B2C remittance startup Transfez raises seed funding co-led by East Ventures and Beenext; The funds will be used for product development and market penetration and extend its service in the B2B payments sector; Transfez allows users to transfer money across 50 countries in 26 currencies at a cost that is ‘up to 10x cheaper than banks’.

Esports Players League (ESPL) raises pre-Series A to grow its e-sports platform for grassroot gamers; Backers include RightBridge Ventures (led), Genting Ventures, Warner Music Asia, Datuk Wira SM Faisal, and Puncak Geliga Capital; ESPL has managed to organise 312 tournaments across 16 countries and have plans of growing the platform further;

Bukalapak buys 500 Startups-backed Itemku; The acquisition will help Itemku reach a wider audience in Indonesia through Bukalapak’s network; Itemku is a price comparison and marketplace for game credits and items in Indonesia; It has raised US$1.2mn Series A round from 500 Startups and Korean VC K-Run Ventures.

B2B farm-to-table marketplace Secai Marche raised US$1.5mn pre-Series A; Investors are Rakuten Ventures and Beyond Next Ventures; The company will use the money to expand fulfilment services, logistics, inventory, packing and picking.

Former Doctor Anywhere CEO’s new pet telehealth startup ZumVet bags seed funding; Investors are Pine Venture Partners (led), Aetius Capital and Purpose Venture Capital; Through ZumVet, pet owners can have online consultations and even schedule house visits with a vet; It also provides users with digital medical record and medicine delivery services for their pets.

5 plant-based foods trends revealed at Big Idea Venture’s tasting event; As more consumers adopt the new diet, plant-based food should offer not just the right taste, smell and price but also the right texture; Singapore was the first country in the world to give approval to the commercialisation of cell-based meat.

Unlikely mentors: What kids can teach you about entrepreneurship; Just like curious kids, you must seek out information, grow new theories, convert theories into actionable ideas, and then execute them. Asking questions and taking a game-based approach to critical thinking will make sure you remain nimble and develop potential solutions for problems your customers are facing.

Adoption of AI tools continue to grow in Singapore; AI seeks to simulate human abilities such as problem-solving, learning, planning and predicting; Widely held AI tools include virtual assistants or chatbots and data security threat detectors, as the pandemic forced more work to go remote and spurred more cyber crooks to go on their hunt.

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Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

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If you’re like most professionals, you’re not looking to stay in the same position for the rest of your career. Maybe you’ve already probably started brainstorming ways to move up the career ladder and land your dream job.

However, while most people think that the best way to get promoted is by learning new hard skills or working overtime, there’s another important component that will convince your boss you’re ready to move up: interpersonal skills.

Interpersonal skills—the ability to interact and get along with others—is an oft-overlooked set of skill that’s actually so important that, according to a study done by Vitalsmarts (a corporate training and leadership development firm), 92 per cent of respondents said that having poor interpersonal skills will hinder an employee’s career progression.

To help you put your best foot forward, we discuss four important interpersonal skills you should develop if you want to impress your boss and get that promotion.

Managing negative emotions

When something goes wrong or you’re having a bad day, your emotions take centre stage. Unfortunately letting your emotions get the best of you in the workplace can lead to unfortunate spats with your colleagues, a visibly poor attitude and rash decision making.

Furthermore, being led by our emotions also often causes us to prioritise feelings over facts, often leading us to make decisions based on our emotional state rather than the hard facts. This can be dangerous as emotional actions can lead to biases, oversight and costly mistakes. If your boss sees that you can manage negative emotions and stick to facts, they’ll feel confident in trusting you with difficult situations.

They’ll also see you as someone who is able to put their feelings aside to focus on what needs to be done to move the company forward—without giving in to bias.

Also Read: 7 life skills we can learn from Mark Zuckerberg

Some emotions that can be difficult to deal with in the workplace include frustration, anger, worry and insecurities, feeling down, and negative attitudes towards others. Once you recognise any of these emotions, it’s important to find out what triggered them and then focus on either removing the trigger or moving past it in appropriate ways.

If your negative feelings were triggered by a colleague, then you can take a second to relax and then calmly give them constructive feedback. However, all of this is not to say that you should suppress your emotions.

Instead, it’s important to acknowledge your negative emotions and solve them openly. It’s also important to foster positive emotions within your team, which will make for a more creative, productive and less stressed work environment.

Conflict management

Conflict in the workplace is unavoidable and encapsulates everything from small disagreements of opinion to larger issues like a problem with a client. Being able to de-escalate conflicts is another key factor that managers look at when considering your promotion. Whether you’re dealing with an unhappy client or disagreements with your team, stepping in and taking charge calmly and effectively signals to your boss that you are a dedicated problem solver.

In fact, a report by Udemy found that conflict management is the top soft skill that was trending among its users, making employees who excel at this skill to be a valuable asset to any team.

If you’ve never dealt with conflict in the workplace before, you’ll need three skills to get started: self-awareness, collaboration and promotion of a productive work environment.

Also Read: How to develop soft skills

When conflict occurs, you will need to identify the root of the issue (it could even be you, hence the self-awareness), collaborate with the third-party to find a potential solution and then promote that solution and apply it to avoid future problems.

Lastly, you’ll need to remember that conflict resolution doesn’t focus on right vs. wrong, but instead works towards coming to an agreement.

Empathy

Empathy, or the ability to share and understand the feelings of others, is one of the most important interpersonal skills you can have in the workplace. When you are feeling frustrated at a coworker or when a coworker is mad at you, the common instinct would be to get defensive and argue your point.

However, the purpose of being empathetic is to neutralise the negativity and identify the common ground by putting yourself in your colleague’s shoes. When you are actively empathising, you are seeing past the initial emotional reaction and are attempting to see what is happening behind the scenes to solve interpersonal issues.

For instance, next time a coworker makes a mistake, you can practice empathy by putting yourself in his/her shoes and having a chat about what could have caused the error. Maybe there is trouble in the family and it’s spilling over into their work, or there was a lack of communication about what needed to be done.

Once you are able to see things from the other person’s perspective, you will be able to identify and solve the problems effectively without putting down your coworker or creating additional conflicts.

Showing that you are an empathetic worker is crucial for managerial promotions and studies have shown that empathetic managers are viewed as better performers at their jobs by their bosses.

Mid-level managers who want to move upwards can show additional empathy by watching for signs of overwork, showing interest in needs and dreams, willingness to help with personal problems and showing compassion.

Open dialogue

If you want to show your boss you’re an effective leader, then you’ll need to show him that you are able to take in multiple perspectives and engage in open dialogue. An open dialogue also shows that you are not being led by your ego, but that you are willing to let others have a say and engage with their ideas.

Also Read: Why there is no better time to upskill than this COVID-19 crisis

When you engage in open dialogue, you are curious, non-judgemental, and are present and listening to the other person. There is no hidden agenda and you work towards guiding the conversation through open-ended questions.

If you are looking for a promotion that will land you in a leadership position, showing that you know how to foster an open dialogue with your colleagues and managers will be crucial in proving that you will put your team and the company’s best interests ahead of your own interests.

If you want to improve your interpersonal skills, sites like Udemy and Coursera provide a plethora of different courses for developing the soft skills mentioned above. Most courses at Udemy cost less than S$50 when they’re on sale and you are able to complete them in just a few hours’ time.

If there are courses that are too expensive, you can look for alternatives that could be on sale or that are cheaper. Some courses may even be free or are eligible for the S$500 MySkillsFuture credit.

If you feel like you already excel in these skills and want to learn others, then you can consider moving towards making use of traineeship opportunities and enhancing your technical skills to make an even stronger case for why you deserve that promotion.

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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.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

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As the city state of Singapore settles into another lockdown, we are certain these unsung heroes who helped savage their organisation’s growth efforts in 2020 will rise up to the occasion once again. A part of the e27 Luminaries, this week we feature some of the notable names from startups in Singapore that made it to SEA’s most coveted list of fame.

To select companies in the list, e27 went through media coverage in the past year to see companies who managed to survive and thrive during the pandemic with various notable achievements, from closing a funding round to expanding to new markets. We asked these companies to nominate individuals whom they believe had done a remarkable job in spearheading these innovations.

Here are the Singapore heroes you should meet.

Lynette Seow, COO, Safe Space

Lynette started off as a Safe Space volunteer from IBM and eventually joined the mental health tech startup full-time as COO. She is bringing in her technology consulting and digital transformation experience to develop a B2B2C platform for people to reach out to the right counsellor at the right time/place and at the right price.

She’s proven integral in the scaling of Safe Space by leading both their product and research efforts.

She believes, mental health care should be accessible and affordable, convenient and confidential.

Wai Tsun Yim Wai, Data scientist Glints

With Wai at its leadership, the company has been focussing on expanding its data warehousing pipelines and capabilities, implementing data quality programme, and automating sourcing and matching of jobs with a quality candidate.

According to the Glints team, Wai’s empathy for his co-workers was very crucial during the time of COVID-19. Despite the challenges he faced in running a Data Science operation in a startup, he has taken them in his stride.

Joh Kia Boon, Senior Project Manager, Habitap

For re-organising and preparing a new, more resilient team structure.

Boon is a project manager with seven years of project management experience skilled at leading cross-functional teams. She led multiple initiatives at Habitap that includes re-organising the team structure to optimise productivity and streamline operations, mentoring team members to build effective working relationships in cross-functional teams and implementing best practices and internal standard operating procedures to increase delivery standards.

Dr Yang Guirong Gui Rong, Assistant Medical Director, Doctor Anywhere

He assumed the role of Assistant Medical Director in the midst of the pandemic in July 2020 but significantly led their efforts against COVID-19. Not only did he establish infrastructure and processes to scale up virtual consultations to serve 300,000 migrant workers, but also spearheaded their massive swab efforts in the dorms, which required close coordination with the Ministry of Health and Health Promotion Board.

He directed the overhauling hiring processes as well as standardising clinic opening times resulting in a 2-3x increase in revenue for all clinics. This strengthened service delivery at the physical clinics to launch 24/7 virtual clinic services and consequent increase in customer satisfaction.

Sheaha Ghazali, Community Manager, ZaZaZu

A natural people person, connector and events expert she secured great partnerships and went the extra mile to help ZaZaZu as a controversial business to break taboo of female sexual wellness. Although she only joined the team since Jan 2021, she has been a great brand ambassador by bringing in high brand association and spread positive conversation around sexual wellness for partners, clients and everyone else around her.

Zach Poon, Head of Credit at Funding Societies

A credit risk expert with eight years of experience across financial and insurance institutions, his leadership helped Funding Societies tighten their underwriting requirements on the financing opportunities for crowdfunding on the platform. The industries they focused on financing were those expected to thrive during the crisis like healthcare, medical supplies, and transportation. As a result, we managed to keep our platform default rate under two per cent throughout the pandemic.

Joyce Ho, Head of People Success, ELXR

Known for confidentiality and credibility, she is a skilled HR personnel. Ho was instrumental in hiring for ELXR and growing the team five times during the pandemic which contributed to the company’s 140 per cent growth YoY.

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The e27 Luminaries is an initiative by e27 to celebrate the unsung heroes of the SEA startup ecosystem. Discover these notable companies and individuals here.

Image credit: Adhitya Andanu from Pexels

The post Meet the Singapore-based tech professionals of e27 Luminaries appeared first on e27.

Adam Lane Robinson is a Wall Streeter who turned to entrepreneurship after several unique experiences made him realise that it’s what he was made for.

He currently runs GetEmails, which is described as the world’s first-ever email-based retargeting software.

He’s also the Co-Founder and President of Robly, an email marketing firm.

In this fascinating talk, you’ll hear about:

• What made Adam want to become an entrepreneur
• How to validate your idea
• How to determine when to pivot
• How to come up with new ideas to test
• Three great tools for measuring user behavior
• And much more!

If you don’t see the player above, click on the link below to listen directly!

Acast

Apple

Spotify

Stitcher

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This article was first published on We Live To Build.

Image Credit: Michal Czyz on Unsplash

The post Validating, testing, and pivoting with Adam Lane Robinson appeared first on e27.

Fundraising can be a daunting task for most first-time founders. Unlike running the startup, which is oftentimes based on the founders’ expertise on a subject matter or an unfair advantage they may possess, fundraising is not a skill and requires a lot of work.

Any founder who has gone through the process of fundraising can vouch for how arduous a task it is. A quick Google search can tell you all about the process of fundraising, but this article talks about actionable steps that startup founders — first-timers and seasoned — have taken to raise funds themselves.

Stop fixating on the “Idea”

“Ideas are like a**holes, everyone has one. Execution is what matters,” says William Bao Bean, General Partner at SOSV and Managing Director at Chinaccelerator and MOX.

One of the biggest myths in fundraising is the founders’ belief that they have a million-dollar idea. However, that is not always the case, as Saurabh Singh, Co-founder and CEO of Flickstree, explains. Flickstree is an AI-powered video publisher network that enables content websites and apps to maximise their revenues and has raised Series A of US$3 million in 2019.

Ideas are useful only in the very early stages of the business to strike conversations with angel investors. Talking from his experience, Singh explains that the idea only helped Flickstree in the early stages of the business when they were starting out. Early investors invest in the pedigree of the founders and the idea, but over time, the pitch needs to evolve, and the idea cannot be the central theme anymore.

“If you are not embarrassed by looking at your first business plan and pitch deck after six months or one year of execution, there is something wrong,” he says.

Also Read: Term sheets: What you need to know

Take the road less traveled

NewCampus co-founder and CEO, Will Fan, shares a very interesting and unique approach to fundraising. NewCampus, a modern business school that offers live masterclasses needed to build future careers, has raised over US$1.2 million in seed money.

Having a VC that understands the business is more important than having just a popular VC. Big and prominent VCs get thousands of investment proposals and invest in hundreds of those businesses.

In the long run, it is important to find investors who bring not only financial resources but also other strategic resources.

Hence, instead of following a herd mentality, do your own due diligence and look for the diamonds in the rough: investors who understand your vision for the company and believe in you. This approach has allowed NewCampus to evolve, pivot, rebrand, and expand to several markets.

There is always smart money out there but as a founder, you must find the right people that are synergistic to you and smart for the business.

Look beyond the superficial numbers

Timothy Yu is the Founder and CEO, of Snapask, an on-demand tutoring startup. He raised US$35 million in a Series B round in early 2020 and an impressive US$56-plus million over the edutech startup’s lifetime.

Having pitched to numerous investors, Yu explains that market size is often an overrated aspect of fundraising. Investors care about the long-term sustainability and the opportunities that exist in the industry that the business operates in. Founders tend to inflate market sizes and potential opportunities to legitimise the investment.

Also Read: What early stage startups should know when fundraising with VC’s

Eventually, investors are only looking into how much of the total addressable market the startup can tap into or successfully acquire. Simply claiming that a market is worth billions makes little sense if you are not servicing a significant chunk of it. What matters is your achievement and what you can practically achieve in the future.

Yu added that Snapask has always emphasised on being sustainable, looking beyond the market potential, and having a clear roadmap to profitability.

Singh echoes Yu’s thoughts and adds, “During fundraising, founders need to be clear on the scalability of their startups, the problems they’re solving, the market size, competitors, and exit plans for investors. Investors love founders who’ve done their homework.”

Be specific with investment needs

A common mistake that most founders make is being vague about the sum of money they need. Fundraising can be intimidating as the fear of rejection or the investment coming short of expectations looms over.

Hence, it is important to be able to justify to investors that the company needs the exactly what the founder is trying to raise. Timothy believes that founders should not fundraise just because they need a longer runway. Instead, they should go into the fundraising round knowing how the money they’re trying to raise will help the business grow.

This exercise not only shows the investors that you’re prepared, but also helps to build long-term trust with investors, which may be useful in subsequent fundraising rounds. And while this does not guarantee funding, it eases concerns and instills confidence that leads to a higher probability of fundraising success.

“Fundraising is not a milestone; it’s not an achievement. It’s just a necessary evil,” says Yu. Founders must understand that the long-term viability of the company depends on the sustainability of the business than on its valuation.

Founders’ pedigree matters

This point holds more truth to early-stage startups than it does to startups who have operated for a relatively longer period. Early-stage startups must make it a point to focus on their founders’ experience when pitching to investors.

Talking from his own experience building Flickstree, Singh talks about how they managed to establish authority with their background. He and his cofounder started a media company and were trying to build a content platform, where they could leverage their background of working in media and marketing.

Also Read: Early stage fundraising: What it takes to win over investors that best fit your team

This helped them build credibility with early investors as they could then answer any questions posed by the investors without being second-guessed, allowing them to raise the seed round, as well as subsequent rounds.

 Don’t bank on a single investor

Like investors looking to minimise risk by diversifying their portfolio, founders must also diversify their risk in fundraising by talking to multiple investors and not basing everything on a single investor.

One of the mistakes that Singh said he made early-on with fundraising was basing the round around one investor. While raising an angel round, the company received a deal from an investor who was meant to be the lead investor.

They made the mistake of announcing the lead investor and started collecting follow-on commitments from other investors. However, after negotiations with the lead investor fell through, the round went bust as all other investors pulled out of the deal.

“Once the lead investor pulls out, others start thinking that there must be something wrong with the company,” recalls Singh. This is when they realised that that banking on a single investor can be risky. “The round is never over until the money is actually in the bank account”, he adds.

Follow your own playbook

“There is no rulebook for startups operating in a blue ocean market,” says Fan. With billions of dollars being poured into the edtech industry today, edtech startups may be the hottest commodity in 2021 but it was not the case in 2015 when NewCampus was founded.

Attracting investors was challenging and so he says that founders must be willing to challenge the status quo and write their own playbook.

If it takes US$5,000 each from 50 investors to raise their angel round, they must be willing to do that. Founders must be willing to do what is right for the company. Especially in situations where the market is new.

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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.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: RODNAE Productions from Pexels

The post How to win term sheets and influence investors: Notes from founders of NewCampus, Snapask and Flickstree appeared first on e27.