Although the COVID-19 crisis has shaken and disrupted global economies, the supply chain and logistics tech space have continued to see strong growth – more than 400 deals were inked in 2020, and deal activity is expected to continue growing at 12 per cent this year.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, startups in areas such as robotic fulfilment, digital freight forwarding, returns optimisation and predictive inventory forecasting are likely to witness growth.

Clearly, investors recognise the importance of digital transformation across global supply chains. In May this year, Singapore’s Ninja Van – a tech-enabled last-mile logistics company providing services across Southeast Asia – raised US$279 million from investors, in what was one of the largest startup investments in Southeast Asia since the outbreak of the pandemic.

In fact, over US$4 billion has been invested across Asia into the supply chain and logistics development funds over the past few months, clearly highlighting the tremendous opportunity.

The pandemic has also brought to the fore the need to diversify supply chains. In the quest for self-reliance and business continuity, many are on the path to decouple their global supply chains or are reshoring manufacturing to their own countries. However, there are many others who have been left in a quandary, exacerbated by the depth and complexity of their supply chains.

International supply chains have been significantly impacted due to the lockdowns, resulting in global demand and supply slumps. However, to ensure seamless continuity of goods flow, the digitisation of supply chains is now a must to bridge that gap, and imperative to maintaining this intricate balance.

Also Read: In October, logistics tech startups continued to gain investors’ attention as the world struggled through a pandemic

Benefits of digitalisation

Interconnectivity across stakeholders is a core component to ensure that supply chains are global in nature. This is especially important to mitigate subsequent disruptions in the face of more frequent shocks.

Most enterprises don’t have nearly as much visibility into their supply chains as is ideally required to address key areas such as revenue and costs. Apart from improvements, digitisation also drives end-to-end transparency across the supply chain; in doing so, it generates valuable data to optimise and enable strategic decision making.

With the adoption of emerging technologies such as satellites, IoT devices, digital supply networks, artificial intelligence and machine learning, greater value can be unlocked to optimise supply chains.

The pandemic has only accelerated the push for digitisation in supply chains. Governments are actively participating in this push by sharpening their focus on providing funding and incentives for startups in the supply chain and logistics sector. Well before the pandemic struck, the Singapore government in 2017 set aside S$2.8 million (US$2 million) for the Supply Chain & Logistics Innovation Playground initiative aimed to help startups develop their capabilities in supply chain and logistics.

More recently, in response to COVID-19 disruptions, it announced an enhanced industry digital plan to train around 86,300 workers from the logistics sector for new roles. The plan will also provide digital solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at different stages of their growth, and approximately 5,300 SMEs stand to benefit from it.

Similarly, across the region, we have seen scores of restaurants and even mom-and-pop-styled everyday convenience stores taking their businesses online so as to counter the curtailing of outdoor movement. Taking business online is only part of the puzzle, however; the equally important aspect is to ensure that the journey of the goods to the consumer is efficient, cost-effective and easy to manage – digitisation will be key to achieving all of this.

Also Read: Andalin raises pre-Series A led by Beenext to expand its B2B logistics solutions in Indonesia

The role of startups

Startups have been playing an important role in driving innovation and digital transformation across the supply chain and logistics sector.

At Tramés, our goal as an end-to-end supply chain orchestration technology company is to create a streamlined and unified workflow for shippers and their logistics partners. With all stakeholders plugged into a digital platform, the ability to collaborate naturally increases; and doing so helps accelerate processes that are traditionally long and prone to error.

Taking an ecosystem-centric and inclusive approach to digitisation, the goal is to ensure that regardless of where a company is at in terms of digital prowess, it is able to transform its supply chain.

Due to current market conditions where negative sentiment is prevalent, startups face a greater chance of failure. Therefore, it is critical to create a conducive environment so that startups can thrive. By integrating and embracing innovative startups, it will be possible to cultivate a culture of innovation to usher in a new age of supply chain digitisation solutions.

Looking into the future

Across the board, the pandemic has led companies of all sizes to engage in cost-cutting measures. While it is important to maintain and balance costs in the current environment, it is also worthwhile to simultaneously have one eye on the future and to develop a resilient supply chain ecosystem.

It is imperative to start investing in digital supply chain infrastructure. Given the evolving nature of innovation in technologies, these investments need to be made on an ongoing basis.

Large companies need to make these investments into their innovation arms to fund research and development in this space, and to incubate ideas. Similarly, startups in this space also require adequate levels of funding and collaboration opportunities to sufficiently push the boundaries of innovation as they are in many ways at the forefront of new developments in this space.

However, in this quest, startups alone can achieve little. Partnerships that involve the corporate sector and the government can go a long way in ensuring that startups continue innovating with consistent support and backing.

Also read: How to turn product returns into returning customers this holiday season

When an entire industry, affiliated associations, the government and startups are on the same page to achieve a single goal of digitising supply chains of the future, the results can be tremendous and the benefits all-pervasive.

Only through an ecosystem-centric and inclusive approach, will we be able to realise the goal of creating supply chains that are truly sustainable, resilient and profitable.

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Food Market Hub (FMH), a food and beverages (F&B) procurement and inventory management startup in Malaysia, announced today it has received US$4 million in Series A financing.

The round was co-led by Go-Ventures (a VC fund with gojek being its cornerstone investor) and SIG.

As per a press note, FMH plans to use the funds to strengthen its presence in its home country, as well as to expand into Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Also Read: Mosaic Solutions raises US$1.5M to provide data analytics, inventory management solutions to SEA’s F&B industry

FMH was founded in 2017 Anthony See and Shayna Teh, former cafe owners, who realised that increasing food costs were a problem within the F&B industry. This led to the creation of the startup that helps F&B operators manage and track procurement and inventory.

The platform automates purchasing and inventory-tracking by connecting outlets with their central kitchens and suppliers.

It also leverages on Artificial Intelligence technology to analyse past data to forecast future purchasing needs, resulting in optimised inventory control to further reduce costs.

Currently, the venture supports over 2,000 F&B outlets across Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, it said further claiming that it processes close to US$200 million in purchase orders on an annual basis.

“A single restaurant may need to process some 200 purchase orders every month. Previously, most of this was done manually, making it tedious as well as prone to human error,” said See.

“And when a restaurant grows or becomes a franchise using a central kitchen, complexity increases exponentially. Having run F&B outlets previously, I know the pain points involved and we set up Food Market Hub to address this problem,” he remarked.

Also Read: 6 common roadblocks F&B businesses face in the digital era

“Technology has the ability to revolutionise the F&B sector, which has been badly hit by the pandemic,” said Nigel Quah, Investment Professional at Go-Ventures. “The FMH team has the deep industry expertise and has demonstrated that the F&B industry can benefit greatly from AI, analytical technology and automation.”

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Image Credit: Food Market Hub

 

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Quintype, a content management software startup based in Bengaluru, India, announced today it has received US$3.4 million in Series A financing.

The round was led by IIFL AMC, a subsidiary of Indian wealth management firm IIFL Wealth Management.

The proceeds from this round will be utilised for expansion into Southeast Asia, beginning with Singapore.

According to the company, the expansion will help digital media publishers in the region move from traditional content management systems into their digital counterparts to effectively capture the booming online economy within the region.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa expansions are also on the anvil.

“As the digital hub of Southeast Asia, Singapore media publishers and content creators have been adopting a digital-first strategy, with the current pandemic accelerating the shift. With Quintype’s state-of-the-art solutions, we hope to help more local digital publishers to create the best content experience for their audience,” said Chirdeep Shetty, CEO of Quintype.

Also Read: Are you the solution to Asia’s content crisis?

Quintype was founded in 2016 by Raghav Bahl after he noticed that publishers struggled to adapt to the technological changes within the media industry.

The startup aims to provide fully-integrated software systems to enable media professionals (such as writers and editors) to distribute their content online without the need for technical skills such as programming.

With this software in place, publishers can focus on content creation and audience management without worrying about server-related issues.

Additionally, Quintype utilises data analytics to aid publishers in creating optimised content to deliver a better digital experience.

The startup claims it has served over 200 publishers worldwide and achieves a monthly viewership of over a billion readers.

“Quintype, with its suite of products, is set to accelerate the growth in digital content and publishing space. It enables more content creators to go digital easily and gives them the freedom to distribute, scale-up and monetise their content using an intuitive product with hundreds of built-in features,” added Prashasta Seth, Senior Managing Partner of IIFL AMC.

With digital consumer and advertising revenue in Singapore expected to reach S$2.9 billion (US$2.16 billion) in 2023, the SaaS startup will utilise the city-state as a launchpad for expanding its services within the region.

Also Read: 5 content marketing trends you need to heed

Alongside its financing announcement, Quintype also announced the launch of Page Builder, a layout configuration management solution that helps publishers manage website branding, layouts and styles easily through its no-code development platforms. 

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Homegrown autonomous maritime systems startup BeeX has emerged as the winner of the Smart Port Challenge 2020 (SPC) in Singapore, according to a joint press statement by MPA and NUS.

The second and third places were bagged by FUELSAVE (which enables utility vehicles reduce their emissions in a sustainable way) and Vulcan AI (which helps enterprises cut costs through its AI solutions).

The trio also won prize money of approximately US$7,500, US$3,700 and US$2,300, respectively.

Also Read: Magorium wins Singapore’s waste-tech startup competition WASTE 20/20

Founded in 2018, BeeX aims to reduce the costs and inefficiencies for underwater inspections via its autonomous underwater vehicles and unmanned surface vessels.

The SPC is a programme under the Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined @ BLOCK71 (PIER71), a collaboration between the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Professor Freddy Boey, NUS Deputy President (Innovation and Enterprise), said: “PIER71 is a collaborative effort that brings vital parts of the ecosystem together to fast-track technology solutions industry-wide. Our vision for this partnership with MPA is to raise the competitive edge of start-ups by injecting deep tech developed in Singapore, starting with those from NUS, to strengthen their offering to the industry, and to broaden their reach beyond Singapore.”

“In today’s age, what gives us a competitive edge is not capital but new ways to unlock value from our businesses. We must ensure that innovation thrives and flourish in Maritime Singapore. Through SPC, we support technology start-ups to co-create solutions with the industry, which can be exported worldwide,” commented Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State for Transport and Foreign Affairs.

Also Read: Danish venture builder Rainmaking launches advisory network to accelerate the growth of SEAs maritime startups

This year, SPC saw applications from 187 local startups, of which 16 were selected.

Besides providing cash grants, the programme will also provide an opportunity for all the 16 finalists to apply for a grant of up to approximately US$37,000 (S$50,000) to embark on pilot projects with maritime companies.

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Steaker, a Taiwanese crypto asset management platform, has raised US$1 million seed funding from individual investors.

A notable investor is Jeffrey Huang (Machi Big Brother), a Taiwanese-American music, entertainment and technology industry leader and founder of both MITH and 17LIVE.

Founded in 2019 by Wilson Huang (CEO), Steaker has grown its asset under management (AUM) to over US$50 million.

Huang remarked that investment opportunities presented by the blockchain and crypto space should not be exclusive to the elite.

Read Also: Inside the changing landscape of Asian cryptocurrency exchanges

Therefore, Steaker distinguishes itself from conventional crypto management platforms by catering to the needs of younger and less knowledgeable investors.

“A majority of investors on our platform are retail, who account for 70 per cent of the total AUM,” Huang said.  

Despite his young age, Huang is a veteran in the blockchain space. He was previously Vice-President of decentralised social media platform MITH.

Additionally, he participated in the development of Ethereum’s layer-2 solution, Plasma.

On Steaker, users can choose from five types of investment options with different risk profiles and return characteristics, backed by strategies from stablecoin lending, DeFi yield farming, to algorithm-driven arbitrage.

In the future, Huang hopes to add more decentralised features to the platform while maintaining its convenience for non-crypto users.

With the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies over the last decade, the need for crypto-asset managers is growing. The latest study of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance estimated the number of identity-verified crypto-asset users at about 101 million globally in Q3 2020, increasing fourfold over four years.

In spite of the pandemic disrupting traditional investment vehicles, the crypto space has been witnessing rapid growth. Driven by the decentralised finance (DeFi) boom, the total value of cryptocurrency hit US$12 billion in late October.

Also Read: A lowdown on why DeFi is good for the growth of cryptocurrency

Steaker is also partnering with other digital asset management companies, local crypto exchanges and DeFi projects such as Cream Finance and WageCan to expand the scope of their offerings and enhance their portfolio management capability.

Their newly announced partnership with MaiCoin, the largest one-stop asset management platform provider in Taiwan, aims to increase the functionality and interactivity of Steaker’s platform. 

Earlier this year, Steaker was selected to join AppWorks Accelerator, the leading startup accelerator in Greater Southeast Asia (Taiwan and Southeast Asia). 

“AI, Blockchain and DeFi are the major paradigm shifts happening right in front of our eyes, creating huge opportunities for startups. In Steaker, we see a team leveraging these game-changing platform shifts in a very promising fashion,” commented Jamie Lin, Chairman and Partner of AppWorks, who is also a mentor to Steaker.

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Image Credit: Steaker

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Mednefits, a Singapore-based employee medical benefits platform, announced today it has raised S$8 million (US$5.95 million) in a Series A funding round, led by Malaysian firm BLoyalty.

BLoyalty, through its digital engagement platform B Infinite, will work with Mednefits to enhance and automate medical benefits for its clients’ employees across Singapore and Malaysia. These benefits will amount to S$18 million (US$13.38 million) by 2021, as per a press note.

The fresh funds will be used to expand Mednefits’s footprint within these two markets and improve technological offerings on its platform by increasing automation of its services.

Also Read: HealthMetrics raises US$5M Series A to help corporates manage employees’ health, wellness better

Founded in 2014, Mednefits helps businesses take care of their employees with its automated, affordable and accessible employee benefits platform. It has since grown from offering medical benefits to now a full suite of healthcare and wellness essentials in Singapore and Malaysia.

The startup claims its platform has connected over 50,000 employees from 500 companies across Singapore and Malaysia to over 2,000 healthcare providers.

Prior to the latest round, the firm has raised S$12 million (US$7.4 million) in funding.

Employers across Asia-Pacific have long found the rising cost of employee benefits to be a key challenge, with 69 per cent of them citing it as the top challenge faced.

The uptake in costs borne from conventional employer-sponsored health insurance policies that bundle inpatient and outpatient insurance together. Additionally, paper-based claims are still a common practice within the industry, further inflating administrative costs.

Also Read: Startup founders are responsible for their remote employees. Here’s how to fulfil your duty of care

Chris Teo, CEO of Mednefits, said: “Digital technologies can help companies address business and operational challenges. By having businesses of all sizes on Mednefits’s cloud-based platform and an expansive network of panel clinics, we are able to offer competitive and  flexible corporate healthcare plans, while simplifying and automating reimbursements.”

“Mednefits’s vision is to lead the employee benefits transformation in Southeast Asia. We will use this investment to grow faster and further in Singapore and Malaysia, while also improving the product’s self-service capabilities by growing our technological know-how,” he concluded.

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Image Credit: Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

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Dhaka may be one of the lesser-spoken markets in South Asia but Kishwar Hasheeme believes that there is no better place to launch Bangladesh’s first full-stack cloud kitchen.

While the concept has already existed in Asia and been tested by brands such as Dahmakan and Rebel Foods, considering Dhaka’s status as a “developing market”, cloud kitchen is still in its early days and has massive growth potential.

“Food delivery is in its early stages in many Asian countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia, and has immense potential to grow over the next five to ten years. Food development and technology value chain that is designed for amazing doorstep experience is often overlooked, as most F&B entrepreneurs are focussed on retail and dine-in,” said the co-founder of Kludio in an interview to e27.

“We wanted to change this imbalance in experience and quality by creating Kludio, so that the underserved middle-income customers have a digital food court to rely on. One app, all your meals, for everyone. Dhaka is the perfect first market for our model because of its dense population, large middle-income demography, who are young and mobile-first. One fun fact is that Dhaka was also Uber’s fastest-growing market in Asia outside of Chinese cities,” Hasheeme added.

Also Read: Go-Jek’s VC arm invests US$5M in India’s cloud kitchen startup Rebel Foods

How it works

Cloud kitchens operate like a WeWork for kitchens where different restaurant brands rent their own kitchen stations, instead of paying for rent at a more expensive locale down the street.

What makes Kludio different from other cloud kitchen models is that it takes control of the entire production, from cooking and lead generation to delivery — ultimately taking ownership of the whole customer relationship. It is like an online food court owned by Kludio. 

“This model can be quite powerful from a differentiation point of view as well as in terms of the unit economics, which is evident from my personal experience at Kludio. However, there are many moving parts and require a diverse set of skills from food development, optimised production, fast logistics, technology development and mobile commerce,” he shared.

“We have built it all. The value chain is quite robust, and if done successfully, there is a layer of defensibility from aggregators, which other models of food preparation (restaurant and kitchens) do not benefit. This is one of the key differentiation for Kludio,”.

Among the food options available on the Kludio’s platform is Dough On The Go (a pizza outlet), Fry Box, and Fish & Chips. The multiple food brands on the app are all created, owned and operated by Kludio.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news: GrabKitchen launches cloud kitchens in Thailand, Vietnam, accelerating regional expansions

To enjoy Kludio’s digital food court experience, users can simply download the app from the iOS or Android store and order anything they like. The delivery hours start at 12 noon until midnight.

“Since its inception, we started to see that our community of customers like the Kludio experience. This attracted more customers, investors and teammates. The model that we built is that of a digital court where you can mix and match brands in one single order much like a physical food court. While at it, we realised we were developing technology that can enable thousands of F&B businesses in terms of efficiency and digitisation,” he said. 

Kludio pre- and post-pandemic

On being asked how the landscape has changed for the startup, pre-and post-pandemic, Hasheeme replied that the challenges keep changing every quarter, every month and sometimes every day.

While that is part of the day-to-day operations, during the pandemic, the entire Kludio team managed to show resilience by participating in the change management process smoothly, he said. The team has developed a special bonding after navigating through the crisis together.

According to him, COVID-19 has turned out to be a blessing for the venture — it launched a consumer-facing app in August this year, which he claims to have crossed more than 20,000 downloads in just two months. The global trends of digitalisation have also boosted the firm.

Bangladesh has only recently been experiencing upward economic growth, thanks to its surging foreign trade which has led to more wealth and employment opportunities.

Although it is still lagging behind Southeast Asia and India in several parameters, Bangladesh has long been an attractive market when it comes to startup investments — evident from the investments made by the likes of Gojek, 500 Startups and Ant Financial into local startups in the recent past.

Kludio has also managed to draw investors and raised a round of funding from several notable investors. “We have raised US$500,000 till date from Grab’s former Chief Economist, Go Jek’s VP of Food Marketplace, Uber’s International Head of Innovation, BOD Tech Ventures (Frontier market tech investor) and Seedstars, to name a few,” he shared. 

The startup most recently pitched at Seedstars International Demo Day, a programme to provide startups with financial funding and global mentors.

Also Read: Yummy Corp bags US$12M Series B to grow its cloud kitchen brand in Indonesia

Although it is young, having started just last year, the firm has revealed plans to expand to other countries in Southeast Asia.

“Kludio’s offering works best in young, mobile-first cities so Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines are suitable for our international expansion plans,” Hasheeme said. 

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Image Credit: Kludio

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Customer acquisition is the life of any business, and different verticals have their own approach to it. When it comes to customer acquisition for B2B companies, there are several myths circulating in the business community. For example, as addressed in this research by Aberdeen Group, B2B companies are believed to have a longer sales cycle.

But how many of these are true?

To get a better understanding of the customer acquisition process for B2B companies, e27 speaks to Brendan O’Shaughnessy, Chief Commercial Officer at ViSenze.

Founded in Singapore, the company provides visual AI services for other companies, particularly those in the retail sector. The services that they offer include visual search engine recommendations and photo tagging; their list of clients include major fashion brands and even five leading smartphone manufacturers Huawei, Samsung, LG, Vivo and Oppo.

“Over the last two to three years, they have integrated our visual search technology into their phones’ operating system,” O’Shaughnessy explains.

With that, after eight years of operations, Visenze processes 350 million product visuals globally every month through its services and manage over 400 million product shoots for a thousand global retailers. It has also partnered with companies such as AWS, which O’Shaughnessy says has enabled them to focus on its core technology development.

In this article, O’Shaughnessy shares the key elements of customer acquisition for B2B companies, based on Visenze’s experience in the field. These learnings are divided into key four points:

• Principles of customer acquisition
• Getting the customers onboard
• Remaining challenges in B2B customer acquisition
• Customer acquisition in a time of crisis

Also Read: Rakuten leads US$10.5M Series B in AI startup ViSenze

Principles of customer acquisition

O’Shaughnessy begins his explanation by stating that in principle, there is certainly a difference in customer acquisition approach for B2B and B2C companies.

To explain how customer acquisition is like for B2C companies, he gives an example of a digital media company. To gain customers, they are likely to introduce a subscription that enables customers to gain access to content for a price, for a particular period of time. There will also be a strong paid marketing approach for these companies to reach their target customers.

“One of the biggest differentiators is the content proposition. It’s really critical for them to get it right because, ultimately, consumers will only pay for those subscriptions if they like the content they carry,” O’Shaughnessy points out.

He adds that while B2C companies tend to have lightweight to zero cost activation, many of these companies also have a minimum subscription term of just one month.

“It’s still a big consideration on the approach you take for reaching and acquiring those users. ‘We spend so much on attracting this amount to one month.’ It will cost you money. So there’s a risk assessment that has to be factored into your strategy at every step of process, acquisition and activation,” O’Shaughnessy concludes.

Meanwhile, with B2B companies, there are factors beyond content that need to be considered: From the different stakeholders involved in the process, the integration with other available services, data security, to even budget approval.

“It could lead to a requirement for trials, competitive evaluation and testing, and ultimately, price negotiation,” O’Shaughnessy says, adding that Visenze’s role in their clients’ business is more like a “component”.

Also Read: Will smartphones become the mall of the future?

“We are the component that supports a function. We are not building an app for them. We’re not creating catalogue or managing interface UX. As components, we have to fit within their strategy. We have to fit within their ecosystem. We have to fit their business priorities. So, you know, part of our customer acquisition strategy, we really have to consider specific messaging,” he continues.

He also adds that for this kind of approach, in addition to having sales and marketing teams, a B2B company might also need to have a pre-sales and customer success support team.

Other principles that B2B companies need to keep in mind is timing and a global mindset.

“If we join a conversation too late, we might miss the boat. If we join too early, we may have a much longer sales cycle and that costs us resources and time,” O’Shaughnessy says, indirectly explaining the “longer sales cycle” myth.

Getting the customers onboard

So now that we have understood the key principles that Visenze is implementing in their customer acquisition approach, how about the practices? How do they onboard a new client into their service?

It starts with content marketing and outreach to specific individuals through various online and offline channels. When they are engaging with a prospective client, Visenze team will try to focus on what these clients need –not only today but also in the upcoming years. At this stage, it is important for them to show successful case studies to convince potential clients that they would not be the first to try this technology, that there are others who have proven its efficacy.

Once they managed to go through that process, Visenze is going to set up a trial account for the potential client –a stage that O’Shaughnessy dubs as “really critical” as it enables them to see how Visenze technology works with their data.

“When we are setting up a trial, we allow them to sort of play in the sandpit. We stay in touch with them throughout the process to make sure that we’re engaged in that. When we get past that point, it’s a question of, ‘Okay, how do we take this forward? What is the strategic fit?’”

Also Read: Moving from an MNC to a startup, what the leap really means

In some cases, some field trials might even be needed.

“Our policy is that field trials can run from one to three months. But we increasingly see one month trial being the preferred option, which is great because we can also demonstrate real business impact in just within that period,” O’Shaughnessy says.

He gives two examples of inbound and outbound leads that the company has pursued. The first company was a US-based major global brand who responded to a white paper published by Visenze’s marketing company. This led to a sales engagement process that lasted for months before they were able to confirm for a paid proof-of-concept.

“We worked very, very closely with them through our market pre-sales team. We also pulled in support from our product and data science team in Singapore. So, after an extended period that included a real-world test in multiple markets and competitive AB testing against one of our prime competitors (who were an incumbent in that account), we were selected … We signed a long term agreement,” O’Shaughnessy elaborated.

Another example involves a Europe-based brand with a local innovation team in Singapore. The company reached out to Visenze, asking to be helped with a “very complex” visual recognition problem for a mass consumer product.

According to O’Shaughnessy, this case was “interesting” as they almost did not win the contract.

“But the project was interesting to us … so we decided to proceed. We ended up conducting a one-month POC for free. We put the contract aside and said, ‘Look, we’ll just do it. Let’s see where we get to.’ We were also against the other two vendors,” he says, adding they eventually secured a partnership with the company.

Remaining challenges in B2B customer acquisition

When asked about that one aspect of B2B customer acquisition that continues to become a challenge, O’Shaughnessy firmly answers lead generation.

“Marketing plays a key role in this … our messaging, positioning, and supporting that outreach effort. [It also helps in] creating that inbound interest to a company like us, identifying target prospects, and researching solutions fit,” he points out.

Visenze’s marketing team will come up with a certain list of target clients in a particular market; a process that requires them to undertake research and analysis to build an understanding on how to best approach the prospects.

Also Read: ViSenze raises US$20M Series C funding round co-led by Gobi Partners, Sonae IM

“What we’re doing on a centralised basis of a sales campaign or marketing positioning [is that] we make sure they got the right messaging collateral that they can tap into and utilise … to support them in terms of best practice, activities that can help them create awareness mark that they can leverage and tap into,” O’Shaughnessy says.

“For any business, keeping that top-funnel out of a very healthy level and keeping that cycling through is really critical, because if you don’t have that, you’re limited in terms of the day-to-day sales activities. You can actually undertake the progress you can make. So, I wouldn’t say we’ve solved it, but we’re continuously evolving ways to deal with it and optimise our lead generation challenge,” he further explains.

Customer acquisition in a challenging time

It is no longer a secret that the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the retail sector widely –a situation that also impacted a visual search platform such as Visenze. When dealing with a crisis of this level, the company believes that there is no option but to refocus.

“We changed our priorities, we changed our approach, and we faced it head-on,” O’Shaughnessy stresses. “So we took three major decisions back in Q2 when it became clear that COVID-19 was going to have a massive impact for an extended period of time.”

There are three steps that Visenze is taking to deal with it:

1. Over-communicate with team members across time-zones

“We were running three daily calls from HQ with our sales teams in different regions. And we felt that was important because sales teams are not used to staying at home … but they’re used to customer contact and team contact. And when you when that’s taken away, it’s it can have a big impact, particularly when you’re disconnected from your sources.”

“It did make a difference in team morale.”

2. Prioritise customer retention

“I’m glad to say that to shift the priority from acquisition –which was just almost impossible– to retention meant that we didn’t lose any major client despite the impact on their businesses.”

3. Take the opportunity to make a change

“[The changes brought by the pandemic] allowed us to reflect and look at our strategy and market offering, and we decided that there were changes we had to make. And we wanted to make it now, as good as any time to make. So we looked at how we could redefine a market offering to better position for a longer term business strategy.”

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Image Credit: Visenze

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StashAway expands to UAE

The story: Singaporean fintech startup StashAway has rolled out its digital wealth management platform in the United Arab Emirates.

Also Read: Digital wealth management startup StashAway raises US$16M Series C led by Square Peg

More about the story: This makes StashAway the first digital wealth manager to get an asset management license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) with retail endorsement.

“When we realised that the gap in wealth management options also exists in MENA, it was an obvious decision to expand our services, starting with earning our license in the DIFC,” commented Michele Ferrario, StashAway Co-founder and CEO.

About StashAway: Founded in 2016, the fintech startup offers investment and cash management portfolios for both retail and professional clients.

It claims it has users from more than 145 countries and of 174 nationalities and has seen its assets under management grow more than 4.3X in the last 12 months. It plans to build on this momentum with continuous product development over the next few months and years.

Safe Space raises US$250K seed round to improve mental health in workplaces

The story: Singapore-based B2B2C digital mental healthcare provider, Safe Space, has closed a seed round through equity crowdfunding platform, FundedHere.

Also Read: COVID-19 is taking a toll on mental wellness, but this startup wants to provide a Safe Space

More about the story: The funds will be used to further Safe Space’s mission in highlighting the importance of mental health in the workplace, and to expand to businesses across the APAC region in 2021.

“Workplace mental well-being will be one of our top priorities going into 2021. Safe Space’s vision is to make digital mental healthcare and education accessible and comprehensive to businesses of all sizes (from startups to MNCs). We’ve built comprehensive tools to cope with the mental health impact of COVID-19 and other challenges ahead,” said, Antoinette Patterson, Founder of Safe Space. 

About SafeSpace: The healthtech startup provides affordable access to quality offline and online mental health therapy care and preventive education. Since its launch in March 2019, Safe Space has grown its user-base by more than 3x and has connected more than 1,500 individuals to psychologists, psychotherapists and counsellors.

Lu International partners Kasikornbank to launch FinVest

The story: Lu International, the Singapore subsidiary of China-based personal financial services platform Lufax Holding, and Thailand-based Kasikornbank, announced the launch of FinVest, an online wealth management platform.

More about the story: The new digital investment platform aims to help retail investors in Thailand gain access to onshore and offshore investment products at a low minimum investment amount.

Kit Wong, CEO of Lu International, commented, “Digital technology is rapidly changing the way investors use financial services. They are increasingly using digital channels to purchase financial products and invest.”

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Image Credit: Photo by M. B. M. on Unsplash

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Indonesia’s home-grown ride-hailing giant gojek today announced that it has raised US$150 million from Telkomsel, a leading network service provider and subsidiary of Telkom Indonesia and Singtel.

This strategic investment takes place about six months after gojek received a financing round from Facebook and PayPal.

The collaboration marks an expansion of the two tech giants’ multi-year partnership that has offered affordable data packages to gojek driver-partners since 2018.

Also Read: Google, JD.com, Tencent confirm leads in GOJEK Series F fundraising

The joining of forces is also aimed at providing “greater convenience and benefits” such as innovative product offerings and cost savings through joint promotions and product bundles.

The two giants will also collaborate on growing Indonesia’s digital lifestyle sector and increasing the advertising technology solutions available to merchants of all sizes.

In addition, they will work together to implement professional training programmes for Telkomsel employees and share best practices in an effort to boost the country’s technology talent pool.

This agreement is also part of Telkomsel’s journey to strengthen its three digital pillars: digital connectivity, digital platform and digital services.

“By working together, we hope to help Indonesia become a true digital powerhouse in Southeast Asia and bring the benefits of the digital economy to millions more consumers, driver-partners and small businesses,” said gojek co-CEO Andre Soelistyo.

In his view, in a fast-growing, mobile-first market, collaborations like this one are crucial for supercharging the digital economy as great things can only be achieved if the region’s leading technology companies pool their resources and work together to accelerate development.

Also Read: gojek to let go of 430 employees as it shutters GoLife, GoFood Festivals

Telkomsel President Director, Setyanto Hantoro, commented: “We believe that working with gojek and its extensive ecosystem will accelerate Telkomsel’s growth as a digital telco and our efforts to build an inclusive and sustainable digital ecosystem, which is particularly crucial amid the pandemic and beyond. This spirit of collaboration will continue to be our guiding force as we seek to bring the benefits of digital technology in every aspect of life, to all levels of Indonesian society.”

Established in 2010, gojek focussed on courier and motorcycle ride-hailing services in its early years, before launching the app in January 2015 in Indonesia. Since then, it has grown to become a super app in Southeast Asia, providing access to a wide range of services — from transportation and digital payments, to food delivery, logistics and many other on-demand services.

gojek now operates across main cities in five Southeast Asian countries.

As of June 2020, gojek’s app and its ecosystem have been downloaded 190 million times by users across the region.

As per Crunchbase, since inception, gojek has raised US$4.8 billion from 30 investors across 10 rounds. Its other investors include Google, Mitsubishi, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Tencent and Visa.

Over its 10 years of existence, it has also made 10 acquisitions, the latest deal being with WePay in September.

Telkomsel is a digital cellular operator in Indonesia and claims to be serving more than 170 million customers.

Also Read: Group CTO Ajey Gore leaves gojek

Over the last 25 years of serving the nation, Telkomsel has been consistently implementing the latest broadband technology, including being the first to trial 5G services in Indonesia.

Furthermore, Telkomsel continues to develop digital businesses such as mobile gaming, digital entertainment, digital advertising, digital lifestyle, mobile financial services, enterprise solutions, and Internet of Things to enable Indonesian society to continue discovering new ways of living.

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Image Credit: gojek

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