Growth capital firm Venteny Fortuna seeks to raise US$27M via IPO on IDX
Venteny plans to use the funds to increase the group’s working capital and support its business development and growth; With this, Venteny is set to become the first Japanese founder-led startup to be listed in SEA.

SEA food and grocery delivery spending up 30%: Grab report
The report said that in Southeast Asia, consumers in Singapore spent the most on deliveries, while those in Vietnam ordered most frequently during the period.

Malaysian startups, MNCs have started recognising the importance of Web3: Jasmine Ng
There is a growing demand for Web3 developers, but less than 1 per cent of programmers have the necessary skills to do the job, says Ng, Co-Founder of myBID and founding member of Women In Blockchain Asia.

‘In Web3, talent is hard to find and expensive’
According to experts, the best Web3 talents can be found in India, Vietnam, the US, France and the UK. Regulations are currently quite fuzzy, and clarity about this will go a long way in helping people become more. comfortable.

Singapore-based Flash Coffee lays off employees
According to LinkedIn, the startup employs over 600 people; The Rocket Internet-backed firm raised US$32.8M in July; It has a presence in Indonesia, Singapore, HK, Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan.

Indonesian e-commerce enabler Sirclo lays off 8% of employees
The layoffs are part of the efficiency measures policy amidst the “current macroeconomic conditions”, it said in a statement; Sirclo stated that all aspects of the group’s business are in the optimisation stage to achieve long-term growth.

East Ventures launches startup programme amid layoff wave
The fourth edition of PASTI BISA, called Terus Pantang Mundur (Keep Moving Foward, Never Give UP), was launched in response to the massive layoffs in Indonesia recently.

Vietnam’s EV firm Dat Bike raises US$8M
The investors are Jungle Ventures, GSR Ventures, and Delivery Hero Ventures; It plans to expand beyond Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang to other Tier 1 cities; Dat Bike claims its revenue rose by 10x in the last 12 months.

NOVI Health bags US$5M Series A to tackle diabetes, obesity using tech
The lead investor is Monk’s Hill Ventures; NOVI provides hyper-personalised holistic health solutions integrating precision medicine and behavioural and lifestyle interventions.

Fintech firm BayaniPay nets US$4.5M seed funding
The investors are East West Bank, Wavemaker Partners, and Talino Venture Labs; BayaniPay provides access to a digital checking account, a debit card, and zero-fee remittance forex rates for Filipino Americans sending money home

Accelerating Asia invests in 10 startups as part of cohort 7 programme
The new startups have an average monthly GMV of over US$46K and revenue of over US$13K, and they collectively address at least one sustainable development goal.

Fonos raises US$1.8M in funding to expand into podcasting
The investors include North Base Media, AngelCentral, Vietcetera’s fund; Since its launch in 2020, Fonos has established itself as the audio content leader in Vietnam with over 2,100 exclusive pieces of content.

SOSV backs 5 startups as part of latest Orbit cohort
The startups are NewCampus, Kreate, Nandi Labs, PriyoShop, and Fullfily; Each participant of the Orbit Startups programme received US$150K in initial funding; Orbit encompasses SOSV’s Chinaccelerator and MOX programmes.

Saison Capital, Mixpanel launch product manager peer-support community
The first cohort of the analytics programme will connect Saison’s 2-3 product manager community directly with Mixpanel leaders across product management and engineering.

Sequoia apologises for investing in FTX
Sequoia has funnelled US$214M into FTX.com and FTX US; It clarified that it had reviewed FTX’s unaudited statements before investing and conducted rigorous due diligence.

FTX owns Indonesian crypto exchange Bitocto, court document shows
Separately, data from the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights showed that 99% of Bitocto shares are owned by FTX, while the remaining 1% is owned by Genesis Block, an HK-based crypto platform.

Rakuten Capital to invest in SG Web3 entertainment company DEA
DEA also signed an MoU with Rakuten Group for a collaborative partnership in the Web3 domain; DEA operates the PlayMining GameFi platform, which features a catalogue of P2E NFT games, including Job Tribes and Cookin’ Burger.

Filipina actor Yassi Pressman nets US$2M for her new Web3 startups
Yassi Pressman’s startups PEG is a gaming guild, while BrandNation is an influencer marketing platform for digital and Web3 brands; The funding was led by cryptocurrency exchange and digital asset custodial provider Sonla.

URECA, a Blockchain-based marketplace for carbon offsets, raises US$1.5M
Originally from Mongolia and HQed in Singapore, URECA aims to empower and mobilise grassroots communities against climate change by providing a universally accessible platform for carbon offsets.

Singapore police begin probe into Hodlnaut
The police said they have received multiple complaints between August and November outlining how Hodlnaut and its directors allegedly falsified the extent to which the firm was exposed to a digital token – presumably UST.

Hex Trust wins license for virtual asset services in Dubai
The company, which offers services including staking, brokerage deals, and virtual asset custody, secured a minimum viable product license a few months after getting a provisional license in June.

The future of recruitment in Web3 era
Web3 can provide an ecosystem where a credential holder can share a zero-knowledge proof presentation without sharing the original credential.

How I bootstrapped my company and what I learned through the process
Geraldine Pang, Founder of Creative For More, talks about some lessons she has learned along the way in bootstrapping her company from the ground up.

How to scale up your DTC game with payments
Those looking to grow their business must move fast and embrace new ways of operating, and payments is an integral part of the plan.

A walk through the growth of e-commerce in Singapore
The future of e-commerce in Singapore looks bright with the continued growth of online stores and high demand for quality products.

9 tips for creating a remote work cybersecurity policy
From ensuring systems are up-to-date to installing VPNs, cybersecurity is essential and requires the collaborative work of the entire team.

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Saying salamat (thank you) to Filipinos for being inextricably linked to the Axie Infinity story, Sky Mavis Co-Founder and Growth Lead Jeffrey Zirlin cited blockchain gaming as a possible vehicle for the rise of the Philippines as a digital powerhouse.

“The Philippines can be the Korea of Web3,” Zirlin, known to legions of Axie Infinity fans by his nickname Jiho, said in his speech at the Philippine Web3 Festival.

This weeklong Web3 celebration in the Philippines, touted as the “epicentre of Web3 adoption”, includes the three-day main conference from November 15 to 18. Besides the conference and other side events and activities, Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis is also holding the Axie Open Manila esports tournament. The biggest onsite Axie Infinity tournament in the Philippines to date, Axie Open Manila, is offering a prize pool of US$120,000 or almost PHP7 million.

StarCraft and South Korea

Zirlin pointed out how Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft changed South Korea and spurred the growth of its broadband internet infrastructure on its way to becoming virtually the national pastime.

This 2010 Kotaku article sheds light on how StarCraft became a phenomenon in South Korea.

Also Read: Axie Infinity hack reminds us about the vulnerabilities in crypto markets: Advance.AI’s Ravi Madavaram

“The game’s popularity in South Korea is due to, in part, good timing. When Blizzard launched StarCraft in the late 1990s, South Korea was building up its (sic) online infrastructure and creating the fastest internet in the world. Online cafes began sprouting up, and the cafes needed games.

“It’s a matter of which came first — the chicken or the StarCraft — but the game ended up in more and more net cafes. The release of the game also coincided with the creation of South Korea’s first pro gaming league in 1998. A couple of years after the game launched, pro gamers began organising into teams, and big-time sponsors like Samsung moved in.

“Yet, StarCraft’s success in South Korea was not simply good timing. Blizzard did get lucky, but luckily for Korean gamers, the studio offered a compelling title. StarCraft was (and is) fun. A series of events might have set the stage for the game, but the compelling experience the game offers is why generation after generation of Korean gamers continues to enjoy the title. At this point, StarCraft has become something like the Monopoly or Chess of online gaming. It’s a classic title that continues to pull in new players.”

Axie Infinity and the Philippines

Meanwhile, Axie Infinity, a Pokémon-like NFT game that enables players to collect, raise, and battle fantasy creatures, transformed the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Simply put, when players win battles in Axie Infinity, they are rewarded with Smooth Love Potion (SLP) tokens, which are the in-game currency. They can then use these tokens for breeding the digital pets known as Axies to win more battles and earn more SLP. By using a cryptocurrency wallet, players can accumulate SLP and convert their digital wealth into real-world money.

The Axie Infinity story is also linked to the decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) Yield Guild Games, one of the organisers of the Philippine Web3 Festival. It was Axie Infinity that inspired YGG Co-Founder Gabby Dizon to launch the DAO in 2020, together with Beryl Li and another individual known as “Owl of Moistness”, who is represented by a plush toy owl.

In August 2021, YGG raised US$4.6 million in a financing round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the first time a16z has invested in a Philippine startup.

Filipinos and play-to-earn revolution

The meteoric rise of Axie Infinity in the Philippines brought global attention to play-to-earn, which was the term coined for blockchain games that allowed users to own the game characters as NFTs and earn from playing. Axie Infinity even led to the birth of the blockchain gaming platform startup I work for, Playfix.io.

“The interesting thing about play-to-earn is that through the act of gaming, which billions of people around the world can do, you can actually enable financial inclusion by the element of having NFTs that earn yield. What excites me the most as a gamer is that there are so many ways you can express yourself by playing these different games. There are just so many games to look forward to and so many creative ways to earn an income,” Dizon told this author in an interview last year after their financing round.

The birthplace of play-to-earn in the Philippines is Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, a province in the Central Luzon region, as recounted in a YouTube documentary that YGG commissioned Emfarsis to produce.

Among the Axie Infinity players interviewed for the documentary were an elderly couple, sari-sari (small neighbourhood store) owners Lolo Silverio, 75, and Lola Vergie, 65. To them, play-to-earn wasn’t a buzzword but a godsend that enabled them to keep earning an income amid the hardships of COVID-19.

Also Read: Play-to-earn: Understanding the popularity of Axie Infinity

In the documentary, Lolo Silverio said playing Axie Infinity was his only form of entertainment, sharing that sometimes he can finish 100 games a day.

“Sana huwag mawala yung Axie (We hope that Axie won’t go away),” he said.

E-sports and grassroots transformation

The growth of Axie Infinity and play-to-earn faced challenges this year due to the influx of players that affected the game economy, causing the price of SLP to plummet. It also took a serious blow because of the exploit on Axie Infinity’s Ronin network that resulted in the loss of over US$625 million in USDC and ETH. This was followed by the current bear market in cryptocurrencies and NFTs, the so-called Crypto Winter.

Axie Infinity, however, has evolved, with Sky Mavis announcing new features and products during its first-ever AxieCon conference.

At the Philippine Web3 Festival, Zirlin gave attendees a sneak peek at new Axies and other improvements to the game.

Sky Mavis is also doubling down on turning Axie Infinity into an e-sport, just as what was then known as pro gaming helped StarCraft transform South Korea.

“We need to democratise e-sports,” Zirlin said, emphasising the importance of supporting grassroots e-sports tournaments.

Judging by the reception that Zirlin has gotten at the Philippine Web3 Festival and wherever he went, the love affair between Filipinos and Axie Infinity is far from over.

Just ask the couple who posed with Zirlin with their baby named Ronin.

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Y Combinator-backed Philippine fintech startup PayMongo has announced that its Co-Founder Francis Plaza has stepped down as President and CEO effective November 30, 2022, to pursue other ventures.

He has been replaced by Chief Operating Officer Isabel Ridad, who is the acting CEO. Ridad joined PayMongo in early 2021 as Chief of Staff and has worked as its COO since February.

Plaza will, however, act as an Advisor to the Boards of PayMongo Philippines and PayMongo Payments.

Plaza’s stepping down comes months after PayMongo was hit by many crises, including the fallout among top leaders, the firing of two co-founders, allegations of questionable spending by co-founders and employee harassment. The infightings and scandals in the company were broken by TechInAsia in a report published in August this year.

Also Read: PayMongo’s ex-CFO denies stealing money, apologises for remarks against female colleagues

As per that report, Plaza allegedly splurged money on extensive trips to Europe and the US and bought a luxury Porsche car. Some of his business class flight trips and a company loan taken to finance a property rental in the Philippines are also under ongoing investigation.‍ The PayMongo board, chaired by co-founder Luis Sia, had opened a formal investigation against Plaza, who was also a board member.

Founded in 2019 by Plaza, Luis Sia, Jaime Hing, and Edwin Lacierda, PayMongo empowers online businesses to accept the full range of payment options, including credit cards, e-wallets, and over-the-counter payments.

In February this year, PayMongo secured US$31 million in a Series B round of financing from investors, including JAM Fund (founded by Tinder founder Justin Mateen) and local VCs ICCP-SBI Venture Partners and Kaya Founders. Previously, the fintech firm bagged US$12 million Series A led by Stripe in 2020 and US$2.7 million seed round from investors, including Y Combinator, in 2019.

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Vietnamese audio content platform Fonos has announced the completion of its US$1.8 million in Pre-Series A funding led by US media and technology VC North Base Media.

Returning and new investors, including AngelCentral, Vietcetera’s Vietnam Innovators Fund, and Orvel Ventures, also participated.

Fonos will use the funding from this round to expand into podcasting and content acquisition.

Founded in 2020 by Oscar Jesionek and Xuan Nguyen, the startup has established itself as the audio content leader in Vietnam, with over 2,100 exclusive pieces of content available on its app, including best-selling audiobooks, book summaries, and meditations.

Also Read: One-click checkout startup Beam raises US$2.5M seed funding led by Surge

In addition to the extensive content library, its strength has been in successfully monetising the content. Fonos grew its revenues by seven times in 2021 and continues that trend this year. The company also claimed strong user growth with over 130,000 monthly active users in October.

For many months, the Fonos app has been the number one top-grossing app in the book category in Vietnam, both on the Apple and Android app stores. According to app revenue analysis tools such as data.ai, Fonos plays a significant part for the majority of audiobook sales in Vietnam.

Fonos aims to become a key podcasting player in Vietnam with multiple initiatives to be launched in Q1 and Q2 2023.

“I’m incredibly excited for Fonos to enter the podcasting market. We’ve been laser-focused on the audiobook market for the past three years to become the market leader. We’re now ready to take that same focus and apply it to the podcasting market,” said CEO Oscar Jesionek.

In September 2021, Fonos raised US$1.1 million in seed funding from Hustle Fund and iSeed, as well as investors from AngelCentral and other local angel investors.

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Two decades ago, Facebook introduced their interpretation of social media services, effectively altering how people live.

Today, most of the world’s population exists on social media. It is how people connect, interact and stay relevant to the rapidly evolving world. Social platforms’ far-reaching impacts even affect how Businesses are conducted and how Economies can be influenced.

Will the introduction of metaverse platforms affect such a drastic shift?

At least, Mark Zuckerberg believes so. So much so that the social media giant changed its brand to Meta and started diving head-in into the narrative.

The metaverse is envisioned to be a digital space that parallels the physical world. It is where people, represented by their virtual avatars, will live their lives, meet others, attend events, do business, shop, game and more.

Essentially people of the (very near) future will exist in Virtual Reality. It is an iteration of social media but with more interactivity, immersion and endless possibilities.

Why hasn’t the critical mass jumped in yet?

For a start, metaverse projects tap into blockchain/Web3 technology. While the concept managed to rally huge support from Web3 fans, the processes involved can seem daunting and foreign to Web2 natives.

In fact, Web3 advocates are so community driven that new Web3-specific cultures, norms and lingos were birthed. This further drives the divide between them and the critical mass still deeply etched in Web2 platforms.

With so many big brands and companies moving towards this space, the eventual migration into Web3 platforms is, however, inevitable. The market will shift when crossing into the metaverse becomes more palatable and digestible to the masses.

Why are only big brands jumping on board?

Major brands like Nike, Gucci, Coca-Cola and Lego have jumped into the metaverse. So have major celebrities like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Steve Aoki.

Also Read: “See you in the metaverse” – Yours, life

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are creeping in at a much slower rate. The world has witnessed how prominent brands like Nokia, Atari and Kodak got eliminated in the race to adapt. Major brands’ motivation to shift could be fuelled by their fear of becoming irrelevant in a fast-changing economy.

While SMEs have shown growing interest in entering the metaverse, being foreign to Web3 still presents a hurdle for SMEs to cross before a shift can happen. Being foreign also means that many SMEs do not see pragmatic reasons or direct benefits for embracing Web3 technologies.

How is Playground contributing to this transition?

Playground is a metaverse platform that harnesses Web3 technology. The platform aims to help with the crossover by building systems and environments that make sense to Web2 retailers and businesses.

Believing that the idea of metaverses already has strong proof of concepts in game-centric virtual worlds, the team aims to encourage Web2’s mass adoption by building systems and 3D environments familiar to Web2 natives.

For instance, getting into the Playground’s metaverse might not require a crypto-wallet connection right at the get-go but will present its uses and benefits at a later stage.

Playground’s deliberate steps to bring real value to commercial parties have also seen the onboarding of traditional retail- renowned brands like Franck Muller, Naiise, Sincere Watches and MegaMall are amongst many that have hopped onto the Playground bandwagon.

Leveraging on its collaboration with many game developers and game studios, the platform offers Retailers easy access to gamification strategies that can enhance community engagement, branding and sales conversions.

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Singapore-based global Digital Entertainment Asset (DEA), a Web3 entertainment company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Rakuten Group for a collaborative partnership in the Web3 domain.

The partnership will see DEA and Rakuten collaborate on potential synergies in their respective businesses to enhance the value of their services further.

As part of the deal, Rakuten’s corporate VC arm Rakuten Capital will also make a minority investment in DEA by subscribing to share acquisition rights.

DEA operates the PlayMining GameFi platform, which features a catalogue of play-to-earn (P2E) NFT games, including Job Tribes, Cookin’ Burger, Menya Dragon Ramen and the recently launched Graffiti Racer. 

Also Read: Filipina actor Yassi Pressman nets US$2M for her new Web3 startups BrandNation, PEG

The platform has an NFT marketplace featuring hot content from household names among Japanese anime and video game fans and a metaverse initiative under development.

DEA also has its token DEAPcoin ($DEP), a P2E token approved by Japan’s Financial Service Agency. By having an NFT market, a token and a GameFi and metaverse platform in one place, PlayMining can offer IP monetisation opportunities to third-company game studio partners.

“Our vision for DEA is to become the world’s top Web3 entertainment company. Our agreement with Rakuten will go a long way towards helping us work toward this goal by increasing adoption of PlayandEarn gaming,” said DEA’s Co-Founder and co-CEO Kozo Yamada.

Rakuten Group provides over 70 services spanning e-commerce, fintech, digital content, mobile carrier business and other communications services, including professional sports. It runs several Web3 businesses, including an NFT marketplace, sales platform Rakuten NFT, and crypto asset trading exchange Rakuten Wallet.

Hiroshi Takasawa, President of Rakuten Capital, said: “We expect Rakuten’s membership base, brand and business experience, expertise in related areas, and DEA’s experience in GameFi, token economy and metaverse business promotion will contribute to the future business growth of both companies.”

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BayaniPay, a fintech startup offering cross-border financial services to Filipino professionals in the US, has secured US$4.5 million seed funding from East West Bank, Wavemaker Partners, and Talino Venture Labs.

The fresh capital from East West Bank and Wavemaker Partners will allow BayaniPay to expand the technology team as it scales its product lineup and expands into more geographies.

Based in Los Angeles, BayaniPay offers low-cost cross-border financial services from the US to the Philippines. It provides access to a digital checking account, a debit card, and zero-fee remittance forex rates for Filipino Americans sending money home.

Earlier this year, BayaniPay signed a contract with East West Bank in Southern California to offer banking services, including a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured checking account, for Filipino American customers.

Also Read: Filipina actor Yassi Pressman nets US$2M for her new Web3 startups BrandNation, PEG

This collaboration enables BayaniPay to offer cross-border, digital financial services for the 4.2-million-strong Filipino American community, which accounts for US$146 billion or 14.4 per cent of the Asian American market in the US.

BayaniPay already has partnerships with BDO Unibank in the Philippines, media firm Asian Journal, and Seafood City, a Filipino-owned supermarket chain in the US.

BayaniPay collaborates with BDO Unibank to enable its users in the US to pay for services in the Philippines through pay code technologies directly. Local businesses and services can provide Filipino American customers with pay codes that they can use for easy and convenient cross-border payment of bills, tuition and school fees, medical expenses, and even real estate.

Through BDO Unibank, BayaniPay offers zero fees and market-leading exchange rates. BayaniPay has gained over 7,000 users.

“Streamlining cross-border payment systems has become more urgent than ever as remittances grow in scale from overseas workers. Unfortunately, even today, existing remittance methods remain painful and expensive for the average remitter. BayaniPay is addressing this pain point with its suite of payment solutions that simplify various remittances,” said Eric Manlunas, Founder and Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners.

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Venteny Fortuna International, a Jakarta-headquartered company providing growth funding and HR services for MSMEs, said on Thursday its application to list on Indonesia’s exchange IDX has been approved.

Venteny has received a pre-effective letter from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and opened a book building (IPO) for potential investors from 21-29 November 2022.

With this, Venteny is set to become the first Japanese founder-led startup to be listed in Southeast Asia.

The company seeks to raise as high as IDR 422,900,595,000 (US$27 million) or the equivalent of 15 per cent of the total issued capital.

It plans to use the funds (minus the issuance costs) to increase the group’s working capital and support its business development and growth. It expects to improve its capital, human resources, and technology.

The price per share of Venteny sets to IDR 350-450 (US$0.022-0.029).

Venteny was founded in 2015 by Jun Waide, a Japanese businessman and professional. Initially incorporated in the Philippines, Venteny expanded to Singapore in 2016 and finally started operations in Indonesia.

As the business continued to grow, in 2021, the management established a holding company, Venteny Fortuna International, to strengthen the synergy of all subsidiaries.

Venteny Fortuna provides growth funding and human resources services for MSMEs and large enterprises. Through its financing partners in Indonesia, Venteny disburses funding to MSMEs with competitive interest, supported by an integrated credit assessment process to minimise the risk of bad credit and a fast application process.

Also Read: Fonos raises US$1.8M in funding to expand into podcasting

It also provides employee benefits, such as welfare, protection, self-development, and entertainment,  through its employee super-app services.

Since being established in Indonesia until Q3 of 2022, the company claims to have disbursed funds of more than IDR 2 trillion (US$128 million) to businesses.

The group has been profitable since 2021. Based on the audited financial statements as of June 30, 2022, the group’s net profit grew by 800 per cent YoY.

In February 2017, it secured a seed round, followed by Series A round funding from SV-FINTECH Fund managed by Voyage Group and SV Frontier in December 2017.

“We are grateful for the customer’s trust, so Venteny has been profitable within two years of operations. This proves that Venteny has worked well on market potential and demand. Through IPO way, we invite everyone to participate in creating the future of the solid industry ecosystem,” says Waide, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Venteny.

With four offices in Indonesia, Venteny plans to increase it to 15 next year and start its operations in the Philippines and expand into Thailand and Vietnam.

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Sirclo Group, a provider of e-commerce solutions that help brands sell online in Indonesia, announced on Tuesday it terminated the employment of 8 per cent of its staff members.

The layoffs are part of the efficiency measures policy amidst the “current macroeconomic conditions”, it said in a statement.

The group has not divulge the number of employees affected by the move. As per its LinkedIn profile, 1,371 employees are currently working in the firm.

The company also stated that all aspects of the group’s business are in the optimisation stage to achieve long-term growth.

“As a rapidly growing technology company, Sirclo Group strives to remain adaptive in making business adjustments to achieve long-term growth. In a challenging macroeconomic situation, Sirclo has gone through a series of internal evaluations and will make significant changes, especially in the aspect of business focus, to ensure the sustainability of the company,” said CEO and Founder Brian Marshal.

Also Read: SIRCLO Group acquires Warung Pintar to strengthen its omnichannel commerce strategy

Sirclo said it would ensure that every affected team member receives a compensation package by applicable rights and regulations and comprehensive assistance to support their transition period. “The development of our ecosystem from year to year cannot be separated from the contribution of each employee in it,” added Marshal.

Founded in 2013, Sirclo is a provider of omni-channel commerce solutions in Indonesia. Its solutions are divided into two main categories — entrepreneur and enterprise solutions.

In the first category, it offers Sirclo Store, an online store dashboard for SMEs to sell across website, marketplace, and chat commerce. It also offers IbuSibuk, a solution empowering communities of mothers as key opinion leaders, micro-influencers and resellers.

In the enterprise category, it offers e-commerce enabler services, a solution for omnichannel technology development, and a B2B2C platform selling mom and baby products. It also offers a parenting platform Orami, which it acquired in April. Orami runs IbuSibuk, a digital economic empowerment programme for mothers, specifically for those passionate about entrepreneurship.

In September last year, Sirclo announced a US$36 million fundraise, led by local investment firms East Ventures (Growth Fund) and Saratoga. A year earlier, it announced a US$6 million Series B fundraising from East Ventures, OCBC NISP Ventura, Skystar Capital, and Sinar Mas Land.

Recently, many startups in Indonesia announced workforce reductions amidst a looming recession. The names include GoTo, Ruangguru, LinkAja, Zenius, Binar Academy, and JD.id.

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The future of commerce is undoubtedly conversational. Regardless of size, brands have prioritised conversational experiences by incorporating them into their communication strategies.

Now more than ever, brands look for ways to automate customer communication while keeping a human touch in every interaction.

By creating conversational experiences, brands meet the expectations of the modern customer and offer convenient and fast resolutions to queries. For example, the adoption of chatbots has helped customers get their FAQs answered instantly and keeps satisfaction scores high.

But brands need to keep in mind that conversational experiences shouldn’t stop at customer support. They can now engage with their customers through their entire sales journey over messaging channels. This is referred to as conversational commerce, and it’s a game changer for brands looking to innovate experiences.

But what is conversational commerce?

Also Read: How SMBs can use conversational commerce to boost year-end sales

A term coined by Chris Messina back in 2015, conversational commerce largely pertains to utilising chat, messaging, or other natural language interfaces (i.e. voice) to interact with people, brands, or services and bots that thus far have had no real place in the bidirectional, asynchronous messaging context.

Seven years in, with the aid of new technologies, conversational commerce has an updated look and feel for 2022 to address the ever-evolving customer needs.

What is the hype all about?

As messaging and interactivity functions mature across all digital touchpoints, be it powered by humans or machine learning, conversational commerce is seeing a renaissance.

Consumers can now ask for support from a live agent or a chatbot, get information on products and pricing, browse product catalogues, get personalised recommendations, and make purchases all within one conversation.

Opportunities are endless with conversational commerce as it gives a highly personalised experience. According to McKinsey, 71 per cent of customers expect relevant, personalised communications from brands and get frustrated when they don’t receive them.

The same study has found that personalisation directly impacts buying behaviours. Brands have started to recognise the importance of the customer’s journey and how conversational commerce outweighs social commerce in some areas.

As social commerce primarily uses the functions of social networks, it has its own set of limitations that conversational commerce can address. Typically, conversational commerce facilitates a more natural and seamless conversation between brands and their customers.

Customers’ queries are attended to in real-time, and orders and payments can be made without leaving the app, which leaves customers engaged throughout their shopping experience.

Reaping the benefits of limitless communications with customers

Conversational commerce is what customers look for when shopping today. They expect the convenience and comfort of conversing with brands through their favourite chat apps from any location.

Implementing conversational commerce use cases is not only beneficial for your customers but comes with massive business benefits for brands. Limitless communication with customers drives several business outcomes, including:

• Reducing shopping cart abandonment: Conversational commerce ensures that every step of the customer journey is elevated – from pre-purchase and purchase to post-purchase. Shopping cart abandonment is reduced when customers are kept in an active conversation, unlike on social media, where the use of ads is prevalent, customers get impatient and change their minds about their purchases.
• Retaining customers vs generating new leads: While social commerce has its strength in reaching out to the targeted audience, it does not guarantee a conversion. Conversational commerce, on the other hand, has the power to retain customers because the interaction that takes place offers convenient support leading to a pleasant and happy experience. Did you know it also costs seven times less to retain customers than to convert a lead?
• Upselling and cross-selling opportunities: Using target customers’ favourite chat apps as a sales channel is a great way to promote products. On average, customers spend approximately 38 minutes a day on WhatsApp, which means marketing messages will get the visibility they need to land impact when sent on the right channel. By leveraging past behaviours, shopping habits and interests, companies can send relevant products and services or upgrades on plans or memberships that will meet their needs.

Also Read: The thesis for cross-border e-commerce in Southeast Asia

Several companies have utilised conversational commerce to the fullest, resulting in growth, as seen with Bajaj Auto in India.

This automotive manufacturing company saw its conversion rates double and engagement boosted by 133 per cent just by adding WhatsApp and RCS (Rich Communication Services), an upgraded version of SMS with branding, rich media, interactivity and analytics delivered through default messaging apps, to its communication stack.

Bajaj Auto sought out communication channels that would let them meaningfully engage with customers instead of sending out transactional, one-way communication.

What’s next for conversational commerce?

Conversational commerce will continue to shape how consumers and brands interact with one another as emerging technologies such as AI push the boundaries, delivering automated messages that can be more timely, tailored, and cost-efficient.

Innovation in conversational commerce will drive new consumer demands that brands need to prepare for. In the coming years, organisations can expect to invest in analysing consumer habits, capture pre-purchase journeys, and strategically retain human touchpoints within their customer journey map. This is especially so as the modern customer journey is non-linear.

This new era of conversational commerce presents opportunities for brands to humanise their voice. By actively listening and engaging the customer from the start of their purchase to when their package arrives at their doorstep, it brings companies closer to their customer and forms meaningful connections with them, getting them to the top one message at a time.

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