Mental health issues continue to accelerate as the pandemic drags on with a new COVID-19 variant, Deltacron, identified in Brazil. We all need to pay attention to it. 

Researchers at the Institute of Policy Studies found last year that three in ten young Singaporeans worry about losing the purpose of life during COVID-19. As we are preparing for a return to everyday life, we also have to be aware of the many long-lasting effects that are here to stay.

In this context, we broadly see four main trends:

• There’s an apparent increase in work-related stress, which negatively impacts job performance and therefore affects employers as well.
• Isolation and a  lack of socialisation are showing effects on mental wellbeing.
• As a result, there are, unfortunately, signs of a rise in suicidal behaviour.
• All this leads finally to the difficult situation that mental health services are getting overwhelmed with requests.

Nearly 70 per cent of the Safe Space platform users are currently experiencing some form of anxiety. 55 per cent suffer from stress, which has overtaken relationship and domestic issues. Meanwhile, work performance problems jumped nearly 10 per cent and now affect more than half of our customers.

A fledgling industry

This region’s private mental health sector is still very much in its infancy. When we first started with the idea in 2017, no one wanted to talk about mental health. It was taboo that investors told us they were convinced it would never work in Asia.

During the first three years, whilst still holding a full-time job, I had to do various mental health research papers tailored for Asia. It was to convince over 65 potential investors that, with the help of technology, we could solve some of the prevalent pain points Asia is facing, providing faster, more affordable, and discreet access to quality mental healthcare.

We finally found our first investor at the 2019 Galen Growth Summit who believed in our mission and gave us the working capital to create our Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

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

Fast forward to 2020, COVID-19 turned into a pandemic, and we saw a decline in mental health on a global scale. This was finally a turning point for us, the moment we could make a difference and prove that there is a huge market for mental health technology.

We increased our users by more than 60 per cent in April 2020 alone, while the number of therapists on the platform tripled. Government bodies have since been very open and cooperative, and there are now many corporations actively looking to support employees in need of help.

Our young people are suffering

Employers are increasingly willing to extend coverage to family members of their staff. The youth have particularly been struggling, showing difficulties to re-adjust to school again.

The youth unemployment rate in Singapore rose as high as 10.6 per cent in 2020, surpassing numbers from previous downturns during the 2009 Global Financial Crisis and the 2003 SARS pandemic. 

Young people are more open to receiving therapy now, and we’re starting to see it being treated similarly to physical health. There will be more offerings that will adapt to the requirements of this group.

We are, for example, exploring how we can provide a “Safe Space” in both the physical and virtual world, such as the metaverse, with a seamless experience across both.  

Urgent need for qualified clinical therapists

Professional counselling can help in these circumstances. Therapists use various modalities and techniques to explore mental health concerns and provide the necessary strategies, skills and mindset change needed to overcome them.

With four years and transparency in our approach, trust was built with our clients. Our proudest moments were not traction but seeing our clients better understand their feelings increased self-awareness and reduced anxiety with enough trust to refer their friends and family to us as well.

The demand for qualified clinical therapists and coaches has already overtaken the supply. Many are already experiencing burnout symptoms, given the immense workload.

Also Read: Leaders, it’s time to talk about mental health

Safe Space is directly involved in training professionals, forming partnerships with tertiary schools to be a practicum site. There are not enough therapists in the region, especially those that can speak local languages and dialects, like Vietnamese, for example. 

The waiting time for appointments in the public healthcare sector is between 24 and 28 days, so more private service providers like Safe Space are needed. We have a great relationship with the therapist community, allowing clients to book their counselling and coaching sessions within 24 hours.

More and more corporates, hospitals, and insurers are entering the space. There are several advantages in favour of online marketplaces, first of all, speed. Clients can book sessions immediately and start their online or in-person therapy within a day or two.

Our large pool of clinical therapists is already serving clients across APAC, ANZ and EMEA and in 15  languages as they understand the cultural nuances.

Personally, the ups and downs have taught me resilience. I knew it was a matter of traction and being at the right place, at the right time.

I’m glad Safe Spacestuck through and survived all the adversities thrown at us. For those looking to start their ventures, begin by writing down the problem and solution you’re looking to tackle.

Determine the action items you need to roll out. Join incubators and accelerators to guide you. Entrepreneurship is a wild but rewarding ride. You can grow more than tenfold in a single year. Don’t forget to enjoy the ride as much as the destination.

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An urge to make an impact on the environment and society prompted Andre Stolz and Dr Bert Grobben to quit their well-paid corporate jobs in Singapore. Their quest landed them in the concept of the wastewater management system, and it is already drawing the attention of big organisations.

“We were motivated to start something from the ground up to focus on science-based technologies to help treat highly contaminated waste and efficiently remove organics like oil from water,” said Andre Stolz.

“We took on the challenge, spun out the technology from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), created EcoWorth Tech to provide positive environmental impact through the results generated with large industrial companies,” he added.

Stolz, a German, and Dr Bert Grobben, a Belgian, started EcoWorth Tech in 2017 to create waste-to-worth applications in industrial wastewater treatment and oil & gas decontamination. The Singaporean startup specialises in transforming waste materials into reusable products — providing financial, environmental, and social protection benefits.

“We commercialise an innovative, sustainable technology called Carbon Fibre Aerogel (CFA), developed at NTU to treat wastewater. CFA is a highly absorbent material that is non-toxic, natural, and recyclable. It can absorb various organic materials (like different types of oils, grease, fats, dyes) from wastewater,” shared Stolz, who has 19 years of experience in innovation portfolio management, product supply and engineering.

Also Read: Climate tech is in a chicken-and-egg situation in Southeast Asia

CFA can be made from a variety of cellulose-based materials. Examples include empty pam oil fruit branches, waste paper, and sugarcane wastes.

“Our patented process heats the feedstock to high temperatures in controlled conditions. CFA is then applied by incorporating the material into industrial-grade cartridges, thus producing the oil filter product SUPEROF (superior old filter). CFA can be regenerated, allowing customers to reuse CFA cartridges several times before recycling them,” he elaborated. “Compared to other activated carbon (industry standard) and biochar, the CFA technology is about 100x more efficient in absorbency per weight than activated carbon and almost 6x more efficient for absorbency.”

With these innovative filters, wastewater is purified, which can either be reused or released into the environment safe while sometimes offering opportunities to monetise the materials recuperated, like biofuels.

“We are now developing solutions to efficiently remove oil from maritime applications (like bilgewater treatment, tanker washing water, oil traps and interceptor release) as well as from various spills on land and in lakes and ports,” shared Stolz, who met his business partner Dr Grobben in Singapore. 

Speaking about the economic and environmental benefits, Stolz said the CFA technology reduces treatment costs for potential clients through superior absorption performances compared to their current solutions. In addition, the recuperation of absorbed organics via the regeneration step of CFA can also drive additional revenue/cost savings via resale/reuse of the said organics.
 One of EcoWorth’s clients in the oil refinery industry has seen 40x ROI with EcoWorth Tech’s CFA solution, said.

The cleantech startup’s business model is centred around CFA sales and products that house CFA, such as cartridges or absorbent pillows/booms. Its ultimate goal is to deliver a complete end-to-end water treatment solution. EcoWorth charges clients with the delivery, the sales of CFA consumables, and the ongoing maintenance of the said system.

Tremendous opportunities

According to Stolz, who previous worked at MNCs such as Braun GmbH and P&G, EcoWorth offers significant opportunities to organisations across sectors. Firstly, CFA can cost-efficiently reduce contaminants in wastewater, and organisations can reuse the filtered water to save on their total water bill and environmental footprints. They can alternatively release the water directly to the environment alleviating the need to pay a third party to dispose of it.

Secondly, the expensive chemicals that the CFA has absorbed can be recuperated and therefore could be reused in subsequent manufacturing processes or sold as a secondary product, thus saving or even making the company money.

Thirdly, as CFA is an ultra-efficient absorbent material, as with the oil & gas solution, the footprint of the treatment facility will become very small, saving the company on square footage space.

Finally, since CFA is an environmentally sustainable technology, companies may be able to source government grants to implement EWT’s CFA treatment solution as part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.

“CFA’s beauty is its ability to be applied to various sectors. While the primary target group is the oil & gas industry for water remediation, the team at EcoWorth Tech is currently working on incorporating CFA into the maritime sector as a solution for oily bilge water and as an oil spill remediation,” he said.

Additionally, the company is in talks to partner with various organisations to formulate CFA into cosmetic products and integrate the CFA system in construction applications.

While the company is tapping into tremendous opportunities, it faces several challenges, including adoption. Stolz said: “Companies tend to stick with what already works or is cheaper even if it isn’t the best choice for the environment. This makes it harder for our products to gain acceptance at our commercial scale-up stage, as initial costs may prevent clients from making the necessary switch on existing products/operations.”

However, educating and articulating the overall benefits and costs of the circular economy model helps address this challenge, he noted. Furthermore, the firm conducts pilots with companies to enable clients to get confidence in the results before switching over. Tightening legislation and a stronger push on resource utilisation will support EcoWorth’s mission to help companies achieve positive results by adopting greener solutions while prioritising protecting the environment.

Talking about the competition, Stolz said there are two groups of competitors — those who focus on water treatment and those who concentrate on spill treatment. Competitors for sorbent applications are companies like North Rock Safety Equipment and 3M.

“In a competitive benchmark, CFA achieved about double the performance at the same price. As for wastewater treatment, often activated carbon is used by system integrators. CFA is about 100x more efficient in absorbency (by weight basis) and 5x faster in contact time vs activated carbon. For oil refinery sour water treatment, several companies provide coalescer filters (in addition to activated carbon filters),” claimed the CEO.

Also Read: ‘Climate tech: SEA needs more time to improve startup quality, attract capital’, says Earth Venture Capital’s Tien Nguyen

Thus far, the company has attracted US$1 million in funding from various angel investors and one investment group. It is on its way to raising another US$400,000 to convert additional clients into paying customers and supply with currently installed capacity. Subsequently, EcoWorth plans to raise US$4 million to go to full-blown sales and self-sufficient growth.

In Stolz’s opinion, climate tech, sometimes known as green tech, has been a buzzphrase among investors over the past decade. Different countries in Southeast Asia have different pressing environmental challenges, and hence there’s a variety of startups that focus on various solutions.

“The climate tech industry has good traction and awareness as EcoWorth has seen a sharp increase in investments into greentech companies. However, because this market is competitive, many smaller startups often lack visibility and face difficulties breaking into new sectors,” he concluded.

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The co-living concept took off about a decade ago; it started with a shift in short-term stays in people’s homes and experiences with Airbnb to now hassle-free apartment sharing by merging community-living with a space to live, work and play.

For property owners, co-living has huge market potential. In Singapore, within the first half of 2021, the city-state saw nearly US$24 billion worth of real estate sales as home prices spiked by a record 4.1 per cent.

There is currently an untapped demand for units, which creates a huge opportunity for property owners who want to increase their occupancy rates and be part of the co-living wave.

The surging property market also adds to the cost of living in Singapore, reaching a seven-year high where people may decide on communal living favouring the co-living concept instead of single accommodation.

To date, the co-living concept has received a 98 per cent occupancy rate with tenants that play their part in being good stewards of their new home. However, some have reservations about handing over keys to co-living operators.

The biggest myth and fear

Many owners fear and doubt how co-living operators are and feel they are not professional enough to take up properties. The fake listings and horror stories of people renting from their owner and subletting it to vice operations breeds misconceptions.

Property owners believe that co-living operators adopt the same model as real-estate companies. Still, there’s a difference in the way they offer their services and use of technology.

With work and academic goals changing today towards more flexibility and mobility, at least 125 property owners see the value in how a co-living solution company that uses tech-driven expertise is useful as a long term rental solution by providing a range of facilities at an affordable cost.

Co-living operators are going above and beyond to provide convenience and set the foundation for more shared experiences with a single app to manage their tenants. Information is a top priority as, within the app, homeowners can track if their tenants have valid passes, including a rental collection feature.

Also Read: Casa Mia, a Singapore coliving startup’s success story

On service and maintenance, any instances such as rectification of water heater or moving out services are all addressed through the app. This allows co-living operators to increase their service-level agreement toward tenants, upping how properties are managed.

Transparency through data embedded with AI functionalities such as tenants’ stay periods or who may leave will also provide better opportunities to retain tenants in the long run.

With mobile phones becoming all-important devices in everyone’s lives, co-living operators are emphasising the smart use of mobile apps to make the lives of property owners and residents easier. This creates seamless communication between both parties to provide instant assistance whenever required.

Co-living could be the right investment, and here’s why:

• Consider your target tenant profile

Millennials are the biggest audience for co-living spaces. Young, independent, and armed with rising disposable incomes, they are open to sharing apartments and communal spaces with other people. To find a suitable residential space for millennials, all is needed is a location that makes it easy for them to live, work and play.

• Maximise returns with guaranteed rent

Real estate is a tangible, real asset. There is always the potential for future appreciation with real estate but securing it at an attractive price is important so you can make capital gains in the future.

Signing a lease term gives property owners guaranteed rent for the rental period and reduces vacancy risk. Most co-living concepts are fully furnished, and there is often maximum space usage, which translates to higher rental yields.

The key is to find property management companies who have experience with co-living concepts and have a track record of a high occupancy rate to ensure property owners are not losing out on lost rental or empty lease periods.

• Making the most of space

A three-bedroom condominium apartment can now accommodate a suitable living area for a maximum occupancy of six residents by making the most of its available space. For this reason, co-living spaces present an excellent opportunity for property owners to maximise their investment.

•  Amenities for added convenience

Maintenance and costs for cleaning, logistics, and handyman services can all add up. However, today’s co-living concepts are moving on to scale their solutions and focus on providing unique components that will appeal to the convenience of today’s working professionals.

Also Read: Most Singaporeans pay too much for their mortgage. Here’s how innovation can fix that

Without the need to outsource, there’s an option for property owners to save costs and pick property management companies that take care of logistics, cleaning, moving out services and in-house handyman services. This improves the staying experience and helps keep costs low.

• Putting the tech in property management

 The tech-enabled services feature changes the game in property management. There are in-house tenant management apps to communicate and engage with your tenants, making issues easier to raise and communicate easily.

In the past, issues were done through messaging apps, making it hard for both parties to solve maintenance problems. With apps, tenants can raise tickets or maintenance or other issues arise. It allows a dedicated customer service team to respond and address issues promptly.

• Emphasis on community living

The pandemic may have proven disastrous for the industry where tiny bedrooms and all-inclusive apartments with strangers did not bode well with quarantine measures and work-from-home policies. But in reality, the co-living industry has come out stronger than before, offering the most valued item: convenience.

People get to connect with like-minded people and be part of a tribe that can network and collaborate, making co-living a full-proof investment as it catches on due to its attractive pricing and features.

The takeaways

With longer lease tenure, property owners are guaranteed stable income and could potentially see co-living as a sustainable investment. On average, property owners will see a 10 to 15 per cent increase in rental collected for a co-living unit compared to a traditional unit when renting it out to a tenant.

The new wave of co-living and heightened interest in alternative sources of property investments could potentially alter the real estate landscape in Asia.

More millennials, young professionals who have adopted a hybrid work approach, will need a flexible functioning environment to pursue their goals in the most accessible and convenient locations, paving the way for another asset class in the rental sector investment.

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There has never been a better time to be a social seller.

The pandemic-induced shift in consumer buying behaviour has accelerated the growth of social commerce, which accounted for approximately 20 per cent of total online spending in Southeast Asia since the pandemic.

A study iKala conducted last year found that not only did this spending span across all categories (clothes, health, furniture, appliances, groceries) but that the revenue per order rose by 88 per cent. This means consumers weren’t just buying more on social media, and they were also spending more.

To help sellers keep up with this fast-paced growth, we saw the emergence of new solutions that could turn social media into a viable sales channel. But while many of these are opening new avenues for selling, they often miss a crucial piece of the puzzle: customer data platforms (CDPs). 

Data without consolidation affects your bottom line

Having worked with several brands and influencers through the pandemic, I observe that many enabling solutions for social commerce do not focus enough on data consolidation, which is crucial for automated marketing efforts. 

Take, for example, a brand operating e-commerce, social commerce and physical store channels. The brand comes up with audience profiles for each platform (those who added to cart, recently purchased, are loyal, etc.) and then tries to utilise its email, push notifications, and messaging platforms (separate or one-stop) to send out appropriate lifecycle content.

But due to incompatible datasets, this is difficult to do. Still, it also takes much longer because the entire process is semi-automatic at best or manual at worst.

Why does this happen? Imagine a user today going into your app or website but suddenly changing their mind and deciding to go to your physical store or purchase via your chatbot on social media.

Without a CDP cohesively storing and tracking this data, the user may still be getting “hey, you left something on your cart” reminders from the app or website for the next few days. 

Also Read: A look back at 2021: The year after 2020’s e-commerce boom

These inefficiencies result in a lot of money wasted on push messages that could’ve been used instead to recommend complementary products or strengthen the customer relationship through tips and tricks on product usage. Losing these opportunities also comes at a cost. 

What are CDPs, and what are they capable of?

CDPs bridge the data gap by capturing, consolidating, and analysing your data sources to create a comprehensive single customer view. A view that considers all interactions across all platforms, allowing for a consistent customer experience across channels. 

These advantages can be distilled into three main areas: 

• Data collection and unification: A CDP can help you collect and sort data across your business units, platforms and channels. It also helps consolidate in-house and third-party data in a unified platform for effective data alignment and management.
• Single customer view: A CDP can track all customer behaviours and interactions with real-time events and provide a holistic view that helps you visualise customer profiles. This helps you know and understand your customers better without the need for high-level technical skill sets.
• Marketing automation: CDPs offer machine learning-enabled business analytics that can empower your marketing efforts by helping to deliver personalised messages through multi-channel campaigns. Not only are you able to engage with your customers better, but your efforts are more targeted, efficient and automated.  

The insights offered by CDPs offer a variety of use cases and applications. They can complement retail AI applications like planograms, for example.

By marrying insights from customer behaviour analytics and merchandising efforts to key target segments, a CDP can help prioritise planograms that deliver the most impact. 

From an O2O (Online To Offline) perspective, a CDP can also help retail businesses understand where their customers are located.

For example, suppose a brand knows that 80 per cent of its high-value customers do not live in the area. In that case, it can better allocate resources towards planning logistics and improving the digital customer experience. 

The opportunities are virtually endless and, more importantly, constantly evolving. As social commerce continues to take off around the world, having a CDP foundation in place can support your expansion to new platforms and channels, bringing together all your data sources to create actionable insights that can transform your business.

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JiPay, a Singapore-based fintech startup creating an inclusive financial services platform for migrant domestic workers, has secured US$ 1.3 million in seed funding.

The East Ventures-led round also saw participation from SHL Capital and strategic angels, including the Manila Angel Network and Shivaas Gulati (Co-Founder of Remitly).

JiPay was founded in late 2020 by Dayana Yermolayeva (CEO). The startup aims to build trust between families and their domestic helpers.

Employers use the JiPay app and its connected free Mastercard to track household expenses. They can top up funds, view transactions and gain insights on weekly spending trends through the app. They don’t have to worry about money going missing and even get 1.5 per cent cashback on card purchases at supermarkets and many other stores.

Helpers can use the JiPay Mastercard to shop for their employers. The card is accepted in stores, online, and on public transport. Helpers can PayNow directly from the JiPay app for wet markets that do not accept cards. Helpers can also view the card’s balance and transactions so they budget more effectively.

Also Read: Towards an inclusive society: Singapore-based startups that are building solutions for people with disabilities

Customers don’t have to keep asking for cash, keep receipts or carry around loose change. With fewer money disputes, helpers and their employers can build trust.

“We started our journey with a product catering to families who hire helpers. This has allowed us to learn more about helpers’ financial habits and get the endorsement from their employers for when we offer personal finance features to FDWs,” said Yermolayeva.

“We already have more than a thousand of Singapore’s helpers using JiPay for household expenses, so we have a platform from which we can offer personal finance products directly to them. Our employer customers help educate FDWs on the benefits of using JiPay for their own finances, which helps with initial onboarding and adoption,” she added.

The firm claims it recently hit US$1 million in card spending, and its transaction volume has increased more than 10x in the past six months. JiPay will allocate the newly received funding to teambuilding and product development.

JiPay’s next key milestone is to launch a personal finance product for helpers. With this, workers will be able to receive salary payments onto their JiPay Personal Account, send money home via JiPay Remit, and use JiPay Save to set money aside for large expenses such as property purchases or children’s university fees.

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Startups often come under pressure to grow their teams quickly to scale their business. In an industry like tech with a male-dominated talent pool, the urgency to grow teams could put diversity in the backseat.  

The numbers are telling. Research from McKinsey & Company has shown that company profits and share performance can be as much as 50 per cent higher when women are well represented at the top.

I’d go as far as to say that a diverse and inclusive work environment is a critical building block for success. Fundamentally, most startups live by the ethos of building products and solutions that address existing gaps and challenges in their communities and society.

Thus, a startup team should be a microcosm of the communities it serves so it can better identify and solve crucial pain points. Teams without adequate female representation, for example, might not be able to empathise with and address the needs of half of their audience.

Not to mention, diversity of thought nurtures two key elements that fuel innovation, creativity and empathy.

Walking the talk: Where do we begin?

The business case is clear enough to see. But how exactly should aspiring founders and fresh startup teams build truly diverse and inclusive teams?

Firstly, recognise that diversity is a long-term investment. There are no shortcuts, only deliberate planning and nurturing to unleash the true potential of a diverse team. 

It starts during the hiring process. Consider having a diverse slate of candidates and practising inclusive hiring to find the best person for the job. This includes well-qualified individuals who might be apprehensive about applying. 

For instance, a survey by the Nanyang Technological University found that only 58 per cent of women who graduated with a STEM diploma or degree went on to work in a STEM field, compared to 70 per cent of men, despite expressing equal career interests around STEM jobs. 

Also Read: International Women’s Day – Breaking the bias

Look beyond your usual talent pool, and connect with individuals that might have different educational qualifications and work experiences. Many core competencies, like problem-solving and effective communication, are transferable across sectors and especially valued in tech.   

At Twilio, we have a dedicated Early in Career (EIC) team focused on recruiting talent from universities, colleges and non-traditional backgrounds. We expanded Hatch, our global apprenticeship programme, in India and sought to recruit first-generation STEM learners. 

Putting your startup’s commitment to DEI in black and white can help instil accountability and equitable access in how the team grows. These commitments should be embedded in company-wide policies for consistency. In addition, maintaining healthy pay parity and providing promotion opportunities for all employees should be a given, regardless of gender or race.

Equally important is thoughtful engagement across leadership and employees to ensure that DEI becomes part of the culture’s DNA. I believe in cultivating a learning culture that encourages everyone to think and act more inclusively.

This can be accomplished in many ways. Employee resource groups (ERGs) can support, promote, and celebrate the shared life experiences of typically underrepresented and marginalised communities.

Organisations can also establish safe spaces for employees to come together and have vulnerable conversations about what’s happening in and out of the workplace.

While company-led initiatives are in need, contributions at the individual level matter just as much. We should hold ourselves accountable by taking the initiative to learn and reflect on our own biases and how they might show up in our personal and professional lives.

Measuring success

In measuring DEI, companies commonly report representative data to show transparency into their internal makeup. Unfortunately, this data is often used to prove whether or not a company is doing well. 

Instead, startups should use data to examine how they can move these measures and improve. We call this our “move, not prove” philosophy at Twilio. We share our data for transparency, but as a team, we are more focused on how we can use this information to guide and refine our DEI programmes continuously. 

Startups should also look into the full employee lifecycle, including hiring rates, promotions, comparative attrition, and representation, to get a fuller picture of where they stand. 

Ultimately, founders need to recognise the value of building gender diverse teams as a matter of social obligation and as a mission-critical factor for business success. 

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Indonesia-based fintech startup Akulaku today announced US$10 million in post-Series D debt funding from Lend East, a digital lending platform that connects global institutional capital with alternate lenders in Southeast Asia and India.

This funding followed a US$100 million Series D funding round that the startup announced in January 2019.

In a press statement, Akulaku said that it plans to use the funds to continue building and enhancing its lending portfolio in its key operating markets in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

“We are pleased to once again partner with Lend East to continue to enhance our lending portfolio. Akulaku has continued to see significant growth in the past year, and this additional funding will allow us to continue meeting the needs of the underbanked throughout Southeast Asia,” said Akulaku CEO William Li.

Founded in 2014, as one of the earliest consumer lending fintech startups in Indonesia, the startup aims to serve underbanked consumers in the markets it operates in with services that include digital banking, consumer credit, digital investment, and insurance brokerage.

Also Read: ‘Asia’s BNPL sector has great potential’, says Akulaku CEO William Li

In its home country Indonesia, Akulaku operates a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and consumer financing platform. It claimed to have disbursed over US$2.2 billion of credit in 2021 to over 10 million users.

Its wealth management, e-commerce, and digital banking platforms are said to have grown the company’s total revenue by 120 per cent to US$597 million.

Akulaku intended to seize the opportunity provided by the COVID-19 pandemic which saw changes in customer behaviours in various markets. According to Bain report, eight in ten consumers in Southeast Asia have turned to digital financial services to make purchases online.

However, the startup said that despite the growing digitally savvy middle class, half of the region’s population remain unbanked with no access to financial products. A further fifth (18 per cent) are underbanked and lack access to anything other than a bank account.

For Lend East, Akulaku was its first investment in the region back in 2019.

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Consumerism has been on the rise since the 1890s, where mail-order became popular amongst the richer classes. Capitalism plays a strong role in creating a world that embraces consumerism, and the need to obtain more stuff has evolved with the current expectations and demands of the world.

Shops shifted online to reach a broader audience, and as logistics improved across the globe, the reach of e-commerce expanded alongside it. Then, came Covid-19, the virus that swept the nation and shut the doors of retail for extended periods of time, causing consumers to turn online for everything from their daily essentials down to their desires.

The pandemic has ensured the survival and expansion of e-commerce, and in Australia, we’re seeing a surge in demand for both e-commerce and online entertainment and their spending power has surged alongside them. 

Australians are some of the biggest spenders per capita in digital shopping and online streaming, with the average Australian spending close to four hours every day on streaming and entertainment.

According to the Australia and Entertainment Outlook, total media consumption is set to surpass AUD$50.6 billion by 2024. Along with these growths in spending habits, Australia’s economy has also been primed for e-commerce growth.

In fact, international surveys have placed Australia as one of the top e-commerce performers, jumping up six ranks from 11th place to 5th, right behind Korea, America, and the U.K. Furthermore,  61 per cent of Australian consumers highlight that online shopping is their first choice whether they are buying food, groceries, or personal care items. 

The direction that e-commerce in Australia is headed

When we look at the general picture of retail and consumerism, there is a strong trend that simply cannot be ignored. Brand loyalty is slowly falling behind and Australian consumers are no different.

The new generation of conscious consumers are making informed decisions when it comes to their patronage. If a brand or company is linked with something that does not align with their values, such as animal testing, consumers are more than willing to drop that brand in search of another and pricetags matter less and less these days. 

At one point, it would seem that the cheaper and better value the product provides, the more popular it is. But as consumers have become more conscious about the manufacturing and even marketing process, they are making choices that directly reflect their own values and ethics. 

According to Dr. Andreas von der Gathen, the co-CEO of a renowned global strategy and pricing consultancy, “The relative importance of sustainability during the purchase process will continue to increase. Today, 50 per cent of consumers rank sustainability as a top-five value driver. As expectations around sustainability climb, companies will face significant pressure to prove their sustainability credentials and continue to make it a central part of their value proposition.”

Also Read: The long and winding road to e-commerce profitability

For companies to grow sustainably, they have to have sustainable practises. Eco-friendly is a new buzzword and everyone, Australians included, wants a slice of that. 

Personalisation will go to new heights

One thing that the pandemic has proven is that food will always be something that people are willing to splurge on. While it is a basic necessity, it isn’t enough for your average consumer to have sub-par meals.

They are more than willing, much like their choices for products, to go with restaurants that provide ethically sourced ingredients that are palatable and suit their dietary needs. 

The idea that everything should be custom-picked for consumers is where the general consensus is headed. In a recent survey, Australians mentioned that they expect that e-commerce sites will show them products and items that are tailored to their needs and desires, and more than 88 per cent of those respondents said that they have bought something that Amazon recommended them to buy. 

With this in mind, consumer personalisation is something that should be seriously considered.

Any company which is able to break into that field and really provide consumers with a bespoke service will win in the game of e-commerce, where everything is available (including information regarding the brand, service, or product) at the click of a mouse. 

If you want to get ahead, listen to your demographic

Products and consumers share something of a symbiotic relationship. The consumer demands, and the product supplies.

However, if the company that’s producing these products continues to stay deaf and blind to the growing voices of their consumers, they will lose them at the drop of a hat.

Bearing in mind that consumers are no longer the loyal customers of generations past, and are not afraid to try something new, especially if that something is endorsed by other people and flaunted on social media in an organic manner. 

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Earlier this week, Quest Ventures announced the promotion of two female investors in its team. Michelle Ng, with her promotion to Head of ESG and concurrently Director of Sustainable Impact Accelerator, was named in this announcement alongside Gwen Sim, who was promoted to Associate.

Ng is definitely not a new face in the firm –and in the startup ecosystem in recent years. Joining Quest Ventures in 2020, she has been driving their focus in Vietnam and Central Asia. She formerly headed the internationalisation focus at the Action Community for Entrepreneurship –the national trade association for startups in Singapore– and was with CNBC Asia prior to ACE. She also holds key office bearer positions in grassroots committees and non-profit organisations such as Social Impact Catalyst.

e27 readers may also be familiar with her writings through our Contributor Programme where she had published thought pieces on a wide range of topics from post-pandemic life to how the Russia-Ukraine war will impact ESG investing.

With this promotion, Ng is going to lead the firm’s focus on ESG –a vertical that is becoming understandably popular due to its urgency and ability to create a positive impact in the various aspects of the public’s life.

There are many different approaches to ESG investing with each venture capital firm looking at it from different angles. In this email interview with Ng, we discover how Quest Ventures is viewing this vertical and how their approach sets them apart.

Also Read: COVID-19, the environment, and the tech ecosystem: what opportunity is available out there for us?

The centre of the problem –and the solution

Quest Ventures takes pride in being one of the earliest in the Southeast Asian (SEA) tech startup ecosystem to recognise the importance of ESG investing back in 2018. As time goes by and investment in the vertical becomes increasingly more important, the firm aims to double down its efforts.

With the announcement of her promotion, Ng states: “Total ESG assets in Asia have grown from a mere US$801 million in 2019 to US$7.9 billion in 2020, and global ESG assets are on track to exceed US$53 trillion by 2025. Investors have realised that people and social impact form the basis of ESG investing, and will no longer be considered in isolation from environmental and governance aspects.”

She continues, “Concerted efforts from the private and public sectors will hasten the integration of the social, technology and finance sectors in order to help socially-impactful enterprises scale further and faster.”

Ng further explains to e27 about the opportunities that the firm intends to pursue and why it requires some significant changes in its approach.

“ESG opportunities identified include the shift to Social (S) in ESG. The human-centricity of ESG investing will become more apparent and urgent,” she says.

She elaborated that with its focus on solutions addressing human-centred problems, the team will invest in and accelerate the growth of socially-impactful enterprises. To realise this mission, Quest Ventures has prepared several initiatives including the Sustainable Impact Accelerator, held in collaboration with raiSE (Singapore Centre For Social Enterprise).

Set to run from June to August this year, the initiative aims to support enterprises with a strong social impact angle and high potential to scale it up. These enterprises will receive funding and capability support to drive their next stage of growth, and gain exposure to investors across key cities in Asia as they work towards raising an institutional investment round in the next 12 months.

Also Read: How consumers are prioritising sustainability beyond the single lens of eco-friendly products

In measuring the social-environmental of a potential investment, Ng explains the points that the firm is looking for.

“Social-environmental impact can be measured by the number of people who have access to adequate livelihoods, sufficient nutritious food, clean air and water, and healthcare & well-being. The geographical spread of the impact can be measured, as well as the speed at which it scales,” she says.

“There is also a need to value qualitative data collected through due diligence interviews, which will add colour to findings regarding social-environmental impact. The measurement framework that we have adopted and adapted is discussed at length in Impact Investing Framework for Early Stage Venture Capital,” she continues.

Bringing ESG investment to SEA

When asked about whether strong social-environmental impact always equals strong profitability in ESG investment, or if there has got to be a sacrifice, Ng explains, “Strong social-environmental impact will eventually lead to sustained outsized profitability, rather than a scramble for strong short-term profitability that will fizzle out. ESG-oriented investors look to identify and mitigate ESG risks and capitalise on value creation opportunities to improve returns in the long term.”

But in order for sustainability startups in the region to realise their potential, there are still challenges that remain. For example, Ng points out that, for climate tech startups in SEA to scale, there is a need for large scale financing of US$2 trillion to help the region “go green and stay competitive.”

“Quest Ventures looks to drive investments and capital reallocation into ESG and sustainable impact startups in this region,” she says.

In order to encourage more investment in ESG the SEA startup ecosystem, Ng believes that it can be done through pricing in externalities and re-allocating more resources and capital to help these ESG companies grow and scale.

For Quest Ventures itself, its ESG focus will be a foundation for its investment in the region.

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Med247, a hybrid O2O startup in Vietnam that operates on the concept of a 24×7 family doctor, has completed its oversubscribed US$4.5 million Series A round, led by Altara Ventures, Pavilion Capital, and Singaporean biotech firm MiRXES.

East Ventures, Venturra Ventures, and unnamed angels also co-invested.

The fresh capital further ramps up the expansion of Med247’s flagship clinics and 7-Eleven-like convenience family clinics network in Vietnam, which has slowed down due to the pandemic-induced social distancing measures in the past two years. The capital will also boost its R&D efforts and enable it to set up a training academy for doctors and nurses.

Co-founder Tuan Truong told e27: “Med247 would actively contribute to implementing the country’s telehealth sandbox and other national and local programmes supporting health centres’ digitalisation.”

In 2019, the firm bagged an undisclosed seed funding joined by KK Fund and the former senior executive of Singapore’s Parkway Healthcare Group, Dr Goh Jin Hian.

Also read: Vietnamese healthcare startup Med247 gets seed funding from KK Fund, broadens users coverage 

Co-founded by Truong and Thao Nguyen in 2019, Med247 aims to become a one-stop-shop for primary and preventative care, pharmaceuticals, clinical services, and telemedicine. Regardless of the patient’s needs, it aims to provide patients with a comfortable family doctor-style treatment by connecting them quickly to trusted doctors of their choice.

Med247 employs remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) technology coupled with AI predictive analytics to screen patients’ vital signs through their smartphone cameras. It also collaborates with the Singapore-headquartered MiRXES to bring next-generation microRNA technology into the Vietnamese healthtech market.

MiRXES’s patented miRNA biomarker platform in the screening and diagnostics of disease early detection will empower Med247 to achieve their goals in providing primary and preventive care to and ensuring the well-being of their patients.”

Med247 also operates wholly-owned flagship clinics in major cities with links to a network of satellite clinic partners in cities, provinces, and districts. Each clinic provides multi-speciality healthcare and expert and technology support for eight to ten satellite clinics in residential areas.

Besides, Med247 enables hybrid care services, including remote telehealth consultation, no-wait health clinic appointments booking, electronic health record (HER) requests, home prescription delivery, online payments, and home medical tests. It also allows local general practitioners who directly conduct initial examinations for patients at satellite clinics to run joint consultation sessions remotely with specialist doctors from flagship polyclinics.

After establishing four clinics, the firm plans to expand its network to more than 70 clinics by the end of 2022, with 80 per cent being satellite clinics residing across the country.

Reinventing the fragmented Vietnamese healthcare system

According to Statista data in 2019, Vietnam had around 8.8 doctors per 10 thousand inhabitants in Vietnam, compared to the OECD average of 36 physicians per 10 thousand population.

“Moreover, Vietnamese people are not familiar with a family physician or primary family care. They often go straight to national hospitals when contracting common illnesses, resulting in significant overload in large hospitals,” added Truong.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese spent around US$17 billion on healthcare in 2019, equivalent to 6.6 per cent of the country’s GDP, with per-capita healthcare spending doubling over the last decade. The expenditure is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.7 per cent to US$23 billion in 2022, according to Fitch Solutions. This is mainly attributed to the growing concern over health issues of the country’s fast-growing middle-class and ageing population.

The mounting demand creates a fertile ground for the private healthcare sector, which makes up 32.2 per cent of total outpatient services and 6.3 per cent of inpatient services. However, Truong and his team recognised a significant quality gap between high-calibre hospitals and clinics privately held by physicians.

“Initially, we intended to build an app for clinic management,” Truong said, “but the pain point is not about technology but processes and standards for healthcare provision, especially in the private medical sector.”

This is concerning given that there were about 35,000 private clinics across the country in 2018, nearly triple the number of commune health stations and regional polyclinics within the public sector, as per a World Bank report.

Fortunately, the situation is improving, thanks to the emergence of the digital transformation accelerated by the COVID-19 outbreak. Medical centres are urged to adopt digital tools and technologies such as telemedicine and virtual care for patient treatment.

Riding on this tailwind, Med247 digitises clinic management and diagnostic processes. It synchronises them for the whole chain, giving its medical team oversight to ensure proper care and quality control at each step of the patient experience. It also facilitates ERH of patients on its platform, allowing two to three physicians to collectively diagnose and supervise a patient and prescribe suitable treatment and medicine.

Also Read: BuyMed nets US$8.8M to develop a healthtech e-commerce platform, expand beyond Vietnam

“Regular virtual joint consultation sessions through the Med247 platform will help iron out the quality discrepancy between flagship clinics’ specialist doctors and satellite clinics’ practitioners, who often lack experience, expertise, or associated soft skills,” Truong emphasised.

“Med247 system also releases daily reports to give appropriate guidance and alerts to support practitioners inpatient follow-up treatments.”

During the pandemic, Med247 claims it delivered nearly 400 consultations sessions per day to more than 11,000 patients from 21 provinces and cities in Vietnam. The consultation covered not only COVID-related treatments but also other healthcare needs, especially mental health and chronic disease management. The firm boasts of having registered a 500 per cent revenue growth and a 700 per cent growth in pharmacy orders within the last 18 months.

So far, through its mobile app and clinics chain, Med247 has served around 50,000 users, with an average of 2.47 visits per unique patient every three months, noted the firm.

Thao describes a typical customer journey as when a patient calls or books an appointment with a doctor via app right when they receive initial symptoms. This will significantly reduce screening time, increase treatment efficiency, and ease costs and burdens for patients. Doctors will then consult patients to visit a clinic for tests and examinations and follow up with them regularly via digital channels.

“Leveraging telemedicine’s ability to deliver timely care, our vision is to improve active healthcare monitoring and management for Vietnamese families, consisting of three generations: children, parents, and grandparents,” Thao added. “Med247’s model aims to provide everyone with quality, accessible and affordable healthcare products and services. This is to help reinvent the traditional healthcare experience from a single clinic visit to annual care packages that go beyond sick care to primary care, preventative care, and well-being for Vietnamese families.”

Bain’s 2019 Asia-Pacific Front Line of Healthcare survey found out that 50 per cent of patients expected to use digital health tools in the next five years and 91 per cent of consumers would be willing to use digital health services if the costs were covered by an employer or insurance provider.

“Thanks to Vietnam’s high smartphone penetration rate, we have the potential to bring this simple, intuitive, and holistic healthcare solution into nearly any household in the country,” said Thao.

In the future, Med247 aims to capitalise on smart devices to improve electronic health data through real-time tracking and monitoring of healthcare indices, allowing doctors to give timely and personalised diagnoses for patients.

“We believe that this is the good timing for Med247 to scale up as the pandemic has sharply increased customers’ willingness to use telehealth, accelerated service providers’ adoption of telemedicine, and bolstered regulatory changes in support of greater access and reimbursement for digital healthcare,” stated Truong. “However, considering that the Vietnamese market still needs more time to adopt this concept, Med247 will carry on the strategy of not only connecting practitioners with patients through a digital platform but also supporting clinics’ standardised O2O operations with advanced technologies and solutions.”

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

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