Vouch, a Singapore-headquartered travel-tech company, has received US$1.1 million in a seed investment round led by Singapore’s institutional seed VC firm Forge Ventures.

The startup will use the funds to innovate its new product line of guest experience platforms and expand its business into global markets, including Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and the UK. 

Vouch has also set up its third in-country branch in the UK to mark its entry into Europe. 

Founded in 2016 by Joseph Ling, Vouch offers digital solutions for hotel operation, aiming to transform the technology of the hospitality and travel industry in the area. 

By incorporating Vouch into their operations, businesses managing attractions and malls can strengthen productivity, increase revenue and upgrade the overall guest experience.

The firm noted in a press statement that its technology serves as an “enabler” for properties to “have the freedom and the ability to focus on things that truly matter.”

Also read: PouchNATION to launch contactless hospitality tech beyond Asia after the undisclosed bridge round

Vouch’s new guest experience platform leverages both AI and chatbot-based technologies. It allows guests to scan a QR code on their mobile phones to check-in, make room requests, order food and beverage and receive instant answers to commonly asked questions. This process steers clear of the need to download an app for a short-term stay.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, hotels apply Vouch’s solutions to minimise their physical interaction with guests during check-in and other administrative tasks and navigate social distancing requirements in those premises.

“There is a genuine need for a solution that helps hotels improve manpower efficiency, and the pandemic has accelerated this need,” said Ling.

The startup claims that its services have covered more than 25 per cent of hotel rooms in Singapore, with brands such as Frasers Hospitality, Pan Pacific Group and Hyatt Hotels joining the network.

Digital transformation in the hospitality segment has become a global trend. The applications of online, mobile, cloud, IoT, blockchain, AI technologies make their marks on all fronts of the industry, including hotel management, customer service, distribution, CRM and marketing. 

According to a survey by Statista in 2020, providing a consistent, high-quality customer experience is the main business priority of travel and hospitality companies worldwide. 

Consumers also pay close attention to which aspects of the guest experience hoteliers would digitalise. Another survey conducted between July and August of 2020 showed that 73 per cent of hotel guests would use an app to open their room door. 

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Image Credit: Vouch

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In the new normal, there is a distinctive lack of ability for different parts of the Southeast Asia tech ecosystem to reach out to each other. We used to have thousands of offline activities happening monthly, connecting various local and regional ecosystems, connecting startups, corporates, governments, and investors. Even our very own Echelon used to bring in more than 10,000 people over two days to achieve these meaningful, often serendipitous, connections. 

This is a real pain especially if you are new to the ecosystem and do not have existing networks that can introduce you to new connections. Online webinars and conferences seem to alleviate this issue temporarily, but we find the ecosystem to be craving for more.

e27’s vision has always been to assist startup founders in their journey and we have to go back to our roots, starting from fundraising. Building up the e27 Pro onto the existing e27.co platform to achieve this, today, we have served over 3000+ connections between startups and investors,  starting new conversations, and updating on each other’s progress.

To further accelerate this process and keep it as a permanent fixture of the Southeast Asia ecosystem tools, we have partnered with accelerators to further assist the startups’ in their engagements and conversations with regional investors. 

How e27 and ScaleUp Malaysia are collaborating

ScaleUp Malaysia portfolio companies are expanding their presence in new markets beyond Malaysia, with many actively raising capital from investors across the region. Using e27’s Pro capabilities, early-stage VCs can access a diverse group of emerging startups from Malaysia who are looking to scale up and take their business to the next level. 

“When I was running my last startup, e27 provided a truly valuable platform for me to connect with investors and partners from around the world. And over the last year, we have met several great companies from all over the world through e27 Pro. This is the same aspiration that we have for our companies at ScaleUp — to build their networks and be ready to expand beyond our shores,” said Aaron Sarma, Co-Founder and General Partner of ScaleUp Malaysia.

Also read: Kawasaki Heavy Industries invites innovators to co-create solutions to global challenges

“Through this partnership we aim to help investors and partners connect with some amazing scaleups without having to board a plane!” 

ScaleUp Malaysia’s partnership with e27 helps bring together the global technology ecosystem so companies and investors can efficiently collaborate, connect, and crystalise opportunities. 

Backing the best entrepreneurs in Malaysia

In 2019, ScaleUp Malaysia saw a gap in the Malaysian technology ecosystem. Many startups were unable to get beyond ideation and initial product market fit to the next stage of growth. Founded by 6 entrepreneurs and industry veterans, ScaleUp Malaysia formed to help companies build businesses with strong fundamentals towards a path to profitability, raise follow-on funding, and expand geographically. 

To date, ScaleUp Malaysia has announced investments in 21 companies within various industries from smart farming, education, services, logistics, and impact-driven scaleups. ScaleUp aims to help 100 companies through their programmes with a target to invest in 50 by 2023. 

ScaleUp Malaysia recently launched Cohort 3 of their programme targeting high growth scaleups in partnership with two venture capital firms, Singapore-based Quest Ventures and US based Indelible Ventures. Collectively these firms bring access to partners, investors and other networks in Southeast Asia and the United States of America, accelerating targeted growth in new times. For Cohort 3, ScaleUp Malaysia is looking towards working with more scaleups eyeing the regional and global stage.

ScaleUp Malaysia continues to champion Malaysian entrepreneurs and aims to uncover more underrated, untapped, and unknown startups in the ecosystem who deserve a shot at building high growth, sustainable businesses. 

ScaleUp Malaysia’s portfolio companies

With its commitment to fostering a strong ecosystem, ScaleUp supports a diverse array of companies hoping to push for business growth. With that, here is a list of companies from ScaleUp Malaysia’s first and second cohorts

ATX – A pioneering digital payments service provider with 8 years of track record that provides a solution to help micro SMEs participate in the digital economy.

Auto Craver – A cloud-based end to end management software called “Turbo” for car dealers to automate processes and facilitate car sales.

Batik Boutique –  A premier Malaysian gift brand with an artisanal story that creates social impact by empowering the B40 segment through education, training and job creation.

Iimmpact – An out-of-the-box technology solution that enables digital payments to over 100 billers inclusive of mobile top-ups, utility bills, entertainment portals, local councils and many more.

Kwikcar – A peer-to-peer car-sharing platform that aims to change the future of mobility and car ownership.

AOne – An educational platform for learning centres to manage their classes, teachers and students through scheduling, fee collection and process automation.

BiiB – A community platform that creates gamified virtual events for runners and transforms running into a team sport.

Agiliux – A cloud-based core insurance platform with extensive policy and claims management capabilities.

Also read: Industrial IoT startup Sophic Automation set to scale up Industry 4.0 projects in the region

Tripcarte – A travel technology company that provides a distribution platform for travel activity and attraction tickets.

Recqa – A platform that preserves collective knowledge so that organizations can connect and align people, processes, and best practices.

ERTH – (e-Waste Recycling Through Heroes) is an award-winning social enterprise that specialises in collecting and recycling electronic waste (e-waste) from households and businesses.

Fefifo – Fefifo is pioneering digitalised, standardised farming in ready-to-farm modern farmspaces called co-farms, to make sustainable, profitable smallholder farming commonplace in South East Asia.

Hauz – Hauz is a data-driven enterprise solution that manages and monitors mobile workforce operations in the service industry, be it in Malaysia or regionally.

Homa2u – Homa2u is an online to offline (O2O) building materials and interior finishes marketplace where you can find a wide range of high quality, branded and bargain materials for your house project.

Kiddocare – Kiddocare is an online platform that connects parents with trained Malaysian baby sitters and early childhood education providers for personalised, on-demand services.

Load2Go – Load2Go offers an on-demand logistics platform for booking big trucks for large freight, construction and manufacturing industries.

MMC – MMC is a food-based company that operates several different businesses, including a central kitchen, food mart, cafe and vending machines. Their businesses are tracked and run on a proprietary technology solution.

MyBump – MyBump media is a car wrap advertising company that matches brands with drivers (Brand ambassadors) for data-backed creative execution outdoor advertising.

Pomen – Pomen is SaaS automotive maintenance platform that specialises in fleet companies and vehicle owners to connect with workshops and service providers to benefit them with the valuable vehicle and financial insight.

Quadby – Quadby is the Nextdoor for universities. They are a community app for students to find and chat with peers on campus.

About ScaleUp Malaysia

ScaleUp Malaysia is an accelerator that focuses exclusively on growth-stage companies in Malaysia – helping them position their business for exponential growth. ScaleUp Malaysia is founded by a team of experienced entrepreneurs, professionals and seasoned investors.

Also read: Protégé Ventures as a gateway for VCs to invest in the future

Championing the concept of building “Pegasus” companies of building fast-growing profitable businesses, ScaleUp Malaysia companies go through a program that includes in-class training, one to one coaching, and equity investment for selected companies. You can visit them at their official website at www.scaleup.my or their official social media pages, Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

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Ula, a B2B e-commerce marketplace in Indonesia, has secured US$87 million in a Series B financing round co-led by Prosus Ventures, Tencent and B Capital.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s investment firm Bezos Expeditions, Northstar group, AC Ventures, and Citius also joined.

Existing backers Lightspeed India, Sequoia India, Quona Capital, and Alter Global also participated in the round, which comes eight months after its US$20 million Series A round in January 2021.

The company will use the latest capital to grow its presence across Indonesia and exploring international expansion across Southeast Asia. Besides, Ula will add new categories, expand its buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) offering, and build new technology and a local supply chain and logistics infrastructure.

As part of the new round, Ula has also brought in seasoned investor and entrepreneur Pandu Sjahrir as an advisor.

Also Read: Ula’s CTO on tech for good, Coinhako’s founder story, talent shortage in SEA and more….

Ula was founded in January 2020 by Nipun Mehra, Alan Wong, Derry Sakti, and Riky Tenggara — a team of experienced e-commerce and FMCG professionals from Indonesia, India and the US with decades of experience spanning Amazon, Flipkart, Lazada, P&G and Booking.com.

It is a horizontal multi-category wholesale e-commerce marketplace that combines modern retail’s technology, tools and skills with the lean cost structure of traditional micro-retail. According to Ula, this brings the best in selection, prices and working capital to small store owners to increase their overall income.

Since the launch, Ula claims to have grown 230x, currently offering over 6,000 products and serving more than 70,000 traditional retail stores on its platform.

The firm also offers a BNPL option, which is expected to be a US$150 billion market in Indonesia.

Previously, Ula bagged a US$10.5 million seed round in June 2020.

“We launched in 2020, with a single-minded mission to empower small, neighbourhood retailers with technology to increase their income. We take a long-term approach to solve the underlying problems of traditional retailers by investing in technology, supply chain and data-enabled credit offering,” said Nipun Mehra, CEO and co-founder at Ula.

“With Ula, traditional retailers no longer have to worry about sourcing, product availability, or even payments, which frees up their time to focus on other important things. Seeing the impact that we’re able to have in the lives of our customers is what drives our team,” said Derry Sakti, co-founder and chief commercial officer at Ula.

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Image Credit: Ula

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SoftBank-backed Oyo files for US$1.1B IPO in India
Oyo aims to raise US$942.7M through the public offering and the rest of the targeted capital from the sale of secondary shares; According to the prospectus, founder Ritesh Agarwal, RA Hospital Holdings (Agarwal’s holding company), and SoftBank Vision Fund are Oyo’s largest shareholders.

Accredify raises US$2M to combat the rising fake degree certificates issue in education sector
Investors are Qualgro, Pavilion Capital, Endeavour Ventures, and K2 Global; The firm works with more than 900 clients in Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Singapore, and UAE; It claims it has verified 7M+ documents so far.

East Ventures leads US$1.1m round of Singapore logistics startup Luwjistik
The e-logistics startup will use the funds to improve the platform and expand its workforce to go deeper into Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia; Luwjistik already counts companies such as Ninja Van, J&T Express, and JNE Express as its network partners.

Indonesia aims to launch rules on dual-class shares this year: Exchange official
Authorities are trying to sort out issues related to the ratio of voting rights and the duration of such rights, among others; The flurry of investor activity led to Indonesia’s biggest listing, with e-commerce firm Bukalapak making its debut here in August after raising US$1.5B.

Neobank for freelancers Friz receives US$1M seed financing
Investors include Amand Ventures, Iterative VC, Y Combinator, an Ivy League University Endowment Fund, and angels; Friz leverages data insights to provide financial products including credit cards, personal loans, insurance, savings and investment products for freelancers.

MAS to launch digital platform to curb money laundering, terror financing
The platform, named COSMIC — short for collaborative sharing of ML/TF information and cases — will be rolled out in the first half of 2023; Singapore is one of the biggest destinations for suspect transactions in Asia, according to a Bloomberg report.

Telkom Group’s MDI Ventures joins FinAccel private investment prior to IPO
The announcement comes amid the fintech firm’s plans to go public in the US; The funding, which comes from Cathay Innovation, Endeavor Catalyst, and Telkom Group investment arm MDI Ventures, will boost the total commitment for the company’s PIPE deal to US$125M+.

Dutycast gets VinaCapital backing for its browser extension that helps consumers buy online globally with ease
After adding DutyCast to the browser, users can shop and put products of multiple stores in one single Dutycast cart, checkout once, and pay in local currency; The solution can scale beyond Vietnam and said that the VC would assist DutyCast in realising this international ambition.

‘The car-sharing biz has taught me that mobility is hyperlocal’: SOCAR CEO Leon Foong
Hyperlocalisation in terms of products and service offerings can push consumers to continue using the product or service, the SOCAR CEO says; Unlike most developed countries where consumers have established credit scores and prefer post-paid accounts, Malaysia is still predominantly a pre-paid country.

The Incubation Network (TIN) joins hands with ECCA Family Foundation to support circular economy startups in Thailand
As part of the initiative, ECCA Family has committed US$2 million of strategic funding to spearhead the effort; TIN’s partners Seedstars, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, and STEAM Platform, will launch incubators and accelerators for entrepreneurs.

Crypto exchange Independent Reserve gets license from MAS
This license allows the Australia-based virtual asset service provider to operate in Singapore as a regulated digital payments service provider for cryptocurrency, making it easier for users to buy digital tokens with Singapore dollars.

EduSpaze backs pre-series A round of Malaysian mentorship platform;
Other investors are Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation, Indelible Ventures; FutureLab connects fresh graduates and young professionals to industry mentors; It currently has over 3K industry mentors across Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia on its online platform.

Social commerce booming in Asia with live-stream shopping growth
The strategy gives brands a presence right where their consumers are spending many of their hours online – and it now occupies an estimated 44% of the US$109B Asian e-commerce market; In Southeast Asia, the average growth of social commerce in terms of gross merchandise value has grown by 307 per cent in the past year.

Vietnam’s digital banking adoption catches up with developed markets
Between 2017 and 2021, 88% of APAC consumers in emerging markets actively use digital banks, a 33 percentage points increase; In Vietnam, the numbers rose by 41 percentage points to 82% in 2021; This information was released in the McKinsey report on the digital banking behaviours of 20K urban banking consumers across 15 APAC markets.

DeFi is pushing finance towards its e-commerce moment
Banks need to stay on top of how DeFi can change the modern financial system, similar to how e-commerce has disrupted industries. With banks trying to adopt DeFi, fintech will become increasingly meaningless.

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Image Credit: Oyo

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Many people assume that working in tech requires a very analytical and orderly “left-brain” way of thinking and working. As the co-founder of Southeast Asian leading logistics tech startup Ninja Van, I’d like to challenge that notion and argue that taking a creative approach is essential for anyone thinking of, or currently working in tech. 

To illustrate my point, I’d like to start by sharing a bit about the tinkering I used to do in my earlier years. When I was a child, I was fascinated by how things worked and were always trying to understand how they were created.

Whenever my parent’s Discman (anyone remembers these?), television, or toaster broke down, it would be passed on to me and I would happily spend hours disassembling them and inspecting their insides.

These childhood “adventures” in tinkering have helped to train and rewire my brain to make the most of my ability to generate original ideas.

When we first started Ninja Van, none of the co-founders or myself had any logistics background or experience and we had to learn so much about the operational intricacies of the business. We were jacks of all trades, often wearing multiple hats and working across various roles of warehouse sorters, delivery drivers, account managers, customer service officers, and software developers.

Through these tough times, we translated our experiences into lines of code, creating hassle-free logistics solutions.  Since then, the company has grown exponentially to become Southeast Asia’s largest and fastest-growing tech-enabled logistics company, providing supply chain solutions for business across the region.

Why pushing the boundaries could be the best thing for your creativity

We’ve all heard the overused cliche “think outside the box” but this adage does ring true in some instances. Ninja Van’s ability to create meaningful and relevant products and solutions meant we had to brainstorm beyond the boundaries laid out by more established logistics companies at that time.

Also Read: The workspace you need to become more productive and creative

We were able to do that by being obsessed with solving an important problem: How do we provide hassle-free delivery services for businesses of all sizes across Southeast Asia?

I recall the early days at Ninja Van when we were managing our warehouse and sort centre operations within a tiny office, with our desks propped up against the racks where we stored our parcels. Out of this tiny facility, we were able to deliver up to 100 parcels a day with the three vans we had at that point.

As our customer base grew, we realised that our operational processes were not linearly scaled; delivering and sorting 500 parcels took more than five times the amount of time it usually did with 100 parcels. We required way more floor space and much more time. 

One night, the three of us co-founders (Chang Wen, Boxian and myself) finished sorting the parcels at close to 5 AM, giving us only three hours of sleep before we had to start our morning delivery runs. At that point, thinking ahead to more of such days and nights almost gave us second thoughts about whether we were in the right business!

Right after we wrapped up the deliveries for the day, we all sat down to re-work the sorting process. We pushed on, wrote lines of codes, and deployed our very first “parcel router” module that very same day. The result? Sorting 500 parcels now took 30 mins!

Side projects can help you move forward

What helps you tap into your imagination and creative self? Build a portfolio of projects. When I was a teenager, I had way too many side projects. One of which I am proud of (or maybe not so proud of) is an electronic poker-style game where the loser had to gulp an alcoholic drink which would be dispensed automatically by a pump. 

Side projects serve as a powerful medium to explore different careers, test out business ideas and gain new skills, even at the workplace. Employees were pleasantly surprised when I floated an idea to build a pizza oven at our office’s patio last year.

But I believe that setting aside time for creative pursuits such as gardening (we have our very own gardening club at Ninja Van) and building things from scratch helps our minds to focus and devise fresh approaches to solving problems.

Today’s challenges require a creative approach

The world we live in today needs creativity because problems aren’t getting simpler. We need to develop new ways of thinking in order to design better solutions, especially given the higher expectations that customers have these days. Companies that fail to innovate will be left behind.

Case in point, the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated the digital transformation in both the professional and personal lives of the communities we serve. Ninja Van has progressively built up our digital infrastructure and engineering capabilities as the foundation of the business since day one of our inception, and we knew we had to find a safe and fuss-free solution that would give our parcel recipients the choice to customize their delivery experience.

Also Read: Singapore’s Janio raises US$8M to expand its logistics solutions to emerging markets

Instead of creating a Ninja Van app that users would have to download, we decided to explore creating a system that would work across the most commonly used social messaging platforms already ubiquitous in Southeast Asia.

After weeks of late nights and user trials, we were finally able to launch the first version of our proprietary NinjaChat system, with the option to select contactless deliveries being one of the first functions available.

A word of advice from Ninja Van

I believe that creativity is one of the key skills of the future;  it is essential for problem-solving, strategizing, and generating ideas that will drive businesses forward. Does the way you conduct meetings need a rethink? Could you be more proactive in sharing your ideas with others? How can you mix things up and allow your mind to be more creative?

If you have some time, take a step back and relook what a typical workday could be structured – try questioning everything and you’ll soon find yourself becoming more engaged and innovative.

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In spite of the challenges brought on by the ongoing pandemic, more startups are gaining traction and getting attention from VCs and investors, especially in Southeast Asia (SEA).

However, having a good idea is just the first step.

With the surge in market saturation, startups are facing incredibly stiff competition. Having a strong financial foundation has never been more important in gaining an edge during fundraising, and it will go a long way to inspire greater confidence from potential investors.

Past examples such as Theranos, WeWork, and even industry giants such as Wirecard showed that size and funding is not the ‘be all end all’.

True long-term success is made up of a multitude of factors, and we need to pay attention to the smaller details in order to avoid the mistakes made by our predecessors.

Having said that, below are five common ones and how you can avoid them.

Mistake 1: Recognising revenue and expenses on a cash basis

Cash basis refers to an accounting method that recognizes revenues and expenses at the time cash is received or paid out. This contrasts accrual accounting, which recognises revenue when a service is performed or goods sold; and records expenses when the obligation to pay is incurred regardless of when cash is received or paid.

Cash accounting can misrepresent a startup’s actual health and growth. For example, the startup might record growth in sales due to customers’ payment of invoices rather than the actual act of performing a service.

Accrual Accounting should be adopted in practice over Cash accounting as it represents a more accurate picture of the startup’s business performance and financial health.

Also Read: DeFi is pushing finance towards its e-commerce moment

Mistake 2: Inconsistent accounting policies

A consistent accounting policy means that once an accounting method is adopted for use (e.g. recognition of inventory), the business does not change the method from period to period. The purpose of having a consistent accounting policy is to ensure that transactions or events are recorded in the same way or manner over time.

This allows easier and more accurate comparison of performance over time. An example of this is when a startup recognises inventory using the ‘First-In-First-Out’ method starting out but ends up switching to the ‘Last-In-First-Out’ method during the latter years of expansion.

Therefore, it is important for the startup to plan out and formalise their accounting policies from day one, to ensure consistent and comparable financials in the long term.

Mistake 3: Disorganised accounting practices

The Chart of Accounts classifies and organises all assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, and expenses accounts that help to form the foundation of a startup’s operations and financials.

While it might seem minute, a properly structured chart of accounts is pivotal for an accurate and detailed presentation of the startup’s financials used for analysis, budgeting and cost management.

Mistake 4: Labelling capital expenditure as operating expense

Capital expenditure refers to the purchase of long-term assets such as office equipment, furniture, vehicles and more.

Oftentimes, inexperienced startups can recognise capital expenditure as operating expense, which will skew their income statement as these purchases are only made once every few years, making it more challenging to accurately assess a startup’s true performance.

Mistake 5: Inconsistent bank reconciliation

Bank reconciliation refers to the process of matching the startup’s cash balance to that of the bank statement. This helps to explain any discrepancies or differences between the balance on the bank statement and the startup’s cash account.

The monthly bank reconciliation is important as it helps to prevent fraud and identifies any accounting errors (such as incorrect or duplicate accounting entries) and outstanding cash balances.

While not the most exciting thing to pay attention to, these fundamentals are crucial to the long-term financial success of any startup. Thankfully, these issues can be easily addressed if identified early, be it through hiring an experienced financial team, or by partnering with a reliable service provider.

The article is co-authored by Charles Phan, Project Lead and Darrell Su, Senior Analyst, Capital Advisory at Paloe

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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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Ajaib, a mobile-first stock and mutual fund investment platform in Indonesia, has secured US$153 million in a Series B funding round, reports Bloomberg.

This round brings Ajaib’s valuation to over US$1 billion to make it the region’s latest unicorn. 

DST Global led the new round, with participation from existing shareholders, including Alpha JWC Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Horizons Ventures, Insignia Ventures, and SoftBank Ventures Asia.

DST and Ribbit Capital are also investors in Robinhood, a prominent stock trading app in the US. 

Jakarta-based Ajaib will use the capital to expand its team, improve its app and provide credit facilities for margin trading for some investors.

Ajaib, which follows the blueprint set out by Robinhood, also plans to implement financial education initiatives to attract more aspiring investors.

Earlier this year, Ajaib raised US$25 million in Series A funding co-led by Alpha JWC and Horizons Ventures. It later added US$65 million more to its mega Series A round led by Silicon Valley-based Ribbit Capital, another backer of Robinhood.

Also read: Ascend Money becomes Thailand’s first fintech unicorn following US$150M funding

Co-founded in 2019 by Stanford MBA classmates Anderson Sumarli and Yada Piyajomkwan, Ajaib leverages Indonesia’s high smartphone penetration rate by operating as a mobile-first stock trading platform. The app requires no minimum sum to open a brokerage account.

The company claims to have attracted over one million stock investors in Indonesia, a country with a total of around 2.69 million retail equity investors. 

According to a survey conducted by the Financial Services Authority in 2020, Indonesia’s financial literacy in the capital market remains low at 4.9 per cent.

However, Indonesia’s retail savings and investments market has constantly picked up pace in recent years. The value of the market tripled from US$108 billion in 2008 to US$326 billion in 2018, according to Researchandmarkets’s report. This number is expected to cross the US$400 billion mark in 2022.

Riding on the tailwind of the pandemic-induced investment euphoria among young, smartphone-savvy people, Indonesia has witnessed a trove of personal finance apps for all, with PINA being the latest startup to launch one this November.

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Image Credit: Ajaib

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The latest report from Facebook & Bain Company has proven that the “new normal” resulted in new purchasing habits, which boosted digital consumption. The e-commerce sales in Southeast Asia are estimated to nearly double to US$254 billion at the end of 2026.

While it is expected that digital spending will continue to expand amidst the pandemic, how much will SEA’s e-commerce companies grow as we’re entering the year-end sales period?

An e-commerce aggregator, iPrice Group, analysed the most visited e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia to predict where the market is heading and what exciting developments we can expect from the year-end shopping frenzy.

Here are 3 predictions on the success of Southeast Asia’s e-commerce industry for the rest of the year

Also Read: Aspire lands US$158M Series B to scale its all-in-one finance OS for SMEs across SEA

Online growth will be off the charts.

The pandemic-induced digital shift is enhancing online consumption even more than last year. Data shows that the overall web visits of online shopping platforms across Southeast Asian countries remained positive in the 1H 2021.

With more than an average of four million web visits from January to June in 2021, the number has increased by 31 per cent compared to the same period in 2020.

The Philippines experienced the most surge by 73 per cent, followed by Indonesia (41), Malaysia (34), Singapore (10), Thailand (9), and Vietnam (7).

The top two Singapore-based companies, Shopee and Lazada, experienced an increase of web visits by 56 per cent and 10 per cent in 1H 2021 compared to the same period last year.

The surge was probably driven by its ongoing marketing initiatives to supply value-driven shoppers during the new norm with flash sales, Ramadhan sales, 6.6 sales, and others.

In 2020, iPrice Group saw that the overall web visits grew at 26 per cent from 1H to 2H 2020 across all six countries. As such, the company forecasts that the total average web visits will grow even more for the remainder of 2021.

Therefore, online marketplaces will potentially receive an additional average of 690,000 visitors or more across the region, given that there are many upcoming year-end sales.

Influencers will continue to drive success to online sales

From footballers to Korean artists as brand ambassadors, and recent partnerships with Jackie Chan and Hyun Bin, Shopee, and Lazada sparked consumer hype as we entered year-end shopping sales.

iPrice Group tracked the social sentiments of the latest 9.9 campaigns. Using this data, the study uncovers which drive is the most successful.

Jackie Chan’s endorsement has the highest engagement per article. The campaign collaboration with Chan for 9.9 sales has over 59 articles published online, while there were 53 articles written about Hyun Bin’s endorsement.

However, the number of articles doesn’t draw a full conclusion. Hence, the study also investigates consumers’ reactions towards these partnerships. Who seems to be the more loved brand ambassador?

Observing the 3.8k social reactions that were recorded, Hyun Bin has the highest number of “love” reactions (79), along with 19 per cent “haha” reactions and two per cent “wow” reactions from its partnership with the giant e-commerce company, Lazada.

Similar success was seen with the kung fu legend’s collaboration. Jackie Chan’s endorsement was received with 62 per cent “love” reactions, 21 per cent “haha” reactions, and 17 per cent “wow” reactions. It looks like the social sentiments towards these two ambassadors have been positively received by people, according to the data.

It’s clear to see that influencers play an important role in driving excitement for the upcoming sales period. Thus, key e-commerce companies have enough incentive to involve influencers in their campaigns. But does this mean that they will increase the amount of consumer spending during year-end sales?

Also Read: Why WeWork is relevant even in the growing hybrid working trend in SEA

A steady increase of consumer spending year-over-year

Given the uncertain COVID-19 infection rates, consumers will stay at home and consequently forego holiday travels and family get-togethers.

More time spent at home means more opportunities for online shopping. iPrice foresees that Southeast Asian consumers would probably spend an average of US$40 on e-commerce by the end of the year.

The prediction is made by examining the average consumer spending across online marketplaces in the 1H 2020 and 1H 2019. iPrice found an increase of 26 per cent in average consumer spending in 2020 when consumers spent about US$32.

Most purchases will be directed towards the categories of sports and outdoor, home improvements, and electronics.

Lastly, even if consumer spending won’t increase as predicted, online retailers can still expect far more online web visits to their platforms this year.

The web visits data was collected from SimilarWeb as of August 2021, which accumulated the total average visits (desktop & mobile web only) obtained by e-commerce companies across six different Southeast Asia. Data on social sentiment was taken using Buzzsumo by inserting keywords such as “Jackie Chan” OR “Jackie Chan Shopee”, “Hyun Bin” OR “Hyun Bin Lazada” on September 2, 2021.

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Singapore-based seed-stage VC firm Forge Ventures has announced the closing of its oversubscribed debut fund at US$21.88 million targetting Southeast Asia.

A sector-agnostic fund, it intends to back founders developing the next generation of category-defining firms at the seed stage. It is also paying close attention to fintech startups in the region. 

Over the next three years, Forge Ventures plans to invest in 15 companies, primarily in Singapore and Indonesia, with an average cheque size of US$750,000.

It has already invested in three companies. They are:

1. Vouch, a digital concierge SaaS platform for the hospitality industry in Singapore.
2. Dropezy, an e-grocery delivery in Indonesia.
3. Marathon, a Vietnamese K-12 after-school tutoring business.

Forge Ventures has also built a Limited Partner base designed to assist founders. Its prominent LPs are Airbnb, Carousell, Fabelio, Facebook, Funding Societies, GajiGesa, Grab, Kopi Kenangan, Qoala, and Stripe. 

Forge Ventures was established in 2021 by Tiang Lim Foo and Kaspar Hidayat in partnership with Alto Partners, an Asia-focused multi-family office. 

Foo was earlier a venture partner at Next Billion Ventures, while Hidayat was an investor at 500 Startups (now 500 Global). 

According to Foo, Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem is at an inflexion point, with a growing number of startups eyeing exits or joining the unicorn club. An influx of available capital urges founders to look for more from their seed investors.

“We are operators, so we know what it takes to go from zero to one. This is why we can build conviction early and be the first institutional capital to back a startup. The founders that we partner with count on us to get our hands dirty in every aspect of company building from ideation to go-to-market (GTM),” Foo added.

“While we do provide capital to startups, we see ourselves first and foremost as partners and advisers to the founders we work with. Unlike other investors, we allocate the majority of our time to working with founders so that we can make a difference,” co-founder and partner Hidayat said.

According to Refinitiv data, buoyed by the pandemic-induced digital transformation across the world, global VC funds have invested record-breaking US$268.7 billion so far in 2021, exceeding their total investments of US$251.2 billion a year earlier. In Southeast Asia, VC investments also amount to a record US$6 billion in Q1 2021, according to DealStreetAsia. 

However, VC fundraising performance in the first half of 2021 has witnessed a slowdown, with the total proceeds slumping 21 per cent compared to the first semester of last year.

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Image Credit: Forge Ventures

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The Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Information (Kemenkominfo) on Monday announced the 15 local startups that have been shortlisted into the third batch of its Startup Studio Indonesia incubation program which is set to run from September to December this year.

The startups will participate in a Founder’s Camp and 1-on-1 Coaching sessions related to product-market-fit for four months. The series of Startup Studio Indonesia programmes will culminate with Milestone Day at the end of this year, where startups have the opportunity to present their business models and achievements in front of industry stakeholders.

The shortlisted startups are:

1. AturKuliner

A B2B app to help Indonesian F&B businesses manage food costs. Based in Bandung, the startup aims to empower F&B Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to take full control of their food cost with an integrated industry-specific supply chain management solution.

2. AyoBlajar

An online learning app for K12 students in Indonesia. AyoBlajar is an edutech startup focusing on providing a more interactive learning method through live class format for K12 students across Indonesia.

3. Bicarakan.id

A marketplace for mental healthcare consultants in Indonesia. Based in Jakarta, Bicarakan.id is a place for Indonesians to discuss and find solutions to their problems with trusted counsellors.

4. Bolu

An online course and services platform to help Indonesians sell online. The Jakarta-based startup aims to help people sell online through courses that it makes and the services it offers.

Also Read: Forge Ventures closes US$22M debut fund targeting seed-stage startups in Indonesia, Singapore

5. Eateroo

A full-stack immersive social commerce platform for lifestyle and F&B in Indonesia. Based in Jakarta, Eateroo is a full-stack immersive social commerce platform for lifestyle and F&B. With the Eateroo app, communities discover brands through user-generated content. The company aims to revolutionise social selling for Indonesia by digitising the word-of-mouth experience.

6. Finku
Finku is a personal finance app focused in helping Indonesians manage their finances better by seamlessly getting a view of all their money in one place. Based in West Jakarta, the company works with other fintech platforms such as KoinWorks and Flip.

7. FishLog

A B2B fisheries cold chain network in Indonesia. From its base in Bogor, West Java, the startup aims to build the biggest nationwide B2B fisheries cold chain network.

8. Gajiku (Sampradaa)
A fintech app to give early-wage access to employees. According to the company, blue-collar workers in Indonesia typically live paycheck-to-paycheck without a “rainy day fund” for ad hoc expenses. Gajiku offers on-demand, early wage access to these enterprise employees. It work with employers to let them provide their workers access to money they have already earned without requiring them to wait for their regular payroll check or direct deposit.

9. Imajin
A marketplace for manufacturers in Indonesia. According to the company, it aims to help users to find the right manufacturers for their needs.

10. Keyta
A West Jakarta-based startup that builds conversational commerce tools with the goal to empower social commerce sellers. It helps sellers increase the productivity and efficiency of their business operations through an all-in-one keyboard application.

11. Powerbrain
Powerbrain is an energy management company that utilizes IoT and automation technology to optimize energy consumption in a building. Based in East Jakarta, it enables businesses to save energy costs with risk-free solutions. It also stresses that their solutions help save energy through a legal means. It counts leading brands such as Alfamart, Indomaret, and Campina as its clients.

12. KreatifHub
KreatifHub is a one-stop creative platform that connects consumers and businesses with freelancers in the Indonesian creative industry by facilitating transactions of creative services through its marketplace.

Based in West Jakarta, the startup said that there are currently more than 12,000 talents from the creative industry all over Indonesia that uses KreatifHub.

13. Sgara
A Bekasi-based one-stop platform for shrimp farming. The startup builds data-driven farm advisory and marketplace solutions for shrimp farmers.

Also Read: Ex-Grab Indonesia exec lands funding for his soon-to-be-launched personal finance app PINA

14. Soul Parking
The Jakarta-based solution provides an innovative parking management solution for businesses.

15. Zi.Care Hospital Information System with structured Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Sistem informasi rumah sakit digital Digitizing Indonesian Healthcare

Launched in 2020, Startup Studio Indonesia selected 15 startups out of 5,723 registrants.

It complements the ministry’s ongoing startup empowerment programmes such as 1000 Digital Startup Movement and Nexticorn.

Startup Studio Indonesia targets to generate 150 digital startups by 2024 who have the capabilities to scale up their business in terms of the number of users, total revenue, employment rate, and funding from Venture Capital.

By far, 35 early-stage startups in Indonesia have attended the programme in two batches.

For this batch, Startup Studio Indonesia invited notable names in the startup ecosystem such as Moses Lo (Xendit Co-founder), Christopher Madiam (Sociolla Co-founder), Fajar A. Budiprasetyo (HappyFresh Co-founder), Suwandi Soh (Mekari Co-founder), and Hiro Kiga (Wallex Co-founder).

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Image Credit: Startup Studio

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