Etaily, an e-commerce enabler in the Philippines, said today it has secured US$1.6 million in seed funding from Ayala Ventures, Foxmont Capital Partners, Magsaysay Shipping & Logistics, the Boston Consulting Group, and unnamed angels.

Launched in March 2020, Etaily provides brands with a one-stop, omnichannel solution to help them sell virtually. From content production and channel creation to warehousing and fulfilment, it offers a full suite of services encompassing anything brands would need to attract consumers, transact online, and deliver their products.
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Etaily claims it has generated more than one million transactions and made more than 50,000 unique products available in countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

It has managed more than 20 brands across all online channels, activated more than ten offline retailers for online capability, and has a projected gross merchandise value revenue of US$10 million in 2021.

Alexander Friedhoff, CEO of Etaily, said: “We are connecting online brands and retailers to ASEAN consumers by integrating their business offline and online. The most important thing there is one winner, the final consumer. And we are happy to give them a fighting chance and to support end-to-end throughout their journey.”

Also Read: E-commerce enabler Great Deals closes US$30M Series B to build automated fulfilment centre in Philippines

Toti Wong, CCO of Etaily, said: “I think most Filipino retailers are quickly learning that e-commerce is becoming more complex. The marketplaces in 2017 were different than that of today. In the coming months and years, this will not get any simpler. As an e-commerce enabler, Etaily’s role is to navigate these complexities for sellers and brands, so they don’t have to learn all these things themselves. They can then focus on their core business of brand management, distribution, and retailing.”

Tatiana Cziormer, COO of Etaily, said: “As e-commerce grows in SEA and the Philippines, we know it will become more complex. The SMEs will have to be on different stages and we have to provide solutions for them. We need to innovate and create new technology for them. At the end of the day, we hope Filipino brands and retailers will become competitive, especially in the global market. We want to bring down the geographical and commercial barriers so that we can introduce to the global market brands that Filipinos love.”

In May, Great Deals E-Commerce Corporation, a leading e-commerce enabler in the Philippines, raised US$30 million in Series B funding round, led by local logistics major Fast Group, which was also joined by CVC Capital Partners and Navegar.

According to International Trade Administration, COVID-19 has increased demand for e-commerce in the Philippines. While the younger population was already open to online shopping, the need for social distancing has pushed the cash centric and face to face shopping culture towards a more digital one, and this is expected to continue.

What is lacking is proper digital and logistics infrastructure to truly enable a digital economy. There needs to be higher bandwidth capacity to service the retail market.

Plus, Filipinos are prolific users of social media. Estimates in 2020 showed that there were 76 million active social media users in the country. Of this, 75 million are on Facebook, 12 million on Twitter, and 4 million on LinkedIn.

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Image Credit: Etaily

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With one of the world’s fastest-growing tech ecosystems, it is no wonder that Southeast Asia’s startups collectively attracted investments totalling US$8.2 billion last year amidst a global pandemic. 

Malaysia alone is poised to capture US$11.84 billion investments in the digital economy over the course of a five-year plan spanning 2021 to 2025. Having managed to raise a total of US$226 million in 2019 alone, the country’s vibrant startup ecosystem encompasses a full range of verticals including fintech, e-commerce, SaaS, blockchain, and many more.

Much of this has unsurprisingly been driven by the pandemic. We are seeing record rates of digital adoption, with 40 million new internet users in the last year alone. With working from home gradually becoming the norm, people are turning to digital solutions, which offer convenience and safety, especially amidst heightened concerns about hygiene. In Southeast Asia, one in three internet users tried new digital services last year solely because of the pandemic. 

For global startups, Malaysia is the perfect gateway into Southeast Asia

Malaysia is located smack in the middle of Southeast Asia, with easy access to neighbouring countries like Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, all of which similarly boast burgeoning tech ecosystems. 

The country is also multiethnic and multilingual, with more than 137 languages being spoken. This includes major languages like English, Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu, and Tamil, which gives homegrown startups an edge when they eventually expand internationally. Malaysia’s diversity also reflects its position as a microcosm of Southeast Asia. Global startups can use Malaysia as a platform for understanding different consumer behaviours and have a taste of what it is like to establish a presence in the rest of the region.

Also read: How these India-based startups are changing the way we live, play, and learn

Furthermore, Malaysia boasts a very supportive regulatory environment and government agencies that actively spearhead initiatives to advance the local tech ecosystem, uplifting domestic startups while welcoming global ones. This includes programmes that help international startups localize and understand the Malaysian market, as well as programmes that build up the country’s tech talent pool.

How StixFresh is changing the game

One of the homegrown success stories is foodtech startup StixFresh. The company’s primary product is simple: a sticker that keeps fruit fresh for up to fourteen days.

But the mission behind it is much larger. By prolonging the shelf life of fruit, many positive externalities are generated. Not only does this prevent food waste, but it also reduces associated costs, such as shipping and logistics costs, and ultimately contributes toward tackling real-world, large-scale challenges like overpopulation, hunger, and the spiralling cost of food. StixFresh’s solutions also contribute to the circular economy approach where useful material, once seen as waste, is recycled back into the supply chain.

StixFresh’s all-natural and safe sticker is coated with a mix of sodium chloride and beeswax. This mixture slows down the ripening process, which then increases the shelf life of fruit by three to four times and improves its quality, taste, and texture. 

The company was established in Malaysia in 2017 after founder and chief executive officer Zhafri Zainuddin spent almost three years developing the sticker. 

“We want to be an essential link that makes up the circular economy, not only from a national point of view, but from a global viewpoint,” said Zainuddin.

Their sticker currently works with fruit like apples, pears, avocados, oranges, and other citrus fruits. However, StixFresh acknowledges that Southeast Asia presents a different challenge due to the diverse species of fruit across the region, and are currently trying to combat this through innovation and research in their labs.

Also read: Building Malaysia’s fintech ecosystem

By tackling the issue of food waste, StixFresh is doing its part to make the world a little more sustainable, one step at a time.

“In order to understand fruit wastage, we have to understand how fruits are wasted,” said Zainuddin.

Typically, he shared, for every fruit we eat, another fruit gets thrown away. This happens throughout the fruit supply chain. For example, if a batch of fruit is infected with fungi from the farm and is transported together in a five-tonne lorry, the fungi might break out and cause the fruit to go bad, or the fruit might not meet retail aesthetics. The fruits then get thrown away, despite being edible. Such a situation could happen for up to 10 to 20 per cent of fruits being transported.

StixFresh’s technology is patented globally and certified by the United States Food and Drug Administration with a Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) certification and is the only such shelf extension technology in the world. 

To date, 300,000 stickers have been purchased by Malaysia’s Department of Agriculture. StixFresh has also won multiple awards, such as the Best Malaysian Startup in Asia Rice Bowl award. The startup also clinched the top prize in the Lifestyle category during Gobi Partners’ Superseed II Championship.

Exploring Southeast Asia with the power of MaGIC

The startup will be working closely with the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) in order to develop its technology and innovation plans in the country. 

“We look to leverage MaGIC’s expansive network to penetrate into industry players’ networks and establish win-win collaborations,” said Zainuddin.

MaGIC is an innovation and creative centre under the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. Headquartered in Cyberjaya, MaGIC organizes programmes and initiatives that facilitate the development of Malaysia’s vibrant and buzzing tech ecosystem.

Also read: Messaging tips for startups: a primer on improving one’s customer service

Aside from uplifting local startups, MaGIC also helps global startups expand into Southeast Asia. One such programme is the Global Accelerator Programme, which nurtures global startups to investment-ready status. MaGIC also periodically opens applications to MyStartupHub (MSH), a soft-landing program for innovative global startups from all over the world to establish a business hub in Malaysia.

MSH enables MaGIC to assist startups in business set-up, talent recruitment, and vertical-specific market access via their network of partners including government agencies, corporates, and universities.

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

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As a business school professor, I am asked all the time: “What skills do I need for my future as an entrepreneur? Should I focus on artificial intelligence, coding, bitcoin, and fintech? Should I work on communication, negotiation, and people management?” In other words, everyone wants to know what “soft” and “hard” skills they should have.

But what if the skills of the future are not “soft and hard,” but “smart and sharp”?

In 2019, I published an article proposing that “smart skills” replace soft ones and “sharp skills” replace hard ones. Smart skills are the skills required to work with people, sharp skills are required to work with machines. And one might ask, don’t we already call these skills soft and hard?

Yes, we do. But do you know why?

The terms “hard and soft skills” were coined in 1972 by the US Army to differentiate the abilities of people who were good at machine operations from those of people who did well supervising others.

But since then, we have learned that there is nothing soft about managing people, or dealing with office politics, nor that hard skills, from engineering to finance, AI, and machine learning should be defined as firm, rigid, and resistant, given constant technological change.

Most of my research interest is related to how entrepreneurs can scale their ventures, and in my work, I have identified an evolutionary lifecycle that I call “Nail it, Scale it, Sail it” in order to map this journey and equip entrepreneurs with the tools to succeed in each stage of this arduous trek.

But along with scaling tools such as processifica-tion, professionalisation, automation, and so on, entrepreneurs themselves need to invest in the development of their own skills.

Or simply put, they need to get really smart and sharp, or like my co-author, ASB’s founding President, CEO, and Dean and MIT Sloan Professor Charles Fine says “shmart”.

Also Read: Lucy, a Singaporean neobank focused on women entrepreneurs, bags seed funding

So here are my top five smart and sharp skills that entrepreneurs need:

Humility

I think of humility as the recognition that “the more I know the less I know”. It’s very easy for organisations to comfort themselves with the success they have had so far and develop what Charles Fine calls “strategic blindness”.

Entrepreneurs need both a healthy dose of confidence along with a big pie of humility, to acknowledge that success was built on learning along a path that is highly unknown and scary.

Entrepreneurs should know that to be humble is a practice and that arrogance and ignorance are best of friends.

Emotional maturity

Emotional maturity refers to your ability to understand and manage your emotions in a professional and personal setting. Why is that important for entrepreneurs?

Building a new venture is extremely stressful, not just for the founders but for their teams as well and they have to recognise and be prepared for the emotional stress that their organisation is going to act on; help the organisation to stay in the moment, to be present while being non-reactive or non-judgmental, to validate (see next) their work and present an array of multiple perspectives to help the organisation move forward productively.

Cognitive readiness

Cognitive readiness is the mental preparation (including skills, knowledge, abilities, motivations, and personal dispositions) that an individual needs to establish and sustain competent performance in our complex and unpredictable environment.

Easier said than done, right?

Entrepreneurs and their teams have to be prepared to face the ongoing dynamic, ill-defined, and unpredictable challenges of their new venture and recognise that this will not be a linear process, but rather one of “nail it, scale it, sail it”.

They need to prepare the organisation for the insidious path ahead and realise that cognitive readiness is part of the advanced conscious processing (slow thinking), enabling entrepreneurs to confront whatever new and complex problems they might face.

Also Read: How app entrepreneurs are growing multifold in Southeast Asia

Digital literacy

I think we all need to become digitally literate, which it’s defined as the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.

Entrepreneurs must invest in constantly educating themselves and their organisations. This doesn’t mean that we all need Ph.D.’s in computer science, but rather that we understand how to use, find, evaluate, etc. information for organizational goals.

System dynamics

One of the most popular concepts coming out of MIT is System Dynamics, which is defined as the analysis of how actions and reactions cause and influence each other, and how and why elements and processes in the system change.

Nailing and scaling a successful business requires a deep understanding of actions and reactions and entrepreneurs will invest in bringing this higher level of understanding not only in their organization but in their boards and stakeholder and shareholder engagement.

And speaking of what successful nailing and scaling requires, at Asia School of Business, we invest a lot in developing an entrepreneurial mindset in our future graduates, a skill that is both important for entre- as well as intrapreneurs.

Supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem in SEA

One of the initiatives of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at ASB, led by Sarmaji Sarma and me, is the new 101k Entrepreneurship Competition, designed to equip and gear up future-ready startups.

This upcoming event is set to take place in December 2021 (unless the global pandemic messes with our plans) and will attract entrepreneurial ventures from all over Southeast Asia.

Along with capital support of MYR101,000 (US$23,000) for the winners, participants will also benefit from two training boot camps that will teach the future leaders of Southeast Asia important smart and sharp skills, including business model design and development, as well as our signature entrepreneurship framework mentioned above: “Nail it, Scale it, Sail it”.

The reason why we are investing so much effort in this process is that we believe entrepreneurship can be taught, like MIT Sloan professor Bill Aulet says (who also teaches his “24 Steps of Disciplined Entrepreneurship” at ASB); but more than teaching it, we have to nurture it.

ASB itself is a scaling startup that was launched in 2015 by the Central Bank of Malaysia and MIT Sloan, and because we are a startup we are better equipped to understand the challenges, dimensions, and difficulties required in the world of nailing, scaling, and sailing a new venture.

And we also know, that just like our students who have to get smart and sharp every day, the world of entrepreneurship demands just that: “smart and sharp entrepreneurial leaders”.

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While there are more women entering male-dominated industries, female representation at the executive level is dismal at best. It is also widely known that women are underrepresented in the tech sector.

I believe that women supporting women is the only way women will rise and step into their power in the workplace. It is important to be the change you want to inspire. The only way to bring out the best in others is to expect the best from yourself and lead by example.

Here is my story, a female CEO of a tech company in the family entertainment centre (FEC) space, and how I overcame obstacles and prejudices to grow a business that is both successful and gender-inclusive.

First foray into entrepreneurship

My passion lies in building businesses and transforming industries. At 27, I launched my first tech business and had the opportunity to work at prominent tourism startups across the world, including lastminute.com, wotif, Monster, and RedBalloon.

After years of experience in the tourism industry, I observed that many businesses were still working from diaries and spreadsheets. This led me to realise that with the rapid growth of Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and changing consumer purchase trends that are moving online, these businesses would soon struggle to keep up with their manual booking processes.

To tackle this issue, my husband and I co-founded Booking Boss, award-winning ticketing and booking management platform dedicated to attractions, tours, and entertainment industries.

When I first started out in this industry, female representation in the tech and family entertainment centre (FEC) sectors was unheard of. This is particularly true in the FEC sector, which is male-dominated. Many companies and competitors are led by male CEOs and are also family-owned.

The gender disparity also extended to raising capital, an uphill task for startups with female founders. Research has shown that startups with female founders are more likely to tap small investors for fundraising efforts, or risk not securing funding at all. With female founders, our start-ups may be viewed as a side hustle or a hobby that might give way to other responsibilities.

There is also a general apprehension towards female founders – that we are not good at running businesses. This lack of confidence affects both the ability to raise essential funds for the company, as well as the funding level.

Also Read: How app entrepreneurs are growing multifold in Southeast Asia

And the irony of all ironies: female-led organisations are more profitable, better performing, and have higher profit compared to male-led companies. In S&P’s research report ‘When Women Lead, Firms Win, a key finding stated that firms with female CFOs generated profits of over US$1.3 trillion. With the statistical evidence in mind, I was determined to make good of my business and also intended to spur fellow female founders and women bosses.

Growing the businesses by a female CEO

Booking Boss was acquired by Helix Leisure in 2017, and in that same year, I was appointed CEO to both Booking Boss and sister company Embed, an integrated cloud-based business solution platform as well as hardware such as arcade debit card reader, self-service kiosks, that made to enable business owners in the FEC space to achieve greater operational efficiency while reducing costs and increasing profitability.

Embed has offices across the globe – the US, EMEA, and Asia – and more than 1,000 customers and over 3,000 installations in 56 countries.

For our innovation, resilience, and leadership, Embed was recognised as Top 50 Leading Companies of the Year 2021 by The Silicon Review.

Also Read: 3 awesome Indian women entrepreneurs tell you what it takes to start up

In 2020, our company was listed as one of the Top 10 Most Promising Gaming Tech Solutions Provider by CIO Review, and was one of three companies who clinched AMOA’s Operator’s Choice Award. These accomplishments ascertained Embed as the choice partner and thought leader for customers including FEC juggernauts such as TEEG Group (Asia), Dave & Busters (North America), and Landmark Group (Middle East).

FEC of the future

It has been a rollercoaster ride ever since I delved into the tech and FEC sector, but I have enjoyed all the challenges and opportunities tremendously. This year we are celebrating Embed’s 20th Anniversary and this could not be possible without the continuous support and commitment from Embed staff and stakeholders, partners, and friends.

I have been able to build a high performing team – my executive team and our numerous employees – strengthened relationships with customers and clients, as well as secured partners with major tech companies. This has helped elevate Embed’s business and growth over the past two decades.

With Embed, I intend to work alongside my team to disrupt the amusement, entertainment, and leisure industries, so as to create an FEC sector of the future. And with gender equality and women empowerment, I aim to play a more active and involved role in mentoring and reverse mentoring female employees and potential leaders in the workplace, to encourage greater diversity and inclusion.

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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

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

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Singapore-based dairy-substitutes brand Mohjo has secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding led by East Ventures.

The round also saw participation from iSeed Southeast Asia, K3 Ventures, and other high-profile angels.

The capital will be used to build the company’s capacity and launch more plant-based foods and beverages. A portion of the capital will also go into hiring and increasing market penetration.

Founded in January 2021 by Juhi Dang, Mohjo aims to “deliver 100 per cent clean foods” and beverages developed from plants with chemical-free ingredients via its own facility. The direct-to-consumer foodtech brand recently launched its first line of products — almond milk and almond milk-based beverages in Singapore. 

Also read: The spotlight on foodtech: Why we believe that what we put on our plate will determine the future

“Most commercially available dairy alternatives are nutrient-low and stabiliser-heavy. They contain 95-98 per cent water, are laced with additives, and either tastes bad or have no taste at all,” said Dang as she was lactose-intolerant and struggled to find a tasty type of plant-based milk when moving to Singapore. “Mohjo is a result of me trying to solve these problems as a consumer of dairy-alternative products myself.”

In Singapore, Mohjo is expanding rapidly across operations, sales, and marketing functions. 

“We are looking for passionate and ambitious folks who believe that we can change the planet with the choices we make at mealtimes,” she added. “Mohjo is building an inclusive workplace where business is done the right way.”

The market for dairy alternatives is gaining momentum and acknowledging a rising demand, inevitably driven by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic wherein people reconsider their diets. 

East Ventures anticipates the digitally native brand could grow by integrating innovations into both products and consumer service, thus delivering standardised clean, plant-based foods and beverages to the markets. 

Dairy alternatives is a ~$23-billion market globally, expected to grow at ~12.5 per cent CAGR between 2021 and 28. The Asia-Pacific region dominates this market with a ~44 per cent market share, according to Grand View Research. The rising lactose intolerance, consumers’ increasing focus on healthier choices, rising number of flexitarians, and increasing ethical and environmental concerns of consuming dairy have reinforced the booming market for dairy alternatives.

Also read: Singapore foodtech startup Alchemy FoodTech raises 7-figure funding to fight diabetes

In recent years, Singapore has nurtured more startups leveraging technologies to create tasty plant-based food from natural ingredients, as an effort to strengthen national self-sufficiency and lower its carbon footprint. Plant-based chicken TiNDLE,  diabetes foodtech innovation Alchemy Foodtech,  cell-based shrimp Shiok Meats, lab-grown dairy and human breast milk TurtleTree Labs, and other foodtech startups are forging ahead to make Singapore the alternative proteins capital of Asia.

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Image credit: Mohjo

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MindFi, a corporate mental health and wellness startup based in Singapore, announced today it has secured US$750,000 in pre-seed funding from a slew of investors, including iGlobe Partners and M Venture Partners.

Prominent angels, including Koh Boon Hwee, Patsnap CEO Jeffrey Tiong, Zopim co-founder Lim Qing Ru, Natasha Foong (co-founder of IncuVest), Aakash Degwekar (Sr. Director – Corporate at Visa), and Shadab Farooqui, also co-invested.

With the new funds, the startup will accelerate product development and localisation for key markets in Asia and further build a team of mental health experts, innovators and researchers.

The funding comes on the heels of MindFi’s selection into Y Combinator’s (YC) Summer 2021 programme.

Alongside this, MindFi is also bringing on board Erica Johnson, co-founder of unicorn startup Modern Health (YC Winter 2018) as an executive adviser. As a startup industry veteran, she has founded and advised multiple unicorns in the US.

MindFi’s innovative technology delivers personalised recommendations, 24/7 guided self-care programmes and intelligent matching with coaches and therapists — all in one mobile app.

Also Read: His last startup nabbed funding from Google Ventures, and today marks the official launch of MindFi

The recommendations are powered by an AI algorithm that creates a user’s unique psychometric profile, with accuracy enhanced by daily steps, sleep, mood, breathing and heart rates. All employee data are anonymised and aggregated to generate team-level analytics reports that enable HR leaders to make data-driven decisions on workforce health and performance in an evolving workplace environment.

In addition, the firm assures data confidentiality and cultural relevance.

According to Cigna’s 360 Well-Being Survey in 2021, employees prioritise mental health, above physical health, as the most critical influence on their overall wellbeing.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated uncertainty. Employees deal with anxiety at work, isolation, financial stress, health worries about family and loved ones. These issues have led to reduced productivity, increased absenteeism, and presenteeism, highlighting the need for company leaders to modernise their approach towards mental wellbeing.

MindFi claims that 68 per cent of employees experience an improvement in mental wellbeing within a month of using the app. In addition, third-party research has observed that regular usage of MindFi reduces up to 30 per cent of their depressive symptoms.

Also Read: A meditation guide for entrepreneurs from an entrepreneur

“The future of work is mental fitness. I started this company because I spent ten years struggling with late nights, anxiety attacks and chest pains from work stress, which are all symptoms of an unfit mind or poor mental health. You shouldn’t need a PhD in psychology or neuroscience to know how to de-stress. MindFi is the first product that takes the guesswork out of daily lifestyle choices with personalised and objective data,” Bjorn Lee, founder and CEO of MindFi.

Over the past six months, MindFi has tripled its employee headcount and customer base with over 30 enterprise clients across Asia.

“This pandemic has shown how critical mental wellness is in maintaining high-performance teams. MindFi is ready to disrupt the corporate wellness space with a digital wellbeing platform that makes “mind fitness” easily accessible to all employees. With the growing emphasis on mental wellness in recent years, we see MindFi as a promising player in propelling this movement starting in Asia,” Soo Boon Koh, founder and Managing Partner of iGlobe Partners, said.

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Image Credit: MindFi

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The emergence of the highly transmissible COVID-19 variant Delta put to the test Vietnam’s much-praised pandemic strategies that were effectively implemented in the early days of the virus spread. 

According to the Ministry of Health, Vietnam is now witnessing a spike in virus infections, which hit a record high of nearly 10,000 cases a day as of August 8.

Transportation industry insiders warn about an unprecedented supply chain breakdown if proper and timely strategies are not implemented to curb the virus spread while maintaining efficient goods circulation at the same time.

What happens inside the city?

Since the onslaught of COVID-19, e-logistics services are said to have reached their tipping point (attributed to the growth of e-commerce in the country), with roughly 40 active startups providing services in the first-mile last-mile sectors, according to a report by early-stage VC firm Do Ventures. However, starting July, e-logistics service providers have faced hardships due to containment measures.

For instance, Shopee, which enjoys the largest market share in the country’s booming e-commerce market, has closed all its delivery options via outsourced fleets. In addition, key players in the food delivery sector, such as NOW, Grab, BAEMIN, and Gojek, also suspended a part of their services in Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City until further notice.

“The temporary shutdown of several services may cause certain inconvenience for customers, but we believe that this decision will contribute to the fight against the pandemic,” Grab noted in its announcements about halting GrabFood and GrabExpress 4H.

However, market watchers consider this a short-term rollback and expect the sector to grow exponentially afterwards, primarily when herd immunity is achieved through mass vaccination.

“We are not going backwards in the local delivery space,” said Dave Anderson, managing general partner at Supply Chain Ventures. “The need for firms to complete last-mile deliveries will continue to increase across the globe.” Supply Chain Ventures is a VC firm with investments in more than 30 companies across the US and the EU.

Even during lockdowns, e-commerce platforms continue to stay ahead of the curve amid the outbreak as people rely on them for food, medicines, and other essential goods delivery.

Vietnam’s leading online marketplaces, such as Tiki, Lazada, Sendo, and Shopee, have managed to stay afloat, especially since shippers are officially allowed to travel for delivery purposes. As a result, these sites held their massive shopping day on August 8 and the ASEAN Online Sale Day 2021, which saw more than 100 Vietnamese firms join, according to Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency.

In this critical period, both e-commerce and delivery firms should allocate the right order to the right asset (vehicles/warehouses) based on a defined set of criteria and high-level demand prediction based on internal historical data and real-time market and asset information. 

Also read: SCI Ecommerce raises US$38M led by Asia Partners, plans US IPO in end-2021

“Most players are now looking at implementing the right operating system that will be able to leverage analytics and insights systematically to keep growing sustainably,” said Arnaud Houles, Senior Associate at Reefknot Investments. “This will ultimately enable these service providers to optimise the yield per order and meet customer’s constantly growing expectation for faster and cheaper delivery service.”

Reefknot is a Singapore-based global VC fund focused on supply chain technology and innovation.

A broader view of the whole supply chain system

The not-too-bad scenario above partly depicts the last-mile delivery landscape. However, a closer look at the country’s supply chain is showing more of a rocky road.

Data from EcoTruck shows that lockdowns have forced shippers and logistics companies to operate at a much lower capacity. “Compared to the previous outbreak, the fourth wave of the pandemic has much larger and longer effects,” said Anh Le, CEO and founder of EcoTruck, sharing data from the 300 transportation partners and 500 shippers using its services. “Vietnam is still completely inexperienced in dealing with an epidemic on such a large scale.”

EcoTruck is a tech-based startup providing first-mile trucking services for B2B customers. Other supporting services such as fuel, tyre, insurance, trucking parking, trucking financing, for trucking vendors are also available on the system. During the pandemic, the number of operating vehicles using Ecotruck has been in freefall. The main reason is that many drivers are either trapped in epidemic hotspots or are in quarantine. 

The same applies to the sinking freight traffic volume recorded by EcoTruck, which results from the shortage of manufacturing workers and the shutdown of factories that produce goods listed as unessential or registered high infection levels.

The slow verification for vehicles passing through pandemic checkpoints and suspended or delayed supplementary logistics services also leads to a plunge in the average productivity of this sector.

“Vietnam needs to have a better strategy in securing production and ensuring safe freight flows, especially essential goods during the pandemic,” the Ecotruck CEO added.

Since the emergence of the new variant, Vietnam’s prime minister has defined three strategies to contain COVID-19: proactive testing, compulsory technology applications, and lightning-fast vaccination. 

As a result, many technology startups are joining hands to fight the worsening situation, though the effectiveness is still hard to measure.

In early June, the Ministry of Information and Communication established the National Technology Centre for COVID-19 prevention and control, bringing in various members from the tech startup community. The names include Hung Tran, CEO of GotIt!, Manh Phan, CEO of An Vui (which is working in the long-distance transportation industry), and Cuong Vong, CEO of Kompa Group (owner of social listening tool Boomerang).

An Vui, for instance, was selected by the Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam to develop a QR-code identity tag system, called “in a flash”, which aims to digitise data of vehicles, drivers, goods, and transportation routes. It is aimed at shortening verification time at pandemic checkpoints.

“In essence, the adoption of QR-code technology reduces the time for drivers to show identification papers or perform administrative formalities when passing through checkpoints,” said Phan. “With a truckload of up to 1.3 million vehicles, there is a huge opportunity to promote the development of Vietnam’s supply chain, but so many problems remain.”

There are, however, controversies over how the QR-code method supports goods circulation. Ecotruck’s founder argued that this technology has further increased the burden of businesses to deal with a new type of formalities. “None of the current technologies showed any effect so far,” Le noted.

In the early days of the introduction of the app, the system was overloaded and hacked. This was because of the time constraints and confusion over the definition of “essential goods”, combined with a flurry of registers. In addition, it delayed trucks to enter the country’s “green channel” to maintain goods flow, reported various local news sites.

Manh Phan said to e27 that the system is now more secured, stable, and flexible as local authorities are getting used to the operations.

In a chat with us, Long Pham, CEO of Abivin, a prominent Vietnam’s logistics tech startup, shared his proposal to provide a supply chain planning system for Hanoi and HCMC authorities, aiming to optimise the flows of goods during lockdowns.

“We see that the authorities have a huge stake in governing the production and supply of essential goods for people, but they still lack visibility, synergies, and forecast over the whole supply chain, especially during lockdowns,” said Pham. “It is high time that the industry applied proper technologies to adapt to the swift spread of new coronavirus variants and satisfy the fluctuating COVID-related customer demand.”

Also read: Vietnam’s Abivin lifts Startup World Cup 2019, takes home US$1M prize money

As per his proposal, Abivin’s AI-powered logistics platform will employ its proprietary algorithms to help cities generate optimal routing and loading plans during lockdowns. The platform will consider constraints such as the type of goods defined as essential, pop-up containment zones, and matching orders to suitable delivery fleets inside blockage areas in the plan-making process.

However, this application of the proposed technology remains on the paper when this article went out.

Which technologies will play a key role?

The need to navigate through unpredictable customer demand during the virus outbreak, coupled with the lack of real-time information sharing, reinforced the need for technology in the industry.

“The players that are not able to optimise their asset network on the go will have a tough time dealing with COVID-related customer demand fluctuation to scale further and sustainably,” said Arnaud Houles of Reefknot.

He added that digital logistics, on-demand transportation, and maritime technology solutions would become burgeoning markets for startups to support the recovery of the regional supply chain.

According to Dave Anderson, the pandemic accelerated the “ship anything from anywhere” model from a global point of view. It also encouraged the adoption of concepts such as drop ship, the ability to source/ship a product or materials from various partners in a supply chain network or omnichannel delivery system. 

In addition, the pandemic also prompted companies to use cheaper and faster strategies using multiple options to meet demands rather than to rely on traditional “linear” supply chains.

“Will it all go back to ‘normal’ when we get to the other side of the COVID economy?” asked Anderson. “The simple answer is ‘no’. Omnichannel supply chain strategies powered by dropship are here to stay.”

He emphasised that the new paradigm will require upgraded supply chain decision software. It will be capable of rapidly deciding which product source is the best to meet customer needs or which manufacturer or supplier can manage a local delivery, especially one requiring special handling.

Houles echoed this viewpoint as he stated that Reefknot also witnessed the adoption of clearly defined e-commerce strategies based on decentralised asset-light networks. With this, they are “looking to orchestrate orders across modes, nodes and countries.”

On the contrary, Anderson also sees opportunities for startups, such as Shipday, Inventoro, or Fisherman, to develop “slimmed down and inexpensive technology” to serve tiny local businesses.

“The democratisation of supply chain technology is a real and important trend, one that will help create a better world for many,” he affirmed.

Moreover, the rapid pace of growth in e-commerce in the region has also impacted the requirements of supply chain technologies.

Weighing rising markets for supply chain technologies adoption, Houles mentioned that importing countries would tend to deploy technologies earlier than the exporting countries. At the same time, Anderson suggested that Asia has the advantage to adopt newer logistics options as its legacy supply chains are not as advanced and thus have fewer investments in assets, such as warehouses and trucks, to amortise.

“Finally, governments are playing a big role in these changes by promoting open data frameworks and encouraging corporates to focus more on innovation,” said Houles.

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Image credit: 123rf

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Bukalapak raises US$1.5B on the first day of its IDX debut, shares jump 25%
The Jakarta-based firm is the first tech unicorn from the country to go public, both domestically and abroad; Bukalapak wants to use the proceeds from the IPO to support the operations of its holding company and its subsidiaries.

Is AirAsia a toxic workplace? Current and ex-employees tell Tech In Asia
The casual F-word that AirAsia Thailand CEO Tassapon Bijleveld directed at an employee wasn’t an isolated incident either; “What you saw that day [in the town hall] – about bringing a girl to [AirAsia’s head of ecommerce] Ben Jie – that happens all the time. It wasn’t one-off behaviour,” says a former staff member.

Blibli is the latest Indonesian tech company to confirm unicorn status
CEO Kusumo Martanto confirmed this to Daily Social; The e-commerce company is reportedly mulling the possibility to go public through a SPAC merger with COVA Acquisition Corp with an estimated US$2B valuation.

AirAsia’s fintech unit BigPay raises up to US$100M from Korea’s SK Group
BigPay offers a prepaid debit card, local and international money transfers, micro-insurance, bill payments, and a budgeting tool; BigPay has applied for a digital banking license in Malaysia as part of a consortium with Malaysian Industrial Development Finance and Ikhlas Capital.

REA Group build a US$147M stake in PropertyGuru, completes 99 Group divestment
REA Group, which is majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., will also commit US$52M to PropertyGuru as the latter carves out its plans to list on the NYSE through a US$1.8B merger with Bridgetown 2.

Finch Capital-MDI Ventures JV ‘Arise’ hits first close of US$40M fund, to back 25 ASEAN startups
With ticket sizes ranging from US$250K to US$3M, Arise can invest in startups even before the founders fully solidify their ideas and teams; Arise is currently in the process of executing new investments. The fund targets at least five closed deals by the end of 2021.

It’s raining unicorns in India. Here is why
Just in the first seven months of 2021, India has produced 16 unicorns; Interestingly, India isn’t just one of the biggest markets out there, it is also, for the most part, untapped.

Yummy Corp raises Series B+ from Sembrani Nusantara
This round comes less than a year after Yummykitchen bagged US$12M in Series B, led by Softbank Ventures Asia, in September 2020; The startup will use the fresh capital for expansion into 50 new locations across Indonesia.

Razer to suspend e-wallet services by September 30
It includes all wallet top-up, payment, and transfer features on Razer Pay; The gaming tech firm’s exclusive 10% cashback on Razer Store and Razer Gold purchases were reportedly not enough to incentivise its target millennial clientele.

Forbes listee accuses Nas Daily founder of rude and exploitative behaviour
Mabulo, founder of The Cacao Project, says Nuseir Yassin repeatedly labelled the people of her hometown of San Fernando, Camarines Sur as being poor; “He didn’t care about making a change or shedding light on real issues. He only wanted content – a good, easy story to tell that would get him more Filipino views.”

China’s tech crackdown widens to Tencent from Alibaba
Ostensibly, regulators are focused on anti-competitive practices and protecting customers’ personal information; But many observers believe the move is motivated by a desire to keep mighty IT companies in check.

Singaporean neobank focused on women entrepreneurs Lucy bags seed funding from EmergeVest
Lucy helps women entrepreneurs set up, run and grow their businesses, with affordable financial services including no-interest salary advances; Before this round, Lucy secured US$450K in a women-only round of 21 diverse women.

Vietnam aims to become AI hub in ASEAN by 2030
The government has issued a national strategy on the R&D, and application of AI till 2030; It intends for Vietnam to be among four leading countries in ASEAN and 50 nations globally in terms of AI R&D, and application over the next few years.

5 promising adtech startups in Indonesia
Adtech startups are making the most of the country’s growing population and the rising use of the internet and mobile phones to market products and services; By 2022, the total advertising market size in Indonesia will be over US$4B; Technology is changing the landscape by bringing greater efficiency to how companies use their ad spend.

How logistics firm Lalamove powers same-day deliveries for over 5K businesses in SG
With the expansion of its delivery fleet, Lalamove now has a fleet of over 50K local drivers and over 700K drivers worldwide; Beyond getting Lalamove to fulfill their delivery needs, businesses will have a personal account executive to help them with their operations.

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Image Credit: AirAsia

The post Ecosystem Roundup: BigPay bags US$100M, why it’s raining unicorns in India, is AirAsia a toxic workplace? appeared first on e27.

 

Post-pandemic world in the eyes of our contributor community

Sleeping beast ready to awaken: The rush for regtech in a COVID-19 world Tiarnán McCaughan Market Advisor – Digital Tech and Financial Services

One of the curious aspects about the financial services industry is that while investment in technology has boomed over the past number of decades, the basic cost of financial intermediation has remained the same at around 1.87 per cent, as studied by NYU Stern School of Business.

Fintech Commentator David Birch speculates that this occurs as the cost and complexity of financial regulations has increased faster than industry can gain efficiencies.

Therefore, it is with regtech where the opportunity lies in truly driving improvements in the financial services industry and ultimately a better experience and end value for the wider economy.

Life goes on: What will life in the post-COVID-19 era look like? by Michelle Ng, Quest Ventures & Social Impact Catalyst

As we live in these times, I could not help but think of Huxley’s imagined future of a totally planned society of alphas, betas, gammas, deltas, and epsilons, who are genetically engineered and live a pain-free life.

We are far from this society as the world population struggles with vaccination campaigns and even the wearing of masks to limit the spread of the virus. Not an advocate of Huxley’s Brave New World, but I believe we are moving into our very own Brave New World triggered by the pandemic.

This Brave New World is strongly characterised by high tech and high touch. And these are some trends from the pre-COVID-19 era, which will persist and mutate in the COVID-19 era.

Plant-based protein: Is it really meat? by Rachel Lau, Managing Partner at RHL Ventures

Bullish signs began to emerge about 10 years ago when Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods were established in 2009 and 2011 respectively. Both had their missions aligned and that was to take on the behemoth of the meat industry – beef.

They kicked off their narrative with the simple crowd favourite food of burgers.

Beyond Meat’s colossal IPO in May 2019 created a movement that heightened acceptance of this alternative, granting it the overused tagline of the “new normal” by 2021. Its shares soared 163 per cent on its first day of trading.

Currently, Beyond Meat accounts for roughly 21.9 per cent of the retail refrigerated meat market share in the US, with Impossible Foods trailing behind at 9.0 per cent.

Also Read: From the contributor community: Enhancing investor engagement, job hunting guide by MHV talent head, and more

How app entrepreneurs are growing multifold in Southeast Asia by Derick David of Hikre School

Apps are taking over the world. Grab, Robinhood, DoNotPay, Snapchat, mobile apps are expected to generate over a trillion in revenue by 2024. On the other hand, third-world countries are considered now the new breeding ground for app innovations and next-gen app entrepreneurs.

Why?

There’s no doubt that developing nations have more real-world problems than first-world countries. Areas such as community, logistics, education, legal, and environment are only some of the spaces to which there’s a ton of potential for innovation.

Startup lessons from startup professionals

How to be an effective product team manager as your grows by Neil Rahilly, VP Product and Design at Mixpanel

Leading a product team in a startup is very different from leading one at a well-established enterprise.

Having joined Mixpanel in the early years and growing with it for close to a decade, I’ve learned that priorities change as you move from startup to scale up and then mature into an enterprise.

As you grow, your customers become your most valuable asset. Their complaints, feedback, input, and feature requests are all invaluable sources of information that inform your product strategy.

Take time to listen to them and understand how they’re using your product and what they’re using it for.

Tech-enabled goal tracking is the key to success in this digital world by Andrew Lee YongJoo, Co-Founder of GoalKeepin

The rise of self-improvement mobile apps has made the process easier in recent years, allowing users to keep track of their progress and habits through tech-enabled platforms that provide them with rewards in return for sticking to their plan.

While most understand the importance of goal setting, not many see them through. As an entrepreneur and a strong advocate of self-improvement, goals have grown to become a guiding vision that keeps me focused and motivated.

Whether an individual is looking to work on themselves or an entrepreneur on a mission to grow their business, here are some benefits to logging goals digitally to ensure these intangible plans turn into reality through the help of technology.

Why startups need to embrace experimentation culture to thrive in the pandemic by Simon McDonald, VP Optimizely

The pandemic is accelerating change across all industries. Apart from the rapid shift to a digital-first approach, severe supply chain disruption and border lockdowns have meant businesses now need to respond to a volatile global market rapidly.

As a result, businesses that once planned their digital strategy in long-term phases must now condense their initiatives to a matter of months, weeks or even days. The reduced timeline for these investments also increases the pressure for businesses to get it right the first time.

The pandemic has provided a glimpse into a future where digital has become the first layer for every interaction, rather than just a cog in the wheel. This shift has led organisations and individuals to speed up the adoption curve almost overnight.

Digital and mobile channels have become the primary customer-engagement model, and automated processes have become a major drive for productivity. An agile way of working has become the prerequisite for seemingly daily changes to customer behaviour.

Changing the norm, and how our contributor community does it

Edutech is opening up opportunities, but we need to get it right by Rohan Pasari, co-founder and CEO at Cialfo

We cannot talk about equitable distribution of education without discussing the elephant in the room: internet access or the lack thereof. The same ADB study found that in lower-middle income economies, only 18 per cent of households on average have a computer and 41 per cent have internet access at home.

Because of this, online learning is predominantly conducted using mobile phones, which are more readily available in lower-income countries. In support of this, governments have begun implementing programs to make remote learning accessible through mobile phones and via the subsidised distribution of connectivity and devices.

Beyond government and public sector intervention in bridging the digital divide—for edutech to be truly transformational—the industry needs to urgently address a couple of things, including….

SME lending during the pandemic: Is it sensible or unwise? by Endra Masagung, Fintech, DeFi & ESG enthusiast

If there is a silver lining for businesses during the pandemic, it is the increased affinity towards tapping into the limitless digital world. By observing the success of online sectors such as e-commerce and ride-hailing in recent times, there’s no denying the positive role of digitalisation in our economy.

But despite the set of opportunities that complement digitalisation, pivoting online also comes with its very own challenges.

This includes maintaining balanced cash flow and proper financing governance— aspects that can ensure the stability of SMEs during these trying times.

Also Read: Contributor community: Views from executives of Pindudoduo, BRI Agro, and more

Unlock your enterprise agility to unleash the potential of your startup by Andrew Wong of Appnovation Hong Kong

While enterprise agility is very different from agile software development, many parallels and principles can be drawn from the Agile Manifesto and Agile Principles beyond the context of IT.

Applying the spirit of elaboration, harmonisation and user-first approach from software to enterprise agility in providing services, is one of the centre themes of current Agile thinking. In other words, agility must be manifested within the enterprise DNA to generate value.

Imagine a traditional enterprise, burdened with legacy processes, systems and policies that are decades old that no one questions, “Why?”; intertwined with politics, silos and a culture of fear, where people do not feel free to voice out their feedback and ideas.

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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

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

The post From the contributor community: Opportunities in regtech, being a product manager, and more … appeared first on e27.

Let’s face it. There are some big problems with the way we do mental health right now, and no, telehealth hasn’t solved everything. I’m going to list them off because there are that many.

I’m going to be using Australia as my data case study here, firstly because it’s where I live and work so I can comment personally and secondly because Australia is really a best-case, case-study.

We have 95 psychologists for every 100k people, everywhere else around the world that statistic gets worse, in the US for example, where most (non-US) people think it’s almost 1:1, the rates actually drop to 33 psychologists per 100,000.

We also have some of the most highly trained and updated psychologists with mandated professional development, annually.

• Around one in five Australians have a mental health condition in any given year (pre-pandemic figures, this is likely to be worse now but so far we have no updated figures), around 45 per cent of us will have one in our lifetimes
• As bad as this is, it is almost certainly an under-estimate as it excludes people who are homeless and those in aged care. It also excludes those who are just under the diagnostic criteria but would still have severe effects, and those who do not wish to disclose
• About 54 per cent of those in point 1 above, don’t ever access treatment
• If you live in a rural area you are three times less likely to access treatment, if you live in a remote area it is 10 times less likely
• Even if you get a mental health care plan (the government referral system in Australia, which reduces the cost of access to a psychologist), it’s hard to use it, in fact one in 13 plans are never used
• Wait lists are blowing out, with reports of “months” for psychologists in private practice and six to nine months for emergency help for severe mental health cases for children and adolescents (vii)
• Let’s say you get in, you still need to find a psychologist that you can build rapport with. Research with both men and women indicate a 25 per cent drop out rate overall. In one study on men in therapy in Australia, the drop out rate was at 45 per cent. Thirty per cent dropped out after the first session, and the main reason was a lack of connection with the therapist i.e. rapport
• Now let’s say you manage to be one of the lucky ones who find a psychologist you can connect to, most people present with a K10 or DASS21 questionnaire filled out with their doctor beforehand, and then it’s up to the psychologist and you the client, to work out what is happening for you. These are good questionnaires, but they are general and there’s not a lot of data there.
• Even if your psychologist is great at diagnosis, they are very dependent on the information you provide them from your memory. So do you have a good memory? Would you be comfortable putting your health in its’ proverbial hands? Or your wallet, as your therapy will likely be extended while the pair of you work it out.
• Your psychologist is also human and can tire, so though your psychologist is no doubt brilliant, if they have not slept well themselves, or if you are their last client in the day, their brain may not be as perceptive as if you were the first, impacting the questions they ask and the information you provide, and the diagnosis you get.

(I will stop here but I could also add … issues with hit and miss medications, medications linked to the worst outcomes (i.e. suicide) for reasons that we don’t yet understand, and the development of an expert cohort of psychologists taking almost a decade, and student to teacher ratios in university degrees that mean there is an inherent limit to the number we can create without massive quality control issues and costs).

Also Read: 6 ways to identify burnout before it seriously impacts your business

Most of these problems were certainly understandable in a time before the smartphone but as Barron pointed out in recently Time2030 (ix) in relation to psychiatry, it is time we started modernising mental health.

Your smartphone already logs your behaviour in many ways. It records your expressions when you take a selfie or make a story or stream, it also records your thoughts and moods through social media, IM and email. These are data points that would certainly improve the accuracy of your diagnosis if it were used.

However … would you feel comfortable handing over your social media to a psychologist? Or your Instagram selfies? Most people would say no. It’s also fundamentally biased. Few people ‘gram their worst moments. Most of us preference the good stuff in our lives, and our good hair days, for the likes.

So, we can’t just hand over any old behavioural data, however accurately collected.

There are great solutions to be had in all this though.

Solutions that give psychologists the right information for an accurate diagnosis, every time, that connect you to mental health services in new ways that are more accessible, and get help to those who feel uncomfortable talking to a person, that give more access to those who need a diagnosis but don’t yet have it, and who use big data to improve this in ways that could show us the errors in any psychiatric diagnostic manual.

There is a lot of hope in how big data can create mental health services that help everyone so much more, not least of all the hard working psychologists.

Finally, the need to improve is great, with increasing suicide rates overall and, importantly, some studies telling us that the services have not yet quite hit the mark.

One study found that up to 60 per cent of the men who die by suicide in Australia have sought help in the year prior. So, clearly, the services neither helped them sufficiently, nor demonstrated to them that mental health services are the place to go for help.

Lots to do, but we are starting to solve it for children first, at Gheorg.

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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

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

Image credit: fizkes

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