Contact centres have been particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Organisations of all sizes and from most industries were required to shift their on-premises call centre operations to work-from-home environments.

This was accompanied by unprecedented spikes in customer enquiries, creating extra pressure on contact centre operators. 

The experience of the contact centre sector during COVID-19 is instructive for startup founders looking to keep open lines of communication with their customers and stakeholders as they scale.

The same tools that allowed large contact centres to pivot and adapt during a global crisis can be employed by startup founders to build versatile and resilient customer communications platforms. 

People reach for the phone in a crisis

Some contact centres, like those for emergency services, mental health outreach or COVID-19 hotlines, are clearly essential services. But even for more commercially focused outfits, customer communication by phone is vital to maintain trust and loyalty. Our research has shown that customers seeking support and reassurance in a crisis prefer to pick up the phone.

Two in three customers preferred phone contact to other forms of communication during the COVID-19 crisis. Businesses with existing cloud-based contact centres and those that quickly adopted them have been able to meet this expectation by transitioning staff to work from home with minimal downtime.

This experience has led the contact centre industry as a whole to view cloud solutions as more adaptable and resilient, and we can expect to see a wholesale shift to this model in the medium term. 

Also Read: What Tokopedia does to ensure high quality customer relations management

While prioritising access to customer support via phone is important, it’s also critical to remember to provide customers with an omni-channel experience to enable them to engage with your brand via their platform of choice. Customers today expect to connect with brands using the same channels they use to communicate with friends, from SMS to Snapchat.

To build separate, siloed customer communications solutions to manage each of these channels is a mistake. It leads to a fragmented picture of customer behaviour or sentiments, which impedes your ability to respond to customers in a way that builds loyalty and trust.

Cloud-based solutions that allow customers to contact you over multiple channels are a better option and platforms that integrate customer data, habits and preferences from  They can be scaled to accommodate upticks in inbound customer inquiries during difficult periods, and can be expanded laterally to include new communications channels as they emerge. 

Regardless of whether they contact your business by phone, in-app chat, or via a social channel, your customers expect to connect to someone who can help them right away. Building a cloud-based contact solution can facilitate the kind of experience that customers expect 

Cloud contact solutions are also easily scalable to accommodate growth, allow for frequent iteration and testing, provide deep data and key business insights to make better decisions and they’re more reliable than legacy systems. 

Rapid changes will benefit organisations and customers in the long-term

The pandemic accelerated deployment of customer care strategies informed by conversational AI, designed to make more productive human agents and happier, longer-lasting customers.

When customers are reaching out, it’s because they need help that they can’t find on your website or app, such as tech support, or enquiry about an order that hasn’t arrived. At this point, customers are usually irate and expect an immediate response, keeping them stuck on hold will taint their experience and directly impact your business’s reputation. 

Twilio’s recent Customer Communications Report found that after a poor communication experience, 38 per cent of customers will switch to a competitor or cancel orders or services, 66 per cent will tell a friend about their experience, and 41 per cent will stop doing business with the company altogether.

Also Read: Twilio’s annual State of Customer Engagement report

While providing unsatisfactory service to customers is never intentional, the limitations of fragmented, on-premises contact centre systems can make it difficult to keep up with evolving customer expectations. 

With a cloud-based framework, however, you can create an experience that anticipates customers’ needs and provides unrivalled service. You can gather data about your customers from multiple sources and provide a tailored and personalised experience every time.

What does this mean for startups?

For early-stage companies like startups, customer loyalty is especially important. You do not have decades of brand-building to rely on, and negative experiences with one company can easily send a customer to a competitor. 

To survive and stay competitive, start-ups and smaller businesses should absorb the lessons from the experience of the contact centre sector through the COVID-19 crisis. 

Startups have a crucial advantage over more established operators when it comes to deploying future-proof cloud-based customer communications solutions. They are not encumbered by the sunk costs and legacy systems that make transition to such a system so difficult for larger, older organisations. 

Customisation, adding new channels, integration of new systems with your existing system, and budget are all necessary considerations when deciding to engage a cloud-based contact centre solution to manage customer communications. 

Customers of startups are early adopters who use more digital channels than most other consumers, but who also expect a 360-degree, always-on customer experience. Impress these customers by delivering a superior experience and you will win the loyalty of an influential market segment who will evangelise your product. Lose them, and they will move on to the next company.

The difference between these two scenarios will be how well you build, maintain and manage your customer communications architecture.

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Remember that opening scene where James Bond chased a terrorist across the rooftops of Istanbul in the Hollywood favourite Skyfall?

Flying-Cam SARAH, the miniature unmanned helicopter used for close-range aerial filming in the movie, created such a buzz in Hollywood after the film’s release that several aerial filming companies were granted FAA (Federal Aviation Administration in the US) exemptions for aerial filming and saw public interest skyrocketing in the years following.

Today, aerial footage captured by drones has become so commonplace that we barely notice it anymore. In wildlife documentaries, sports coverage, commercials, or blockbusters, drones are wherever you want them to be.

It’s easy to see how drones can be handy in filming high-speed aerial footage traditionally accomplished with CGI (computer-generated imagery). On top of their speed and manoeuvrability, drones can execute dangerous feats that cameramen simply cannot afford to attempt – hanging off from cliffs, dipping between racing cars, or even hovering above choppy currents.

In recent years, many of the best aerial cinematography shots employ unmanned aircraft. (Yes, I’m talking about that dipping shot in Jurassic World that mimicked the flight movement of a Pterosaur.)

Outside the film industry, drones are also making waves in the sports space. In particular, on-the-scene coverage of extreme sports such as alpine skiing or windsurfing requires the deployment of multiple drones to follow athletes throughout their racecourse.

Before the dawn of drones, television crews used to hike neighbouring mountains to take wide shots of the action. This meant that coverage of these exciting, high-action sports became static and boring when viewed on the 2D screen.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: How SEA startups resisted challenges in 2020; AirAsia partners with MaGIC for drones-based delivery in MY

Back home, the Housing Development Board (HDB) and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) recently (just two weeks ago, actually) collaborated on a research project assessing the efficacy of using drones and robots to enhance construction site safety.

The Ministry of Transport is also currently in the process of drawing up safety regulations to designate drone-flying spaces for the enjoyment of local drone enthusiasts. In our ongoing fight against dengue, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has been deploying drones to inspect roof gutters in dengue red zones. In 2017, 300 drones took to the sky on Singapore’s birthday and put up a spectacular light display with just a click of a button.

And the list goes on.

Drones within the Red Dot

At BLOCK71 Singapore, Red Dot Drone (RDD), a drone software technology startup, is taking the technology further by combining the power of artificial intelligence with drones to deliver advanced services in data visualisation and creative filming.

This month, I spoke with Akira Hirakawa, a native Japanese drone expert and co-founder of RDD, to discuss his start-up’s upcoming plans for this revolutionary new space in a niche market.

What is the unique selling point of RDD? Why is AI important in this space?

As the name suggests, we are a drone company focusing on drone software technology such as automatic flight. In recent years, it is encouraging to see that drones are being increasingly used in a myriad of functions by the wider community. However, drones sold in the commercial market currently require operational knowledge, are not easy to control, and are dependent on manual flight.

At RDD, we have been developing drone software that bypasses the aforementioned problems. Using the power of software, AI, and ML, the resulting software technology is easier and safer to use. With our proprietary technology, it is our dream that everyone would be able to operate a drone effortlessly in the near future.

Are there any limitations of drone technology we may not know of?

Drones that are used to film and tag people autonomously exist in the market. However, we think that one of the most challenging components of autonomous drones is its creative movement.

For example, in sports and entertainment industries, the basic expectations for video filming is no longer simply the function of taking videos, but instead, filming techniques are expected to be creative and artistic so that the audience can enjoy an immersive experience.

While humans still have a slight edge in this field, this is an area we would like to disrupt using AI and ML in the long run.

With the upcoming adoption of 5G technology, what changes can we expect in the drone space? How will RDD adapt to ride the 5G wave?

An exciting area that we are working on is drone remote control technology over 5G. Usually, a drone pilot must be onsite physically with a controller that utilises radio frequency to control the drone.

Because of this physical limitation of the equipment, a drone can only fly within a few kilometres from the position of its drone pilot. Drone remote control over 5G will overcome this physical limitation.

Furthermore, with the entrance of 5G technology, drones can be easily used to perform many other functions, such as delivery or remote surveillance. In future, there could be drones constantly flying in the sky and accomplishing their tasks, monitored and supported remotely by various drone operation centres.

Also Read: EPS, Schulte Group back F-drones that develops autonomous drones capable of delivering 100kg payloads over 100km

This way, we can save both manpower and time, and also reduce human exposure to potentially hazardous elements.

Currently, our RDD technology is capable of drone remote control over 4G/5G connectivity, enabling remote control of commercial drones at different locations in Singapore. In this video, we control a drone in Japan from our Singapore office over Zoom using 4G network.

Since the end of 2020, we have been generously supported by the Singtel 5G Lab to utilise their 5G environment for further R&D and testing. We are ready and excited to incorporate 5G capabilities into our future drone operations.

What are some crucial industries around the world that will benefit from AI drone technology?

There are many industries in that drones could be deployed for better results. Off the top of my head, I would say that surveying, monitoring, inspection, delivery, agriculture, sports/entertainment, and public safety are some of the key areas in that drones can be utilised to make a positive change.

Although the regulations and expectations in each industry will be diverse, we believe these industries will benefit from RDD’s AI drone technology.

What do you envision to be the future of drone AI?

We believe that drones will become a commonplace tool and be used to serve different needs across all age groups in our society.

Even for our primary use case, we believe that the future of aerial filming will utilise multiple drones flying autonomously at the same time to capture creative shots from multiple angles. We call this Flying Filming Studio, and we will continue to work on our drone AI technology to realise this dream.

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Skymind Holdings, an international firm dedicated to the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), has appointed Yasmin Mahmood as its Chairperson.

Yasmin was previously the CEO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the national arm of the Malaysian government driving the development of the country’s digital economy. She stepped down as the CEO after helming MDEC for more than four years.

Also Read: MDEC chief Yasmin Mahmood steps down; to join a tech venture in Jakarta

Before that, she took on management roles at global tech companies, including Dell and HP and was the Managing Director of Microsoft Malaysia.

With a presence in 17 countries, including Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, Skymind develops innovative AI technologies that it claims are deployed in Fortune 500 companies including Nvidia, IBM, Huawei and NASA.

Last year, its venture arm, London-based Skymind Global Ventures, launched a US$800 million fund to support promising new AI companies and academic research globally.

As part of plans to expand Skymind’s footprint across Southeast Asia, the company expanded into Malaysia in October 2019, with the country serving as the group’s regional AI hub.

“We are pleased to welcome Datuk Yasmin, a well-respected and internationally recognised leader in the IT industry, to Skymind. Her extensive experience, knowledge and insights will help guide the vision and strategic opportunities of Skymind as we march ahead with our scale and growth plans,” said Shawn Tan, Global CEO of Skymind.

Also Read: Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Is the technology only as good as the human behind it?

“For the last year, when she served as our Advisor, we saw how her leadership and passion has empowered Skymind to strengthen partnerships, develop strategic alliances, and expand our presence here in Malaysia as well as regionally and globally,” he added.

“I am passionate about AI and how it can revolutionise and reimagine anything and everything.  With the company’s track record of AI innovations and a focused growth strategy, this is an exciting time to work with Shawn and his team,” noted Yasmin.

“Skymind is in a unique position to catalyse an innovation ecosystem, thereby creating high-income and high-value jobs in Malaysia to serve the global markets,” she further opined.

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Indonesian e-commerce honcho Bukalapak has raised US$234 million in a fresh funding round led by Microsoft, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, and local media giant Emtek, reports Reuters.

Other investors joining the mega-round include SC Ventures (the investment arm of Standard Chartered) and Korean web portal Naver.

The report stated, citing sources, Bukalapak is planning to list in Indonesia and has engaged Bank Mandiri’s securities arm Mandiri Sekuritas to assist in the process.

Should the local listing materialise, the e-commerce giant will then look to merge with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in the United States.

The latest funding round comes six months after reports stated Bukalapak was raising a US$100 million funding round, which at the time had already included Microsoft, GIC and Emtek.

Launched in 2010, Bukalapak, which was last valued at US$2.5 billion in 2019, claims it has over 100 million users on its platform.

The company recently partnered with Standard Chartered to launch “innovative offerings” as part of efforts to advance the latter’s on digital banking.

Also Read: [Updated] Standard Chartered partners with Bukalapak to launch digital banking solutions

The 9-figure funding round comes amid increased interest in the Southeast Asian tech sector with multiple tech startups seeking public listings.

Yesterday, regional super-app Grab announced it was merging with SPAC Altimeter Growth Corp in what will be the world’s largest SPAC deal.

Its e-commerce rival Tokopedia is in talks with ride-hailing giant gojek in a merger that would see the US$18 billion combined entity pursue a dual listing on the Indonesia and US exchanges.

Meanwhile, Indonesian travel giant Traveloka is in discussions with Peter Thiel-backed SPAC Bridgetown Holdings, in a deal potentially worth US$5 billion.

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Image Credit: Bukalapak

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Docosan, a Vietnam-based health-tech startup, announced today that it has raised over US$1 million in a round led by Taiwanese VC firm AppWorks.

Singaporean VC firm Huat Ventures and biotech entrepreneur David Ma also participated in the round.

The development was first reported by TechInAsia.

While Docosan has not disclosed its plans with the fresh capital, it said it will add telehealth and pharmacy services to its platform.

Launched just last year, Docosan’s goal is to improve access to quality healthcare for people in Vietnam. The app enables patients to compare healthcare providers, book appointments, chat with primary care assistants, and manage health data for free.

Docosan uses internationally-recognised protocols such as HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability) and DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) to ensure health records are portable across many different systems.

The company claims to have helped 50,000 patients in Vietnam book appointments with physicians across 35 specialties within less than a year of operations.

Also Read: Meet the 20 startups selected for Taiwanese accelerator AppWorks virtual showcase

“Many clinics are frustrated after spending large amounts on social media marketing because these networks’ vast, opaque user bases are difficult to harness to reach new patients,” said Beth Ann Lopez, co-founder of Docosan.

“Docosan’s proprietary booking software provides doctors an easier way to manage bookings compared to the crowded waiting rooms, which people are increasingly wary of amid the pandemic,” she added.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital healthcare services have seen a boom as more people are growing increasingly cautious of visiting crowded spaces.

Due to this, many consumers in Southeast Asia are now seeing health-tech solutions as a lifestyle staple.

Observing this trend, many leading companies such as Grab, AIA and gojek have all integrated healthcare content into their offerings.

According to a study by Solidiance, total healthcare spending in ASEAN is estimated to reach US$740 billion by 2025, up from US$420 billion in 2017.

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Image Credit:  National Cancer Institute

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Fave, a Malaysia-based fintech platform providing QR payments and loyalty cashback to restaurant and retailers, has been acquired by Indian merchant commerce giant Pine Labs in a deal valued at over US$45 million.

As per a joint statement, the acquisition will help the two companies accelerate their growth in Asia and unlock consumer opportunities across retail, F&B, fashion and FMCG markets.

Fave also noted that joining forces with Pine Labs will reinforce its market position in Southeast Asia.

As per the terms in the agreement, Fave’s founders will have their roles expanded to lead the overall consumer platform for the group across Asia. The company will also be hiring over 100 new employees in Southeast Asia and India to “accelerate cashless payments and smart savings across the region.”

The acquisition comes about a year after Fave announced a “strategic partnership and investment” by Pine Labs which saw the fintech platform become interoperable and integrated with the latter’s terminals.

Launched in 2016, Fave currently operates in 35 cities across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The company claims it has enabled six million consumers to save over US$400 million across 40,000 retailers.

Fave will launch its services in India as part of the deal.

Also Read: From startup to scale-up: How fintech startups can get on the front foot

“Consumers have tremendous choices in their payment types. They want to be sure that they save on every transaction. Fave helps consumers apply their best rewards, coupons, gift cards and cashbacks on all transactions in a seamless manner. Joel and the Fave team have built a loyal consumer base with their smooth checkout experience,” said B. Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs.

“Pine Labs has been a great partner and investor for us, and it only made sense for us to join our synergies together and work towards our shared vision of building a truly global consumer and merchant platform,” said Joel Neoh, Co-founder and CEO of Fave.

“India has the digital advantage with young demography, growing aspirational middle class with rising disposable income and increasing digital savviness. We are confident that the APAC e-payments landscape will continue to achieve exponential growth in the coming decade,” Neoh added.

According to Pine Labs, the introduction of Fave into its offerings comes at an opportune moment, with mobile payments growing to 2.7 billion transactions in March 2021. The company also recorded a significant growth of 171 per cent in mobile payment transactions over the last two quarters.

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Image Credit: Fave

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Singapore-based accelerator-cum-startup fund, Accelerating Asia (AA), has unveiled 11 startups selected for its fourth cohort.

The programme runs for 100 days and includes intensive weeks of masterclass modules, investor meetings and pitch coaching sessions.

Besides, AA also provides selected startups with a seed capital of US$148,000 (S$200,000).

To support startups in their journey, AA has also rounded up individuals such as Pieter Kemps, Principal of Sequoia Capital; Kuo-Yi Lim, co-founder of Monk’s Hill Ventures; and Jeffrey Paine, Managing Partner of Golden Gate Ventures to join its investor network.

So far, AA’s portfolio companies have raised over US$22 million in funding since joining the programme.

Also Read: Accelerating Asia plans to launch $50M fund in Q1 2021

“We selected cohort-4 from 500 startups from 30 countries, a record number of applications for us that shows the demand for a Singapore-based accelerator with an international footprint. With just two per cent of startups selected, the chosen 11 will be part of our largest cohort and are eligible to receive up to S$200,000 in investment from our VC fund,” said co-founder Amra Naidoo.

Here are the eleven startups in the programme:

Amar Lab (Bangladesh)

An end-to-end diagnostics test service that connects local and international diagnostic labs to clients.

Casa Mia (Singapore)

A co-living operator offering private bedrooms in shared homes.

DoctorKoi (Bangladesh)

A prescription management software that helps doctors generate prescriptions with a few clicks.

Drive lah (Singapore)

A mobility company that offers flexible and affordable access to cars nearby without the hassle of ownership.

HandyMama (Bangladesh)

Connects customers with trustworthy and verified cleaning and handyman services.

Independents (Singapore)

An AI-powered marketplace that matches individuals to the exact requirements of marketing projects.

KopiDate (Singapore)

A social platform that curates conversation-centred dating experiences for single millennials.

Mobiliti (Pakistan)

Provides state-of-the-art bionic lower limb prosthetics at affordable prices.

SWAP (Bangladesh)

A cross-category exchange platform for users to sell or swap their old phone, laptop, car, motorcycle and furniture in just 24 hours.

TransTRACK.ID (Indonesia)

A fleet telematics system integrator that provides data collection of transport.

Waitrr (Singapore)

A platform for restaurants that lets guests order and pay in a few seconds.

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Image Credit: Accelerating Asia

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Southeast Asian tech giant today confirmed its plans to go public in the US in partnership with Altimeter Growth, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

The Singapore-headquartered Grab expects it to be the largest-ever US equity offering by a Southeast Asian company.

The combined entity expects its securities will be traded on NASDAQ under the symbol GRAB in the “coming months.”

The proposed transactions value Grab at an initial pro-forma equity value of approximately US$39.6 billion at a PIPE size of more than US$4 billion.

It will provide the company with approximately US$4.5 billion in cash proceeds.

Grab group CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan dubbed the move as “even more critical” as the region recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was very challenging for us too, but it taught us immensely about the resiliency of our business. Our diversified super app strategy helped our driver-partners pivot to deliveries and enabled us to deliver growth while improving profitability. As we become a publicly-traded company, we’ll work even harder to create economic empowerment for our communities, because when Southeast Asia succeeds, Grab succeeds,” he said.

Also Read: Ex-Traveloka, Grab execs’ one-year-old online fresh grocery startup Segari raises seed funding led by Beenext

“We’ve always believed in long-term partnerships to drive impact at scale. We work closely with governments to support their national agendas and have partnered with some of the world’s best blue-chip companies. Altimeter is investing in a way that demonstrates our aligned values, with a three-year lock-up on their sponsor promote shares and unprecedented contribution of shares to our new GrabForGood endowment fund,” he added.

“They’re joining our journey for the long-run, together with an incredible day one cap table of renowned institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds. This is testament to the global investment community’s belief in the long-term value proposition of Grab’s super app strategy and the exciting growth potential of Southeast Asia,” Tan continued.

Within the past months, leading Southeast Asian tech companies such as Grab and Traveloka have reportedly been preparing for their public listing in the US through SPAC.

SPAC itself has been predicted to become a popular, alternative way for tech companies to go public in 2021.

Grab said that its decision to go public was driven by “strong” financial performance in 2020, which it managed to achieve despite the pandemic.

Grab posted GMV of approximately US$12.5 billion in 2020, which it claimed to be surpassing pre-pandemic levels and more than doubling from 2018.

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Image Credit: Grab

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We recently celebrated World Health Day on 7 April. It’s an opportunity to focus attention on some of the remarkable efforts of governments in our region to communicate with their citizens using platforms like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Like many other things during the pandemic, public health campaigns had to move online to reach people at scale with crucial updates.

Digital health promotion is by no means new. But for many governments in the Asia Pacific, it was the first time they were using the Facebook family of apps as a marketing channel for public health promotion at scale. With mounting pressure on healthcare systems, they had to react quickly to contain infection rates on the ground while communicating credible information to citizens as fast as possible.

We saw a number of governments in the region rapidly test and learn different approaches to digital health promotion. From launching bots for Messenger to leveraging free advertising credits to drive people to health information from trusted sources — they led the charge on innovative ways of harnessing technology to fight the pandemic.

Responding to a global crisis

Early in the pandemic, messaging emerged as a key public engagement channel. The Singapore government was among the first to develop an official Gov.sg WhatsApp channel which now has over 1.2 million opt-in users. It continues to provide up-to-date information on the spread of COVID-19 in the country, along with relevant details on infection control measures.

Our teams also worked with the Philippines Department of Health to launch a Messenger bot to share updates on COVID-19. Taiwan’s Center for Disease Control, which has been lauded for its pandemic response, also launched a COVID-19 bot on Messenger — both to serve as a local channel and an international channel sharing the latest updates with Taiwanese diaspora around the world.

Also read: KiWi New Energy: Making green energy available to all

All of this happened in partnership with health experts, third-party developers, creative agencies, as well as government and public advocacy teams. In fact, even our internal creative teams joined meetings with departments of health to help apply creative best practices to health updates. Some of this early work led out of Asia Pacific and has now turned into a global framework for pandemic response.

Moving forward with the power of innovation

This year, providing effective and accurate vaccine communications is top of mind for public health authorities. As we transition into the vaccine confidence and access phase of the pandemic response, governments continue to leverage digital platforms to get the word out about COVID-19 vaccinations.

As vaccine access and eligibility is different across the region, we are also seeing governments develop more customised messaging experiences. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Health in Indonesia reached out to discuss building a WhatsApp chatbot to support their vaccine rollout to health workers. The world’s first WhatsApp vaccine chatbot was built in nine days. Health workers were able to use this two-way messaging chatbot to select location, date, time, and get people to register for vaccinations. Within the first five days, 500,000 healthcare workers had accessed the bot.

Similarly, the Indian government built the world’s largest WhatsApp chatbot last year with the goal of sharing authentic news, expert information and official updates. They also established MyGov Corona Hub. They are now updating the chatbot to support their massive vaccine rollout program by incorporating vaccine-specific FAQs and will launch more features soon.

Also read: Malaysian tech companies making waves in Indonesia, shine on a global stage

As we collaborated on these campaigns, we also saw the value of personalised advertising in public health promotion strategies. Studies have shown that the effectiveness of the advertisements may be greatly improved by targeting messages based on sociodemographic characteristics.

For example, as schools and colleges reopened in Pakistan, its Ministry of Health wanted to inform parents, teachers, and students about the precautionary measures needed to enable a safe environment for studying.

The MoH created a short animated video showcasing steps to stay safe in school. They utilised a combination of placements, including Facebook and Instagram Feed and Stories amongst others, to maximise opportunities for visibility.

The simple animations, catchy jingle, and easy to understand language used in the video helped keep the broad nationwide audience engaged. Key messages about washing hands and steering clear of touching the eyes and mouth were delivered within the first few seconds. Captions made it easy to grasp the messages even with sound off.

The campaign helped reach over 13 million people and led to increased awareness of health safety measures during COVID-19.

The role of startups in plugging technical gaps

There are many such examples from the region. I’m truly impressed by how Asian governments have adapted their technological capabilities and innovated relatively quickly to reach their citizens at scale. In the process, we have all learned the power of collaboration. I’m inspired by the broad ecosystem that has sprung up to tackle technical gaps and health service needs, especially for underserved communities. Small technology startups and developer businesses have moved fast to meet public needs, iterating as they go, in partnership with public health officials.

Also read: HKSTP invites global tech ventures to the Global Matching 2021

I want to share the story of Amio, a free Messenger chatbot created by three Kiwi doctors to address questions and bust myths about COVID-19 for communities in New Zealand and Australia. In the first month, over 250,000 messages were exchanged. Another example is a startup called Reach52, which focused on providing affordable healthcare to underserved communities. They moved quickly to build a COVID-19 Information and Symptom Checker on the Messenger platform to help curb misinformation. In the first week alone, their solution reached over 6,500 people from rural communities across the Philippines and Cambodia.

It is important to reflect on these stories as they help us learn more about the kind of public health messages that work well, where we can improve, and how we can tackle future public health crises together.

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Tribe, a blockchain accelerator backed by the government of Singapore, has received a strategic investment from Korea Investment Partners (KIP) and Mandiri Investment Management.

Greg Kidd, an early investor in Twitter, Coinbase and Square, besides Hong Kong-based Stellar Partners, also co-invested.

This marks KIP’s first direct investment into Singapore.

Tribe will use the funds to grow its accelerator and academy programmes into newer markets, including the US, Korea, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Additionally, Tribe has also announced a partnership with American drug giant Pfizer to provide startups with support like technical expertise, resources and access to networks. Its other notable partners include HSBC, Infineon Technologies, Citibank and Ubisoft.

Founded in 2018, Tribe works closely with global corporations, government agencies, blockchain companies and late-stage startups to build a community that promotes blockchain collaborations and innovations.

Its goal is “to generate greater public awareness of the benefits and relevance in the everyday use of distributed ledger technology through the usage of decentralised applications (dApps) or backend digital solutions”.

Also Read: In brief: Singapore’s blockchain accelerator Tribe goes virtual for batch 3

“We are supporting a range of cutting-edge blockchain startups from around the world, with a total valuation of over US$1 billion, that are solving global problems from food security, education efforts to medicine deliveries,” said Tribe CEO, Yi Ming Ng.

“The pandemic has placed a spotlight on the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, and in the process speeded up its digital transformation,” added Bei Goh, Digital Client Partner Lead Emerging Markets Asia, Pfizer, added.

“There is huge potential for blockchain in the pharmaceutical sector, from the tracking and authenticating of vaccines and medicines to making supply chains more efficient. Being a part of the Tribe ecosystem gives us access to promising blockchain and other deep tech startups as well as insights into the latest trends across the industry,” he shared.

Tribe also said that its participating startups have raised US$70 million since joining the programme. Some of its acceleratees are Accredify, AID:Tech, TADA and xfers.

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Image Credit: Tribe

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