Climate change is a reality and the issue warrants urgent attention.

While it is heartening to see many private organisations, celebrities and governments in the Western world come forward with different solutions to address the issue, Asia remains a laggard here.

Perhaps, technology could play a major role in the fight against climate change in this region. For this to happen, startups working for this cause need to be mentored and funded.

ADB Ventures, the impact investment arm of Manila-based Asian Development Bank, is one of the handful of VCs in the region to launch a dedicated fund to back startups, which are making an impact.

In this interview with e27, Daniel Hersson, Senior Fund Manager at ADB Ventures, discusses how the VC firm is striving to make a difference in the region.

Edited excerpts:

How is your investment model different from a traditional VC investor?

We invest in early-stage tech startups that can deliver both financial returns and significant impact. To achieve this, however, we partner and co-invest with both traditional and more impact-focused VCs.

In contrast to most other investors, we have a wide regional reach and strong relationships with governments, large corporates, and financial institutions across Asia.

Also Read: ADB Ventures debuts with 2 impact investments, raises US$60M for its equity fund

We are trying to leverage these unique networks to help entrepreneurs reduce the barriers to access new markets and accelerate their growth. We also bring a lot of credibility to the startups and other investors in terms of our strong focus on impact and development.

ADB Ventures has two investment activities. First, through our main fund, we provide equity capital to early-stage tech startups, similar to other VCs. Our focus is on seed and series A – and, occasionally, later stage. The average initial check size is US$1-2 million.

The impact VC firm also provides smaller funding, usually to very early-stage tech companies, structured as reimbursable grants. This allows us to engage with entrepreneurs at a very early stage before we potentially make a larger investment.

You support companies tackling climate challenges. Do you have a specific area of interest in this particular vertical?

Yes and no.

We target solutions for both climate mitigation and climate resilience. This covers a broad range of sectors and sub-sectors, including clean energy, sustainable mobility, energy efficiency, agriculture, and some fintech and health tech solutions, which can play a key role in strengthening Asia’s resilience to climate change.

However, within these sectors, we see certain pockets where we think there is significant opportunity for both climate impact and financial returns.

For example, we believe that there is a huge potential in digitalising the way we develop and manage traditional infrastructure. This could lead to both significant climate benefits as well as cost savings.

Likewise, in many industries, we believe we have now reached a point where it is possible to replace traditional materials with new alternative materials that are not just greener but also better and, importantly, more cost-efficient.

Crucially, these solutions have to deliver both significant benefits — significant climate impact and financial ones to the customer. Otherwise, it will not reach the scale required to have a meaningful impact and deliver our targeted financial returns.

Are you also looking at electric vehicles, an industry that has been receiving huge attention of late?

We think electric vehicles (EVs) will have a very significant impact. It goes beyond just replacing traditional combustion engine vehicles. EVs are much more flexible in terms of their design, charging, and even financing. This could redefine the way n we think about mobility in Asia and will open a lot of new investment opportunities.

Just the other week, we announced an investment in Euler Motors, a potentially disruptive Indian EV manufacturer that is seeking to transform last-mile logistics. We believe companies like this have massive potential, not just in India but across Asia.

While ADB is mainly focused on providing loans to the government or big corporates, the VC arm is focused on providing early-stage equity funding. Why don’t you also provide debt to startups?

Our focus is on backing high-risk, early-stage Asian startups with potentially disruptive solutions. These entrepreneurs need access to equity capital, ideally patient, as they are yet – and it will take some time – to reach a stable level of positive cash flow. We want to see more of these high-risk startups in Asia.

However, in Asia, particularly for impact-oriented tech startups, there is still a significant gap in equity funding. So, we believe we play a critical role in helping to fill this gap.

Having said that, we also believe that there is a need for more flexible debt in the market. For startups, there is a gap between equity funding and traditional bank financing that needs to be bridged. Even startups with more mature and proven solutions with a strong customer pipeline can often not access affordable debt.

This is holding back their growth and their impact. We need to find solutions to help them transition more quickly from equity-fuelled growth to more leveraged growth.

Also Read: What is Impact Investing?

That is why we are raising a second fund, which will tackle this particular market gap. We aspire to launch a US$100 million+ debt fund targeting tech startups that are slightly further along the commercialisation lifecycle. We are still in the early stages of setting up and fundraising for this fund.

The plan is to have it up and running sometime next year.

How do you evaluate a startup for investment? What are the key factors that you look for in your potential investees?

In many ways, we evaluate startups similarly to a typical VC. Since we invest in early-stage companies operating in emerging markets, we believe that a strong and hungry team, ideally with some experience, is critical. We put a lot of effort into assessing these aspects and getting to know the team before we invest.

Another key aspect that we look for is a solution that can solve a real and a big problem and that can move the needle. We like solutions that change the life of the customer.

We are also often looking at certain minimum market size. A solution may address a similar problem across several countries or a very large problem in a larger country. That’s how we get the impact we want, but also the returns.

Of course, we will also look for a good product, a good technology, a good business model, good initial traction, etc. But we are conscious that many of these factors will evolve, particularly in more emerging markets.

Besides, we look at two other critical aspects. The first is the potential impact. We try to assess what the impact could be if the company is successful and the solution is deployed at scale. While the main focus is on assessing the climate impact, we also consider aspects like gender impact.

We integrate impact across the investment life-cycle, from the screening and evaluation stage, to how we structure the investments, and support and monitor our portfolio companies.

The other critical lens is how we can add value. We look for companies and sectors where we believe we can add significant and disproportionate value by leveraging our relationships, our access to people, and access to other sources of financing. If we don’t think we can add that value, we will not invest.

How do you measure impact for your portfolio companies? Do you see a correlation between impact and profitability?

Our investment thesis is based on the correlation between impact, profitability, and our returns. We are targeting startups whose core business is highly impactful. In those cases, there is no or limited trade-off. If the company grows exponentially, there will be exponential impact – and we will also get our financial returns.

Of course, you can have growth without impact, and you can also have impact without growth, but that is not in our investment scope.

Impact, as described earlier, is integral to our investment approach and something we consider at each step. However, measuring impact from early-stage technology companies is slightly different from measuring impact from more traditional infrastructure investment.

Many of the startups we back are developing enabling technologies and services. The impact of these solutions is often harder to measure directly but can often be much more significant. It is also hard to know what kind of products and business model a company will have three years down the line, so we need to have some flexibility in that sense.

What does excite you the most about South and Southeast Asian startup scenes? Apart from mobility, which other verticals are you seeing a great potential?

The regional startup ecosystem has evolved significantly in the last 10-20 years, not only in places like India but also in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, etc. There is now a rapidly growing pool of young entrepreneurial talent that simply did not exist before. Many of them gained their experience by helping scale the first wave of regional unicorns like gojek, Flipkart, Lazada, etc.

We are now also seeing some of these entrepreneurs moving into sectors that can have a significant impact. This is exciting.

We see significant opportunities across many sectors. Agriculture is a massive and still largely untapped opportunity, even if it can be very challenging. This includes everything from how we produce food to how we supply it in a much more efficient and climate-smart way.

We also believe there is a lot of room to shake up more traditional sectors, including digitalisation and modernisation of the construction industry and the manufacturing industry.

A good example is our recent investment in Smart Joules. They are combining smart digital technologies and efficient equipment with financial innovation to help significantly reduce energy use in existing commercial buildings. This opportunity exists across Asia.

There used to be a Series A/B crunch in Asia earlier, and now this crunch is in Series C/D stages. What does this indicate? Is it a positive signal? And what does it mean for the region’s startup ecosystem?

I think it is a natural and important evolution. One positive take from the Series C/D crunch is that you now have a pool of companies that reached a stage where they are ready and need such funding. So I wouldn’t see it as a negative. I think it’s just the evolving nature of any startup ecosystem.

It is not just in Asia, but even developed countries have periods when there is a lot of early-stage funding, followed by a period of more later-stage funding. Then it swings back.

Also Read: What do I need to know as a first-time impact investor?

Of course, this means that we need more regional late-stage investors. To some extent, it’s already happening. Some of the VCs that raised funds five-six years ago are now raising much larger funds. The average ticket size is also going up.

So I think the series C/D crunch will be addressed by the market over time. If there are good opportunities, capital tends to follow.

However, it is important that we also keep feeding the pool of new early-stage companies. So, we need to continue to also focus on seed and Series A.

We also need to recognise that there is still an imbalance in where the VC capital in the region is flowing. While overall regional VC investment has grown exponentially, it is still concentrated in relatively few sectors and a relatively few countries. We still have a long way to go.

I think the regional VC landscape will soon get more specialised, similar to what we have seen in a more mature startup ecosystem. Specialist funds focusing on, for example, agritech, logistics, and fintech are already emerging.

We are also seeing some new regional impact VC funds emerging, which is great. We will still have generalist VCs, but I suspect those funds will be relatively fewer, cross-regional, and a lot bigger.

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Image Credit: ADB Ventures

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The Founder on Founder Podcast series is a weekly podcast hosted by Olivier Raussin, managing partner at Febe Ventures, an early stage Venture Capital fund supporting outstanding entrepreneurs in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.  It features tech entrepreneurs with a focus on Southeast Asia’s innovation business and tech landscape.

The podcast uncovers stories from outstanding entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia on their journey, insights and advice on running a tech company. The first one in the series is Hang Do, the COO of SCommerce, a Vietnamese logistics provider and Fanny Moizant, co-founder and president of Vestiaire Collective, a luxury retail platform startup founded in 2009.

They offer insights on what it’s like to be women in leadership positions within two different tech industries, by sharing their experiences and thoughts on how to create greater impact by empowering and leveraging women at all levels of the workplace.

Hardwork always pays off

SCommerce recently secured funding from Singapore investment firm Temasek of about US$100 million making it their largest financing up to date. Born and raised in Hanoi, Do spent 10 years studying and working in the US before moving back to Ho Chi Minh City in 2011.

“I could never imagine in my past life that I could ever do logistics, but here I am, five years later and still doing very well,” said Do. When asked about the key to one’s career success, Hang puts great emphasis on hard work and resilience. “I don’t think anything can replace hard work, no matter how good of a salesperson you are, especially for women. Sometimes you really need to hustle and negotiate to get what you want.”

Talking about women in the workplace in Vietnam, Hang said it is traditions that often hinder women from stepping up and negotiating, and even she has to constantly remind herself to do so. “It’s not normal for women to step up, be super confident and start negotiating or asking for what we deserve, not anything more. It’s just what we deserve.”

Throughout Hang’s decade long career, she did not actively go out and look for mentors but the people that she was naturally friends with and kept in touch with over time naturally became her mentors. “The lessons from that are just to be authentic and truthful, add value before you ask for anything back.” From her perspective, it might be asking too much if one is proactively asking for a mentor, but it is highly encouraged to give first a means of what we all should do.

Also Read: How women in tech can navigate the 2021 business landscape

A sustainable future

Moizant’s platform has 11 members across 80 countries and has recently announced a new funding round of  EUR178 million, reaching a valuation above US$1 billion thus becoming a unicorn.

Fanny’s journey started from understanding that the fashion industry and consumption have changed to become completely unsustainable.“People were consuming way too much, way too fast, creating a very negative impact on the planet. So I really wanted to solve that problem and to transform the fashion industry for a more sustainable future,” she said in the podcast interview.

In sharing one of her biggest pieces of advice based on her own career experiences, she said “listen and learn, but at the end of the day, follow your intuition. You have to make almost thousands of decisions a day and you have to be comfortable with the business-making process.”

In establishing a strong intuition, one should be surrounded by people that are amazing at what they do, and more importantly, complement your own skills. Too often people surround themselves with the same type of people as they are.

In finding a great mentor within a tech space and especially for female entrepreneurs, Moizant always encourages her team to step out and build their own network and support system as a way of creating value for themselves and for the company.

Within this network, she emphasises giving first before receiving. As a woman, she also puts emphasis on having a strong support system at home, being comfortable with managing both a demanding career and your life at home as a balance that will take you far in the future.

Increasing diversity and inclusion

Two main pieces of advice Do have to give is to create a merit-based culture and be aware of gender bias. In a male-dominated industry like logistics and logistic tech, women make up 30-40 per cent of the key senior roles at the manager level.

She claims that by creating a merit-based culture where you promote and grow people no matter who they are, as long as they deserve it, they deserve a higher rank.

Also Read: Women in tech, and a competitive advantage

Second, acknowledge and be aware of the gender bias, and implement it in the recruitment process or the internal development process would significantly improve the women’s presence within the workplace.

When it comes to recruiting and hiring at Vestiaire Collective which is created by two female cofounders, and where 47 per cent of the women are in leadership positions they make sure there is a male and female with the same level of experience interviewing the candidates.

As a strong advocate, they also have a Women in Tech initiative, a female-only tech lab where they commit to hiring women and giving them special events and mentoring within the team.

Listen to the full podcast here.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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The social impact space is dominated by ‘Giving Platforms’ — many of which take large percentages of donations.

Whilst these platforms are great in serving as a functional payment gateway, rarely do they track your multiple donations, aggregate your impact, or create a community of like-minded people to drive change with.

They generate their revenue from taking a cut of charity donations, an approach that is generating more and more criticism.

How many times have you made a donation this year? Yet I imagine you have no idea of your cumulative impact, where the money has gone or how you’ve helped to make the world a better place?

With an ever-growing spotlight on social media and its role and influence on the world, I’ve become increasingly driven to create a social network that is simply for good. No negativities, no bullying, no filters, no irrelevant adverts.

Based in Singapore, Force for Good is a soon-to-launch, angel-funded platform. We’re always looking for interesting advisors and investors to join us on the journey.

I — as the founder and CEO of Force for Good — and our Head of Impact Partnerships Christine Amour-Levar I, would like to share our motivations in creating the world’s first social impact network.

The idea

I’ve worked in corporate and charity partnerships for the last 12 years, and I’ve seen a huge shift in the way companies, employees, people and charities engage with one another.

With 1.4 billion people giving to charity last year, we felt there was a huge gap in the market for a social network for good. We want to leverage technology and digital to create a safe place for individuals, companies and charities to drive change.

Also Read: What do I need to know as a first-time impact investor?

Force for Good was born out of our frustration of not being able to find and connect with the people and charities that are making a difference for the causes we care about, particularly through such challenging times.

When working in a large MNC, I’d see nine-figure cheques written to charities on assumptions as to what our employees cared about, with little engagement and activation. I want to change this through Force for Good and provide corporates with engagement opportunities and data for causes their employees are passionate about.

In 2020 online giving grew 21 per cent amidst the global pandemic and nearly 30 per cent of all online gifts were made from a mobile device. Additionally, we are seeing that 55 per cent of donors worldwide prefer to give online with a credit or debit card rather than by bank/wire transfer.

Amour-Levar thinks a digital platform like Force for Good comes into play to help charities reach the masses, if you will, by democratising philanthropy. The notion that giving your time, talent or treasure is no longer for the elite but for all individuals is on the rise.

The concept now emerging is that everyday “regular givers” and every day “changemakers” have the potential to accelerate social impact. Donors are clamouring for philanthropy to be more connected, accessible, engaging and transparent. There is a growing need for individuals, companies and charities to come together and drive change.

Furthermore, on the whole, people want to belong to a club, a tribe, a social network, a church, a movement … something bigger than themselves. So, there is also an opportunity to make donation apps more social and community-focused.

The beauty of micro-giving is that all of the smaller individual donations become part of a larger social cause driving collective impact. And technology and tech platforms can make it much easier to find your tribe, engage and see your impact in real-time.

Keeping it personal

At a time when the world is going through a global pandemic, charities are on their knees. They have very little access to a digital network to drive change, yet need the support more than ever before.

Also Read: 6 social enterprises that want to change the world

The pandemic has undoubtedly been an incredibly challenging time for charities and their fundraising efforts, but nearly three out of four millennials did give to a non-profit since the pandemic began. Charities need to capitalise on this trend and we want to help.

Gone are the days of having to trawl through traditional social network sites to find like-minded people passionate about a cause. Force for Good allows you to join Impact Circles within your location and cause — or create private Impact Circles to invite your friends, family and colleagues to.

You can make one-off or recurring donations to charities of your choice and stay closely in touch with the charity to understand your impact. You can organise virtual challenges for yourself or your network to raise funds and you can share your journey along the way.

We want people to know where their donations go. We want them to have the ability to have a two-way conversation with their charities. We want people to be a force for change, creating impact circles and rallying their networks to make a difference with them.

Redefining CSR and ESG

While there is general agreement that the private sector needs to be deeply involved in helping to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), companies are on a spectrum with the incorporation of these goals into their corporate philanthropy strategies.

According to a 2018 PwC SDG Reporting Challenge study, 72 per cent of companies mention the SDGs and/or ESGs in their annual corporate or sustainability reports, but there is still a lack of data on what companies are doing to achieve these goals.

We want companies to be able to create opportunities for their employees. For their communities to be actively engaged in raising funds for charities – be that through virtual challenges or fundraising campaigns.

Amour-Levar adds that managers in these companies also need to be good listeners and try to understand people’s aspirations and motivations. This will demonstrate they care deeply about their employees and will instil a strong sense of loyalty and commitment to the greater mission.

Also Read: ADB Ventures debuts with 2 impact investments, raises US$60M for its equity fund

Force for Good creates corporate communities for employees to drive change. Our data enables us to understand what employees care about. This data can be used by companies can match their donations and create events, challenges and impact through the platform. We want Force for Good to drive employee engagement in the cause.

While the change won’t happen overnight, it is important for companies to take time to build an environment founded on trust, communication, and empowerment. Without a solid foundation and actionable steps, it is tough to expect employees to do anything above and beyond their day-to-day responsibilities.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

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Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab is set to go public on the New York Stock Exchange through a US$35 billion merger with Altimeter Capital, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), the Financial Times (FT) has reported.

Grab is set to finalise its merger agreement this week with Altimeter Growth 1, one of Altimeter Capital’s SPACs. The deal is set to be the largest SPAC merger to date.

According to FT’s sources, Grab will raise close to US$2.5 billion through private investments in public equity with US$1.2 billion coming from Altimeter, which will “also backstop the sale of any shares in the SPAC by public shareholders when the deal is announced.” Grab co-founder Anthony Tan is set to take two per cent of the listed equity.

Alimeter Growth 1 reportedly raised US$450 million through an IPO last year with its share price increasing by 25 per cent since then.

Singapore-based Grab has raised $12 billion to date and has about $5 billion in cash reserves. Some of its prominent backers include SoftBank, GGV Capital and Tiger Global Management.

Also Read: How a great back-end tech helped GrabFood capture half of SEA’s food delivery pie despite being a latecomer

In February, Grab raised US$2 billion from its first term loan agreement after securing commitments from international institutional investors. According to a press release, this marked the largest institutional debt in Asia’s technology sector and is part of the company’s plan to strengthen its liquidity position and diversify financing sources.

Meanwhile, its fintech arm Grab Financial Group (GFG) raised over US$300 million in Series A funding in January.

Grab joins a growing list of Southeast Asian startups seeking to list in the US through SPACs. Its regional competitor gojek is reportedly finalising its merger with e-commerce platform Tokopedia before a possible dual listing via the SPAC route in the US and Jakarta. Indonesian travel unicorn Traveloka is also set to publicly list in the US this year through the same route.

In an interview with e27, experts commented that the SPAC model that the company is implementing can be “an alternative” way to fundraise for startups in SEA.

“Having seen the more than 100 SPACs emerge in North America earlier this year, we are not surprised to see this new SPAC coming out to focus on Southeast Asia. We welcome this initiative, which will provide an alternative path to liquidity and access to public markets for one or more rising tech, financial services or media company in the region,” said Sanjay Zimmermann, Senior Associate at White Star Capital.

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Image Credit: Grab

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Meet Ryan Naylor, who helps SMBs find the talent they need so they don’t have to compete with massive corporations.

Today, he shares the shocking journey that includes being sued after going on Shark Tank!

We discuss:

• How he became interested in entrepreneurship
• His first job (he made more than his other friends!)
• Graduating at the start of the Great Recession
• The travel bug which started his first company
• The reality behind Shark Tank
• The most important thing he learned as a result of Shark Tank
• How that led him to create his current company VIVAHR
• And more!

If you don’t see the player above, click on a link below to listen directly!

Acast

Apple

Spotify

Stitcher

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This article was first published on We Live To Build.

Image Credit: Michal Czyz on Unsplash

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Taronga Ventures, an investment management firm, announced today that it has expanded its RealTechX innovation programme to Singapore.

The initiative will be supported by the government agency Enterprise Singapore.

This news follows Enterprise Singapore’s partnership with Australia’s Government’s Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources to expand RealTechX beyond Australia to Asia Pacific.

The goal is to help growth-stage real estate and construction companies to achieve sustained growth.

“Our key selection criteria is that the solution can demonstrate effectiveness and business value for our real estate corporate partners,” a spokesperson of the company told e27.

Companies participating in RealTechX will receive access to global real estate corporate customers, potential investment and expert advice on global and domestic growth strategies.

The programme’s corporate partners include Dexus, ISPT, Lendlease, Australian Unity and PGIM Real Estate. The initiative is also supported by tech giants like Microsoft, Google, IBM and AWS.

Enterprise Singapore’s Director (Urban Solutions and Infrastructure Services) Yeoh Choon Jin said: “Singapore has maintained a focus on supporting best-in-class innovation in the built environment. We have designed our city and spaces to deliver better citizen experiences and through technology, we are enhancing our urban environment and infrastructure performance.”

“As a leader in built environment technology investment, we are delighted to be partnering with Taronga Ventures and its RealTechX growth program to grow our ecosystem,” he added.

Also Read: The world of proptech and its fate in a post-pandemic world

“We have a long-term commitment to Singapore and its regional ecosystem, having established our second headquarters in the market and hiring top talent locally,” added Taronga Ventures’s Managing Partner Singapore Avi Naidu.

Taronga Ventures is an institutional venture fund that invests in globally-scalable entities that enhance the way real estate is designed, procured, financed, developed and managed across all sectors.

According to property brokerage and consultancy JLL, the total value of the investable global commercial real estate is estimated to reach US$65 trillion by the year 2020, with Asia Pacific accounting for over 30 per cent of it.

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Image Credit: Youssef Abdelwahab

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ADB Ventures, an impact-tech fund and a unit of the Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank, is in the process of raising an over US$100 million debt fund.

The debt fund will target tech startups that are slightly further along the commercialisation lifecycle.

“At this stage, we’re still in the process of finalising the setup of the US$100-million debt fund,” said Daniel Hersson, Senior Fund Manager at ADB Ventures, without disclosing further details.

ADB Ventures already runs an US$60-million equity fund, which recently announced its maiden investments in two Indian startups — Euler Motors and Smart Joules.

Euler is an electric vehicle manufacturer and fleet operator focused on last-mile commercial logistics, whereas Smart Joules is an energy efficiency-as-a-service company.

The ADB Ventures Equity Fund is backed by Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Government of the Republic of Korea, Climate Investment Fund’s Clean Technology Fund, and the Nordic Development Fund.

Also Read: What is Impact Investing?

“Our focus is on backing high-risk, early-stage Asian startups with potentially disruptive solutions. These entrepreneurs need access to equity capital, ideally patient, as they are yet to reach a stable level of positive cash flow. We want to see more of these high-risk startups in Asia,” he said in an interview with e27.

However, in Asia, particularly for impact-oriented tech startups, there is still a significant gap in equity funding.

“Having said that, we also believe that there is a need for more flexible debt in the market. There’s a gap between equity funding and traditional bank financing that needs to be bridged. Even startups with more mature and proven solutions with a strong customer pipeline can often not access affordable debt,” he shared.

In his opinion, this is holding back their growth and their impact.

A solution needs to be worked out to help them transition more quickly from equity-fuelled growth to more leveraged growth.

“That is why we are raising a second fund, which will tackle this particular market gap. We aspire to launch a US$100 million+ debt fund targeting tech startups that are slightly further along the commercialisation lifecycle,” he explained.

More on the equity fund

With the US$60-million equity fund, ADB Ventures looks to back 15-20 companies, with an average ticket size of US$1-2 million. This is aimed at seed-stage, Series A and Series B startups.

The impact tech fund also runs a seed programme which provides a ticket size of up to US$100,000-200,000 to early-stage ventures in Asia.

Both these programmes are largely focussed on climate and gender impact in South and Southeast Asia.

Also Read: What do I need to know as a first-time impact investor?

According to Hersson, the impact-tech investment community in Asia has become sophisticated. “All of a sudden, you have an ecosystem of some incredible investors and entrepreneurs and a market that is is much more receptive of solutions than they were before.”

There is now a race to adopt impact solutions such as electric vehicles. The whole shift is incredibly exciting, he said.

“Impact-tech investment is no longer a niche and it has actually become mainstream. It has reached a tipping point where there are so many incredible players, and if everyone joins hands together, we could do something unique over the next five to ten years in Asia,” Hersson said.

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WhiteCoat, a Singapore-based digital healthcare platform, announced today that it raised close to SGD10.8 million (US$8 million) in a Series A round of financing, led by GEC-KIP Technology and Innovation Fund.

Other investors who participated in the round include SGInnovate and Asia Resource Corporation.

The proceeds will be used to accelerate WhiteCoat’s regional footprint, enhance its platform, and expand its suite of remote healthcare services,

Launched in 2018, Whitecoat is a one-stop platform that provides with on-demand telemedicine services to patients in Singapore.

Its mobile app connects users to an “extensive and curated” network of medical practitioners that assist in treating common ailments and chronic illnesses.

In 2020, the company claimed, it experienced an 8x increase in revenue and a 7x surge in consultation figures due to COVID-19 boosting the need for people to utilise remote medical services.

Also Read: WhiteCoat, Homage join forces to launch chronic disease telehealth programme, aimed at elderly patients

Whitecoat also partnered with AIA, one of the largest publicly-listed pan-Asian life insurance companies, to leverage its insurer integration expertise in new markets across Southeast Asian markets.

“WhiteCoat has been on a sharp growth trajectory even before COVID-19, propelled by an influx of first-time patients and strong repeat usage from our existing base. We see this investment as an endorsement of our vision in making WhiteCoat the first touchpoint for all healthcare needs,” Bryan Koh, founder of WhiteCoat, said.

“With this investment, we will further develop and scale our technology and services and create transformative and smart healthcare solutions which benefit patients, healthcare professionals, and insurers across the region,” Koh added.

“WhiteCoat is one great example that offers a comprehensive and seamless suite of telemedicine services such as primary care, chronic disease management, and specialist care, through their one-stop digital platform that enables registration, consultation to prescription and delivery of care to users,” Lim Jui, CEO at SGInnovate, noted.

“We believe that their regional expansion will be a success through partnering with key players like AIA, further driven by current demand for telehealth, and look forward to being part of their growth journey,” Jui shared.

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Image Credit: WhiteCoat

 

 

 

 

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MVLLabs, a Singapore-based mobility blockchain company, has raised US$15 million in a Series B funding round led by Korean automotive parts manufacturer CENTRAL.

Singapore-headquartered TRIVE Ventures also participated in the round.

MVL will channel these funds towards expanding its mobility offerings – beginning with the launch of its first electric vehicle (EV), the ONiON T1.

Founded in 2012, MVL operates a blockchain-based platform where data such as transactions, movements, accidents and maintenance of vehicles are recorded in a single ecosystem.

The company has been driving the mass adoption of its mobility blockchain through what it claims is Southeast Asia’s first blockchain-based ride-hailing service TADA.

TADA is present in Singapore, Vietnam, and Cambodia with an estimated 100,000 drivers and 890,000 users.

The ONiON T1 was developed in collaboration with MVL’s strategic investors and partners. The vehicle will be launched through the company’s subsidiary MVL Energy.

The company shared ONiON T1 will first be added to TADA’s fleet of vehicles in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where it currently offers both ride-hailing and delivery services.

MVL noted T1’s design is geared towards achieving greater cost efficiency. Internal estimations based on Phnom Penh’s market conditions project the ONiON EV will lower energy costs for traditional three-wheel vehicles (commonly known as tuk-tuks) to US$60 a month. The vehicles will also be sold separately from batteries, which gives the EVs a range of 100km.

The EV’s launch will be accompanied by the installation of ONiON mega battery swapping stations, which MVL said will be strategically located across Phnom Penh based on its analysis of existing ride-hailing data.

Also Read: Is ‘shadow charging’ the answer to the many challenges faced by existing EV charging stations?

Besides, MVL shared it recently secured the Qualified Investment Project (QIP) status from the Cambodian government, giving it access to incentives including tax exemptions. The company noted the ONiON T1 project is expected to generate 380 new job opportunities.

MVL is currently taking pre-orders for the vehicles, with the first production units expected to be available by the end of 2021.

“This vehicle has been designed from the ground-up through engaging our drivers in Cambodia. We envisioned a practical yet aspirational electric vehicle tailored for them and their city of Phnom Penh. We are grateful for the support our strategic investors have provided us,” said Kay Woo, CEO of MVL.

“As a company, we have been focused on bridging the technology gap to make mobility affordable, and this launch paves the way for expansion into other EV models. We now look forward to furthering our mission to make mobility environmentally and socially sustainable,” he added.

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Image Credit: MVLLabs

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Traveloka, the Indonesian travel unicorn, is in advanced talks to go public through a merger with Bridgetown Holdings, the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) backed by Peter Thiel, a Bloomberg report said citing unnamed sources.

Reuters had in December reported that Traveloka was eyeing to go public and was evaluating a merger with a SPAC as a possible listing option.

This new report comes even as Grab, another Southeast Asian tech unicorn, is said to be working on listing on the New York Stock Exchange through a US$35 billion merger with SPAC Altimeter Capital.

As per Bloomberg’s sources, a deal could value Jakarta-headquartered Traveloka at about US$5 billion. The potential transaction could also involve raising between US$500 million and US$750 million through a private investment in public equity.

Also Read: Grab set to list in the US through US$35B SPAC merger: Report

Founded in 2012 by ex-Silicon Valley engineers, Traveloka is Southeast Asia’s leading technology company providing access for users to discover and purchase a wide range of transportation, accommodation, lifestyle, and financial services products.

Its product portfolio includes transport booking services such as flight tickets, bus, trains, car rental, airport transfer, as well as access to the largest accommodation inventory in the region, including hotels, apartments, guest houses, homestays, resorts, and villas.

It also offers reservation for a wide range of local attractions and activities as well as culinary directories.

Through its financial services products, Traveloka also offers financing, payment, and insurance solutions for the underbanked.

The app has been downloaded more than 60 million times.

As of July last year, Traveloka has a total of US$1.2 billion in its pocket. This included a US$250 million funding round in July 2020 from investors such as GIC and East Ventures.

Its other high-profile investors include Qatar Investment Authority, Expedia, JD.com, Sequoia, and GFC.

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Image Credit: Traveloka

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