Ripple, a leading provider of enterprise blockchain solutions for global payments, announced today it has agreed to acquire 40 per cent of Tranglo, a Malaysian cross-border payments firm.

As per a press note, the partnership will allow Ripple to meet “growing customer demand” in the region and expand the reach of on-demand liquidity (ODL), which uses the digital asset XRP to send money instantly and reduce working capital needs.

Furthermore, Tranglo will play a critical role in supporting Ripple’s existing corridors, such as the Philippines, and introducing new ODL corridors within its current network.

Completion of this transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions and is expected to occur in 2021.

As Ripple broadens its footprint in the region, RippleNet customers using ODL will also be able to leverage the blockchain firm’s Line of Credit to free up working capital and scale cross-border payments into more markets than ever before.

Also Read: TNG Fintech faces lawsuit from minority shareholder in Tranglo

Tranglo will continue to provide and expand its current payment services to make cross-border transactions faster, cheaper and more secure for its customers.

Southeast Asia’s payments landscape is highly fragmented. Each country comes with its own unique process and payments infrastructure — the lack of a standard integration for regional cross-border payments currently requires expensive workarounds.

This partnership will see both companies combine their in-depth local expertise to address the challenges associated with cross-border payments.

Last week, Ripple appointed Brooks Entwistle as Managing Director for Southeast Asia.

According to Asheesh Birla, General Manager of RippleNet, Tranglo’s payments infrastructure, coupled with its unparalleled customer service, makes it an ideal partner to support its expansion of ODL starting with the Southeast Asia region.

Upon completion of the deal, Amir Sarhangi, VP of Product and Delivery at Ripple, and Entwistle will join Tranglo’s board of directors.

TNG Fintech Group, which acquired Tranglo in 2018 in a US$28-million deal, will remain the majority shareholder.

Ripple allows users to send money globally using blockchain. By joining Ripple’s global network (RippleNet), financial institutions can process their customers’ payments anywhere in the world instantly, reliably and cost-effectively. Banks and payment providers can use the digital asset XRP to further reduce their costs and access new markets.

With offices in San Francisco, Washington D.C., New York, London, Mumbai, Singapore, São Paulo, Reykjavik and Dubai, Ripple has more than 300 customers around the world.

Founded in 2008, Tranglo is a cross-border payment hub providing business payment, foreign remittance and mobile payment solutions.

Its global network spans more than 100 countries, 2,500 mobile operators, 1,300 banks/wallets and 130,000 cash pickup points.

It has offices in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Dubai and London.

In January 202, Tranglo announced a collaboration to facilitate cross-border remittances to users of Alipay, who will be able to receive quick and secure money transfers within the app.

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Image Credit: Ripple

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2020 was the year no one could have predicted. While Southeast Asian businesses of all sizes faced challenges, startups and SMEs have undoubtedly been hit the hardest. Research shows that ISMEs are the economic backbone of Southeast Asia, employing 72 per cent of Singapore’s workforce and many are now grappling with the economic, business and social impact of the pandemic.

Yet, if there’s one thing that’s become clear, it’s that Singapore has an abundance of resilient businesses that have spent the last twelve months innovating and pivoting, with many SMEs targeting new audiences and overhauling their marketing strategies to reflect evolving consumer behaviour.

As we are going through the first half of 2021, knowing how best to prepare can feel overwhelming. Here, I delve into how SMEs can get their digital ducks in a row for success in 2021 and beyond.

Migrating to a digitised approach

In a bid to support its growing local SMEs, the Singapore government introduced an e-commerce booster package in 2020. In partnership with online marketplaces Lazada Singapore, Qoo10, Shopee and Amazon, the package provides manpower support to facilitate 90 per cent of the cost for retailers to adopt e-commerce platforms.

SMEs have the opportunity to diversify and digitise their brick and mortar businesses by uncovering a new way to reach local customers. In signing up for the package, SMEs can tap into any of the four online partnered marketplaces to sell their products while also gaining access to services offered by the platforms. This includes content development, product listing, channel management, fulfilment services and advertising.

Beyond providing financial assistance, this package can help SMEs understand and apply digital marketing as well as improve proficiency in implementing effective digital campaigns. These skills enable SMEs to build long-term capabilities and generate greater consumer awareness of their brands and products.

Also Read: Human capital is the biggest enabler of digital transformation. Here’s how to enhance it

Developing a fool-proof marketing strategy

While SME leaders aren’t able to predict what will happen in the future, they can take learnings from 2020 and apply them to their new year marketing strategies. Begin by setting aside a day in the first quarter for a strategy meeting including the sales, customer service and marketing teams.

With the overarching goal of marketing, customer service and sales to build awareness, customer rapport and build trust, these teams must collaborate to achieve objectives in the year ahead. Not only will this session provide a fantastic opportunity to align the team on goals for 2021 but it also serves as a great excuse for team bonding.

For most businesses, digital marketing has become pivotal to success and this is expected to grow this year. Online shopping is the new normal and competition is fierce so SMEs must proactively plan to offer a premium customer experience.

In line with this, use the early months of 2021 to ensure your website, apps and enterprise technology are in optimal condition to provide a polished user experience.

Tapping into innovative tech

As competition continues to increase, SMEs should be adopting innovative technology solutions, specifically artificial intelligence (AI), to help cut through a crowded market. AI technology is not only growing in speed and processing power but in its application, too.

Analysis from Quantcast and Forbes Insights revealed that of 500 marketers, 52 per cent had seen an increase in sales, while 51 per cent had seen an increase in customer retention since introducing AI capabilities to their ecosystem.

There are a few core areas AI can be embedded into digital strategies for small businesses, including marketing and social management, such as managing the company’s social channels, conversational marketing, for example, chatbots, and remarketing, enabling greater insight into audiences and traffic.

Using AI in this way can create more personalised digital experiences, tailoring products and messaging to the right audience and enabling greater insight into customers, both new and old. These insights and recommendations delivered by AI give marketers the power to more accurately adapt their strategies in order to deliver cost-effective and targeted strategies.

Also Read: 5 ways that will help SMEs scale even amidst a pandemic

In a market that is constantly evolving and transforming, it’s never been more important for SMEs to get their digital ducks in a row – this could be the difference between success and failure. The unpredictable events of the last year have prompted a significant change in consumer buying behaviour, and in our new, socially distanced world, digital has become the channel of choice for connecting with businesses.

With a new year comes new opportunities, and in 2021, small businesses should relish the chance to migrate to a digitised approach, revise their marketing strategies and tap into innovative technologies to pave the way to success this year and beyond.

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B Capital Group, a global VC firm that counts Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin among its founders, announced the close of a new US$415-million fund on a new investment category within the firm even as it plans to expand its investment activity in India and Indonesia.

Named Elevate, the category will provide follow-on capital to high-performing, later-stage companies in B Capital’s portfolio.

This marks B Capital’s first fund formally dedicated to late-growth and late-stage investing and is the next step in its mission to be able to support companies across their life cycles, from early stages to IPO.

With its new fund, the firm has now reached US$1.9 billion in assets under management (AUM).

Also Read: B Capital launches US$126M Ascent Fund II targeting seed, Series A startups

The VC firm also announced today it will formally launch in China. The Chinese unit will be headed by General Partner Daisy Cai, who will oversee a team investing in early and growth-stage local technology companies.

The new entity will be based out of Hong Kong.

Since its launch in 2015, B Capital has launched offices across the United States and Asia and invested in over 60 early and growth-stage companies driving digital innovation across global industries.

Co-founder Raj Ganguly noted the opportunities within China’s developing B2B technology market. “If the last two decades in China were about the rise of the consumer internet, the next two decades will be about digital transformation in traditional industries: healthcare, banking, insurance and industrials.”

“Of the ten largest companies in China, only Huawei truly provides enterprise-scale technology solutions. We believe now is the right time to enter China because the next marquee name in enterprise technology is being developed right now. We are excited to find the next Salesforce or Oracle in China, and we already have a number of companies in our sights that have this type of potential,” he added.

Also Read: Venturing into China: The challenges and key success factors of localisation

Newly-appointed General Partner Cai will lead a team of nearly a dozen investor-experts. Cai joins B Capital Group from SoftBank Vision Fund, where she was a Partner. She also counts Goldman Sachs and Baidu Ventures among her former companies.

“The B Capital China team will look to invest in data-driven and software-defined businesses that will empower the country’s rapid digital transformation. Healthcare is another strategic focus as B Capital has a track record of successful investing and helping startups with go-to-market and commercialisation,” she noted.

In parallel with entering into China, B Capital Group expansion of investment resources in India and Indonesia comes as it seeks to partake in the growth of what it claims are two of the fastest-growing technology hubs in Asia.

In Indonesia, the company most recently led a US$20m Series A for e-commerce platform Ula and a US$53m Series B for personal finance platform Payfazz.

It has also backed major Indian startups like SME fintech Khatabook, logistics startup BlackBuck, scooter and bike-sharing venture Bounce, and Bizongo, a B2B marketplace for packaging materials.

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Image Credit: B Capital

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Despite being a major driver of growth for ASEAN economies, the majority of small and micro enterprises continue to exist outside of the formal economy.

The economic fallout of COVID-19 continues to highlight the impact of out-dated or non-existent support systems for these businesses, including basic financial instruments like insurance and access to credit. Solving that gap requires urgent attention.

There are many ways to define small businesses, but here I’m referring to those micro-enterprises with less than US$150,000 in revenue per year. In the ASEAN region, these businesses make up roughly 90 per cent of the small business community and contribute between 30 and 53 per cent of their country’s overall GDP, according to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).

They are heavily concentrated in rural areas, with only 13 to 22 per cent based in major cities such as Jakarta and Manila. Many also struggle with growth due to significant cash flow challenges and access to more suppliers.

Bringing SMEs into the formal economy

For decades, these small-medium enterprises or warungs in Indonesia have been forced to exist outside formal financial systems that were never designed to be inclusive. While many small business owners do not want to be recognised to avoid declaring income or paying taxes.

For the vast majority, however, it is the absence of a meaningful financial infrastructure that prevents these cash-based businesses from participating. Avoiding it, however, poses certain challenges; challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, and challenges that outweigh the perceived savings.

Also Read: How fintech in Asia is enabling and making education affordable for everyone

For example, they typically struggle to gain access to basic financial products like insurance to protect their business, or credit that can help their businesses grow. In fact, while there are more than 60 million SMEs in Indonesia, only 12 per cent are eligible to receive financing or bank loans.

Operating outside of the formal economy also means that SMEs are unable to receive government subsidies or take advantage of stimulus programs when required, as seen during the pandemic.

Expanding the scope of small businesses

Working with various supplier-partners, I have observed that small and micro businesses are often limited in their scope to the surrounding geographic area when they transact primarily in cash. This requires their customers and suppliers to make physical visits to their stores or business premises.

Handling physical currency, however, can be costly, as well as inefficient. Without a financial identity or credit history, small businesses often have to pay exorbitant interest rates on loans and other financial products from informal sources.

Simplified access to basic financial services can be a vital catalyst for small business owners to recover from the fallout of this pandemic. This is where non-bank technology or Fintechs can play a vital role by analysing alternative data-sources, building new credit-scoring models and expanding financial access without bias.

Pandemic changed consumer behaviour

The need for small and micro businesses to adopt digital financial solutions has also accelerated significantly in a relatively short period of time. In my conversations with suppliers, they see an urgent need for mobile-applications that can digitise procurement and inventory management across their retailer networks.

According to research conducted by Kantar, cash transactions have declined from accounting for 48 per cent of all purchases prior to the pandemic to 37 per cent today.

The pandemic has also dramatically accelerated the adoption of digital tools and technologies among their customers. In the past 12 months online buying and selling related search engine inquiries have increased five-fold, with more than 54 per cent and 56 per cent of new digital consumers located outside of major cities in Indonesia and the Philippines, respectively, according to a 2020 study conducted by Bain & Company.

Also Read: How fintech is making credit more accessible for Southeast Asian SMEs

The study also found that monthly active users for select mobile apps have increased by 53 per cent, 43 per cent and 73 per cent in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, respectively. The technology adoption rates seen in the last 12 months as a result of the pandemic could have otherwise taken another 5-10 years. With this new paradigm, remaining outside of the formal economy is no longer viable.

Suppliers can bridge the gap between SMBs and digital infrastructure

By utilising digital tools, small and medium enterprises can now gain access to a range of vital business resources, such as accounting, financing, inventory management, eKYC, payment solutions, and insurance products.

With the right partnerships, I expect suppliers to these micro-businesses to contribute to building the ecosystem that enables businesses in their networks to further leverage these solutions to create shared value.

While working with Suppliers across markets like Indonesia, it is clear fintech can help business owners using data-driven insights and analytics to offer onboarding solutions that integrate ID verification and KYC, provide access to financing, allow businesses to establish a financial identity, and focus on growth.

The ability to automate these services and manage it online between stakeholders will ensure more of such supplier-retailer networks will benefit from digital transformation. And many fintech are already leading the way via powerful digital platforms that use creative solutions to analyse hard-to-get data-sets, provide visibility on funding and order requirements, and streamline the procurement process.

Today, SME-focused digital-lenders, for example, use AI to analyse a wider base of operational data to build a robust risk assessment that enables small business owners to access non-collateral-based working capital and build a credit profile. The same fintech also offer distribution channels for the business to avail deferred payment facilities, and make timely payments through reliable online and offline channels.

All of these resources ultimately lower the cost of doing business for small and micro enterprises, while enabling access to a broader customer base. As the cost of starting businesses goes down dramatically, I expect to see three to five times growth in the number of micro-businesses and SMEs in general.

Also Read: Here are 13 useful fintech solutions that are perfect for SMEs

Collaboration is critical to success

For SMEs, fintech is fast becoming a critical partner to survival but success. SMEs are able to increase their sales by more than 40-50 per cent when they can borrow from Fintech- based lenders. Last year SMEs received 55 per cent of all loan capital distributed by Indonesia’s fintech sector, or IDR54.71 trillion, suggesting they are more willing to work with fintech platforms than traditional financial institutions.

While traditional financial institutions have approval rates for small businesses in the low teens, financial technology providers can have approval rates that are two to three times higher. Of course, no fintech alone can satisfy the needs of a growing digital economy. Collaboration within the fintech ecosystem, between fintech solution providers and banks, and with the public sector is critical.

With the pandemic serving as a catalyst for businesses to move online, remaining outside of the formal economy is no longer viable. That is why we must work together to ensure that the crucial SME sector — especially those that operate outside of major cities — have the tools to not just participate but meaningfully contribute to the GDP of increasingly digital economies for years to come.

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As a platform that enables borderless remittance for individuals and businesses, international expansion has always been a crucial element in how Wise operates.

Formerly known as TransferWise, the London-based company aims to solve the problems of high fees and currency mark-ups on foreign exchange transaction by building a platform that provides “instant, convenient, transparent and eventually free” international remittance. Launched in 2011, it has also expanded to include other products such as a companion debit card and a multi-currency account.

According to Venkatesh Saha, Head, Asia-Pacific Expansion at Wise, the company thinks of international expansion in two dimensions: Launching in new markets where there are demands for its services and bringing new features to existing markets.

“Bringing Wise to new markets means getting appropriately licensed since we are a provider of financial services. How do we choose which markets to prioritise? We simply ask our customers – if we do not currently serve a market where they are based, we ask them to come to our website and leave a ‘wish’. The currency route with the highest number of wishers automatically moves to the top of the list,” he explains in an email to e27.

In the Asia Pacific, where Wise leads its expansion from its hub office in Singapore, the company has launched remittance product in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia, as well as new features (such as the account and debit card) in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. It also has a number of corporate and SME clients using its services, including their infrastructure Wise Platform.

In this edition of deep dive series, Saha reveals how the company is creating its international expansion plan, the challenges that it has faced along the way, and what lessons can be learned from it.

You will learn about:

– International expansion 101: Key principles and steps
– On working with regulators
– Final thoughts on international expansion

Also Read: In brief: Beenext backs Indian startup YAP, Grab co-founder joins Wise board

International expansion 101: Key principles and steps

Before a company can plan their international expansion, first and foremost, they need to find out where the demands are. The only way to do this is by listening closely to what the customers want.

“We continually review where our customer demand is the highest and focus on those markets. For example, sending money from Indonesia and Malaysia had been our top most-requested currency routes in the region and we were excited to launch international money transfers for these customers,” Saha says.

The next step is figuring out the customers’ local needs, a process that is especially crucial in an incredibly diverse market such as Southeast Asia. While Wise’s user experience and brand identity remain “largely the same” in all of its markets, there are some adjustments that the company had to make.

“Taking on this local lens has allowed us to communicate, address and develop locally-relevant solutions that make a real impact on customers’ lives. Making the service available in Bahasa Indonesia to cater to our customers in Indonesia, integrating with MyInfo in Singapore to offer a seamless digital onboarding experience or providing access to POLi, a popular way to fund remittances in Australia, are some examples of tailored services in APAC,” Saha elaborates.

“Building locally-relevant solutions is a significant investment that involves multiple teams from product, expansion and engineering to operations, and even design and marketing,” he stresses.

Once these steps are covered, the next step that Wise takes is customer education. Interestingly, according to Saha, many of their customers are not even aware that they are not well-served when it comes to foreign exchange.

“Too often, fees are hidden and non-transparent when it comes to transaction fees or exchange rate markups. How this works: providers will offer a relatively low or zero upfront transaction fee, but mark up the exchange rate instead, which means customers pay more than they should due to the unfriendly rate whether it’s transferring money abroad, making international payments or changing money from one currency to another,” he explains.

This is the part where product marketing teams will play a crucial role.

“One example of how we do this is by offering a comparison with other leading players in a given market on our home page. This way, consumers can see for themselves how much our service costs compared to other players and choose wisely — if a competitor has a better deal, we don’t hide it,” Saha says.

Also Read: WISE AI secures pre-Series A from Sun SEA Capital to bankroll the expansion of its eKYC platform in the region

One thing that must never be ignored when launching a product or service in a new market is the evaluation process. According to Saha, having a company culture that celebrates success and failure in equal measure is a “privilege” that aids the process.

“Our products are not static — even after a successful launch, we are constantly trying to improve the product and the customer journey. For instance: Can we drop prices even lower? Can we make customer onboarding more seamless? Can we make the payments move faster? We set these KPIs well before launch and measure our progress towards them every quarter,” Saha says.

“If we identify a misstep, the team that worked on that project gets together, does a retrospective of what happened and then shares their learnings with the entire company. An example could be if we missed a launch deadline or if we underestimated local regulatory complexity. This allows other teams to learn from the experience and helps them apply these learnings to other contexts.”

On working with regulators

For fintech startups, part of the challenge in introducing its products is making sure that it is able to make a difference in customers’ life –while being compliant with regulation. The challenge gets more complicated when they are introducing the product into a new market.

Saha gives an example by comparing the European and Southeast Asian markets. In Europe, a single license can be used across multiple countries, but in Southeast Asia, each country has their own requirements that companies must fulfil.

“As part of our commitment to new markets, we often open local offices to lay the groundwork and drive growth. Hiring and onboarding new team members who will be responsible for launching and building on the initial momentum is not easy. We have to ensure that we find colleagues who understand our mission, serve as the bridge to the local regulators and ecosystem and can be advocates for Wise in their respective markets,” he says.

For Wise, the key in working with regulators is openness while keeping in mind that the regulators’ job is to keep their citizens’ money safe.

“… takes time and multiple conversations before they can build that trust and get comfortable, especially if it is an innovative business model like ours. As one regulator told me after a multi-year licensing process, ‘This is a marriage, we will supervise you for as long as you offer services in our country’!” Saha points out.

Also Read: Being level-headed, judicious and open key to making wise investment decisions

It is also important to see this relationship-building as an ongoing process that does not stop with the licensing.

“We see these relationships as an ongoing process where we continue having open conversations with regulators to make our product faster, cheaper and more convenient for customers. For example, when we first launched in Singapore in 2016, all our customers needed to come to our office in person for verification. Having stayed and continued to build in the market over the past few years and working with the regulator, we were eventually able to offer an instant onboarding experience to our customers in Singapore, through our direct integration with MyInfo, the national database,” Saha stresses.

A final thought on international expansion

After laying down the principles and steps that Wise takes to execute its international expansion, we drive the conversation into understanding the common mistakes that business makes when planning theirs –and what Wise has learned about it.

Saha believes that international expansion should be seen as a marathon instead of a sprint.

“Every business wants to grow, launch new markets and get its product into the hands of new customers as quickly as possible, but this should never come at the expense of business sustainability. As such, we are disciplined about where and what we’re spending on, and its impact on the mission which includes making the hard decisions on which country to go to next,” he says.

For Wise, they implement a principle of zero cross-subsidisation in supporting their international expansion.

“We don’t want customers from one country to be cross-subsidising customers in another or have one product cross-subsidising another. This is not only unfair to your customers but it’s also dangerous 一 what if one day customers stop using that ‘money maker’ product? Your entire business could unravel. For these reasons, we want to ensure that each product, feature and market stands alone as sustainable. In order to do so, we spend that extra bit of time to understand each regulator and market’s concerns as well as explore ways to lower our costs before we are comfortable launching publicly,” Saha explains.

In short, the lessons in international expansion can be divided into three parts:

1. Being laser-focused on the mission

“In a fast-paced environment and industry like ours, it can be tricky deciding what to prioritise when everything feels important. Here, our mission charts the course for us and combining this with the need for long term business sustainability has made us more aware of what we’re spending, where, and why we’re doing it. If something doesn’t serve the mission, no matter how shiny, it’s gone.”

2. Having a strong local market knowledge

“When you’re committed to expansion, it’s equally important to have a physical presence in the market or be as close to the market as possible. This enables us to work smoothly with local partners and regulators.”

3. Attracting and retaining the right talent

“This means that beyond having the ability to do the job, we look for people who are passionate about learning new things, and truly enthusiastic about making a difference for our customers and on our mission. Once we find them, the onus is on us to onboard them and give them the tools to be successful at Wise.”

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Image Credit: Wise

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Endowus, a Singapore-based investment platform, has raised S$23 million (US$17 million) in a Series A funding round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Softbank Ventures Asia, the global early-stage venture arm of SoftBank Group, also participated.

The fresh funds will fuel the company’s expansion plan in Asia, starting with Hong Kong. This is the first external fundraise by the company, which to date had been bootstrapped by its employees hailing from companies, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and UBS.

Launched in 2019, Endowus offers retail, accredited, and institutional investors a platform to invest cash, Central Provident Fund (CPF) and Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) savings. Endowus claims it provides access to expert personalised advice and “best-in-class” funds at a lower cost with no sales fees and a complete trailer fee rebate.

Endowus noted it has experienced 20X growth in clients investing on the platform, with an eightfold increase in assets under advice.

As per a statement, it is on track to hit its target of S$1 billion (US$743 million) in assets under advice by Q2 2021, just over 18 months after its full-service launch.

Riding on the increased preference for impact investing, Endowus also recently launched sustainable ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) investment portfolios for retail investors in Singapore.

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

“Endowus will use the additional resources and the support of our VC partners to go deeper and broader in the Asia market where we want to continue helping all investors achieve their investment goals. We began “Day 1” with the mission to solve the greatest challenges and problems of wealth and finance such as retirement adequacy,” said Samuel Rhee, founding partner and chairman of Endowus.

“As the first-and-only CPF digital advisor and now the fastest growing digital wealth platform in Singapore, Endowus is achieving that goal and the new fundraising will help us bring that mission of the company and vision of the future into reality for all Singapore-based investors,” he added.

“The success we’ve seen in Singapore this past year proves that our solutions are meeting the needs of investors, with one in two clients acquired on our platform investing across multiple wealth streams. And with the same rigour, we will expand our offerings to other key markets in the region, starting with Hong Kong,” said Gregory Van, founding partner and CEO of Endowus.

“Endowus’s mission is to solve saving and investing for individual investors and meet global retirement challenges aligned with our understanding of what was needed in the market. Their innovative business model, ambition and commitment to a higher standard of fiduciary duty speaks of a team that is at the cutting edge of the fintech space,” noted Harsha Kumar, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners.

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Image Credit: Endowus

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YJ Capital (YJC), a subsidiary of Z Holdings Corporation, has announced a merger with LINE Ventures to form Z Venture Capital Corporation (ZVC).

By joining forces, ZVC looks to launch a JPY$30-billion (US$271 million) “ZVC 1 Investment Partnership” fund that will focus on opportunities in Japan, Southeast Asia, South Korea, the US, and China.

“Today, the CVCs (corporate venture capital) of Yahoo! JAPAN, and LINE have become one,” Shinichiro Hori, CEO of ZVC, said. “By providing growth capital to startup companies and access to ZHD’s ecosystem, we look forward to working together with companies to evolve our services and make tomorrow’s society better.”

For global investments, ZVC will adopt a sector-agnostic approach but with a strategic focus on sectors like consumer internet, e-commerce, fintech, and O2O mobility.

Also Read: Asia Partners maiden fund hits final close at US$384M

At the same time, in advanced markets like the US, the VC firm will analyse the fields of AI, robotics, deep-tech, and blockchain. It will provide startups with global expansion support, product implementation/marketing support, partnership opportunities, and knowledge-sharing opportunities.

Z Holdings, itself a joint venture between SoftBank and Yahoo!, is one of Japan’s largest internet service companies.

LINE Ventures is the CVC arm of Line Corporation, the creator of the mobile messaging app LINE. It focuses on providing funding, industry knowledge, and operational support to its portfolio companies across the globe.

LINE had also joined ZHD in another merger on March 1, 2021.

Southeast Asia is becoming an increasingly strategic region for global investors. As of 2020, there are 61 VC funds in the market to raise capital for the region, of which 49 are by VCs headquartered in Singapore.

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Image Credit: Echelon Thailand, May 2017

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Will SEA become a dominant force in the digital currency space?; A survey reveals two ASEAN countries rank second and third among countries with the highest rates of cryptocurrency adoption; These are Vietnam and the Philippines, which have 21% and 20% of their respective populations saying that they have used or owned digital assets in the past year. More here

The SEA fintech ecosystem sees a flood of investments this new year; Mynt’s US$1bn funding announcement is one of 15 listed in the region in January; Other funding announcements include Singapore’s Lendela, Pintek and Alami from Indonesia, Malaysia’s microLEAP, GPay, and Momo from Vietnam, collectively garnering investments over US$50mn. More here

Singapore faces talent crunch for engineering and product manager roles: Report; Salary differences for senior roles relative to junior roles were the highest in Vietnam for both tech and non-tech talent compared to Singapore and Indonesia; The report was jointly done by Monk’s Hill Ventures and Glints. More here

B Capital launches US$415mn fund; to expand investment activity in India, Indonesia; Named Elevate, the new fund will provide follow-on capital to high-performing, later-stage companies in B Capital’s portfolio; The VC firm also said will formally launch in China; The Chinese unit will be based in HK. More here

AirAsia to launch ride-hailing services in Malaysia; This move comes after it launched a food delivery service in Singapore; Understanding the potential comparison with existing ride-hailing giants such as Grab, CEO Tony Fernandes says AirAsia can become successful in this sector even with the heavy competition, citing history where the company managed to raise funding quicker than any other airline company. More here

A startup within an MNC: How Thales Digital Factory spins a new take on corporate innovation; The factory has developed a solution called DIVA (distributed intelligent video analytics), which leverages existing CCTV cameras to enable effective crowd management at train stations and onboard trains. More here

YJ Capital, LINE Ventures merge to form a new US$271M fund; Z Venture Capital Corporation invest in startups across Japan, Southeast Asia, South Korea, the US and China; For global investments, ZVC will adopt a sector-agnostic approach but with a strategic focus on sectors like consumer internet, e-commerce, fintech and O2O. More here

Ajaib, which aims to be the ‘Robinhood of Indonesia’, bags US$65mn Series A from Ribbit Capital; This comes after the investment platform raised US$25mn in a Series A round led by Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures; Ajaib claims to have processed 10mn+ transactions in the last four months and has over 1mn monthly users on its platform. More here

Endowus snags US$17mn Series A to grow its investment platform regionally; Investors include Lightspeed and Softbank Ventures Asia; Singapore-based Endowus offers retail, accredited, and institutional investors a platform to invest cash, CPF and SRS savings. More here

Blockchain firm Ripple buys 40% stake in Malaysia’s Tranglo; Ripple is a provider of enterprise blockchain solutions for global payments whereas Tranglo is a cross-border payments firm; The partnership will allow Ripple to expand the reach of on-demand liquidity, which uses the digital asset XRP to send money instantly and reduce working capital needs. More here

Dash Living secures US$8.8mn+ Series A; Backers include Grosvenor Asia Pacific, Gobi Partners, and Mindworks; Dash provides serviced living and co-living spaces in HK and Singapore; It plans to launch in Japan and Australia and expand its asset-light management model for long-stay and SaaS for landlords. More here

Singaporean firm specialising in supply-chain risk management Nimbly raises US$4.6mn pre-Series A; Investors are Insignia Ventures (lead), Sovereign Capital and Saison Capital; Nimbly enables companies to monitor and verify the implementation of SOPs in multiple locations, uncover data-driven operational insights and track issues until resolution. More here

Singapore’s fintech firm Tazapay lands US$1.75mn; It provides a digital payments platform for SMEs engaging in cross-border trade; Investors are Sequoia’s Surge, Saison Capital, RTP Global, and January Capital; The fintech firm also provides SMEs with fast, simple background checks on potential business partners. More here

Fundiin receives financing for its Vietnam-focused BNPL platform; Investors include 1982 Ventures and Zone Startups Ventures; The funds will go towards bankrolling market expansion plans as the startup seeks to serve a “growing waitlist of merchants and their customers.” More here

Vietnam launches first autonomous vehicle; Manufactured by local conglomerate Phenikaa Group, the self-driving vehicle boasts AI features including 3D maps, Lidar sensors, simultaneous localisation and mapping technology, and incorporates machine and deep learning within its software. More here

Ex-Zilingo exec joins Singapore VC firm Smile Asia as chief strategy officer; Billy Naveed spent the last two years at Zilingo as head of strategy; Apart from managing the company’s US business, he helped its fintech unit and assisted with the acquisition of nCinga, a software-as-a-service business based in Sri Lanka. More here

This startup is elevating smart security through sound detection; Singapore-based startup SoundEye whose IoT solutions allow for emergency monitoring, home monitoring, and security surveillance; SoundEye’s solution employs edge computing – meaning the system selectively records sound anomalies in an environment as they happen. More here

Singapore fintech firms Stacs and Bluecell to transform green finance; They will partner to push for industry-wide adoption of blockchain-powered infra to support effective green and sustainability-linked loans; Bluecell, an aggregator of lenders, will connect its loans matching engine to Stacs’ blockchain-based sustainability-enabling tech infra, GreenStacs. More here

Successful subscription models are like a well-choreographed dance; Essentially, a subscription relationship is a continuous dance with your customer and the data is your instructor; There are several important steps to this dance — from attracting new customers, to retaining them, to renewing them — and perfecting those steps is no small feat. More here

Iceland fintech startup Meniga plans APAC growth; The digital banking solutions firm entered the Southeast Asian market in 2019, when it opened a new office location in Singapore; It has since successfully launched some of the most popular banking apps in the region, including for UOB. More here

Singapore trials solar-powered buses; The 1.6mm-thick panels will convert solar energy into electricity to charge the buses’ batteries; This reduces the load on the vehicle’s alternator, and in turn, saves fuel and reduces carbon emissions. More here

Mall Group eyes return to e-commerce; The Thai company will start afresh by launching two shopping websites — M Online and Gourmet Market Thailand — and also approach customers on other platforms such as social commerce and online marketplaces; Despite being behind other players in digital commerce, there is still an opportunity for growth for the company as the ratio of e-commerce to retail businesses in Thailand is still small. More here

Can fintech partnerships solve the challenges of micro and small businesses?; Simplified access to basic financial services can be a vital catalyst for small business owners to recover from the fallout of this pandemic; This is where fintechs can play a vital role by analysing alternative data-sources, building new credit-scoring models and expanding financial access without bias. More here

Indonesia’s next digital boom lies beyond metropolitan cities; E-commerce, digital payments and lending is poised for mass adoption in tier 2 & 3 cities and expected to grow 30-50% annually for the next five years; In particular, e-commerce GMV could hit US$45bn, five times that of 2020’s estimated US$9bn. More here

In Asia Pacific, SEA consumers are most receptive to challenger banks: Study; It polled 5K digital banking customers in ten key APAC markets to gain better insights on consumer preferences, interactions and engagements; Thailand scored the highest with 78% of respondents stating they were open to consider a fintech, followed by Vietnam with 77%, and Indonesia with 69%. More here

How Alibaba’s technology is changing the face of philanthropy; Teaching farmers how to promote their products with livestreaming, connecting engineers with welfare organisations in need of digital experts and using its platform to encourage users to “go green” are just some examples of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s philanthropic efforts. More here

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Photo by Harrison Kugler on Unsplash

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Undertaking large-scale farming is near to impossible in a country like Singapore with a land area of just 724.2 square kilometres (279.6 square metres).

According to Singapore Food Agency, only two square kilometres of the country’s land is available for farming, which is much lesser when compared with Malaysia, which uses more than 11 times the land for farming. This explains why over 90 per cent of the food items in the island nation is imported.

Despite the active measures taken by the Singapore government to transform the agriculture sector, local farmers often whine that highly nutritious items like root vegetables, fruits, herbs, goat milk and frog meat aren’t getting adequate support.

But this issue is just the tip of the iceberg — when the environmental implications of conventional farming methods are taken into account.

In general, traditional farming methods are the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Coupled with the rising population, farmers often heavily rely on nitrogen-based fertilisers to increase the yield, which inadvertently leads to nitrous oxide emissions, which further exacerbates climate change.

To take this problem head-on, Benjamin Swan started an agritech company in Singapore six years ago, which relies on a more efficient and sustainable way of farming. 

The green stop

As offbeat as it may sound, the idea for a vertical farm occurred to the Australian when he couldn’t find fresh salads in Singapore’s grocery stores.

“When I first moved here from Australia over 12 years ago, I was frustrated that it was so difficult to get good produce here,” he told e27 in an interview.

But he knew that the problem did not lie with distributors or farmers because, by the time the produce is flown to Singapore from different countries, the greens are already wilting in the bag.

“The other thing that frustrated me was the food waste that would accumulate at the bottom of the bag if I didn’t eat the greens within 12 hours,” he said.

Also Read:  How Fefifo aims to make farming cool again for the younger generation

But funnily enough, it was a Facebook post that brought in the real motivation for Swan to go deeper into vertical farming. 

“When I read a Facebook article about vertical farming, I thought to myself, ‘hey, this is cool and I can grow myself a great salad at home’,” he said.

To gain more knowledge of the industry, Swan travelled to different countries and met experts in traditional farming. As he gained more knowledge, he realised that traditional farming is harmful to the environment.

This is when he started testing out by growing plants indoors while still holding on to his full-time job as an engineer.

Initially, he began to grow kale in the basement of a swimming pool at over 42 degrees, which was hitherto unheard of, as the item generally grows at a temperature of 18 to 20 degrees.

After 18 months of heavy research, he, along with his co-founder Martin Lavoo, launched Sustenir Group, a vertical farm that sells its products in stores like Redmart and Cold Storage.

How it works

Sustenir Group uses methods like controlled environment agriculture (CEA), vertical farming and hydroponics to grow 52 varieties of microgreens, along with plants like strawberries, kale, lettuce and spinach.

The indoor farming facility has sensors operating 24 hours to provide the company with data on the health and status of all its plants. The parameters used include humidity, temperature, and light. 

After receiving data from the sensors, its system adjusts the environment for each plant accordingly.

While the majority of farmers use pesticides to manipulate the physical appearances of fruits and vegetables, Sustenir Group doesn’t use any.

“We use zero pesticides. Our produce is 100 per cent clean, meaning they go beyond organic. As we know, organic products still use pesticides, albeit lesser harmful ones. Not only do we use zero pesticides, but we also make sure haze/pollution doesn’t come to the room,” Swan said.

Since Sustenir uses no chemicals, Swan claims its vegetables and fruits are not only more nutritious but also taste better — with customers coming back in surprise, seeking where he gets the vegetables from because their children enjoy the vegetables very much.

Also Read: Tunas Farm raises pre-seed funding from Gayo Capital to launch its urban farming technology

While traditional farming is a highly laborious occupation with hours spent toiling under the parched sun, the farming experience for employees at Sustenir is far different.

“Instead of someone working day and night, what happens is that everything inside the indoor farm is pre-scheduled. So we know when a plant needs to move and be harvested because we can control exactly how much solar radiation goes to the plant. It is all pre-planned,” he explained.

“It’s not like outdoor farms where you might have too much cloud coverage this month. So we have to leave the plants in for another couple of days. Everything is planned and scheduled. It’s all within our stride,” he remarked.

The future plans

In the future, Sustenir Group plans on leveraging both indoor and outdoor farming methods.

“As of now, it’s not possible to grow products like bok choy on an indoor farm. That’s why it is necessary for us to still leverage outdoor technology and improve it somewhat, so we can become more efficient with our products that are going out on land. Because the reality with indoor farming is that we can only grow limited products here,” he said.

Last year, Sustenir expanded into Hong Kong and Malaysia.

“We have just got the third market under our belt with big ambitions to build across Southeast Asia and North Asia in the coming years,” he said.

Although Sustenir’s farm is cash-flow positive, Swan said that the company is more focused on growth rather than profits.

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Image Credit: Sustenir Group

The post How Sustenir Group makes sustainable farming possible in the island nation appeared first on e27.

Conicle, a Thai edutech startup focused on providing learning solutions for corporates, has raised US$3 million in a Series A funding round.

Participating investors included InVent, the corporate VC arm of Intouch Holdings, besides 500TuksTuks, Stormbreaker Venture and Stundi.

The fresh funds will go towards bankrolling Conicle’s business growth plans, which includes being the local market leader for corporate learning solutions and overseas expansion.

Founded in 2014, Conical’s learning management platform help organisations enhance employee capabilities and efficiency. Its ConicleX offering is akin to a “cloud university” where employees can learn skills including business acumen, data analysis and personnel management.

The company shared it serves over 50 organisations and has more than one million users.

“At Conicle, we focus on developing new technologies and services that can educate people and simplify learning. This will improve personal capabilities and provide organizations with better tools and processes for people development. Learning is not limited to a physical campus but will become a lifelong activity,” said Nakorn Phuekphiphatmet, co-founder and CEO of Conicle.

Also Read: How edutech startups can accelerate active learning

“Because the body of knowledge is growing and new skills are required all the time, Conicle has developed a platform similar to an online university where people and organisations can learn throughout their lives. The design concept has been geared towards the redefinition of learning, not just e-learning or online courses, but the perception of learning as a combined process and tailored to different personal demands,” he further shared.

“The investment in Conicle is based on promising growth that follows changes in learning behaviour, and is in line with the conceptual framework of the companies in the group to focus on people development by upgrading education to enhance the nation’s competitiveness,” remarked Narongpon Boonsongpaisan, Head of InVent.

“Within the next three to five years, over 47 per cent of tasks will be undertaken by robots so about half the existing jobs will disappear. AI and robotics will be the base for a new wave of digital disruption. Inequality will widen, not to mention a wider gap in technological knowledge. Therefore, reskilling is an urgent issue,” said Krating Poonpol, Managing Partner of 500 TukTuks and founder of StormBreaker Venture.

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Image Credit: Conicle

The post Conicle bags US$3M Series A to grow its ‘cloud university’ in Thailand appeared first on e27.