2021 may become a significant year for the Asian investment market as foreign hedge funds and individual investors alike appear to be tapping into the early pandemic recovery across the east whilst stepping away from overvalued US assets. 

Although this trend appears to be largely driven by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are indications that the shift towards Asia has been occurring at a somewhat slower pace long before the arrival of the virus.

The recent GameStop saga that saw hedge funds come into direct competition with retail investors may ultimately prove to contribute to the outflow of investment. 

Hedge fund havens in Asia

According to a Credit Suisse Group AG survey of over 200 institutional investors with US$812 billion in hedge fund assets, Asia-Pacific was the most sought after region with 55 per cent net demand– the highest figures in over a decade.

In comparison, the demand for North American markets was 20 per cent. These figures measure the share of investors aiming to raise allocations minus those planning to trim. Speaking to Bloomberg, Richard Johnston, Asia head at Albourne Partners in Hong Kong said: “This year we are going to see strong net inflows based on our conversations. The areas we are seeing the most demand for are China equities, low-net hedge funds and private credit.” 

This significant investment shift could help to foster growth in Asia’s relatively small hedge fund industry that’s centred heavily in Hong Kong and Singapore. Investors worldwide are looking for ways to profit from the region’s economic growth, and Asia hedge funds have outperformed their global counterparts. 

The total assets under management by Asia Pacific hedge funds have also risen by 20 per cent in the past year to US$155.6 billion, and there may be stronger inflows across 2021. 

This surge in monetary and fiscal stimulus in North America and Europe could also push some investors to move their money to Asian investment markets and bypassing the difficult US markets. Regulatory changes have also made it easier for hedge funds to invest in China, which is playing a role in boosting demand. 

Also Read: Pluang rakes in US$20M pre-Series B to provide easy access to micro-savings, micro-investment products in Indonesia

Riding the wave of foreign capital

Asian stock markets, including the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) are seeing an emerging theme of increasing foreign funds as investors move away from low-yield 10-year bonds because of signs of increasing inflation. 

Foreign fund inflows are expected to significantly benefit large-cap stocks as foreign investors prefer stocks with high liquidity. Although analysts are waiting for more concrete signs of inflows before adjusting 2021’s SET Index target. 

Here, we can see that the Asian investment markets that are drawing foreign interest extend way beyond that of China, with markets in Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand all reporting positive net trading value for foreign shares in recent months. This has driven the Asian stock market year-to-date returns to higher levels than those of European and US equivalents. 

The individual investor boom

The appeal of Asian investment markets has extended to individual investors, with many using the downtime created by the pandemic to invest in stocks for the first time. 

Stock trading has surged across Asia, as markets have emerged from the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic. Activity on the continent’s two largest stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen has risen towards levels that haven’t been seen since China’s 2014 and 2015 boom.

Also Read: In June, startup investment in Southeast Asia continued to weather the storm

While trading on exchanges in Seoul and Hong Kong has also broken records. Shares are also changing hands in significant numbers in Taiwan, India and even smaller markets like Indonesia and Vietnam. 

According to Herald van der Linde, head of Asia Pacific equity strategy at HSBC, companies “have seen armies of Asia retail investors appear and invest in sizes that are mind-boggling, both in terms of trading volumes and the value of shares traded.”

Amidst the widespread appeal of new frontiers for first-time investors is the significant growth in IPO proceeds over the past year – with Asian initial public offering proceeds rising to their second-highest levels since the turn of the century. 

Much like investment apps which are becoming increasingly accessible for individual investors, so too are platforms in which users can buy into IPOs. 

Platforms such as the Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: FRHC) has a platform – Freedom24, which enables retail investors to not only buy stocks but also actively participate in IPOs that may otherwise be restricted to institutional investors only. Although with this said, there’s an application process attached and a financial threshold of $2,000 to reach. 

Alternatively, other more traditional platforms like Fidelity and TD Ameritrade enable the general public to also participate in selected IPOs– however, the account value threshold starts at US$100,000 and US$250,000 respectively. 

Although the pandemic has caused a heavy level of disruption to investment markets around the world, Asia appears to be profiting from a swift recovery from COVID-19 to win over a level of foreign interest that has seldom been seen before.

If this momentum continues in the wake of a challenging time for the dollar, we may be witnessing the start of an especially prosperous period for the Orient.

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Indonesia’s managed long-term rental startup Flokq announced today it has acquired local co-living startup Yukstay.

The purchase price of the deal remains undisclosed.

With the acquisition of Yukstay’s tech capabilities, Flokq hopes to accelerate its investment in technology and the expansion of its product offerings, such as in providing add-on services and a marketplace for owners.

Flokq CEO Anand Janardhanan stated that the deal focuses on the acquisition of the extensive tech capabilities that Yukstay has built. “As Flokq looks to scale from providing co-living spaces into providing tech-driven property management and beyond, the deal will be strategic for Flokq’s growth in capturing more of the US$180 billion long-term rental markets in Southeast Asia.”

Yukstay, founded in 2018, claims to be the first co-living startup in Indonesia, with operations in Jakarta and Surabaya. Since inception, the startup has raised funding from notable investors, including Y Combinator, Insignia Ventures, Skystar Capital, Tanglin Venture Partners and K3 Ventures.

Also Read: How Dash Living built a social media community of 13K+ members for its co-living platform across Singapore, HK

“Over the last 18 months, we have built a platform to simplify the real estate value chain. Agents are provided with tech and data that better facilitate transactions, improve customer experience and manage the property. Joining Flokq will supercharge its already strong operating model to meet the growing housing demands in the region,” said Christopher Kung, CEO of Yukstay.

Flokq was started in 2019 by Janardhanan and Harmeet Singh. As a managed rental market platform, it first piloted serviced co-living and community in apartments across Jakarta, starting in apartments located in the downtown area. As of now, the company claims to have over 1,000 units on the platform in Indonesia’s capital.

A little over a year since the beginning of its operations, Flokq says its product and tech offering have led to over 95 per cent occupancy rate with a few million USD in ARR and turned cash-flow positive.

During the pandemic, the co-living market across the globe including Indonesia experienced a short-term setback in demand due to concerns over social-distancing.

However, with the growing number of young professionals working from home, longing for convenience and togetherness, co-living is expected to bounce back.

Its flexible lease terms also give it an added advantage over traditional long-term accommodation options.

The co-living market is estimated to be worth US$2.1 billion, but that being said competition is also heavy around this space especially within Indonesia.

Other notable players in the co-living space in the archipelago are CoHive, Dojo, Floko, hustlersvilla, and more.

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Indonesian wealthtech startup Pluang raises US$20mn pre-Series B; Investors include Openspace Ventures and Go-Ventures; Pluang offers gold, US equity indices and cryptocurrencies, and allows users to make micro-savings as low as ~US$0.50; The company has been selected to provide mini-apps within gojek, Dana and Bukalapak. More here

Indonesia’s social commerce app KitaBeli bags US$10mn Series A led by Go-Ventures; The mobile app enables users to buy daily essentials, ranging from fast-moving consumer goods, fresh produce, beauty, electronics and other household items; By sharing info with their friends and neighbours, users can unlock discounts and benefit from lower prices for daily essential items. More here

Indonesia’s Flokq acquires co-living peer Yukstay; Financial details not disclosed; The deal, which was sealed in January, will see Flokq leveraging Yukstay’s tech capabilities to accelerate its business; Yukstay is backed by YC, Insignia Ventures; Flokq is backed by Urban Ventures Asia. More here

Bukalapak co-founders’s VC firm Init 6 invests US$5mn into Indonesia’s IDCloudHost; The startup provides cloud-based services including domain handling and server creation for customers ranging from startups and small businesses to individual developers; The firm claims to have served 100K+ customers and counts Telkom Indonesia and Mandiri Capital among its clients. More here

Singapore may be approaching a golden age for SaaS startups; For SaaS startups looking to build a regional business, a big draw of S’pore and SEA is the region’s cultural diversity and supply of tech talent, who aren’t just more affordable compared to those in the US or Europe but are equally skilled in software and engineering as well. More here

This S’pore startup built autonomous robots that deliver parcels, groceries to Punggol HDBs; OTSAW’s O-R3 security robot can autonomously patrol streets, pathways and open spaces, avoid static and dynamic obstacles, as well as return to base when its energy runs out; Besides outdoor patrol or surveillance at parks, the O-R3 is also good for deployment at oil or chemical plants. More here

How F10’s accelerator programme helps founders go from ideation to market-ready stage; What makes F10 stand out is its strong network of influential banks, consultancies, insurers and tech firms; All of its mentors hail from some of the largest corporates in the world, including Accenture, DBS, Deloitte, HSBC, NETS, Oracle, Standard Chartered and UBS. More here

HSBC Life-, Humanica-backed CXA Group to shut down Vietnam tech hub, lay off dozens; All 70 employees from the Vietnam hub will be laid off, according to TiA’s sources; Following the Vietnam shutdown, the employee wellness company would be left with 120 employees, with just six in Singapore; More here

‘Netflix of Indonesia’ merges with SPAC to list on US exchange; Asia Vision Network (AVN), the parent company of video-streaming platform Vision+, has merged with Malacca Straits Acquisition; The merger will see AVN as a US-listed Indonesian holding company that is expected to trade on Nasdaq. More here

Beacon VC invests in Thai construction-tech firm Builk’s Series B; The company plans to strengthen its product and expand within ASEAN; Builk provides a business management and online construction material trading platform for construction companies; It has previously raised investment from Moonshot VC and AddVentures by SCG. More here

Indonesia’s Qoala expands into Thailand by acquiring Thai insurtech FairDee; Qoala claims it processes 2mn+ policies per month, serving industries including automobiles, health, life, travel, fintech, consumables, logistics and employee benefits; In April ’20, Qoala raised US$13.5mn Series A, led by a JV between funds from Kookmin Bank and Telkom Indonesia, and Centauri Fund. More here

3 trends that will reshape the retail and logistics industries in Singapore this 2021; There will be opportunities for growth in 2021 as we learn to adjust to the post-COVID-19 world and form business decisions around the new trends and parameters; New trends have emerged at the back of these customer behaviour shifts. More here

Philippines creating US$5mn venture fund for local startups; The fund may provide between US$100Kand US$500K for each startup, which means 5-10 startups are likely to receive funding; The fund aims to support product R&D, product manufacturing, sales and marketing of startups. More here

Singapore’s UI test automation platform UI-licious raised US$1.5mn pre-Series A led by Monk’s Hill; The startup allows software teams to test and monitor user journeys for their web applications across browsers; It claims its no-code platform reduces the time needed to write a test by up to 80%. More here

ACKTEC bags US$1mn seed to expand its immersive learning platform to Asia; Investors are Octava, SEEDS Capital, EduSpaze, Govin Capital; ACKTEC helps organisations to transform their learning and development content into immersive learning modules utilising AR, VR and interactive 3D. More here

Atomionics raises seed funding to make navigation easy in areas where GPS doesn’t work; Investors include Wavemaker Partners, SGInnovate, Cap Vista, 500 Durians; Atomionics’s tech can pinpoint mineral and hydrocarbon reserves, provide precise navigation and create a universal positioning system that works in places like underground, underwater and space. More here

‘Due diligence is like dating before the long-term marriage’: Accion Venture Lab’s Paolo Limcaoco; DD is about investors getting to know the startup and it is done mainly on three levels — team, operations/business model, and financials. More here

Vietnamese fintech startup Gimo secures seed funding; Investors are ThinkZone Ventures, BK Fund and strategic angels; The company provides transparency and convenience of payroll services to local workers without a bank account; Users can request income payment in advance and track earnings through the app that is integrated into their companies’ HR management and payroll systems. More here

Human capital is the biggest enabler of digital transformation. Here’s how to enhance it; Companies that have transformed successfully under I4.0 attest to the importance of placing people at the heart of their transformation efforts; Change management to get employee buy-in and involvement is crucial to keep the workforce motivated and engaged in embracing new ways of working. More here

Digital banking platform for Filipino entrepreneurs NextPay accepted into Y Combinator, raises funding; NextPay enables SMEs to collect customer payments via digital invoices, manage their cash, and pay their employees, suppliers, or bills in batches to any bank or e-wallet. More here

In Singapore, digital wallets are set to overtake credit cards and BNPL is fast-growing; According to the 2021 Global Payments Report by FIS, credit cards were the most popular online payment method in 2020 in S’pore, but by 2024, this is expected to change with digital wallets taking the lead and account for 27% of online purchase transactions. More here

The ‘Lazada effect’ continues to trailblaze future of e-commerce, says founder; Nine years in since the establishment of Lazada Malaysia in 2012, the local e-commerce market has experienced an explosive growth from its nascent stages, to become a booming and all-encompassing industry, says Magnus Ekbom. More here

Singapore’s gaming gear company Razer posts first profit; The company reported a tiny net profit of US$0.8mn for the year ended December, reversing its US$83.5mn loss in 2019, as it vowed to expand its offerings beyond gaming and into digital financial services. More here

How Malaysia’s car industry is getting a tech turbo boost; Tech companies such as Huawei are focusing their efforts on car manufacturers; Huawei is evaluating the use of 5G and IoT to improve vehicle safety; Future automobiles will be able to predict traffic congestions and remain connected with other similarly equipped vehicles and traffic systems. More here

HCM City hopes to become Southeast Asia startup hub; HCM City has approved plans to develop 1K startups as part of its efforts to become a leading startup hub in SEA over the next 5 years; The plan envisages enabling 3K businesses to improve their innovation capacity and help 100 access venture capital by 2025. More here

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NanoMalaysia partners with 10000StartupsIndia, Foodie Box Group to kickstart nanotechnology initiative

The objective: The tripartite memorandum of agreement (MOA) will allow NanoMalaysia to initiate technology transfer activities through 10000StartupsIndia to enable Indian startups in sectors, including clean energy, textile, urban farming, healthcare and social enterprise, to adopt and deploy nanotechnology in their product offerings.

The nanotechnology intellectual property rights (IPR), products and solutions deployed are jointly developed and co-owned by NanoMalaysia and its suite of local SME partners.

About NanoMalaysia: Launched in 2011, NanoMalaysia is an entity under Malaysia’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), entrusted with nanotechnology commercialisation and industrialisation activities through a venture builder model.

ServiceNow acquires India-based Intellibot to improve digital workflow solutions

Who they are: ServiceNow is an NYSE-listed SaaS company focused on managing digital workflows for enterprises, whereas Intellibot is a robotic process automation (RPA) company based in Hyderabad.

The objective: ServiceNow intends to build Intellibot’s capabilities into its platform, enabling customers to easily integrate with both modern and legacy systems to drive productivity and strengthen existing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) efforts.

Also Read: How gamification is increasing productivity during COVID-19

This acquisition also supports ServiceNow’s broader commitment to the Indian market, which the company claims is one of its fastest-growing markets.

SoCash partners with Singtel’s DASH to provide mobile payment top-up solutions

Why: Through this collaboration, Dash users can top up their mobile wallets at selected SOCASH retail touchpoints throughout Singapore. The partnership is aimed at expanding payments and remittance services for Dash users using SOCASH’s network. With this partnership, Dash users will have more options to top up their wallets in their neighbourhood shops and minimarts.

About SoCash: SOCASH is a Singapore-based fintech company that aims to solve cash management and digital payment challenges for retailers using real-time payment infrastructure. It claims its goal is to convert every shop and customer into a virtual distribution network for banks and financial institutions.

DON DON DONKI, Grab sign regional e-commerce partnership

Who is DONKI: It is a popular specialty retail mart for affordable Japanese foods and products.

The objective: The partnership aims to offer consumers a more convenient and rewarding online and in-store shopping experience to cater to new consumer expectations of ultra-fast door-to-door delivery.

Grab will serve as DONKI’s preferred on-demand delivery partner in Southeast Asia and offer its cashless payment service across DONKI retail stores. DONKI fans and Grab users can conveniently shop and pay for DONKI products on the Grab app through GrabMart and GrabPay, and enjoy immediate or scheduled delivery straight to their door.

As DONKI continues its expansion across the region, both companies plan to collaborate on in-market campaigns to further engage Grab users and retail shoppers.

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#dltledgers, a blockchain-powered cross-border trade digitisation startup based out of Singapore, said today it has closed its US$7 million Series A financing, led by Regis & Savoy Capital (Bengaluru), with participation from Vittal Investments, Walden International and various veteran industry leaders.

In July last year, e27 had exclusively reported that #dltledgers was in advanced talks to raise US$9 million in Series A.

The startup had previously raised US$2.5 million in pre-Series A round from global VC firm Walden International in July 2019.

#dltledgers was founded in 2017 by Samir Neji, a serial technopreneur who has lead four businesses in his career. The concept was born out of his enthusiasm to disrupt global cross-border trade digitisation.

Also Read: How ASEAN is shaping up to be a blockchain frontrunner

In a nutshell, #dltledgers is a plug-and-play blockchain platform with a focus on “significantly reducing” lead times/delays in cross-border trade/supply chain transactions and increasing operational efficiency, while reducing the overall costs of financing for buyers and sellers.

The startup achieves this through end-to-end digitisation of global supply chain workflows for its clients and their partners, therefore reducing the reliance on paper, phone and e-mail.

In addition to this, it has also created a digital marketplace for clients to negotiate interest rates and financing terms with banks in a secure manner, allowing them to lower their costs of financing by choosing the trade financing solutions which work best for them.

Corporates and banks use the platform to authenticate their commercial documents, contracts and bank interactions, enabling them to automate multi-party transactions, streamline processes and reduce cost.

The startup’s network participants include buyers, sellers, trading companies, banks and alternative lenders, as well as carriers, logistics partners, insurers, ports, and a variety of certifying bodies and government agencies.

As per a press statement, the latest round comes off the back of a “record-breaking” third year for #dltledgers with more than 200 per cent y-o-y growth, as the need for digitisation across trade finance surges amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

#dltledgers has commenced expanding its 70-strong team by 120 per cent across Asia Pacific, ANZ, Japan India and the Middle East.

To support #dltledgers’s rapid growth, the company plans to migrate its blockchain-based solutions from Hyperledger Fabric to Corda (R3’s flagship enterprise blockchain platform). This will enable businesses in trade finance to streamline business operations, while reducing transaction and record-keeping costs.

Also Read: How blockchain-powered fintech services can improve financial inclusion

According to Neji, by migrating its blockchain platform to Corda, its current and future clients will benefit from unparalleled security, transparency and performance that comes with Corda.

In addition, he noted, the platform’s ability to facilitate repeatable transactions enabled it to stand out globally and led to engagements with corporates like Shiseido, Wilmar, Mitsui, Wipro Unza, Vertiv, Schneider Electric, as well as over 45 banks including ANZ, DBS, Standard Chartered Bank and Rabobank.

“The injection of funding will help #dltledgers to amplify its work on partnerships, standards, integration, as well as accelerating product development in several areas,” he said. “One area is Cognitive Document Automation (CDA) — a unique combination of graphical processing, machine learning, and blockchain — further reducing the effort required to reconcile invoices, purchase orders, packing lists, and other trade documents.”

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DentX has developed an innovative dental x-ray holder that makes dental x-ray taking a more comfortable experience, as well as an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered imaging recognition solution for film processing.

The brainchild of several National Taiwan University graduates, DentX combines both hardware and software solutions to innovate dental x-rays towards improving both patient comfort and image accuracy.

The typical intra-oral dental x-ray taking process is invasive, uncomfortable, and may repeat the process if the radiographs taken is not clear enough for diagnosis. Dentists and assistants usually use rigid cone indicators, bite forks, or finger press to position x-ray films during the radiograph taking processes. Even then, radiographs may not be accurate due to positioning difficulties or uncomfortable movements, hence patients would have to sit through the entire episode again.

Adding Comfort, Accuracy, Efficiency

DentX has designed several new intra & extra-oral devices that lead to more accurate positioning of x-rays while molding more naturally to patient oral structures. Its products can be physiologically customized based on types of x-rays taken, as well as varying positions and numbers of teeth needed to be recorded, thereby making the process more efficient for dentists and more comfortable for patients.

Co-founder and practicing dentist Theodore Kao said: “Some of the changes and obstacles confronted with in order to create better clinical experiences are basic and minimal, but dental practitioners are accustomed to current methods and set in their ways from doing it so often.

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

“However, for many patients, it’s an important procedure for oral diseases diagnosis and deciding treatment plans, especially for periodontal problems and pediatric dentistry, but a painful and nauseating one. As a service industry, it is urgent that we make their experiences as comfortable and pain-free as possible.”

DentX reconstructed the entire dental x-ray procedure with a set of physiologically well-adapted, silicone-based soft materials for intraoral structures, and making the process more user-friendly by minimizing mouth opening. They’re also combined with newly-invented semiconductor digital films that result in clearer images, and consequently, better diagnosis.

Also, with their AI-related image recognition software, common oral-diseases and even significant suggestions implemented by world-wide experts could be given by analyzing intra-oral photos, which could be captured easily using smartphone cameras, making them essential in places where dental resources are insufficient, and allowing resource-strapped hospitals to cater to patients effectively.

Intellectual property is key

According to Mordor Intelligence, the global dental equipment market was valued at US$7.65 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach US$10.15 billion by 2026.

Due to the highly-regulated nature and complexity of individual countries’ dental healthcare systems, Dent X is looking to connect with life sciences institutes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other members of the dental community.

“We have filed patents for our devices under the Patent Cooperation Treaty — the World Trade Organization’s international patent system — which would pave the way for protection across the globe. We already own several patents in Taiwan, in addition to filing several provisional applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Also read: Making cross-border partnerships work within a Covid-19 reality

“Currently, our devices are going through clinical trials at the National Taiwan University Hospital, one of the most prominent medical centers in Taiwan. We have also tested our devices at some local dental clinics in Taiwan and Singapore due to the patient-based nature of dental x-rays,” Dr. Kao added.

DentX devices are not yet available commercially, awaiting approval as a Class II medical device. This approval is pending several laboratory tests and other key aspects.

Setting an APAC launchpoint

Fresh off a two-year project with the Taiwanese government, DentX is now setting its sights on partnering with Asia Pacific dental associations and fundraising from venture capital firms (VCs) focusing on medtech or medical devices spaces.

Dentistry often has its own field and rules, so entering different countries can be difficult for independent companies like DentX. Global names include big brands like Johnson & Johnson, GSK, Medtronic, Dentsply Sirona. Drilling down to the local level, each dentistry association in different countries has its own standards for clinical practices, patient care, and hygienists.

DentX has set its sights on Singapore as its base to enter the Asia Pacific market, given the city state’s high dentistry standards in addition to being one of the largest dentistry markets in the region.

Dr. Kao noted that expenditure on dentistry services outpace medical services as most of the prices are set by free-market competition, as opposed to the public healthcare providers or employer-funded healthcare solutions that dominate many Asia Pacific nations.

“We are looking to build connections and partner with Singaporean hospitals, clinics and dental associations towards understanding local dental standards. At the same time, we can approach Asia Pacific medical device manufacturers, many of whom are headquartered in Singapore.

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

“If Singapore’s dentists, doctors, hospitals, and hygienists are willing to use our products, DentX will likewise gain a reputation in their dental community,” Kao said, adding that the Taiwanese company is also open to collaborating with other startups in the dental and medtech space who can augment their products, such as 3D printing or local sales channels.

The DentX team is small but each stands a crucial role, with five members, each specialising in different fields including clinical dentists, professors, biomedical engineers, and marketers. The team is expecting to take on a few more projects along with the Taiwanese government, building its local market while innovating its solutions further.

Under the STPI Vision Programme, the DentX team will be paired with a mentor to help build a presence in the Asia Pacific region with a Singapore-first mindset. For more information on DentX, please check out their website.

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STPI

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Builk One Group, a Thai construction-tech company, has raised an undisclosed amount in Series B financing from Beacon VC, the venture arm of Kasikorn Bank, and three other unnamed strategic investors.

Other details of the deal haven’t been disclosed.

The Bangkok-headquartered startup will use the money to strengthen its technology and financial services to enhance local companies’ construction material management process and propel the industry towards the digital era.

According to Builk, this innovation is expected to benefit the construction supply chain, property developers, contractors, manufacturers and distributors of construction materials.

The company also plans to use a portion of the capital to strengthen its product and expand within the ASEAN region.

Previously, Builk raised investment from Thai corporate venture capital funds Moonshot Venture Capital and AddVentures by SCG.

Founded in 2009, Builk provides a business management and online construction material trading platform for construction companies. It helps companies to digitise their construction projects, which include tracking inventory and gathering construction information.

Its SaaS offerings include Pojjaman2 (the fully cloud-based ERP system for large construction enterprises) and Builk.com (a free cost control software for SME contractors in Asia).

Moreover, the company has also developed a technology for construction sites to enhance their operational efficiency and reduce errors.

The firm claims it has helped more than 3,500 companies in the industry to digitise their work process through its SaaS offering and workflow-integrated marketplace models.

Its source of revenue mainly comes from advertisements, construction market research, and licensing.

Builk claims to have helped more than 3,500 companies in the industry digitise their work process through its SaaS offering and workflow-integrated marketplace models.

Also Read: Hubble lands US$3.6M in Tin Men Capital-led Series A for digital construction platform

Despite running on a freemium model, Builk said that it has generated a sales turnover of more than 500 million baht (US$16 million) in 2020.

Thanapong Na Ranong, Managing Director of Beacon VC said, the VC firm is interested in the domestic construction industry because it still has a lot of opportunities to be digitised.

“Despite changes in the Thai construction industry along with challenges stemming from the recent disruption of new construction businesses and an unexpected pandemic, which has hurt the economy and private construction business, the construction industry remains imperative to Thailand’s development and growth,” he commented.

“The company has developed the Builk Platform to help Thai construction entrepreneurs operate more effectively, giving them improved access to funding or financial products. These goals align with Beacon Venture Capital’s vision to bring in digital innovation together with KBank’s financial capabilities to help contractors operate their businesses more systematically, eliminate redundancies, and improve access to capital,” said co-founder of Builk, Patai Padungtin.

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UI-licious, a Singapore-based user interface (UI) test automation platform, has raised US$1.5 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.

The fresh funds will go towards expanding its product development and sales and marketing teams. This is part of a larger effort to increase its customer base.

Co-founded in 2016 by Shi Ling Tai and Eugene Cheah, UI-licious allows software teams to test and monitor user journeys for their web applications across browsers. The company claims its no-code platform reduces the time needed to write a test by up to 80 per cent.

UI-licious currently serves customers including Daimler and Jones Lang LaSalle, who use the solution to deliver digital e-commerce experiences for their customer-facing applications and backend systems. Glints, a tech-enabled recruitment firm, also uses UI-licious to test their products before they are released to the market.

Also Read: How no-code development for startups is a launchpad to success

“Currently, 90 per cent of software teams worldwide rely on manual testing which is laborious, intensive, and costly. We created UI-licious because the software industry needs a UI test automation solution that is robust, scalable, and cost-effective — while being as simple as possible,” said CEO Ling Tai .

“It does not require technical expertise or additional manpower. We believe that automating tests for software will be the norm and standard practice rather than an exception,” she added.

“Shi Ling and Eugene have developed a product to address the quality assurance issues that have plagued the software automation industry for years,” noted Justin Nguyen, Partner at Monk’s Hill Ventures,

“They have shown maturity, growth, and tenacity in pursuing their mission – to rid the world of software bugs. The team’s experience as software engineers has equipped them with the technical knowledge and insights to build a simple and robust tool that empowers manual testers to automate testing and detect bugs before users do,” he noted.

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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the global economy. In many ASEAN nations, SMEs are responsible for up to 99% of all business establishments, over 90% of employment, and contribute almost 60% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

However, despite being the engines of growth of the communities and countries they reside in, SMEs typically employ a lower level of automation than multinationals due to their resource constraints. Cost and talent retention remain major burdens to many SMEs adopting advanced technologies such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

For manufacturing SMEs, efficiency and productivity remain the name of the game, and smart manufacturing and smart factories begin with ensuring they have good, reliable data with which to make key decisions.

Subscription, cloud-based model

Taiwanese startup GoodLinker has developed a tool to aid SMEs in monitoring equipment status, process visualisation, and alerts. Its GoodLinker Cloud of SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) is a subscription service with a cloud dashboard and mobile app that gives business owners real-time data, malfunction alerts, and history reports.

Founder and CEO Ethan Feng brings years of experience at Taiwanese electronics manufacturing behemoth Foxconn, where he was involved in the construction of an iPhone metal processing plant and a Nokia mold demonstration plant. Feng is also a serial entrepreneur, having designed and built automated optical inspection equipment.

GoodLinker business development manager Bruce King told e27: “The first stage of smart manufacturing is visualising production line data. We developed a tool to monitor machinery, improve management and production efficiency, and reduce labour costs.

“Thanks to GoodLinker’s subscription model, our solutions are 10 times more economical and implementation time is 10 times faster (less than a week) compared to the typical onboarding process for new technologies,” he added.

Retrofitting existing equipment to be “smart”

GoodLinker’s solution does not call for a massive system overhaul, as its ARM-embedded industrial computer (LESI Edge Computer) can be attached to existing machinery, turning it into a “smart equipment” by adding computing, event handling, data acquisition, and cloud connectivity capabilities.

GoodLinker industrial IoT platform, which is powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. The platform is based on AWS serverless architecture able to connect with tens of millions of IoT devices and concurrent users still ensures immediacy and could tolerate temporary disconnection. Through this world well-known cloud provider, GoodLinker could display visual production line data and historical records enable integrated multi-device management, and feature a web SCADA dashboard and mobile app for SME owners to access key data at a moment’s notice.

Another product is a tower light sensor that provides an economical and accurate solution for monitoring the machine status without connecting the sensor to internal wiring, resulting in a faster installation process. The tower light sensor enables factory managers to track utilisation rates, conduct remote monitoring, view historical statuses and respond to abnormal status alarms.

Having good, reliable data empowers SMEs to conduct efficient data analysis across different uses including AI, business intelligence, enterprise resource planning systems, manufacturing execution systems, quality control, and production scheduling.

“We act like a data acquisition interface that provides cloud service maintenance. Thus we can help clients like system integrators build solutions for end users (SME owners or factory managers) centred around demand planning, construction, as well as customer relationship management,” King said.

Next in the product pipeline is a screen data extractor(SDE). It is designed for catch and recognize values on the machine HMI screen via HDMI/VGA signal, based on Advantech Industrial PC and GoodLinker AI technologies. GoodLinker has built-in cooperation with sales and marketing developer Advantech International.

Growing ASEAN presence with partnerships

To date, GoodLinker solutions have been adopted by SMEs from more than 20 industries in its home base of Taiwan, includes CNC, PCB, 3DP, textile, electroplating, casting, steel, printing, rubber, plastic and food industries. There also a using case in smart agriculture for planting green onions.

One of its partners is Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest telecommunications company, which GoodLinker collaborated within March 2021 to provide a monthly subscription smart factory solution. GoodLinker worked with Chunghwa’s cloud management team to optimise cloud architecture, costing, performance and cybersecurity — all while reducing its own personnel costs by 60%.

The success of its partnership with Chunghwa paves the way for similar collaborations in ASEAN jurisdictions, where broadband connectivity, cloud capabilities, and system preferences may vary.

In Vietnam, a system integrator is currently testing GoodLinker’s hardware and solutions. Meanwhile, the startup has already signed a non-disclosure agreement with a Malaysian system integrator. GoodLinker views system integrators as potential agents or distributors in markets outside Taiwan.

Expanding user base

Although its short-term focus is on business development towards ASEAN expansion, GoodLinker is also building up to tap the VC market in a couple of years. Its first and only fundraising round was a US$400,000 angel round in 2018 soon after the startup was established.

Moving forward, GoodLinker plans to increase its number of users to more than 150 by 2021. It will build on this in 2022 to fundraise towards hiring talents and taking its solutions to overseas markets.

“Our vision is to make smart manufacturing happen everywhere. SMEs worldwide share the same issues that Taiwan’s SMEs face in adopting Industry 4.0 technologies: high costs of building and maintaining server rooms, months spent on new projects, customisation costs, and a significant gap between operational technology and information technology.

“GoodLinker solves those problems with rapid implementation, simple maintenance and lower pricing that will encourage SMEs to adopt new technologies, and subsequently trigger new demand,” King said.

For more information on GoodLinker, visit their page here: https://e27.co/startups/goodlinker-co-ltd/

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

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KitaBeli, a consumer-facing social commerce platform based in Indonesia, announced today it has closed its Series A funding at US$10 million, led by Go-Ventures with participation from existing investors AC Ventures and East Ventures.

This comes about seven months after the startup secured a seed round led by East Ventures.

“We launched KitaBeli in Jakarta in March 2020 and have expanded to Solo and Malang, both tier 2 cities in Indonesia where we’ve seen strong growth. We shall be using the funds from this round to expand operations deeper into Java, developing a secure and efficient logistics network,” he said Prateek Chaturvedi, CEO and co-founder, KitaBeli.

“On the product side, we shall focus on building a more interactive and user-friendly, mobile-first shopping experience for our customers,” he added.

Also Read: KitaBeli raises seed investment to enable group buying for Indonesian FMCG customers

KitaBeli offers a mobile app that enables users to buy daily essentials, ranging from fast-moving consumer goods, fresh produce, beauty, electronics and other household items. By sharing information with their friends and neighbours, users can unlock discounts and benefit from lower prices for daily essential items.

In addition to lower prices, users enjoy free shipping, one-day delivery, daily deals and 24×7 online support.

Unlike other social commerce models that utilise agents to sell in their communities, KitaBeli’s users place orders directly on its platform.

Since its launch, KitaBeli claims to have seen a “strong growth of over 80 per cent month on month”, with a low cost per install rate of US$0.10. Currently, its users spend an average of US$70 per month on the platform. This translates to a wallet share of 35 per cent in the product categories available on KitaBeli, it said.

KitaBeli has implemented a partner-based delivery network, where individuals within the community earn commissions for performing last-mile delivery of ordered items.

Over time, the platform aims to connect suppliers and farmers to tens of millions of consumers in tier 2-4 cities across Indonesia.

“At KitaBeli, we empower our delivery partners to fulfil more than 100 orders per day and earn a substantial amount that supplements their family’s income. Community fulfilment is critical in establishing an efficient logistics chain, as well as delivering low- cost/ high quality products. We focus on providing high frequency items, such as FMCG and fresh produce — items that home-makers use on a daily basis. We plan to expand into beauty, fashion and electronics to build out higher SKU coverage,” said Ivana Tjandra, co-founder and COO of KitaBeli.

Also Read: RateS snags Series A to expand social commerce platform to tier 2, 3 cities in Indonesia

“E-commerce penetration beyond the large metros has remained low, predominantly because of lack of trust, poor product availability, and high logistics costs. Kitabeli is well-positioned to address these challenges through the social nature of its product, accelerating online shopping for a new generation of users and bringing the benefits of e-commerce to a wider population across Indonesia,” said Aditya Kumar, SVP of Investments, Go-Ventures.

“Online shopping can be enhanced through a social experience that traditional e-commerce platforms have yet to incorporate. KitaBeli enables this by creating trust through product-sharing from friends and family, that in turn creates a virtuous cycle of virality. This model also drives cost effective growth in rural Indonesia through its scalable user acquisition strategy,” said Adrian Li, Managing Partner from AC Ventures.

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Image Credit: KitaBeli

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