Australia’s Shippit raises US$22.2M to expand into SEA

The story: After launching its Singapore headquarters in July, Australia’s Shippit has raised US$22M in a Series B funding round, according to TechCrunch.

Investors: Tiger Global, angel investor Jason Lenga

What the funding will be used for: Expansion within Southeast Asia, hiring

About the company: Shippit is an e-commerce logistics platform that automates tasks related to order fulfilment.

“Southeast Asia is predicted to be the world’s largest e-commerce market in the next five years, and the addressable market for us in Southeast Asia alone is already five times the size of Australia and twice the size of the US,” co-founder William On said in an interview with TechCrunch.

The startup’s next goal is to expand into the Philippines and Indonesia and expects its business in the region to grow 100 per cent year-over-year for the next three years at a minimum.

VCs pour money into startups focusing on WFH solutions globally

The story: According to a report by startup industry tracker Tracxn, VCs globally have poured over US$1.6 billion in startups that are offering solutions in the remote workspace between April and November. This was first reported by ET.

More about this story: As the new normal is shifting working habits, challenges, as well as opportunities, are being created every day. This has led some startups to pivot while others to bring in new solutions.

Startups like Krisp.ai, a noise cancellation software for video calls, Hubilo an offline event management platform, PepperContent a  remote hiring platform, among many others have all raised funding recently.

Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Index Venture are among some investors investing in this trend.

Also Read: A founder’s guide to successfully working from home

Rajan Anandan, MD of Sequoia Capital India, said: “We are far from things going back to normal — and we don’t know what that new normal will be. Many changes induced by COVID-19 will be here for the long haul, and now is the time to pick up the thread on technologies that can help us adapt to these changes.”

Roberto Kauffmann

aCommerce appoints new CPO

The story: Thai e-commerce enabler aCommerce has appointed Roberto Kauffmann as its new Group Chief Product Officer.

More about the story: In his new role, Kauffmann will be responsible for leading the innovation and development of aCommerce’s unified platform IQ Suites that houses the company’s proprietary SaaS products for clients.

Prior to his new role, Roberto has had over 20 years of experience in building innovative e-commerce and digital payments products for companies all over the world including in his latest post as the ex-CPO of Shopmatic.

Smart energy startup Atomberg announces US$9.5M Series B

The story: India-Mumbai headquartered Atomberg Technologies has raised close to US$US$9.5 in a Series B funding round.

Investors: A91 Partners (lead), Trifecta Capital, Survam Partners

What the funding will be used for: Product expansion, marketing and amplifying distribution networks across metro and non-metro cities

About the startup: Atomberg offers smart and energy-efficient solutions for home appliances powered by brushless DC electric motor (BLDC motor). Its BLDC fans claim to consume only 28 Watts resulting in a saving of US$20/year.

The company was launched by Manoj Meena and Sibabrata Das in 2012 and envisions itself to become the Tesla of Household appliances.

Also Read: ZaiBike is changing Singapore’s cycling culture with smart tech

“Over the last 12 months, we have grown significantly across all channels. Our offline distribution has grown by leaps and bounds, and we have been also consistently been one of the top brands in e-commerce in our category,” said Meena.

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Image Credit: Unsplash

The post In brief: US$1.6B invested in WFH startups in April-Nov period; Shippit raises US$22.2M for SEA expansion appeared first on e27.

The maritime industry is one worth investing in. While 80 per cent of global trade volume moves by sea, it only creates 2.2 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

Singapore’s port and maritime industry was once the beating heart of its economic progress. But in recent years this has slowed down significantly. Over the last decade, the maritime industry turnover has seen a drop of S$7 billion (US$5.2 billion) from its peak in 2014; a decrease of more than 40 per cent.

Just as the ocean was once the frontier of discovering new continents, so too can it be a site for innovation in supply chains.

Maritime logistics could be the most exciting new innovation opportunity – backed by a trusted legacy. To get there, we must first overcome three major hurdles.

Hurdle 1: COVID-19 exposed complexities of global supply chains

COVID-19 laid bare the importance of intricate global ecosystems. International chains of travel moved the virus – but they also moved critical medical supplies to infection hotspots.

When borders first shut, and the manufacturing engine of China dawdled, we had to reckon with the realities of global trade. Toilet paper, hand sanitiser and N95 masks rocketed in value overnight. Deliveries were delayed by weeks. 

Also Read: BeeX wins Singapore’s Smart Port Challenge 2020 for its innovative autonomous maritime solutions

The invisible global supply chain suddenly became a blinding problem of international importance.

With citizens seeking solace in online shopping, the seas became the only consistent and reliable means to transport goods. Singapore did an especially admirable job in protecting the port with a progressive programme of concessions on port dues and mindful management of crew changes.

Yet with human error accounting for up to three-quarters of accidents in the maritime sector, it’s clear there is a lot of room for improvement. Applying modern disruption to legacy infrastructure could overhaul and refresh the industry.

Hurdle 2: challenges existed before these challenging times

The maritime industry has long suffered from the sluggish inefficiencies of legacy systems. Before COVID-19, global supply chains already contained an estimated S$240 billion (US$179 billion) of inefficiencies. But these were easier for consumers and investors to ignore. 

Prior to the 2008 great financial crash, we were assured that financial institutions were too big to fail. Now, the maritime industry appears too big to change. After all, it can take up to 20 minutes for a cargo ship to come to an emergency stop.

The fallibility of a single ship was all too clear on the Diamond Princess – the cruise ship that once hosted the highest cluster of COVID-19 cases outside of China. Singapore’s own passenger ship arrivals have dropped by over 95 per cent. But container volumes have dropped only by one per cent in the first half of 2020. 

Consumer demand for goods from across the ocean has not waned, so we need to rethink our industry. How can we best meet consumer needs efficiently, while maintaining a seamless experience at every link in the chain? 

Also Read: Danish venture builder Rainmaking launches advisory network to accelerate the growth of SEA’s maritime startups

Hurdle 3: A lack of consensus

Being the first mover is risky. Currently, the ecosystem is limited to startups who supplement the existing infrastructure. But unprecedented times call for bold measures. Singapore could lead the world if we invest in disruptors who are rethinking how the supply chain operates. 

We can use these foundations of a robust global system. Leverage our legacy of seafaring hustle. Add a future-facing disruptive outlook to inspire sustained change. Singapore’s geographic and social position bridges East and West, so we play a critical role in coordination. 

But as it stands, the ecosystem is fractured between established titans of industry, with little space for innovation.

We have the chance to create avenues for corporations to enter Asian markets, and to create opportunities for agile startups to bring their fresh perspectives. This will cement our position as a catalyst for growth.

We already have our life jacket

Maritime industry innovation is an opportunity to build back better. We can invest in enhancing existing infrastructure while re-invigorating the sector with new perspectives.

Venture attention in the maritime industry validates the need for innovation. In November, Rainmaking launched the Ocean Ventures Alliance: a maritime innovation advisory network for Southeast Asia made up of more than 30 industry leaders. These executives will support startups to test their emerging technologies in the maritime sector – innovating with an immediate impact.

Streamlined supply chains can help beyond restarting the economy, but play an active role in a green and sustainable recovery. We’ve already seen US-based Flexport become the first maritime unicorn, accelerated by a balance of corporate and government support in the vision. Who will be Asia’s first?

Flattening the curve required a nation coming together behind a common goal – now we must replicate the same to reinvigorate the global economy, and to drive exponential growth once more.

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

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While some companies choose to focus exclusively on disasters, others choose to extend a current product for use in disasters

Recent announcements of positive early results from COVID-19 vaccine trials remind us how much our society depends on research, science, and technology to foster a safe environment for everyone. Technology’s potential in safeguarding lives and livelihoods goes beyond pandemics and spans other forms of natural hazards as well.

If macroeconomic forecasts are an indication, technology to promote disaster resilience and recovery can be a huge potential market. In Asia alone, COVID-19 is expected to cause US$ 2.7 trillion in lost output for 2020-2021, while average losses across a range of hazards is estimated at US$ 675 billion annually. Disaster resilience and recovery also touches upon several UN Sustainable Development Goals, namely No Poverty, Good Health and Well-Being, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action, and Partnerships.

With growing investor demand for ESG (environmental, social, governance) investments — assets have grown 14% annually from 2014 to reach US$31 trillion in 2018 — such tech investments offer opportunities to support profitable, high-growth business, while providing sustainable social and environmental benefits.

New and meaningful concept

D-Tech (Disaster Tech) is defined as technology solutions that save lives before, during, and after natural disaster events. In our discussions and interviews with potential funders ranging from philanthropic funds, corporate foundations, family offices, to VCs, there was little doubt that although D-Tech is a very new concept, it solves impactful and meaningful problems and deserves more attention.

Fong Jek Gan, Founding and Managing Partner at Jubilee Capital Management, commented, “It is very good that we are trying to reduce the risk of natural disaster events with technology as an enabler. Personally, I hope that there will be more integration of social good when it comes to making investment decisions.”

Some have commented that D-Tech today is similar to micro-financing or cybersecurity in its infancy, requiring much patient capital and market education to grow. John Sharp, Partner at Hatcher+, commented, “D-Tech is similar to cybersecurity in that it’s preventative and the benefits are not immediately clear. In cybersecurity, some wait until their systems are hacked before they invest. D-Tech may also need to embark on a similar journey to educate the market.”

Disasters as a new use case

As the needs arising from natural disaster events are wide and varied, many of today’s technologies can find a use case in disasters and be called D-Tech. Fong Jek Gan commented, “D-Tech is an interesting topic as it opens up a new scenario to apply technology — e.g. before, during, or after a natural disaster.”

If we consider some of the latest and hottest technologies such as drones (whether for delivery or aerial surveillance purposes), 3D printing, crowd-sourced real-time mapping, off-grid energy solutions, etc., we can see that they can all be used for natural disaster response.

While some companies choose to focus exclusively on disasters, others choose to extend a current product for use in disasters. For example, in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Facebook introduced the “disaster message board”, which was later officially launched as the “Safety Check” tool in October 2014. Kenya-based open-source software company Ushahidi branched out from monitoring Kenyan elections to visualising complex natural disaster situations. BioLite, a start-up specializing in outdoor stoves and off-grid energy for camping, began selling disaster prep kits.

Read more: VCs get behind Disaster Tech in search for innovative life-saving technologies

SAFE STEPS D-Tech Awards calling for start-ups in D-Tech

Seeing the potential to use technology to save lives in natural disaster events, Prudence Foundation is launching the second edition of the SAFE STEPS D-Tech Awards to find, fund, and support technology solutions that aim to protect and save lives before, during, or after natural disaster events. The Awards is part of SAFE STEPS, a mass awareness programme that provides lifesaving tips on natural disaster events, road safety and first aid and is one of Prudence Foundation’s flagship community investment programmes.

The Awards is supported by Humanitarian Partner the International Federation of Red Cross, and Red Crescent Societies and Technology Partner Lenovo. Other strategic partners include the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), Antler, e27, Hatcher+, Jubilee Capital Management and National Geographic.

Participating organisations of the SAFE STEPS D-Tech Awards stand a chance to win grants from a pool of US$ 200,000 to support the implementation and scaling of their technology. Additionally, they will have access to expert coaching from Lenovo, Antler, Hatcher+ and Jubilee Capital Management, as well as pitching and networking opportunities with humanitarian experts, VC fund managers, fellow tech entrepreneurs, and social enterprise developers.

Startups keen on building a resilient, disaster-proof future are invited to participate in the SAFE STEPS D-Tech Awards. Both for-profits and not-for-profits are welcome to apply and will be judged separately. Applications are open now until 19 February 2021. For more details about the competition, please visit here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Prudence Foundation.

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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COVID-19’s third wave of infections continues as the numbers rise, and the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Malaysia is potentially extended further. Since the first lockdown, more than 30,000 SMEs have been forced to close down as conditions worsen.

How does a leader focus on staying afloat whilst keeping the team motivated under such extreme pressure? Here are four lessons that I have learned in reflection from the pandemic and each other which we hope will also see us through as we brave through uncertainties leading into 2021.

Safety and security – Maslow at work

Plus Solar began in 2012 with just four employees. Fast forward, we have 150 employees, with many in the range of 25-35. In finding their career path, many of them seek purpose in belonging which was greatly challenged with the pandemic.

Image credit: McLeod, S. A. (2020, March 20). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs resounded loud and clear when the pandemic struck. The company needed to give employees a sense of safety and belonging, whilst retaining their self-esteem, in the midst of the crisis.

This was not easy but we reassured the various teams of their importance to the company’s continued function, even more so at such a pressing time.

With constant reassurance and transparency about how the company is coping, we found that employees stayed motivated in spite of pressures and continued striving towards company goals.

Also Read: How Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can improve a startup’s recruitment marketing

Close communication between leaders and team members

Adapting to working from home was challenging. It wasn’t easy to motivate 150 people remotely, especially when conditions weren’t ideal. Some employees lived in small rented rooms and some had living quarters that were crowded with family members, young and old.

To overcome the strain and stress, we kept leaders and their team members in close communications, each individual was accountable in terms of work and shared how they were coping personally. “Virtual check-ins” were done at the very least once a day and any gaps that arose were quickly addressed. 

To ensure managers also had support, accountability partners with other leaders in the company were set up and this web of support provided the encouragement everyone needed. 

When there wasn’t an immediate solution, even the ability to share the challenges and to be able to relate to another truly helped every individual to cope better. In the bigger scheme of things, this helped the team stay focused on our business goals.

Organisational agility to address business pain points

It was pertinent that the organisation remained agile. In doing so, company goals were revised in light of the limitations the pandemic presented. Realistic goals were put in place by including the voice of the employees. 

A month into the lockdown, we organised a virtual annual conference with all 150 employees. Here the goals were discussed and mapped out. 

To ensure the goals were doable remotely, with a relatively young team of digital natives, we rolled out several webinars via Zoom to engage with our audiences and provide timely business solutions to the market. We also organised free “energy clinics” which saw us generating many enquiries for solar solutions. 

With businesses cash-strapped, we had to come up with agile solutions for our client.  One such solution was the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) financing model, where consumers pay nothing upfront and buy electricity at a lower rate from investors, were attractive propositions that helped us achieve some of our goals.

The interest for PPA has since increased 500 per cent, as many businesses were keen to reduce energy cost and this proved as a successful direction.

We also accelerated our digitalisation efforts by developing an in-house Energy Performance Management System (EPMS) called Source. In short, it acts like a Fitbit for buildings, helping businesses save energy, turning it into dollars. Some of our success stories include Shell MarkMaju Corporation and Tan Kiat Huat Fishery who managed to save a minimum of 20-25 per cent of their respective energy demand.

Also Read: 3 ways meditation will save your life in a challenging time

The Net Energy Metering (NEM) 2.0 was another attractive scheme that we encouraged businesses to adopt. Through it, adopters saw every KiloWatt of excess solar energy generated in residential, commercial or industrial settings offset from their electricity bills, at a “one-to-one” basis. In other words, MYR100 (US$32) worth of excess in solar energy generated is equivalent to MYR100 (US$32) reduction in monthly TNB bills.

We look forward to the NEM’s next iteration, NEM 3.0. We are confident that, with similarly attractive returns, NEM 3.0 will drive not just the solar industry but also deliver savings for all businesses, while playing a bigger role in the economy and contributing to Malaysia as a whole. 

Ultimately, we strive to identify business pain points based on the economic outlook and challenges. To address some concerns business owners have with operational expense (OPEX), we provide an ecosystem which combines hardware and software for them to control their business’ energy costs.

Seize every opportunity

What we have learnt is never to be comfortable in our own skin – but to seize every opportunity to learn – both professionally and personally. 

It is still our mission to build a positive environment for talent to grow, innovate and impact the energy revolution. More than anything, the pandemic has reminded us of this goal and kept us rooted in it and kept us rooted to it.

I am inspired by their dedication and believe that there are better days ahead with trust, respect, teamwork and persistence. Swimming in uncharted waters becomes possible when people build a net of resilience and strive together.

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

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

Image Credit: +SOLAR

The post How to use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to drive resilient leadership in 2021 appeared first on e27.

Enterprise Singapore, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today it has launched a S$12 million (US$9 million) Singapore Blockchain Innovation Programme (SBIP) to further strengthen Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem. 

Funded by NRF, this national effort aims to align blockchain technology research with the needs of the industry, to facilitate the development, commercialisation and adoption of wider real-world applications.

This initiative will engage close to 75 companies including MNCs, large enterprises and ICT companies to conceptualise 17 blockchain-related projects within the next three years in sectors starting with trade and logistics, and supply chain.

Beyond research translation, SBIP will look into blockchain scalability to enable the adoption of blockchain in environments with high transaction rates.

The programme will also support blockchain interoperability, to enable value exchange across systems and address the current challenges of siloed networks. SBIP claims it will also look to grow the tech talent pool to enable ICT companies to further tap on blockchain technologies.  

Also Read: How to scale blockchain as COVID-19 hits traditional markets

“As the architect of Singapore’s digital future, we are constantly pushing the forefront of innovation in areas such as Blockchain. As the first major industry-driven research programme, our intent is to proliferate blockchain adoption to a much broader set of industries, beyond just finance,” said Lew Chuen Hong, Chief Executive, IMDA. 

“This includes levelling up industry manpower and know-how. These efforts allow Singapore to build a strong blockchain ecosystem and establish our role as a Trust Hub,” he added.

“COVID-19 emphasised the need for trusted and reliable business systems in the new digital world. Blockchain technology helps to embed trust in applications spanning logistics and supply chains, trade financing to digital identities and credentials. The acceleration of innovative business solutions under SBIP will help our enterprises be more globally connected and competitive,” said Peter Ong, Chairman of Enterprise Singapore. 

“The programme provides exciting growth opportunities for the blockchain innovation landscape and is a significant milestone in Singapore’s journey towards becoming a trusted, digital economy,” said Low Teck Seng, CEO of NRF.

Blockchain technology is increasingly playing an important role in technological innovation, industrial transformation, and digital finance. SBIP will help companies accelerate their technology adoption and be ready for the next phase of digital evolution,” he added.

Also Read: 1 tech, 4 ways: How blockchain disrupts the education sector

Additionally, The Singapore Blockchain Ecosystem Report 2020 was launched at the Singapore FinTech Festival x Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SFF x SWITCH).

The report highlights developments and trends in Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem over the last year and showcases how the pandemic has accelerated the application of the technology. It is available for download here.

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Image Credit: NASA on Unsplash

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We recently announced the first ten new investors to join Connect and we promised that there’s more.

Well, here’s a new batch of investors that you can connect with through e27 Pro Connect.

Cadence Venture Capital
Stages: Seed, Pre-Series A/Bridge, Series A
Verticals: Finance, Insurtech, Marketplace
Investment range: USD 500K to USD 1M
Straight from Cadence Venture Capital: Convergence Ventures is an early stage technology venture fund focused on investing in Indonesia. Led by our partners Adrian Li and Donald Wihardja who are seasoned entrepreneurs with extensive operating experience in Internet businesses in emerging markets, we seek to back exceptional founders by leveraging our experience, network and resources to empower them to build long lasting and impactful businesses for Indonesia and the South East Asia region. 
Connect with them

Convergence Ventures
Stages: Angel/Pre-Seed, Seed, Pre-Series A/Bridge, Series A
Verticals: Advertising, Agency & Consulting, Consumer, E-commerce, Enterprise Solution, Media, Mobile, Software as a Service, Travel
Investment range: USD 100K to USD 1M
Straight from Convergence Ventures: Our focus is on investing in companies with a mindset of collaboration ahead of isolation, specialization ahead of generalism, and scalability ahead of immediate profitability. We invest in Seed and Series A stage investments and we believe in helping the region of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. We know that there’s potential in SouthEast Asia and we want to invite you to be a part of it!
Connect with them

Fatfish
Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
Verticals: E-commerce, Mobile, Software as a Service
Investment range: USD 25K to USD 1M
Straight from Fatfish: Fatfish Internet Group Ltd (‘FFG’) is a Southeast Asian and Australian based Internet venture investment and development firm. FFG partners with entrepreneurs to help them build and grow Internet businesses via a co-entrepreneurship model. Our unique “seed-to-exit” approach makes FFG a strategic partner that provides the funding, resources and platform to hasten the growth of promising technology businesses.
Connect with them

Gethen Capital
Stages: All
Verticals: Advertising, Agency & Consulting, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cleantech, and various more
Investment range: USD 2M to USD 30M
Straight from Gethen Capital: We work with entrepreneurs and investors across the Asia-Pacific region to create successful outcomes in capital funding and mergers & acquisitions transactions. Our own experience as founders and investors, our sector expertise and our large network of relationships means we bring results to your journey.
Connect with them

Also read: Why David Gowdey of Jungle Ventures believes exits should be led by founders

Javelin Startup-O Victory Fund
Stages: All
Verticals: All
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Javelin Startup-O Victory Fund: Top 5 winning startups are selected every quarter to be included in JSO Victory Fund Portfolio. The portfolio startups are from across A.I., Fintech, IOT, SaaS & Enterprise software domains. They get access to seed-level funding in under 10 weeks and involved support from 40+ global experts & serial entrepreneurs for venture building.
Connect with them

Mountain Partners Southeast Asia
Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
Verticals: Agency & Consulting, E-commerce, Entertainment, Finance, Information & Communications Technology, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Media, Mobile, Platform, Software as a Service, Travel
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Mountain Partners: We are a global company builder with headquarters in Switzerland and regional hubs around the globe and currently hold more than 100 investments in our core sectors: E-Commerce & Digital Services, Technology & Security, Payments & Fintech. We create value for our stakeholders through our proven and focused business model: identification and incubation of promising ideas, growth and finally internationalization to high-growth markets
Connect with them

TH Capital
Stages: Seed, Series A
Verticals: Agritech, E-Commerce, Finance, Gaming, Internet of Things
Investment range: USD 50K to USD 250K
Straight from TH Capital: TH Capital is a platform that empowers and accelerates ventures with capital infusion, business consultancy, strategic mentorship and strong networking opportunities. We have a keen interest in exciting, emerging technologies that we believe will inspire industry wide innovation, improve way of life and sustain the human condition.
Connect with them

ThinkZone Ventures
Stages: Seed, Series A/Bridge
Verticals: Artificial Intelligence, Education, Finance, Healthtech, Logistics/Supply Chain, Medtech, Platform, Sharing Economy, Software as a Service, Transportation
Investment range: USD 50K to USD 1M
Straight from ThinkZone Ventures: ThinkZone Ventures is a Vietnam-based venture capital firm dedicated to investing in ambitious tech startup founders and helping them to scale regionally and globally. Besides ThinkZone Ventures, we also have supporting activities including ThinkZone Innovation Lab and ThinkZone Accelerator
Connect with them

TNF Ventures
Stages: Seed, Series A
Verticals: All
Investment range: USD 100K to USD 500K
Straight from TNF Ventures: TNF Ventures (TNFV) is founded by investors and mentors who started this as a passion project to help local startups succeed. They feel that there are many talents locally but few had succeeded because they did not have the right connections to help them to go-to-market, they did not have people whom they can discuss their business challenges with and they did not have guidance in business model development.
Connect with them

Also read: Ryan Chew of Tribe: Why startups should pay attention to the environmental, social, and governance side of their business

Ventureast
Stages: Series A and above
Verticals: Biotech, Cybersecurity, Consumer, E-commerce, Healthtech, Internet of Things, 
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Ventureast: The Ventureast credo simply put is, “We Differentiate, You Win”.  Backing this is a team and network with deep expertise in domains ranging from semi-conductors to drug discovery, from infrastructure to consumer goods, from cleantech to mobility, thus bringing together the widest capability in India. The Ventureast family of funds – Ventureast Proactive Fund, Ventureast Life Fund and Ventureast Tenet Fund feature a wide investor base consisting of institutional investors from across the world.
Connect with them

Watch out for more announcements of new investors joining you can directly connect with through e27 Pro Connect.

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Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

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Chia Hock Lai (L), President of SFA and Mr Khor Hock Seng, President of LIA Singapore

Report on China’s computer vision industry

The story: South China Morning Post (SCMP) released its inaugural Computer Vision (CV) Report as part of its China AI Deep-Dive Series.

More about the report: The report provides insights, investment theses, and future market analysis of this surveillance-dependent sector and ambitions to discover new emerging applications of CV.

“Having survived the US-China technological rivalry in 2019, CV unicorns in China face major challenges with an increasingly saturated market for surveillance applications,” said John Artman, SCMP’s Technology Editor.

Summary of the report:

• Growth opportunities for CV include:

  • Security: As the overall penetration rate of CV remains low, CV companies are expanding their offerings to a wide range of security solutions.

  • Healthcare: Regulatory change has widened the market for medical imaging.

  • Autonomous vehicles: While fully self-driving cars have yet to be achieved, some players have managed to profit on existing technologies.

  • Finance: The insurance sector is emerging as a major user of object recognition technology.

  • Retail and marketing: CV is in great demand amid stalling sales growth and declining productivity. Major use cases include cashier-free shopping and store traffic analysis.

• Despite the previous high growth of its CV market, China has yet to take the lead in CV, currently lagging behind the US in key areas, including hardware, talent and patents.

• Privacy concerns over facial recognition are growing in China. Besides, China’s CV industry still needs to work on reducing its reliance on underlying algorithms from the US, convincing its best and brightest to develop their ideas at home, and overcoming its dependence on manually-labelled data.

4 Nordic fintech startups enter SEA

The story: Four Nordic fintech startups have been selected to join the UNDP and Copenhagen Fintech Impact Partnership Program to amplify the sustainable tie-up between Southeast Asia and the Nordic region.

More about the story: The four companies will be working together with the partners to rapidly identify and prototype potential commercial and sustainable partnerships in the region.

“The four startups have the potential to contribute to financial inclusion and the sustainable transformation of societies using tech solutions,” said Stine Kirstein Junge, Head of SDG Accelerator for SMEs, UNDP’s Nordic Office.

Meet the 4 startups:

Earthbank: Delivers enterprise carbon, green digital banking and ESG services to funnel billions into regeneration.

Agroclimatica: An agroclimatic platform that aids financial institutions in identifying and quantifying the risks and opportunities associated with agricultural credits, insurance and investments.

Normative: Simplifies sustainability by making the environmental and social cost of every purchase in our economy transparent.

Matter: Makes it easier for investors to understand and report the sustainability impact of investments through intuitive software solutions. Matter empowers investors to make their capital work for people and the planet.

MOU signed to progress insurtech and fintech in Singapore

The story: The Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and the Life Insurance Association Singapore (LIA Singapore) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) earlier today, on the sidelines of the Singapore FinTech Festival 2020.

Also Read: How insurtech is changing the game in Southeast Asia

More about the story: Both parties will collaborate on the development of the life insurance and insurtech talent pool and expertise through mentorship programmes and deep-dive workshops. They will also join hands in establishing industry-specific reports, market research and whitepaper publications focussed on life insurance and insurtech.

Khor Hock Seng, President of LIA Singapore said, “The early digital transformation initiatives life insurers initiated years ago enabled us to service and stay connected with customers when circuit-breaker measures took effect in April 2020. Amid the pandemic, life insurers have accelerated their digitalisation efforts to future-proof their businesses; harnessing innovation to drive product innovation and optimise the end-to-end customer experience.”

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Image Credit: Singapore FinTech Association

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FazWaz has raised an undisclosed amount of investment in an acceleration funding round led by CAV Investment Group, an investment company for Simon Baker, ex-CEO REA Australia and ex-Chairman of Mitula.  

Other investors include 500 Tuk Tuks, Aries Capital (Indonesian family fund), and Alpha Founders Capital. The startup has been 100 per cent bootstrapped in the first four years of its operations.

According to the company’s funding announcement, this money will go towards investing in marketing, data and technology that ultimately will drive FazWaz brand awareness and grow its market share. 

FazWaz is a real estate platform which provides brokerage services to make the process of buying, selling, or renting a property easy. The company’s vision is to make buying a property as simple as booking a holiday.

Also Read: PropertyGuru further expands footprint in Malaysia with the acquisition of MyProperty Data

“We live in an on-demand, digital-first society where users want efficient access to products and services at the click of a button. The real estate industry is no different and users are demanding a better online search and offline service experience. As a mission-driven business, the funding and expertise brought on in this round of investment move us closer to our goal of empowering consumers to make more efficient and informed real estate decisions,” Brennan Campbell, founder of FazWaz, commented. 

The Bangkok-headquartered startup which launched in 2015 claims to have over 500,000 customers per month and is one of Thailand’s top three property websites. It has also made its mark outside of Southeast Asia, with Cambodia being its latest launch in November this year. 

“Thailand’s proptech scene is seeing an exciting amount of activity with two well-known major M&A deals in 2020, one being for Kaidee and another being Hipflat. At the same time, a large amount of investment pours into startups tackling the fragmented real estate market. FazWaz re-envision the real estate sales process with technology. We are excited to back FazWaz as they now enter into the next significant phase of growth,” Johannes von Rohr, General Partner at Alpha Founders Capital said.

On being asked about how COVID-19 has affected the startup, co-founder Paul Trayman said that the pandemic has been a huge catalyst in terms of pushing forward consumers towards digitisation.

He also revealed the company’s plans to launch Thailand’s first instant AVM (automated valuation model) that will provide an instant and accurate valuation for a property online within a few seconds. 

Image Credit: FazWaz

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Sembrani Nusantara Fund, launched recently by Indonesian corporate VC firm BRI Ventures, has injected US$2 million Series A investment into local made-to-order (MTO) drinks brand Haus!

This marks Sembrani’s debut investment since its launch in June 2020. It also marks BRI Ventures’s first step outside of its core fintech and financial services mandate.

According to a press note, there are several more deals in the pipeline for the fund.

Also Read: BRI Ventures’s Sembrani Nusantara fund hits first close at US$10M; Grab and Celebes Capital among investors

Founded in June 2018, Haus! is engaged in the F&B industry with the MTO beverage concept serving tea, milk tea, chocolate and coffee. The brand targets the middle and middle-low market segments. It said its affordable pricing and scalable business model caters to the majority of millennials and Gen Z consumers in the archipelago.

Currently, Haus! operates 103 stores across Greater Jakarta (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi) and Bandung.

It claims to be selling more than 1.5 million cups per month.

“With this series A investment, we are excited to see Haus! continue expanding its offerings across second-tier cities in Indonesia. Its integration to our MSME thesis will also unlock a trove of mass-market B2C opportunities that we look forward to collaborating on,” said Nicko Widjaja, CEO of BRI Ventures.

“The plan is to bring Haus! to more cities across the country. Our brand is a humble one, but we are more than certain that we’ve found the right alchemy and product-market fit here in Indonesia,” said Gufron Syarif, CEO of Haus!

“Haus! focuses on penetrating a wider segment than the other high-end brands in the market. We simply believe that better quality beverages at lower prices are the best way to attract millennials and Gen Z shoppers in Indonesia,” Syarif added.

The capital injection into Haus! is timely. Growing awareness of health and wellness has pushed middle-class Indonesians away from sugary mainstays like carbonated soft drinks, and toward ready-to-drink and MTO beverages, which consumers perceive to be of higher quality and freshness.

However, the economic impact of COVID-19 has led to lower discretionary spending across the board, and MTO drinks have not been exempt. Sales of MTO products have taken a hit through walk-in and takeaway channels but have seen online deliveries jump in light of stay-at-home and social distancing orders.

Also Read: Coping with consumer behaviour during the COVID-19 crisis

The two largest food delivery apps in Indonesia, GrabFood and Go-food, have both reported a spike in food delivery orders, with total the former’s transactions rising 4 per cent in March 2020 compared to October 2019, at a 9.4 per cent increase in average basket size over the peak lunchtime ordering period.

“As Indonesians work, play and study from home more, they are turning toward comfort foods and bulk purchases to be enjoyed with the entire family. Here, MTO drinks like those from Haus! have shown stability in both demand and popularity, especially for the coffee and tea categories,” Widjaja continued.

Launched in June 2020, the Sembrani Nusantara aims to build a pipeline for Indonesian startups to grow and find good exits. The fund looks beyond typical investment areas such as fintech, and focuses on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) while aligning their investment thesis around the areas of education, agro-maritime, retail, transportation and healthcare.

Last month, the fund announced that it has hit the first close at US$10.62 million.

“Sembrani Nusantara’s investment into Haus! dovetails nicely with this thesis, as the company’s business model targets consumers who have less than IDR6 million (US$425) in disposable monthly income to spend on food,” Widjaja remarked.

“This contrasts with the majority of venture-backed players in Indonesia’s F&B space such as Goola, Kopi Kenangan and Fore, who are jostling for market share among customers who spend up to IDR12 million (US$850) monthly on food,” Widjaja pointed out.

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Image Credit: Haus!

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Ryan Chew of Tribe

Every entrepreneur has to start somewhere –and somewhere along the journey, their approach to running a business might differ depending on the challenges that they are facing.

Starting off his journey at 19, Ryan Chew, Co-founder and COO of Tribe, had faced different kind of challenges that required him to adapt and adjust the way he is running the business. And these challenges seem to have brought results.

His company Tribe –which consists of Tribe Accelerator, innovation and educational ecosystem Opennodes, and Tribe Academy, an academy focused on developing job-ready deep tech talents– counts leading government and corporate organisations such as Enterprise Singapore, IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority), Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Dubai government, AXA, BMW Group Asia, Citibank, EY, IBM, Intel, Nielsen, PwC, R3, SGInnovate, Temasek, Ubisoft, and WeBank.

In addition to that, together with co-founder Yi Ming Ng, Chew has also been named in the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia 2020 list.

Chew sits down with e27 to share his views on taking up challenges –and what he sees will be the next big thing in the tech startup ecosystem.

The following is an edited excerpt of our conversation:

What has been the toughest challenges that you have to deal with throughout your entrepreneurship journey?

At every stage of my career, or entrepreneurship journey, I have faced different challenges along the way. When I was at the very, very early stage of my entrepreneurial journey, at 19, the challenge was the ability for me to be able to meet groups of people or different individuals … and to align them on to a single kind of vision.

Also Read: In brief: TurtleTree Labs wins Entrepreneurship World cup 2020; IoT Tribe accelerator announces new cohort

You have this grand vision of the kind of business that you want to build, the kind of application it should be, and the purpose of this application. But as you communicate it, sometimes things get lost in translation. Or sometimes, whatever you say down the road just get forgotten. You know, like a broken telephone scenario.

I had to engage designers, app developers, and different stakeholders for just one particular app. The challenge was, how do I get them in line to the vision or to the goal that I have? Also, at the same time, allow them the flexibility to leverage their own creative inputs, so that we can make this better together as a team.

Is there any specific approach that you took to deal with these different parties?

So, the first-ever app that I learned to build when I was 19, 20 was a social app inspired by Ellen DeGeneres’s Heads Up!. Basically, it’s an app that you put on your head and the person opposite have to try to guess exactly what the name of the person is.

I created it in the first place because I realised that a lot of these characters in the Ellen DeGeneres game were Americans; a lot of my friends didn’t know who exactly they were. And I thought that it would be quite interesting for us to have a local version as well as to allow having our friend’s name on the app, so you can see how this person is perceived and acted out from someone else’s point of view.

What I didn’t do back then was understanding the entire application building process.

The first iteration came out quite bad. I then implemented what we call a “single source of truth”. How do we put this single source? So, everybody, no matter from which different stakeholders, can refer to this and go on to the wireframe to see how the action looks like, and how to actually behave to the intended target audience of the app, to the deadlines that we are expected to achieve.

The Tribe team

It is no secret that this year has been a challenging one for entrepreneurs worldwide. How does it affect your approach to entrepreneurship?

[The pandemic] is a Black Swan event, so we try to look at things that are most affected and the things that we cannot change. And then we try to understand it from that point of view.

What are the opportunities that lie beyond here? Based on research, it has been shown that more and more startups are usually born after pandemics –because that’s when people feel the most pain. That’s when people feel a lot of discomforts. And that’s where people want innovation to come. So from that point of view, pandemics usually offer opportunities for change … to spur innovation.

From this particular pandemic, we have seen that.

Also Read: In brief: TurtleTree Labs wins Entrepreneurship World cup 2020; IoT Tribe accelerator announces new cohort

With the global pandemic, we are going to see more government investments in the startup scene, and right now, the approach will be to identify how we can leverage such a resource?

Let me give you an example for Tribe Academy. When the pandemic hit, we realised that … inevitably, the economy will be affected by pandemic. What it means is a lot of jobs will be lost, a lot of people will be left stranded.

So the opportunity here is, okay, now we have a pool of people that are looking for a job. What we can do is to push on this right and to train up these people, to ask them to improve their social mobility, so that they will be hired and continue to maintain relevance in this particular industry.

There are multiple government grants that the students can tap to attend these classes to upskill themselves.

Any specific advice for entrepreneurs who are undergoing this difficult time?

It’s important to main flexibility, whether internally or externally. For example, if you are in the travel industry, there won’t be many customers out there.

You always have Plan A for when things are going smoothly, but what happens when things are not?

In January, when the news hit, because we have partners globally, [we thought], “Hey, this is not to be taken lightly.” So we sat all the upper management down and we realised that we need to start a few contingency plans.

For example, if something happens that triggers a potential cash flow issue, what is the Plan A that we should do? And the Plan B, C … so that we won’t be caught off guard.

So the advice is to, number one, give yourself options. Number two, prepare a contingency plan.

Pandemic aside, what are the most influential events in the startup ecosystem today, in your opinion?

The one that will influence the startup ecosystem the most is the global emphasis on ESG –environmental, social, and governance. The model is essentially a set of guidelines that investors will look at when investing in startups.

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

So with this shift in focus in identifying startups, the focus is on identifying whether this startup is doing something that is environmentally moral, socially moral and has very strong governance. This will likely dictate the kind of startups that will get investment, and the kind that does not … So it’s important for us to really understand.

Where the capital goes, the majority of the time, the startups will have to follow. Because startups want to raise investments.

We also realised that there is more attention placed in the energy and environmental sector.

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Image Credit: Ryan Chew

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