Fasal co-founders Shailendra Tiwari (L) and Ananda Verma

For any industry, minimising wastage is a challenge. For a sector as massive as agriculture, this becomes even more critical as every decision farmers make will affect not just the planet, but also their own livelihood.

How to tackle this problem?

Probably, India-based precision startup Fasal could help here.

An end-to-end farming app, Fasal helps horticulture farmers make smart decisions in order to maximise their yields and minimise wastage of resources, thus building a more sustainable farming culture.

What to grow?

“When a farmer wants to grow something, the first thing that he/she needs to do is make a decision about four or five things. For example, if one wants to grow a tomato, one needs to make a decision about what variety will be best suited to his weather conditions,” Fasal co-founder Shailendra Tiwari says in an interview with e27.

In his observation, farm-level decisions essentially involve thinking about irrigation, fertilisers, disease management, pest management and climate risk management. Once all these are done, the next set of decisions are made close to the harvest period about whom to sell and at what price, etc.

Although it may seem easy, these decisions are complex in nature and require plenty of predictions and analysis. Due to the lack of smart technology, most farmers are largely making these decisions based on guesswork.

“Fasal comes in handy when it comes to making a decision. A farmer with the help of Fasal can easily understand what crops are best suitable for him, when he should start growing the crop, when and how much should be irrigated and which disease comes when,” he explains.

Also Read: What Asia’s smallholder farmers really need and why startups should lead this uncontested race

Fasal Kranti

Fasal Kranti getting deployed in Indian farms

The agritech startup recently launched Fasal Kranti, a plug-and-play IoT- and sensors-based system, which helps farmers reduce their cost of cultivation and improving their per-acre yield and quality of produce.

Its sensors can monitor micro-climatic factors such as rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, LUX (unit of illuminance), solar intensity, micro-climatic factors such as temperature, humidity, leaf wetness, and below the soil parameters like soil temperature and soil moisture at multiple levels.

Fully assembled in India, the device — priced at INR 30,000 (US$407) — helps farmers in precisely managing irrigation based on specific crops at a specific stage, protecting them right from the roots of the plants and hence improving the quality of yield.

Fasal, which in October last year raised US$1.6 million led by Omnivore and Wavemaker Partners, claims that by using its device, farmers can minimise chemical residue, water usage and spray costs to up to 50 per cent.

Water-saving in irrigation will also lead to saving clean water for sanitation and other purposes, making it sustainable for the environment.

Other than having useful properties, the device has also been put together in a way that is easy to use.

Also Read: Israeli agriculture technology Phytech harvests its Series A

Once Fasal Kranti is purchased, it is deployed in a box in a completely assembled manner. All the farmer has to do is take out the device from their box and install it on the ground.

Fasal has been deployed on 10,000 acres so far.

Fasal’s rural economy vision

Despite being the second-largest producer of horticulture commodities, India (a US$3.4-billion precision agri and farm management market) fails to export even two to three per cent of its produce due to lack of quality.

By helping in the production of better quality yield, Fasal aims to improve the country’s broader rural economy and ease the life of farmers.

“We believe that in the next five to 10 years when we have deployed millions of these devices across the farms, the farms and villages may look very different. Our food will be a lot safer. We would be consuming probably half of the water that India is consuming for agriculture. Our farmers would be making a lot more money than they are doing right now,” he added.

And the moment the farmers have some more money in their hand as compared to the current situation, it is going to bring a lot of change in a rural economy.

“We believe the villages and the farmers’ standard of living may look very different. If the farmer is going to save costs in buying land, he will probably put that money in their children’s education that is going to usher a new era,” Tiwari said.

Follow your soul mission

Fasal in 2018

On being asked about advice for startup founders, Tiwari humbly refused to offer any but he shared that entrepreneurship is not an easy road and sucks the life out of a person.

Also Read: What Asia’s smallholder farmers really need and why startups should lead this uncontested race

“But at the same time if you have genuinely found your calling, and believe what you are doing actually resonates with your soul, even the toughest of days won’t take you to a place where you wonder why you are doing this. You will be able to serve people nobody would have imagined you could, you will be able to build technology nobody would have imagined you could and you would be able to impact lives in ways that you will only recognise and understand after years,”.

“So however difficult it may seem, if you have truly found your calling, just go with it and then let time unfold and let time decide but give it your best,” he concluded.

—

Image Credit: Fasal

The post Fasal’s IoT device increases yield, reduces wastage by helping horticulture farmers make smart decisions on crops appeared first on e27.

What’s the first thing that pops into mind when you hear the term “talkbot”? Is it Apple’s Siri telling you a joke? Or Amazon’s Alexa playing Despacito? Or Ok Google reminding you to buy eggs and cheese for your planned carbonara fiesta later tonight?

At the Google I/O developer conference held in May 2018, Google CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled their smart AI assistant Google Duplex to the world. Whilst watching the virtual conference at home, I remember feeling a mix of absolute awe coupled with something else.

Mind-blowing, right? Not only does the AI talkbot mimic the tonal inflexions of an actual human voice, but it also adds in natural verbal responses like “um” or “mm-hmm” much like what a human would do. In straightforward interactions like this, I wouldn’t be surprised if no one on the other end of the line had doubted that they were speaking to a fellow human.

This level of sophistication is precisely what many companies are trying to achieve with their conversational talkbots: a natural human voice using natural human tones. But, as much as we are in awe of the human-like responses of the AI assistant, there is also an undeniable feeling of fear deep down – a worry that AI like this could be abused for profit at the expense of others.

Does your bot have morals?

Ethical issues concerning AI have been like a sea of dark clouds threatening a thunderstorm ever since the advent of AI technology. Despite the initial excitement over AI talk bots, many people – from tech experts to restaurant owners – have expressed ethical concerns over the proliferation of AI talk bots. Ironically, making talk bots extremely human-like poses the biggest ethical concern: How would we know if the person we are talking to is really who they say they are?

This concern is not a trivial one by any measure. In an era of fake news and identity theft, it is extremely worrying that a single person with nefarious intentions could so easily disseminate false information and plunge communities into a state of panic. What’s disturbing is that this is already happening without the help of AI.

Also Read: Singtel Future Makers names 5 selected startups in their accelerator programme

With the entrance of AI, electoral processes could be sabotaged, fake kidnappings could occur, and phone scams could become a daily occurrence.

Thankfully, all’s not lost yet. With the help of Wiz.ai, an industry leader in localised conversational AI research and application, we can begin to understand AI talkbots and how WIZ.AI intends to harness the power of AI while preventing AI-rmageddon from happening.

An honest conversation

To learn more about conversational AI¹ and its associated ethics, I had a chat with Nicholas Ko of WIZ.AI, who is an avid fan of Japanese culture and how they have managed to seamlessly blend technology and tradition. Below is a transcript of the most exciting tidbits of conversation exchanged regarding this evolutionary technology.

Okay, first things first! What’s so special about you guys?

At Wiz.ai, we are revolutionising the customer service industry by using human-like Voice Artificial Intelligence to digitalise the process of in- and outbound calls.

The quest to increase revenue and reduce operating costs have pushed corporations towards mass automation at almost every customer touchpoint, resulting in impersonal, text-based, self-serve solutions which skimp on customer satisfaction.

Our goal is to use Voice AI to help companies re-engage with their customers at scale through the familiar, interactive medium of a simple phone call while ensuring cost efficiencies.

Our bespoke handcrafted customised Voice AI solution incorporates ASEAN languages and accents into the repertoire of our bots. We deliver an enhanced customer experience to ASEAN customers no matter what language or accent they speak in.

Our talkbots are designed to imitate human speech patterns to give a realistic human-to-human conversational experience – over 90 per cent of our users cannot tell the difference between our humanistic voice AI and a real person.

Also Read: Creativity is humanity’s only advantage against AI, but can bots be creative in their own right?

Is your technology essentially rendering call service workers obsolete and taking away more jobs than it creates?

We are in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the new age of AI, networks of highly interconnected smart devices, and smart systems that collect and analyse user data.

However, while AI may be more efficient at completing predictable rule-based tasked within a given framework, quickly and with a consistent level of quality, they are not better at everything. They generally lack empathy and human connection.

Wiz.ai works together with call centres to improve efficiency. By implementing Wiz.ai talkbots to handle repetitive rule-based tasks, our unique deployment of voice AI technology allows businesses to position their employees to more high-value priority tasks while the bots take the time-consuming service calls.

In a typical case, when you call in to a customer service centre, agents first capture relevant information during a call, triggering a series of rule-based questions like, “Hi, what’s your name?” or, “What’re the last four digits of your bank card number?”. They then perform robot-like actions on the backend to transfer data, retrieve data from legacy systems, offer templated replies, or transfer the call to other relevant departments.

The whole process of verifying the customer’s identity and retrieving their data from the system, till the point where customers can actually make their query takes a very long time. Imagine that being repeated a hundred times a day for that single call centre employee.

And so what WIZ.AI does is we streamline all these frontend parts – we get all the identifiers, we automate the rule-based tasks, templated replies and if needed, transfer the caller to the relevant human counterpart. This reduces the time the customer spends on hold and frees up the call centre to focus on more high-value tasks.

Another thing that we help companies with is giving them access to a whole new set of customer data. Usually it is only possible to track the customer journey online, however we provide companies with rich customer data through our client portal, which automatically records and categorises intention data from the call. This comprehensive depth of data allows companies to identify high-value customers, create a more comprehensive customer persona, and uncover any gaps in their customer experience easily.

Also Read: Singapore’s startup Wiz.ai nabs US$6M pre-Series A funding led by GGV Capital

How sophisticated can AI talkbots get? Can it ever achieve human-like intelligence?

It’s true that AI is a game changer, however, the dream to create an AI with human-like intelligence is not as simple as it seems.

The way humans think and translate words into concepts is extremely complex. Having an AI understand basic words is a relatively simple process, but, once you add slang or colloquial phrases into the mix, or even just words with more than one meaning, for example, “right”, things can get exponentially more complex.

We have to look at what kind of tasks make sense for an AI and where a human would be better suited to perform that task. Generally, we want an AI efficient at performing basic rule-based tasks quickly and consistently.

Our talkbots are designed to appear more human-like, they are crafted to imitate human speech patterns to give a realistic human-to-human conversational experience. It has features such as natural pauses, the ability to handle interruptions, continuous listening, use of chasing and clarification statements, and the ability to understand the customer’s intent from their speech.

To achieve this, the Wiz Talkbot uses multiple proprietary deep technologies – automatic speech recognition (ASR), natural language understanding (NLU), real-time text-to-speech (TTS), multi-round dialogue technology.  Furthermore, our proprietary natural language understanding model has an extensive library, which is robust, customisable, and adaptable, able to quickly learn new domain knowledge from scratch.

For example, the bot we built for one of our clients in the banking industry, is used to call customers with an overdue credit card bill reminder. It calls the customer, gently informs the customer of the overdue bill and asks if they have made payment. If they have not made payment, it follows up with when the customer expects to make payment and recommends some payment options, it is even able to negotiate for the customer to pay a smaller amount if they are unable to pay the full sum.

Also Read: Software testing and development: Why bots and AI are the future

This scenario may seem simple but in fact, has a complex multi-layer dialogue management framework which is capable of learning and evolving from every interaction to grow in sophistication.

So far we’ve talked about the benefits of AI talkbots. Are there any dangers we should be aware of?

As with all technology, there is always the risk that it might be used for nefarious purposes. Take Google Maps for example. Used correctly, it can help save countless hours giving you the quickest route to your target location. However, in the wrong hands, this technology could potentially be used to coordinate attacks.

One area I see which might be prone to abuse are scam calls, which I’m sure you have received in the past in one form or another. In America, tax scammers impersonate IRS officials to contact people demanding payment or to steal personal financial information. They do this through the phone, e-mail, text message and even through social media.

In 2019 alone, the FBI received almost 300,000 complaints to the total of US$1.3 billion, this number they estimate is only 15 per cent of the total.

Now, if we assume that one human can contact a hundred individuals a day, a bot caller can easily make 3-4 times that number. They follow their programming until they are told to stop – they are efficient, relentless and tireless. And what’s so scary about this is that they are able to be spun up exponentially with the only limiting factor being the number of phone lines the scammers have.

And this whole thing becomes just a numbers game. It basically boils down to the number of people you can call until you reach someone who is actually going to believe the caller.

Then again, conversational AI is not a new technology – the first-ever chatbot called Eliza was developed in the 1960s. The important part lies in how well you can refine the technology, which is essentially our biggest differentiator from other mass-produced bots. Compared to our handcrafted AI bots, their technology is a far cry and should not pose any real trouble.

Also Read: Ways to improve your brand awareness with chatbots

Is there a way to definitively prevent people from abusing the tech?

WIZ.AI is extremely selective about who we work with and what they would use our technology for. We always ensure that we do our due diligence when taking on new clients. Each talkbot is also protected with multiple layers of encryption and security.

As the creators of our talkbots, we are morally obligated to be the gatekeepers of it. However, as much as it frustrates us, as long as there are people with ill intent, they might use voice AI technology for the wrong reasons. The only saving grace is that mass-produced bots are easy to spot and producing a multi-dimensional talkbot requires a whole lot more information than just a couple of voice recordings. There is a lot of technology, AI training, and artistry behind the scenes in order to achieve the level of sophistication seen in our talkbots.

The only way to effectively prevent people from abusing the technology is to implement regulations that protects the customers. Similar to how the personal data protection act gives individuals control as to how their personal data is being used.

The “guns don’t kill people, people do” rhetoric is always an all too easy fallback for people who shun ethical concerns regarding advanced tools. Technology and AI communities will definitely be better off with responsible inventors and creators like WIZ.AI who use their technology to do good.

While the bulk of us may not be the decision-makers, raising such ethical concerns are just as important. After all, we are each one of us a crucial stakeholder in this high-stakes game of humans versus AI.

–

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Image Credit: Benjamin Sow on Unsplash

The post Approaching AI-rmageddon: Will AI talkbots make our lives better or worse? appeared first on e27.

David Gowdey, Managing Partner of Jungle Ventures

According to a Cento Ventures report, proceeds from the startup exits in Southeast Asia fell by nearly 50 per cent in the first half of 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic, together with its ensuing economic recession, has wreaked havoc on exit plans for startups across the region. Investors are scrutinising startups with a sharper set of lenses and a greater focus on sustainable business models. Gone are the days where startups were allowed to have a high burn rate in exchange for potential growth.

Amidst the current challenges faced in the exit landscape, David Gowdey, Managing Partner of Jungle Ventures, has a piece of advice to share.

“I think the biggest point to make is that exits have to be driven by the founders. As individualistic as each founder is, every company is on a different path,” the seasoned investor shared in an interview with e27.

Gowdey opined there are three main exit ambitions for founders, and VCs should work together with them to achieve an aligned exit strategy.

The first bucket consists of founders who desire to take their companies public through an IPO. However, he cautions only certain companies can thrive in the public markets.

Besides being of sufficient scale, companies should have what Gowdey terms “market comparables”, where there are identical listed companies in the industry for investors to compare and value the company against.

Also Read: Why the TradeGecko acquisition by Intuit is a promise fulfilled by the SEA tech startup ecosystem

The second medium of exits founders is through trade sales. These occur when a company is fully or partially acquired by another. It is usually part of a strategic plan by the acquirer to increase its market share within the industry or utilise the acquired company’s products to complement their existing offerings.

An example Gowdey shared was the complete acquisition of Jungle’s portfolio company TradeGecko by American software giant Intuit.

Another exit strategy brought up was through the sale of secondary shares. He noted this usually only applies to later-stage companies.

“If you think about Grab or gojek, early investors in those businesses would see the valuations go up. The new investors coming in will tend to purchase and invest primary capital in the company but will also purchase secondary shares from earlier-stage investors,” Gowdey explained.

Preference for trade sales

Remarking that trade sales represent the bulk of exits VCs take in the region, Gowdey shared regional stock exchanges have played a role in that preference.

Though exchanges in Thailand and Indonesia have sufficient liquidity for domestic businesses to list, there is a lack of a regional large-cap exchange such as Hong Kong or New York for tech startups to list and expand in.

Further supporting the rising trend of trade sales are the complexities present within the region. According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, Southeast Asia is one of the most diverse regions worldwide, with more than 100 ethnic groups and 655 million people speaking over 1,000 languages and dialects.

Despite being one of the fastest-growing regions worldwide, foreign companies often find it difficult to directly partake in the rapid growth in SEA, therefore turning to acquire regional companies to increase their presence here.

Also Read: Indonesia’s beauty-tech startup Social Bella raises US$58M Series E from Temasek, Pavilion, Jungle Ventures

The Managing Partner shared exits could be broadly classified under two categories — reactive or proactive.

Defining reactive exits as one where companies reach out to purchase a stake in another, Gowdey shared how the pandemic threw its fair share of curveballs during Intuit’s acquisition of TradeGecko.

“Talks started before the pandemic. Then, it went on hold in March when the stock market dropped in the US. Intuit, like most of the people, was quite worried about the future of the economy. Once the stock market rebounded and the economy stabilised, they came back and re-engaged and ultimately we got that closed,” he disclosed.

On the other hand, proactive exits entail companies reaching out to prospective investors. Given the pandemic’s increased impact on certain industries, Gowdey remarked that a founder’s view of an exit might have changed as they look to spin up a sale process due to a shortened financial runway.

Turning things around

A 2019 report by Golden Gate Ventures found that 54% of respondents feel startups are not prepared for an economic downturn.

Having worked with later-stage investments at Jungle such as Kredivo and Pomelo Fashion and overseen multiple exits including iflix to Chinese tech giant Tencent, Gowdey has seen it all as an investor.

When quizzed on what were the best traits he noticed in founders able to turn negative events around, he had a straightforward answer.

Terming negative events such as the current pandemic as “catalyst events”, Gowdey observed the best founders were able to utilise them to take a step back and re-evaluate the business.

Also Read: Companies shut down not because of crises but only when founders give up: Joseph Phua of M17

Remarking that entrepreneurship is no easy feat and founders often have their heads down working long hours to build up the business, he shared taking a step back in tough times could ultimately prove beneficial.

“The pandemic is a catalyst event to make founders kind of step back and say ‘ can I be doing this better? Am I running sales the right way? Do I need more customer support or is my marketing the best that I can be doing?’” he elaborated.

Beyond that, he encouraged founders to scrutinise their business efficiency and look for ways to reduce their OPEX while renegotiating deals amidst tightened financials.

Sufficient early-stage funding

According to reports, overall pre-Series A funding saw a 20 per cent plunge in 2020, coming off a plateau in recent years.

However, Gowdey does not view this decline as an issue for early-stage startups. Sharing that Jungle and other regional early-stage VCs such as Golden Gate and Wavemaker continue to write cheques for seed-stage startups, he opined the rise in angel investors within the region has also ensured there is no shortage of funding opportunities for early-stage startups.

“There’s a lot of angels around who will write, US$50,000-100,000 cheques. If founders can pull together a few of them, they could secure a US$500,000-600,000 dollar-type seed round,” he elaborated.

Alongside the rise of cohort-based investing by incubators run by VCs such as Accelerating Asia, Antler and Sequoia India, alternative ways of obtaining early-stage funding show the 20 per cent plunge would not be a cause for concern.

Also Read: The future VC will be a hybrid between accelerator and incubator. Here’s why

In response to whether startups should look to fundraise independently or rely on an accelerator, he shared the decision would be dependent on the characteristics and needs of each company.

Accelerators that support companies in business development or talent acquisition would serve well for companies that can benefit from these opportunities.

“On the other hand, founders may have a complete team formed and have friends and family who can raise enough of the seed round that they don’t need to be part of a seed fund or an incubator accelerator. They’re happy to do it on their own,” Gowdey concluded.

—

Image Credit: Jungle Ventures

The post Why David Gowdey of Jungle Ventures believes exits should be led by founders appeared first on e27.

Since we launched e27 Pro early this year, Connect is one of the most loved features by Pro members.

As the name implies, Connect helps Pro members build their network and connect directly via the e27 platform to investors for fundraising, partnership, and even mentorship opportunities. And allow us to flex a bit: e27 Pro launched with 300 investors who are actively looking for investment opportunities joining Connect, and is yielding a 91 per cent response rate for connections.

The good news is, we have been building upon that initial 300 investors and we’re happy to share this list of the ten latest investors to join Connect. Another good news? This is just the first one.

Ready? Here we go:

Bluechilli
Stages: Seed
Verticals: Finance, Logistics/Supply Chain, Entertainment
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Bluechilli: BlueChilli helps talented founders build businesses using their purpose-built methodology designed to accelerate a startup’s path to launch, growth and scale. Leveraging the hindsight and experience of serial entrepreneurs, lean startup experts and startup mentors in our program, in addition to selected business tools, BlueChilli helps founders build highly investable, scalable and well-designed businesses that are enabled by technology.
Connect with them

Gemba Capital
Stages: Series A
Verticals: All
Investment range: USD 35K to USD 150K
Straight from Gemba Capital: We believe adoption of technology across all sectors will be led by startups thereby disrupting many industries and creating value for customers and all stakeholders.
Connect with them

Holland Park Capital
Stages: All
Verticals: All
Investment range: USD 100K to USD 5M
Straight from Holland Park Capital: Holland Park Capital is a capital provider and advisor based in London, Amsterdam and Singapore with a focus on hedge funds and scalable fintech platforms.
Connect with them

Also read: Sustainability: the new business reality

Moat Ventures
Stages: Seed, Series A
Verticals: All
Investment range: USD 10K to USD 200K
Straight from Moat Ventures: All of our capital is internal, meaning that we don’t have to raise funds from LP’s. This creates unique opportunities, as it removes the burden of timeframes from our equation. We are focused on the long term, and aim for successful long term partnerships.
Connect with them

nfinitiv Venture Capital
Stages: All
Verticals: All
Investment range: USD 100K to USD 5M
Straight from nfinitiv Venture Capital: Our team comprise of industry experts who have demonstrated outstanding skills and knowledge in their field of expertise. They have been on the front-line of start-ups. In that sense, they immediately understand the challenges and opportunities and provide real added value based on this expertise and experience.
Connect with them

Quest Ventures
Stages: Seed, Series A
Verticals: Automotive, E-commerce, Finance, Mobile, Real Estate, Transportation,
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Quest Ventures: Quest Ventures is a leading venture fund for technology companies that have scalability and replicability in large internet communities.
Connect with them

Shift Ventures (Thailand)
Stages: Series B and above
Verticals: E-Commerce, Finance, Logistics/Supply Chain, Saas, and more
Investment range: USD 50K to USD 20M
Straight from Shift Ventures: They invest in technology startups and high-growth companies in various industries globally. They always look for great teams with amazing ideas that are disrupting traditional industries with the internet and technologies. They provide hand-on support for all of our portfolio companies from funding, business development to exit planning and execution.
Connect with them

Also read: 500 Startups, Monk’s Hill, others join forces to form Vietnam Venture Capital Alliance

SKTA Innopartners
Stages: All
Verticals: All
Investment range: USD 1M to USD 5M
Straight from SKTA Innopartners: Innopartners’ Accelerator funds and accelerates core technology startups. We focus on helping entrepreneurs with innovative ideas in hardware and enterprise networking. In addition to matching early stage companies with strategic partners, Innopartners will provide the legal and financial support as well as the business tools to ensure that innovative ideas emerge market-ready.
Connect with them

Smile Group
Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
Verticals: Advertising, Consumer, E-Commerce, Gaming, Retail
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Smile Group: We partner with fast-growing companies for their expansion and invest in disruptive companies.
Connect with them

Startup Big Boss
Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
Verticals: Internet of Things
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Startup Big Boss: StartUp Big Boss provides customized startup acceleration for big ideas to effectively transform into a real business.
Connect with them

Watch out tomorrow for the second part of this list!

– –

Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

The post Building your investor network? Here is the first part of our active investors list in SEA appeared first on e27.

Grab, gojek close in on terms for merger; They have narrowed their differences of opinion, though some parts of the agreement still need to be negotiated; Under one structure with substantial support, Grab co-founder Anthony Tan would become the CEO of the combined entity, while gojek executives would run the new combined business in Indonesia under the Gojek brand. Bloomberg

Is the future of retail in AI?; Google and Facebook are largely AI machines. On the ad side, both are pushing to give more control to their AI (and out of your hands); Amazon already uses AI to guide their delivery driver routes; And in a world of AI-driven drones and self-driving cars, how far off are we where a customer can get an order in hours without a single human touching it? Inside Retail

The holiday edit: Zalora CMO on how to tap social media to induce consumer shopping behaviour; Jo Bjordal says livestream e-commerce will continue to become a more important sales channel in Southeast Asia as the markets mature; SEA is a mobile-first region, with most countries ranking high in mobile phone ownership ratio and use of mobile in their communications. e27

How Singapore’s Scalo Technologies helps global startups expand into SEA through its unique investment model; More than 500 startups, including companies from the Southeast Asia region, are in Scalo’s funnel and are at different stages of consideration; It has made its maiden investment of US$3M into Russian firm Megarender. e27

N-Squared Ecommerce to expand its footprint across SEA with its Series A; Investors include KKP Capital, Siam Alpha Equity, Chanwanich Group, AHMP and ECG-Research; The Thai firm owns several online D2C brands and an e-commerce distributor for over 130 brands in six countries across the region. e27

Tazapay raises US$3.2M from Sequoia India, Surge, Saison Capital; It is a cloud-based trade management platform for SMEs to safely conduct cross-border commerce; The funds will be used for product development, hiring talent and expansion to new markets in SEA. e27

Otoklix to expand its O2O solutions for automotive aftermarket in Indonesia with US$2M+ financing; Investors include Surge, GK Plug and Play, Founders of Kopi Kenangan; Otoklix is targeting 500 partner workshops, 100K monthly cars serviced, 75% wallet share of partnered workshops total procurement by December 2021. e27

Sembrani Nusantara Fund (SNF) invests US$2M in Indonesia’s made-to-order drinks brand Haus!; Haus! claims it has 100+ outlets across Greater Jakarta and Bandung, and sells 1.5M cups a month; BRI Ventures-backed SNF recently hit the first close at US$10M. e27

Neuroglee bags US$2.3M in pre-seed funding to strengthen fight against Alzheimer’s; Investors include Japan’s Eisai, Biofourmis CEO Kuldeep Singh Rajput; The Singapore startup is building evidence-based, prescription digital therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. e27

Extracurricular activities learning platform Kyt bags US$2.5M; Investors are Surge, Titan Capital, angel investors; Over 1,000 students have taken a course or attended workshops with Kyt; It has 20+ teachers, with plans to increase this to 500 over the next 12 months. e27

How Singapore is cementing its position as SEA’s fintech hub; There are currently 1K+ fintech startups in Singapore, mainly focussing on payment, lending, investment and personal finance; Singapore as a fintech hub has grown thanks to a proactive regulatory framework and policies that promote a sustainable financial services ecosystem. Tech Collective

iMedia acquires Malaysia-based Chinese language portal Moretify; Based on Google Analytics data, from Jan to Oct, Moretify recorded an average of 3.1M page views and acquired over 800K monthly users; Over the past 3+ months, iMedia has acquired OhMedia, Ittify, Goody25 and BeautifulNara. e27

Digital payment firm VNPay becomes Vietnam’s second startup unicorn; VNPay, which manages a network of payment systems using QR codes in major cities, is currently partnering with over 40 banks and 20K companies; It has 15M+ monthly users who access its app to transfer money, pay utility bills and buy bus tickets; Vietnam targets having 5 unicorns by 2025. Retail News Asia

Indonesia’s Pintek secures investment; Investors include Finch Capital (lead), Accion Venture; Pintek provides financial access to all communities and educational institutions and their suppliers; It has partnered with 190+ educational institutions and has distributed credit to customers across more than 26 provinces. e27

Indonesia’s Desty raised seed funding from East Ventures; It provides a single platform for individuals to sell their products; Its Desty Page is a service that creates landing pages optimised for link in bio at social media accounts, while Desty Store allows users to easily create an e-commerce store complimentary to marketplaces. e27

Why SEA desperately needs innovation in HR and how Veremark accelerator is facilitating it; HR Tech has seen investment treble from US$1.8B in 2017 to nearly US$6B in 2019 by VCs globally; However, only a fraction of that comes from SEA as a region despite the fact that exit multiples at 7x sales on average are significantly higher than most marketplaces, content or e-commerce businesses. e27

Addressing the logistics challenges of transporting the COVID-19 vaccines in and out of Asia; To ensure glitch-free vaccine distribution, it is vital to organise all aspects of the process, which is possible with the help of cloud technology and the mobilisation, task management, and people interaction expertise of companies like Salesforce. e27

The 3 questions that will help maximise every entrepreneur’s productivity; For any entrepreneur, growth should be the primary focus and purpose; There are vital decisions to be taken as to how the business can enter and establish a presence in new markets, how the existing product line can be expanded to serve customers better, and also to bring in more revenue. e27

6 ways sentiment analysis is changing the e-commerce experience; How often do you give a thought to the fact that customers love being heard?; You must listen to what they say about your brand; Your customer is not a paid influencer and has got no reason to tell lies; Rather, customers are very objective in their criticisms about a product or service. e27

Grab launches delivery-only supermarket in Malaysia; GrabSupermarket currently services the Klang Valley, delivering over 2,500 products including household goods, pantry essentials, beauty and health essentials, and freshly sourced produce; This new development by the super app comes after the COVID-19 outbreak has fuelled demand for home deliveries. TechInAsia

Eat Just gets regulatory nod to sell lab-grown chicken meat in Singapore; The company said that its new product meets quality validations and was confirmed to be safe and nutritious for human consumption; Eat Just is the US-based company behind egg alternative Just Egg, which is made with turmeric and mung bean protein. TechInAsia

Restaurant industry has yet to tap full potential of technology, say industry players; Restaurateurs are urged to invest in technology so they can collect, protect and integrate data points from all their systems to derive long-term value for the company. SGSME

NOW inks 5G rollout deal with Nokia in Philippines; NOW Group will adopt Nokia’s 5G standalone tech which provides for overall faster broadband, compared to the 5G non-standalone seen in many countries where radio networks are only overlaid on existing 4G networks; The partnership comes at a time when Philippine telcos are urged to provide better services and faster internet connectivity in the new normal. ABS-CBN

Malaysia’s green energy solutions startup JM Newton secures US$700K+ via ECF Ata Plus; 11 investors participated in the campaign which was oversubscribed by 954%; It claims its eco-friendly and green-qualified systems and solutions have been applied to a range of shopping centres and hypermarket chains in the country. e27

Vietnam reports successful 5G pilot tests; State-run Viettel Group’s Viettel High-Tech Industries Corporation and Vingroup’s VinSmart Research and Manufacture JSC in October agreed to develop a 5G gNodeB base station system; 5G speed on Vsmart smartphones using Sub6 band is ~8x higher than 4G. Open Gov

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One of the most notable updates in the Southeast Asian tech startup ecosystem is the number of new funds and upcoming investments being announced throughout November.

On November 26, 37 VC firms announced their commitment to invest more than US$800 million over next three to five years in the Vietnam startup ecosystem, once again securing the country’s position as the next big thing in the region when it comes to tech investment.

Indonesia has been a popular destination for investors, and in November, local VC firms are showing up their teeth with their latest funds. Interestingly, these VCs are those with ties to state-owned enterprises: Telkom’s MDI Ventures returned with their US$40 million fund, the result of its collaboration with Finch Capital while BRI Ventures announced the first close of their US$10 million funds. This one included Southeast Asian tech giant Grab as one of its investors.

November also saw the debut of completely new firms. The-Wolfpack, an early-stage startup fund in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) sector, was launched in Singapore with a US$5 million fund. In addition to them, Singapore-based Beamstart, the company behind global entrepreneurial platform and resource database beamstart.com, is launching a US$10 million digital accelerator fund for Southeast Asia.

Another country that has gathered attention in November was the Philippines. In the past, there had been concerns regarding the country’s ability to produce a unicorn startup like others in the region. But these investors and their focus might provide new hope: New Wave, a subsidiary of Philippines-based IP E-Game Ventures, has signed an agreement with Malaysia’s boutique investment firm Emissary Capital to set up a US$50-million fund for ASEAN startups.

In addition to that, Gobi-Core Philippine Fund also disclosed an investment in local live-streaming startup Kumu. It is also set to invest in a total of seven startups by end-2021.

Also Read: Neuroglee bags US$2.3M in pre-seed funding to strengthen fight against Alzheimer’s

Myanmar also gained attention as Ascent Capital closes its debut Myanmar-focused fund at US$88 million.

Hustle Fund, a US- and Singapore-based pre-seed VC investor, has also hit the first close of its second fund at US$30 million.

Funding history in November

At this rate, we no longer need to be convinced about the ability of Southeast Asian tech startup ecosystem to get through the pandemic; investments continue to trickle into the region despite challenges here and there.

As always, some verticals –such as fintech– were more popular than the rest. A recent Startup Genome report had named Jakarta and Singapore as the top global fintech ecosystem, and this is strengthened by the number and size of deals in the ecosystems.

In November, in addition to a relative newcomer such as Finantier with its undisclosed pre-seed funding round, we witnessed funding announcements from major names such as Kredivo (a US$100 million funding round), Investree (US$15 million) and LinkAja (US$100 million in Series B).

Both companies are aiming to further strengthen their support to local SMEs. This also confirmed various predictions of fintech being one of the most resilient verticals during the pandemic.

Talking about big names, Indonesia-based unicorns such as gojek (with state-owned mobile operator Telkomsel as an investor) and Bukalapak (with Microsoft as an investor) had also been reported to raise funding.

Other popular sectors that had also raised fundings in November included edutech (Kyt, LingoAce, and AOne), logistics (Pickupp, Logisly), proptech (Aqwire), healthtech (Alodokter), and biotech (Krosslinker).

Some of the more unique verticals have also announced funding rounds in November.

There were plenty of investments being made in sectors related to the F&B industries: MadEats (which counted Tinder co-founder as investor), Mangkokku (a US$2 million funding round), Food Market Hub (a US$4 million Series A), and Hi So (which includes an ex-Senator of Japan as an investor).

Also Read: JM Newton secures US$700K+ in crowdfunding to help enterprises save energy using its green-tech solutions

The COVID-19 pandemic itself has been seen as a “wake-up call” for the F&B industry to start adapting and transforming itself digitally. These funding announcements might be an indication of actions taken by both investors and industry players.

Another segment that has gotten popular during the pandemic is media and content. We saw major funding announcements by theAsianparent; there were also announcements from Quintype and Sociabuzz.

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Image Credit: Chronis Yan on Unsplash

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Due to today’s unique circumstances, various aspects of real-life activities have been deeply affected by the global health crisis. One particular area that has changed drastically is the sports world. The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo have been postponed to summer of 2021, meanwhile, the NBA has relegated its games to an isolation zone at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, aptly called the “2020 NBA Bubble”. Amidst the myriad of challenges in the sporting world, however, one key area that has seen heightened growth is esports.

Whether you’re a hardcore gamer or an amateur enthusiast enjoying mobile games from the periphery of the competitive gaming world, chances are, you have picked up an esports hobby or two in this lifetime. Recently, the esports world has seen a major spike, skyrocketing to unprecedented heights due to most major economies imposing movement restrictions in 2020, encouraging many mobile users to pick up remote hobbies they can enjoy during their spare time at home.

With the rising interest in esports and gaming, especially during the global lockdown situation, the Esports Players League (ESPL) will be working with HyperX as strategic partners to bring high-quality and exciting competitive gaming to the amateur gamer community of PUBG Mobile. Esports not only has emerged as one of the largest sports genres globally now, but it also has fast become a popular digital entertainment choice for smartphone users.

ESPL, a global esports tournament and platform provider that focuses on creating mobile and online ecosystems for amateur esports communities globally, has partnered with gaming peripherals specialist HyperX to organise a free to register PUBG Mobile tournament.

“At the very core of ESPL, we strive to lay the foundation of amateur esports serving players who are casual all the way to aspiring professional esports athletes. Our mission is very much in-line with HyperX’s focus on serving all gamers. We are excited to bring ESPL’s next big tournament to PUBG Mobile fans.”, commented Michael Broda, CEO of ESPL.

Also read: Building your investor network? Here is the first part of our active investors list in SEA

The HyperX Elite Cup

The online-only esports tournament, HyperX Elite Cup, will be hosted on ESPL’s online platform at espl.gg and will be managed by ESPL. The tournament will have an attractive prize pool worth up to US$6,000 in cash prizes and HyperX products.

HyperX is the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the world’s largest independent memory manufacturer, with the goal of providing gamers, PC builders, PC, console. and mobile power users with high-performance components.

With a presence across Southeast Asia, South Asia, South America, and Europe, ESPL seeks to bring the HyperX Elite Cup to amateur gamers across Southeast Asia.

The game title that the tournament will compete on will be the popular Battle Royale game, PUBG Mobile. PUBG or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is an online multiplayer battle royale game developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole. The game is based on previous the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, and expanded into a standalone game under the creative direction of game designer, Brendan Greene.

By facilitating grassroots participation in what is a rapidly expanding esports market not only in Southeast Asia, South Asia, South America, and Europe, ESPL has direct access and exposure to a large, valuable, and often overlooked segment of the esports market.

With its eyes set on Amateur gamers from across the world, the HyperX Elite Cup is set to bolster and embolden the global esports community by inviting more participants to take on the journey towards competitive and remote gaming experience.

Also read: Fun, games, and health for seniors with Looxid Labs’ LUCY

A formidable team behind a formidable event

With such a pivotal event redefining the global esports landscape, it comes as no surprise that the team behind the HyperX Elite Cup is also represented by the best industry players specifically catering to the best interest of mobile gamers everywhere.

For 16 years, the HyperX mission has been to develop gaming products for all types of gamers — high-speed memory, solid state drives, headsets, keyboards, mice, charging accessories for console players, USB flash drives, and mousepads — to the gaming community and beyond. The award-winning HyperX brand is known for consistently delivering products that deliver superior comfort, aesthetics, performance, and reliability.

HyperX gear is the choice of celebrity ambassadors, pro gamers, tech enthusiasts, and over-clockers worldwide because it meets the most stringent product specifications and is built with best-in-class components. HyperX has shipped over 70 million memory modules, 10 million gaming headsets and one million keyboards worldwide.

On the other hand, global esports tournament organisation ESPL is launching a global footprint across 16 countries in its initial phase, covering Asia, Europe, and the Americas. ESPL’s central focus is on mobile esports, with PC and console-based video games also featured on its diverse network of quality esports content. ESPL is managed by its headquarters in Singapore and regional offices in Cologne and Los Angeles. Currently still in its first phase, ESPL is rapidly expanding its presence into other continents as well.

This partnership calcifies HyperX Elite Cup’s role not only in delivering the best quality esports tournament for all interested participants, but also ensures that the event encompasses a large audience of amateur players from many parts of the world.

How to join HyperX Elite Cup

Tournament registrations for the HyperX Elite Cup – PUBG Mobile is open from the 4^th of December 2020, while the tournament itself is poised to begin on the 28th of December 2020. Both the Semi-Finals & Grand Finals will be live-streamed on ESPL’s & HyperX’s channels in both English and Malay. There will also be other fun exciting activities and giveaways during the period of the tournament so watch out for them on ESPL’s official Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, & Instagram pages.

Interested participants can register for a tournament slot at at ESPL.GG.

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Habitat for Humanity, an international non-profit focusing on eradicating poverty housing, has unveiled the 10 startups joining its newest accelerator programme in Southeast Asia.

Coined “ShelterTech”, the programme seeks to advance housing solutions for low-income families in the region.

An initiative of Habitat’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, ShelterTech provides mentorship, masterclasses and connections to investors and partners for businesses with the potential to tackle affordable housing challenges.

The regional accelerator — which joins existing ones in India, Kenya, Mexico and the Andean region — will be conducted online, with an increased focus on solutions that work in the context of the current pandemic.

Also Read: How Gaza’s only accelerator nurtures tech startups amid political unrest

Participants will go through an intensive programme comprising technical training, refinement of business models, product demonstrations and personal mentorship from housing sector experts.

Advisors of the ShelterTech accelerator include Steve Melhuish, Co-founder of PropertyGuru; Slater Young, Founder and CEO of Liteblock; and Tean Ly, Managing Partner at Seeva Capital.

Upon graduation from the accelerator, startups will have the opportunity to network with industry players and meet investors for fundraising opportunities.

As per a press note, the programme will be anchored by Villgro Philippines, an early-stage impact investor, in collaboration with Global Urban Village, a Southeast Asia-focused consulting and seed investment company.

Here’s a snapshot of the 10 startups:

AffordAble Abodes

A Malaysian social impact enterprise seeking to promote the construction of affordable and environmentally-sound, low-cost housing.

Billion Bricks

A Singapore startup developing a self-financing solar home solution.

Cubo Modular

A Philippine startup focused on creating a modular housing solution to provide dignified living to low-income workers.

Gradana

An Indonesia-based proptech and fintech platform for property and real estate financing and mortgage.

Also Read: tryb Group invests in Indonesian proptech startup Gradana

My Dream Home

A Cambodian startup which aims to create affordable construction materials for local communities.

Nay Yar Housing

Pounamu

A Myanmar bamboo design and construction startup committed to the development of the local bamboo industry.

Sampangan

An Indonesian startup which utilises a carbonisation technology unit to convert waste into carbon sustainably.

Social Light

A Philippines-based WiFi monetisation solution provider which aims to expand connectivity to low-income communities.

TapEffect

A social enterprise established to bring clean water to households across Cambodia using piped water networks.

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Image Credit: Photo by yatharth roy vibhakar on Unsplash

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Maeko Founder and CEO Chelsea Chee

From Indian to Chinese and Malay to Peranakan, Malaysia has it all when it comes to food cuisines.

Due to its vast array of cultures, Malaysians have inherited a melting pot of cuisines. Amidst the large amounts of food prepared and consumed locally, a problem of equal scale has emerged.

According to a 2019 report by siliconindia, Malaysia ranks fifth globally for food wastage, with each person wasting up to 560kg of food annually. Furthermore, there is a dearth of awareness campaigns that educate the public on utilising food waste as a resource. This ignorance has led to a chilling statistic.

The Solid Waste Corporation Malaysia shared that food waste amounted to 15,000 tonnes daily, with 20 per cent remaining consumable at the point of disposal.

Also Read: Lumitics raises seed funding to track the food wasted by Singapore’s F&B outlets and restaurants

These figures represented a calling for Chelsea Chee to develop a sustainable food waste management platform to solve this increasingly serious problem.

That led to the creation of Maeko, a startup that utilises composting as a way to turn food waste into nutrient-rich bio-organic fertilisers.

Why composting

“Composting is the most convenient and simplest way to settle the food waste issue. It can be practised on-site from a minimum amount of food waste ranging from household capacity to large amount in commercial and industrial,” said Founder and CEO Chee as she shared on the rationale behind choosing composting as the medium to reduce food wastage.

Furthermore, composting does not generate methane gas. Chee remarks that rotten food waste in landfills releases this potent gas that is reportedly 25x more harmful to global warming than carbon dioxide.

Maeko claims its composters ship with a specially formulated composting enzyme called Speedozyme, which can compost all type of organic waste including garden waste, raw kitchen scraps and even cooked food waste with bones, gravy and sauce.

Upon composting, food waste is turned into nutrient-rich fertiliser. Chee claims it takes 500-1,000 years to form an inch of topsoil. The compost helps restore soil fertility and balance nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) within it in a natural way with activities from the microbe.

Maeko’s composters can compost food waste within 24 hours for its industrial unit and 48 hours for its portable unit.

Changing perceptions

Amidst the panic buying during the lockdowns imposed, there has been an increased focus on food wastage.

“The public is rethinking and throwing less food away and being more hygienic in managing their food waste,” Chee opined.

As movement restrictions continue within the region and remote work remains the default option, more are eating at home and have grown warier of the food waste they are generating, she remarked.

Also Read: Conscious consumption is driving the trend in foodtech: Study

Coupled with families starting to adopt urban farming and gardening as a bonding activity during the lockdown, Chee reported that composting had been well received by the community.

The MunchBot composting unit

Communal composting

Since its incorporation in 2011, Maeko’s composters have mainly served businesses in various industries, ranging from hospitality and manufacturing to retail and healthcare.

However, Chee shared that she had been receiving an increasing number of requests from individuals to tackle food wastage at a community level.

That led to the creation of MunchBot, a communal-sized composter that fits comfortably in homes. Envisioning composting and reducing food wastage to be part of a lifestyle, MunchBot completes Maeko’s range of composters to ensure everyone, from industries to families, have access to one.

In addition to its operating base in Malaysia, Maeko has partnerships in Thailand, The Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Maldives. The startup is looking to partner with more international partners as it seeks to expand globally.

With the global market size of food waste management estimated to hit US$42.4 billion by 2022, there are definitely reasons to be optimistic amidst an increased focus on sustainability.

Maeko is raising up to MYR4,000,000 (close to US$1 million) via equity crowdfunding platform Ata Plus, mainly for production and marketing of the MunchBOT units.

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Image Credit: Maeko

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As many as 17 VC firms have come together to form the Vietnam Venture Capital Alliance (VVCA) to help the local market flourish, as per a press statement.

The VC firms include ThinkZone Ventures, 500 Startups, CyberAgent Capital, Vietnam Investment Group, Openspace Ventures, Access Ventures, Quest Ventures, Genesia Venture, Monk’s Hill Ventures, eWTP Capital, Teko Ventures, VIC Partners, Venturra, Next100, Nextrans, FEBE Ventures and Duane Morris.

Also Read: Peaking in 2019, tech investment in Vietnam drops by 22 per cent in H1 2020 due to COVID-19

VVCA is a non-legal organisation which will cooperate with the government to propose policies that will help the country attract more capital while expanding the legal corridor for startup business models.

The goal is to remove major barriers such as lack of startup investment knowledge and legal barriers for foreign investment funds. 

Its activities will be implemented across three focus areas, which include issuing an annual summary report on investment activities, organising a dialogue with the government on investment for innovative startups and proposing policies to improve the startup investment environment.

Also Read: 37 VCs to invest US$800M+ in Vietnam’s startups over next 3-5 years

Vietnam has been receiving immense attention from investors after the recent volatility in the global trade environment, which has pushed many companies into diversifying their supply chains away from China.

Alongside India, the country is now becoming a leading choice of investment by major companies, especially for manufacturing. Aiding to that the country’s effective containment measures have also sparked investor confidence to further push its growth.

“Up to now, we have not had an organisation that has gathered so many investment funds. VVCA is expected to be a place for investment funds and law firms supporting venture capital deals in Vietnam to give a common voice to find out what is the problem that needs to be solved. Because if it is just an investment fund, a single startup cannot represent all,” Bui Thanh Do, a founding member of VVCA and CEO of ThinkZone Ventures, said.

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Image Credit: ThinkZone

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