Singapore-based Intelligent Video Solutions (iVS), which was until recently known as iVideoSmart, has announced the launch of its programmatic in-stream video advertising marketplace in Southeast Asia.

The marketplace provides advertisers with a single point of access to in-stream video inventory across premium publishers in the region, whereas publishers get a platform with hosting, transcoding and streaming capabilities.

Also Read: 4 tips for creating highly engaging video advertisements

“We have a unique opportunity to develop the leading programmatic marketplace for in-stream video advertising in Southeast Asia, which is an unprecedented offering to the market. Building out the demand side function of the business is no small task, so we are primarily looking at getting the right mix of talent and technology in place as we ramp up the operation,” said Milan Reinartz, CEO of iVS.

Established in 2016, iVS is a video advertising platform for both publishers and advertisers in Southeast Asia. The platform uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to enable better monetisation opportunities and consumer engagement.

iVS aims to disrupt the video content industry by increasing video inventory available to online publishers, as well as improving viewer experience and video ads’ effectiveness through the use of embedded (non-invasive) and engaging ads targeted at individual viewer preference.

Today, iVS has over 150 publisher partners across the region, including Kompas Gramedia, Brilio, Tempo, Detik, Kaskus and several others of the Kapanlagi group in Indonesia; GMA, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Summit Media, ABS-CBN, Manila Times, Bohol Chronicle in the Philippines; TantanNews, Sinchew and PocketTimes in Malaysia; and AsiaOne and Mothership in Singapore.

iVS claims it currently serves over 120 million users across over 1.2 billion pages each month and operates in six markets, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and the US.

In March 2019, iVS announced a US$4.5 million Series A+ funding from a host of investors, including Kickstart Ventures (lead), Darwin Ventures, SGInnovate, Monk’s Hill Ventures and EE Capital.

On-boarding new CRO, CTO

As part of its expansion in the region, iVS has also announced the appointment of Hari Shankar as Chief Revenue Officer and Joc Cing Tay as Chief Technology Officer.

Also Read: Why every startup needs to embrace video marketing in 2020

Shankar previously held the roles of CEO at Singapore Media Exchange (SMX), Managing Director at Ecselis (Havas Media Group) and Head of Digital Acquisition (APAC) at PayPal.

Shankar will be responsible for acquiring new publishers and advertisers onto the platform.

“Despite the challenging environment, particularly for advertisers who saw budget cuts earlier this year due to Covid-19, we are seeing a strong rebound in demand for a solution that effectively engages consumers for advertisers and increases video inventory for online publishers,” said Shankar.

Tay was previously VP of Engineering at Appier in Taiwan, leading a team of over 100 engineers.

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Image Credit: iVS

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Fintech is booming in Singapore, a city known for being a global financial hub. The island city-state has received the lion’s share of funding in Southeast Asia over the past five years, and funding has only increased exponentially.

In 2019 alone, fintech-related deals accumulated over a billion SGD, far outstripping the amount of funding received in 2018 according to research from Accenture. This has been facilitated in part by the state’s favourable business ecosystem, which boasts low corporate tax rates, political stability, and low barriers to entry.

The nation has also made active steps to support fintech’s growth, suggesting a continued boom ahead. From 2015 to 2020, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the state’s central bank, set aside S$225 million (US$165 million) to support fintech initiatives, a programme which has helped fund the nation’s turn towards fintech.

Since then, the number of fintech firms has rapidly climbed from only 50 to more than 600. On the back of this success, MAS has announced that it is likely that the programme will be renewed as of 2020.

Given its stated intentions to support a diversified range of fintech companies, it is wise to assume that there will be an increased amount of spending on the industry and a growing set of funds available for new and maturing startups.

Also Read: Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam the most attractive fintech hubs in SEA: Study

What kind of initiatives has MAS launched to support the fintech industry? From 2015, MAS has taken a proactive stance in creating a favourable regulatory environment for businesses, emphasising innovation in tandem with security as well as supporting upcoming projects.

This was demonstrated in 2016 when MAS announced a regulatory sandbox for fintech companies to test their products in a live environment. This initiative has only expanded since – in 2019, MAS announced Sandbox Express to provide an even faster option for incoming players.

Its commitment to liberalising the fintech industry was further displayed in 2018, when it announced that it would issue up to two digital full bank (DFB) licences and three digital whole bank (DWB) licences, thereby opening up the banking sector to more players.

The country also boasts a highly skilled workforce favourable to incoming fintech entrepreneurs and the development of the market. This workforce is only set to grow —in 2019, the National University of Singapore (NUS) announced the opening of a fintech lab in conjunction with business and financial institutions.

This lab will be responsible for training the next generation of entrepreneurs and professionals. This development signifies the country’s commitment to expanding the labour pool available for upcoming fintech companies and bids good news for the booming market.

Singapore’s strategic location at the heart of the Malay peninsula has also made it an ideal location for leapfrogging into ASEAN markets. ASEAN markets offer a large pool of people who lack access to traditional financial institutions and would be well served by the development of fintech firms.

Also Read: Fintech company Achiko wants to help tackle COVID-19 with its new healthtech projects

An emerging theme of fintech in Southeast Asia is hence that of financial inclusion. For example, FinAccel, a successful fintech company based out of Singapore, is a credit lending company that caters to online shoppers in Indonesia, a group of people that have been historically underserved by traditional banks.

Beyond consumers, there is a similarly large pool of SMEs in Southeast Asia that have been underserved by traditional financial institutions, which lack the flexibility and deep data analytics provided by fintech companies.

Thailand is another prominent country in the region committed to developing its fintech industry. The Thai government inaugurated the Digital Economy Promotion agency in 2017 and has made supporting the fintech scene a priority since.

For instance, the country has since introduced three regulatory sandboxes which cover different aspects of the financial services industry. The nation also has one of the highest internet penetration rates in ASEAN, making it an ideal location for the fintech industry to blossom. Notably, the Thai Fintech Association has only expanded since 2016, with 66 out of 124 members being fintech startups.

Lightnet, an up and coming fintech company, is a shining example of the road ahead for fintech in ASEAN. Lightnet is a fintech company that leverages blockchain to provide remittance services across Southeast Asia, primarily targeted at unbanked migrant workers, allowing them to bypass high transaction fees and unreliable payment routes.

The company taps on both the flourishing scene in Thailand as well as the resources offered within Singapore: its headquarters reside in Thailand and it is registered in Singapore, allowing it access to the best of both worlds. In fact, it is a truly regional company—similar to FinAccel, Lightnet’s strength is that it offers a necessary and overlooked service to millions of unbanked people in Southeast Asia.

Also Read: Kim An raises Series A to connect Vietnam’s financial institutions with MSMEs via its fintech platform

Lightnet has benefitted from Singapore’s conducive environment for fintech players. In 2019, it received US$31.2 million from various investors in a Series A Funding Round. Its largest investor was that of United Overseas Bank (UOB) Venture Management, the private equity unit of UOB.

With this funding, the company will be able to increase its investment in the underlying blockchain technology its platform is built on, Stellar Network, and move forward with its first transactions in 2020. Lightnet’s vice chairman, Tridbodi Arunanondchai, has confidently predicted that Lightnet aims to facilitate over US$50 billion worth of annual transactions over the next three years.

As Lightnet moves into its next phase, it is likely that we will see a similar shift in the broader fintech funding environment in Singapore. In 2019, despite the rise in funding for fintech firms, the number of overall fintech deals actually decreased.

This is a result of the focus shifting from seed funding to series funding in tandem with maturing startups securing larger deals from investors. Over the next few years, we should continue to see a diminishing pool in seed funding and disproportionately larger growth in series funding as the market matures and bigger fintech companies consolidate.

Furthermore, it is also wise to expect a diversification away from payment start-ups over the next few years both in Singapore and in ASEAN more broadly. A report by (UOB) in November 2019 indicated that the fintech markets in Singapore and Thailand have been diversifying into insurance tech and personal finance, whereas in other ASEAN markets the focus is still largely centred on payment-related solutions.

Lightnet has cleverly tapped into this by expanding operations in Singapore, allowing it to capture the remittance needs of the broader Southeast Asian market while benefitting from Singapore’s encouragement of fintech innovation.

Lightnet provides a vision of what is to come in the future of ASEAN’s fintech industry: flourishing start-up scenes, an expanding regional market, and financial inclusion. Even as COVID-19 has heavily impacted national economies across the globe, it has nevertheless accelerated digitalisation globally.

Without a doubt, fintech is here to stay as leading players flourish in a world increasingly reliant on digital financial services.

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A group of Singapore-based tech entrepreneurs are raising funds to help daily wage workers in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It aims to raise at least S$10,000 (US$7,350) to buy food essentials –commonly known as sembako in Indonesia– to feed 200 families or more for a month.

The fundraising campaign is running for seven days and the group will be working with Solve Education, who will work with NGO partners to identify at-risk families and distribute the goods to.

Within less than 24 hours since its launch, the campaign has managed to secure more than half of targeted numbers.

Initiated by Goh Yiping (Partner at Quest Ventures), Janine Teo (Founder and CEO of Solve Education), Prantik Mazumdar (Managing Partner at HappyMarketer; MD, CRM Group, Dentsu Aegis Network), and Mohan Belani (CEO & Co-Founder at e27), the campaign was started as a response to Jakarta’s second lockdown.

While the movement is deemed necessary to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, as the number of new cases in Indonesia peaked on September 25 with more than 4,800 cases in a day, there are concerns regarding the livelihood of daily wage workers in the country.

In a statement, the campaign pointed out that since the first lockdown in April, an estimated six to nine million workers have already lost their jobs. The government has predicted that there will be about 15 million people laid off nationwide until the end of the year, where daily wage workers will be severely impacted.

Also Read: Why COVID-19 isn’t slowing down this VC from helping businesses scale

Strengthening the ties between the two countries

In an email to e27, Goh explained the situation in more detail.

“A message to my previous Indonesian driver, Zainal … who used to drive me when I lived in Jakarta confirmed the hard truth. He has lost his job because there is almost no customer left to drive around anymore with the stopping of flights and people working from home. I have come to appreciate that millions of daily wage workers like him, who were already struggling to make ends meet pre-COVID-19 days, are impacted severely since the first lockdown in Indonesia,” she said.

“This new lockdown is a huge contrast to the reopening of Singapore where life is as normal as can be, except for masks and social distancing. Malls, restaurants, most importantly, jobs, are beginning to spring back to life. It is very hard for one to even imagine the extended lockdowns and increasing job losses in our close neighbouring country,” she continued.

Having worked, lived, and/or have extended relatives and friends in Indonesia, the group started the campaign with the goal to help the neighbouring country’s poorest population.

While they currently have no plan to create a follow-on campaign, they plan to distribute the donation in batches if they are able to raise more funds than targeted from this campaign.

“We hope everyone can donate generously to … Indonesia, of which many of us have come to live, work, and have friends and families in. As for our team, we hope to contribute back to the country we have come to call our second home in the last few years and to show our solidarity and support to our neighbouring brothers and sisters,” Goh closes.

To participate in the campaign, please visit this link.

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Image Credit: pisauikan on Unsplash

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Japan’s internet-based financial conglomerate SBI Group has partnered with Singapore- and Switzerland-based digital asset bank Sygnum to launch an early-stage fund, which will invest in digital asset possibilities across Southeast Asia and Europe.

Also Read: Return of the startups: These e27 Pro members are raising their seed funding round

These opportunities will primarily be focused on financial market infrastructure and enterprise solutions being developed for the emerging digital asset economy, as per a press statement.

Both partners expect to play an active role with the fund’s portfolio companies by enhancing corporate governance and providing business development and operational support.

They also intend to tokenise the fund structure in order to increase accessibility for investors and offer them the potential for greater liquidity post-investment.

“This fund expands the product offering for Sygnum’s clients, providing unique investment exposure to the innovation and growth in digital asset solutions,” said Gerald Goh, Sygnum’s Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer. “At the same time, Sygnum is able to support and accelerate the growth and development of a trusted digital asset ecosystem by investing in the talent and opportunities in the space.”

Also Read: 6 ways digital assets can power Southeast Asia’s economy

Digital assets and the underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT) have immense potential to revolutionise the financial system and democratise asset ownership. While still in the nascent stages of development, the industry has seen exponential growth and increasing levels of interest from institutional investors.

As a hotbed of innovation, it is attracting many talented entrepreneurs looking to disrupt the status quo, and DLT-related global private investments have also increased almost seven times over the last five years.

Sygnum is a digital asset specialist with a capital markets services (CMS) licence for asset management in Singapore and a Swiss banking and securities dealer licence. It has also played a role in launching a number of Swiss digital asset-focused startups over the past two years.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Altara Ventures launches US$100M+ fund; Why Alibaba is planning to pour US$3B into Grab

The SBI Group is a leading global internet-based financial conglomerate. In addition, it is one of the largest Japanese private equity firms with AUM in excess of USD 4.2 billion. It has invested in more than 1,500 companies globally and leverages its extensive eco-system to further drive the value of its investments.

The group is a founding member of the Japan Security Token Offering (STO) Association and investor in the space, having invested in prominent DLT companies such as Ripple and R3. It currently has investments or overseas offices in more than 20 countries.

SBI Ven Capital is a VC firm that invests in financial services and technology sectors across Asia.

In September, Switzerland passed a wide-ranging legislation opening the door to cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance (DeFi), enabling companies to create digital shares, as well as a range of other tradable assets.

In comparison, Southeast Asia is still in the developing stages of the industry and has become the hotbed attracting many entrepreneurs and institutional investors.

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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Indonesia’s e-commerce giant Bukalapak has announced the launch of a new fintech and mutual funds selling unit, called Buka Investasi Bersama (BIB).

Also Read: Going big? Then Go e27 Pro.

The current offering is an extension of the financial services it has been providing since 2016, as per a statement. The company already runs BukaReksa, which also provides mutual funds services.

“In our journey of building an investment product since 2016, we learned that investment and financial services play a crucial role in creating a better life for individuals. We hope to provide accessible investment solutions for all, erasing the stigma that investment products are only meant for some parts of the society,” BIB’s President and CEO Teddy Oetomo.

Bukalapak stated that it aims to turn 500,000 of its users into mutual funds investors by 2021.

With its objective of making financial products easy, accessible and available to the underserved population, the firm has been collaborating with many companies to build leverage on an extensive local network of customers.

Last year, it also entered into a partnership with Axinan to provide digital insurance to its customers.

Also Read: Indonesia’s Bukalapak partners with Axinan to provide digital insurance

“We hope BIB will provide more accessible investment services for everyone and that it will debunk the old assumption that says investment services are only for a certain group of people,” Oetomo added.

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Image Credit: Bukalapak

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FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific, a mentorship programme created by Accenture and run in Hong Kong, has announced the 10 startups selected for the seventh season.

Of these, three are from Singapore.

According to a press note, the 10 companies were selected from a total of 162 applications received from more than 30 countries.

Also Read: Tapping accelerator partnerships to fuel APAC growth

This year’s programme is based on five themes — data & analytics, digital bank solutions, emerging technologies, health insurance ecosystem, and intelligent automation.

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, natural language processing and other technologies, the 10 selected startups have developed innovations designed to help financial institutions address a variety of challenges.

The 2020 programme formally kicks off this week and culminates in December when the participants will present their solutions at a virtual demo day to an audience of VCs and financial industry executives.

Also Read: Border-crossing and financial inclusion: The story of fintech in ASEAN

Below are the three Singapore firms that made to the list:

Symbo

It uses its proprietary platforms to digitise insurance distribution in partnership with insurance providers. Its mobile app helps insurers digitally engage with intermediaries, tied agents and financial advisors by simplifying insurance transactions.

Staple

Its cognitive AI-based solution helps reduce the costs of back-office operations, such as compliance and on-boarding checks. By combining computer vision, natural language processing, optical character recognition and machine learning, the solution can read, interpret and extract data from documents at scale, regardless of layout, format or language.

UVAS

A product of Atlant.io, UVAS is a securities exchange offering primary issuance of shares and debentures, secondary trading and optimised post-trade process, with automatic clearing, settlement and custody, all at 90-95 per cent cost savings compared to other exchanges.

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Image Credit: FinTech Innovation Lab

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With the increasing internet penetration and smartphone usage in the Asia-Pacific region, more and more businesses are going online. This also translates to new challenges — losses due to connectivity outages being a primary issue. In 2018 alone, WiFi connectivity downtime caused losses worth around US$51 million for APAC-based enterprises.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has expedited the transformation of all sectors towards digitalisation, exposing more enterprises to losses due to connectivity outages not only in APAC but around the globe. According to a survey by Open Gear, in which 500 global senior IT decision-makers participated, over 31% stated that outages have cost their business more than $1.2 million while a further 17% said such shutdowns hit revenues by more than $6 million with 83% of the respondents saying that network resilience was their number one concern.

Also read: How ZeusX empowers virtual gaming with its secure online environment

As such, Switzerland-based insurtech startup Riskwolf is protecting enterprises against losses due to connectivity outages with a mission to make the digital economy more resilient. Founded in November 2019, Riskwolf’s entry to the market comes at a time where digital has become a necessity amidst the ongoing pandemic, subsequent lockdowns and movement restrictions. On one hand, while retailers and businesses are surviving by switching to online channels, on the other, they are concurrently exposed to connectivity outages and the losses that follow.

In an email correspondence, the co-Founder and CTO of Riskwolf René Papesch spoke to e27 about the company’s goals and vision, tech disruptions in the insurance industry and Riskwolf’s future plans.

Providing coverage against growing digital risks

In line with their vision, Riskwolf has built a platform that allows insurance companies to create coverages and help close the protection gap for growing digital risks. Working hand-in-hand with their partners, Riskwolf enables the creation of innovative insurance coverage to automatically compensate business interruption losses due to connectivity issues.

Since their launch, Riskwolf has gained considerable traction, especially between early spring this year and now. “We have built partnerships with local insurers in Vietnam and are close to an agreement with a reinsurer in the Malaysian telco market. Also, we have started to work with a European based carrier,” shared Papesch.

Riskwolf has integrated the premier global data providers and has engaged with online food delivery platforms in ASEAN and India. Riskwolf is also participating in one of Europe’s most prestigious accelerator programs (F10) and the world’s most prominent accelerator program, Plug and Play Tech Center’s program in Singapore.

Papesch has always had a data-driven mindset as well as a keen interest in the application of cutting edge technology to drive digital transformation.

“I was fortunate to have been hired for a multi-year digital transformation project at a leading reinsurer in Switzerland. This turned out to be the perfect place to put my interest in new technology and data to work. It was also on this project that I met my co-Founder, Thomas Krapf,” he shared.

Also read: Rajan Anandan to entrepreneurs: ‘Trim the fat and build a leaner organisation’

He believes that incumbent insurers suffer from legacy systems and procedures making it unnecessarily difficult for them to innovate into new markets, risk pools and products at scale and speed. “This is where Riskwolf can step in and help solve this problem by employing real-time data in an innovative technology platform,” he added.

Riskwolf’s alternative data provider uses 3 billion measurements a day to generate a robust statistical regional index of 130 global business centres. Using these measures, they are able to identify when suddenly the Internet goes down in a region. In case of an outage event, policy buyers are automatically reimbursed with a predefined payout.

Emerging tech disruptions and other trends in the insurance industry

The insurance industry has been undergoing massive tech disruptions over the past few years, and this trend has been accelerated amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Distribution processes for simple risks are digitized and Grab-like insurance services are emerging as strong growth drivers in Southeast Asia.

Furthermore, insurance companies are in the process of upgrading and modernizing their core systems to be compliant to new standards such as IFRS 17 (an International Financial Reporting Standard that was issued by the International Accounting Standards Board in May 2017 and has an effective date of 1 January 2023.)

Papesch believes that in addition to the cost-saving and automation aspects that most of the insurtech startups are addressing, a strong differentiator will be the capability to understand and underwrite emerging digital risks, such as internet outages. “Insurance will remain a high-margin business and new risk pools will begin to drive the industry’s top-line growth,” he said.

Another significant shift in the industry as outlined by Papesch is that insurance and reinsurance companies were previously closed systems, however, recently, the industry is moving towards becoming an ecosystem in a collaborative environment to embrace digital transformation in its entirety and future-proof business scalability and growth.

“Riskwolf benefits directly from this trend as we have built a platform to insure the emerging digital risks for the entire industry on a global scale. Our team’s first-hand industry experience and our data-provider partnerships give us the credibility to work with the world’s most sophisticated insurers and reinsurers,” Papesch explained.

Scope, opportunities, and challenges

Papesch explained that last year, in the telecoms space alone, one billion user hours were lost due to connectivity outages. “We are working very closely with a large telco in Southeast Asia to protect their users against connectivity outages,” he added.

Riskwolf is working with a reinsurance company and two leading data providers to build an automated and targeted compensation scheme for telco users. This will be a data-driven product that will provide parametric insurance coverage to telco customers in cases where connectivity outages are caused by weather disruptions, undersea cable cuts or other issues, enabling telcos to compensate their customers faster than ever.

Also read: How to know if your startup is ready for growth

Currently, Riskwolf’s biggest challenge is the speed, at which their incumbent partners can work with them. Working closely with their incumbent insurance partners, they continue to refine their product proposition funnel and decide which product cases have the best chance for success.

On the distribution side, Riskwolf is continuously approaching large digital distribution platforms and telcos along with leading reinsurance companies that will help them with the B2B sales cycles. In addition, they operate a lean remote-first team that allows them to keep building with efficient use of capital.

Taking Riskwolf to a whole new level: Entering new markets and scaling worldwide

The next big step for Riskwolf is to establish a strong footing in Southeast Asia. In their pursuit of expanding and building a better network here, Riskwolf has signed up for an e27 Pro membership.

“We have used e27 since we decided to enter Southeast Asia. In March, we were excited about the prospect of participating in e27’s virtual investor roadshow. This made us decide to opt-in for e27 Pro,” shared Papesch.

“The virtual roadshow was a great opportunity that helped us connect with investors in Southeast Asia. We liked the focused format with a high investor-to-startup ratio. We were able to introduce Riskwolf to approximately 20 investors in 30-minute video sessions. This will be our baseline for our fundraising efforts,” he added.

Riskwolf is launching a fundraising campaign this month (October 2020) and they plan on leveraging this membership to reach out to the VCs plus provide key stakeholders with regular updates on Riskwolf’s progress.

On the features of e27 Pro that attracted them the most, Papesch said, “For us, it was the ability to reach out to the community and investors in the region, and also the resources that help us shape our brand”.

Riskwolf is focused on getting a pilot product to the market that allows them to raise a seed round by the second quarter of 2021. With their strong growth commitment to creating protection for digital platforms and their users, we believe that this a startup to look out for in the coming years.

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Rajan Anandan, Managing Director of Sequoia Capital (India and Southeast Asia) and Surge, has said that companies will need to redefine themselves and become leaner to prepare themselves for uncertainties during the uncertainties caused by COVID-19.

Also Read: e27 Pro Perks; New Campus 1 Month Free

While early-stage deals took a dire hit during the initial phases of the pandemic (pre-July), things are slowly starting to get back to normal. “Digitisation” seems to be becoming the new normal and companies are quickly pivoting from being partial to completely online.

However, the road has not been easy. While some are struggling, others are keeping afloat and the rest is growing.

“Companies that survive the pandemic will end up becoming stronger and more focused. Founders need to spend this time in trimming the fat from their business and building leaner more efficient organisations,” said Anandan, who was previously VP of Google SEA and India.

“For businesses that are focused on user love and unit economics, growth opportunities will always present themselves. But you can only grow if you survive. And that’s what the current focus should be. Keep your business alive, so you can emerge on the other side of this crisis,” he adds.

Also Read: It’s going to be an economic apocalypse, William Bao Bean warns. But some industries are here to stay

In his view, building a company that is efficient and can provide maximum value to a customer will become the winner during this unprecedented time. The best companies are almost always able to raise funding, no matter what.

“For those who are building must-have products v/s nice-to-have products, fundraising will not change drastically even during this time. Startups that may be adversely affected are the ones that are either focused on sectors that are largely offline, or ones that have high burn and may not have solid unit economics. Such companies will not be very attractive to investors right now,” Anandan stresses.

Anandan’s golden rules for startups

Focus on the core

Family and close friends make up the core. Focusing on the well being and health of “the core” is what can lead to one’s work to be done more effectively.

Have good unit economics

Building a leaner company will be valuable and this can be done by focusing on having good unit economics. “The one thing that will be non-negotiable going forward will be the value placed on having good unit economics. Growth at all costs will no longer be acceptable,” he says.

Listen to your customer

Since customer needs are constantly changing and competition is increasing, listening to their complaints and suggestions can be important for a startup.

Also Read: Sequoia India brings on ex-gojek CTO Ajay Gore as operating partner

“Early customer love and ongoing customer feedback are the most effective tools in knowing if you have a product-market fit (PMF). And if you don’t have a PMF, no amount of pivots or capital will ensure your success,” he points out.

Create a psychological safety at work

As startups move from offline to online, beer nights, game nights and ping pong tables are suddenly no longer relevant. In this case, it is extremely important for leaders to ensure the physical and mental well-being of the team.

“At Surge and Sequoia India, the team has been working hard to make sure that there are regular catch-ups between managers and their teams along with 1-1 talks. This is in addition to all-hands meetings where we might have virtual quizzes or other fun, non-work related activities to engage with teams at scale, online,” he shares.

He concludes by telling founders not to be afraid to show their vulnerability as this creating authenticity can go a “long way in making the team feel like they matter beyond the 9-5”.

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Image Credit: Sequoia

 

 

 

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According to the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Market 2016-2022 report, the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Asia-Pacific region is estimated to grow by almost 47% between 2016 and 2022. Another research suggests that the Big Data market in APAC is likely to progress at a rate of 21.42% CAGR between 2019-2027.

Advanced tech disruptions are happening across all sectors today and innovations enabled by AI and Big Data are spearheading the 4.0 revolution making the on-demand software market even more robust as users get access to extremely personalised SaaS solutions — from online shopping to banking to ride-hailing and even to healthcare consultations. No wonder why the APAC SaaS market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 34.28% during the forecast period of 2018-2023.

While the entire world has been riding the tech wave with the APAC emerging as a hub for innovation and disruptions, 2020 has been a year of reality check highlighting infrastructural gaps and lack of digitalisation across different sectors. It has become clearer that to truly future-proof businesses across industries, there is a dire need to encourage founders that lead startups with innovation at the core and this is where venture capital firms like Qualgro are taking the lead.

Qualgro is a Venture Capital firm based in Singapore, investing mainly in B2B companies in Data, SaaS, and AI to support talented entrepreneurs with regional or global growth ambitions. Qualgro invests across Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, primarily focusing on Series A and B.

Despite the pandemic, they have been quite active, having made four investments across the region this year so far. This is followed by a significant exit they had last year as anchor investor with the acquisition of Wavecell by a US-listed company for US$125 million. This was voted ‘Exit of the Year 2019’ by the Singapore Venture Capital Association.

Also Read: How businesses can protect themselves from digital risks

We recently spoke to Minh Vu Hong to explore the emerging industry trends in the region and discuss Qulagro’s vision and plans ahead.

Empowering founders and enabling innovation

Hong shared, “We see a vast playground in Southeast Asia for B2B data, AI and SaaS companies to scale and become at least regional or even global players. With the increasing digitalisation of SMEs as well as large corporations across the region, we are looking forward to backing more founders who want to build regional or global winners, able to compete against US, China, or European companies.”

The team at Qualgro brings in a unique combination of entrepreneurship, business acumen, expertise in investments, and deep knowledge of technology as well as consulting experience to help founders navigate the world of B2B sales and international expansion.

Hong, for example, comes with a background in strategy consulting. “I used to help corporations work with startups (or try not to lose market shares to), so it is quite a natural move to now back founders who want to sell to or compete with these corporations,” he shared.

Key sectors and Vietnam as an emerging B2B market

Amidst the coronavirus crisis, as digital use is expedited, sectors like education and healthcare are clearly at the forefront of transformation. Recent deals and funding rounds are reflecting this trend. “In Vietnam, for example, dozens of companies have gained significant traction over the last six months in online education, test banks, digi-health, or drug delivery,” Hong said.

“How long will the momentum last is the big question as not all companies have the same angle or approach to their respective markets and some will have to emerge as winners at the expense of others,” he added.

While the pandemic has brought along some challenges like movement and travel restrictions, Qualgro’s vision remains the same with an even stronger focus on business fundamentals and the quality of the team.

Also Read: How to know if your startup is ready for growth

Qualgro is currently focusing on Vietnam by doubling down with its first investments in the last few months.

“While the ecosystem in Vietnam has been historically more centred around B2C startups, we are starting to see more and more quality companies and founders in B2B Data, AI, and SaaS with amazing opportunities to scale in the country and beyond. The talent pool in Vietnam with skilled software engineers, data scientists, and data engineers is also a competitive advantage of the country to nurture regional winners,” said Hong.

Challenges, opportunities, and growth

Hong shared that currently, the inability to travel is proving to be a major challenge. “Not being able to be on the ground to spend time with founders and their teams, requires a bit more “leap of faith” on both sides (founders as well as investors),” he explained. They are having to rely a bit more on the information available online via credible sources as well as external views of other founders and industry experts.

To be able to maintain a robust network while connecting with new people on an everyday basis and get access to reliable information related to the tech startup ecosystem of the region, Qualgro has decided to opt for an e27 Pro membership.

Hong shared, ”We have had a long-standing friendship with e27. We also participated in the Echelon Asia Summit and have been relying on e27 for news and networking. So, when we had the chance to be a part of the first “alpha-testers” of e27 Pro we didn’t think twice before accepting as we saw this membership as another step in the right direction to build a stronger ecosystem.”

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: SEA’s PE firms start to attract money from Europe; Sea is surfing region’s digital wave

Hong explained that the core features of the e27 Pro membership that they appreciate at Qualgro are the access to information and the inbound connection requests from startups. He shared, “The daily news digest helps us a lot in our news crawling internally. We are using it to augment our own research. Plus, the connection requests we received are from companies we had not heard of before, which is a great sign.”

Qualgro has had more inbound deals thanks to the connection requests and also the various e27 featured publications and webinars that helped promote the brand as highlighted by Hong. With ever-increasing digitalisation across all industries, Qualgro’s innovative vision, and support form the e27 Pro membership, the possibilities for the VC firm are endless.

The post Why COVID-19 isn’t slowing down this VC from helping businesses scale appeared first on e27.

Sea food producer Thai Union Group has announced investments in four companies, including diabetes foodtech innovation company Alchemy Foodtech and investment fund VisVires New Protein (VVNP) — both based in Singapore.

The other two investees are Manna Foods, an insect tech and e-commerce company based in the US, and HydroNeo, an aquaculture technology company based in Germany and Thailand.

The investments were made from Thai Union’s recently-created venture fund, which focuses on alternative protein, functional nutrition and value chain technology startups.

Also Read: Bringing innovation to the table: Why foodtech is the next frontier in Southeast Asia

Alchemy Foodtech is a food science and technology company that develops novel active food ingredients that fight diabetes. By sourcing from nature and proving with science, Alchemy ‘makes bad carbs good’ without change in taste to provide disease management and general public with diabetes prevention.

VVNP backs founders developing transformative solutions for a healthier, safer and more sustainable agri-food system. Founded in 2014, VVNP manages two funds with a global portfolio that includes Ynsect, Nuritas, Mitte, In Ovo, Nutrition Innovation, ViAqua, Aleph Farms and Mushlabs.

HydroNeo develops comprehensive solutions for smart aquaculture management. Its IoT system is designed to integrate into existing production sites to monitor the quality of water for breeding and farming of shrimp and to automate operations.

Through the detection of fluctuations in water quality, farmers are enabled to take countermeasures for reducing the risk of animal losses while the optimised controlling of energy-intensive aeration and feeding increases farm efficiency.

Alchemy, Manna and HydroNeo were part of the first cohort of SPACE-F, the first food tech incubator and accelerator programme in Thailand, which Thai Union is a founding partner of, alongside Mahidol University and Thailand’s National Innovation Agency.

Also Read: 5 foodtech startups in Asia Pacific to watch in 2020

Thiraphong Chansiri, President and CEO of Thai Union, said: “We are committed to Open Innovation as an important part in Thai Union’s innovation strategy, complementing our in-house innovation efforts. As such, we are working with external parties including universities, research institutions and the broader food tech ecosystem to support and fast-track innovative ideas and technologies.”

“Our venture capital investments in the foodtech space are an important part of this. Of course, our investment in these companies goes beyond a financial commitment as we also intend to provide guidance and support and will look to pursue collaborations wherever possible,” he added.

Thai Union’s venture fund was launched in 2019 with an initial commitment of US$30 million and focuses its investments on three strategic areas: alternative protein, functional nutrition and new technologies along the food value chain.

The fund is investing in early-stage entrepreneurial companies that are active in these areas and will actively partner with these companies to support and accelerate their development.

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Image Credit: Thai Union

The post Thai Union invests in Singapore’s Alchemy Foodtech, VisVires New Protein from its US$30M fund appeared first on e27.