In September, we saw many developments that challenged our perception of how the pandemic is affecting tech investment in SEA. While it is true that some markets are experiencing a decline, such as Vietnam in H1 2020 based on a report by early stage venture firm Do Ventures, last month e27 published at least 24 funding news coverage.

Of the popular sectors, fintech took the top spot in September with funding announcements from companies working in various branch of the vertical. Examples of these funding rounds include B2B cross-border payments network Thunes, P2P lending firm eLoan, insurtech platform Sunday and PasarPolis), digital wealth management platform Syfe, digital payments platform MyMy, robo-adviser BigBrainBank, and digital payments platform JazzPay.

Another popular sector includes e-commerce (with Freshket’s US$3 million funding and iPrice’s Series B), logistics (with Webtrace and Waresix), ride-hailing (EMDDI), AI (Beyond Limits and Flow), proptech (Livspace, PropertyGuru), and edutech (Edukasyon).

There were also funding announcements from unlikely sectors such as vertical gardening (Aerospring), on-demand caregiver (Homage), air purifier (uHoo), media platform (Asumsi.co), coworking space (WORQ), parking platform (JomParkir),

The month also highlighted the rise of potential new unicorns, with Carousell stealing the show with its US$80 million funding round.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Tech investments in Vietnam drop by 22% in H1; KKday raises US$75M; ShopBack, RedDoorz face data breach

What about the big guys such as gojek and Grab? According to report by DealStreet Asia, merger talks between the two tech giants had “gained steams over the past few months”. However, it is also said that a core group of the Grab management strongly opposes the idea and is interested only in an Indonesia-only merger.

Beyond the potential merger, Bangkok Bank acquired one per cent stake in gojek while Grab was in talks with Prudential, AIA for fintech investment.

What does this say about the ecosystem?

The theme of digital transformation, which dominated the SEA startup ecosystem in August, continued its reign in September. This is particular apparent in the funding allocated for the fintech and e-commerce verticals; as the market adjusts to lifestyle changes as dictated by the New Normal, companies are embracing opportunities in the sector.

It is also interesting to see how the pandemic did not seem to affect companies’ expansion plan, as seen in the case of Homage and iPrice.

If we look at the verticals that had announced their funding rounds, beyond e-commerce, fintech, and logistics, we noticed that there was a greater variety compared to the previous months. This variety even included coworking spaces, part of the real estate industry, which has been seen to be struggling during the pandemic.

It seemed that investors were starting to look beyond the pandemic and the possibilities that a New Normal might bring.

What is next for the ecosystem?

Every month, we look at the latest development in the global tech startup ecosystem that might influence trends in the SEA ecosystem. For example, months before, we took a look at how Ant Group’s upcoming IPO is going to influence fundings in the digital payments sector in Indonesia.

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

In September, we took a look at how the IPO of Peter Thiel-backed Bridgetown has offered an alternative path to exits and liquidity for SEA startups.

Known as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Bridgetown is an example of a company with no commercial operations that is formed strictly to raise capital through an IPO to acquire an existing company, as per a definition given by Investopedia. The concept has not been very popular in SEA, but it provides many benefits such as faster process and less legwork to IPO.

Many investors that we interviewed for the piece agreed that Bridgetown’s IPO will open door to more similar moves in the ecosystem.

—

Image Credit: Bram Naus on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

The post Tech investment in September: Baby unicorn, vertical gardening, and an alternative path for liquidity and exits appeared first on e27.

Enterprises of all sizes have begun accelerating the adoption of digital tools, such as open source software, to ensure business agility and resilience while adapting to the new normal. In fact, the trend has started a year ago, with almost 70 per cent of the Global Fortune 50 companies made contributions to open source in 2019.

Despite numerous well-documented case studies on the successful and effective adoption of open source to develop secure code, outdated perceptions surrounding the aspects of its security still exist.

Red Hat’s recent report found perceived security issues to be a barrier preventing the adoption of enterprise open source across businesses in Asia Pacific, with 34 per cent of APAC respondents indicating the security of code as a key concern.

On the contrary, one of the main differentiators of open source software is its principle in security. Open source combines the smartest minds in the developer, maintainer and security worlds to identify and fix vulnerabilities, while ensuring transparency throughout the software development lifecycle, making security a collective responsibility. 

Businesses are making the switch

Today, 99 per cent of all software projects are developed using open source. The most progressive enterprises have turned to open source to help them create innovative software solutions, faster. Businesses can reduce resources allocated to developing competitive products by building on open source components that have been proven to be secure.

This is especially important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups who are looking to scale up or break into the international market.

Also Read: How open source fostered the community spirit in the tech world

Enterprises have traditionally relied heavily on security researchers to uncover, report and fix vulnerabilities in their code. But code security research is a specialist skill and the supply for researchers far outweighs the demand, so much so that security researchers are on average outnumbered 500:1 when compared to developers.

Moreover, with the increase in the APAC cybersecurity talent workforce gap, surpassing the two million mark in 2019, it is clear that a change in the approach is needed.

Make security a collective responsibility

Open source development platforms encourage users to take on a collective responsibility when developing and maintaining secure code. On GitHub alone, more than 7.6 million security alerts were remediated in 2019 by developers, maintainers, and security researchers across the community.

By adopting a ‘shift-left’ approach to security, developers are empowered to continually check for vulnerabilities as part of the development and testing phase.

With the appropriate tools, developers can leverage automated code scanning technology to uncover and fix vulnerabilities in the early stages of the software development lifecycle, ensuring a seamless transition into production and a developer-first approach to security.

With the growing number of members in the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), alongside research groups such as our own GitHub Security Lab, open source code is more securable than proprietary software. These initiatives bring together industry experts and leaders with a common goal that is to help the community improve the security of open source software. Organisations have come together to commit time, resources and expertise to finding and reporting vulnerabilities in open source, building new and improved security tooling, and developing secure best practices for everyone.

Also Read: The open source business model: can ‘free’ be ‘profitable’?

Open source security benefits for SMEs and startups

By bringing together an extensive pool of talent to identify and fix security vulnerabilities in code, open source projects see vulnerabilities fixed and updates released much faster than proprietary software.

Open source development platforms are also evolving to support this collaborative approach to building secure code and are updating and releasing new tools to expand security research capabilities.

Features from automated detection and remediation, to those that enable the tracking of emerging security vulnerabilities, have been incorporated into these platforms to identify threats and facilitate proactive prevention.

GitHub, for example, is a Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) numbering authority and is authorised to assign CVE identification numbers to code. This capability allows maintainers and the wider community to coordinate their efforts to prioritise and address newly discovered vulnerabilities, effectively.

Create the right ecosystem to develop secure code

SME and startup leaders need to understand the fundamentals of secure coding and implement its best practices to minimise security breaches. If followed diligently, everyone in a business will have a role to play in ensuring that no vulnerabilities are left unchecked and unresolved, enhancing both the quality and security of code.

For this to happen, code must be secure throughout the entire software development lifecycle. Achieving this requires the right tools to enhance security from the ground up.

Identifying the appropriate platform and applying the best practices will go a long way in strengthening the overall security infrastructure across the open source ecosystem, generating more robust code for everyone.

Also Read: The open source business model: can ‘free’ be ‘profitable’?

Open source has revolutionised software development, and created an interconnected community of developers that is deeply collaborative and extends across the globe.

Securing the world’s code must be a collective responsibility because a safe and healthy open source community isn’t just good for open source, it benefits the millions of critical technologies that depend on it.

–

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

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

Image Credit: Roman Synkevych on Unsplash

The post SMEs and startups must make open source security a collective responsibility appeared first on e27.

Shiok Meats, a leading cell-based crustacean meat company based in Singapore, has secured US$12.6 million in Series A funding round, led by Aqua-Spark, an investment fund focused on sustainable aquaculture.

The round also saw participation a slew of investors from across the world, including SEEDS Capital (the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore), Real Tech Fund (Japan), Irongrey (a global tech investing family office based in Korea), Yellowdog Empowers Fund (South Korea).

Other co-investors in the round are Ilshin Holdings (Singapore), Toyo Seikan Group Holdings (Japan), Veg Invest Trust (US), Makana Ventures (Singapore), AiiM Partners LP (US), Beyond Impact (Europe), Kelvin Chan Siang Lin (Singapore), and Alex Payne and Nicole Brodeur (US).

Also Read: Breaking the glass ceiling: These 6 women are making their marks in deep tech field

According to a press release, Shiok will use the funds to build the first-of-its-kind commercial pilot plant from which it plans to launch its minced shrimp product in 2022.

In July, Shiok raised US$3 million in bridge funding from investors, including Agronomics and VegInvest.

Founded in August 2018 by two stem cell scientists Dr. Sandhya Sriram (CEO) and Dr. Ka Yi Ling (CTO), Shiok claims to be the first cell-based meat company in Southeast Asia and the first and only cell-based meat company working on shrimp.

It is working to bring cell-based crustacean meats (shrimp, crab, lobster) to the kitchen. Its meats are cruelty-free, healthy, and better for the environment with the same taste and texture and more nutrients than their traditional counterparts.

The startup stands out from other cell-based meat production companies because of its proprietary technology that isolates stem cells from shrimp, lobster, and crab. Once the stem cells are harvested, the shrimp, lobster and crab meats are grown in nutrient-rich conditions, similar to that of a greenhouse.

Also Read: No animals were harmed in the making of this ‘meat’ burger

After four-to-six weeks, the cell-based seafood is exactly the same as its conventional counterpart but more sustainable, clean, and nutritious.

The output of Shiok’s pilot plant will be frozen cell-based shrimp meat for dumplings and other shrimp-based dishes. Beyond cell-based shrimp, Shiok plans to launch shrimp flavouring paste and powder, fully-formed 3D shrimp, and cell-based lobster and crab products in the coming years.

Mike Velings and Amy Novogratz, Co-founders of Aqua-Spark, said: “The cell-based animal protein industry has been on our radar for some time as once it is at scale it will have an enormous influence on food production efficiency, food safety, and the environment. As our first investment in cell-based seafood, Shiok Meats immediately stood out to us with their strong, female-led team and impressive milestones to-date.”

The shrimp market is a US$50-billion market globally with Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and India being the major producers. While there are many farms and technologies improving shrimp farming, there is still a lot work to be done. Most of what is currently on the market is raised in crowded factories/farms and treated with antibiotics, chemicals, and hormones.

Also Read: Why Sesamilk thinks plant-based milk is healthier than cow milk and has a bright future

Conventional production processes often contribute to overfishing, excessive bycatch, misrepresentation, and mislabeling as well as contamination with effluents, heavy metals, and microplastics. This form of production is unsustainable and the sector strain will only increase as the population grows.

Shiok is addressing this need and disrupting crustacean production to ensure people can eat clean shrimp, crab, and lobster from a safe source.

Clean meat production could reduce the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions by 96 per cent, energy consumption by 45 per cent, land use by 99 per cent, and water consumption by 96 per cent.

—

Image Credit: Shiok Meats

The post Shiok Meats wants to bring cruelty-free shrimp products to your dining table with its US$12.6M Series A appeared first on e27.

HealthMetrics, a healthcare and wellness management startup in Malaysia, has raised US$5 million in a Series A funding round, according to a press statement.

This round was led by ACA Investments, a global financial institution based in Japan.

Also Read: Is your startup in need of funding? Let the e27 Pro Fundraising Highlight do the trick!

The fresh funds will be invested to expand the company’s regional footprint across Southeast Asia, as well as for product development.

“We want to enhance our solutions to provide best-in-class user experience in health benefits whilst improving cost efficiency in corporate healthcare investments,” said Alvin Yuan, CEO of HealthMetrics.

HealthMetrics is a cloud-based solution that helps corporates simplify and manage the tedious manual paperwork related to employee healthcare plans by automating the entire process.

Through its platform, employers can implement benefits for their employees such as dental or vision care within seconds.

A free to use platform, HealthMetrics currently serves companies of all sizes, including public-listed companies, MNCs and small and medium enterprises.

Currently, the platform has over 3,000 healthcare partners throughout Malaysia and its clients include PwC, Family Mart, Star Media Group, Taylors Group, Mr DIY, Pullman Hotels, and KLK.

Also Read: The changing face of healthcare in a post-pandemic world

Healthcare is also one of the few sectors that is witnessing a boom during the ongoing global health crisis. Companies across the region are looking to provide employees with healthcare protection so that they can return to the workplace on time.

In order to support companies during this time, HealthMetrics is extending its offering to both outpatient and inpatient care benefits.

“As we look to expand across the region, we aim to provide companies and their employees with more well-rounded digital solutions which meet their current needs that have evolved since we founded our company five years ago,” Yuan added.

Also Read: HealthMetrics, the first Malaysian startup to join Google Launchpad, raises US$1M from Spiral Ventures, Cradle, RHL Ventures

In 2018, HealthMetrics raised seed capital from Spiral Ventures, Cradle and RHL Ventures.

–

Image Credit: HealthMetrics

The post HealthMetrics raises US$5M Series A to help corporates manage employees’ health, wellness better appeared first on e27.

The interesting thing about leadership is that it’s often easier said than done. Many articles treat leadership like a to-do list, which if you simply check off all the key traits, you’ll be able to call yourself a great leader.

This might even work in situations when there is no risk or cost at hand, but the reality is, that a person’s leadership ability is often exhibited, and tested the most, at times of crisis.

That’s when a person’s real character and instincts are called upon to make the best of a trying situation. If you can be a strong leader through a crisis, you can be a strong leader through anything.

With the impact of COVID-19, leadership has been a reoccurring topic for many founders and CEOs. The global pandemic has forced many of us to examine, review and refine how we lead and what leadership truly looks like.

I always tell my team that there is a difference between leadership and management. They may look similar, but they each serve different needs and are equally important.

Harvard Business professor John Kotter describes the difference between leadership and management as the following:

• Management is about coping with complexity. Leadership is about coping with change.
• Management is planning and budgeting. Leadership is setting a direction.
• Management is organising and creating an organisational structure. Leadership is about aligning people.
• Management is about monitoring results and communicating a plan. Leadership is about motivating and inspiring people.

With many companies still recovering from the major pivots and changes resulting from COVID-19, strong leadership will be vital in the months to come, especially for startups that may be facing a number of uncertainties and unknowns.

Also Read: Adamo Digital CEO Kevin Nguyen on writing as an exercise of thought leadership

Even as a seasoned leader, COVID-19 tested my leadership skills. It forced PatSnap’s leadership team and I to make some big changes, often quickly and without the usual degree of confidence we like to operate with. Since the onset of the virus, we’ve made our European and North American workforces 100 per cent remote.

The decision wasn’t easy as there were many factors at play — agility of our staff, potential for drops in performance and overall employee morale. But in times of crisis, a leader needs to make decisions based on both the present circumstances and the future potential, and we knew going remote was our best bet for success.

I’m proud to say that this decision worked out for the better. The teams adapted extremely well, and we saw an increase in productivity from the teams in both regions.

We have since permanently amended our work-from-home policy to allow employees more flexibility in their work arrangements, as we believe that the future of work will be remote. By seamlessly integrating this into our business early on, we’re hoping to solidify our position as a leader in the industry.

Times of crisis often require a thorough review of your business strategy to determine if it can weather the storm. After an analysis of our business, myself and the senior team made the decision to pivot our business to a new model.

During Q2, we opened up our solutions and made them free to any company for a limited period. In doing this, we effectively shifted our business to a product-led growth model.

This pivot was one of the key reasons we were able to sustain sales in Q2 and build a healthy pipeline for Q3, but this decision was the result of intuitive leadership. I did not have any market research or data to support the notion that moving to a product-led growth strategy during a time of crisis would be successful, but I knew instinctually that doing this was the right thing to do.

Also Read: Compassionate leadership in a time of crisis

In the short term, it was about fulfilling our responsibility to helping companies innovate during a time of need. In the long term, it was about realising that our business wasn’t going to be the same post-COVID-19 and finding a new way to generate business was inevitable.

We’ve spent the last 14 years developing a strong group of connected innovation intelligence solutions and I knew that now was the best time to lead with our product and let potential customers see the benefits for themselves. Some might say it’s too risky to make such sharp pivots during a crisis, but often a crisis is the best opportunity to revamp, redesign and innovate your business.

Strong leadership is what makes all the difference between a well-intentioned effort that falls short of your goals, and a unanimously successful outcome for your business.

At the end of the day, leadership is really about embracing change, while withstanding a lot of uncertainty. Being a leader in crisis takes conviction, as you need to set a direction and give a team a clear vision to align to, and rally around.

It is both an art and a science to be able to do this, because sometimes it requires making decisions without data or certainty. Leading during COVID has taught me that there are times when data cannot tell you the full picture, and where you need to follow your gut instincts. To me, those moments are what define you as a leader, and help shape your leadership legacy. 

Use those moments to rise to the occasion and meet whatever personal limitations you’re facing head-on. Bravely examine all aspects of your business to determine what is working and what isn’t. Identify the elements that can be restructured, reworked or revamped without putting the entire business at jeopardy, be mindful of the future while planning for the present and increase your tolerance for making a decision without data.

These are the keys to surviving a crisis and pivoting under pressure while retaining a sense of assurance, grace and ease. If you understand how to hone your leadership in times of chaos, you will be able to double down on this skill in times of growth and abundance.

–

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

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

Image Credit: Brooke Lark on Unsplash

The post Why a crisis is the best time to hone your leadership skills appeared first on e27.

The year 2019 was “favourable” for the startup ecosystem in Vietnam as it drew US$861 million of investment into 123 venture deals, more than double the number in 2018 (92 per cent YOY growth), according to a new report by Do Ventures.

However, as the COVID-19 pandemic affected businesses in various parts of the world at H1 2020, investment proceeds decreased by 22 per cent from US$284 million in the same period last year to US$222 million.

“This is anticipated as travel restrictions and uncertainties in global financial markets have been disrupting deal-making activities,” the report explains.

The report also noted that in H1 2020, the number of active investors was nearly the same as the previous year, but only a very limited number of new investors entered the Vietnam market as most early stage deals in 2020 have been conducted by local investors or foreign investors with personnel based in Vietnam.

” … While retail continued to dominate the funding amount, this period also witnessed the growth of capital invested in emerging industries such as employment (HR tech) and real estate (proptech). As our daily activities are becoming more touchless for the sake of public safety, we expect the wide adoption of solutions followed by a surge of funding in healthcare, grocery delivery, online education, and entertainment,” the report continues.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Bangkok Bank picks 1% stake in gojek; Grab in talks with AIA, Prudential for US$300-500M funding; Vietnam’s Do Ventures launches US$50M fund

To be precise, in H1 2020, retail continued to lead the funding amount with US$64 million. According to the report, this period also witnessed the growth in funding for emerging industries such as employment, real estate, and infrastructure.

“Plenty of dry powder is waiting to be deployed and many investors are looking for new disruptive businesses built upon the New Normal after COVID-19. Positive sentiments are recorded around the potential of healthcare, grocery delivery, online education, and entertainment. As a result, the surge of funding in the above-mentioned sectors in the remaining of 2020 is on the horizon,” it predicts.

What is next for Vietnam?

Based in Vietnam, Do Ventures is an early stage VC firm that invests in companies that are: B2C platforms that complement an effective ecosystem of services around young customers, and global-scaled B2B platforms that create synergies for tier one portfolio companies and enable these companies to scale regionally.

In September, the firm made headlines with its US$50 million Fund I that includes investors such as Naver, Sea, and Vertex Ventures.

So what is next for Vietnam, according to research by the VC firm?

Based on a survey on 50 active funds among six major markets in SEA, Vietnam is the top destination for investment in the next 12 months, followed by Indonesia. This indicates that despite the challenges brought by the pandemic, the market remains a promising ground for investors in the region.

Also Read: Naver, Sea, Vertex invest in Vietnamese VC firm Do Ventures’s US$50M fund I

“Investment sentiment in Vietnam remains high, as surveyed funds are looking to invest in 117 to 200 deals in the next 12 months. Nearly 80 per cent of the investors have planned to deploy one to five deals,” the report writes.

As for the industries, it mentions education, healthcare, and financial services as investors’ favourites for the next year.

—

Image Credit: Do Ventures

The post Peaking in 2019, tech investment in Vietnam drops by 22 per cent in H1 2020 due to COVID-19 appeared first on e27.

Indonesian fintech company BukuWarung has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from several investors in the US and Asia as part of its Y-Combinator demo day.

Backers in the round include partners of DST Global, GMO Venture Partners, Soma Capital, HOF Capital, VentureSouq, William Hockey (Plaid), Justin Mateen (Tinder), Rahul Vohra (Superhuman), Scott Belsky (CPO Adobe), Josh Buckley, Manik Gupta (ex-CPO Uber), Sriram Krishnan (Spotify), Harry Stebbings (20VC), Nancy Xiao (Bond Capital), Alison Barr Allen (Fast), along with angel investors from WhatsApp, Square, and Airbnb.

This gives the company over eight-figure US dollars in funding, spread over three rounds in 2020.

The fresh funds will be used for hiring and product development so that the company can continue to build a range of financial services on the app by integrating monetisation products such as payments, credit and savings.

On the development front, BukuWarung has also recently partnered with major Indonesian fintech companies such as OVO and Dana to launch a digital payment feature, which it claims to be the first of its kind in the region.

BukuWarung is a fintech company which makes it easier for Indonesian micro-businesses to manage cash and credit transactions.

Also Read: How BukuWarung is changing the back alleys of Indonesia

The company was started by Chinmay Chauhan and Abhinay Peddisetty, who were former executives at Carousell and Grab. They said that coming from families from small neighbourhoods that ran small stores, they were “fully aware of the operational challenges that small businesses face” which led them to launch the startup.

Since its inception in 2019, BukuWarung has more than 1.2 million merchants on its platform across 750 cities and towns in Indonesia and claims to have recorded several billion US dollars in gross transactional value, which grew by 100 times in 2020.

“Our hyper-growth has been driven by a product-led and capital-efficient strategy. We’ve kept our product as simple, fast and native as WhatsApp, which is used by almost all MSMEs in Indonesia. This focus has resulted in great retention and engagement among underserved merchants who’re coming online as a business for the first time,” said Chauhan.

–

Image Credit: Buku Warung

The post BukuWarung raises funding from Tinder co-founder, others as part of its Y-Combinator demo day appeared first on e27.

iWEECARE, a Taiwanese startup the has developed a smart thermometer called Temp Pal, announced today it has raised US$2.4 million in extended pre-Series A financing, led by TransLink Capital, a Silicon Valley-based VC firm with a specific focus on Asia.

The round also saw investment from Taiwan’s National Development Fund, BE Capital, Taiwan Surface Mounting Technology Corp, NCTU Angel Club, Might Electronic, and existing investors Verge HealthTech Fund (Singapore) and Darwin Venture (Taiwan).

Also Read: How Taiwan can boost your startup in unexpected ways

The funds will be used to accelerate marketing activities to address the demand for remote patient monitoring technologies in the US and China.

iWEECARE’s Temp Pal is a remote wearable thermometer initially developed to assist in pregnancy planning and baby care. The product  has received medical certification in Europe, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan.

Temp Pal has already been deployed in China, Ireland, Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan as a solution to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 infection and reduce the burden on health systems by reducing the physical contact between caregivers and their patients, the startup said in a press release.

iWEECARE’s Co-founder and CEO Glen Tseng said: “Temp Pal received an overwhelming amount of inquiries for coronavirus use from the US and China earlier this year. The new funding will be used in accelerating our global footprint to satisfy the demands from these markets and ultimately improve patient safety and outcomes.”

Also Read: Why Taiwan’s AI ecosystem is a fast-emerging opportunity during the pandemic

TransLink Capital Co-founder Jackie Yang said: “Under the COVID-19 pandemic and shift to remote patient monitoring, we see huge potential for iWEECARE to expand globally. We hope the new investment can help the brand to develop and establish an international presence.”

In July 2019, iWEECARE secured US$1 million in pre-Series A round of investment, led by Verge HealthTech Fund.

—

Image Credit: iWEECARE

The post iWEECARE adds US$2.4M its coffers to accelerate growth of its remote wearable thermometer appeared first on e27.

KKday, a leading online travel experiences platform in Asia, has announced the close of US$75 million in a Series C funding round, led by Cool Japan Fund and National Development Fund.

Existing investors, including Monk’s Hill Ventures and MindWorks Capital, also participated.

The new funding will be used by the Taipei-headquartered firm to continue to expand in Asia and globally and to build out Rezio, an all-in-one booking management platform for travel operators and activity providers, globally.

Also Read: TruTrip looks to cash in on the massive business travel market as the world emerges out of the crisis

KKday will also continue to expand its team and operations in Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia.

Founded in 2014, KKday aims to provide users with “seamless access to endless lifestyle experiences” — from local theme parks and top restaurants to staycations and multi-day hiking trips.

Currently, it offers more than 30,000 unique experiences in over 550 cities and 92 countries, and claims to have five million users and 10 offices across Asia.

Since May 2020, the company has been seeing a surge in demand for local experiences with the opening up of domestic travel in certain markets, including Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Rezio provides a suite of services, including a simple setup for an online store and real-time inventory management across different booking channels, customised vouchers for various booking scenarios, and integration with local payment gateways. According to the company, the platform reduces operational costs and increases efficiencies for experience providers.

KKday began piloting Rezio in Taiwan and Japan in March 2020. In six months, over 300 providers adopted the platform across these two markets. Providers include small-scale travel and activity providers to large scale operators such as H.I.S., an online travel agency in Japan.

Also Read: How travel startups can survive when investors withdraw

As of today, Rezio has served over 150,000 customers.

“We believe that KKday’s strong execution and innovative mindset will drive the tourism industry in Japan even under adverse conditions. We expect that they (the founders) will leverage a wealth of experience in digitalising the tourism industry and tap into the rise of independent travelling both in Japan and globally,” said Kazushi Sano, Managing Director of Cool Japan Fund.

“We expect traveler demand to bounce back quickly when leisure travel opens up again. The human desire to travel, experience and connect is fundamental. We have high conviction in KKday’s leadership team and believe the company is primed to seize the immense opportunity ahead of us,” said Kuo-Yi Lim, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Monk’s Hill Ventures.

In November 2018, KKday had secured an undisclosed amount in Series B-plus, co-led by LINE Ventures and the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund. This came close to six months after it raised investment from Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund and launched a flagship store under Fliggy, Alibaba Group’s travel portal in China.

Prior to that, in February, the firm raised US$10.5 million Series B funding round led by Japanese travel giant H.I.S.

—

Image Credit: KKday

The post KKday raises US$75M Series C to meet the demand surge for local experiences as Asia’s travel market reopens appeared first on e27.

Neuron Mobility, a Singapore-headquartered electric scooter rental operator, has added US$12 million into Series A, bringing its total funding raised in this round to US$30.5 million.

The new tranche of investment was co-led by existing investors Australian VC firm Square Peg Capital and GSR Ventures.

The fresh capital will be used by Neuron to accelerate its international expansion, particularly in Australia and New Zealand post COVID-19. It has partnered with councils across these to nations to operate in nine locations.

The company also plans to expand into at least five new cities across the region within the next 12 months and aims to create 400 jobs.

Also Read: Neuron Mobility expands to Australia, to operate 600 e-scooters in Brisbane

In addition, it has launched in Slough in the UK, which will be operational before the end of the year.

Neuron Mobility CEO Zachary Wang said: “Cities across the world are rethinking their transport systems and increasingly people are looking for a safe, inexpensive and socially-distanced way to travel post COVID-19. This presents a great opportunity for micromobility providers. Our experience of operating in Australia and New Zealand, combined with fresh funding, will help us accelerate our growth across the region and beyond.”

Founded in Singapore in 2016 Wang and Harry Yu, Neuron operates e-scooter sharing services across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand and Australia.

It has also introduced a range of other innovations, including a topple detection feature that can detect if an e-scooter has been left on its side which then alerts an operations team to reposition it safely; an emergency button which can tell if someone has had a fall and helps the rider call the emergency services; and, a “follow my ride” feature that allows the rider’s friends and family to track an e-scooter trip in real time for added safety and peace of mind.

Since the last funding round in December 2019, Neuron has launched in a further eight cities in Australia and New Zealand and has announced its entry into the UK market.

Also Read: Bike-sharing is so 2016, Singapore startup Neuron Mobility is rolling out a smart e-scooter sharing service

Currently operating a fleet of 4,000 e-scooters, the company’s 400,000 Australian and New Zealand riders have completed close to two million trips and four million kilometers of city travel.

In December 2018, Neuron had secured a US$3.8 million seed round from a cluster of early-stage VCs, including SeedPlus, 500 Startups, SEEDS Capital, ACE Capital.

E-scooters gaining momentum in post-pandemic cities

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, cities and consumers across the world are realising the potential of e-scooters as a safe, convenient and socially-distanced transport option, says Neuron.

With international and interstate travel restrictions still in place, people are traveling locally more than ever before and in many cities e-scooters are providing a boost for the local economy.

During the COVID-19 lockdown in Australia, Neuron claims to have reported that one in five users had never ridden an e-scooter before, and since then many have actively chosen to change their travel habits.

Increasingly concerned with social distancing, Australian and New Zealand riders have increased their average e-scooter trip distance by 23 per cent to 2.6km, while the average duration has risen by 10 per cent to more than 14 minutes.

Also Read: Scooterson launches light-weight foldable smart e-scooter; to be available in Singapore from Oct

Square Peg, which manages over US$1 billion of committed capital, has invested in the likes of Canva, PropertyGuru, Stripe and Fiverr.

GSR Ventures is a global VC firm founded in 2004 with US$3 billion under management. It invests in early-stage technology companies in enterprise software, consumer platforms, and digital health. GSR Ventures was the first institutional investor in the ride-sharing giant Didi.

—

Image Credit: Neuron Mobility

The post Neuron Mobility extends Series A by US$12M to accelerate e-scooter expansion globally appeared first on e27.