James Perry, CFO of leading cross-border fashion marketplace Zilingo, has left the firm after serving for nearly one and half years, says a Bloomberg report, quoting unnamed sources.

Perry is going back to Citigroup as its Singapore-based MD and Co-Head (Technology Investment Banking) for Asia Pacific.

Also Read: Zilingo CEO Ankiti Bose on failures, challenges, handling depression and more

The report comes at a time when Zilingo is undergoing challenges due to the COVID-19 crisis, which in April led to a reduction in its workforce.

Perry joined Zilingo in July 2019. Prior to this, he was MD and Head of Asia Pacific Technology Investment Banking. As per his LinkedIn profile, he served Citi for over 22 years where he helped technology clients raise over US$150 billion, including 40 IPOs in the US and Hong Kong, and advised technology companies on over US$80 billion in M&A transactions across six continents.

Established in October 2015 by Ankiti Bose (CEO) and Dhruv Kapoor (CTO), Zilingo is an online marketplace that connects online sellers/retailers in Southeast Asia with fashion lovers across Asia.

Also Read: We want to blur the lines between offline and online worlds: Zilingo CEO Ankiti Bose

In February 2019, it secured a massive US$226 million in Series D round of funding from a host of investors, including Temasek, Sequoia Capital India, Singapore-based Burda Principal Investments, Sofina (Belgium) and EDBI.

Fashion is one of the industries devastated by the ongoing pandemic. The crisis forced many companies to scale down and/or cut workforce. In July, Indonesia’s fashion e-commerce platform Sorabel shut down.

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Image Credit: Zilingo

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Singapore’s leading online cashback platform ShopBack and budget hotels aggregator RedDoors today said in separate statements that confidential consumer data was not compromised, even as the reports of data breach emerged early this week.

Singapore’s privacy watchdog, the Personal Data Protection Commission, have already launched an investigation into the incidents.

In an emailed statement, a RedDoorz spokesperson said: “Earlier this week, we became aware that one of our IT databases suffered a breach. For now, no sensitive data pertaining to financial information such as customer credit cards or passwords was compromised to the best of our knowledge.”

Also Read: The third world war may already be happening online. Here’s why you need better cybersecurity

“We are taking all the necessary steps to investigate this further and at the same time we are conducting a thorough review of all our IT systems and protection. Data privacy is something we take very seriously at RedDoorz and we have implemented the necessary security measures to ensure all our customers’ personal data remains secured,” the spokesperson added.

Separately, ShopBack admitted that it is currently confirming what data has been compromised. However, it has no reason to believe that any of its consumers’ personal data has been misused, even though the possibility still exists.

The company has already removed the unauthorised access and engaged cyber security specialists to assess the extent of the incident. Besides, it has tightened the monitoring of internal logs to ensure heightened detection of unauthorised access, if any were to occur.

“Apart from your email addresses (or alternative login IDs) and limited transactional information, ShopBack does not require you to provide information to us that is not related to our specific services or campaigns,” the company added.

Also Read: Cybersecurity threats on the rise as companies shift to the WFH model

The types of data that consumers may have provided include their name, contact information, gender, date of birth, and bank account numbers for those who cash out to their bank accounts.

ShopBack cautioned consumers who have provided their bank account numbers to be wary of potential phishing attacks.

Cyber incidents – including data breaches – rank as the most serious business risk globally, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer 2020. They are becoming more damaging, increasingly targeting large companies with sophisticated attacks and hefty extortion demands.

Southeast Asia has seen a rise in data breach incidents in the recent past.

In May, Indonesian unicorn Tokopedia reported that more than 15 million of its user accounts were compromised.

In June, e27 was hacked by a hacking group identifying themselves as “Korean Hackers” and “Team Johnwick” that asked for a “donation” to provide information on the vulnerabilities they have exploited in the attack.

In December last year, personal data pertaining to 2,400 Ministry of Defence (Mindef) and Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel was put at risk and could have been leaked.

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Image Credit: ShopBack

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Early to late-stage venture capital firm Gobi Partners has appointed former Digital Ventures MD Paul Ark as advisor, according to his recent public statement on Facebook.

Explaining his reason behind the move, Ark said that a large part of his decision comes down to his “longstanding friendship with Shannon Kalayanamitr”, who recruited him into the fund.

“Shannon and I have always had a shared interest in merging social and ecological progress with business and innovation,” he said.

“While I am taking on a rather simple and unassuming title of advisor, it belies just how truly grand, ambitious, and visionary the scope of the work that Gobi and Shannon have in mind, and the role I now have the privilege to play in trying to turn those visions into a tangible and impactful reality. Getting to collaborate with Shannon is nothing new, but sharing a platform in which we get to act on our wild-eyed optimism while leveraging amazing talent and resources is terribly exciting,” he added.

Also Read: Why Kay Mok Ku of Gobi Partners thinks VCs will become like influencers in a post-pandemic world

He also noted that he is not at full liberty to go into the specifics about his scope of work.

Ark left Digital Ventures at the end of January 2020, after being in the company for four years. He cited his idea of taking a “sabbatical” before moving on to the next phase of his life.

During his time in Digital Ventures, the company made direct investments in several VC firms and companies such as Ripple, Golden Gate Ventures Fund II, SBI AI & Blockchain Fund, DemystData, Pagaya, AsiaCollect and many more.

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Image Credit: Paul Ark

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Facebook has announced the completion of its second accelerator programme in Singapore.

The programme is being run in partnership with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and is powered by Plug and Play.

The event saw 14 startups participating for partnerships and investment opportunities.

Also Read: Facebook partners with e27 to help empower community leaders in APACm.

Before the pitch day, all companies underwent a rigorous six-month training programme, which provided them with mentorships and networking opportunities to accelerate their business.

For this edition, startups were required to demonstrate the use of Facebook tools and trends, such as Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Messenger, and social commerce.

They were also intended to adopt trusted data and AI practices, such as IMDA’s trusted data-sharing framework and/or model AI governance framework.

All startups that pitched in the event will join Facebook’s startup “alumni programme” that will continue to connect them to a global network of startups.

“Supporting the startup community has never been more important as we all face the impact of COVID-19 and the disruption to our regular in-person programs. This cohort has demonstrated incredible resiliency as they worked to not only keep their startups going but take the opportunity to assess and realign their business priorities for the better,” said Virginia Yang, Director, Platform Partnerships and Programs APAC.

Below is the brief of the 14 startups:

Lucep (Singapore)

A sales and marketing tool that connects leads from FB ads directly with their sales agents.

Outside Voice (Singapore)

Helps enterprises conduct interviews with customers at scale via video chatbots.

Privyr (Singapore)

A mobile CRM  for sales professionals who run their businesses from their phone.

Trabble (Singapore)

A SaaS platform that helps businesses in the travel and hospitality industry automate guest engagement on their channels.

Also Read:  Facebook partners IMDA to launch Facebook Accelerator Singapore, welcoming applications for second edition

UIB  (Singapore)

A virtual assistant that facilitates frictionless on-boarding and seamless communications between people and devices.

Aris (Thailand)

A Facebook live tool that helps businesses to create a home-shopping experience on Facebook Pages.

Assemblr (Indonesia)

A platform to create, discover, share augmented reality experiences.

AVANA (Malaysia)

A social commerce enabler that helps businesses convert social media from promotional to transactional and automate business processes.

Ecomobi (Vietnam)

A social selling platform that enables brands to sell products directly to end-users via a social seller community and AI chatbot technology.

Halosis (Indonesia)

A social commerce platform that integrates AI chatbot and personalised solutions to help social media sellers convert chat into sales.

Infofed (Thailand)

An online platform to operate online e-sports management. It manages interactive contents created by tournament participants.

Qiscus (Indonesia)

A conversational platform that helps businesses deliver excellent customer experience.

Social Light (Philippines)

It places WiFi in low-income communities and monetises by collecting plastics and exchanging free WiFi subsidised by brands thereby giving them sales, consumption, competition data and CSR.

Also Read: Are you a community leader? Facebook wants you.

TravelFlan (Hong Kong)

A B2C digital solution provider that uses AI, Big Data and Machine Learning to provide end-to-end digital solutions.

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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Singapore-based startup Accredify has partnered with SG Innovate to launch a digital health passport that will help to accelerate the re-opening of travel borders. The app will be officially launched in October 2020.

The passport will allow individuals to store their medical information –including COVID-19 testing and vaccination reports digitally signed by accredited bodies– in the app. By using blockchain technology, medical records in the app can be traced back to the source.

“The health passport will be valid for Singaporeans and people from other countries as well. We will be making the application interoperable with different standards and bring on board all the accredited labs around the region,” said a spokesperson from the company.

Accredify will also be waiving set-up fees for the Digital Health Passport until the end of the year for healthcare institutions that sign up by December 31.

For users, they will need to log in via their SingPass or email and create an account on the Accredify app.

Users will receive their unique badges when they obtain the necessary COVID-19 documents required by the country where they want to travel to. Authorities can scan the document’s QR code in the app, to verify the authenticity.

Also Read: Traveloka confirms US$250M fundraise, admits historic drop in biz activity due to COVID-19

 

 

Digital health passports will play a big role as international travel begin to slowly reopen as governments start lifting their border restrictions to accelerate the economy. Taking this into consideration a health passport for travel post-COVID-19 will become extremely crucial.

In an official statement, Singapore also said that it will be reopening its borders for international tourists from select countries from September 1. Other countries such as Hong Kong are also slowly beginning to lift off border restrictions.

Accredify is an edutech management company that resolves the issue of fraudulent certifications and transcripts across educational institutions.

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Image Credit: Accredify

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iMedia, a Malaysia-based integrated digital media group currently owned by Rev Media, has acquired a controlling stake in Goody Technologies, which runs the internet properties Goody25 and GoodyMY.

As part of the deal, all technology assets from the company will be fully merged into iMedia’s ecosystem.

Upon approval by regulators and shareholders, the Goody25 acquisition will be part of iMedia’s move to Bursa Malaysia.

Also Read: Malaysian media group REV Asia Group acquires Viralcham and Rojaklah

Early this month, iMedia was acquired by Rev Asia for US$9.6 million and is currently listed on Bursa Malaysia.

At present, iMedia is the exclusive sales representation partner for all brands under Goody.

Launched in 2015, Goody25 is a Chinese language social news media and content portal that primarily focuses on the latest news and trendiest stories on lifestyle, fashion, art, entertainment, travel, and food.

According to Google Analytics, Goody25 recorded an average of 10.8 million page views and 2.65 million users per month in 2020 (based on its January- August data).

GoodyMY, an English language social news portal, was launched in 2019 and is expected to record a visitor count of over 500,000 by the end of 2020.

Aaron Lim, Managing Director of Goody Technologies, said: “A lot of hard work have been put on building the Goody25 brand. We have grown fast independently in the past five years and are now looking forward to expand the company further with iMedia.

Also Read: Media Prima Digital set to buy Catcha Group’s REV Asia for US$24M

Voon Tze Khay, CEO and Co-founder of iMedia, said: “Over the last few months since representing Goody25 and GoodyMY as part of our sales network, we have shown our strength and expertise in providing integrated digital solutions and influencer marketing campaigns in generating greater revenue for the group. We will continue to expand on our revenue streams by working closer and merging the key opinion leaders (KOLs) under the Goody brands to be part of our larger influencer network.

iMedia owns and provides digital advertising and marketing, customised content production and solutions for popular local language sites and social influencer platforms.

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Goody Technologies

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Indonesian cloud kitchen startup Yummy Corp bags US$12M Series B; Investors include SoftBank Ventures Asia (lead), Vectr Ventures, Appworks, Quest Ventures; To date, Yummy claims to have served over 5M meals and has over 70 kitchens serving more than 50 brand partners. e27

Malaysia’s JomParkir secures Series A from Korean VC TheVentures; The smart parking startup will capitalise on Korea’s advance technology to be a vehicle-to-everything tech company in SEA; JomParkir is working with MARii, Cyberview, MDEC, MaGIC, Cradle towards making Malaysia a smartcity. e27

Conscious consumption is driving the trend in foodtech, says White Star Capital study; In Asia, food delivery and online grocery sales are growing at a 24.4% CAGR, accounting for a 55% share of the global online food delivery market; Pet food is a sub-sector that has grown more than 33x since 2011, reaching US$375M globally in 2019. e27

What does Peter Thiel-backed SPAC Bridgetown’s IPO mean for SEA’s startup ecosystem?; SPAC is faster than a traditional IPO and it involves less process and legwork needed to go public; It can also be a great way to introduce liquidity into tech companies as well as experienced executive talent into private companies. e27

Google Pay launches all-in-one payments solution for Singapore; Users can send and receive money as easily as sending a chat message even if the recipient is not on Google Pay; The integration helps Singaporeans who have more than one bank account to streamline money transfers from different banks on one platform. Tech Coffee House

Central Food Retail to launch B2B e-commerce platform; Named Chef Yim, it will provide access to fresh ingredients from Thailand and abroad to local restaurants, cafes, hotels, caterers; The app will source ingredients from a network of over 1K suppliers nationwide. Bangkok Post

Policymakers must be sensitive to impact of digital tools on inequality, says S’pore Minister Desmond Lee; Lower-income households in the city-state faced more challenges with tasks such as online learning during the circuit breaker period. The Straits Times

As Chinese funding dries up in India, local tech startups are looking elsewhere; Following political tensions between the two countries, Indian government rolled out a new policy in April to block opportunistic takeovers; China is by far the largest supplier of foreign investment, and the initial effects of the funding roadblock are already felt. KrAsia

SEA becomes centre for instant cross-border payments growth, says research; ASEAN is moving towards having its very own Europe’s SEPA-style payments network; SEA has been making strides in terms of innovation in real-time payments with many regulators launching tools including instant payments, QR codes, and real-time direct-debit networks. Fintech News

Malaysia’s Kenanga partners with Merchantrade to launch own e-wallet; Kenanga Money will enable clients to easily transfer funds from their stock trading account into an e-wallet and prepaid card for retail payments, remittance and withdrawals worldwide. Fintech News

Mobile operator M1 enables 5G in Singapore; Starting at just S$15 for 25GB and up to S$40 for 100GB, the 5G Booster packs will be extended to all M1 customers with compatible 5G non-standalone devices; M1 is on track to start the rollout of its 5G Standalone network early next year. Tech Coffee House

Prudential Myanmar and Pun Hlaing Hospitals collaborate to provide AI-based digital healthcare service; The partnership will focus on the development and delivery of digital solutions to provide affordable and accessible healthcare to people across all socioeconomic segments in Myanmar. Myanmar Tech Press

5G is raising ahead in Asia as it is poised to reshape connectivity; In May, Bangkok became the first city in SEA to roll out 5G, while Singapore in Aug started a 6-month trial; With 1.14B subscribers, APAC is the largest region for 5G adoption; It could account for almost 65% of global 5G subscriptions by 2024. Yahoo News

Razer Fintech keeps options open on digital banking licence in Malaysia, says CEO; In Singapore, it leads a consortium of Sheng Siong Holdings, FWD, LinkSure Global, Insigna Ventures Partners and Carro to bid for digital full bank licence; It will take up 60% stake in Razer Youth Bank. Bernama

Is your startup the next Tik Tok?; The Bytedance-owned app developer appears headed for a shutdown in the US, after the already convoluted talks stalled out this past week; For startups with physical supply chains, existing tensions are squeezing business activity from Chimerica out into other parts of the world. TechCrunch

Logistics firms wield digital tools to boost operations; Besides safety concerns, logistics players have also been using digital tools to improve operational processes; The overall efficiency that technology brings to asset and manpower management can help companies optimise resources and streamline operations. SGSME

Amidst COVID-19, where are the unicorns of SEA; Most unicorns in Southeast Asia have to face reality and reassess their business strategy to survive the winter; Here is a look at how these unicorns –Traveloka, gojek, Grab, Bukalapak — are helping build the SME ecosystem. Tech Collective

In the tough market of co-working spaces, WORQ believes it has what it takes; Its recent US$2.4M funding shows that not all investors are negative on the co-working model; It predicts real estate will be consumed on a buy-as-you-need basis and if companies need a bite-sized space one desk at a time, they should have access to it. Digital News Asia

Entrepreneurship and investing as social good; Increasingly, angels, institutional funds have begun allocating a portion of their funds to startups focused on diversity and social good; For startups of all sizes, democratized access to investors will accelerate the use of capital for social good. TechCrunch

WeWork pulls back on Asia ambitions with sale of China business; With this, the firm will give up majority control of its Chinese JV; Its local partner Trustbridge Partners will invest an additional US$200M in the JV which will give it a majority stake in WeWork China; The co-working spaces giant manages more than 100 locations in 12 Chinese cities. Nikkei Asia Review

Why digital events should be part of your marketing mix; The opportunity for your company in participating and sponsoring digital events is huge, arguably equal or even bigger than in person events because digital event presence scales better. The Next Web

Ohmyhome shares the reason behind its incursion into Philippines; For co-founder Rhonda Wong, the expansion is a timely move for both Ohmyhome and the country’s real estate industry; With over 5K property transactions in Singapore and Malaysia and a customer satisfaction rate of 99%, Ohmyhome expects to replicate the feat as it advances its technological capabilities in Philippine. Pinoy Manila

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Syfe, a Singapore-based digital wealth manager, announced today that it has closed a SG$25.2 million (US$18.6 million) in Series A funding round, led by US-based VC firm Valar Ventures.

Other participants in the round include Presight Capital and returning investor Unbound, a UK-based investment firm, which led Syfe’s seed round in July 2019.

The funds will be used by Syfe to enter new markets, develop new products and services, hire top talent, and enhance its technology platform.

Also Read: Syfe raises US$3.8M to launch digital wealth management services in Singapore

“We are currently in advanced conversations with regulators in three different markets in the Asia Pacific region and expect that we will enter new geographies within the next 18 months,” said Dhruv Arora, Founder and CEO, Syfe. “We now already have clients who are based across 23 countries, despite only advertising in Singapore.”

He also added that the need to invest for the future has become even more evident during these times of increased uncertainty. “Since the beginning of the year, we have seen our customer numbers and assets increase by ten times and this fundraising allows us to sharply accelerate our growth to help even more individuals plan, save and build their wealth for the future.”

Founded in 2017 and publicly launched in July 2019, Syfe is a digital wealth manager that helps people invest and make smarter financial decisions. Its automated platform and optional advisor support enables all users — from beginners to experienced investors — to access a range of wealth management services.

The platform has no minimum investment amounts and maintains a low annual fee, starting at 0.4 per cent of the total amount invested.

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

Syfe is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore under a Capital Markets Services License.

Andrew McCormack, Founding Partner, Valar Ventures, said: “The potential of Asia as a region — with a fast-growing number of mass-affluent consumers aiming to grow their wealth combined with the pedigree of the team and strong traction — makes Syfe a very compelling opportunity.”

Valar Ventures was co-founded by billionaire investor Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal, Palantir and an early investor in Facebook), Andrew McCormack and  James Fitzgerald. The firm has in the past led early funding rounds of successful global fintech companies like TransferWise, Xero and Europe’s leading digital bank N26.

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Image Credit: Syfe

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According to the Global Innovation Index 2019, Hong Kong is the third most innovative state in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania. The last year has been amazing for the Hong Kong startup ecosystem. This growing ecosystem has caused Hong Kong to enter the list of top 25 startup hubs. This has been declared in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report of 2019.

According to lnvestHK’s 2019 startup survey reports, significant improvement has been observed in all key parameters that decide the growth of the startup ecosystem of a particular region. Some of these factors include:

• Up to 21 per cent increase in the total number of Hong Kong startups raising the number to 3,184 startups.
• Over 31 per cent increase in the employment rate causing the total number startup of employees to rise to 12,478.

“The backbone of this ever-growing startup ecosystem is the multi-cultural group of founders,” says Julia Markle of ClothingRIC. “They keep on creating job opportunities for the economy of Hong Kong.”

As a result of this, there has been a remarkable rise in the number of accelerators, coworking spaces, and incubators. This ecosystem is backed with a solid network of stakeholders and builders.

The rapidly growing startup ecosystem of Hong Kong

The Hong Kong startup ecosystem has been growing by leaps and bounds. In 2019, the total investment in the startup industry raised to US$720 million. Today, Hong Kong has over seven official unicorns. The government has not only lowered the taxes but has also eased its progressive visa policies.

This has caused the tech and non-tech talent from all across the world to contribute to the growth of Hong Kong’s economy. With access to the latest technology, considerable government funding, and utilisation of technology to reduce business expenditure, the Startup Ecosystem of Hong Kong is expected to reach unprecedented heights in the near future.

Let’s discuss what is causing the startup ecosystem of Hong Kong to expand at such a rapid pace. So, without further ado, let’s dive deep into the details.

Also Read: Startup Impact Summit 2020 lends insight to break into Hong Kong startup industry in 2-day virtual conference

Funding from a diverse group of investors

“Global investors have realised the potential that the startup ecosystems of East Asia have,” claims Alex Reynolds of EMUCoupon. “Since Hong Kong has the fastest-growing of all Asian ecosystems, it has been attracting the most diverse group of investors from major origin countries.”

The interest of non-local funders is taking this ecosystem to the top of the list of global investment opportunities. Today, 34 per cent of the Hong Kong startup founders are non-locals. 59 per cent of these founders are local, whereas seven per cent are Hong Kong returnees.

The non-local founders are from diverse territories including the US, the UK, Australia, France, Canada, Mainland China, Italy, India, Singapore, Germany, and more.

Access to the widest range of industries

Today, every industry has been growing. There is no field that entrepreneurs don’t want to enter. Young developers in Hong Kong are designing apps with international appeal, disrupting fintech, and providing unique and innovative solutions to retailers. There’s hardly an industry that is not being reshaped by startups.

According to 2019 stats, the following are the industries that have the highest number of startups:

• Fintech has over 456 startups
• E-commerce/supply chain management have 342 startups
• Logistics technology and information is leading with 342 startups
• Computer and technology operates 322 of the startups
• The design has taken over 301 startups
• Professional or consultancy services cover around 287 of startups
• Data analytics has taken over 224 startups
• The hardware industry owns 210 startups
• Education and learning cover 158 of the total startups
• Health and medical is running 151 startups
• Biotechnology has 32 startups
• Robotics and smart manufacturing industry has added 33 startup
• Foodtech is operating around 41 startups
• Social innovation and venture has 54 startups
• Retail technology covers 61 of the total Hong Kong startups
• The sustainable green technology industry is expanding with 93 startups
• The smart city has 104 startups
• Gaming and digital entertainment owns 135 startups

The future of Hong Kong startup ecosystem

To grow at an even faster pace, the Hong Kong startup ecosystem needs more of everything from more talent to entrepreneurs, accelerators to angel capital, education of coworking space, there is a lot that still needs to go in to maintain the unprecedented growth of the Hong Kong startup ecosystem.

With the ever-growing startup ecosystem awareness, the young generation has become more conscious about entrepreneurship. For startups in Hong Kong, it is a great opportunity that should be utilised. The authorities should especially promote a culture of entrepreneurship where innovation and ingenuity are valued.

Also Read: Hong Kong startup ecosystem reaching for the top floor

Regardless, Hong Kong has an incredible startup environment that welcomes people from diverse areas of life. Here, every individual regardless of the skill he possesses can find a meaningful career. To support this startup ecosystem, it is important to bring parents on board.

Within the past five years, the Hong Kong startup ecosystem has gone through tremendous progress. The success of this ecosystem can be attributed to entrepreneurs without whom it couldn’t have happened. However, talent, technology, and education have also played equal roles in promoting startups and earning them funding from all across the world.

This Asian startup ecosystem offers amazing investment opportunities that bring a high return on investment and more.

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Since the first cases of COVID-19 were announced on March 23, the local economy in Myanmar, including the real estate industry,  went into a rapid downward trend, especially due to the closure of borders, airports, public transport and blocked imports of building materials necessary for developers’ construction sites.

By April, all major cities including Yangon –the largest city– were completely locked down, which forced almost every businesses to transition to work from home. The majority of SMEs (especially real estate agents) either closed shop, downsized their headcount and stopped all subscription payments in readiness for a severe drop in revenue to their businesses.

In Q2 2020, the entire real estate market crashed.  Small real estate agencies with little or no revenue, bunkered down for a forced recession.  Myanmar has thousands of individual brokers (non-paying advertisers) and only 25 small real estate agencies that advertise around 50 per cent of the properties on real estate websites.  Ad revenues from this sector were already limited; with COVID-19 – it dropped to near zero.

This combined with the notorious monsoon season arriving which is known for being the worst time for property sales in Myanmar; 97 per cent of all real estate developers also followed suit by completely stopping all marketing spend to ride out what has become a very deep recession in real estate, and property transactions turned off like a tap.

This will have a material negative effect on all related businesses including ours, other real estate portals, and real estate industry service providers.

The Second Wave: A horse with wings arrives

By September 12, the ministry of health reported a record 351 cases in a single day, the Second Wave of COVID-19 arrived and so did 200 new patients daily in hospitals.

Also Read: 5 survival strategies for startups in a post-COVID-19 world

“It is like putting wings to a horse.  A horse is originally strong and fast. With wings, it just becomes faster,” said U Than Naing Soe, spokesman for the health and sports ministry.

With the Second Wave,  the whole country is now under stay-at-home orders and the entire city of Yangon is in complete lockdown. Without doubt Q2 – Q4 2020 is going to be the hardest period ever faced by the real estate industry in Myanmar.

The effect to players in the real estate market is a massive reduction in property transactions, with revenue numbers down to around 10-20 per cent of normal sales – which for real estate portals, including ours, and other property transaction businesses eliminate any chance of profitability.

Homebuyers and renters, who make up the majority of property transactions, want to see the property they are purchasing but are unable to due to lockdowns, therefore transaction sales have been nearly non-existent since April.

With revenues declining and profitability out the door in what is now a severely wounded real estate market – reaching investor projections is unlikely.  To reach even 25-30 per cent of last FY revenue numbers would be an act of superhuman powers!

The Second Wave is much more impactful than the first and it will negatively affect full-year 2020 forecasts for every business working with the real estate industry.   Most SMEs under 100 staff serving the real estate market, will be forced to further reduce costs, completely shut down, inject external funds or personal loans to stay afloat.

Myanmar’s shape-shifting tech sector

Throughout the crisis, Myanmar continues to have a thriving tech sector, with many reputable startups who have successfully raised millions of USD in funding and have achieved rapid traction, including ShweProperty having raised US$3 million in late 2019.  As the last frontier in Southeast Asia (SEA), the tech sector opportunities are enormous for experienced first movers with strong management teams.

Also Read: How proptech startup iMyanmarHouse remains profitable despite COVID-19

However, other market news has not been so kind to the industry, especially with some tech startups closing down or forced into liquidation. This includes the:

• Withdrawal of Rocket internet’s online property and classifieds in March 2018. After five years of educating the market, then withdrawing from the country after the entry of more experienced and well-funded players.
• De-listing of the publicly listed social app MySQUAR from the UK-AIM in December 2018, reported to involve related party transactions and significant cash payments to a shareholder without signoff or disclosure.
• The shutdown of payments company Red Dot Network in February 2019 after being sold to a new owner, then reported to have left the country, leaving lots of agent’s deposits unpaid.

Myanmar’s 2020 GDP growth according to the ADB is forecast to be 1.8 per cent, one of the highest in SEA. However the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ difficulty ranking is 165 / 190, and the corruption index is 130 / 180, making it a not-so-attractive destination for many investors.

The country remains mainly a cash society, which can be particularly difficult (or useful) for inexperienced tech startups who are trying to raise funds at high valuations – i.e. cash transactions can make it easier to falsify financial reporting by recycling cash or transactions through a company, then declaring it back as revenue or profit.

Investors can have significant opportunities in Myanmar, but if they are to invest without a seasoned Lead Investor on the ground, turn a blind eye and/or forego an intensive due diligence process (not just a statutory audit) to ensure 100 per cent financial, legal, employment and taxation compliance, then they risk losing their money and reputation when everything eventually comes out.

Fortunately, Myanmar has clear laws on compliance and although local statutory reporting can be easily approved in the short-term, any discrepancies or non-compliance that are re-discovered in the future will be subject to hefty fines, possible imprisonment, or liabilities passed to the directors or shareholders.

The future: Preparation for success

Although it looks like Myanmar’s real estate market will remain stagnant until the end of 2020, ShweProperty’s experienced management team remains very confident and positive about the future.

We have been through three recessions previously and believe that our compassion, decisiveness, long-term strategic thinking and diligent execution will lead the business through the crisis and emerge 100 times stronger.

Also Read: How to market your business in a post-COVID-19 world

Our business remains financially stable and our people motivated.  We have retained all our top talent and management team who have over 100 years of combined industry experience.  We will punch out of COVID-19 with more products and services, and more efficient and effective than ever before.

The business continues to be run with strong governance and fair employment contracts to ensure compliance with the law at all times.  Although some companies choose to use employment contracts that oppress their employees, we believe in employment agreements to support our staff and are approved by the labour department.

Having a professional and proven local and international management team gives less chance of a single point of risk or failure.  We have a policy to not hire direct family members or close friends, especially in sales or finance management roles which can be easily exposed to fraud.

ShweProperty also believes in strong partnerships. This year the business forged an exclusive partnership with PropertyGuru for the Myanmar Property Awards.  We were selected because of our top position in the real estate market in Myanmar.  This allows the business to work closely with developers to deliver multiple online channels to help sell and market their projects both locally and internationally.

Additionally, ShweProperty is still hiring, particularly to further strengthen the management team, and for top sales and marketing professionals to help rapidly grow the business post-COVID-19. We see strong long term potential in the market and through our streamlined property sales transaction model, we will continue to lead, dominate and support the real estate market in Myanmar.

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