Ant-backed Akulaku raises US$100M from Japan’s MUFG
The capital infusion counts as the second strategic investment closed by the Indonesia-based company this year, following the US$100M funding it raised from SCB at the start of this year.

Line Man Wongnai in talks to buy Foodpanda’s Thai unit
A Bloomberg report says that Foodpanda Thailand, owned by Delivery Hero SE, was previously valued at US$100M but the potential deal size may have been trimmed due to market headwinds.

Tencent chief blasts managers in fiery townhall: sources
Founder Pony Ma told employees many corruption issues had been discovered within the company and mismanagement was draining its vitality; Tencent reported a second straight quarterly revenue drop last month.

Hyphen Group secures US$22M in funding led by PCCW
The fintech firm concurrently announced that its CEO Sam Allen has stepped down; Headquartered in Hong Kong and Singapore, Hyphen has reached 8M+ monthly users and partnered with over 270 financial institutions.

Indonesian B2B construction startup BRIK said to finalise US$12M funding
It is in talks for pre-Series A round with AC Ventures, Accel, and B Capital; In July, BRIK raised US$3M from AC Ventures, Accel, and Alternate Ventures.

ALVA raises US$10M from Standard Chartered Indonesia
The capital will help ALVA, a subsidiary of IDX-listed Indika Energy, produce electric motorcycles to build sustainable practices within its supply chain systems.

Singaporean Alchemy Foodtech nets US$3M in extended bridge round
The investors include Thai President Foods, Pine Venture, Thai Union, Heritas, and SEEDS Capital; Alchemy Foodtech provides tasty, healthier food options that reduce the negative impact of excess carbs and sugar on people’s health.

Baidu expands driverless robotaxi service in Wuhan
Baidu’s vehicles are equipped with multi-layer technologies such as redundancy monitoring, remote driving, and a safety operation system; These mechanisms are backed by the firm’s over 32M kilometres of self-driving mileage.

Vietnamese on-demand warehousing platform Wareflex closes pre-seed round
Genesia Ventures and Antler are the investors; Wareflex has a network of over 100 warehouses across Vietnam and provides flexible warehouses of all types on a pay-per-use basis.

YouTrip’s 4 steps to ensure financial resilience during crisis
The payments startup’s CFO Weijern Lim also shares the company’s experience in applying for grants, an excellent alternative to VC funding for startups.

Climate conferences won’t save us: Sparking systems change that benefits us all
Everyone can and should play a part, there is a unique and valuable part each one can play in advancing the climate fight.

What is the future regulation of crypto?
Without the establishment of consistent international rules, customers’ assets cannot be protected, and the crypto asset industry cannot be further developed.

Anticipating 2023: What’s on our radar
As an entrepreneur, you must always be readily available to pivot to new changes because the business environment will constantly evolve.

—

Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

The post Ecosystem Roundup: Akulaku raises US$100M, Line Man Wongnai in talks to buy Foodpanda Thailand appeared first on e27.

Alchemy Foodtech, a Singaporean startup aiming to reduce carbohydrates, sugar and GI (glycaemic index) of foods, has raised US$3 million in funding from public-listed Thai President Foods, Pine Venture Partners and Sour Sally Group investment arm Selera Kapital.

Existing investors Thai Union, Fuchsia Venture Capital, Heritas Capital, and SEEDS Capital also participated.

The new funds will continue to support Alchemy Foodtech’s next stage of development in markets locally and overseas. “With the funds raised, we can pursue our growth in China, support our new China office, and expand to other countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and the US through distributors and B2B partners,” said CEO Alan Phua.

Also Read: Thai Union invests in Singapore’s Alchemy Foodtech, VisVires New Protein from its US$30M fund

The global demand for healthier food options is growing as more than one in three adults is overweight, and one in ten adults lives with diabetes. Alchemy Foodtech addresses these issues by providing tasty, healthier food options that reduce the negative impact of excess carbs and sugar on people’s health.

The company has developed its patented Alchemy Fibre technology platform based on plant ingredients to replace sugars and carbs and reduce glycemic index while delivering great taste and texture.

The interest in carb and sugar reduction is growing, with many companies pledging to reduce sugar in their product offerings by 2030. With strong global demand, Alchemy Foodtech has collaborated with several MNCs on various products, including noodles, bread, cookies, ice creams, yoghurts, and beverages. It will launch some of these in H1 2023.

In 2018, Alchemy raised 7-figure funding in a pre-Series A round led by Heritas Capital and SEEDS Capital.

Alchemy was part of the first cohort of SPACE-F, the first food tech incubator and accelerator programme in Thailand.

—

Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

The post Singaporean Alchemy Foodtech nets US$3M in extended bridge round appeared first on e27.

Indonesia-based digital signature and identity platform Privy is set to expand its business to Australia. The country will be the startup’s first destination following its US$48 million Series C funding round in November 2022.

The update was announced by Privy Co-Founder and CEO Marshall Pribadi in his LinkedIn post. “Thanks IA-CEPA ECP Katalis for supporting Privy’s expansion to Australia. Looking forward to working together with you guys!” he wrote on Tuesday (13/12).

DailySocial has reached out to Pribadi for comments, but he had not replied by the time of this article’s publication.

The expansion was made possible due to Privy’s partnership with the IA-CEPA ECP Katalis (Katalis). Katalis is a partnership programme to support stronger, sustainable, and inclusive bilateral trade and investment relations between Indonesia and Australia. The programme was set up based on the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) trade agreement valid from July 5, 2020.

Katalis is working with business players and the government to implement IA-CEPA, complementing existing development initiatives by Australia, presenting a bilateral, commercially oriented and social-gender-inclusive approach in its activities.

Also Read: Get Privy for secure digital ID solutions

The formation of IA-CEPA started with the background of Indonesia-Australia’s strategic trade partnership; it was aimed to create a framework for the two countries to dig the potential of bilateral economic collaboration, encouraging partnership between businesses, communities, and individuals.

This expansion plan was first mentioned by Pribadi when the company announced its Series C funding round in November 2022. The CEO said that the network and global experience of KKR & Co Inc., combined with the support of investors MDI Ventures, GGV Capital, and TMI, played a crucial role in the startup’s success.

“Privy is in the right position to innovate further with our offerings and capacity while building a stronger foundation for an international expansion,” he said.

This statement was supported by Louis Casey, Growth Technology Lead at KKR in Southeast Asia. He said, “Privy had built a leading platform in the industry by combining main features, user-friendly design, and a strong and stable infrastructure. We want to tap into KKR’s global network and operational expertise to bring Privy to its next level of growth and expand its leadership in digital trust for leading individuals and corporations in Indonesia and beyond.”

Privy’s milestones

Founded in 2016, Privy offers a wide range of products that include digital identities, signatures, verification, and document management services in various sectors, from financial services, to health, to education.

In its development in 2018, Privy was the first non-government institution in Indonesia to receive the Certification of Authority (CA) from the Ministry of Communications and Informatics. A year later, it became the first e-KYC service provider to be listed on the Financial Services Authority.

Privy claimed to lead the market for digital trust platforms in Indonesia with more than 30 million verified users and 1,800 customers for its digital signatures, verification, and subscription services and onboarded more than 40 million signatures each year.

According to Statista, the global market for digital identity platforms is projected to grow from US$23.3 billion in 2020 to US$49.5 billion in 2026. Increased identity theft cases, data leaks, and new government regulations trigger this rapid growth.

—

The article was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Marsya Nabila for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

Image Credit: Privy

The post Following up their Series C funding round, Privy to execute Australia expansion plan appeared first on e27.

We all know that the NFT is the next big thing and has many forward-looking potentials and utilities. As you find more NFTs trading in different marketplaces, you start to wonder what you should do next: “to buy or not buy”.

Here are six NFT trading mistakes to avoid for newbies.

Not promoting your NFT

After buying the NFT that you like, that NFT is yours. Most people have this mentality that the creator should be promoting, and as holders of the NFT, let’s sit back to watch the prices grow.

I’m afraid that’s not right. If you promote your copy of NFT, your unique NFT could be the one that gets sold the fastest. Always remember you control your assets. There is no need to wait for the creator.

Flipping it too fast

In the bull market, you have heard from NFT experts that they flipped their NFT 100X in an hour for millions of dollars.

Yes, this is possible back then. Right now, at this bearish market, you need to think long-term. You bought something that you feel has good value and potential. You bought a low price, and you do not mind keeping it. This kind of mentality will bring you far. “Good things take time”- remember this.

Buying it on the wrong marketplace

There are many NFT marketplaces in the space right now. Some of them are more controlled; They filter what can be listed and remove items that are unsuitable, not authentic or with copyright issues. While some are more open, adopting an “anyone can list” model, they have minimum supervision, and anyone can list almost anything on their platform.

If you choose the latter, you could be buying a fake and when you realise that, you are too late. There is no one attending to your complaints. And yes, there is no refund too. Hence choose wisely.

Buying an NFT that you do not like it

This is a real example. I have friends flexing their apes and punks as profile pictures to show they are well-to-do. But the fact is they do not like them. One guy told me he wants the tiger more, and it is his good luck animal, but there isn’t a big blue chip tiger NFT project. So he bought the monkey.

Also Read: Busan Blockchain Week 2022: Trends shaping the future of NFT

My sincere advice is to buy something you like, not just for the value. Last month, I purchased an NFT at US$0.01 from the Bybit NFT marketplace. It is affordable, has potential, and most importantly, I like the colours, and I am keeping it. This is how it should be. There is no stress about it.

Not using the right tools

There are many groups out there who are giving you tips on which one to buy. You can take their advice, but I suggest you research before agreeing and committing to your first NFT.

Many NFT tools in the market right now help you with your decision. For instance, some tools allow you to check on the rarity types. Some tools will enable you to analyse the volume and tell if any wash trading is involved. Stop guessing. Use the right tools!

Listening to the wrong consultants

NFT creators who listened to the wrong consultants are another common thing. They tend to hire the more expensive consultants thinking they know it all. Based on a survey I have conducted with corporations which have launched their NFT, they paid US$300,000 on average to the consultants to start the ball rolling.

I advise corporations and individuals to look online for resources before hiring consultants. I know of NFT studios who helped fellow creators by sharing their resources for free and helping them to list on platforms with zero cost.

One of the groups that I founded in 2006 is doing just that. They groom NFT rising stars, front the NFTs for them and do not ask a single cent from the creators. I think the spirit of sharing is essential, and they did it all correctly.

I am not here to put up any sale propositions. I want to see more people entering the NFT market with ease. And that is why I launched my book “NFT: From Zero to Hero by Anndy Lian” in August.

An NFT or non-fungible token is a unique digital identifier recorded in a blockchain and used to certify authenticity and ownership. Remember the above. It is not a profile picture or just another speculative product. The real value is in its utility. Do not make this mistake as well.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

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

The post 6 NFT mistakes to avoid for newbies appeared first on e27.

The post Navigating the payment regulations in Singapore appeared first on e27.

In the previous two editions of this three-part series, I’ve outlined the climate actions that businesses can take right now to decarbonise and identified some ways to develop/increase the adoption of existing solutions to aid industry transitions toward net zero.

In this final part, I’ll propose actions that can be taken to instigate a systematic shift on a larger scale.

Collaborating at scale

It’s generally recognised that no single player can solve a challenge this big on their own. We need more than just cleaner solutions or alternatives – we need to change entire supply chains and economic systems so that we can continue to pursue progress and enable human development (which consumes energy and materials) while respecting planetary boundaries.

To arrive at the technical, political, economic, behavioural, and natural solutions required, collaboration is absolutely key.

What does meaningful collaboration look like, though, beyond signing industry-wide commitments and joining consortiums? Who should play what role, so we make the most of everyone’s unique strengths without wasting effort or resources? And is this even something to consider if you’re not an influential player?

Also Read: Climate conferences won’t save us: How to start taking action all year round (Part 1)

Spoiler alert: Everyone can and should play a part. Both multi-billion dollar businesses and small enterprises, CEOs and employees, policymakers from large and small nations alike – there is a unique and valuable part each one can play in advancing the climate fight.

• Solutions that reduce emissions need to move beyond just selling themselves towards building or being part of total solutions. Your product alone rarely covers the full picture for your client; understand the bigger problem you help your customer solve, and partner with other solutions that make this easier, which will increase your conversion rates and set a model for others to follow because it increases industry adoption/transformation. For example, we helped one waste management company double its revenue and access corporate offtake agreements by partnering with a traceability solution. We paired up two solutions – one incentivising households to better clean and sort their waste, the other separating multi-layer packaging into its separate components for easier recycling – which strengthened recycling feedstock far better together than they did working separately.

• Large corporations have the purchasing power to influence suppliers, normalise higher environmental and social standards, and therefore drive switches to a sustainable supply chain at a scale that many smaller businesses cannot. As early adopters, they must send demand signals and be the tide that lifts all ships across their industry; it’s time to break from a CSR lens and integrate sustainability into the core business. For many parts of the process, there is no need to reinvent the wheel – reducing waste, weeding out inefficiencies, and embracing circular practices in the supply chain make a triple win for the environment, productivity, and the bottom line. 

• Small and medium enterprises with lower budgets or buy-in for green solutions can still make their needs (e.g. price thresholds, operational constraints) known and aggregate demand amongst similar peers. Though one business alone may be too small to be designed for, engaging green solutions as the archetype of SMEs in your sector can bring down the green premium and enable adoption amongst the smaller businesses which make up the majority of any industry.

• The public sector can create an enabling environment for innovation and investment by reducing uncertainty, ring-fencing risk, being inclusive by design, and knowing what role they play in the bigger picture. Laying out clear priorities, targets, and prices (on carbon, plastic, and other environmental externalities that need to be properly costed); funding and encouraging timeboxed experimentation in areas where opportunity is clear but little is known about the right path forward; de-risking nimble policy choices by involving the relevant stakeholders from design to delivery, getting the most informed inputs to maximise chances of success and community integration – all of these are relatively inexpensive, politically safe ways for governments to speed up instead of slow down change. Singapore excels at incentivising and de-risking innovation via Enterprise Singapore and EDB’s many funding schemes. At the same time, the small population generally prevents it from influencing world decisions with market volume, and it can lead the way through forward-thinking, flexible policymaking.

Also Read: Preference for green jobs is the “most exciting” climate tech development: Lightspeed

These are just some of the many ways different types of organisations can contribute to making an outsize impact on driving us to our goal. To lean into making these changes, we need more meaningful and intentional collaboration across the board that encourages learning and action taken on those lessons.

Projects may be started in siloes and decided in small groups to get momentum going, but as these take shape and begin to see results, we need to fight the urge to share only our successes. We must be open and share learnings about our failures, too; only when we look at the tasks ahead as a global drawing board, not a leaderboard, can we iterate effectively, deploy new investments into the right places, and truly progress toward our goals.

How do we move forward together?

The scale of the climate crisis can be overwhelming, and it might seem that any action short of becoming a climate startup is futile. Instead of looking for a silver bullet solution (which doesn’t exist), we need to embrace a portfolio approach that leverages each one’s strengths and helps one another bridge weaknesses.

There is plenty that we can do, individually and as entrepreneurs, to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals beyond the confines of the COP summit.

There are no more excuses to delay taking action. We know the goals, the tools are at hand, and there are enough energetic advocates to kickstart the process. The “why” is also clear: besides our moral and survival imperative, there are multiple advantages to becoming the sustainability leader in your respective industry, like becoming preferred suppliers to large organisations with climate commitments, accessing cheaper financing products, attracting better talent, and increasing consumer interest in responsible businesses.

So while governments decide on big-picture programmes to enable a global green transition, businesses and individuals in Southeast Asia do not need to wait for their go-ahead. We can do something immediately.

The only hurdle is our own willingness to translate our hopes for the future into actions today.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post Climate conferences won’t save us: Sparking systems change that benefits us all (Part 3) appeared first on e27.

In November 2022, the crypto asset exchange FTX collapsed in just five days due to mounting turmoil, causing many investors to lose vast assets.

The impact of the collapse of the world’s second-largest exchange was so significant that major crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum crashed across the board, and projects that had relied on FTX collapsed in a chain reaction. Including indirect ones, it is safe to assume that more than tens of billions of dollars are needed to cover the damage.

This collapse was as inevitable as Enron’s FTX cheated investors with massive accounting fraud (window dressing), engaged in insider trading, and faked the failure of many investments. The two companies also share the same shrewdness in donating money to the Republican and Democratic parties and suppressing the political side. The fact that both companies’ headquarters collapsed shortly after they entered the Japanese market is also oddly synchronised.

This type of incident is not unique to crypto assets. Still, it is based on traditional fraud techniques: accounting manipulation, improperly inflating corporate value, misappropriation of customer funds, etc., a combination of fraudulent activities before crypto assets.

How to prevent a recurrence

However, there are also circumstances specific to the crypto asset industry that led to the collapse of FTX. The regulation of crypto assets still needs to mature. Therefore, unlike the financial sector, which is heavily regulated, there is room for various circumvention measures and fraud.

Also Read: Light at the end of the crypto tunnel? How to come out stronger

For example, few countries have fully regulated insider trading of crypto assets. Since combined with the high degree of anonymity due to its technical nature, fraud is straightforward. Although it cannot be proven, insider trading has likely occurred on a significant number (or almost all) of crypto asset exchanges.

Insider trading does not damage the assets of the exchange but rather enhances them, except when it is an appropriation of customer assets; a major cause of the FTX collapse was the dramatic reduction in the capital due to the misappropriation of customer assets and the ensuing run on them. The core of preventing a recurrence is regulation related to the protection of client assets.

Notable Japanese regulations

In this respect, Japanese regulation is progressive. Japan has learned well from the typical failures in the crypto asset industry, such as the Mt.

First, as with securities and FX, customers’ crypto assets are supposed to be segregated and managed separately. CPAs regularly audit the segregation to ensure it is done correctly. In doing so, they also examine whether cold wallets and multisig are appropriately used. The segregated crypto assets will be used to refund investors in the event of an exchange failure (i.e., 100 per cent of the deposited funds are guaranteed to be returned).

In addition to this, Japan is also trying to lead the world in systematically regulating stablecoins. Although there is a common criticism in Japan that “Japan is too strictly regulated, making it difficult to launch a crypto-asset related business,” there is an opinion that this strict regulation and monitoring system has been learned from the past and that it has prevented significant incidents from occurring after the FTX bankruptcy.

The need for global regulation

However, even in Japan, the crypto assets of FTX JP’s customers remain frozen. Since FTX JP’s assets (as well as those of the bankrupt FTX and its affiliates) will be used to repay the FTX Group’s creditors (including its customers), it is not clear whether they will be returned to investors after the bankruptcy, even though they are segregated and managed separately.

Also Read: The future of blockchain technology goes beyond just cryptocurrency and NFTs

It is said that the reason for this is that FTX JP’s customers cannot be given priority for repayment. In other words, if the parent company is located outside of Japan, the assets of the Japanese subsidiary’s clients would not necessarily be protected in the event of the parent company’s bankruptcy.

Thus, there is a limit to considering only one country when considering regulation. FTX made a breakthrough because it operated in the Bahamas, with virtually no regulations. In the Bahamas, taxes are meagre, and there is no need to submit bookkeeping records to the authorities.

This scheme of setting up headquarters in a tax haven and establishing a company in the US or Japan as a subsidiary is often used in the crypto asset industry (as in other sectors). The subsidiary is subject to strict regulations in this case, but the parent company is not.

Therefore, no matter how much regulation is enforced in the country where the subsidiary is located, the risk of the parent company failing due to misuse of customer assets, as with FTX, cannot be eliminated.

To fundamentally solve this problem, it is imperative to create a global standard for regulation. Although many experts have pointed this out, the road to realisation is exceptionally long, as it takes work to reach a worldwide consensus.

However, without international emphasis and the establishment of reasonable and consistent international rules, customers’ assets cannot be protected, and the crypto asset industry cannot be further developed.

It is not that the blockchain side is not responding to anything either; there are already blockchains like Concordium, which performs full KYC and can identify individuals in case of illegal activities while typically remaining anonymous; Concordium has stated that it will be improved in response to regulations.

The idea is to change the blockchain following international regulatory trends (many are willing to hard fork and many nodes understand this).

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post What is the future regulation of crypto? appeared first on e27.

Where are we heading next year? And most importantly, will the money follow us?

2022 is seen as a pivotal year as it kickstarted the re-opening of the world after a period of border closures due to the implementation of safety measures against the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that cross-border business activities resumed to an almost typical level of activities, pushing us to catch up with incoming opportunities (and challenges).

In the Southeast Asian (SEA) tech startup ecosystem, this meant the return of notable startup events, including our very own Echelon 2022. This meant the ability to network with potential collaborators in neighbouring countries. But not all things are well in the ecosystem. We witnessed layoffs happening to even the most notable tech giants in the industry, creating an atmosphere of anxiety about what the future might bring.

Previously, we have looked at how startups in the SEA startup ecosystem view 2023 and how they aim to brave new challenges in the new year. This time, we would like to hear from the investors’ side.

For this piece, e27 reached out to active investors in the SEA startup ecosystem to get their insights about notable trends in 2023. Their profile ranges from early to growth stage investors, from sector-agnostic to sector-specific investors.

Some of their answers might surprise you. Some of them are as expected. But if winning 2023 is part of your plan, you might not want to miss this revelation.

Offline is cool again

As a direct consequence of the reopening of borders, Dave Ng, General Partner at Altara Ventures, believes that being offline will be “cool again.”

“The world will put the pandemic in the past,” he stresses.

“This means more travel, interaction and touch points in person. Welcome back to the office! The beauty is that we are now much more adept and comfortable using online tools to augment our activities.”

Even greater urgency for climate and sustainability

According to Ysabel Chua, Associate at Forge Ventures, in addition to seeing a wave of sustainability-focused startups from a range of sectors, the region will witness more companies considering how to embed sustainable practices and adjacent solutions to their core product.

“It’s about time,” she stresses.

To seize opportunities in this field, Forge Ventures intends to stay close to founders and operators that are “building with genuine intentions and heart.”

“As an operator-led fund, we’ve always stayed close to other operators … despite being on the investment side now. This has allowed us to get a unique view and peek into what the next-generation founders are building, even while they’re just at the ideation stage,” she explains.

Robin Teurlings, General Partner at Zero Emissions Fund shared a similar opinion.

“A lot of knowledge on building a low carbon economy in SEA has been gathered in the past years, and more feasible startup ideas are starting to spring from this. When you add this to sky-high energy costs and an investor focus on business fundamentals, you get a great cocktail for this sector to boom,” he says.

The Zero Emissions Fund has supported decarbonisation startups since November 2021 through its free online acceleration programme. Next year, it plans to organise more opportunities for these startups to connect to potential collaborators in the corporate sectors. It is also looking forward to making its first direct investments.

When it comes to discussion about sustainability, food security and agriculture are the two sectors that are strongly related to it. Jefrey Joe, Co-Founder and General Partner at Alpha JWC Ventures, sees a rising interest in agriculture and aquaculture sectors in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia.

“There are many issues across their supply chain that can be addressed through the use of technology, from farm management to distribution. In 2022, we onboarded some of the most innovative agri/aquaculture startups like AgriAku, Beleaf, Pitik, and Sayurbox. These companies have shown great trajectories … we believe this trend will continue, and more investors will be looking at these two sectors,” he explains.

Bracing yet another crisis

Despite the promises, we know that next year is not going to be an easy one. As we move out from another crisis to the next, there remains an urgency to stay vigilant and make the right decisions.

Debneel Mukherjee, Founder and Managing Partner at Decacorn Capital, says, “We are following some macro indicators such as how the inflation and likely recession in the US, coupled with the labour shortage, will continue to make technology the safe haven amidst disruption from every side.”

He continues, “We continue to look out for rare gems pursuing large problems with a strong technology moat, run by resourceful founders –as it is about the jockey on the horse at the end of the day.”

Mukherjee also dubbed the US as “the cleanest among the dirty shirts” –meaning that its startup ecosystem continues to develop and grow ideas. Whenever possible, founders from around the world “can and should go to gain the escape velocity as the largest market and best place by far for valuations and exits.”

Dave Ng, General Partner at Altara Ventures, also echoed the need to remain agile and lean next year.

“We are inevitably entering a recession. Staying agile and lean is the best way to brave 2023 and beyond. Finally, the bar is much higher for any business to exist. This applies to all – startups, private unicorns and public tech companies,” he stresses.

It’s all about the consumers

Even as Web3 continues to gain popularity, the Web2 sector remains relevant in most parts of SEA with its tried-and-true qualities. Investors have revealed to e27 the verticals that they believe will rock 2023, and there is an emphasis on consumer-facing businesses.

Elise Tan, Director of Communications and Community at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, lists down the sectors that are set to be popular. This includes cost-effective consumer solutions, a new wave of products and services empowering the creator economy, and digital finance deepening their services for the underbanked.

For Willson Cuaca, Founding Partner at East Ventures, “We believe the trend will not only be concentrated in e-commerce; we see there will be more innovations in other sectors, such as D2C, agriculture, and climate solutions in the near future.”

“While the global economy will be challenging in 2023, we believe that Indonesia and SEA have many great talents that can drive the economy in great directions. This further supports how digital infrastructure and adoption are moving towards its golden era. We will continue working with relevant stakeholders in the industry to seize opportunities and boost the development of the countries.”

Jussi Salovaara, Co-Founder and Managing Partner Asia of Antler, pointed out that as the fintech sector continues to grow, competition has become a key challenge for B2C brands.

“There is still good potential on the B2B side, especially with regards to unbundling of services, i.e. solutions built for specific verticals,” he says.

In the past few years, health and medtech have become more popular due to the pandemic, especially services that enable telehealth features and a more personalised approach to healthcare.

“… Personalised medicine and genomics is yet another technology platform that we believe is the next frontier of data analytics,” Mukherjee said.

A similar sentiment was shared by Salovaara.

“On a similar note but for AI, it’ll be interesting to see its use-case in a sector like healthtech, which has seen various tech solutions improving automation and savings, but not quite yet for improving accuracy via predictive modelling and such.”

The bar that is set higher

Related to the previous trend of responding to the global crisis, in 2023, investors believe that the bars will be set higher for startups.

According to Atin Batra, General Partner at 27V, two things will happen: Consolidation and explosion.

“Given the tight capital markets, companies running out of cash will look for acquisitions as a favourable outcome for their investors; and companies that are comfortable with their cash positions will attempt to buy accretive revenue,” he elaborates.

“In times of recession, smart individuals realise they have very little to lose by starting up. Working for big companies, who have laid off staff at one point or another, no longer carries the same cache for multiple reasons: underwater stock grants, low employee morale, and battered employer brands.”

Vinnie Lauria, Founding Partner at Golden Gate Ventures, predicts a return to “lean and mean”.

“The layoffs among tech startups in the region signal a return to fundamentals. This is a necessary course correction, resulting in leaner, meaner startups in 2023,” he says.

“For perspective, the cycle of expansion and contraction that we see in the tech startups now is no different from what we would typically see in other traditional large companies. But tech startups pack decades of growth into a short time, so the cycles of expansion and contraction are more obvious and closer together,” he continues.

Recognition of the long-term value of SEA

Despite hardships here and there, investors are convinced that next year SEA will continue to become a valuable destination for investments –if not more. One particular market stands out amongst the rest.

“Vietnam is going to shine against the backdrop of global economic challenges,” says Lauria.

“With global tech giants investing in sophisticated tech manufacturing in Vietnam, the domestic market is expanding phenomenally with a projected GDP of 6.2 per cent … turning Vietnam into a huge magnet for top tech talent. This will, in turn, spawn the next generation of tech startups that will dominate across SEA,” he continues.

He also notes a potential shift in the type of investments coming to the region.

“SEA used to attract high volumes of investment among specific investor communities familiar with the region. We’re going to see a shift to more conservative investments, but across a much wider pool of investors who are now looking for long-term value in SEA.”

Web3 is here to stay

Next year, investors predicted Web3 would continue dominating the startup ecosystem conversation. According to Terence Hooi, Co-Founder & CEO at Singular Capital, DeFi is going to continue on disrupting Traditional Finance (TradFi).

“Today, DeFi users top two million users and it is now worth US$170 billion, but that is still relatively small compared to TradFi at 22.5 trillion,” he said.

The company plans on seizing opportunities in the field by launching the next version of the Singular app on iOS and Android.

“While much of the initial protocol has been dedicated to technical topics such as stability and consistency so that stablecoins can function as a global unit-of-account and medium-of-exchange that is stable, almost no attention in comparison has been paid to improving the UI & UX of DeFi apps,” he continued.

To disrupt the existing system, the implementation of Web3 technology in banking and financial services needs to hit the right target audience. For Brian Lu, Founding Partner of Infinity Ventures Crypto, this means targeting the unbanked population in the SEA region.

“With more than 70 per cent of the region’s population being unbanked, as well as high levels of digital proficiency, SEA has great potential to lead the world in mainstream blockchain adoption, especially through crypto banking platforms,” he says.

—

Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

Image Credit: Antler, Golden Gate Ventures, 27V, Alpha JWC Ventures, Forge Ventures, Singular Capital

The post “Consolidation and explosion”: SEA startup investors reveal 2023 trends they are keeping close watch of appeared first on e27.

Hyperlounge, a real-time data analysis and management insights SaaS platform for small and medium-sized (SME) business executives, announced that it had raised US$8 million in Series A investment.

The funding round is led by Altara Ventures, together with FuturePlay, StoneBridge, BA Partners, RyuKyung PSG, and Nextrans.

South Korean software reseller UClick joined the funding round as a strategic investor.

In a press statement, Hyperlounge said that it plans to grow beyond being a business analytics platform to establishing itself as an essential partner in digital transformation for global businesses through utilising extensive management data to maximise companies’ competitiveness.

Hyperlounge CEO and co-founder Jungin Kim mentioned that the successful completion of Series A, despite the impending market downturn, validates the platform’s potential.

Also Read: “Consolidation and explosion”: SEA startup investors reveal 2023 trends they are keeping close watch of

Founded in 2020, Hyperlounge is a SaaS platform that provides real-time business data analysis and management insights for SMEs. It integrates management consulting know-how with advanced data collection, automation, analysis, and visualisation, enabling business executives to access and view key real-time data and analyses on their businesses.

The service is also available as a mobile app.

Since its market launch in February, Hyperlounge said it has rapidly secured over 20 customers across various industries such as consumer goods, manufacturing, industrial and B2B.

Hyperlounge CEO Kim is a seasoned business veteran with experience as a Partner at McKinsey, Head of Hyundai Card, and Global Operations Head at Affinity Equity Partners.

Dave Ng, General Partner at Altara Ventures, said, “We are excited with Hyperlounge’s vision. The enterprise software market, especially in Asia, is ready for a technology cycle refresh – where businesses, big and small alike, will need to move from offline on-premise solutions to online cloud-based SaaS. We look forward to partnering and supporting Hyperlounge’s expansion in Southeast Asia and beyond.”

Also Read: Altara Ventures hits the final close of inaugural fund oversubscribed at US$130M

FuturePlay Director Jaiwoong Choi commented, “As a leading tech investor, we predicted that SMEs’ demand for Digital Transformation would increase and decided to invest based on CEO Jungin Kim and his team’s execution ability, experience and HyperLounge’s unrivalled technologies.”

—

Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.

Image Credit: Hyperlounge

The post Hyperlounge raises US$8M in Series A to grow beyond being a business analytics platform appeared first on e27.

Singapore-headquartered Casa Mia Coliving has announced the completion of its US$1.3 million seed funding led by undisclosed real estate and private equity veterans. 

The funds raised will be used to expand its local and regional footprint and enhance the functionality of ColivHQ, Asia’s first dedicated property management software for the coliving industry.

Founded in 2019, Casa Mia Coliving provides coliving property management services intended to offer private bedrooms in shared homes with a convenient search process. It currently has an average stay of 15.5 months per member, the highest in Singapore.

The company uses an analytics tool designed by psychologists to screen potential members and recommend suitable homes based on their profiles. It also organises community “rituals” and activities to encourage networking and friendships, helping members to adjust to life in Singapore.

All this has led to the creation of a highly engaged members’ community, who have continually returned a high housemate satisfaction score when surveyed. 

Also Read: Singapore VC Iterative closes US$55M Fund II to double down on seed-stage founders

“With this fresh injection of funds, Casa Mia Coliving has added a new set of investors with deep experience in real estate and private equity, including several of the early investors in a leading European coliving operator,” said Casa Mia Coliving Co-Founder Ahmed Nizar.

Coliving is a low-margin, high-volume business that requires as much automation as possible to scale profitably. Since its beginning, Casa Mia Coliving has leveraged technology from ColivHQ, a property management software platform, to integrate and automate its operations.

With this round, Casa Mia completes the acquisition of ColivHQ, enabling Casa Mia to further enhance the app functionality.

“Given our deep experience in the technology sector, we’ve always recognised the power of technology to drive operational efficiencies. ColivHQ is one of the key factors that contributed to our profitable growth. As we scale up the business with more rooms across more locations, it is an opportune time to embed ColivHQ’s know-how into our growth plans, so we can continue to deliver a superior experience through the coliving customer journey,” said Casa Mia Coliving, CEO and Co-Founder Eugenio Ferrante.

Casa Mia Coliving has raised US$2 million to date and is well-positioned to accelerate its growth in Singapore and beyond in response to the unmet demand for quality accommodation at affordable prices in Asia, added Nizar.

The post Casa Mia Coliving secures US$1.3M seed funding to expand its local and regional footprint appeared first on e27.