Huawei Pay, the mobile payment service by Chinese telecom giant Huawei, has announced a partnership with Aleta Planet and UnionPay International.

The duo will partner to introduce a mobile payment solution combining Near Field Communication (NFC) and QR code payments for Singapore Huawei users.

Launched in May 2020, Huawei Pay allows Huawei users in the city-state to carry out mobile transactions on their smart devices. Users can transact in-store and in-app using the mobile payment solution upon adding their bank card to the Huawei Wallet app.

The mobile payment platform said in a statement it provides an improved in-store payment experience by offering both NFC and QR code payment methods for greater flexibility. Users can choose to pay with either method in retail stores.

Also Read: 4 expected transitions of online payments in Asia in the next five years

Aleta Planet is a virtual card service provider allowing users to pay, remit and collect payments through the UnionPay network. The Singapore fintech firm remarked it is the first partner supporting both NFC and QR code payments via Huawei Pay within Asia-Pacific.

To access the payment service, users are required to download Aleta Planet’s “AP-1” mobile app from Huawei’s app store and apply for an AP-1 virtual card. Upon successful application, users can add their card to their mobile wallet and begin cashless NFC and QR code transactions at various merchant locations.

“By using Huawei Pay, the AP-1 users can handily make NFC and QR code payments, as well as enjoy a slew of exclusive privileges available,” said Shane Shan, Director of Huawei Mobile Services, Asia Pacific.

Aleta Planet’s AP-1 virtual card users will be entitled to a slew of UnionPay promotions and rewards including dining and lifestyle offers as stated on UnionPay’s website.

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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Just because your business looks like it’s doing well, doesn’t mean there aren’t people and things conspiring against you.

Lori Cheek went through Shark Tank, lawsuits, and a pandemic that all tried to destroy her company, and she’s still pushing!

If you don’t see the Apple player above, click on a link below to listen directly!

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This article was first published on We Live To Build.

Image Credit: Michal Czyz on Unsplash

The post Don’t let obstacles stop you from succeeding: An interview with Lori Cheek appeared first on e27.

Every month, the e27 team runs a ‘Startup of the Month’ poll to pick the outstanding startup and give it the extra attention it deserves.

Three startups are selected internally by taking into account various criteria, including the quality of their idea, team, product and founders, and the size of their VC funding.

The winner of January is Singapore-based Neuroglee, a company providing digital therapies for neurodegenerative diseases to improve the quality of life of the patients as well as caregivers.

Digital therapy for Alzheimer’s

An effective drug solution for neurodegenerative diseases is still far away, although an estimated 60 million people are still suffering from it. These diseases — which include Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis  or ALS) — are not only expensive to treat but also have a c effect on patients.

Extensive researches are being carried out around the world and researchers are hopeful that a new effective drug will be developed soon and and the progression of these diseases are controlled/stopped.

Also Read: Bolstering healthtech: Thailand’s bid to become Asia’s medical hub

Neuroglee is one such company, which is attempting to find a new solution to cure these chronic diseases.

Founded early this year, Neuroglee is the brainchild of Dr Aniket Singh Rajput, a PhD in Neuroscience from Nanyang Technological University. The startup aims to build a completely new care system for people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, which aims to help them preserve their cognition and independence.

According to Rajput, evidences suggest that strategies such as games and reminiscence therapy can improve mental cognition. However, there has been no “one size fits all” solution, and each patient has to deal with the same condition differently.

What sets Neuroglee apart is that it tailor-makes therapies for each patient in accordance with his/her needs through its software platform, which monitors symptoms using biomarkers such as tapping speed, speech and motions, and then recommends patients with the right treatment.

The firm has developed a patent-pending AI technology for this.

NG-001

NG-001 is Neuroglee flagship product, which is a prescription software intended for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease.

How it works? Clinicians prescribe NG-001 as a drug to the patient and Neuroglee acts as a pharmaceutical company to provide him/her with the support infrastructure, called Neuroglee Connect (NGC).

NGC will then act as an end-to-end digital support centre to fit into the clinician’s existing practice workflow.

“With NGC, clinicians can get access to dedicated case managers to support them in every step of the patient journey. This includes the facilitation of patient access to support and assist with care coverage, as well as assist clinicians with reimbursement calls, prescription and management of patients,” he said.

“So when a patient is enrolled, the clinician prescribes a therapeutic solution to the patient. This is when he starts his/her six-month journey. We have designed several mechanisms of actions, which will be tailored to that particular patient, depending on what he/she is responding to and what he/she is not good at, and we will try to improve, for example, certain aspects of emotions,” he explained. 

NG-001, according to Rajput, can be used independently and/or in conjunction with pharmacotherapy for better patient management.

From researcher to entrepreneur

Born and bred in India, Rajput did not originally intend to enter the field of neuroscience. After securing his undergrad in Robotics from Visvesvaraya Technological University India, he went on to pursue his Master’s in Robotics and Healthcare in Hong Kong.

After this, he went to MIT Labs in Singapore and started working on Human Perception and Human Control Strategy algorithms. Later, he received an offer to pursue PhD in Neuroscience in NTU.

Rajput shared that during his time in Singapore, he primarily focussed on stroke and Parkinson’s patients and built rehabilitation strategies for them. Later on, he realised there was no effective solution to treat and manage Alzheimer’s patents.

Also Read: Healthcare wearable Ybrain raises US$3.5M in Series A funding

A researcher at heart, this got him thinking about developing a solution and he decided to start Neuroglee.

Market opportunities

The startup targets market such as Singapore, the US and Japan, where neurodegenerative diseases are more common among the elderly population. The prevalence of dementia is higher in developed countries such as Japan, South Korea and the US, making it a good base for the startup to roll out its services.

Having said that, NG-001 is still in its nascent stage and needs to go through the whole proof of concept phase and be approved by regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enter foreign markets.

“Our initial focus would be to obtain the FDA approval and then roll out our products in the US and Singapore, followed by Japan,” he said.

Neuroglee, however, is not the only startup working in this space. There are companies such as Denali Therapeutics, Neurotrack and MyndYou which are providing innovative solutions, and over years, they have raised large amounts of funding from notable investors.

Funding

Last month, Neuroglee raised US$2.3 million in pre-seed funding from Eisai Co., one of Japan’s largest pharmaceutical companies, and Kuldeep Singh Rajput, the founder and CEO of predictive healthcare startup Biofourmis.

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

With the money, the startup will advance product development for NG-001, which is intended for the treatment and management of patients with early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Clinical trials are expected to begin in early 2021 and the startup plans to open its US operations in Boston in 2021.

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Image Credit: Neuroglee

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As 2020 draws to a close and we take stock of the year, we ought to move away from the traditional powerhouses of the regional startup ecosystem and analyse the impact of the year on emerging markets within the region.

Less glamorous than the regional giants of Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam, emerging markets in Southeast Asia play an equally important role in the development of the region as they represent the potential growth.

Investors have recognised they remain an unpolished gem and thus have taken the lead in providing them with the resources to succeed.

Singapore-based private equity firm Ascent Capital announced in November that it closed a US$88 million Myanmar-focused fund to invest into companies across a variety of sectors, including consumer, education and healthcare.

While COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the region, with 1.38 million confirmed cases in Southeast Asia as of December 2020, emerging markets — Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar — have remained relatively unscathed, with Myanmar suffering the greatest impact among the three.

Despite making up 11.8 per cent of the regional population, the trio from the Mekong sub-region accounted for only 8.3 per cent of COVID-19 cases regionally.

As of December 2020 and according to official statistics from respective health ministries, Cambodia and Laos collectively accounted for only 400 confirmed cases, with no deaths reported. Myanmar has over 122,000 cases and reported close to 2,700 deaths, making it the fifth worst-hit country in the region – by the number of cases per million residents.

Despite escaping the wrath of the pandemic, emerging economies have been negatively impacted by the effects of an ensuing economic downturn.

Cambodia

According to a World Bank report, the Cambodian economy contracted by 2 percentage points in 2020.

The same report shared a rebound is anticipated and the Kingdom’s economy is projected to grow by 4 per cent in 2021 due to increased domestic activity, spurred on by the relaxation of social distancing measures and stimulus packages handed out by the government.

The local government has spent close to 5 per cent of its GDP on income assistance schemes and tax relief to help both workers and corporates tide over the downturn.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country is also increasing, driven by a free trade agreement signed between Cambodia and China in October 2020. The country’s inaugural bilateral free trade agreement is expected to boost trade between the two countries to US$10 billion by 2023.

Also Read: 500 Startups launches Angkor 500 to accelerate the development of Cambodian startups

However, challenges persist within the Kingdom.

Despite the partial recovery of the travel and tourism industry by domestic tourists, the sector remains negatively affected as international travel restrictions remain in place.

The share of respondents of a World Bank survey who were working declined from 82 per cent before the COVID-19 outbreak to 71 per cent in May 2020 — a number that remained relatively unchanged in August 2020.

This has led to a decline in household income and more will fall into poverty. The government has attempted to stem this by launching a cash transfer programme to assist the poor and vulnerable.

However, the efficacy and sustainability of such an initiative remain to be seen.

Laos

Despite having avoided a health crisis with only 41 total cases — as of writing this piece — Laos has not escaped the worldwide economic downturn.

The country’s economy is projected to contract by up to 1.8 per cent in 2020, with the downturn particularly affecting the services sector. Similar to Cambodia, the Laotian economy is expected to rebound by close to 4.5 per cent within the next two years.

Despite the seemingly minute contraction in growth this year, it comes at a period where Laos can ill-afford a slow down of its economy due to structural macroeconomic vulnerabilities stemming from its high public debt levels and low reserves buffers.

Also Read: Will Laos be home to a unicorn someday?

In a country where 11 per cent of total employment is in service industries such as travel, tourism and hospitality, the pandemic has had far-reaching economic and social consequences on Laotians. Up to 214,000 additional people are projected to fall into poverty due to the loss in jobs and a decline in income.

Labour migration remains an important livelihood option for the Lao workforce. However, many migrant workers have returned home amidst lockdowns worldwide.

It is estimated that the reverse in labour migration has resulted in a loss of US$125 million in rural household income.

Myanmar

Despite having the most number of COVID-19 cases among the three emerging markets, the Burmese economy grew by 1.7 per cent in 2020.

Although this represented a slowdown from its 6.8 per cent growth in 2019, it remains one of few in the region who have stayed in the green.

Domestically, growth in manufacturing, construction and service sectors have slowed due to a platitude of reasons including disruptions in supply chains, lockdowns and reduced demand.

However, it was observed internet-based businesses were better positioned to weather the downturn and reported increased earnings during the year.

Also Read: How understanding culture can drive the digitalisation of payments in Myanmar

Despite economists expecting Myanmar’s economy to grow by 2 per cent in 2021, concerns over the coronavirus outbreak remain. The country is experiencing a new surge in cases with over 900 daily cases reported last week.

While the government’s immediate priority should be stemming the rise of cases, it has diverted efforts to rejuvenate the economy for future growth, announcing fresh financing to support the development of industrial and urban development projects.

The future

Despite a slowdown in the growth of regional emerging markets in 2020, the outlook for these three countries remains positive. However, the projected recoveries in these economies are contingent on a successful containment of the virus.

As vaccines begin to be distributed worldwide, these countries must secure access to them — a difficult task given many wealthier countries are also vying for access.

When they do secure contracts with vaccine manufacturers, the mammoth task of vaccinating the population would be the next challenge. With a significant part of the population in these countries still residing in rural areas, local governments must have plans in place to reach these parts of the population.

Only then can the virus be contained and the emerging markets of Southeast Asia will continue on its path to economic growth.

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Image Credit: Photo by Jesse Schoff on Unsplash

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Digital banking is one of the most exciting themes to come out in 2020, and the hype will continue next year as leading Southeast Asian markets such as Singapore issued digital banking licenses to leading companies in the country.

Amidst this excitement, one startup stands out among the rest with its unique offering: Lucy.

Currently undergoing a trial process, Lucy is a digital bank platform that aims to empower women through entrepreneurship and financial inclusion. Setting itself apart from other digital banking platforms, the startup focusses on female migrant worker and home business owners as its target audience.

“Essentially, what we are doing is providing a range of very carefully tailored services to help female entrepreneurs at all socio-economic levels to start and grow their own businesses. The way we are doing this, as a digital platform, is entirely via our app. This will provide women who are lacking access to the financial services and support [with solutions] to help them grow and thrive,” Debbie Watkins, CEO of Lucy, explains to e27 in an interview.

While the company aims to expand its service to the whole of Southeast Asia, they start out with Singapore first. In addition to the country being a base for the co-founders, there are also opportunities that Lucy wants to seize in the country.

“The common belief is that everybody [in Singapore] as banked, but there are definitely segments that are unable to access the services that they actually need. They have bank accounts but don’t have access to the full range of financial services that they need,” Watkins says.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: Ant Group, Grab’s venture win digital banking licences; What will a Grab-gojek mean for Singapore users?

In Singapore, there are two groups that are experiencing this challenge: Female migrant workers and home business owners –from web designers to bakers.

There are about 250,000 of female migrant workers in Singapore, coming from countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Myanmar. They come to the country with a dream to save enough money to start their own small business back home, but there is often situation –such as natural disasters or sudden illnesses– that force them to let go of their savings and turn to loan sharks.

The Lucy app is set to be launched in Q1 2021. In addition to using social media as part of their user acquisition strategy, the startup is also teaming up with non-profit organisations that are working closely with migrant workers in the country.

Making dreams come true

Even for those who manage to gain access to the financial solutions that they need, there is often the other challenge of understanding how to use it well. This is why Lucy also includes the educational aspect of their service.

“What people who are running small businesses really need is mentoring and peer support … because it can be quite challenging. I like to say that it can be lonely and scary to be an entrepreneur, particularly for people who have just started something by themselves. So, what we’re aiming to do is to provide them with everything that they need to succeed [in running their own business],” Watkins says.

This is especially important as Lucy’s potential customers are those that have been disappointed by conventional banking institutions before. As a solution, Lucy tries to design a platform that fits the personality and needs of its users.

Also Read: Why neobanks are better than digital banks

“What we’re doing is combining the kind of services that are tailored to the customers rather than just being some sort of generic services that banks might offer … We are also breaking down that barrier where many women feel that banks don’t really listen to them or are not a partner for them in any kind of way,” Watkins elaborates.

“Essentially, the aim is to make Lucy feel like a community … that Lucy is a person who is this kickass, fearless woman that got their back and is there alongside them, to help them succeed. I kind of like to describe Lucy as a little bit of the anti-bank. Everything that we have been doing, if you look at our website, the way our apps designed, is really designed to feel like home,” she continues.

A team of wonder women

Lucy was started by three founders with backgrounds in business, fintech, and social enterprises.

Watkins started working in a bank at only 16 years old and has built a career in the business and financial IT sectors before moving to social enterprise after a volunteer work trip to Cambodia.

Director and Co-Founder Hal Bosher had spent a decade working with the World Bank before relaunching Yoma Bank in Myanmar and co-founding Wave Money, an Ant Group-backed fintech platform.

Last but not least, Chairman Luke Janssen was previously known as the founder of Australia-based fintech company Tigerspike, which he had exited in 2017.

In September, the startup has secured a S$500,000 (US$377,000) pre-seed funding round, bringing its total funding to date to just over S$1 million (US$750,000). In line with its mission to empower female entrepreneurs, all of the 18 angel investors involved in this funding round are women based in countries from the UK to Vietnam.

It has previously secured funding from its own founders and the Savearth fund.

For its next stage of fundraising, Lucy is looking for VC firms with a strong gender perspective in its investment philosophy.

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Image Credit: Lucy

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Investors are cautious but confident and optimistic about SEA; The Google e-Conomy SEA 2020 report says although unicorns are now refocusing on their basic services, most areas of investment, particularly sectors that sowed the opportunities afforded by COVID-19, will be likely to produce a healthy investment ecosystem for the region. More here

How 5-year-old live-streaming app 17LIVE acquired 60M users globally; It runs customised loyalty programmes for our customers; It has an in-house merchandise team who designs exclusive merchandise that can be used in reward programmes. More here

4 non-pandemic-related trends in 2020 that will shape the SEA startup ecosystem next year; The rise of SPAC as an alternative route to public listing and the proliferation of digital banking are among them; The proliferation of digital banking is another trend. More here

AI in the smart retail era; The tech has the capability not just to analyse numeric and text data, but also what we might call ‘sensory’ data, such as visual cues from customers as they browse products; Al can aggregate online and offline data for a holistic view of the customer and use it to find people with the intent to interact with a product. More here

Investors say these enterprise software sectors will likely remain hot in 2021; Companies that can solve the multitude of issues caused by WFH –including collaboration, security and productivity — will continue to be attractive. More here

Korean agritech startup E Green Global bags US$9.2M from YD-SK-KDB Social Value Fund; EGG plans to use the capital to expand its production facility to supply seed potatoes to its US and Chinese clients, with whom it has signed a contract worth US$92M. More here

New health app HeatraX receives funding from Indonesian government; It is an upgraded variant of thermal scanners; One of the app’s primary features is a contactless thermal screening that runs on an on-device AI; It also comes equipped with face recognition and a real-time warning feature that measures a person’s temperature. More here

What the Tech.Pass scheme means for startups and the rise of Singapore as a thriving centre of innovation; Within one to two-hour flight distance from other emerging tech cities such as Jakarta, Bangkok, Penang and HCMC, Singapore makes a strategic regional tech node; At the height of US-China trade tensions this year, Singapore continued to see increased investments from US MNCs and unicorns and Chinese tech titans alike. More here

Why the buy-now-pay-later concept makes sense for SEA; The concept is becoming increasingly popular due to a combination of factors; These include changes in human behaviour caused by COVID-19-imposed restrictions — we have more spare time but are unable to go out shopping which we compensate by shopping online. More here

This self-learning crib with a built-in monitor can spot your baby’s wake-up signs and put it back to sleep; Along with the natural-soothing-noiseless bounce, Cradlewise also plays curated music and prevents the baby from reaching the crying stage; It also enables parents to connect their phones to the cradle using an app to get a live video of the baby or listen to the baby anywhere, any time. More here

Bambooloo raises US$250K+ via ECF to expand its plastic-free home goods into UK; Bambooloo’s main goal is to provide cost-effective, safer, healthier daily essential products that help reduce water usage, carbon impact and slow deforestation; The brand recently added a bamboo-based personal safety mask-line to its products. More here

How startups can improve customer engagement and grow LTV ratio; There are many strategies but the linchpin is a deep understanding of who your customers are and what problem they come to have solved; The first thing you can do to increase customer engagement is to segment your leads and customers. More here

How hoolah aims to tackle the misconceptions of BNPL; Research detailing the impact of BNPL services in Singapore by financial comparison platform Finder showed that 27% of a thousand Singaporeans surveyed admit to being financially worse off when using a BNPL service, with impulse buying being the most common mistake. More here

Want to be an entrepreneur? Here’s why 2021 is a better year than 2020 to start a biz; The number of people around the world using the internet has grown to 4.54B in Jan 2020, an increase of 7% compared to Jan 2019; It has now become easier and more accessible for everyday people to start businesses such as e-commerce, virtual assistant work or coaching. More here

How can blockchain and other emerging technologies transform supply chains?; Blockchain adoption is slighted to dramatically improve the efficiency of cross-border transportation flows by democratising access to data and seamlessly connecting cross enterprise processes between different collaborating parties – essentially building a digital network of trust amongst stakeholders. More here

Is your product suffering from service design issues?; Service design is “the activity of planning and organising a business’s resources in order to directly improve the employee’s experience, and indirectly, the customer’s experience; The discord between product design and service design can lead to some baffling trends in user behaviours. More here

4 cloud and data trends to look for in 2021; Gartner is forecasting global public cloud revenue to grow by 19% from US$258M in 2020 to US$307M by 2021; Creating a cloud-based culture and democratising data will receive a lot of focus in 2021. More here

Grab releases statistics to boost Myanmar’s digital economy; Between March and November 2020, GrabFood’s daily order volume increased by approximately 470%; During the same period, GrabFood saw an 80% increase in the number of merchant-partners using the platform to serve their customers. More here

“Innovation can no longer be delayed”, says Connie Leung, Business Lead (Financial Services in Asia), Microsoft; There is a move toward a super-app for financial services, where customers can access multiple touchpoints across branch, call centre and mobile app services, for ease of access. More here

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Image Credit: Unsplash

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What a year this has been. 2020 forced us to think differently and allowed us to experiment with a lot of the ideas that have been on the back burner. It forced us to rethink our role in the regional tech ecosystem, and here are some of the details to how we changed how we worked during 2020.

Echelon 2020

One of the first things we did was to actively scrap Echelon 2020 from happening. This took everyone, internal and external, by surprise as everyone was expecting us to change Echelon to virtual event. However, we believed that due to reduced costs and complexity in running events, there would be a slew of high quality events happening globally, which was great for the ecosystem. Our efforts were better spent in activities that allowed us to make consistent and meaningful impact on a regular basis, hence the birth of e27 Pro Membership. Sometimes, you need to shift the entire company in direction, and that means giving up your past work to focus on future efforts.

Pro Membership

We were pumped, and really afraid, to launch e27 Pro Membership. The original plan, which got kicked in the nuts by COVID19, was to build the feature set for 6 months, and launch it all at Echelon with a bang. We now had to rethink building an MVP, where to focus our efforts on and how to go to market as quickly as possible. We nailed it to a few key area that the community needed help with the most:

• Saving costs on services, hence the launch of Perks
• Fundraising and access to investors, hence the launch of Connect and the improvements to our Investor database
• Better ways for Startups to showcase what they do, hence the improvements to the Startups database and profiles

It’s been quite ride, and we had the fortunate opportunity to work with hundreds of Startups and Investors who have signed up to Pro. The exciting part is that we can now make meaningful impact every day to the ecosystem, and not just wait for a 2 day period once a year.

Webinars, Connect Programs, Workshops and More

With the membership model came new ways to engage and interact with our community. We launched a slew of monthly webinars including Meet the VC series. We partnered with the Open Circles team to launch OC27, a webinar series featuring top speakers from around the world, including the Founder of Siri. We launched the Connect Program, where we matched Startups with Investors from around the region. We did this in different ways throughout the year, including a 2 week intensive Connect program. Now we do it in a more automated way, via the Connect buttons and early next year, we will be launching the Connect dashboard. It’s been pretty non-stop all year with activities and programs to better Connect and educate the ecosystem.

One of the highlights of what we do is that we are able to work with many different organizations that make an impact far beyond our reach and capabilities. Facebook was one of them, and we are thankful for the opportunity to partner with them for the Facebook Community Accelerator in 2020.

Facebook Community Accelerator

13 communities from a range of community efforts including LGBTQ to mental health awareness were part of this program. In a time like this, community organizations are more critical than ever. Members depend on them for support, and in some cases their livelihoods. Through our partnership with Facebook and various mentors, we were able to equip these communities with the tools to grow their communities and impact their members in more relevant ways. The 6 months program allowed them to think of news ways to serve their members, work out plans to these initiatives executed and milestones to keep the leadership members on track.

COVID support program

Finally, we understood first hand how the real the struggle was for Startups. At the end of March, just as different cities around the world were going into lockdown, we put in effort to promote Startups and share deals for companies to save costs on various services. We also shared various resources from VCs and the general community on business continuity planning activities, to guide Startups on how to evolve their working practices. We launched special webinars specific to COVID19 centric activities and even launched a category for COVID19 stories. It was a tough time for everyone, and we tried to play our part.

 

COVID19 has forced to rethink our way of doing things and reflect on our lives. It has been a stress-filled and challenging year, and a tragedy for too many people. However, it has also been a year of learning,  change, reflection and growth.

I am proud of the way the team at e27 has responded to the challenges we faced this year. We wish the same for all of you as 2020 comes to an end and we look forward optimistically to a better year ahead.

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Are venture capital investors turning to Artificial Intelligence to find and source deals?

As per a recent Crunchbase report, US-based VC firm SignalFire and European fund EQT Ventures have developed their own AI platforms to analyse and vet investment opportunities. EQT’s AI platform, called Motherbrain, was used to source its portfolio companies and played a role in more than US$100 million of its ~US$900 million total invested since its first fund opened in 2016.

No doubt, new-age technologies such as AI have conquered almost every industry in the world, and venture capital is no exception. The tech adoption has further accelerated thanks to the spread of COVID-19. As the virus mutates sending shockwaves in many parts of the world and making physical due diligence almost impossible, VCs turned to new ways to make sure the process goes uninterrupted.

But could AI be a game changer here? What will be its roles in the space? Is this going to be the future? Will more VCs come forward to adopt this technology in the coming years?

We threw these questions at several notable investors and industry veterans in South and Southeast Asia.

Also Read: What you need to know about Artificial Intelligence and its compliments to data science

Below are their edited comments.

Dave Ng, General Partner, Altara Ventures

AI and Machine Learning works well when you have high quality data set to operate with. And the larger and more relevant the data are, the better in terms of outcome you could get.

Think of data as being the fuel that powers AI, which is the engine. Hence, when the fuel is cleaner and high in quality, your engine will go faster.

In recent times, AI/ML has been applied in many fields, including investments. It works better in an environment where you have meaningful volume and veracity of information.

Naturally, this means more applications of AI/ML and data science in areas like public equities, hedge funds, quantitative strategies.

In the realm of venture capital, the notion of applying AI is no doubt attractive. However, the question is where could AI be truly impactful? Because within early stage venture investing, very often you are faced with incomplete information and even a lack of data.

Hence, to strictly or even heavily rely on AI for your decision making process would be a stretch. For that to happen, we would be talking about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which is the holy grail in the AI field.

Think of JARVIS in the Marvel superhero movie Ironman. But today, we are still quite some distance in getting there. This is why many would say venture investing is both art and science.

While you could crunch numbers and analyse operating metrics of a business with technology, you can’t read the founders’ behaviours and qualities using a machine — their characteristic, mood, attitude, ethics, level of grit, ability to persevere etc.

And better still, it often takes an experienced former entrepreneur and business builder to really empathise and grasp the nuances of another startup founder and her/his business.

Where I think AI/ML and Data Science could be helpful would be in a few key areas such as (1) top of the funnel sourcing, (2) market signals processing, (3) trends analysis & pattern matching, and to a certain extent, and (4) predictive extrapolation. And many of these are still predicated on how good your data set is. You can imagine this is harder to do in emerging markets and early ecosystems.

I think AI/ML and Data Science are already increasingly being applied in many fields, including investment. Hence, regardless of COVID-19, this is a trend that will continue to pick up. I really see them as being independent from the pandemic.

Also Read: Differences between AI and Machine Learning, and why it matters

At Altara Ventures, for example, we apply technology to many of our processes and activities. We take a data-driven approach to our investments and constantly fine-tune our tech stack to enable our venture activities.

Justin Nguyen, Partner, Monk’s Hill Ventures

As former tech entrepreneurs working among AI and now venture capitalists investing in AI, our natural inclination is to always be on the lookout for ways to apply technologies to improve the status quo.

We are constantly asking ourselves “How do we apply technology for an advantage in the investment process?”, with one simple goal in mind: let humans do the relationship and intuition parts and let’s see how far we can push computers to do the rest.

Perhaps the adoption of AI in investment will hasten a bit during COVID-19, but not significantly, especially among the early-stage funds. Somewhat ironically, tech VCs are sometimes some of the slowest to adopt technology in their own practice. This is possibly best exemplified by the sheer number of firms that run their deal sourcing and investment process with little more than a handful of Excel spreadsheets.

In fact, we find ourselves a bit of an outlier among our peers in Southeast Asia, having invested in systems and data analysts from the very beginning. And we’re already evolving — earlier this year, we overhauled our customer relationship management (CRM) system to help us pool our individual networks.

Our current system constantly analyses billions of data points to inspect, measure, and surface relationships in our network, giving everyone at the firm a 360 degrees view and a shared history of our collective Rolodex, eliminating the silos that were previously plaguing us.

There’s a lot more to be done and certainly ways to go to realize our goal of letting humans do the relationship and intuition parts and pushing computers do the rest, but we’re well on our way.

Edward Tay, CEO, Sistema Asia Capital

AI has a phenomenal role to play in VC and private equity, albeit to different degrees. In terms of sourcing, VCs have much to gain from tapping on domain knowledge from seasoned in-house practitioners, such as Sistema, which has been investing since 1993.

Also Read: Demystifying artificial intelligence: Breaking down common AI myths

Key advantages are to reduce the work and headcount and increase the ability to curate higher quality of startups across cyclical business cycles as it removes innate human elements.

In terms of portfolio management, it improves the portfolio management efficiency and speed as it automates and focuses valuable management energies onto resolving key issues residing within the portfolios, and also the optimum time for exit, as the startups navigate the ups and downs in the post covid world.

This subtle advantage is further amplified for bigger funds that operate across different territories and countries. Sistema has fund management experiences and portfolios across major economies globally.

Compliance will be key as we will still need high calibre professionals and employees to ensure that results are consistent in quality of data sets, and ensure proper processes are in place for the extraction of such data — many of which are proprietary in nature to the organisation.

James Lee, Managing Director, Vertex Growth Fund

With the increasing availability of data — private market data and alternative data stream — there is a growing potential to leverage AI to derive signals and patterns that can inform and complement investment decisions.

At Vertex, we built an internal platform that supports our deal sourcing efforts as well as business development and cross-border partnerships between our portfolio companies and strategic corporates.

From our experience, the challenge has shifted from availability of data and AI tools to identifying the most relevant business challenge statement. With AI, this has become more streamlined and efficient, therefore helping us better identify investment opportunities.

In the near term, we see AI being a powerful decision support tool as part of our investment process. The ability to find patterns in the data universe to signal promising companies or emergent sector trends can help with deal sourcing. Graphs and data analysis can also be applied to portfolio value creation use cases.

Also Read: Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Is the technology only as good as the human behind it?

We are not yet concerned that AI will replace human investment professionals, but recognise that it can be a great complement to the investment decision making process.

The acceleration of digital adoption by both individuals and enterprises due to COVID-19 will only further expand the data universe and increase the scope for AI application. AI adoption will naturally become increasingly common in the industry as it becomes an indispensable tool and a competitive advantage for firms.

Nitin Sharma, Founder of FirstPrinciples VC

Quantitative VC has been talked about for over a decade; firms like Correlation Ventures, Google Ventures and Social Capital were part of the first wave of funds using data science to track myriad of data sources and pick investments.

There are now many more funds building internal data teams and tools, and using AI to guide not only sourcing and tracking of new startups, but also diligence and post-investment support as well.

However, this is still a phenomenon primarily restricted to a subset of firms, and only in certain very dense and mature ecosystems where VCs are competing for any small advantage in deal flow. When it comes to India or SEA, I am not sure many investors are relying on advanced data signals yet.

VC, especially here, is still very much a people business driven by intuition and relationships. In the COVID-19 world, VCs everywhere have become used to completing the deal cycle online, and the trend towards applying AI in investing decisions has probably accelerated.

Also, certain types of financing decisions, such as ARR-based SaaS financing, can be more easily automated and linked to metrics.

Overall, however, early-stage equity investing will always have an element of subjective judgment (storytelling, founder chemistry, grit, etc.) that can’t be quantified.

Doing quantitative VC right also requires a serious investment of time and talent, which most VCs in the region are not ready for.

Wing Vasiksiri, Managing Partner, iSeed SEA

I’m a big believer in AI helping VCs in the sourcing process but am less optimistic about AI helping VCs in the picking process.

In the sourcing process, there are several ways this can be streamlined especially if a VC has a specific thesis they are looking to invest in.

For example, if I have a thesis around a specific type of founder with a certain background, I could build a software layer on top of this to source them.

Also Read: Will China lead the Artificial Intelligence game by 2030?

However, I believe that the picking process is very human and is not scalable through software. For us, picking great founders means getting to know them on a human/personal level and this can’t be done through software — we’re making bets on people rather than products and companies.

COVID-19 has increased the adoption of software tools globally. However, unless a fund has been software and AI first from the start I think it is unlikely that COVID-19 has accelerated the use of AI in investments.

During uncertain times, humans tend to become risk-averse and resort to what they know and what has worked in the past, rather than seek a new investment and deployment strategy.

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In the past years, we were always able to take a glimpse of the next year based on the events that happened on Q3 and Q4. For example, in 2019, we predicted that more startup founders are going to be involved in politics and governance (though it ended in an interesting plot twist) and that there will be greater scrutiny on later-stage companies.

This year, the pandemic dominates the conversation as it affects almost every single aspect of our life. In an unprecedented level, it has impacted various industries from travel and tourism to healthcare. Across the region, both startups and investors found themselves adapting to changes and seizing new opportunities.

But is the pandemic the only thing left to talk about? Is there anything in the startup ecosystem that is not directly affected by it –because life goes on anyway?

We believe so. This year, we are back with another prediction on the key events of 2020 –that are not directly related to the pandemic– that are set to shape the SEA startup ecosystem in 2021.

We identify four major trends that are worth noting about the ecosystem.

Also Read: Whoever wins the US election, the true winner will be the Southeast Asian tech startup ecosystem

The rise of SPAC as an alternative route to public listing

One of the highlights of 2020 was the IPO of Bridgetown Holdings. What set this moment apart from the rest is the fact that the Peter Thiel-backed company is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) –a company with no commercial operations that is formed strictly to raise capital through an IPO to acquire an existing company, according to Investopedia.

In an interview with e27, industry players predicted that SPAC will be a popular alternative for regional tech startups to get listed. The advantages of SPAC –as compared to the other alternatives– include its speed and liquidity for both investors and founders.

And they were right. Just this month, Indonesian unicorns Tokopedia and Traveloka had expressed their interests in getting listed through the SPAC route.

Our prediction is that, beyond these two companies, in 2021 we will see at least one more regional unicorns considering the route as part of their exit. Considering the popularity and reputation of both Traveloka and Tokopedia, and how they are often being touted as success stories from the Indonesian market, whatever moves that they are making will draw attention from the public. It will eventually lead to other companies seeing this as a good move –and copying it.

Digital banking is finally happening

One might argue that the pandemic has helped accelerate the adoption of fintech services such as e-payment. But the seed has been sown since the previous years when we noticed progress even in cash-heavy markets such as Indonesia; the pandemic has provided momentum for digital banking to secure its place.

Also Read: What makes Hong Kong the fastest growing startup ecosystem in Asia?

In 2019, Singapore announced the issuance of digital bank licenses which resulted with Grab, Sea, and Ant Group being announced as some of the companies to have secured the licenses. While these services will only start operating in early 2022, we can expect to see more actions from the sector in 2021.

The good news is that Singapore is not alone in this.

Earlier this month, Indonesian unicorn gojek announced an investment in Bank Jago as part of its foray into the fintech sector. Speculation about the unicorn’s foray into digital banking had circulated in 2019 when gojek investor Patrick Walujo bought a stake in Bank Jago.

In November, the Philippine central bank approved rules that will allow the creation and licensing of digital banks which central bank governor Benjamin Diokno dubbed as “additional partners” in promoting market efficiencies and financial inclusion, according to Reuters.

Digging into deep tech

Fintech and e-commerce will continue to dominate startup investment in the SEA region, but there will greater attention towards innovation that comes out of research and development in universities –deep tech.

By far, in SEA, Singapore seems to be the market that is more prepared than the rest to support a deep tech startup ecosystem. In addition to financial support, the government has also recently introduced the Tech.Pass as part of its effort to attract talent into the country.

Does that mean that Singapore will be the only SEA country to shine in this sector?

While the other countries might have plenty to catch up with, it does not mean that they are going to start from zero. In Indonesia, deep tech startups such as Nusantics had secured seed funding round this year, and the country has also seen the launch of its first deep tech accelerator as early as 2009.

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

Computer, show me which startup to invest next

Fundraising remains an activity that is relying on the power of networking. However, in 2021, we will get to see more investors relying on the help of technology to seek potential investments.

One of the venture capital (VC) firms that have already implemented this approach is Rocketship VC. Despite being based in Silicon Valley, the firm was able to expand its portfolio to various regions around the world thanks to its heavy use of data.

Even if the pandemic does not happen, there is already a need for global investors to expand its reach beyond its own home market as the world becomes more connected. In addition to that, as China and the US become more mature as a startup ecosystem, investors will look for fresh opportunities in emerging market. The use of data and artificial intelligence will enable a more seamless process.

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The number of times I come across mentions of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) has dramatically increased and became ubiquitous in both brick and mortar businesses and the digital landscape in the last six months. The BNPL concept is based on good repayment behaviour in exchange for affordable purchases through flexible payment plans. The market value of BNPL platforms such as Klarna, Afterpay, and Sezzle is projected to rise globally at a CAGR of 21.2 per cent by 2027.

A little bit of context for Southeast Asia. Out of the over 670 million people in the region, only 27 per cent of the population have bank accounts. This sizable gap in banking penetration results in approximately 438 million unbanked individuals with no bank account, credit or debit card or access to lines of credit.

In parallel, there has been a shifting trend away from bank accounts and credit cards to services such as BNPL, especially in younger consumers, due to debt aversion and ease of use.

The concept of BNPL itself is not new yet it is becoming increasingly popular due to a combination of factors. These include changes in human behaviour caused by COVID-19-imposed restrictions; we have more spare time but are unable to go out shopping which we compensate by shopping online.

In principle, there are two main behavioural and psychological factors that drive BNPL: Loss aversion and present bias.

Also Read: Buy now, pay later: The changing face of finance for a mobile generation

Loss aversion

Research has found that spending money triggers areas of the brain associated with pain and disgust and that different forms of payment trigger different levels of discomfort. The pain of making a payment depends on the amount to be paid and on the method by which payment is made. Consumers who paid by credit cards rather than cash seem to experience less of a pain and hence were more willing to incur a given expense. As cash represents a physical representation of value, we feel more pain as people literally see themselves losing money.

Credit cards can be considered a prototype to BNPL as they use the same premise, albeit the only difference is paying the total price at a later date. Paying with credit cards provides a smooth transactional process, essentially decoupling the pain of losing their money in exchange for a product as there is no real money counting/giving process. An MIT study looking at purchasing tickets to a basketball game found that card-paying students were willing to pay twice as much as cash-paying students. Payment via credit cards is perceived as parting with a lower monetary value.

In both cases, the pain is linked to loss aversion, which is the tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring equivalent gains. E-commerce companies are particularly adept at this, and constantly create urgency, offer deadlines for discounts and other ways of creating a psychological phenomenon of FOMO.

Also Read: ASX-listed Afterpay acquires EmpatKali to take its ‘buy-now, pay-later’ biz to SEA

In brief, we are built to avoid pain by all means, which, in our daily lives, is a recurrent phenomenon every time we pay via cash or credit cards. Perception of payment sometime later feels less painful.

Present bias

We humans are built to be focused/biased in present. We value US$100 more today then tomorrow, less the day after and even less in future. In other words, present bias represents that fact that people place a greater value on goods/income achieved in the present moment – rather than receiving the same goods/income in the future. It suggests given a choice between a payoff today and a payoff in the future, we will choose to have it now.

The timing of payments impacts the perceived value of a product. For example, people that pay for gym memberships monthly are more likely to exercise and renew their memberships compared to those that pay annually. These services provide a balance between pain and the perceived value/connection to the product. The focus shifts towards paying in future via smaller instalments, which are perceived as appealing and more affordable. As a result of tangible cash being abstracted away from us, it is harder to resist our impulse not to shop/consume via BNPL.

Also Read: 500 Startups invests in buy-now-pay-later services startup Split

The BNPL business model is heavily relying on payment in future in various industries. Flexible options from ‘buy now, stay later‘ hotelier packages supporting Asian tourism, to car manufacturers’ deferred payment plans for boosting car sales, all the way to ‘fly now, pay later‘ air travel are increasingly popular.

You may ask what is the result of these two phenomena combined? Studies show that tourists (and pretty much any anyone) with high loss aversion and high present bias are more likely to overspend.

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