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联合早报

商会是各行业的领头羊，在企业转型的道路上，商会扮演了重要的角色。“一道来谈”栏目邀请积极转型的本地商会和会员，让他们一道分享转型的心路历程。

本期打头阵是创办于2003年的创业行动社群（Action Community for Entrepreneurship，简称ACE），与传统商会不同的是，ACE不局限于任何行业、主要面向本地起步公司，致力于在我国营造充满活力的创业生态环境，助本地创业者一臂之力。

早前由政府和私人企业家共同领导的创业行动社群（Action Community for Entrepreneurship，简称ACE），近20年来最大改变是在2014年走向私营化，转身变成非盈利的私有化公司。

ACE主席兼求索创投（Quest Ventures）合伙人陈中（46岁）接受《联合早报》访问时说，创业生态系统要取得成功须有五大关键支柱，除了起步公司之外，还要公共部门、高等教育机构、企业，以及风险资本之间相互配合。

统计局2019年数据显示，我国有3600家起步公司，聘用约1万8000名员工，且深耕不同领域，包括消费、金融、教育和医疗等。此外，本地也有150家创投公司和100个孵化公司与机构。

自2011年便加入ACE的陈中，曾担任董事会成员和副主席，去年正式升任主席，亲眼见证本地创业生态发展。他指出，冠病疫情来袭为起步公司带来机遇及挑战，有些因此被淘汰，不过有些却蓬勃发展，例如远程教育、医疗科技等。

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SCMP

Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC emerged as the most active state-owned investor in the world last year, outranking larger state funds from China, Norway and Japan, as other investors downshifted amid the volatility brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a report by independent data and analysis platform Global SWF comparing the activities of 438 state-owned investors, GIC, the 10th-largest state fund worldwide, deployed US$17.7 billion into 65 deals – down slightly from US$24 billion in 2019.

James Tan, managing partner of Quest Ventures, said the success of Singapore’s state-owned investors was evident, pointing to how net investment returns were the largest contributor to Singapore’s government revenues, overtaking corporate and personal income taxes, as well as the goods and services tax.

Tan added that the sectors of interest in the past year were all geared towards how governments could better respond to future pandemics. Covid-19, he said, has raised the issue of how to safeguard basic needs and capabilities, ranging from productivity to education to food and health care systems.

“Considering the mandate of sovereign wealth funds in general, which is to make long-term generational investments that secure the country’s financial future, it makes sense that these investments point towards innovation that secures the future in other ways as well,” he said.

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Marketing Magazine

Jeffrey Seah, partner at Quest Ventures, said the advertising and marketing industries are traditionally organised by geography for decision-making and budget allocation. Ecosystem partnerships across geography markets have been entered into by multinational companies and regional brands, but traction of joint business plans (JBP) are often not uniform outside of host market. A Gojek-Tokopedia merger will allow marketers to enter into JBPs for the Indonesian market at the levels of Google or Facebook, which Seah said is “a scale unseen before in the marketing and data world”.

“The economic and ecosystem value realisation for a Gojek-Tokopedia merger will be more than the sum-of-the-parts approach, and concurrently provide a stronger pedestal ramp for future Indonesian ecosystem-originate maturing tech companies to exit,” he explained.

On the surface, both companies seem like a good fit for Gojek given their prominence in the industry. However, our experts say a Gojek-Tokopedia would make more sense. According to Quest Ventures’ Seah, a Gojek-Tokopedia merger will “reinforce Indonesia’s Pancasila state ideology” formulated by former President Sukarno. Pancasila comprises principles which include the unity of Indonesia and the idea of being governed by wise policies. According to Seah, a merger between the two Indonesian companies will been seen as the pride of an Indonesian government-led company driving an independent Indonesia economy.

“From an ecosystem development and start-up talent pride angle, Gojek-Tokopedia will be more welcomed and preferred for the vast and expansive Indonesian ecosystem. From a nationalistic angle, these two companies have rejuvenated the Indonesian formal employment market, raised access consumption, and brought about green shoots in the diversification of the Indonesian economy away from natural resources,” Seah explained. Compared to a merger with Grab, or as what Grab CEO Anthony Tan terms an “acquisition” in his internal note to employees, Seah said the cultural fit and speed of integration “will definitely be more frictionless” between Gojek and Tokopedia.

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KrASIA

Quest Venture has since made its foray into Kazakhstan, the largest economy in Central Asia. In June, it kicked off an accelerator program in Kazakhstan to dive into the landlocked country’s growing tech ecosystem and connect local startups to the global market. Quest Ventures recently led a USD 750,000 funding round in Kazakhstan-based HR tech platform Clockster, a cloud-based system to coordinate employees’ work schedules across different time zones.

“After nine months of COVID-19 and with the vaccine coming soon, the learning phase for the world will go on for the next one and a half year. Big corporate companies that have survived the pandemic will acquire aggressively, because those who have money will buy everything. I would bet that companies able to survive are the ones equipped with good technology.

Meanwhile, there will be a lot of corporate guys trying to build new capabilities. This will be the best time to acquire new capabilities, or even talents. You could get a bunch of talents with a fairer price compared to a year ago, so there’ll be a lot of streamlining and equity acquisitions, which also mean that startups’ founders will level up and raise the quality of their people. COVID is a period of market validation for startups’ business models. It makes it easier for VCs like us to assess their go-to-market viability. They will be able to maintain their valuations if they thrive during this period. We look to invest in such businesses.”

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Forbes

Крупнейший технопарк IT-стартапов Центральной Азии Astana Hub объявил ТОП-10 лучших казахстанских IT-компаний и стартапов 2020 года. Рейтинг лучших IT-стартапов – ежегодный общенациональный список лучших казахстанских IT-стартапов, разрабатывающих инновационные и технологические продукты и услуги и решающих важные проблемные вопросы на рынке, передает РИА Новости.

Рейтинг позволяет определить успешных игроков среди отечественных IT-стартапов на рынке, стимулировать развитие IT-предпринимательства и обозначить вектор развития инноваций в Казахстане.

Список лучших стартапов:

Cerebra – система позволяющая по снимкам компьютерной томографии на ранних стадиях выявлять степень инсульта у человека с использованием системы искусственного интеллекта;

Clockster – HR для микро, малого и среднего бизнесов, помогает клиентам улучшить дисциплину, сократить упущенную выгоду, автоматизировать создание рабочих расписаний и улучшить внутренние коммуникации.

OKOO – образовательная онлайн-платформа для школ, которая помогает учителям лучше проводить уроки информатики, а для детей – сделать процесс обучения интересным;

Campeat – маркетинговая платформа на основе искусственного интеллекта для предприятий, позволяющая привлекать почасовой трафик в непиковые часы и увеличивать продажи в магазинах;

Жюри конкурса выступили известные IT-предприниматели, венчурные инвесторы и бизнес-ангелы: Ольга Афанасьева (UVCA), Мурат Абдрахманов, Ануар Сейфуллин (Quest Ventures), Санжар Сулейманов (Tech Garden Ventures), Арташес Григорьян (Centras Ventures), Мират Ахметсадыков (MOST Ventures), Серик Шакарим (Seedstars Kazakhstan), Тарас Волобуев (AIFC Fintech), Диас Кажахметов (QazTech Ventures).

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Kazinform

НУР-СУЛТАН. КАЗИНФОРМ – Крупнейший технопарк IT-стартапов Центральной Азии Astana Hub объявил ТОП-10 лучших казахстанских IT-компаний и стартапов 2020 года. Рейтинг лучших IT-стартапов – ежегодный общенациональный список лучших казахстанских IT-стартапов, разрабатывающих инновационные и технологические продукты и услуги и решающих важные проблемные вопросы на рынке.

Жюри конкурса выступили известные IT-предприниматели, венчурные инвесторы и бизнес-ангелы: Ольга Афанасьева (UVCA), Мурат Абдрахманов, Ануар Сейфуллин (Quest Ventures), Санжар Сулейманов (Tech Garden Ventures), Арташес Григорьян (Centras Ventures), Мират Ахметсадыков (MOST Ventures), Серик Шакарим (Seedstars Kazakhstan), Тарас Волобуев (AIFC Fintech), Диас Кажахметов (QazTech Ventures).

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Lianhe Zaobao

30多年前，蔡财宝远赴英国伦敦学习当船运经纪时，发现这些项目主要是西方人的“游戏”。他心中有个疑问：“为什么亚洲人不能主导呢？”当时在本地一家小型船运经纪公司工作的他，于是立志要当亚洲船运经纪领域的龙头。

为了推动数码化，蔡财宝与本地风险创投公司求索创投（Quest Ventures）合作，投资船运业起步公司。他说，很多船运起步公司无法获得很好的资源，因为投资界并不了解这个领域。

新加坡企业发展局（ESG）也发现了这点，去年透过SEEDS Capital与新加坡海事及港务管理局推出了联合投资伙伴招标，投资海事业起步公司，今年委任了六家投资合作伙伴。船狂是其中唯一的小型公司，和求索创投联手设立了1000万元的海运基金，投资起步公司。

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Rusbase

Clockster представляет собой платформу для автоматизации учета рабочего времени сотрудников для малого и среднего бизнеса. По данным Clockster, сервис сокращает упущенную прибыль на 10-15%, повышает эффективность сотрудников на 20%, сокращает затраты на управление корпоративным расписанием и приводит в порядок документацию.

«У платформы есть потенциал для рынка нашей страны, помимо инвестиций мы предоставили экспертизу и нетворк для масштабирования в России. По исследованию Deloitte Consulting, 67% российских компаний подтверждают: на рынке отсутствуют системы сбора и обработки данных о сотрудниках», — пояснила управляющий партнер HR&ED-tech Оксана Погодаева.

Стартап Clockster был запущен в 2018 году. За это время он привлек $100 тысяч от частного инвестора, $240 тысяч от казахстанского венчурного фонда ABC-I2BF Seed Fund и бизнес-ангела Олжаса Жиенкулова, сооснователя и директора сингапурского фонда Paladigm Capital.

Полученные в текущем раунде инвестиции компания планирует направить на масштабирование бизнеса в Юго-Восточной Азии и СНГ, R&D и маркетинг.

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DealStreetAsia

HR tech platform Clockster has secured an investment of $750,000 in a financing round led by Singapore-based venture capital firm Quest Ventures.

Other participants in the funding round include accelerator HR&ED-tech, ABC-I2BF Seed Fund and Paladigm Capital CEO Olzhas Zhiyenkulov, according to a press statement from Clockster. Singapore-based Clockster, 85 per cent of whose clients are in Kazakhstan, provides simple, easy-to-use time tracking application for employees, helping enterprises to automate their business routines and save time, its website showed.

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TechNode Global

HRTech startup Clockster raised a $750,000 Series A funding round led by Quest Ventures, a noted investment firm anchored by sovereign wealth funds QazTech Ventures in Kazakhstan and Pavilion Capital in Singapore.

Oksana Pogodaeva, Managing Partner at HR&ED-Tech Accelerator, expressed confidence in the future of the company, saying that “Clockster is about to fly.” Pogodaeva took note of how the company has shown visible traction with the first clients in the Asia-Pacific market. “They’re also good at solving market problems: according to the latest HR research done by Deloitte Consulting, 67 percent of surveyed companies point out the lack of systems for collecting and processing data in that sphere. And 88 percent of respondents say that investments in HR automation have paid off,” the HR&ED managing partner added.

Diaz Beksoltan, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of QazTech Ventures similarly expressed high hopes for the future of Clockster. “My best wishes to the Clockster team as they scale into new markets. We eagerly await their transformation from an Astana startup into a full-fledged multi-market “unicorn” business,” Beksoltan enthused.

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