2021

The Business Times

Maritime companies constantly think of ways to reduce their hefty fuel costs. It’s a complex matter — fuel consumption is affected by weather, the route, vessel age, the cargo, and how well the hull is maintained.

Yet, technology could make this issue one of the lowest hanging fruits in a list of problems to solve.

As the maritime sector grapples with inefficiencies, the potential for innovation is enough to nudge a 55-year-old Singapore-based shipping group into the world of startup investments.

IMC Group, founded by late shipping magnate Frank Tsao, has launched a corporate venture capital (VC) arm under its maritime and logistics unit.

IMC Ventures will invest in pre-Series A and Series B startups with a focus on environmental sustainability and social impact.

Startups will get access to IMC’s network of clients and operational expertise, said Mr Ong, who was previously partner at supply chain company YCH Group’s corporate venture arm.

IMC Ventures has also invested in global VC iGlobe Partners and Singapore-based Quest Ventures to increase its tech exposure. It is currently doing due diligence on a US-based fund.

The venture arm will focus on technology in the key areas of data analytics, green shipping, capacity and route optimisation, and cost savings and vessel performance.

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zakon.kz

В прошлом году в Казахстане начала работу программа Kazakhstan Digital Accelerator (KDA), нацеленная на всестороннюю поддержку и развитие отечественных стартапов в сфере компьютерных технологий. Ее запуск явился плодом совместных усилий холдинга “Байтерек” (в лице дочерней организации АО “QazTech Ventures”) и сингапурского фонда “Quest Ventures”.

Управляющий директор АО “НУХ “Байтерек” Адиль Нургожин рассказал порталу zakon.kz о полученных результатах, наиболее многообещающих проектах и дальнейших планах в этом направлении.

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Tech in Asia

What do companies like ShopBack, PatSnap, Carousell, and 99.co have in common?

Beyond the fact that they were founded by fresh graduates, all three startups were launched by members of the 3,400-strong alumni network of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Overseas Colleges program.

The program, known as NOC for short, dates back to 2002 when its first batch of students were sent to Silicon Valley. NOC, which has been a foundational experience and source of support for many of Singapore’s leading startup founders, was designed to expose NUS students to entrepreneurship via full-time internships with startups around the world.

Some NOC alumni have gone on to hold key positions in startup enablers. These include Durwin Ho, CEO and co-founder of innovation consultancy firm StartupX, Goh Yiping, serial entrepreneur turned-VC at Quest Ventures, as well as MDI Ventures’ investment director Shannon Lee Chaluangco. Tapping on seniors from both sides of the table gives NOC alumni-founded startups a leg up over the competition.

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Asia Startup Pulse

In this episode, we talk about all the business fundamentals of building a marketplace: from the advantages and challenges of building a marketplace to how to manage or control it, to the importance of timing in expanding to multiple markets. As someone who has built a successful e-commerce marketplace himself and invested in several more, James also shares the most innovative marketplace models in the market and how he believes the business model can be innovated. For early-stage VCs, the due diligence process tends to be more focused on the founders than businesses, he said, and added that he would focus on signs of grit, fund-raising charisma and the individual’s networks as part of his assessment.

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8视界

八名本地年轻企业家获颁全国青年企业家奖，以表彰他们在各自领域的卓越表现。

这个由创业行动社群（Action Community for Entrepreneurship，ACE）联同*SCAPE和EDGE协办的《2021年全国青年创业奖》，主要表彰在过去一年来表现卓越的企业家。过去一年多来，全球受到2019冠状病毒疫情影响，因此本届的奖项着重在疫情下，能透过创新解决方案面对挑战的青年企业家。

颁奖典礼在今天（14日）于新加坡知新馆举行，贸工部兼文化、社区及青年部政务部长刘燕玲也受邀担任颁奖嘉宾。创业行动社群主席James Tan颁奖予其中一名得奖者。

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The Straits Times

Local entrepreneur Harsh Dalal claimed to run a US$25 million (S$33 million) tech start-up and was one of the honorees of Forbes’ annual 30 Under 30 Asia list in 2021.

But less than a month after being named on the list of 300 entrepreneurs, the 19-year-old co-founder and chief executive of Singapore-based Team Labs has been removed amid reports that some of his previous claims cannot be verified.

On Wednesday (May 12), Forbes Asia editor Justin Doebele said in an article that the publication was removing Mr Dalal from its 30 Under 30 Asia list for 2021.

“His removal comes after a careful consideration of the findings of a comprehensive review of the information that was used to qualify him for the list, as well as new information that has come to light in recent days,” he wrote, adding that Forbes has also taken significant steps to tighten its evaluation process.

Quest Ventures partner Jeffrey Seah noted that Mr Dalal has demonstrated intelligence and eloquence beyond most peers his age, and perhaps these skills could have been used for more purposeful endeavours.

Forbes perhaps did not have sufficient resources to do full due diligence checks on each of the 30 Under 30 Asia submissions, but Mr Seah acknowledged that there are many strong entrepreneurs among the list’s alumni.

For early-stage VCs, the due diligence process tends to be more focused on the founders than businesses, he said, and added that he would focus on signs of grit, fund-raising charisma and the individual’s networks as part of his assessment.

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PYMNTS

GajiGesa, an Indonesian FinTech serving the country’s vast population of underbanked workers, has added new investors that will provide funds for adding services and customers, TechCrunch reported, attributing the information to the company.

The outlet didn’t provide an amount for the new funding, which reportedly came from OCBC NISP Ventura and the founders of the coffee chain Kopi Kenangan. OCBC is tied to a major bank in Indonesia. The founders of Kopi Kenangan reportedly have become prolific angel investors.

GajiGesa Indonesia, which describes itself on its LinkedIn page as “the financial wellness platform helping millions of Indonesians achieve financial dignity and security from their work,” announced the new funding on the same social media platform.

“We’re excited to accelerate our mission to expand financial resilience beyond big enterprise to digitally empower millions of micro-entrepreneurs and small business owners,” the company’s post stated. “Indonesia’s (medium and small enterprises) remain chronically underserved and need digital solutions to manage their workforce.”

GajiGesa was founded in 2020 by Agawarl and his wife, Martyna Malinowska. The company announced earlier this year that it had landed $2.5 million in seed-round funding from investors, including Defy.vc, Quest Ventures, GK-Plug and Play Indonesia, Next Billion Ventures, Alto Partners and Kanmo Group.

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MrWeb

Indonesia-based consumer insights provider Populix has raised $1.2m in a pre-Series A round of funding, which it will use to roll out new products and expand its marketing efforts.

Founded in 2018 by CEO Timothy Astandu and COO Eileen Kamtawijoyo, Populix offers a platform to help businesses connect with respondents and better understand consumer preferences in Indonesia, as well as subscription-based services for brand health tracking and product launch perception auditing. The firm also sells in-house research and datasets to clients.

New funding has been led by existing investor Intudo Ventures, with participation from Quest Ventures and a number of other investors, and adds to the $1m seed financing raised in 2019. Jeff Seah, Partner at Quest Ventures, comments: ‘Southeast Asia is fast fulfilling its potential as the epicentre of global economic growth with Indonesia as the foremost market. We see that Populix has incisively deployed technology to modernise the old ‘market research’ service’.

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KrASIA

COVID-19 made 2020 a difficult year for most economies around the world. Vietnam, however, has managed to pull through with positive developments. Despite many challenges, its GDP has grown over the first quarter of 2021, ending with a year-on-year 4.48% increase.

The Vietnam Global Innovation (VGI) program, powered by Quest Ventures, recently completed its four-week cohort program at the end of March, which focused on providing knowledge and valuable connections to Singaporean startups looking to expand their reach into Vietnam using a mix of in-person and online sessions.

After successfully running its first cohort last year, the 2021 edition has allowed founders from ten startups to learn new insights and also receive feedback on aspects such as their business models and market entry strategies.

Below are the startups that participated:

1. Aespada Technologies: Aespada’s platform allows construction businesses to book heavy vehicles for the delivery of materials to construction sites. VGI provided co-founder Jean Christophe Li with some useful advice on market entry into Vietnam. “Ensure that you have a local presence, or a local Vietnamese agent who can bridge the gap much faster. Entering Vietnam will take a lot of resources and time, so ensure that the startup can dedicate sufficient time into the expansion,” said Li.
2. Edsy Bitsy: Online platform Edsy Bitsy transforms written content into watchable videos, transforming long pieces of texts into smaller consumable watchable formats. Co-founder Deevak Premdas shared his plans for the startup in Vietnam over the coming months. “We will continue the development of the first version of our product, which we aim to complete by June. In the meantime, the non-profit in Vietnam I have spoken to is interested in running our pilot program for their summer school in June. As Vietnam has a booming after-school tutoring industry, Edsy Bitsy aims to reach out to these businesses to onboard them as our early adopters,” said Premdas.
3. Fundigo: Crowdfunding and event listing platform Fundigo focuses on impact-driven businesses. The firm aims to allow these types of companies to raise capital and gain exposure to investors that are looking to work with those with social impact values. Vietnam presents a great opportunity for Fundigo, said founder and CEO Andrew Soh. “Vietnam is a growing market for impact businesses. After seeking advice from mentors during VGI and research, we know that it is a market where a lot of Gen-Z and millennials are starting their own impact businesses,” Soh said.
4. Gmeal: The company runs a platform that allows corporate social responsible (CSR) sponsors to contribute meals and essential services to underprivileged communities. Its marketplace uses the concept of pay-it-forward to connect merchants with sponsors and provide those in need a helping hand. Director Bernice Tan sees Vietnam as a fantastic market for social impact work. “Vietnam has become one of the most dynamic impact investing markets in Southeast Asia. Foreign enterprises lead in strategic CSR, the government has embarked on mainstreaming green finance, and local governments have good initiatives for developing social impact goals,” said Tan.
5. Hireplace: Networking platform Hireplace connects employers with potential hires. The firm also manages speed interview events to allow talents and those looking to hire to connect. Customer success manager Cherilyn Low found the masterclass lessons valuable to understand the market better. “We learned that Vietnam has developed into one of the leading startup hubs in the SEA region. The government supports the digital transformation initiative, which has attracted lots of startups and multinational firms to set up offices there,” said Low. “In addition to this, we’ve seen a growing number of interest in tech-related roles. People are quite open to working at international startups. From the information shared by the speakers, we gained a deeper understanding of the local working culture. It helps us understand the local recruitment market’s needs, develop a suitable entry strategy, and develop a series of virtual speed hiring events to help other startups hire the right talents,” Low said.
6. Hydroleap: The company provides a chemical-free and cost-efficient water treatment solution based on electrical charge (electrocoagulation) to remove solids. For Wai Jun Mak, head of strategy and finance, the biggest insight the team learned from the program was a better understanding of the local regulatory landscape. “It is important to know and understand the business dynamics of how the industry actually works. In our case, we found that despite good regulations, water industry laws may not always be enforced on the ground. Despite this, there are major companies and industrial parks that continue to invest in good water treatment technologies to ensure that the surrounding environment is clean,” Mak said.
7. Nabcore: Brand protection and tracking product platform Nabcore assists brands with tracking supply chain movements of goods and physical authentication of products. When asked about the startup’s plans for Vietnam over the next coming months, director of business development Guankai Ng explained that “our plan is to collaborate with potential local partners to provide suitable brand protection solutions for brand owners and organizations in Vietnam. Subsequently, as projects in Vietnam get firmed up, we will establish a presence there to support the partners.”
8. Nino News: Subscription-based content streaming provider Nino News provides news content to assist educators when teaching preschool students. The co-founding team made up of Jenine Koh, Sienny Septibella, and Stacy Goh hopes to make news more accessible and fun for young children while giving them another way to absorb knowledge outside the classroom.
9. SWAT Mobility: Mobility solution provider Swat Mobility provides a range of ride-sharing services that can be customized on-demand, based on users’ needs and preferences. The startup aims to improve traffic flow and reduce transportation costs with its technology. When asked about the biggest takeaway from the VGI program, regional director of marketing Annie Ong commented that “with a fast-growing smartphone penetration rate and a young workforce, the Vietnam market has a huge potential for disruption with mobile applications. Together with the Vietnam government’s National Digital Transformation program, there would be opportunities to help businesses digitalize their current processes. However, the technology that is implemented must be adapted to local taste and preferences to ensure long-term adoption and use.”
10. Tanalink: Crop management platform Tanalink uses IoT technology, sensors, and data loggers to help planters monitor the number of plants harvested and areas covered. The company aims to reduce crop loss, improve efficiency, and harvest yield. CEO Patrick Martinent was excited at the prospect of entering Vietnam. “Vietnam provides a wonderful sandbox to both validate and grow the business. First, the tech ecosystem is thriving and the talent is world-class. Second, the country’s agriculture sector is ripe for disruption and innovation,” he said.

To register interest in the VGI cohort with Quest Ventures, click here.

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e27

Populix, an Indonesia-based consumer insights platform, announced today that it has raised US$1.2 million in a pre-Series A financing, led by existing investor Intudo Ventures.

Quest Ventures and a number of other strategic investors also joined the round.

“As we roll out new products and services, Populix will be able to more accurately capture the pulse of market dynamics and create significant value for our clients. In the future, Populix will introduce even more sophisticated services for our major clients that address targeted needs while continuing to refine our mass-market offerings to open the door for more people to gain access to consumer insights products,” said Timothy Astandu, co-founder of Populix.

“Southeast Asia is fast fulfilling its potential as the epicentre of global economic growth with Indonesia as the foremost market. As global and regional brands pour resources into the region, ensnaring the growth dividend lies in sense-making the disparate markets ahead of the competition. We see that Populix has incisively deployed technology to modernise the old ‘market research’ service,” said Jeff Seah, Partner at Quest Ventures.

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