In addition to the funding news, we also have updates on Thai e-commerce and Indonesian P2P lending sectors
Indonesian instant messaging platform Oy! raises pre-Series A
Indonesian instant messaging platform Oy! announced that it has raised an undisclosed pre-Series A funding round led by Syailendra Asia on its soft-launching event on Wednesday, according to DailySocial.
The startup will use the funding for talent acquisition, particularly in its engineering team, as well as to launch its e-payment system in November.
Modeled after WeChat and LINE, Oy! is an instant messaging platform that connects users to various businesses such as restaurants, night life and entertainment, gym and sports centre, healthcare services, as well as spa and beauty salon. It allows users to search, book for services, give reviews, and eventually pay for services.
Oy! was founded in March by six co-founders that include Founder and CEO Jesayas Ferdinandus, the former head of Go-Jek’s food delivery service Go-Food.
Autonomous vehicle startup Drive.ai raises funding by Grab, others
Silicon Valley-based autonomous vehicle startup Drive.ai has raised a US$15 million funding round from investors that include Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab, according to TechCrunch.
The company will use the new funding to fuel its international expansion, particularly to Singapore, where it will open a new office in “the coming months.” The Singapore office will be a base of operations for considering a deployment of the starups’ self-driving cars in the country.
According to the report, Grab will be involved in assisting Drive.ai evaluate the local market for deployment of its technology. It will also facilitate government and business partnerships.
Indonesian P2P lending platforms recorded 496.5 per cent year-to-date growth of funding allocation
Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) revealed that peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in Indonesia in total has channeled up to IDR1.4 trillion (US$106 million) in funding for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country. The number is a 496.5 per cent year-to-date (YTD) growth from December 2016’s number of IDR242.48 billion (US$17.9 million).
Based on data from 22 registered P2P lending platforms, the report also revealed that while SMEs in Java island continues to dominate funding allocation with 83.2 per cent, there is a 1694,98 per cent growth for those located outside of Java.
OJK Director of Fintech Regulation, Licensing, and Monitoring Hendrikus Passagi told DailySocial that the growth was triggered by customers’ increasing trust on P2P lending platforms, following the government’s regulation on the service.
OJK continues to open application for P2P lending platform licenses.
Thailand’s e-commerce value projected to grow 9.8 per cent in 2017
Thailand’s Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) released a report revealing that the country’s e-commerce value is projected to reach THB2.8 trillion (US$83 billion) in 2017, a 9.8 per cent growth from last year, Bangkok Post reported.
The report projected the B2B sector to account for 60 per cent while B2C and B2G are projected at 28.9 per cent and 11.6 per cent, respectively.
The most popular commodities in e-commerce platforms are clothes and accessories (44 per cent), IT products (26.5 per cent), household appliances (19.5 per cent), food (18.7 per cent), and tourism-related services (17.9 per cent)
The majority of Thai consumers still use offline payments method at 69.1 per cent of respondents. However, a great number have used credit cards as popular payments method (35.1 per cent), followed by mobile banking apps (31.9 per cent), and bank transfers via websites (22.6 per cent).
The report also claimed Thailand’s B2C market in 2016 as the largest in Southeast Asia with a value of US$19.6 billion, followed by Malaysia (US$17.5 billion), Vietnam (US$5.57 billion), Indonesia (US$5.29 billion), and Singapore (US$4.13 billion).
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The post Captain’s Log, Sept 29: Former Go-Food Head’s startup raises pre-Series A, Grab invests in Drive.ai appeared first on e27.