Singapore’s multichannel growth management platform Insider raises US$32M Series C led by Riverwood Capital; Total funding raised to date is US$47M; The firm serves 800 global enterprise brands and has 550 people across 24 countries. e27
gojek names Severan Rault as new CTO; He previously held leadership roles at Amazon and Microsoft; Rault is also a serial entrepreneur and founded a wireless solutions startup Kikker Interactive (acquired by Microsoft in 2008); Rault has replaced Ajey Gore, who departed gojek last month. e27
Indonesia’s AwanTunai raises US$20M debt funding led by Accial Capital; The fintech firm provides micro-merchants access to supply chain financing services; AwanTunai serves underserved micro-SMEs with inventory ordering, digital payments, and low cost-inventory purchase financing. e27
Singapore’s smart surgical robots firm NDR Medical raises US$5.8M led by Microport; NDR will form a JV in China with MicroPort Urocare, expand to the US; NDR’s solution can be applied to biopsy, ablations and other surgical procedures that require precision. e27
Can SEA’s proptech come back to its pre-COVID-19 glory? Experts say the industry is still small and in its infancy; In FY2019-20, more than US$202M VC money was invested in the industry across 25 deals; During April-June 2020, US$25M+ was invested across six deals. e27
Singapore’s Percipient raises US$5M from Stat Zero; The digital banking startup is developing a solution called TWINNTM, which will help banks to “rapidly create a lightweight, enhanced and API-ready representation of enterprise data and processes”. Finextra
Fave raises funding from Indian fintech unicorn Pine Labs; Fave provides QR payments and loyalty cashback to restaurant and retailers; Fave’s QR code will become interoperable and integrated with Pine Lab’s terminals. e27
How can Singapore benefit from the US-China trade war?; The city-state is well known to be an open economy and highly dependent on international trade; Geographically, Singapore is strategically located as it is at the crossroads of major air and sea routes within APAC and the Indian subcontinent. e27
eBay launches e-commerce accelerator in Singapore; The Global 24/7 programme provides startup tools, trainings, and assistance for business owners to tap into eBay’s global marketplace of over 174M buyers; The programme commenced on July 1 and will end Dec 31 2020. e27
How startups can aid SEA’s Open Banking landscape; In the region, it is still in a nascent stage with regulators opting for a ‘market-driven’ approach; Open Banking can bring about many benefits that are met with today’s financial system, including improving customers’ financial health by allowing them to view their financials in one place, to make payments efficiently from one place. e27
Singapore’s e-commerce market is set to double this year; During 2015-2019, the CAGR was 15.4%, bringing the market to a US$6.2B value; This growth is looking likely to double and hit over US$9.5B by the year-end. Tech Collective
How looking into Vietnam can help startups save development costs; It is one of the 30 countries that have zero cases of COVID-19 death; Its GDP growth record is brimming with an average 6% rate, which is fastest compared to Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia. e27
Singapore businesses avoid massive layoffs, move toward cautious hiring; A survey says 89% of firms are planning for different working models, such as an increase in permanently remote employees and more flexible working hours; However, the percentage of participants that confirmed layoffs rose slightly to 15% in the June survey from 13% in May and only 4% in April. HR Asia
Razer’s digital bank proposition aims to dazzle the global youth; Should they be granted a license, the Razer consortium plans to create the world’s first global youth bank; It will operate an asset-light model which will result in significant cost efficiencies as compared to a traditional bank. Singapore Business Review
Singapore’s co-living startup Hmlet appoints Pramodh Rai as CTO, Rajive Keshup as CFO; Both were Sr. VPs in the company before the promotion; The firm has pivoted into an asset-light model, and aims to bring more landlords onto its platform to diversify its offerings and scale; It aims to serve over 5K members in APAC by the year-end. The Business Times
Elon Musk is hiring people for Tesla Singapore; The positions are Parts Advisor, Service Advisor, Service Manager, Vehicle Readiness Specialist, and Vehicle Service Technician; Tesla’s parent is worth nearly US$304.6B. e27
Vietnam’s tech skills set ranks 2nd in APAC; A Coursera study says the nation outperformed Japan, Australia to finish in second place; Vietnam’s strongest skill is OS (Android, iOS) development at competitive level; Vietnam scooped 22nd place in the global ranking. VNExpress
New Google initiatives to benefit 3K job seekers in Singapore; One of these programmes will put focus on providing on-the-job training opportunities for up to 600 applicants; During the training, each participant will also receive a monthly training allowance of ~US$1.1K. HRAsia
WhatsApp launches training programme to help 3,600 Indonesian SMEs to go digital; The tech giant is partnering with UKM Indonesia to roll out the programme; Participants will learn about using WhatsApp for Business, digital safety such as fraud prevention, content creation and financial planning. The Jakarta Post
Vertex Growth, Kuok Group fund lead US$30M in agtech firm Taranis; The US startup uses high-resolution drone images with AI to identify and analyse crop threats such as insect infestation, weeds, and nutrient deficiencies; Backed by Temasek, Vertex Growth closed its first vehicle at US$290M in September 2019. DealStreetAsia
SEA’s shiny future as a digital gold haven; Indonesia has a growing demand for digital gold, Singapore has reputation as a safe-haven storage location, and Thailand is becoming the third-largest gold trading hub in Asia; Blockchain has played an active role in developing the digital gold industry. Tech Collective
Telkom Indonesia sets out on steep road as ‘telco-tech hybrid‘; The state-owned telco has begun a quest for new sources of growth, as intensifying competition erodes its revenue and local dominance; Netflix deal is part of this plan; The firm’s big new theme is a transformation into a “digital telco”. Nikkei Asian Review
How future-ready schools create immersive learning experience; VR is set to become a common teaching method in the near future; Within SEA, Malaysia is looking into using VR for employee training as part of the Skills 2.0 campaign to help citizens maintain awareness of tech advances. GovInsider
Government subsidies via blockchain launched in Korea; Key primary uses for the system will be to speed up subsidy issuance for AI-based companies and those using smart contracts in order to receive mobile subsidies cards and use electronic wallets; The platform will also share data on illegal use of subsidies between institutions in real time. The News Asia
Facebook’s Internet infrastructure to bring up to US$300M to Cambodia; In the nation, Facebook’s connectivity infrastructure includes local servers or edge networks, which support economic development, allowing local ISPs to access its content at locations closer to their own networks. Geeks In Cambodia
The post Ecosystem Roundup: Singapore’s Insider raises US$32M Series C; gojek names new CTO; AwanTunai, NDR Medical, Percipient, Fave secure investments appeared first on e27.