Grab Ventures Velocity will integrate the startups’ solutions into Grab’s various channels

Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab on Monday announced the list of startups that have made it to the final round of Grab Ventures Velocity Batch 2, the company’s flagship scale-up programme for post-seed startups, in Jakarta.

Selected out of 150 applicants, the 10 finalists came from three Southeast Asian countries Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Held in partnership with Sinar Mas Land, the programme divided the startups into two tracks:

Empower Farmers (Track 1)

Through this track, Grab Ventures Velocity selected five startups that aim to disrupt the traditional fresh food supply chain to increase farmers’ welfare. In addition to improving the supply chain, startups in this track also technology and data analytics to help farmers to have better data and predictability on what fresh goods to produce, which is said to remain a key concern for all farmers.

Empower Small Businesses (Track 2)

This track included five startups that aim to pioneer innovative solutions for small merchants to increase their income. For this track, Grab Ventures Velocity selected startups who will help further expand the income and livelihoods for 10 million small businesses in Indonesia and digitise the remaining
46 million micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises across Indonesia.

Also Read: Grab Ventures launches Singapore subscription plan for its scooters

The Batch 2 startups will also pilot their solutions in the Grab ecosystem. While Batch 1 startups got to have their solutions integrated onto the Grab mobile app, the Batch 2 solutions will be integrated to various channels such as the Grab mobile app, GrabFood merchant base, or Kudo’s agent network.

The shortlisted startups are:

Eragano (Indonesia)
Run by Stephanie Jesselyn and Lisa Khairunnisa, the startup develops a digital platform that aims to support small scale farmers in optimising their operations. These include financial support through fair loans, integrated training for farmers, affordable supplies and tools for farming, and access to an online marketplace.

Glife (Singapore)
The startup builds an online to offline (O2O) platform that connects farmers to restaurants by aggregating farm produce for direct selling to restaurants, eliminating the middleman in the supply chain process. It aims to help farms ensure produce quality, supply reliability, and costs reduction to merchants. The team is run by Justin Chou and Joe Chen.

Sayurbox (Indonesia)
Amanda Cole and Metha Trisnawati build the tech-supported farm-to-table distribution platform, sourcing fresh organic produce directly from farmers and distributing them to end users. Sayurbox connects farmers to consumers by cutting off the middlemen, resulting in a fairer price for farmers, and fresher produce
that gets delivered within a day.

Also Read: Grab Ventures has confirmed taking a minority stake in HappyFresh

Tanihub (Indonesia)
The startup builds a farm-to-table online marketplace that connects farmers to larger markets, serving
both individuals MSMEs. The company also helps farmers gain access to financing through a separate business arm called TaniFund. It is lead by Pamitra Wineka, Ivan Arie Sustiwan, and Vincentius Sariyo.

Treedots (Singapore)
The platform provides businesses with an online solution to eliminate wastage of unsold products and inventory. The solution helps to match unsold products from suppliers to relevant buyers at a clearance price, allowing suppliers to recover costs and buyers to save on their purchases. The team is led by Tylor Jong and Nicholas Lim.

MyCash (Malaysia)
The startup builds an e-marketplace for migrants in Malaysia and Singapore. The platform aims to offer easy and secure financial services to migrants who do not have access to local credit cards and online banking. These financial services include mobile top-up, purchase of public transport services, and bill payments. The team is led by Mehdi Hassan and Imam Hasan Limon.

PergiUmroh (Indonesia)
A digital platform that collaborates with various travel companies to provide Islamic pilgrimage packages to Mecca (umrah). The platform also allows users to search and compare across a wide variety of packages, with installment plans and visa application services. The team is led by Faried Ismunandar and Abul Ala Almaujudy.

Also Read: Grab Ventures to invest US$250M in Indonesian startups

Porter (Indonesia)
An online logistics startup that offers fast package shipping for businesses of all sizes in the Greater Jakarta area. Businesses are able to schedule pick ups, track shipments, manage delivery data, and provide important delivery information to recipients on the Porter dashboard. The team is led by Richard Cahyanto and Jessica Hendrawidjaja.

Qoala (Indonesia)
Led by Harshet Lunani, Priya Vohra, and Tommy Martin, Qoala is a micro-insurance tech startup that aims to make insurance across various industries more accessible, affordable, and easy-to-use for everyone through an aggregated online platform. Qoala’s technology also helps the insurer reduce operational cost and reinvest in customer benefits.

Tamasia (Indonesia)
Tamasia provides a digital platform that allows anyone to conveniently buy, sell, and transfer gold
using a smartphone. This simplifies the gold exchange process with a minimum purchase amount of IDR 10,000 (US$0.69). The platform also provides updated gold price information and installment for purchasing gold. It is led by Muhammad Assad, Teguh B Ariwibowo, and Aditya Saputra.

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Images Credit: Grab Ventures

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