Temasek Lifesciences Accelerator launches The Hatchery [press release]
Temasek Lifesciences Accelerator (TLA), Singapore-based biotech and agri-tech incubator with wet-lab infrastructure, has launched The Hatchery programme. As a licensed venture capital fund manager, TLA aims to nurture and grow disruptive life science innovations into early-stage companies, support promising startups with pre-seed, seed and Series A funding, through The Lifesciences Innovation Fund (TLIF), to kickstart operations.
Catalysing entrepreneurial life science innovations in agrifood technology, industrial and synthetic biology, as well as human and veterinary sciences, the Hatchery programme is developed to back entrepreneurs and scientists committed to making a meaningful and enduring impact for the environment, community and enterprises.
As the go-to life sciences incubator programme, The Hatchery provides key incubation and operational support services. Dedicated offerings include access to 17,000 square feet co-working space and laboratories, specialised wet labs, growth chambers, greenhouses, as well as animal and aquaculture research facilities.
Edtech startup Adda247 raises US$6M [press release]
Online learning platform Adda247 has secured US$6 million in Series B funding led by Infoedge India and Asha Impact, with participation from STL.
The company will use the money for expanding to new exam categories, adding new languages on the platform and amplifying its pan-India presence.
Founded in 2010, Adda247 offers products like live video classes, on-demand video courses, mock tests and books focused on government examinations. It also operates multiple exam-specific platforms, including bankersadda.com, sscadda.com, teachersadda.co.in and careerpower.in.
SCB, Liquid Group to enable cross-border QR payments between Singapore, Thailand [Press Release]
Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) and Liquid Group today announced a strategic partnership to enable cross-border QR payment acceptance in Singapore and Thailand.
With this, SCB will be acting as the sponsoring bank for all Thai banking applications that support cross-border QR payments.
Customers will be able to pay for their purchases using their respective Thai QR payment apps at Liquid Group’s participating merchants in Singapore.
Liquid Group and SCB will support cross-border merchant-presented QR code payment transactions. Participating merchants in Singapore and Thailand also stand to generate additional revenue from the high volume of frequent travellers commuting between the two countries and their increased purchasing power.
Boxx.ai acquired by Netcore Solutions [press release]
Boxx.ai, a Bangalore-based startup which uses AI and ML to help e-commerce companies increase their conversion rates by displaying the most personalised products for each user, is being acquired by Netcore Solutions, a SaaS multi-channel marketing automation company.
With this part-cash and part-stock deal, Netcore would be acquiring all of Boxx.ai’s technology, IP, clients and team, and would provide an exit to the investors. As part of the deal, Boxx.ai’s founders Ajay Kashyap, Prakhar Raj and Shitiz Bansal, along with the rest of the team, will join Netcore to continue building their product.
Boxx.ai was launched in 2016 by IIT alumni Ajay Kashyap, Prakhar Raj and Shitiz Bansal. It is able to predict what each visitor is likely to buy next using its proprietary algorithms. This helps consumer internet companies curate a line of products and extend a highly personalized experience to each of its customers.
DBS Bank, Trafigura, Perlin collaborate with IMDA to launch open-sourced blockchain commodity trade platform [press release]
To leverage Singapore’s global trade connectivity, DBS Bank and Trafigura, in collaboration with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Enterprise Singapore and tradetech Perlin, have come together to develop an open-sourced blockchain trade platform (ICC TradeFlow platform) to connect trade partners across borders and streamline manual paper-based trade processes to improve trade flows.
The platform’s pilot trade of US$20 million worth of iron ore will be shipped from Africa to China this month.
Built on IMDA’s TradeTrust network infrastructure and powered by Perlin’s blockchain technology, the platform is designed to be interoperable with existing and future digital trade platforms. This approach will enable companies based in digital harbours like Singapore to continue trading with countries governed by traditional paper-based systems.
All parties on the blockchain platform are also able to send, receive and act upon trade instructions in real-time, cutting the end-to-end trade document transit time by more than half from 45 to 20 days.
China’s Nervos Network raises US$72M via token sale [press release]
Nervos Network, an open source public blockchain project in China, has raised US$72 million in a token sale via Coinlist. Several existing investors participated in the sale, including China Merchants Bank International (CMBI), Polychain Capital, Blockchain Capital, Hashkey, MultiCoin, and Distributed Global. Nervos had previously raised $28 million in 2018, bringing the total to $100 million.
Nervos’s layered architecture allows developers and enterprises to launch products and services on the blockchain without trading off security and decentralisation for speed and scalability. Nervos’s Layer 1, the Common Knowledge Base (CKB), is a public, permissionless blockchain that anchors the network and provides a secure foundation for storing and preserving assets.
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