Tired of carrying a paper boarding pass around? China is testing a new system where all you need is your own face.

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If you are a fan of Pokemon Go, you would be familiar with the excitement of battling in gym arenas and beating other players’ Pokemons to become a gym leader and earn badges of glory. Now, Tech in Asia has brought that concept from reel life into real life with its mainstay segment: the hotly anticipated Arena pitch battle – featuring a perpetually packed Main Stage with only standing space.

Back for its 4th installment at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2017, past editions of this segment has produced a strong track record of winners achieving success in their startup ventures. As Tech in Asia embarks on a search for their next winner, here are your key takeaways simply from participating at the Arena pitch battle:

Get noticed by investors

To successfully scale up your startup, financial backing is important. Therefore, one of the best benefits from participating in the Arena is getting the undivided attention of investors who have their eyes set on you. In fact, your chances of securing funding are significantly higher than other attendees as your startup’s information will be shared with participating investors and media outlets.

All that’s left for you to do is to join the competition and show investors what you’ve got through your pitch.

Still not convinced? Just take a look at how far winners of previous editions have grown through the Arena competition. If they can do it, so can you!

Judges at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2016’s Arena pitch battle Photo credit: Tech in Asia

Gain international media coverage

An idea, no matter how brilliant, remains simply an idea if you don’t get the word out on why it’s worth executing and how to act on it. The Arena pitch battle is a highlight event closely watched by the startup community, with 54 international media representatives attending last year’s competition in Tokyo. Considering the presence of prominent names like Bloomberg, Forbes Japan, The Bridge, and Techsauce, there’s no better platform than this to raise awareness for your startup.

Win support from the community

After generating buzz with your pitch, the next step would be to transform that idea into a deliverable product. Of course, building your product is not a one-man show. Since there will be industry insiders present at the conference, your participation in Arena will help you stand out from the crowd, and is extremely valuable in helping you get the hands you need on deck. Who knows, you might receive collaboration offers from like-minded tech professionals to take your startup to the next level!

Tech in Asia Tokyo 2016’s Arena finalists Photo credit: Tech in Asia

Ready, get set, pitch!

To all hardware and software startups, now’s your chance to craft your success story: Tech in Asia is on the hunt for the best startups to pitch at the Arena on September 28, at the Main Stage of Tech in Asia Tokyo 2017. To be eligible for the Arena pitch battle, your startup needs to fulfill the following criteria:

• Raised less than US$3 million worth of external funding
• A working prototype showcasing an innovative solution
• Proven traction with a strong team
• Pitch in English or Japanese

Applications will close soon on 8 September, so make sure you apply before then to stand a chance at flexing your pitching skills and impressing a 2,000 strong crowd!

Selected participants will get a complimentary one-day Bootstrap Alley booth, 2 exhibitor passes, and access to all conference segments (except investor lounge) to learn a wide range of knowledge from industry experts. Be sure to check out the exciting, new changes happening at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2017 too!

This post Arena returns to TIA Tokyo 2017 in search of the next big startup appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Here’s a tough pill to swallow: In any startup, every leader must fire their own team members. And the people you hired will remember the day you fire them. So how do you deliver the news? As horrible as it sounds, how do you fire correctly? This comic illustrated by Matahari Indonesia helps you prepare for the difficult task.

Tech in Asia Jobs is a jobs platform connecting brands and digitally savvy talent. Search for jobs here, post a job here. Have a challenging position to fill? Let us help here.

This post Firing: How to do it right appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Grab cars in Singapore. Photo credit: BYD.

Grab has further expanded the use of its payments service beyond transportation with the launch of a peer-to-peer (P2P) fund transfer feature in its app.

The feature – which is initially available in Singapore – will allow users to transfer GrabPay credit to one another. It represents one of the first steps Grab is taking to bring its payments platform outside of its core ride-hailing business.

In Indonesia, GrabPay is already being used to pay for GrabFood. Go-Jek, Grab’s rival in the archipelago, also offers P2P credit transfers.

Speaking at a launch event today, GrabPay head Jason Thompson said that the company is also planning to roll out its online payments technology to merchants this year, which is seen to increase its uptake.

It has a target of onboarding as many as 1,000 merchants by the fourth quarter. It will focus on hawker stores and small retailers that typically don’t accept cashless payments. GrabPay users will be able to make payments by scanning QR codes.

Grab last month raised US$2 billion in fresh funding to tighten its grip on Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing market and invest in GrabPay.

Thompson said the company would provide more details on its plans for merchants at a later date.

This post Grab rolls out credit transfer between GrabPay users in major push beyond ride-hailing appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Photo credit: Bambu.

Bambu is a business-to-business financial robo-advisory software firm based in Singapore. Launched in February 2016, the company’s white label solution automates the process of financial planning, saving, and investing for consumers – on desktop and mobile.

Competitors: Quantifeed, Smartly, 8 Securities, Theo

How it compares to competitors: While most robo-advisors have one product with a specific target customer, Bambu offers three different products: one for savings, one for investments, and one for private banking. It claims its product diversity will allow it to target more potential applications and a larger pool of clients.

Traction

Bambu says it has generated about US$500,000 in revenue. The company, which raised seed funding last year, has also managed to sign up notable business players, including Standard Chartered Bank, Crossbridge Capital, and Thomson Reuters

Funding details

Amount raised: Undisclosed
Funding stage: Undisclosed
Lead investor: Franklin Templeton Investments
Other investors: Wavemaker Partners and Robby Hilkowitz
Investment type: Equity
Purpose: Accelerating global sales and strengthening its R&D in Singapore
Total disclosed funding to date: US$1 million-plus

(Update at 7pm, August 30:  This article was edited to more accurately reflect facts and figures related to Bambu’s clients and total disclosed funding.)

This post Brief: Singapore robo-advisory startup bags fresh funding appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Image credit: Pixabay.

The phrase “Made in China” is arguably cliche but maybe not for long – the country’s rising labor costs over the past decade are driving production to Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia comprises countries have their own tech landscapes and the blanket regional title doesn’t really do it justice. In general, where there is ecommerce, there’s room for logistics and industry help in these four countries.

1. Singapore

Infrastructure is less of a problem in Singapore, where the tech landscape is much different and the geography is much smaller. A report by Singapore’s Economic Development Board points out that while manufacturing is a “key pillar” of Singapore’s economy – around a fourth or a fifth of the GDP – the high labor cost and land constraints may make people look for somewhere they can get more bang for their buck.

Still, Singapore’s government is worried about the country’s underwhelming labor productivity, and it has thrown funding and support behind initiatives seeking to kick the city-state’s AI game into gear. Other programs focus on analytics, robotics, and self-driving vehicles, to name a few.

See: 5 innovative made-in-Singapore IoT solutions to improve labor productivity

2. Indonesia

Despite Indonesia’s startup successes, it still has growth potential. The country, home to companies like Alibaba-backed ecommerce company Tokopedia and on-demand rides and services unicorn Go-Jek, still has room for logistics and analytics companies to streamline areas including ecommerce and utilities.

The country seeks solutions for infrastructure hiccups. Heavily populated cities in the region like Jakarta can have a lot of traffic congestion, which makes last-mile delivery challenging. If they get logistics right, it means industrial tools can reach companies and the government’s industrial projects more easily.

See: Forget smart homes — industrial IoT is what Indonesia should focus on

Vietnam’s burgeoning startup ecosystem is supported by the government. Image credit: Pixabay.

3. Vietnam

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, the site of end assembly for a lot of electronics, export-oriented manufacturing has exploded over the past decade, leaving the door wide open for industry tech.

The cost of labor is much lower – software engineers can make a salary of US$1,000 with three years of experience.

The country’s burgeoning startup ecosystem is supported by the government, which seeks to help 1,000 startups and projects by 2020 through an information portal, support for incubators and accelerators, exposure to like-minded companies and mentors, and policy initiatives.

(Indonesia’s government also pledged to support 1,000 startups – but mostly in spirit.)

Nevertheless, infrastructure is an issue that the government needs to work on. Profits can be decreased due to traffic congestion: increased delivery times raise manufacturing costs.

4. Thailand

Thailand’s startup ecosystem is also relatively nascent but has support. The nation is projected to go through its own tech renaissance this year.

Robotics, aerospace, and auto industries are expected to be the government’s key focuses.

Logistics startup MyCloudFulfillment actually took first prize at the recent government-backed Startup Thailand event.

That’s just a small snapshot of the activity happening in the region – and the need for improvement and growth.

A new funding opportunity brings a region-wide network to the table. Bangkok-based AddVentures, the corporate venture arm of SCG (The Siam Cement PCL), hopes to give Southeast Asia a boost, particularly in industrial production.

SCG’s been around since 1913 – over a hundred years – and one of its focuses now is channeling its years of expertise and resources into fueling industrial tech, marketplaces between businesses, and enterprise tech. SCG’s network extends through Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

In other words, if your startup’s technology fits, AddVentures can help you scale. That includes, but is not limited to, smart manufacturing, robotics, automation, energy efficiency tech, logistics, predictive analytics, and ecommerce enablement.

Does your startup solve problems in industrial tech? Are you a startup or VC looking for that extra push into the Southeast Asian market? Send over your pitch deck and other relevant information about your business – email AddVentures at contact@addventures.co.th or message them through their Facebook page.

This post Four Southeast Asian countries with room for logistics and infrastructure growth appeared first on Tech in Asia.

If one drone can’t get the job done, perhaps a few hundred working together can.

This post Video: China’s swarming military drones appeared first on Tech in Asia.

New CEO Dara Khosrowshahi addresses Uber staff. Photo credit: Uber.

Uber will go for an IPO in 18 to 36 months, says its new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. He made the promise of public stock market listing at his first all-staff meeting yesterday at Uber’s San Francisco headquarters, reports Reuters.

VC-backed companies have been staying private longer even as their valuations have soared. So an IPO for Uber, last valued at US$68 billion, would allow its investors and employees to get hard cash for their paper equity. An IPO plan would also commit Uber to finding a road to profitability faster.

I am a fighter. I’m all in. I will fight with every bone in my body.

Khosrowshahi, who left online travel giant Expedia to join Uber, has his work cut out to pull the ride-sharing company out of its morass of sexual harassment scandals and a court case on alleged trade theft from Google’s Waymo. He will have to hire new talent to replace a slew of senior executives who had to go in the wake of the scandals. And he will have to reunite the Uber board.

One of the investors, Benchmark Capital, has filed a lawsuit to remove former CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick from the board. Kalanick, who had to go on leave and then resign as CEO, won a reprieve yesterday as a judge moved the case to arbitration, taking it out of the public eye.

While leadership issues and court cases have distracted Uber, its rivals in Asia – Didi Chuxing, Grab, and Ola – have been stepping up their act with new funding. US rival Lyft has also been increasing its market share. So the fresh start at Uber with a new CEO is a key milestone for the ride-sharing industry as a whole.

See: Toyota funds Grab

Kalanick attended the staff meeting with Khosrowshahi yesterday, posed for pictures, and endorsed the new CEO. “Casting a vote for the next chief executive of Uber was a big moment for me and I couldn’t be happier to pass the torch to such an inspiring leader,” he said. The board voted unanimously to approve the appointment, says Uber.

Board member Arianna Huffington tweeted a selfie with the former and new CEOs – Kalanick and Khosrowshahi.

A special selfie at the end of a very special all hands introducing @dkhos to @Uber employees around the world. He starts on Tuesday! pic.twitter.com/vAPwqUbwu1

— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) August 30, 2017

Khosrowshahi’s first salvo on improving the culture at Uber was a promise not to bullshit. “I will not bullshit you … I am a fighter. I’m all in. I will fight with every bone in my body,” he said, according to a tweet from tech writer Kara Swisher who was at the meeting.

He also said that while his focus at the outset would be to stabilize the company, he intended to “take big shots.”

“What got us is here is not what’s going to get us to the next level.”

Khosrowshahi came to the US at the age of nine when his family fled Iran on the eve of its Islamic revolution in 1979.

This post ‘I will not bullshit you … Uber will go public within three years,’ new CEO tells staff appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Photo credit: leaf / 123RF

It isn’t just in online shopping and payments where Jack Ma’s Alibaba is making coin – it’s also seeing a big boom in its movie-making business.

That turned into a US$79.7 million net loss.

The Alibaba Pictures unit, first started in 2014, is now a US$4.3 billion movie studio that works on both Chinese and global firms, and also covers a popular app for cinema tickets. It has even buddied up with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners.

But the movie industry is proving expensive. While Alibaba’s movie biz grew over 300 percent in terms of revenue in the past year, the US$161 million it pulled in ended up being a US$79.7 million net loss, according to Alibaba Pictures’ earnings report for the first half of the year.

So how did all that gold turn into glitter? The firm ploughed US$180 million into “selling and marketing expenses,” which includes the huge hit involved in selling cut-price cinema tickets through its Tao Piao Piao app in an attempt to kill off rival services. Alibaba’s app – which works for 7,000 theaters across China – saw “increased [sales] at a faster rate than the growth of the overall box office, resulting in market share expansion,” said Alibaba Pictures.

The Hollywood Reporter describes China’s box office as “sluggish” so far this year, growing just 3.7 percent to hit US$3.8 billion.

Separately from the Alibaba Pictures unit, Jack Ma’s ecommerce empire is gradually morphing – just like Amazon – into a complex superpower that covers music, streaming video, brick-and-mortar retail, personal finance, and much more.

Converted from Hong Kong dollars and Chinese yuan. US$1 = HK$7.82 = RMB 6.59.

This post Alibaba’s movie business is booming – and losing a ton of money appeared first on Tech in Asia.

For the most of us, tech conferences can be incredibly rewarding yet draining at the same time. It usually involves multitasking between participating in the various conference segments and networking. Especially if you are new to this scene, you may find yourself at a loss on how to extract the full value of the event during the limited amount of time you have. To help you with that, here’s a quick list of suggestions on how you can get the most ROI from a tech conference, using the upcoming Tech in Asia Jakarta 2017 conference as an example.

Whether or not you are participating in one of Jakarta’s largest tech conference this November 1 & 2, you can apply the following approach to any future tech events you attend. Let’s begin!

1. Bring your team

Want to learn about the newest trends in marketing and branding but can’t skip the investor stage for potential insights? Want to visit the exhibiting startups at Bootstrap Alley but you’re caught up in a conversation with an investor at Speed Dating? With everything happening concurrently, you’ll be spreading yourself too thin to take full advantage of all the conference offerings if you’re there alone.

A simple solution is to bring your team mates along! By assigning specific sessions to attend and roles to take on, this will allow for more learning and networking to happen. For instance, your salesperson could look for new leads at Bootstrap Alley, your colleague from marketing can pick up actionable skills and knowledge at the expert stages, all while your CEO pitches to investors at Speed Dating. You get the drift.

For Tech in Asia Jakarta, the Group of 3 tickets was introduced with the savvy conference goer in mind.With this, your team will be able to squeeze the most value out of the event – at a discount no less! So don’t leave home base without the gang, make it a startup field trip and bring the troops to maximize your conference ROI!

Photo credit: Tech in Asia

2. Find out who’s coming

Conferences are usually attended by a diverse mix of founders, developers, marketing professionals, and investors. Rather than betting on bumping into your prospect in the sea of people, you can amplify your networking opportunities by securing your meetings with them before you even step foot on the conference floors.

As an attendee, you have exclusive access to the TIA conference app. Download it before the event and capitalize on the attendee search function to shortlist people you’d like to meet. You can even use the in-app chat tool to converse with them in real time.

3. Prepare your pitch

Impressions form within 10 seconds of meeting another person. Learning what to say, how to say it, and when to say it is critical in getting your message across to them effectively. Most especially at the Bootstrap Alley startup exhibition, expect to mingle and rub shoulders with an expansive and diverse set of people – potential customers and investors included. Practicing and sharpening your pitch before stepping onto the court is one of the few things that can help bring your ideas to life and leave a lasting first impression.

If you’re planning on joining the Startup-Investor Speed Dating event, all the more important it is that you do your homework and prepare your pitch beforehand. Check out this great article filled with helpful pointers from the investors themselves!

Photo credit: Tech in Asia

4. Get yourself out there

Once the conference wraps up, the sun goes down, and the business mood turns casual, you’ll know it’s time to head for the post conference networking party. Tech in Asia’s – termed Night Crawl – is the perfect setting to let your hair down, loosen up those cuffs, and get those social engines going. Grab a drink, wear your best smile and you’ll be surprised to come home with more than just business cards and stories. Afterall, we know by now that not all deals are formed at formal networking sessions.

Not a big fan of small talk? Don’t worry, here are some tips to help you break through those awkward silences.

The go-to event of the year

With over 6,000 expected attendees, 7 content-laden stages prepared, and many other networking and learning opportunities to engage in, this year’s Tech in Asia Jakarta conference is without a doubt one of the largest of the year. Do you have other tips to maximize one’s conference experience? Share them in the comments below.

Also for an ultra-pro tip: if you haven’t secured your tickets yet, a 20 percent discount is extended till this Friday, September 1, 2359hrs (GMT +7). Grab them with the code ‘tiajkt20’, or you’ll have to pay more when prices increase the day after!

This post Here’s how you can get the best ROI from any tech conference appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Photo credit: Pixabay.

Vertex Ventures, the venture capital arm of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, has exceeded its target size of US$150 million for its third fund for Southeast Asia and India, the firm said today. The fund will close toward the end of the year.

Vertex also added Thailand’s Kasikornbank (KBank) as one of the limited partners for the new fund. This marks the first time that the VC firm has raised money from an external investor. The previous funds were fully backed by Temasek.

“We have seen a sharp increase in capital being deployed in startups in this region, growing from US$100 million in 2008 to US$2.5 billion in 2015. Over 50 percent of this is invested through Singapore-incorporated startups,” said Kee Lock Chua, managing partner of Vertex SEA/India, in a statement.

“With more countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia accelerating their support for the startup and VC ecosystem, we are confident that this region will continue to see significant growth.”

Vertex tells Tech in Asia the new fund will invest mainly in series A rounds, with the check size amounting to US$3 million to US$5 million.

The new fund comes on the heels of several successful investments in Vertex’s previous portfolios, most notably Grab, which was raising US$2.5 billion in its latest round.

The new fund will focus primarily on fintech, with the aim of tapping on KBank’s expertise and network. KBank has been keen on the tech industry, recently setting up Beacon Venture Capital to invest in VC funds and startups.

This post Temasek’s Vertex preps new $150m-plus fund for Southeast Asia, India appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Photo credit: Pexels.

Businesses are lacking worker skills needed to develop Internet of Things (IoT) technology and cyber security, a new study says.

According to the report by UK-based satellite communcations provider Inmarsat, by 2050 the world population will hit 10 billion and IoT will be one of the most important technologies worldwide. Machine learning, robotics, automation, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality will bring significant value, and IoT will be the gateway to these innovations.

However, 60 percent of respondents in the study reported that they required additional staff experienced in cyber security to handle the vast quantities of data that IoT solutions generate, while 46 percent identified a deficit of staff with experience in analytics and data science. Additionally, only less than 28 percent of Asia-Pacific respondents reported to have all the skills they need to make the most of IoT on management, strategic, and delivery levels.

The study is focused on four verticals: agritech, energy production, transportation, and mining. The information is part of Inmarsat’s The Future of LoT in Enterprise – 2017 report. The company partnered up with market research firm Vanson Bourne, and interviewed 500 senior IT decision makers from major organizations in the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Paul Gudonis, president of Inmarsat Enterprise, said that there is a clear recognition from global businesses that IoT will play a fundamental role in their digital transformation. However, “unless this skill deficit is properly addressed, there is a risk that IoT projects will fail and that businesses will open themselves to new security threats, putting an unwelcome brake on innovation.”

Gudonis suggests enterprises prepare themselves by establishing strategic partnerships with IoT specialists. He added, “With economies of scale on their side, specialist partners can help businesses overcome their skills bottlenecks and make their IoT deployments successful.”

IoT is changing the way that businesses operate, but it is dependent upon reliable connectivity. Many of the locations that would benefit most from IoT technologies are remote and situated where terrestrial networks are sparse, the study stated.

This post IoT skills shortage creates ‘security threats’: study appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Grab’s former vice president of engineering Arul Kumaravel (L) talking at a media briefing in Singapore in January 2016. Photo credit: Grab Indonesia.

Grab’s vice president of engineering, Arul Kumaravel, has left the company. Grab confirmed his departure for personal reasons to Tech in Asia earlier today. It’s unclear where he’s headed next.

Kumaravel joined the ride-hailing company – then known as GrabTaxi – in April 2015. He arrived in Singapore from Amazon in Seattle, where he headed up engineering for the ecommerce giant’s mobile platform. Before joining Amazon in 2012, Kumaraval worked for 15 years at Microsoft, taking up various software engineering roles.

Grab co-founder and group CEO Anthony Tan said in a statement that Kumaravel “has been a great partner in his two years with company,” having played a key role in opening five new R&D centers and leading the launch of multiple services and new features.

Among the projects that Kumaravel worked on were collaborations with ride-hailing counterparts elsewhere in the world, such as Ola in India and Lyft in the US, which allowed Grab users to use these services while abroad.

“Arul has been a mentor to many of the Grab engineers, who have further developed their professional skills under him,” Tan said. “They are Grab’s future leaders and I thank Arul for his contributions in building the Grab team. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”

Tech in Asia reached out to Kumaravel for comment, but has not heard back.

With Kumaravel leaving, the remaining senior engineering executives at Grab include Raman Naryanan – another Microsoft alumnus – who is head of technology with the company CEO’s office, and is based at the Seattle R&D center that Kumaravel helped to launch.

A Grab spokesperson told Tech in Asia that the company is making internal appointments in the wake of Kumaravel’s departure, promoting longstanding engineers to become heads of engineering. They said that Grab is also searching externally for other senior engineering-related positions – many of which are newly created roles – and aims to hire around 800 people for its technology team worldwide during the next two years.

The exit follows that of another of Grab’s big-name tech hires, Facebook Connect creator Wei Zhu, who came onboard at around the same time as Kumaravel but left after less than a year as the company’s CTO.

Grab is currently in the midst of a funding round which is slated to raise US$2.5 billion. Didi Chuxing and SoftBank are contributing as much as US$2 billion to the round between them, and Toyota was yesterday revealed as another backer.

This post Grab’s engineering head departs appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Setting up an investor partnership can be quite tedious. Never mind the actual paperwork; just getting an investor to say yes can take several months. In the business world, not a lot of processes can be slashed by shortcuts. Luckily, forging a startup-investor partnership can be shortened significantly at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2017’s Startup-Investor Speed Dating event. From September 27 to 28, you can meet 40 potential investors in just two days.

Still unconvinced? Take a look at these six top investors you might be missing if you skip out on participating in this event.

500 Startups Japan

Don’t let the name fool you. The global investment firm doesn’t boast a portfolio of 500 startups – it’s closer to 1,800. Investments include Grab, Udemy, and Credit Karma. 500 is based originally in Silicon Valley, but now also have a strong presence in the ASEAN region.

If you catch them at the event, a quick tip they offer prospective partners is to “let them know your business’s ‘why this, why now, and why you.’”

Preferred investment size (in USD): 50K – 500K
Countries of interest: Japan
Verticals of interest: Bio-Technology, Hardware, Logistics & Transportation, Software as a Service (SaaS), Any startup that shows good potential

BEENEXT

An investor’s bottom line is a startup’s return on investment. BEENEXT, however, has an additional promise. “A partnership of the founders, by the founders, and for the founders,” says Managing Partner Teruhide Sato. The firm is managed by fellow entrepreneurs like Hiro Maeda, founder of Japan’s first accelerator Onlab and a member of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Asia. He has since made over 100 investments in successful companies like Instacart, Tokopedia, and Japan’s first Y Combinator company, Anyperk.

You can also catch Maeda’s Startup Strategy Workshop on Day 1. His session on “How to conduct user interviews” will teach you how to design products and experiences that are “user-first” through effective user interviews.

Preferred investment size (in USD): 50K – 500K
Countries of interest: Japan, SEA
Verticals of interest: Bio-Technology, Hardware, Logistics & Transportation, Software as a Service (SaaS), Any startup that shows good potential

D4V

Design for Ventures is the brainchild of Genuine Startups and IDEO. They promise to help Japanese ventures succeed on a global scale through design thinking, investment expertise, and global networking. Further, D4V’s investments access to IDEO – the brilliant minds that designed the first modern mouse for Apple.

If you’re a startup who wants to charm them for a second date, D4V suggests that you should “articulate a clear vision and [your] solution’s competitive differentiation.”

Preferred investment size (in USD): 200K – 500K
Countries of interest: Japan, Global
Verticals of interest: Clean Tech, Fintech, Lifestyle, Music & Entertainment, Any startup that shows good potential

DG Incubation

Short for Digital Garage, DG Incubation holds quite a high-profile portfolio. Who else can boast that they invested in Twitter and LinkedIn before they became famous? Currently, DG Incubation continues to operate Japan’s oldest incubator Onlab (as mentioned above). Today, DG Incubation is still enthusiastic about supporting Japan’s most promising startups like Smart HR, the country’s fastest growing HR startup.

For hopeful startups, DG Incubation suggests to “be pessimistic in [the] short term, [but] be optimistic in [the] long term.”

Preferred investment size (in USD): 50K – 1 Million
Countries of interest: Japan, Global
Verticals of interest: Cloud Computing, E-Commerce, Fintech, Logistics & Transportation, Travel

Rakuten Ventures

A part of the global Rakuten Group, Rakuten Ventures dedicates itself to improving the startup ecosystem in the internet, fintech, and mobility sectors. Their portfolio includes investments in Lyft, Carousell, and Currencycloud. More than a fund injection, startups under Rakuten Ventures also enjoy access to Japan’s largest digital commerce conglomerate’s network around the world.

When you meet them at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2017, remember to “ask questions that matter most to you and demand clarity in every response.”

Preferred investment size (in USD): Up to 10 Million
Countries of interest: Global
Verticals of interest: Ad Tech, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Bio-Technology, Cloud Computing, Developer Tools, Productivity Software

Salesforce Ventures

Currently, Salesforce is the world’s largest SaaS CRM platform offering cloud services to global companies like T-Mobile, (RED), and American Express. In 2009, the company started Salesforce Ventures as a way to help startups in ways other than providing reliable CRM software. Salesforce’s portfolio includes series you use everyday like Dropbox, Stripe, Twilio, and Japan’s premium CXO recruiting company BizReach.

Their quick tip for dating startups is to “use the problem, solution, traction, [and] team as the fixed story to pitch to investors. [They] get turned off in 10 seconds when you start with something vague like the market conditions and trends.”

Preferred investment size (in USD): 500K – 5 Million
Countries of interest: Japan, Global
Verticals of interest: Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Design, Enterprise Solution, Productivity Software, Recognition Tech, Software as a Service (SaaS)

Meet them all in one place

Besides these six, there are almost 40 international investors ready to give you money during the Startup-Investor Speed Dating Session at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2017. The event, which happens from September 27 to 28, will feature the world’s hottest startups and investors. This could be your chance to gain potential funding, professional advice, and a lasting business partnership for your company.

If you have a Startup Pass or Bootstrap Alley Exhibitor Pass, you can pre-register for your slot today! Pre-registration closes on September 14, so don’t miss out.

For those of you who haven’t got your passes, it’s not too late. You can apply for your Bootstrap Alley booth below and get 10 percent off your purchase until September 8.

If you prefer to go as an attendee instead, use this offer code tiatokyo10 at checkout to shave 10 percent off your Startup Pass until September 8.

This post Meet 6 top investors giving you money at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2017 appeared first on Tech in Asia.

“When you’re 22, 23, 24, there’s no such thing as failure,” says Mark Cuban.

Video by Centaine Lim.

This post Video: Mark Cuban on failure appeared first on Tech in Asia.

KFC is now testing out booths at a store in China where people pay with their face.

GIF by Tech in Asia. From video by Ant Financial.

First you browse KFC’s selection on the screen, tap your choices…

GIF by Tech in Asia. From video by Ant Financial.

And then look up to seal the deal.

GIF by Tech in Asia. From video by Ant Financial.

The facial recognition ties into a popular mobile wallet app called Alipay. Ant Financial, a spin-off from ecommerce giant Alibaba and maker of Alipay, created the tech for KFC. The firm describes it as “smile to pay.”

Photo credit: Ant Financial.

The scanning system focuses on your face, so it doesn’t matter if you change your makeup or hair – or even put on a pink wig.

GIF by Tech in Asia. From video by Ant Financial.

If you don’t want to get snapped, you can pay with your phone instead – by scanning a QR code at the booth using either Alipay or WeChat.

Chinese consumers already lead the world in paying with their phones, with 195 million people doing it in 2016. Alipay, WeChat, and Apple Pay are the three services with the most traction.

The face system was first shown off in March 2015 by Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Since then, it’s popped up here and there in small-scale testing. Rival tech giant Baidu ran a similar trial with KFC late last year using its own tech.

This face payment system from Alipay is, for now, only available in one KFC store: at the experimental healthy eating outlet KPro, in Hangzhou – which, probably not coincidentally, is where Alibaba is based.

I’m not sure matcha ice cream counts as healthy, but it sure does look good.

GIF by Tech in Asia. From video by Ant Financial.

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Statwig co-founder and CEO Sid Chakravarthy. Photo credit: YouTube capture.

About half of vaccines today go to waste because of mismanagement of the supply chain, while inefficiencies in that chain make up an estimated 80 percent of a vaccine’s costs, Statwig’s CEO Sid Chakravarthy tells me.

His startup, Statwig, is trying to address this problem by combining sensor and blockchain technology. By automating product tracking, the startup can monitor and identify where the process breaks down – improper storage conditions, tampered packaging, and so on.

“Less than one-third of people who handle vaccines actually monitor their temperature,” Chakravarthy explains. Due to high costs and a vaccine shortage, only 30 percent of people who need vaccines in developing countries can get them.

Statwig, based in Singapore and India, recently graduated from Singaporean hardware accelerator Airmaker, whose latest cohort focused on digital health and smart city technology.

Health hazard

Early last year, social media and news outlets in China were abuzz with the revelation that a number of vaccines deployed in the country from 2011 onwards were found being used past their expiration date and not properly refrigerated.

A few months later, Indonesia was rocked by the news that fake vaccines had made it into the country’s hospitals and pharmacies.

Chakravarthy had moved from India to the US to work on emerging technologies for companies like Cisco. He specialized in understanding new technology trends and their impact, helping his employers stay ahead of the competition.

Late last year, he moved back to India, where he identified the vaccine problem through connections he had made in the pharmaceutical industry.

Blockchain helps keep records intact and immutable due to the decentralized nature of the tech.

“It’s very difficult to put in new processes and train staff in the supply chain, to have that control,” he says. “It was immediately clear to me that we can use the internet of things to automate a lot of the tracking.”

The team did some research to understand how the supply chain works and figure out the best ways to track products throughout. “The ideal way [to do that] is the packaging – adding an extra layer of sensors using internet of things tech or digital signatures using RFID,” Chakravarthy says.

The startup embeds the tech into the packaging so the products are monitored all the way to customers, who can be hospitals, NGOs, and so on. Using the app, they scan the product to get a complete history, including manufacturer, dates, batches, and more. Larger sensors can also be placed in cargo containers to monitor temperature in storage.

“We’re recording the product journey from the manufacturer to the customer and can create permanent records of where the failures are happening,” Chakravarthy says.

Blockchain helps keep these records intact. The data is stored together without locking them away in silos, and at the same time records are permanent and immutable due to the decentralized nature of the tech. Statwig’s clients pay a subscription to log on to a website and access the information in real-time, wherever they are.

“The blockchain is basically the same database that’s shared across all the subscribers to the software,” Chakravarthy explains. “If I’m a manufacturer and you’re a customer, we use the same data, although we may see different interfaces.”

Near 50 percent of vaccines today go to waste because of mismanagement. Photo credit: bialasiewicz / 123RF.

Food safety

Statwig started out with vaccines as its main use case but the tech can be applied to different supply chains involving sensitive products like food. The startup is already exploring such
applications.

“You hear about cases of infected meat, and the government can’t trace where the infection came from. So they have to do these huge product recalls, which are very inefficient,” Chakravarthy says.

The company is running a couple of paid pilots with a Singaporean company for its pharmaceutical packaging product, and another one in Europe related to food tracking.

Fundraising isn’t an immediate priority for now, Chakravarthy says. While the team is talking to investors, it’s going to look for more funding after it completes its current pilots.

Blockchain tech as a way to monitor food and medicine is being embraced by companies beyond startups.

Blockchain tech as a way to monitor food and medicine is being embraced by companies beyond startups. Just this month, a number of global food companies, including Nestle and Walmart, announced a collaboration with IBM to use the Big Blue’s blockchain resources for food tracking.

Back in March, Alibaba also kickstarted a blockchain experiment to track genuine food in order to fight counterfeit food incidents on its ecommerce platforms.

And Alibaba rival JD is working with pharmaceutical company Wyeth on a way to track pharmaceutical products for mothers and babies.

Meanwhile, other startups working on similar products for food include Ambrosus (which also works with medicine products) in the US and Provenance in the UK.

For such a novel concept, it feels like it’s already a crowded space, so I ask Chakravarthy what Statwig’s advantage is.

He explains that one of the issues with blockchain tech is that it’s heavy and slow, while the sensors required to track products usually have limited capabilities like memory and computing power. “There’s this big gap between these two technologies, so we’re trying to create light blockchains that will give us the advantage,” he says.

Besides, its competitors are mostly in the exploration stage at the moment, just like Statwig is. “IBM has been the only company on the corporate side which has been rolling out applications,” he adds. “It all depends on who can do it more efficiently.”

This post This startup uses blockchain tech to make sure your vaccines are safe appeared first on Tech in Asia.

EndoMaster’s robot. Photo credit: EndoMaster.

EndoMaster is a unicorn. No, it’s not worth a billion bucks, but it’s a rare and promising medical devices startup in Singapore.

It has oodles of ambition. While many startups focus on disease detection, EndoMaster wants to get into the surgical room and the bodies of patients.

EndoMaster claims to be the closest in the world to commercialize a robot that can remove cancerous tumors from your stomach and intestines – without cutting you open.

The company has raised US$14.6 million in a series B round, enough to see it through to end-2018, when it’s aiming to release its product.

It’s in a field with little margin for error, where malfunctions could cost lives. But EndoMaster is up for the challenge.

I get a sneak peek at its latest prototype, housed in its research lab with a “no photography” sign.

There’s a chest-high computer rack housing the software and hardware. A black tube extends out of it, which is meant for insertion into the patient’s gut through the mouth or anus. Right at the end of that tube are a camera and two tiny arms – more dexterous than a surgeon’s and smaller than a toddler’s fingers.

Finally, there’s a control interface with two joysticks and a screen – similar to an arcade machine.

The resemblance is intentional, says Colin Tan, COO of EndoMaster. “It’s meant to be like playing a computer game.” Doctors will only need a week to learn the system, get certified, and start performing live surgeries.

Training for an equivalent manual surgery would take three to six months. It’s a huge boon for hospitals who won’t need to send their doctors away for so long.

Reducing the need for surgery

Aren’t there a lot of surgical robots out in the market, I ask Tan and the CEO, Goh Seow Ping, in EndoMaster’s office.

Yes, says Goh. But these robots are meant for keyhole surgery, which still requires poking holes in the body.

EndoMaster is built on top of an endoscope, which is an instrument that doctors push down the patient’s throat to look at the gut.

Endoscopic robots hold promise because open surgery can have grave complications. “There’s a cut in your abdomen. They’ll cut a portion of your colon and remove it. It’s very painful. You’ll worry about leakage, infection, cross-contamination. You’ll worry about the wound coming apart,” says Goh, wincing.

“For somebody that has cancer, it’s a huge decision to do surgery: The cuts, the pain, the bleeding, and the cost. Our procedure is incision-less. It’s as harmless as endoscopy and as effective as surgery.”

Open surgery often requires a hospital stay of between six to 14 days. EndoMaster’s procedure can eliminate that entirely. Patients leave intact and with a peace of mind. No need to pay a hefty bill for a long hospital stay.

EndoMaster’s human trial. Photo credit: EndoMaster.

From the hospital’s perspective, it frees up beds for other patients. That’s a life saver in countries where wards are overcrowded.

The catch is that EndoMaster’s system only works with early-stage gastrointestinal cancers. Even so, the market is large enough.

If all goes well, the startup projects hitting US$74 million in revenue five years after product launch. That’s just counting Europe and China, its two target markets.

It arrived at the figure by engaging a third-party market research firm, who sized up the number of relevant cancer cases in its target markets, estimated how likely EndoMaster is to convert each surgery to its procedure, and then multiplied that by the average selling price.

A marathon

EndoMaster stands out as one of the top-ten most well-funded startups in Singapore this year.

However, the reality has been that it’s hard for medtech startups in the country to raise money compared to internet companies, says Goh. Tech in Asia’s data shows only 16 medical devices startups in Singapore, compared to hundreds in popular categories like fintech and ecommerce.

No Singapore investors backed EndoMaster’s latest round, though many expressed interest in joining subsequent rounds.

It’s been a long journey. EndoMaster started off as a research project at Nanyang Technological University in 2004, formalized as a company in 2011, and looks to launch in 2018. It has performed successful trials on humans and animals. It’s planning a large-scale clinical trial and seeking approval from regulators in Europe.

Internet startups, on the other hand, go from prototype to launch in months.

“Medical devices are a long-term play. It’s not like an app, with a short payoff. So you must have a bigger pot of money to play. If $20 million is 100 percent of the fund size, that doesn’t work, which I understand.”

Investors in the series B round include unspecified Chinese VCs and Hoya Group, a supplier and manufacturer of healthcare products, which made US$4.5 billion in revenue in 2015.

With funding secured and the prototype improving with each iteration, the team of about 20 people is bracing for a marathon.

“We want to put the first big product in medical robotics from Singapore on the world map,” says Goh.

Converted from Singapore dollars. US$1 = S$1.36.

This post The rare startup that wants to put Singapore on the medical robotics map appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Here’s our newest round-up of the featured startups on our site this week. If you have startup tips or story suggestions, feel free to email us. Enjoy this week’s list!

1. Mobikon | Singapore (Startup Profile)

Mobikon is a marketing and customer engagement platform for restaurants. It provides restaurants with a single dashboard for a range of services, including customer engagement, marketing, analytic and business tools for ordering, reservations, feedback, and payment.

2. Bluzelle | Singapore (Startup Profile)

Started in 2014, Bluzelle builds middleware for the blockchain – applications and tools for enterprises. Examples of what it could provide include real-time payment systems, identity management, and so on. It struck a partnership with KPMG, which helped open a line of communication with large corporates.

3. Synergo | Indonesia (Startup Profile)

Jakarta-based Synergo develops a cloud-based employee performance management system. It allows employees and employers to align their development goals, provides a structure for appraisals, and enables data analysis.

4. Kata.ai | Indonesia (Startup Profile)

Kata.ai develops Indonesian-language chatbots. It uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to create digital personas that can engage in conversations, helping businesses to understand their customers better and automate the support process.

5. Wobb | Malaysia (Startup Profile)

Wobb is a jobs app that offers users a peek into what they will likely experience in their new workplace. The startup aims to help job seekers discover companies with great culture before sending in their applications. It currently has a database of around 60,000 job seekers.

6. Appier | Taiwan (Startup Profile)

Taipei-based startup Appier offers a number of products built around technology which tracks an individual user’s activity across all of the web-connected devices they own.

7. Statwig | India (Startup Profile)

Statwig is trying to address the problem of mismanagement of the vaccines supply chain by combining sensor and blockchain technology. It can monitor and identify where the process breaks down – improper storage conditions, tampered packaging, and so on by automating product tracking.

Startup lists

8 – 12: 5 rising startups in India – Aug 28, 2017

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At risk: a total of 60 million to 75 million jobs in the global textile industry.

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