Month: September 2020

Source: KoreaTechDesk

The second day of the 3rd edition of “TIPS X beSUCCESS Korean Startup Showcase” concluded successfully on September 24, 2020, with two sessions on the day. Eleven promising startups pitched their products and services to a panel of esteemed judges, including mentors, venture capitalists, and corporate strategists.

The “TIPS X beSUCCESS Korean Startup Showcase” is hosted by South Korea’s leading startup media company beSUCCESS and South Korean government-backed incubator TIPS (Tech Incubator Program for startup Korea). The first 2 editions of the startup showcase were held in San Francisco and Palo Alto.

But with the COVID-19 pandemic situation this year, the ‘Demo Day Showcase’ was held online. The concluding day two had two sessions – one at 08:00-09:30 KST (16:00 PDT, 07:00 SGT) for US-based investors and second at 15:00-16:30 KST (14:00 SGT, 23:00 PDT) for Asia based investors. James Jung of beSUCCESS media moderated both the sessions. The 11 startups that pitched were a mix of companies offering services in AI technology, VR technology, medical assistance, transport, communication, etc. The startups that presented were:

1) Medihub Co., Ltd – a medical startup
2) LOKKS307 Co., Ltd – a telemedicine platform creator
3) Selectstar, Inc. – a crowdsourcing platform for AI training data collection/annotation
4) Creative Value Technology – a face recognition technology developer
5) AIET Co., LTD – Iris and Facial Recognition Technology developer
6) EVAR Corporation – Electric Vehicle charging technology developer
7) M2S Co., LTD – a VR content developer into eye-tracking technology
8) Oncocross – an AI platform for clinical trials for medicines
9) GeniRobot Co., LTD – an ‘All-in-One’ educational robot developer
10) Network Defines, Inc. – developed a video communication tool for collaboration
11) Seeso – developed a collaborative management solution platform for professionals

First session:

In the first session, all the startups pitched to a panel of judges that included Takashi Kato, Director of Global Brain, Andrew Hong, Senior Associate of ff Venture Capital, Alexander Carusillo, Venture Associate at OCA Ventures, and Phil Yoon, Partner at Big Basin Capital.

Judges panel

The 11 startups pitched their services and technology to the judges and answered the panel’s relevant questions. The judges had queries about expansion potential and plans, monetization strategy, competitive edge, communication strategy, etc. The judges gave final feedback to all the startups at the end of the session.

Alexander Carusillo, Venture Associate at OCA Ventures, said, “As an early-stage investor, medical business is not my strength, but I would like to know more about revenue plans of the companies and the future that how much money it can make. Overall it was a good session.” Andrew Hong, Senior Associate of ff Venture Capital, said, “I am impressed with the quality of the startups. What I like to see though is more clear price/business model and market opportunity.”

“It has been an impressive presentation. I would say that the USA market is not so easy as the Korean market, and I think it is important the startups connect with the right platform to grow global,” said Takashi Kato, Director of Global Brain. The session concluded with Phil Yoon, Partner at Big Basin Capital, who said, “All the companies were different, but some had similar technologies that exist. Whether the USA or Korea, it would be important to see how exactly your approach will be different than any previous works.”

Second Session:

The second session had judges that included Julien Coustaury, Founding Partner, Fil Rouge Capital, Mehul Mishra, Investment Manager at Brand Capital, Albert Shyy Principal, Burda Investments, Joao Monteiro, Founding Principal at Pinto Ventures AG, Victor Chua, Managing Partner at Vynn Capital, Adil Al Zarooni, CEO at the Al Zarooni Emirates, Rabih I.Khoury, Partner & Chief Exit Officer at Middle East Venture.

Judges panel

The 11 startups pitched their services and technology to the judges and answered the panel’s relevant questions. The judges had queries about revenue plans, technology expansion as per the new COVID-19 situation, marketing strategy, communication strategy, output quality control, collaborations with foreign partners, target audience, etc. The judges gave final feedback to all the startups at the end of the session.

Mehul Mishra of Investment Manager at Brand Capital said, “I think few startups are the pre-revenue stage, and some of them can go with a functioning product to the market faster than what they might be planning.” Albert Shyy, Principal, Burda Investments, said, “We saw many interesting companies and technology. Most of them need to bring about a commercialization strategy and forge ahead.”

Joao Monteiro, Founding Principal at Pinto Ventures AG, agreed with Shyy’s comment on the commercialization aspect and said, “How can business become a substantial company eventually? We invest or partner in many ventures throughout the year. The idea is to see how this startup can become a company in the future.” Victor Chua, Managing Partner at Vynn Capital, “We saw some AI and medical startups. It was a little difficult to figure out the users and what is the difference in using these products over others.”

Adil Al Zarooni, CEO at the Al Zarooni Emirates, “It was good pitching mix. Few of them perfectly expressed the presentation, but definitely, more could have been covered.” Rabih I.Khoury, Partner & Chief Exit Officer at Middle East Venture, “The 3-minute pitch time felt shorter and didn’t address many straight points. So would have wanted to get more information and hope to follow-up with some startups later. Overall, though, congratulations to the team for the pitches. We saw some amazing technology from South Korea, and I am a big fan of that.”

The TIPS-beSUCCESS Demoday ended on a high-note with appreciation and feedback for the betterment from the panel of judges. The two-day Demoday, on September 23-24, 2020, connected the startups and founders with some of the known venture capitalists and investors. The startup founders also learned a lot about the global market and investments through the comments and feedback by the judges.

Source

Source: The Fintech Times

Lennise Ng

As The Fintech Times in September celebrates the Women in Fintech we take a moment to hear more from some of the leading female leaders in Asia. One of them is Lennise Ng, who is from Malaysia and is an expert in fintech, specifically in digitising and financing wholesale trade.

Lennise is the CEO & Co-Founder of Dropee – a B2B eCommerce platform that enables wholesalers to be closer to their customers on both online and offline channels. She is also working closely with various leading companies in Malaysia to accelerate their corporate innovation via FNC Labs. Lennise is very passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation. Since graduation, she has been working within the tech ecosystem from venture-building accelerators to multinational tech companies. Lennise is also the 3rd-generation of a traditional family business that manufactures and distributes rubber products. Combining the two worlds, Lennise then started Dropee to address the issues of a growing wholesale business and how technology can speed up its growth and improve customer experience. A start-up cheerleader by heart, Lennise is currently an active mentor for various start-up events and hackathons.

Lennise Ng, describe your career journey

I started my entrepreneurship journey at 19 with a business partner to start a talent management company. Long story short, the company died but I learnt I had a knack in business. I finished up my higher studies and then proceeded to work for a few companies (both big and small) within the start-up tech ecosystem. The idea for Dropee came about when I left the tech space to go into my family business. It was then I noticed that there’s a need to innovate the B2B wholesale sector. Fast forward to today, we’re currently servicing more than 2000 wholesale businesses across Southeast Asia – working closely with them to implement B2B eCommerce within their companies.

As a recognised thought leader and a female, what difficulties have you faced in your career?

Not enough women representation during conference sessions. Whenever this happens, my ideas tend to get drowned out in the crowd, or dismissed without further discussion. Having more diverse representation, not only gender-based, would cultivate more holistic discussions.

What are the future trends and predictions you see happening in the region?

I see that the future of B2B trading and wholesale businesses is all about bridging the gap between the offline and online experience. During Covid-19, many businesses have sped up their digital adoption using Dropee. It became a necessary move for them – after all, necessity is the mother of innovation.

On entrepreneurship (in general), I do see more diversity and inclusion across various industries. However it is still going to take some time.

What advice and recommendations do you want to give future female entrepreneurs and thought leaders who are based in Asia?

I’ve got two pieces of advice for our future female entrepreneurs and thought leaders:

1. To learn, unlearn, and relearn. We live in a time where things move rapidly and it is more crucial than ever to be more adaptive.

2. Pick your battles carefully; your aim is to win the war. There’s no way to have everything under control when running a start-up. Every start-up entrepreneur goes through many ups and downs, especially during its early stages. Therefore, it is important to not get side-tracked on minor issues and focus on tackling the ones that matter in order to win in the long run.

Source

Source: Business Today

Southeast Asia’s largest online used car trading platform, Carsome entered the e-commerce space to sell used cars online through a collaboration with Malaysia’s no. 1 e-commerce platform, Shopee.

Consumers are now able to purchase an exclusive premium selection of used cars on Shopee’s platform. All listed cars, complete with car specification details and multi-angled photos, are Carsome Certified[1], and come with a one-year warranty and a five-day money back guarantee. Additionally, Shopee users can purchase a RM500 cash voucher at the special promotional price of RM199 and use it to pay for the down payment of their selected cars.

According to Carsome Co-founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Eric Cheng, the collaboration enables Carsome’s official store on Shopee to be the first online store selling used cars in Malaysia. “We are proud to work with Shopee, who have been very supportive in our endeavor to reshape and elevate the used car buying experience through digitalization,” Cheng said.

Regional Managing Director of Shopee, Ian Ho said, “We are excited to welcome Carsome as the newest addition to the Shopee network of brands and retail partners. This partnership enables us to offer Malaysians a wide selection of quality used cars. Now, browsing and searching for a new ride is made so much easier. The launch of Carsome’s store on Shopee is also just in time for our upcoming 10.10 Shopee Brands Festival. Carsome will gain exposure from the increased customer traffic to the platform and by leveraging it, bring about the awareness that users can now experience a new way of shopping for quality used cars.”

Consumers can browse for cars from the Carsome Official Store on Shopee at https://shopee.com.my/carsome.os. On top of that, they will benefit from ongoing new launch promotions which will include exclusive Carsome merchandise for the first 100 test drives.

Additionally, the Trade-In Discount Programme will offer customers who have previously sold their cars to Carsome will enjoy a RM500 discount when they purchase a car from Carsome. Customers will also be able to benefit from the Refer-A-Friend Promotion, where successful Carsome car buyers can invite their family and friends to buy cars from Carsome. Both parties will receive combined cash rewards of up to RM800.

Souce

Source: Business Insider

Lennise Ng, Cofounder and CEO, Dropee

In June, B2B ecommerce platform Dropee teamed up with Malaysia’s ministry of agriculture to collaborate on the distribution of food across the country during the pandemic. The partnership was further recognition of the ambitious startup, headed by CEO and cofounder Lennise Ng.

Ng founded the company with Aizat Rahim in 2017, after the pair identified significant gaps in the wholesale food business supply chain, particularly around connectivity. Dropee acts as a one-stop online marketplace that connects suppliers and retailers by creating a space where businesses can source and sell goods more efficiently.

The platform helps Malaysia’s agricultural and fisheries businesses open additional sales channels by moving their operations online. Dropee also works with partners to help users access logistics, financing, and insurance support.

Riding the confidence of the MOA tie-up, in July Dropee raised $1.3 million in an extended seed round. Ng says the investment will be used to automate the digital onboarding process for its customers, as well as help with plans to expand Dropee into Singapore.

Ng told Business Insider, “The future of B2B trading and wholesale businesses is all about bridging the gap between the offline and online experience. During this pandemic, many businesses have sped up their digital adoption using Dropee. It is a necessary move for them – after all, necessity is the mother of innovation.”

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