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Welltok, which has developed a population health management platform, will use the investments to acquire Silverlink and expand to Asia Pacific

EDBI, the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, has participated in the US$45 million Series D-2 funding round of digital healthcare company Welltok.

Georgian Partners and Flare Capital, besides some of its existing institutional and strategic investors, also joined the round.

US-based Welltok, which has developed a B2B2C population health management platform called Caféwell, will use the investment to acquire Silverlink (a healthcare consumer communications company) and support its ongoing product development and market expansion into the Asia Pacific region.

This brings Welltok’s total funding raised till date to over US$100 million.

Also Read: Singaporean MedTech startup CXA is a local success story

“Through its innovative Caféwell platform that applies consumer analytics to personalise health and wellness plans for consumers, Welltok strongly supports Singapore’s drive to promote healthy living. EDBI welcomes Welltok’s expansion into Asia to grow their business with regional healthcare stakeholders through Singapore, leveraging our world class healthcare ecosystem,” said CHU Swee Yeok, CEO and President of EDBI.

Started in 2009, Welltok’s Caféwell platform provides consumers access to an organised ecosystem of wellness and condition management programmes, in addition to the communities and apps available through its health plan. Through a combination of machine learning and cognitive computing, CaféWell automatically personalises a health and wellness action plan for each consumer based on available benefits, consumer lifestyles and preferences, healthcare costs and healthcare status.

The firm has a staff strength of around 210 employees with offices in Colorado, New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts, and California.

The medtech firm is currently exploring partnerships and collaborations with firms and population health managers in the Asia Pacific region.

EDBI recently participated in the Series C financing round of Coursera, a leading online platform for open-access courses from the world’s top universities.

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LaunchPad is currently incubating four startups — Scoot, PayrollPanda, Pamperoo and Karyaab — in addition to two unnamed ventures

LaunchPad, a Kuala Lumpur-based startup incubator that develops and nurtures ideas in-house, has secured US$1 million in “pre-idea pre-seed funding” from a group of unnamed investors outside the country.

According to Founder and CEO Asim Qureshi, the investment reflects the investor confidence in the Malaysian market despite the uncertain economic conditions.

“The Malaysian startup scene has a great ecosystem and [is] an ideal stepping stone for other markets in ASEAN — for both developed markets like Singapore and less-developed markets such as Indonesia,” he said.

Also Read: Malaysia-based startup Offpeak bags US$117,000 grant from Cradle Fund

Unlike other typical startup incubators that mentor and invest in external ideas, LaunchPad incubates startups in-house and brings in co-founders, in addition to providing them with access to shared resources such as accountants, tech support and offices.

LaunchPad is primarily looking for proven business models from developed markets that can be launched from its pads in Malaysia into other Asian markets, Qureshi told e27. The incubation can stretch until the startups get VC funding.

“Much of our team is remote, which allows us to draw on an international talent pool. We have some of our key guys, including equity partners, living in Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, England and Scotland,” Qureshi added.

Currently, LaunchPad is working on four startups — Scoot, an online job platform; PayrollPanda, a payroll SaaS company; Pamperoo, a beauty-booking portal; and Karyaab, a online job platform focusing on certain Middle Eastern markets — in addition to two unnamed ventures.

Also Read: Scoot shows you jobs in Malaysia that are nearest to you

Qureshi is an Oxford graduate and former Vice President at investment banks Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. He previous started ThinkProperty.my, which was acquired by iProperty in 2010.

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Is 3D printing technology an improvement over traditional methods? Or simply a cool thing that actually does not make a major difference?

Most readers probably understand how 3D printing works; but for those who wonder how those guys in the mall take a nice self-portrait and turn it into a bobble-head in mere hours, the answer is rapid prototyping.

Rapid prototyping is a 3D printing technology that utilises a variety of techniques to build products via additive manufacturing.

In its most basic sense, the process uses layers of materials to build an object. One of the more intriguing applications is the introduction of organically-inspired designs into engineering.

But, is 3D printing technology actually an improvement over traditional plastic manufacturing? Or is it simply a cool technology that does not necessarily improve efficiency?

The following infographic, sponsored by Stratasys — a major 3D printing company — lays out the case of why rapid prototyping is an improvement on traditional techniques.

Also Read: [Video] Inside the Stratasys 3D printing centre in Singapore

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Baier oversaw SingPost’s expansion into regional e-commerce logistics; SingPost to scout for a replacement both internally and externally

Singapore Post Limited (SingPost) announced yesterday Wolfgang Baier’s resignation as its Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO).

Baier, who has been with the company for close to five years after joining as CEO (International) in February 2011, will support a handover until June 30, 2016 or earlier as the Board looks for a new GCEO. The search will be both internal and external.

Mervyn Lim, Deputy GCEO (Corporate Services) will cover the work of the GCEO. SingPost Chairman Lim Ho Kee will step up his involvement to provide management with more time and guidance over and above the normal oversight of the role as SingPost accelerates its transformation in the face of what it says is declining letter mail volume.

“It has been an exciting journey with the entire SingPost team as we stepped up SingPost’s transformation from a domestic mail player to a regional e-commerce logistics leader. I am thankful to the Chairman and Board for entrusting me and the team to lead SingPost’s accelerated transformation and our pioneering efforts in creating an end-to-end e-commerce logistics platform over the last five years,” said the 41-year-old Baier in an official statement.

Also Read: SingPost’s new shopping mall to offer e-comm logistics services

As at September 30, 2015, SingPost’s e-commerce-related revenue and overseas revenue were 29 per cent and 40 per cent of total revenue respectively as SingPost expanded internationally through acquisitions and leveraged the rapid growth in the regional e-commerce market.

“On a more personal note, I will certainly miss the camaraderie and energy at all levels. I am confident that SingPost is well positioned to ride on the huge e-commerce opportunities to become one of the global leaders in e-commerce logistics,” added Baier, who will be pursuing new endeavours according to the press release.

The Austrian’s resignation comes after SingPost announced an organization restructure in November to reinforce the strength of its management bench based on four pillars consisting of e-commerce, postal, logistics and operations, and corporate services.

“SingPost’s strengthened organizational structure will ensure a smooth leadership transition. SingPost’s management team has been organised to focus on integrating its recent acquisitions and investments for greater shareholder value, accelerating the growth of the global e-commerce business, maintaining sustainability of the mail business despite the declining letter volumes, and expanding the Group’s logistics business and operations,” said Lim.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Hurry down the chimney tonight! Or send me cash via bank transfer. Whatever works for you, man — uh, Santa.

Image Credit: Halfpoint / Shutterstock

Dear Santa,

Hope you’ve been well. I’m writing to make sure you didn’t miss my previous email(s). I know that Christmas is a trying and busy time for you – you must be swamped from all the other requests you’ve been getting from tech entrepreneurs! But nonetheless, my requests are special, because I am truly disrupting the industry.

I’ll have you know that I’ve been good and nice this year, despite all my antics. I’ll come clean here, but this is all off the record. I poached three of the best programmers from a rival company, and copied their app interface.

I misreported our seed round, because hey, mo’ money = great startup, no? I told reporters that I treat my employees like my own brothers and sisters, but forgot to mention that I love every minute of overworking them. That’s family for you!

But let’s not focus on the negative here, shall we?

I mean, it is Christmas. Compared to last Christmas, we have tripled our user numbers, though we are still not breaking even (yet!). I’m getting more and more offers from investors, who are totally doing a #fomo after learning that one of our key competitors just got acquired.

So, this year, I hope that you can bestow the following gifts on me:

1. A Series A round that doesn’t involve us giving away more than 40 per cent of the company.

2. A CTO. No, like an actual CTO. We are a tech company.

3. Regular sleeping hours, please.

4. Proper lunches every day. No more instant ramen.

5. My parents finally understanding the company’s business model. AND them not kicking me out of the house.

6. Potential ideas for pivoting.

7. Reporters who will stop bugging me when I don’t want them to.

8. Someone to fire employees for me.

9. More awards! Preferably ones that I don’t have to pay for.

10. A time travel machine.

Best regards,

Some tech entrepreneur you forgot last year

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This message (including any attachments) is confidential and may be privileged. It may be read, copied and used only by the intended recipient. If you have received it in error please contact the sender (by return e-mail) immediately and delete this message. Any unauthorised use or dissemination of this message in whole or in parts is strictly prohibited.

Also Read: Using lessons from technology innovation to build change elsewhere

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