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Want to know what happened during Finspire 2016?

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Disclosure: This video was produced by the e27 content marketing team, sponsored by MCI

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Nearcircles, the app that lets people create private social networks with others who live in their neighborhood, has raised US$1 million in a pre-series round to grow its footprint in Indonesia, where it recently expanded. The funding came from IDN Financials, which is based out of the startup’s home market, Singapore.

Live in 3,200 neighborhoods in the city-state, Mumbai, and Jakarta, Nearcircles has so far connected more than 100,000 people who have created hundreds of thousands of local discussions. The startup is proving to be a crucial way for people to keep track of what’s happening around them, from garage sales to city-wide events and updates about crime.

“The funds will be primarily utilized for team expansion in Indonesia, mainly in Jakarta for a year’s timeframe,” co-founder Suresh Mylavarapu tells Tech in Asia.

The startup is facing several challenges like setting up a team and running to speed in a new city, and marketing the app. Yet in just three weeks since its newest launch, it has signed up 20,000 fresh users across 825 neighborhoods. Those users are even discussing upcoming elections in the app. “Local parties and the election board are creating their official accounts on Nearcircles for sharing updates with Jakarta residents,” says Suresh.

Suresh (in striped shirt, center) with the Nearcircles team. Photo credit: Nearcircles.

Nearcircles is one of a handful of companies aiming to be Facebook for neighborhoods. In the US, the most popular player in this space is Nextdoor, now a member of the billion-dollar startup club.

The company is looking at several revenue streams, but hasn’t monetized. Instead, it’s focusing on gaining critical mass in its markets.

See: Wondering what’s happening next door? Nearcircles will tell you

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The green revolution is here. And it’s growing.

Asia needs clean technology. Home to 4.4 billion people with 700 million of those having no access to electricity and nearly 1.7 billion having no access to safe drinking water, with deforestation rates faster than anywhere else on Earth, and whose countries are situated mostly in areas that incur great damage from nature’s tantrum, Asia’s environmental issues are great.

And it is not just electricity and water. A study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicted that by 2030, the agriculture sector would need to produce 100 percent more food with diminishing water supply, have more than 1 billion vehicles emitting 80 percent of air pollution in Asian cities, and produce 46 percent of global CO2 emissions by 2035.

Lucky for Asia that its startups are stepping up. Here’s 13:

Husk Power Systems

Focused on inclusive rural development on the backbone of electric power

Husk Power Systems has developed a proprietary technology that generates electricity using rice husks processed in a biomass gasifier. The company’s business model is that of rural electrification based on a decentralised electricity generation and distribution that locals can sufficiently manage using local resources, or mini-plants. Currently, Husk Power Systems has installed 84 localised power plants servicing over 200,000 people in over 300 villages across Bahir, India.

Transkinetic

Harnessing vehicular movement for power and profit

Transkinetic, a Singapore-based startup founded in 2013, is the creator and manager of patented technology called Movnetic. The technology revolves around a smart road hump that absorbs kinetic energy from moving vehicles and converts it into clean electricity that is distributed through and managed by the Movnetic system. Transkinetic primarily works with research partners such as the Department of Engineering of the National University of Singapore and is funded by several government agencies and a regional venture capital company.

Also read: Go green: Check out this cool accelerator for startups that help protect the environment

HiGi Energy

Creating more accessible clean energy

HiGi Energy is a Philippine-based startup that converts water hyacinth into briquettes that act as an alternative cooking energy. In a country where 65 percent of the 100 million population still use firewood and charcoal, the company aims to both help reduce tree cuttings and help clean up rivers and lakes by using the invasive water hyacinth. HiGi has recently been awarded at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Silicon Valley.

Karma Recycling

Save the planet, earn good karma

A leading trade-in redistributor of mobile devices founded in 2013,Karma Recycling aims to minimise the negative impact of e-waste through reselling, recycling, refurbishing, or proper disposal of gadgets and electronics. Based in India where there are over 950 million devices currently in use, the company is backed by clean energy venture capitalist Infuse Ventures.

EcoWorth Tech

Breakthrough water remediation technology

EcoWorth Tech is a Singapore-based startup that developed the Carbon Fibre Aerogel – a material that can clean up liquid industrial waste from a wide range of industries and allow it to be discharged into drains. The company prides on the process and the product being eco-friendly; Carbon Fiber Aerogel are created from natural materials like waste paper, are reusable, and are used for food waste recycling, industrial water treatment, and oil decontamination.  EcoWorth was founded in 2016 as a spin-out from Singapore’s Nanyang Technical University.

Also read: Towards a cleaner planet: Here a 4 e-waste businesses that will inspire you to go green

RAD Green Solutions

Developed a revolutionary, non-burn system for the destruction of bio-medical wastes

Based in the southern Philippine city of Davao, RAD Green Solutions was formed by a team of engineers to develop an environmentally-safe, low-cost waste management system called the Pyroclave. The system decomposes medical waste using extreme heat without oxygen in a process called Pyrolysis that, unlike incineration, produces fewer by-products and effectively carbonises all solid material with 50% less carbon dioxide. The company has won many awards for this technology, most recently as a runner-up in the 2016 National Invention Contest and Exhibit by the Philippine’s Department of Science and Technology.

BlueRen

The best solution to constructively utilise plastic waste

Formerly known as Karboneum, BlueRen has developed a process treatment that creates carbon nanotubes from trash like plastic bottles and plastic bags. Carbon nanotubes, which are 100 percent stronger than steel and are excellent conductors of electricity, can be used in optics, electronics, energy storage, and nanotechnology. The company claims that apart from reusing plastics, the process of producing the nanotubes has virtually no carbon footprint and do not release toxic gases. BlueRen has recently joined the CleanEnviro Summit held in Singapore last September 2016.

Zenatix

Energy consumption optimised to the last watt

This India-based startup founded in 2013 provides IoT based products for energy monitoring and control. Zenatix has developed a systems that utilises sensors and smart energy meters to gather data and feed it to an analytics engine through a cloud server to generate alerts and control electrical devices based on the commands generated by the analytics engine. The company operates in the B2B space and is backed by angel investors and Blume Ventures.

Cleverheat

Analyze your energy consumption. Reduce costs.

Cleverheat is company that creates alternative refrigeration systems driven by heat from the sun. Their service includes assessing refrigeration needs and recommending cost-saving alternatives, integration of renewable energy to bring down cost of refrigeration, and gathering and analysing data for monitoring and energy optimisation. The Philippine-based company has recently been selected to take part in Impact Hub’s fellowship program focusing on sustainable energy solutions.

Also read: The human cost of our device and car batteries

Avant Garde Innovations

Powering a billion unpowered

Founded in 2013, Avant Garde Innovations has only officially started its operations in 2015 with the goal of providing alternative energy to reduce dependence on India’s state power grids. The company has produced highly affordable small wind turbines that can be used by and for residential, commercial, or agricultural structures and purposes.Claiming to be the world’s first startup committed to 100 percent renewable energt, Avant Garde Innovations is globally recognised and is in the United Nations’ clean energy list.

Intraix

Make sense of energy consumption data

Founded in 2012, Intraix focuses on creating solutions to improve energy efficiency and bring down consumption costs. The company has built a range of products for various users – from large enterprises, to food and beverage companies, to residential homes – all revolving around energy consumption monitoring  and reporting. In 2016, Intraix has introduced KLUG, a USB-sized incorporated with smart home technology that turns a WI-FI router into a smart-home hub.

BMB Solutions

Providing impactful social innovations that pave way for sustainable and enriched living conditions

Built by graduating students of Ateneo de Manila University, BMB Solutions is a community-driven company that developed the Big Mike Bike – a low-cost, modular, contraption that can do so many things. The bicycle can be fitted with various parts to be an electricity generator and storage, a water pump and filtration system, a shredder, a food processor, a laundry machine, and others. The company is currently part of The Spark Project’s startup community.

Eco2 Green Data Center

The Impossible Data Center: A reality

Eco2 Green Data Center, founded in Malaysia, manufactures green data center equipment. The company addresses the issue of environmentally-damaging data center technology by developing a coolant where IT equipment could be submerged, resulting to 50 percent energy cost reduction, 50 percent decrease in carbon emission, and 30 percent increase in server reliability and lifetime. Eco2 Green Data Center has recently won the Chairman’s Award at the Global ICT Excellence Awards 2016 and is currently expanding portfolio to Eco2 certified hardware.

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No cash? No worries!

One technology that has emerged of late goes by the name of Unified Payments Interface or UPI. It has become pretty popular recently in the news in India, although most consumers have not been able to experience the revolution and the magic moment that comes along when paying through UPI.

Part of that stems from the myths that keep floating around, regarding how it might not be that secure and worthwhile. Well, allow me to put all of these doubts at ease through this post.

Let us take all the salient features of UPI one by one:

1. Bye-bye long account numbers and IFSC codes

Convenience factor

• Now, there is no need to ask anyone for their account numbers or IFSC codes when sending or receiving money. Apart from the fact that remembering long account numbers and IFSC codes is cumbersome, entering those on a small screen/app is painful (especially considering that the user experience of banking websites and apps is mostly terrible).
• Of course, the question is now what replaces these two, if they are not in the picture any more. Say hello to virtual address (which looks like sunnyrohit@ybl, where the first part is a unique ID set by you and the second part is determined by the bank/app which processes your payments). This virtual address is automatically mapped to your bank account by NPCI when you register for the first time.

Security factor

• The first thing to observe is that since you no longer need to share your account details (number and IFSC code) with anyone, hence they are completely hidden from everyone else.
• Secondly, what this process does is that it takes your user level identification to a more abstract level where the virtual address (or in our case – mobile number) becomes the key information to know or share with anyone. And sharing it is completely harmless as a common person cannot extract any info from that.

2. Send and receive money instantly, 24×7 and even on a holiday

Convenience factor

• Needless to say, this is a game changer, especially in this new economy where demonetisation has brought cash to a near standstill and banks/ATMs are clogged up. Not to mention that when sending/receiving money, we don’t even need to think what day and time it may be.

Security factor

• Actually, UPI is built on the existing layer of IMPS (Immediate payment service), which has been running smoothly since 2010. Hence, the key thing to note here is that the basic security concepts have stood the test of time for six years now. Not to mention that they have improved along the way and many more locks as well as checks have been added on top.

3. Linked exclusively to your mobile device

Convenience factor

• This is a no-brainer as everybody has their personal mobile with them 24×7. And it is also the first device that we think of nowadays when receiving/sharing anything on a speedy basis.
• Also not to worry, you can link multiple bank accounts as well with the same virtual address. As well as un-link/delete accounts at any point of time.

Security factor

• Firstly, it is important to remember that your virtual address gets mapped to your device exclusively. Now couple this with the fact that for making any payment (peer to peer and peer to merchant), you need to enter your M-pin (a secure 6 digit pin set by you for the first time), and then you can see how it is a perfect closed loop.
• Even if anybody gets hold of your device, they cannot do anything until or unless they have your M-pin. Similarly, for resetting your M-pin, you would need your debit card details (completely separate from your device information for security reasons)

4. No minimum amount

A single user can also do 5 transactions totalling up to Rs. 1 Lakh (around US$1,500) daily.

Convenience factor

• Taking all common scenarios, a total amount of Rs. 1 Lakh is good enough to cover all your daily needs be it online/offline. And again the number of transactions can easily be covered within the limit of 5 per person. Hence, yay to good lifestyle needs!

Security factor

• These velocity checks also ensure that nobody can wipe out or cause any major havoc in anyone’s bank account (although as we discussed, the chances of any data compromise are next to nothing).
• Also, remember that all these aspects and features are valid for non-banking UPI apps (like ours) that have partnered with a bank or individual bank’s UPI apps as well

In today’s age of lightning speed information and open access, keep no room for confusions or myths in your life. It is time to embrace the change and be a part of a much more awesome and well-built economic infrastructure via UPI.

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Rohit Taneja is Founder at Mypoolin.

The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here.

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Finally, a startup that is decidedly not chasing after millennials

Intuitive Robotics’s Elli•Q. Image Credit: Gabriel Avner / Geektime

Ramat Gan-based Intuition Robotics showed off today for the first time their prototype for Elli•Q, a robotic companion aimed at making the lives of older adults less lonely and more engaging.

The device, whose design came about from a collaboration with Yves Béhar, was unveiled at the Design Museum in London as a part of the New Old: Designing for our Future Selves exhibition.

The company was co-founded in 2016 by CEO Dor Skuler, VP R&D Itai Mendelsohn, and VP Product Roy Amir. The trio had previously worked together at Alcatel-Lucent’s Cloudband, a new business set up by the company to build telecom networks on top of cloud infrastructure, called NFE where Dor served as a senior VP.

They have thus far raised an undisclosed amount of funding from impact investors Terra Venture Partners and Bloomberg Beta, a seed fund in the valley and NY that has a specialty in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Speaking with Geektime, Skuler says that he and his team wanted to work on a project that would solve a problem in the world. Looking for ideas, they were fascinated by the concept of longevity and how we as a society are meeting the challenge of taking care of our aging parents.

Also Read: MobiDent secures pre-Series A to provide home dental care services in India

What they came up with is a robot and tablet platform that they are calling an active aging companion.

He says that what caught their attention in particular was the issue of loneliness, which he believed was not being fully addressed even as it has become more prominent than it used to be. As people in western societies are living to older ages, with mortality ages rising on average to 78.8 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, the question is whether they are being properly taken care of.

Modernisation in the workforce and society has had a significant impact on how we live as families, and as such, how we help out our aging parents.

“We used to be born, work, and die within five miles of the same place,” says Skuler. “In the US, people live an average of 12 miles farther away from their parents than they used to. Thanks to modern medicine, we live a relatively healthy life, reaching older ages than before.”

Also Read: [Updated] Go-Jek acquires Indian home healthcare marketplace Pianta

While this might have otherwise been good news, the unfortunate downside is that older adults are left alone for longer periods, with only a few visits from their children to see them every year.

But aren’t we more connected than ever you may ask? Yes and no.

“Technology for us make our lives easier, but make new barriers for older adults because it requires them to learn new skills to complete the simplest of tasks,” says Skuler, explaining that with the rapid pace of advancement in tech, we are constantly changing the way that we engage with entertainment, perform tasks, and communicate.

Simply put, the same device or service that a 12 year-old can pick up and operate instinctively could be exceedingly frustrating for someone in their late 70s.

An optimist, Skuler says that technology has matured to the point that we can build a product that can help bridge the gap, noting that, “We can learn new things when we’re older, but it takes longer.”

Also Read: Japan’s M3 form JV with HealthCare atHOME to launch a news platform for Indian doctors

Meet Elli•Q

In looking to develop technology that would do the most good for older adults, the Intuitive team decided to focus on three major areas of need. It should be pointed out that the Elli•Q device is meant for older adults who can still take care of themselves, remembering the title of active aging companion, so this should not be considered a replacement for a home care worker.

The device itself, packed with sensors, currently has two main parts: the moving robot head and the tablet where most of the interaction occurs.

Intuitive Robotics’s Elli•Q. Image Credit: Gabriel Avner / Geektime

Perhaps the first thing that you notice is that Elli•Q does not have a face. The company felt that giving her one would be dishonest (sort of like calling a table top robot her, but it just sort of feels right and the uncanny valley be damned), seeing as how the device is not alive. Instead of expressions, they leverage gestures, LED lights, and movement in a way that humans recognise in order to make it simpler to interact with.

In looking to make communication easier, Intuition has included a chatbot that is run through Facebook Messenger. By their thinking, they wanted to find a way to make communication more natural between the older adults and their family, the later of which has grown accustomed to the simultaneous chatting experience of Messenger, WhatsApp, Slack, etcetera.

Also Read: India’s home healthcare platform Care24 raises US$4M Series A led by SAIF

Built on a basic Android platform, they can also add in additional modes of communicating like Skype, but through an easier access way that does not require dealing with the frustrating sign in process.

Relying on Natural Language Processing (NLP: the technology that is at the center of most machine learning work these days), Elli•Q can listen and transmit spoken responses or commands from the user with what Intuitive is calling a high level of accuracy.

This machine learning capability is a key part of Elli•Q’s magic, as she learns to interact with her user. Part of this “understanding” that she picks up is about when to deliver a message to the user who, unlike younger generations accustomed to the constant dings of a smartphone that sends pleasure chemicals coursing through our veins to the brain, may prefer to receive non-essential messages at a different pace.

In this way, Elli•Q acts as an arbitrator between the generations, making it more convenient for them to communicate with each other.

Intuitive Robotics’s ElliQ. Image Credit: Gabriel Avner / Geektime

Also Read: Healthcare startup in Indonesia? H-Cube might just be the right coworking space for you

Learning to work with the older adult melts into Elli•Q’s second major function as a motivator and engager. Older adults become more reactive than proactive, sticking to routines and not initiating new activities, so learning what they like and do not is imperative to reach the desired results.

Whereas a more general home assistant like Alexa will wait for your commands, Elli•Q will take the initiative and make suggestions, offering to play an audiobook or a TED talk, or that they watch some TV. It can also try to encourage them to go out for a walk, after checking the weather of course to make sure that this suggestion makes sense.

Skuler drives home the point that if the user does not trust Elli•Q’s suggestions, then they will be disinclined to use it. This is where the connectivity and sensors come into play. If the device hears that the TV has already been on for three hours that day, then it will know not to offer that as an option, similar to how it checks weather reports from the internet.

If the older adult chooses to, they can turn on various monitoring features, including some that relate to wellness. They can choose to do things like notify someone — like an older child — when they woke up in the morning, or what the temperature is in the house.

It can also pick up on abnormalities using sensors like thermometers, propane sensors, computer vision, and microphones. “The combination of multiple actions a day, gives us the potential to be very insightful,” says Skuler.

Also Read: Affordplan raises US$3M to make healthcare affordable through planned savings in India

In taking privacy concerns seriously, he adds that along with built-in encryption, information collected by the computer vision capabilities are not sent off the device, and a wake word similar to “Hey Siri” is needed to activate the microphone.

They made the decision early on that they would not allow e-commerce through Elli•Q. Skuler explains that they were afraid of older adults being taking advantage of, as has often been the case. In the same vein, their policies allow only the older adults to make the changes, using things like the computer vision to identify that only authorized people are making the changes.

Looking down the road a little bit, the company plans to use their Android platform to interact with various APIs in a smart home environment.

They will be opening an office in the valley later this year, and are hiring now for that office. After that they expect that they will hire more for the marketing side as the release date gets closer.

Greater availability of tools make diving into development cheaper and easier

One of the most interesting points raised by speaking with the Intuitive team was how tools like 3D printers and engines like Google’s machine learning, which is now available over the cloud, all lead to a maker culture that is far more accessible for small companies. No longer reserved to making apps or other software, big players like Facebook and Google are opening up their resources so that others do not need to begin building from scratch. This is a change where everything available over the cloud appears to be having a big impact.

Also Read: HaloDoc completes US$13M Series A to bolster Indonesia’s healthcare sector

Intuitive Robotics’s ElliQ. Image Credit: Gabriel Avner / Geektime

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The close of 2015 seemed to leave the next year wide open for collaboration between larger Chinese companies and Indian startups – a handful of Indian startups got funding well into the hundred millions from giants like Alibaba and Tencent.

This year saw those amounts drop. Only one out of the top five companies hit three-digit funding. The other companies had funding in the millions, but it’s still a clear case of two depleted parts adding up to a depleted whole – Indian startups brought in a total US$3.38 billion last year, according to the Tech in Asia Database. That’s an unfathomable amount of money – it’s also only half of what India’s startups collected in 2015. Meanwhile, startup funding in China is also experiencing its own trickle problems.

It’s a pretty clear case of two depleted parts adding up to a depleted whole.

In the meantime, it’s been a mixed bag for those startups that grabbed those huge amounts in 2015. Paytm reaped the benefits when demonetization hit India. Rendering part of the country’s cash useless and a subsequent cash shortage breathed life into fintech startups, which stepped into the limelight in the previously cash-first economy. Snapdeal and Ola, however, both experienced writedowns.

In the midst of all that, where in India did Chinese firms and accelerators decide to stick their funds? Here are the five biggest disclosed Chinese investments in India’s startups last year, according to the Tech in Asia Database.

See: 4 huge Chinese investments in India’s tech startups in 2015

1. Hike

CEO Kavin Mittal. Photo credit: Hike.

India’s homegrown messaging app Hike landed the only investment that hit the hundred millions on this list – US$175 million in series D funding from Tencent and Foxconn, with participation from previous investors Tiger Global, SoftBank, and Bharti Enterprises.

The deal, announced in August, pushed Hike to unicorn status.

Founder and CEO Kavin Mittal is the son of billionaire and Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal, who also owns telco Bharti Airtel.

Tencent’s previous investments in India include healthcare Practo, which helps people locate doctors and other health services, as well as order medication.

See: Hike’s Kavin Mittal talks about $175m boost in its battle with WhatsApp

2. Dailyhunt

In October, Dailyhunt (previously named Newshunt) received US$25 million in a series D round led by Beijing-based internet technology company Bytedance. Former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin and existing investors Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital India, investment network Omidyar, and Falcon Edge Capital.

Dailyhunt publishes news and other content in 12 regional languages, reaching out to the diversity of languages spoken in India.

ByteDance previously invested in news apps Toutiao and TopBuzz.

See: How Dailyhunt became one of the top news apps in the world

3. CarDekho

Photo credit: Pixabay.

Beijing-based investment management firm Hillhouse Capital joined in on a funding round for new and used car portal CarDekho. Google Capital led the round, which amounted to around US$15 million. The round took place in March.

Founded by brothers Amit Jain and Anurag Jain, CarDekho is owned by IT company GirnarSoft, which also owns PriceDekho. CarDekho has acquired companies including auto classifieds site Gaadi and car and bike marketplace Zigwheels.

See: Why is a classifieds site for cars in India valued at $300m?

4. IndiaLends

China-based VC firm Cyber Carrier closed out November by hopping on a US$4 million series A funding round into fintech startup IndiaLends.

The round was led by American Express’ investment arm, with participation from several of the startup’s previous investors, including Cyber Carrier, VC firm DSG Consumer Partners, and AdvantEdge Partners.

Founded by Gaurav Chopra and Mayank Kachhwaha, the company helps out consumers by connecting them with banks and financial companies so that they may more easily obtain loans. For financial institutions, it also attempts to widen the amount of data available for credit scoring.

See: American Express backs India’s fintech sector, invests in IndiaLends

5. KrazyBee

Photo credit: Betterment.

In June, KrazyBee, a microloan startup aimed at students, raised US$2 million in seed funding from two China-based investors: mobile ad network Yeahmobi and microloan and ecommerce company Fenqile.

The startup, founded in 2015 by Wan Hong and Madhusudan E, uses a merit-based system to judge credit in lieu of a traditional credit score. It also sells electronics, clothes, and accessories on monthly payment plans.

See: Alibaba-backed Paytm solves the problem of card payments in India

Thanks to Queena Wadyanti for help with the data.

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The news was announced through a stock exchange filing from Singtel

Southeast Asian streaming platform HOOQ has raised US$25 million of capital from its existing investors Singtel, Sony Pictures, and Warner Brothers, Techcrunch reported.

According to the report, the funding was announced through a stock exchange filing from Singtel. The filing detailed that Singtel had invested an additional S$23.7 million (US$15.5 million) with the other investors chipping in the rest. It is also revealed that HOOQ had initially raised US$70 million, putting the total number of recent investment US$95 million. This is the first time such information ever been made public.

HOOQ CEO Peter Bithos dubbed the capital as a “drawdown” from originally committed amount. He also stated that the company is preparing to welcome outside investors for the first time and that it will evaluate funding options beyond their first round later this year.

There is no information yet on what the company is planning to use the new funding for.

Also Read: HOOQ appoints OTT industry veteran as Country Manager for Singapore, bags Gold Award for branding

The platform was founded in 2015 by the three companies. Following this recent deal, the companies maintain the same shareholding with Singtel owning 65 per cent, while Sony and Warner owning 17.5 per cent each.

HOOQ’s service is available in Indonesia, Phillipines, India, and its own home market Singapore, which only seen its launch in late 2016.

Apart from competition with global player Netflix and Amazon Prime, HOOQ also have to compete with fellow Asian players such as iflix, as well as new contenders Viu and Tribe.

Netflix’s refusal to comply with some countries with strict censorship law, such as Indonesia, has led to its ban from platforms operated by state-owned telco Telkom. While iflix has been taking advantage of such situation by fostering partnership with Telkom itself, most players including HOOQ have been focussing on strengthening local contents.

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Photo credit: Pexels.

Startup funding is gaining steam, and the beneficiary sectors are as diverse as a rainbow. From a co-working space to healthtech to a driving school aggregator, today’s list is all about creating unique value in a crowded market.

Medinfi Healthcare

This Bangalore-based healthtech startup helps users discover doctors and hospitals, and has raised its sixth round of angel investment – US$100,000 – from investors based in Singapore and Qatar.

Medinfi Healthcare will use the proceeds to explore at least 25 new cities in India in the next nine months. It is currently present in 25 Indian cities, including Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune.

Launched in 2014, Medinfi detects a user’s location and suggests relevant doctors and hospitals from 12,000 listings. Unlike Practo, Medinfi doesn’t facilitate appointment booking. That hasn’t stopped the company’s progress. The startup has already crossed 500,000 users, a target it had set to achieve by March 2017.

Medinfi is currently available only on Android. It plans to launch an iOS app by June.

See: This Yelp-like app in India can make sure your mom’s health is in good hands

InstaOffice

A chain of business centers and co-working spaces – InstaOffice – has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-series A round from Globevestor. The investor had earlier bet its investment on well-known startup names such as Zoomcar, OnlineTyari, and Rubique.

Other angel investors including Toppr co-founder Zishaan Hayath, Karan Chellani, managing partner at SQUE Capital, and Mohit Satyan, director at DFM Foods also participated.

InstaOffice has probably caught investors’ attention because the startup follows a lean business model. Instead of buying or leasing, InstaOffice partners with property owners, which keeps capital requirement and operational costs to the minimum.

“We structure partnerships with landlords where they can earn higher rental yields from their spaces and customers can get high degree of flexibility,” InstaOffice founder Devendra Agarwal says.

That’s why InstaOffice has been able to grow its network from a single business center in Gurgaon in Feb 2016, to 10 centers across Gurgaon, Delhi, and Bangalore. The startup will add four more centers in Gurgaon, two in Bangalore and four more in Delhi-NCR by March 2017.

Photo credit: Haldane Martin

Fynd

Fashion and ecommerce: a darling sector for investors. One such startup called Fynd has clinched an undisclosed amount of funding from Snapdeal’s former chief product officer Anand Chandrasekaran.

Rajiv Mehta, CEO of Arvind SportsLifestyle, and Ramakant Sharma, vice president for engineering division at Myntra and Livspace founder, contributed to the funding.

The startup says that associating with these industry doyens will help them leverage their expertise. The funds will be used to bolster their tech infrastructure.

It claims to be ahead in getting the latest in-store inventories online much before other ecommerce players. “We optimize delivery time by sourcing products from the outlets nearest to the customer. We can deliver in 5-6 hours,” Fynd founder Harsh Shah says.

Recently, Fynd had launched a new feature called ‘Fynd Store’, providing offline retailers an online platform to attract customers. It also allows retailers to cross-sell across different stores of the same brand.

Set up as Shopsense in 2012, the company pivoted to Fynd in November 2015.

See: Never run out of style with these 7 fashion startups

VOW CarClinic

The name gives it away: yes, VOW CarClinic is a car servicing and repair startup. It was founded by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore alumni Harmeet Hora and Abhishek Menon. It vows to be the counterpart of budget hotel brand OYO for car services has raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Vishal Malik, founder and director of Gemini Solutions.

It currently serves the Delhi-NCR region through its website and mobile app. The app offers car servicing, washing and cleaning, denting and painting and general car repairs.

VOW CarClinic offers to simplify the whole process, offering a uniform service experience to car owners by onboarding local garages and standardizing prices.

Within four months of inception, the startup has scaled up its operations to four cities in the NCR – Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, and Faridabad. It plans to expand beyond Delhi-NCR and enter other major cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai.

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Photo credit: Giphy.

Singapore-based bitcoin startup BitX announced today it’s setting up an office in London to build up its presence in Europe’s fintech world.

And it will be doing so under a new name – the startup will henceforth be known as Luno. That includes a new website as well as updated iOS and Android apps.

It’s possible Luno, née BitX, read this blog post lamenting how most bitcoin startup names suck, but the company thinks of it as indicative of where it’s aiming. “Luno” means “moon” in the international Esperanto language and the recently skyrocketing price of bitcoin certainly reflects that sentiment.

Luno will target business clients with its new product.

As part of its expansion in London, Luno will join the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory sandbox. In this walled off environment meant to test new financial services and products, Luno will try out its Falcon product – a way to help remittance businesses move British pounds to other currencies using bitcoin and other digital currencies as a clearing and settlement mechanism. Luno will target business clients with this offering.

The startup is also launching a beta product that allows users to buy bitcoin using their credit card. The service is initially available in Canada, India, and most European countries. Users can store and spend the card-bought digital currency but cannot sell it at the moment.

Finally, Luno will place more emphasis on providing more education about bitcoin with a new learning portal that gives a crash course on the cryptocurrency.

The startup hopes to position itself as a well-rounded provider of bitcoin-related services, expanding beyond its central ewallet function.

“We believe that decentralized digital currencies like bitcoin will fundamentally change how the world views and uses money: cheaper, faster and safer transactions; more privacy and financial freedom; a significantly better user experience; and ultimately, more equality by giving everyone in the world access to the same financial system,” says Luno CEO Marcus Swanepoel, a passionate believer in bitcoin.

The startup raised an undisclosed amount from Venturra Capital in December 2015. It raised its series A round, worth US$4 million, in July of the same year. The round was led by South African media conglomerate Naspers and joined by investors like the Digital Currency Group.

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Photo credit: andreypopov / 123RF.

German startup leviathan Rocket Internet may have had a mixed 2016, but that’s certainly not preventing it from continuing to invest in new companies.

The latest startup to launch in Asia is Ushift, a marketplace for businesses to hire temporary staff. Ushift will officially launch on January 16 with Singapore as its first port of call. It’s a brand-new venture in its own right and, unlike some other startups, not a company that Rocket has exported from existing operations in Europe or Latin America.

Robinson Blanckaert, CEO of Ushift, tells Tech in Asia that the decision to target this niche was because existing processes for hiring short-term workers in Southeast Asia are fragmented and broken. There’s real demand from businesses like event management firms, restaurants, and catering outlets, but most recruiting is done through Facebook groups or word of mouth.

“If you manage a restaurant during high season, you might need from the next day on up to ten additional waiters to meet the workload. Ushift allows its clients to find the right candidates in a fast and convenient way,” he adds.

Prospective employees sign up on the site and answer questions about experience, education, and availability to build a profile. Candidates also upload a short video to introduce themselves.

But that doesn’t mean all applicants are automatically added to the pool. Once candidates have done their bit, their profiles are put in ‘pending’ mode. Ushift’s team conducts background checks, including a Skype call to vet the person and verify his/her details. They’re added to the roster if everything checks out.

Ushift’s Robinson Blanckaert. Photo credit: Publicity.

No commission

Rob explains they’re trying to engender a model that’s radically different from traditional short-term recruitment agencies.

“There are many [such agencies] which work with hotels and large hospitality players, and they do their jobs well, but they charge a year’s salary as commission. As a result, workers get paid less,” he says.

Ushift doesn’t take any money from people looking for work. It won’t charge employers a percentage of individual salaries either. There’s a tiered-pricing model in place – businesses can hire unlimited staff through the site for a monthly fee of US$100. Employers with staffing needs of up to five temporary hires a month use the site for free.

The pricing mechanisms aren’t yet in place. They’ll be implemented once the team has understood how best to serve businesses and employees and has achieved a semblance of product-market fit.

“Like any marketplace, there’s the possibility of taking the process offline, but that’s totally fine. That’s why we don’t want to do the commission model. A license fee means you’re now committed to the platform,” outlines Rob.

The focus of the company will always be on helping to fill temporary positions – which Rob defines as jobs that last from “one night up to one month, but not more.” There are absolutely no plans of getting into traditional recruitment, as the space is already quite crowded.

But within Ushift’s niche, the team is trying to make a concerted effort to ensure workforce quality. One problem plaguing current short-term hires, especially in Singapore, is that many simply don’t show up for work despite agreeing to a particular task. If that happens with a registered Ushift worker, they’ll be banned from the site permanently.

At the same time, there are incentives in place for exemplary workers. Rob claims they’ll be paid bonuses by Ushift – above and beyond the agreed rate with employers – if they gather consistently high ratings.

When the platform goes live on Monday, there will already be 500 jobseekers online – pre-screened and available for work immediately.

Snapshot of the Ushift site.

Conquering Southeast Asia

By industry standards, the Ushift CEO is a Rocket Internet veteran. He’s spent two years at the German incubator, previously heading beauty services marketplace Vaniday. He explains that the idea for such a service came to him during his interactions with salon and spa owners across Southeast Asia.

After encouragement from Rocket’s core management team in Singapore, Rob discussed his plans with other startups in cities like Bangkok and Jakarta to get feedback on the business model.

“Rocket isn’t interested in just one country, [the idea] has to be scalable. Very early on, we understood there was a need for this platform,” he says.

In typical Rocket Internet execution speed, the company went from idea to launch in just two months.

They plan on growing quickly. Launches in Thailand and Indonesia are firmly on the radar – within the next two months, according to Rob, who points to the “means within the Rocket group” as an ace up its sleeve.

He will face competition from the likes of Helpster, which raised US$2.1 million in November to expand across Southeast Asia.

Rob is tight-lipped about how much money Rocket Internet has poured into the company, saying he’s not in a position to disclose, but does add that it’s enough to meet requirements for a year. The team’s aiming for 1,000 active employers and 50,000 jobseekers in Singapore by the end of the year.

“We think that’s normal and an achievable goal. I’m 100 percent sure we can meet those targets […] feedback from businesses has been very positive,” says Rob.

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