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As 2017 kicks into full swing, Singapore-based VC East Ventures today announced its fifth fund worth US$27.5 million for investing in early-stage Southeast Asian startups. (Disclosure: East Ventures is an investor in Tech in Asia. See our ethics statement for more info).

A report co-authored by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek and Google projects Southeast Asia’s internet economy to hit over US$200 billion by 2025. It’s the fastest-growing internet market, the report adds, with an existing internet user base of 260 million – growing to 480 million by 2020.

East Ventures is banking on that growth. With the new capital from unnamed prominent families and entrepreneurs, it says it will invest in more than 20 startups in the region – its average number per year.

The firm has 80 portfolio companies in Southeast Asia, making it one of the most active investors.

It says that assets under its management have increased tenfold.

“The firm believes there will be more mergers and acquisitions this year involving its portfolio companies. However, startups can expect there to be little activity in series B investments,” it forecasts in a statement.

Early bets in Indonesia

Partners Willson Cuaca, Batara Eto, and Taiga Matsuyama will follow the same investment thesis in deploying the capital. The firm usually identifies verticals that are poised to expand in a market, then backs people whom it believes will be future leaders of the space. Those founders are either in the prototyping stages or have a product with early traction. Once a clear category winner has been established, the firm will move to other parts of the value chain.

Apart from Tech in Asia, East Ventures has made early bets on companies like ecommerce giant Tokopedia, flight search engine Traveloka, online-to-offline ecommerce startup Kudo, cashback company Shopback, and online payments solution Omise.

Many of those startups are based in Indonesia, where East Ventures has kept its focus. It recently set up two co-working spaces in Jakarta under the name EV Hive, which it also manages. EV Hive hosts more than 100 public tech events every year, with an audience of more than 3,000 and speakers from various industries, startups, and corporates.

“East Ventures’ networks enable it to help companies both expand outside of Indonesia into the region and also enter Indonesia from the region,” the firm notes.

So far, East Ventures has seen exits of seven portfolio companies, including Indonesian daily deals site Disdus, price comparison site PriceArea, and fashion estore Shopdeca.

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We are in an era of market correction

India’s booming startup ecosystem that had been the toast of the town for the last couple of years is back in the news. While until sometime back, startups were being celebrated amidst great fanfare due to high valuations and big buck investments unlike ever before, the mood has been sombre after Flipkart’s recent devaluation — the fourth time in a row.

Flipkart, which enjoys 45 per cent of the market share in the e-commerce segment, was marked down by Morgan Stanley in its recent valuation by almost 27 per cent. This led to Flipkart’s net worth dropping from US$15.2 billion to US$11 billion.

Also Read: Kalyan Krishnamurthy is now officially calling the shots as Flipkart CEO, but can he turn the company around?

With the looming spectre of Amazon cutting swathes through Flipkart’s market, this devaluation couldn’t have come at a worse time. Just when Flipkart needed more funds to counter the competition from Amazon, the devaluation will mean slowing down its growth plans.

What is worse is that Flipkart is not the only unicorn whose fortunes have taken a hit. HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, too, have cut back on the valuation of  Zomato by a whopping 50 per cent. With the unicorns losing their shine, a pal of gloom has descended over Indian startups. What is important, however, is that startups now need to introspect what and where things have gone wrong, and implement corrective measures to get onto the right track.

Here’s why things went wrong in the first place

A couple of years ago, investors were flush with excess money and looked towards new and growing markets like India, which now has the third largest concentration of startups, to widen their portfolio of investments. Since the startup fad was still relatively new then, there was little data to back their investments. So they went ahead with their gut feel. Thereafter, it was purely a matter of luck in terms of which investments paid off and which ones didn’t. The final blow was the constant pressure on these startups to scale up, when they were not even close to being sustainable.

Unfortunately the method to escalate size and reach was all wrong. All of these e-tailers resorted to the deep discounting model to grab market share and kill the smaller competitors in the horizon. Rapid horizontal growth across tier 2 and tier 3 cities took place without putting in place adequate backend logistics and infrastructure. The bottom line was all red, with a majority of the startups clocking losses with a zero profit generation revenue model.

Q3 of 2015 saw a drop of 50 per cent in series B funding by investors and 80 per cent fall in the series C rounds as compared to Q3, 2015, as per a Tracxn survey. So it’s time for startups move away from high cash-burn mode of operations and start focusing on creating some real value for themselves, customers, and other stakeholders.

A new way of doing things

This could mean going frugal and looking at long term sustainability as well as tweaking the current business model, finding new growth metrics and avenues.  It would also mean analysing how operations can be optimised by trimming down spending on areas that are not yielding the desired results or figuring out how to turn things around in those areas.

This is also the time when copycat ventures with little innovation and novelty in their offerings will be weeded out. Moreover, given the current situation, there is likely to be a sort of market correction, with quite a few consolidations happening in the startup space.

Also Read: Patriotism is the last refuge of the failing copycats: Experts flay Flipkart’s demand for protectionist policies

With tightened purse strings, job cuts are on the anvil, too. Startups will be left with little choice than to slash their workforce in the face of such slowdowns and shutdowns. Demonetisation will only compound their woes further in this regard. All in all, this cycle will be a major learning curve for future startup operations in India.

However, all is not lost for the Indian startup industry. Flipkart might lose out to Amazon with deeper pockets at the moment. But, the spirit of Indian entrepreneurship will stay alive. The country is poised for a startup revolution, fuelled by the aspirations of   increasingly globalised Indians.

New expectations, new focus

Once limitations in internet bandwidth, smartphone penetration, regional preferences, and now, the move towards a cashless economy are sorted out, the glorious days of startups will be back. Not to forget: startups that figure out the right moves during these seemingly tough times and build sustainable models will emerge a cut above the rest, and will not fail to get noticed by investors even now.

The Flipkart devaluation only goes to show that investor preferences have changed over time. It is not as if investment has come to a standstill. So, rather than fretting about the situation, all that is required is that startups begin aligning themselves with the evolved set of expectations and the renewed focus on building a business with a clear differentiation and self-sustainable model.

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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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It’s okay to stare longingly at the US$2 trillion global ecommerce market, wishing there was a way to get in on the action. But setting up an online store is easier said than done. Sure, you could hire a developer to build a site or just purchase a custom template from Shopify. But what about all the time it takes to negotiate supplier contracts, arrange deliveries, and set up a payment gateway?

Even if you successfully navigate these hurdles, there’s the (very real) possibility of being muscled out by well-funded leviathans like Alibaba and Amazon. It seems like there’s just no recourse for regular people like you and I.

Tel Aviv-based Add2Store won’t give you a million dollars to start your own ecommerce company, but it is trying to democratize access to online commerce by building a community of suppliers and sellers.

If you’re confused, that’s okay because I was too when I first spoke with Barak Finkelshtein, co-founder.

“We are a marketplace for sellers,” he exhorts over a Skype call. “Think of us as a huge catalog, where you can pick and choose items and decide what you want to sell online.”

In layman’s terms, Add2Store brings together large suppliers that would ordinarily list only on sites like Alibaba and connects them to people who want to make money selling things online across the world.

“Alibaba is not a drop shipping website – it’s a retail website,” says Barak. “You can buy in bulk but if you locate the supplier and you want him to drop ship it doesn’t happen. They send bulk stock in containers – you can’t ship one or two items.”

Making money from home

So if someone without any existing products wanted to sell things online in the US, UK, Canada, or pretty much anywhere in the world really then they could register for an account on Add2Store. Once that’s set up they’re prompted to peruse through a list of items offered by suppliers. People can decide what they’d like to sell, on what sites, and their markup rates. The software takes care of the rest.

Let’s say I want to sell specialty coffee in places like UK, US, and Japan whilst sitting in Singapore. Add2Store can help connect me to a supplier of the goods based out of Colombia, for example. The supplier would reserve a portion of his stock and put it aside for all orders received through Add2Store.

As a seller, I would then use Add2Store’s SaaS product to identify which ecommerce stores to list on – these could be Amazon, eBay, or even Rakuten. Barak’s team would take care of things like pictures, product descriptions, keywords, and translations. I wouldn’t have to do anything but drag and drop.

If a buyer were to stumble across my listing on eBay generated through Add2Store, they’d see a regular human account. The transaction would be like any other. At the backend, however, Barak’s team would ping the supplier based out of Colombia to ship the product to the eventual destination. Payment would be made only after confirmation of delivery.

At the end of each month, I’d also receive a report indicating the efficacy of my sales channels and areas of improvement.

Snapshot of the Add2Store seller profile

Enticing manufacturers

Barak says his product is compelling enough to get large suppliers on board. By connecting them to hundreds of sellers, they’re increasing visibility and pricing for their products across the globe which ultimately impacts their bottom line. He takes the example of a company that manufactures baby chairs who originally just committed 10 items to Add2Store.

“Their inventory was sold within a week and both the sellers and supplier were asking us for more,” he recalls.

The entrepreneur adds that most clients have seen an average of ten percent increase in revenues, with some of them even reaching as much as 40 percent.

There is competition in this space, such as Doba which offers a similar marketplace but with far more restrictive pricing in place. Doba will charge both sellers and suppliers a monthly retainer fee to maintain their accounts as well as a fixed cost per item sold. Barak’s startup charges a simple five percent commission on each sale with no monthly maintenance fees.

The idea for the startup itself came when Barak attempted to build a site that would translate Taobao into English and bring the products in reach of a global audience. But the team soon realized they were actually in direct competition with the likes of Amazon, eBay, and Lazada as they were still aiming to snare the eventual buyer. That’s when they decided to pivot and make it easier for sellers to access a much larger range of goods.

The startup is still bootstrapped – the team is looking to raise funds but isn’t overly concerned as the model is designed to be revenue positive from day one. For now the challenge is to scale on both the supplier and seller angle – with currently 300 active suppliers and about a hundred sellers using Add2Store.

“We are getting bigger minute by minute as users understand the opportunity ahead,” smiles Barak.

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Medinfi’s team. Photo credit: Medinfi.

Bangalore-based startup Medinfi Healthcare has raised its sixth round of angel investment – US$100,000 – from a slew of investors based in Singapore and Qatar.

With this round, the startup that finds doctors and hospitals through a web and mobile app has raised over US$600,000 in all.

Existing investors – Singapore-based angel investor Evan Lim and professor at India’s XLRI business school Ram Kumar Kakani – participated in this round of funding, along with Vinod Martin, COO of a Singapore-based IT services company, and XLRI alumnus Kanchan Ghoshal.

The startup plans to use the funds to grow its user base and explore new markets. It is currently present in 25 Indian cities, including Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune. It now plans to double that presence to 50 cities in the next nine months.

Part of the funds will also be used to upgrade the blogging platform and grow the content from 100 to 1,000 posts in the next nine months. “This is our way of ensuring trust and grow user base based on that,” Medinfi founder and CEO Ravi Shankar Mishra told Tech in Asia.

Medinfi recently crossed the 500,000 user mark, ahead of the company’s March 2017 target. On the Google Play store, the app has over 100,000 downloads, while the mobile website has over 400,000 users, said founder Ravi. An iOS app is expected by June 2017.

Launched in 2014, Medinfi has maintained a model that is independent of doctors and hospitals. The application automatically detects the current user location and displays the nearest doctors, hospitals, and clinics. The app presently lists over 12,000 verified doctors, clinics and hospitals. Unlike some of the well-funded startups in the space, such as Practo, Lybrate, and HelpingDoc, Medinfi doesn’t facilitate appointment booking.

“There are over 150 million internet users. Out of them, only about 6 million seek doctors online. There is a lot of room to expand and we want to progress on trust. We will never collude with doctors and hospitals as long as we are functional,” Ravi said.

Medinfi’s last fund raising was in July 2016, when it received US$200,000 in an angel round from Mudit Saxena, senior vice-president of Genpact, and Evan Lim.

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Globevestor led the round in IntaOffice, with participation from Zishaan Hayath, Karan Chellani and others

(L-R) InstaOffice Co-founders Vikas Lakhani and Devendra Agarwal

InstaOffice, a chain of business centres and co-working spaces in India, has raised pre-Series A round of investment led by Globevestor, which has previously invested in startups like Zoomcar, which recently secured funding from Chinese VC investor Cyber Carrier.

Several leading angel investors also participated in the round, including Zishaan Hayath, Co-founder of Toppr; Karan Chellani, Managing Partner at SQUE Capital; and Mohit Satyan, Director DFM Foods and Chairman Teamwork Arts, along with a cluster of other industry experts and angel investors.

The deal size remains undisclosed.

In pics: CoWrks draws inspiration from pop and local culture to offer an amazing co-working space in India

InstaOffice has grown from a single business centre in Gurgaon in February 2016 to more than 50,000 sqft area under management, spread across 10 centres across Gurgaon, Delhi and Bengaluru.

“The commercial real-estate has been plagued by multiple friction points and two of them have been leases with long term lock-in periods and availability of only large floor plates. However, users today need spaces, which are highly flexible in time, area or layout of the space. Consequently, most landlords suffer from high vacancy periods and poor rental yields, not to mention the legal hassles when clients do not complete their lock-in periods,” said Devendra Agarwal, Co- founder at InstaOffice.

An InstaOffice co-working space in Bangalore

“We at InstaOffice are disrupting the commercial real-estate industry by structuring partnerships with landlords where they can earn higher rental yields from their spaces and customers can get high degree of flexibility,” he added.

With four operational centres in Gurgaon, two in Bengaluru and four more in Delhi-NCR becoming operational over next two months, InstaOffice has a community of 400 members, growing to over 1,000 active members by next quarter.

In Pics: CoLife provides not just co-working, but a shared living space, too

“Co-working is a fairly nuanced industry. Our members have very diverse needs depending on numerous factors. The key is to build the right product with the right value at the right location, which InstaOffice continues to do at great pace. Hence our members come from across the boar, ranging form early-stage entrepreneurs, mature startups, SMEs to large corporations and MNCs like Dr. Reddy’s, Staples, Yahoo, Amazon amongst others,” added Vikas Lakhani, Co-founder, InstaOffice.

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Let’s get down to business. Photo credit: satyrenko / 123RF.

If you’re just starting work on a blockchain tech startup in Southeast Asia, there’s a new gateway open to you. Satoshi Studios, a brand-new incubator for Southeast Asia, is seeking startups to whip into shape for its first batch.

Satoshi Studios is named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin (well, sort of).

Founded by Nikunj Jain, Sahil Baghla, and Ayush Varshney, Satoshi Studios is backed by some bitcoin veterans, including Roger Ver, Amit Bhardwaj, and BitAngels founder Michael Terpin. Roger alone funded the seed rounds for the first generation of bitcoin businesses. Amit is an advocate for bitcoin adoption in India.

The Gurgaon-based incubator is now taking applications for its first batch. Each of the six chosen startups will receive a US$50,000 investment for 8 to 15 percent company equity. The six will live and work together in New Delhi for three months, beginning April 1. The Delhi program will include “intensive sessions” led by blockchain experts.

Each startup will receive a US$50,000 investment.

Why take startups from one region and incubate them in another? Sahil tells Tech in Asia the two regions have “similar opportunities,” and he and the Satoshi Studios team wanted to take advantage of the network and blockchain ecosystem they already had in and around Delhi.

Doors have opened for bitcoin and other fintech solutions since India’s demonetization, in which the country made a push to go cashless by voiding its largest currency bills. While new bills are on the way, cash is hard to get, resulting in people turning to card and other payment solutions.

Applications for the incubator opened on December 5, and the deadline is February 28.

See: India’s drive against cash opens door for a new bitcoin app

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Often dubbed ‘Uber for logistics’, Lalamove says it is close to profitability

The Hong Kong-based logistics startup Lalamove has raised a US$30 million Series B to facilitate its expansion to over 100 cities in Asia by the end of the year.

It currently operates in 45 cities across China and Southeast Asia.

The latest round brings the company’s total funding to US$60 million since it was launched in 2013 (called EasyVan back then).

The round was led by Xianghe Capital from Beijing (started Hesong Tang, the former head of M&A at Baidu), with Blackhole Capital participating as a new investor. Mindworks Ventures and Crystal Steam, previous investors, also contributed to the Series B.

Blake Larson, Managing Director for International at Lalamove, told TechCrunch the company is close to being profitable.

Also Read: Lalamove is expanding into food delivery, ties up with restaurants in Bangkok

The startup is often dubbed the ‘Uber for logistics’ because applies the on-demand economy to the delivery industry.

The comparison is apt; Lalamove works by allowing users to choose a pick up and drop off point, the type of vehicle and either ‘advance booking’ or ‘immediate delivery’. Then, said delivery person arrives at the business to complete the order.

There are some differences the company made to adapt to the logistics business. For one, a company can schedule up to 20 stops per order, customise an account with ‘favorite drivers’ and one-click optimised routing to save time.

Lalamove says it already has the largest service area for intracity deliveries in Asia and has more than 500,000 drivers using the platform. The startup says more than 5 million people have used the service to complete their deliveries.

Founder and CEO Shing Chow said he believes the logistics industry is underpenetrated by mobile platforms. He pointed to a US$1.7 trillion market in China as an example.

“The evolution of the logistics industry has not been as rapid as some other markets like communication, but we believe we are at a tipping point where transformation will now happen very rapidly. We will see some amazing companies built this this sector,” said Chow.

Southeast Asia operations

In Southeast Asia, Lalamove was the company that facilitated LINE MAN, a partnership with the Japanese chat company to allow its Thailand user base to purchase and deliver documents, packages, groceries and food items in the country.

Also Read: La La Logistics: Hong Kong’s Lalamove raises US$10 million, eyes expansion

In November 2016, the company expanded into the Philippines. One particularly SEA-centric feature is the ability to request round trip deliveries to facilitate cash-on-demand — an important part of the region’s e-commerce industry.

The company rebranded from EasyVan to in November, 2014 ahead of its Bangkok launch.

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White van man. Photo credit: skohlmann.

With the aim of more than doubling its market presence during the course of 2017, Uber for vans startup Lalamove this afternoon announced it has secured US$30 million from investors. Xianghe Capital, a relatively new firm, led the round, while Blackhole Capital and previous investors MindWorks Ventures and Crystal Stream contributed.

It dwarfs the US$10 million the service – dubbed EasyVan in Hong Kong, Huolala in mainland China, and Lalamove everywhere else – pocketed in May last year.

Now active in 40 cities in mainland China, plus Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Bangkok, and Manila, Lalamove wants to be in 100 cities by the end of the year, says Blake Larson, head of international at the Hong Kong-based startup.

Chinese recipe

“There are lots of huge cities in China. Up to 150 cities are big enough to sustain the model,” he tells Tech in Asia. Lalamove operates by signing up van drivers to do deliveries for its corporate clients. Then, like Uber, it takes a cut of the fare.

Shing Chow, Lalamove’s CEO. He founded it in 2013. Photo credit: Lalamove.

Much of the expansion will happen in mainland China rather than Southeast Asia because it’s easier, says Blake – no extra language barriers, no new laws and regulations to master. The startup is already profitable in five or six Chinese cities.

The market in China alone is worth an estimated US$1.7 trillion.

“It’s fairly easy to scale once we found out what the recipe is,” says Blake of the notoriously tricky mainland China market. The tasty recipe, he says, was not to offer subsidies to customers, instead focusing on making the business “really lean.” Then the team watched a war of attrition among “hundreds” of similar services as they all bankrupted each other with deep discounts.

“Now there’s just two of us,” he says, name-checking main Chinese rival Wuba, a spin-off from classifieds site 58.com.

They’re after what Shing Chow, Lalamove founder and CEO, sees as “a big market” for logistics across Asia, worth an estimated US$1.7 trillion in China alone.

Lalamove now has 500,000 drivers – covering vans, trucks, and motorcycles – signed up to its platform, who’ve collectively made 15 million deliveries. Across the continent, its biggest competition comes from Gogovan and Ninjavan – the latter got US$30 million of its own last April.

Lalamove’s most recent expansion was last month into Manila, the traffic-jammed capital of the Philippines. Over in Thailand it’s using scooters to run local deliveries for Line, the popular messaging app, as it experiments with online shopping.

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Starting with ease of credit card application, Tokopedia will soon launch other fintech services throughout the year

At the end of 2016, Tokopedia launched a new credit card application feature on its platform. This is the first step that the Indonesian online marketplace is taking in entering the fintech landscape. The company also plans to make it easier for users to apply for loans, insurance, and investment. These steps strengthen the indication that the e-commerce giant is aiming for a business diversification. Prior to this, its competitor Bukalapak has also started to explore fintech by launching BukaReksa.

In the past one year Tokopedia has been aggressively launching new features starting from payment channels to services such as mobile phone and home electricity credits purchase, among the few.

Despite having just reached socialisation stage, through Tokopedia, Indonesian users who wish to apply for credit cards can easily use the platform with various promotions included.

“As we have already known, in Indonesia, the number of credit card ownership still falls below three per cent. Sixty million people owned bank accounts, while there are 100 million internet users. There is a huge gap between those who have gone online, but is still unable to do payments online,” Tokopedia CEO William Tanuwijaya told DailySocial.

Also Read: Tokopedia co-founder: We always find new problems to solve

Tanuwijaya added that e-commerce services in Indonesia differ greatly than those in the US and other developed countries with high credit card penetration, making it easier to perform transaction online.

“One of our strategies to handle this issue, as well as to promote e-commerce transaction in Indonesia is innovating in new payments channel, cash payments in minimarts and post offices. In 2016, Indonesian internet users who own neither credit cards nor bank accounts are already able to shop online and pay with cash at Indomaret, Alfamart, Alfamidi, 7 Eleven, Lawson, and the post office,” Tanuwijaya said.

Partnership with leading foreign bank

To give greater options for Tokopedia users, Tokopedia has already fostered partnerships with Citibank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered. Tokopedia will also expand the partnership by embracing local banks in the country. Tokopedia also claimed that its new credit card application feature can also help the government in pushing for a cashless society for all sorts of available transactions.

“One of the ways is by fostering partnership with credit card issuers, and by giving easy access for Tokopedia users to apply for credit cards. Even on Tokopedia you can also pay for credit card bills easily,” Tanuwijaya said.

Also Read: Tokopedia, Traveloka spent the most on TV ads among Indonesian startups

The credit card application feature is the first to be launched by a local marketplace. In this sector, Tokopedia will compete directly with financial product comparison services such as CekAja and Cermati. Tokopedia’s strength lies in its massive user base and strong brand recognition in the public.

2017 targets

Throughout 2017, Tokopedia still aims to present more new payments channels to ease transaction for every Indonesian. The company believed that apart from having low financial product penetration, e-commerce transaction is still centered in Java and big cities across the country.

The company will also open access to more financial services such as loans, insurance, savings, and investment for users in different ends of the country.

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The article Tokopedia Rambah Layanan Fintech Tahun Ini was written by Yenny Yusra and was first published on DailySocial. English translation by e27.

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 article here.

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Photo credit: Wikimedia.

As 2017 kicks into full gear, and entrepreneurs put their fundraising plans in motion, here’s a snapshot of the most loved sectors by VCs in 2016. Venture capital Intelligence firm Tracxn sampled a total of 8,648 startups and 5,593 investors and sifted through US$170 billion invested across 9,228 rounds globally to come up with the report.

Globally, enterprise security and healthcare IT were the hottest technology sectors of 2016, with close to US$7 billion invested across 587 rounds. In India, online retail and online travel emerged as the most exciting sectors, together amassing US$1.1 billion across 52 rounds.

Here’re the details. Caveat: Tracxn excluded Chinese startups, as well as Life Sciences and Energy startups from the roundup. It counted funding rounds of US$1 million and more only.

In India, this is how 2016 played:

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