Tag: Southeast Asia

Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia’s e-commerce company Bukalapak has partnered with hypermarket and supermarket chain operator Trans Retail Indonesia and Singapore-based private equity firm Growtheum Capital Partners to launch an online grocery platform AlloFresh.

The new online grocery platform offers over 150,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) in 144 categories. It also offers three-hour and quick commerce delivery options across Indonesia.

Bukalapak said that its extensive understanding of online user behaviour and digital expertise are pivotal for AlloFresh to redefine the category and be a pioneer in the space. Integrating it with Indonesia’s largest fresh and grocery offline retailer, the collaboration will further hasten Bukalapak’s transformation from a general to a speciality platform.

Willix Halim, Bukalapak’s CEO, shared that AlloFresh’s presence will reinforce Bukalapak’s position as the leading all-commerce technology company, including O2O offerings while expanding their broader range of customers in the retail ecosystem.

“Similar to our Mitra Bukalapak initiative, the combination of the unique model and the thriving partnership will create tremendous opportunities to cater to the growing demand in this segment,” said Halim.

Meanwhile, Chairul Tanjung, the chairman of CT Corp, the parent company of Trans Retail Indonesia, said, “Establishing an omnichannel, offline-and-online experience for the customers is the solution. AlloFresh will be the only place to access Indonesia’s biggest range of branded and own-label products in just a few simple clicks.”

Olivier Legrand, Growtheum Capital Partners’ transaction advisory member, said, “As an incoming Independent Commissioner of AlloFresh, I’m thrilled to bring the convenience of online grocery shopping to millions of Indonesian consumers.”

Bukalapak customers can now order their groceries through the AlloFresh app that is available on the App Store and Google Playstore, as well as the ‘Click & Go’ at TRANSMart stores.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – As part of Malaysia Airlines’ commitment to supporting the development of homegrown talent in sports, the flag carrier airline and the Malaysian Football League (MFL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to mark their partnership in supporting the country’s football sporting field.

With the new partnership, Malaysia Airlines will be the official airline partner for MFL, providing safe and seamless air travel for the delegates competing in domestic professional tournaments under MFL, including Liga Super, Liga Premier, and Piala Malaysia, as well as Piala FA, and Piala Sumbangsih. The airline will also team up with MFL to support its activities, including local and international conferences, and football clinics.

Moreover, the partnership entails leveraging the extensive organisational network of the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the parent company of Malaysia Airlines. It will also see joint campaigns, branding, and events with Firefly, MASwings, MHholidays, and Enrich.

Izham Ismail, MAG’s group chief executive officer, commented that he is certain that this symbiotic relationship between Malaysia Airlines and MFL will be a boon to football enthusiasts across the nation, uniting fans with their favourite teams, especially supporters from East Malaysia, who can now enjoy more matches held in the peninsular, and vice versa, through our seamless connectivity and increased flight frequency.

“As the official airline for MFL and its celebrated professional competitions, Malaysia Airlines commits to providing seamless connectivity and safe travels for members of the MFL and football fans alike,” said Ismail.

Meanwhile, Stuart Ramalingam, MFL’s chief executive officer, believes that the partnership with Malaysia Airlines symbolises two brands – the national carrier and the nation’s biggest football association – coming together to elevate the standard of the Malaysian football scene to greater heights, in line with the national agenda.

“We are delighted to welcome our national carrier to Liga Malaysia. With the new season and fixtures scheduled for the year, members of the Malaysian football fraternity and fans who seek to travel across the country can take advantage of Malaysia Airlines’ increased frequencies, especially from Sabah and Sarawak,” said Ramalingam.

Just recently, Malaysia Airlines has also inked an MoU with Johor Darul Ta’zim Football Club (JDTFC) to mark their partnership which will be committed to elevating the local football scene ‘to the highest level’.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Singapore-based marketing consultancy start-up, The Celeb Net’, has launched its first celebrity marketplace platform in Malaysia, with the aim to make celebrities more accessible and affordable for brands globally. 

The platform is a one-stop platform that provides brands with the opportunity to secure celebrity endorsements easily and efficiently. It allows brands to filter celebrities via their campaign requirements and generate fee quotations immediately, essentially shortening the process from weeks to minutes. 

Moreover, the platform also provides brands and celebrities with access to internal data analysis to ensure both parties are well-informed during the negotiation stages, all within the most competitive rates in the market.

The Celeb Net said that on-boarded celebrities are able to send pitches directly to registered brands from any country for collaborations, while brands can also immediately assess the offer with the celebrity’s current rate and customise the pitch according to preference.

Kevin Zhang, The Celeb Net’s founder, commented that they understand the challenges faced by brands and celebrities in this field, and they aim to cultivate a healthy ecosystem for brands and celebrities by introducing this transparent and seamless process. 

“We are certain that The Celeb Net portal can transform and enhance the experience for brands and celebrities alike, as it is instant, direct, smart, and low cost,” said Zhang.

Meanwhile, Clara Cheong, The Celeb Net’s country head for Malaysia, shared that they see immense opportunity by expanding this business innovation in Malaysia. 

“Through our portal’s large database and optimised features, we aim to be the platform that bridges the gap between celebrities and brands through Malaysia’s diverse and growing celebrity market,” said Cheong.

The platform is a subscription-based marketplace, with its basic plan priced at RM738, while the premium plan is priced at RM1380. It has registered over 60 local A-List celebrities on the platform, inlcuding Janna Nick, Ayda Jebat, Hairul Azreen, Amyra Rosli, and Tong Bingyu, amongst others, as well as big-name brands such as Rado, Ogawa, Maybank, and Sen Heng have also registered on the marketplace platform.

Thailand – Thailand’s Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry and cloud service provider Huawei Technologies in Thailand have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), aimed at establishing the ‘Joint Software Innovation Centre’, as part of their commitment to promote the cloud ecosystem in the public and private sectors.

The new centre seeks to support the cloud ecosystem, including government agencies, industrial partners, start-up businesses, and jointly developed applications that can be customised in the government cloud for users in the country’s government agencies.

Chaiwut Thanakmanusorn, DES’ minister, shared that they have signed a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Digital Affairs and Huawei Technologies Thailand to drive collaboration on cloud technologies, innovative research, and big data management, as well as the development of the digital workforce.

“Most importantly, they will be upgrading the development of government personnel, enhancing their skills. The goal is to reach 2,000 people and create opportunities for government officials to travel and exchange experiences at Huawei’s Global Innovation and Learning Center, as well as explore new innovations in future technologies such as big data, AI, linkages of intelligent devices, and 5G technology,” said Thanakmanusorn.

In addition, both are also looking to expand the public cloud storage to keep up with the needs and support the use of users in Thai government agencies by taking advantage of cloud services.

Vietnam – Vietnam’s banking and financial services provider, HD Bank, has announced its strategic partnership with Thought Machine, the UK-headquartered core banking technology company, aimed at deploying modern technology as part of its transformation programme, starting with its core platforms and internal workflows. 

HD Bank said that it has selected Thought Machine for collaboration due to its unique flexibility and control which will enable the bank to both migrate existing systems and design highly innovative financial products and services at scale.

The partnership will see HD Bank implementing Thought Machine’s core banking platform Vault to reinvent the financial services ecosystem in Vietnam, and accelerate financial inclusion across the country.

Pham Quoc Thanh, HD Bank’s CEO, shared that there is a clear need in the Vietnamese market for financial services which are real-time, always-on and forever adapting to the customers’ needs.

“With Thought Machine, we intend to fill this gap and push digital banking innovation in unexpected ways. We are proud to be joining forces with Thought Machine as they have built a product that is transforming the industry,” said Thanh.

Meanwhile, Nick Wilde, Thought Machine’s managing director for APAC, noted that their clients are unlocking incredible gains in innovation and efficiency as they combine advanced technology with clear vision. 

“HD Bank joins a rapidly expanding family of clients who can leverage the advanced capabilities and products available with Vault to redefine the future of banking. We are looking forward to working with HD Bank in their mission to significantly improve financial services in Vietnam,” said Wilde.

Malaysia – Omnicom Media Group (OMG) has elevated Eileen Ooi to the role of chief executive officer for the Malaysia office. This elevation serves as a recognition of Ooi’s stellar performance and aligns with the company’s commitment to nurturing talent from within the agency.

In her new role, Ooi will be responsible for steering OMG Malaysia’s operations, driving efficiencies, and strengthening capabilities among its agencies in the country, namely OMD and PHD, as well as the group’s data and analytics division, Annalect. 

In February 2021, Ooi has been appointed as the new chief operating officer (COO) of OMG Malaysia, and has played a pivotal role in propelling commercial growth and harnessing digital capabilities for the agency network in the market.

OMG Malaysia said that under Ooi’s leadership as COO, the group’s business has grown by 40% year on year, retained major accounts such as Beiersdorf Malaysia, and expanded client’s portfolio across global, regional, and local businesses.

Moreover, with Ooi’s data-driven vision, OMG Malaysia has recently established a three-year transformative partnership with Google, which elevated the network’s capabilities in performance marketing, data analytics, and talent development to support and accelerate clients’ digital growth and transformation. During her tenure, Ooi has also proactively launched and integrated several mental wellness programmes which provide employees with access to mental health resources. 

Tony Harradine, OMG’s CEO for APAC, commented that Ooi has done an outstanding job of driving OMG’s business growth and enhancing its product and people capabilities.

“Her achievements, coupled with her good relationship with the team, make this appointment well-deserved. I am confident Eileen will continue to elevate OMG Malaysia’s performance in the market,” said Harradine.

Bangkok, Thailand – Thailand-based digital assets management platform, Bitazza, has announced its expansion into the global market with the Bitazza Global platform. Following this move, the platform also announced its roadmap for its utility token, BTZ, which will open for trading on 22 February 2022.

Bitazza offers a robust suite of real-world crypto usage features that are currently being used, including API payment integration, in-app crypto payments, and a white-label wallet solution.

The Bitazza Global platform will be offering users access to its ever-growing ecosystem and features, including spot trading, derivatives trading, yield products, and DeFi investment opportunities, as well as Freedom Wallet, and Freedom Card.

Meanwhile, BTZ will be serving as fuel for the ecosystem and is designed with utility features that may expand as the ecosystem grows, including paying fees with up to 75% discounts, redeeming BTZ for rewards, stake to earn APY, and accessing tiered benefits, as well as participating in the governance of the ecosystem. Moreover, BTZ has a max supply of three billion tokens, of which only 412.5 million are currently in circulation.

Bitazza said that it also has plans to establish a crypto-based e-commerce platform and will soon offer users crypto payment cards to further drive crypto usage in everyday life.

Kevin Heng, Bitazza’s co-founder and chief strategy officer, believes that with their interconnected global platform and the carefully curated tokenomics of their BTZ token, they have a clear roadmap towards the sustained growth of their platform.

“Our focus is on promoting financial inclusion and subsequently financial freedom. Bitazza believes in the freedom to manage and use one’s own assets in everyday life. We are passionate about putting real-world working crypto products in people’s hands and driving crypto mass adoption like no one else,” said Heng.

Manila, Philippines – Tinkoff, the global online financial ecosystem centred around the needs of customers, has extended its partnership with integrated digital ecosystem provider BPC, to leverage the firm’s SaaS Cloud payment services for its planned expansion to the Philippines.

The project is an extension of an existing partnership between the two companies. This is a testimony to BPC’s proven technical expertise in digital banking and payments, as well as its extensive local knowledge and experience in the Philippines and across Asia.

The new agreement entails that BPC’s next-generation payment processing company, Radar Payments, will be managing the end-to-end payment experience for prospective Tinkoff customers in the country. This includes virtual and physical card production, as well as debit, credit card issuance and management, SmartVista ACS for 3DS secure services, and fraud prevention.

Moreover, BPC will be supporting Tinkoff in cloud SaaS payment adoption in the Philippines, a trend that has emerged globally for many reasons, including greater flexibility in accessing banking services, and cost savings and security.

Tinkoff said that it also chose BPC for its capability to support its ambitious growth both in terms of customers and expected transaction volume.

George Chesakov, Tinkoff’s international expansion lead, believes that their technology and experience will help them build the right products, boosting financial inclusion in the Philippines. 

“With BPC’s payment processing business, we have a partner with whom we have a long-standing relationship and who aligns with our SaaS Cloud vision. Moreover, we value BPC’s strong local knowledge of the Philippines’ banking sector, which should help us start operating in this market faster,” said Chesakov.

Meanwhile, Evgenia Loginova, the CEO at Radar Payments by BPC, shared that they could not be any prouder to continue their journey serving Tinkoff and its future customers in Asia. 

“Success depends on the speed of deployment of new services in the digital banking industry, especially in the Philippines market, which will welcome a number of new market players in 2022,” said Loginova.

Singapore – Singapore’s consumer bank DBS has launched its new complimentary cybersecurity training programme to help protect 280,000 SMEs in Singapore against the growing threat of cybercrime.

The programme, ‘DBS #CyberWellness’, comprises 10 online modules, each covering a different facet of cybersecurity, such as password protection, phishing, digital scams, and physical security, as well as social media security. These modules can be accessed on the go digitally through an e-learning platform, with all 10 modules taking no more than 120 minutes to complete. At the end of the programme, SMEs will be presented with recommendations for suitable cyber insurance and cybersecurity solutions. This enables SMEs to take immediate steps to protect their businesses from potential cyberattacks.

Following the launch of the new initiative, DBS has also appointed telco StarHub as its new programme partner for DBS #CyberWellness. StarHub will be providing participating SMEs with a complimentary two-month trial of their hardware-free, plug-and-play cybersecurity solution called ‘Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) for SME’, which enables SMEs to gain a business-wide defence against cyber threats.

Joyce Tee, the group head of SME Banking at DBS, believes that they can make the biggest impact by equipping the employees of SMEs with foundational cybersecurity skills, which become ingrained everyday habits as they put their skills to practice.

“We’re especially proud that DBS #CyberWellness was developed entirely in-house in partnership with our technology teams. This speaks to our commitment to come together as one Team DBS to help our SMEs, social enterprises, and even charities digitalise their operations safely,” said Tee

Meanwhile, Charlie Chan, StarHub’s chief of enterprise business group, shared that they are partnering with DBS to help SMEs and their employees stay safe online, and with the partnership, they have combined critical and free training with defensive tools that are easy to use. 

“There is no better time than now for SMEs to say ‘no’ to being an easy target, both for the business as well as their employees. We are in it for the long haul, to be a trusted partner for our customers in their digital and cybersecurity journey,” said Chan.

DBS said that the programme was first rolled out as a pilot to social enterprises and charities in Singapore and was subsequently expanded to include SMEs.

Hanoi, Vietnam – ThinkZone Ventures, the venture capital fund focusing on tech startups, has launched its ‘ThinkZone Fund II’, which deems to be the largest venture capital fund in Vietnam, aimed at supporting the growth of Vietnamese startups.

‘ThinkZone II Fund’, which was founded by ThinkZone Ventures and other notable Vietnamese conglomerate owners that specialises in finance, retail, manufacturing, agriculture and F&B, seeks to provide a huge amount of support to accelerate the growth of startups, and to further create sustainable development for the economy.

With its US$60m fund, ThinkZone Ventures will be investing in tech startups in various verticals from Pre-Seed to Series A, offering up to US$3m per startup. It will be accompanying founders who have great vision, passion, and ambition to create products that create positive impacts for society.

Besides financial resources, the biggest advantage of ‘ThinkZone Fund II’ is the huge support from large Vietnamese conglomerates in many fields such as investment corporation IPA Investments, multi-industry investment group Phu Thai Holdings, and multi-industry corporation and primary plastic resins distributor Stavian Group.

Bui Thanh Do, ThinkZone Ventures’ general partner and CEO, said, “I and ThinkZone always want to contribute and create a launching pad for founders who have the passion and vision to create positive values for society. With Fund II, ThinkZone has more resources than ever to make that happen.”

Meanwhile, Pham Minh Huong, IPA Investments’ co-founder and VNDIRECT’s chairwoman, shared that Fund I has proven that ThinkZone has selected and developed companies with great potential, and with Fund II’s large resources, there are sure to be many more successful companies. 

“This is also the first amount of capital that IPA allocates for startup investment, and ThinkZone is the very place that we trust to invest,” said Huong.