Startup Snapshot

Grab, one of the region’s most valuable tech companies, made its Nasdaq debut last month after a record US$40 billion merger with Altimeter, a New York-listed blank-check company.

However, the super app’s first few weeks of public life haven’t been the easiest, with its shares ending at US$7.12 apiece last week – a roughly 45.5% discount to their opening price in December.

In this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia’s Terence Lee, Aditya Hadi Pratama, and Simon Huang discuss Grab’s ride to the public market, its financial performance over the past year, and its prospects for the future.

• Terence Lee, editor-in-chief at Tech in Asia
• Aditya Hadi Pratama, a Tech in Asia journalist based in Jakarta, Indonesia
• Simon Huang, Tech in Asia’s industry analyst based in Singapore

• Grab’s financial health in 8 charts
• Grab shares dip over 20% on Nasdaq debut despite strong opening
• Grab shares may drop further as more stocks flood the market
• Examining Grab’s incentive-fueled growth

Dark stores – more widely known as microdistribution hubs – have been gaining prominence in India and Southeast Asia, with grocery delivery startups like Dropezy and Zepto raising millions of dollars in funding and setting up hundreds of centers across the region.

The future of this segment is brighter than its name suggests. By 2025, India’s consumables market is projected to hit roughly US$1 trillion while Southeast Asia’s online grocery market is expected to reach US$11.9 billion – a prime opportunity for operators of dark stores.

In this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia’s Nikita Puri discusses the ins and outs of this rising phenomenon, the key players leading the segment, and how dark stores can change the way we buy groceries - or anything else we might need.

More information on today's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-bright-future-dark-stores

• Nikita Puri, a Tech in Asia journalist based in India

• Dark stores light up red-hot grocery delivery market
• Stanford dropouts’ firm bags $60m to speed up grocery delivery in India
• Indonesian e-grocery startup raises $2.5m to deliver orders in 20 minutes

HVR 6.0 allows organizations to incorporate real-time movement into new and existing data management strategies, load massive tables much faster to speed up the adoption of new analytics systems, configure network encryption to make it secure by default, and dramatically simplify the deployment of initial data replication.

Sign up now to take a test drive of HVR 6.0: https://techin.asia/hvr6

After recently closing a US$400 million series D round from an investor consortium led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Warburg Pincus, Singapore-headquartered Advance Intelligence Group joined the unicorn club.

Its most well-known service? Atome, one of the region’s most prevalent buy now, pay later (BNPL) platforms.

However, the group has a lot more under its belt, offering services ranging from digital lending and risk management to merchant software services that span 12 markets across Asia, Greater China, and Latin America.

In this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia’s Melissa Goh sheds light on Advance Intelligence, discussing the common thread that runs through its various business units, how it fared during the pandemic, and the company’s plans for the future.

More information on today's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-atomes-enigmatic-parent-company

• Melissa Goh, a Tech in Asia journalist based in Singapore

• The enigmatic unicorn behind BNPL firm Atome
• Southeast Asia’s biggest buy now, pay later players
• StanChart to pour $500m into Atome as part of strategic partnership
• Singapore’s Advance Intelligence Group enters unicorn club after SoftBank co-led $400m round

HVR 6.0 allows organizations to incorporate real-time movement into new and existing data management strategies, load massive tables much faster to speed up the adoption of new analytics systems, configure network encryption to make it secure by default, and dramatically simplify the deployment of initial data replication.

Sign up now to take a test drive of HVR 6.0: https://techin.asia/HVR6

Over the past year, financial services major Stripe has been stepping up its efforts to enter the Indonesian market, targeting key positions for early hires. Among them is former Grab Indonesia executive director Ongki Kurniawan, who’s now leading Stripe’s charge in the country.

However, Indonesia is bustling with ambitious, freshly funded fintech players such as Xendit, Doku, and Gojek’s Midtrans, and this could make Stripe’s foray into the Southeast Asian archipelago all the more challenging.

In this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia’s Ardi Wirdana discusses the payment giant’s Indonesia ambitions, the hurdles it faces in establishing a foothold in the market, and the impact that Stripe could have on the local fintech scene.

More information on today's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-stripes-rough-road-indonesia

• Ardi Wirdana, a Tech in Asia journalist based in Indonesia

• Stripe readies Indonesia entry, but the road just got rougher
• Indonesia fintech hits hurdle with new rules on foreign control

HVR 6.0 allows organizations to incorporate real-time data movement into new and existing data management strategies, load massive tables much faster to speed up the adoption of new analytics systems, configure network encryption to make it secure by default, and dramatically simplify the deployment of initial data replication.

Sign up now to take a test drive of HVR 6.0 at https://techin.asia/hvr6  

It wasn’t too long ago that in India, Kashmiri apparel sellers carrying large, red-checked bed sheets full of handmade embroidered shawls, dress materials, and stoles would spend their days knocking on door after door, trying to sell their wares to people in the neighborhood.

These sellers took a direct-to-consumer (D2C) approach to business, doing away with middlemen by hawking their merchandise to customers themselves.

That same business model has evolved, and it’s been seeing a boom in investments in India. Consumer brands are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars from prominent venture capital firms like Sequoia and Temasek. However, there are some key differences between today’s D2C businesses and the door-to-door sellers of yesteryears.

On this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia’s Samreen Ahmad discusses the emergence of India’s D2C decade, the sheer potential within the sector, and the hurdles that players in the scene may face in the future.

More information on today’s episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-indias-d2c-boom

Featured reporter:

• Samreen Ahmad, a Tech in Asia journalist based in India

Essential reading:

• The decade of D2C has just begun in India
• In Indonesia, a golden age of VC-backed consumer brands may be imminent

Episode sponsor: HVR 6.0 allows organizations to incorporate real-time data movement into new and existing data management strategies, load massive tables much faster to speed up the adoption of new analytics systems, configure network encryption to make it secure by default, and dramatically simplify the deployment of initial data replication.

Take a test drive of HVR 6.0 now: https://techin.asia/hvr6

Founded in 2010, Bukalapak initially had trouble raising funds because “nobody wanted to invest,” co-founder and former CEO Achmad Zaky said during a fireside chat at the Tech in Asia Conference in 2019. He even considered closing the business after its first year, but he persevered instead and Bukalapak became a unicorn around eight years after its launch.

Last week, the ecommerce player notched another milestone: It went public on the Indonesia Stock Exchange – the first unicorn to do so – boosting its valuation to approximately US$7.5 billion.

On this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia’s Aditya Hadi Pratama and Simon Huang discuss the early days of Bukalapak, dive into the numbers behind its landmark initial public offering, and posit what’s in store for the company’s future.

More information on today's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-bukalapaks-ipo-big-deal-indonesia

Featured reporter:

• Aditya Hadi Pratama, a Tech in Asia journalist based in Indonesia
• Simon Huang, Tech in Asia’s industry analyst based in Singapore

Essential reading:

• Bukalapak’s IPO, the largest ever on IDX, takes its valuation to $7.5b
• Visual: Bukalapak’s decade-long journey to IPO
• Bukalapak is using this deck to make its case for a $1.5b IPO
• 9 highlights from Bukalapak’s confidential investor deck
• Bukalapak’s seed round pitch deck
• How Gojek and Bukalapak found the initial spark that turned them into giants
• Mitra Bukalapak’s roadblock: Indonesia’s FMCG giants
• Being no. 2 isn’t a bad thing: Bukalapak’s Achmad Zaky
• For more stories on Bukalapak, click here

Episode sponsor:

HVR’s technology empowers organizations to realize their full potential with continuous, high-volume data movement between cloud-based and on-premise systems. Visit HVR’s website to get fresh data when you need it: https://techin.asia/hvr

[This episode was produced in partnership with CleverTap]

In 2014, Sunil Thomas, Anand Jain, and Suresh Kondamudi had left their jobs at Indian media conglomerate Network18 to start up CleverTap.

The mobile marketing platform’s birth was inspired by a recurring “painful problem” that the trio faced as engineers whenever marketers wanted to personalize their website or app in order to engage with users.

So the team built CleverTap to enable just that. While the early days of the company were challenging - it took more than two years before it would make any money - the co-founders knew they had a revolutionary product on their hands. Despite that, they never imagined it would become the multimillion-dollar business that it is today, with revenue numbers doubling every year for the past four years.

On this special episode of Startup Snapshot featuring Thomas, CleverTap’s CEO, tells the story of how the business came to be, sheds light on the early days of its operations, and discusses the lessons he’s learned from his experience.

More information on today's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/idea-spawned-multimilliondollar-business

Featured interviewee:

• Sunil Thomas, CEO and co-founder of mobile marketing platform CleverTap

Essential reading:

• Why We Changed Our Brand Name to CleverTap
• For more of Tech in Asia’s coverage of CleverTap, click here: https://www.techinasia.com/tag/clevertap

Episode sponsor:

CleverTap helps businesses build valuable long-term relationships with customers by giving them access to real-time behavioral analytics and a platform to engage users on the right channels at the right time, with a message that resonates.

Visit CleverTap’s website to learn more: https://bit.ly/clevertapctatia

For years, HungryGoWhere was the go-to platform for anyone looking for grub and sustenance in Singapore.

But last month, the site announced that it’s ending its 15-year run, bidding loyal users - the few who were still around - farewell and thank you.

On this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia’s Melissa Goh discusses the events that led to HungryGoWhere’s shuttering, insider accounts about how the company was run, and a potential sale that could give the platform a second wind.

More information on today's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-hungrygowhere-sizzle-steak

Featured reporter:

• Melissa Goh, a Tech in Asia journalist based in Singapore

Essential reading:

• Singtel’s restaurant review portal HungryGoWhere to close in July
• Why did HungryGoWhere go nowhere?
• Not dead yet: Singtel looks to sell HungryGoWhere after receiving offers
• Why many of Singtel’s digital bets failed after a decade of trying
• A history of Singtel’s successes and failures in reinventing itself
• For more stories on Singtel, click here

Episode sponsor:

HVR is joining Tech in Asia for a virtual event on July 14, where chief technology officer Mark Van De Wiel will discuss how to accelerate your business with real-time data delivery, alongside Geoff Soon, South Asia managing director of cloud data firm Snowflake; Andrew Psaltis, Asia Pacific director of data analytics and AI/ML at Google; and Kai Xin Thia, senior data scientist at the London Stock Exchange Group.

Sign up now to discover how to harness the power of cloud data to accelerate your business growth and increase revenue opportunities with HVR.

Last month, Indonesia-based super app Gojek and online marketplace Tokopedia announced a merger to form GoTo Group.

The move would give both companies a boost against their respective rivals: Gojek against fellow super app Grab, and Tokopedia against Shopee, Sea Group’s ecommerce arm. However, potential redundancies in the combined entity have already been spotted, raising questions about the future of its various services.

On this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia’s Aditya Hadi Pratama discusses the events in the lead-up to the deal, GoTo’s prospective future, and what impact the merger could have on the wider Asian startup ecosystem.

More information on today's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-gojek-tokopedias-merger

Featured reporter:

• Aditya Hadi Pratama, a Tech in Asia journalist based in Indonesia

Essential reading:

• Gojek and Tokopedia officially announce merger
• Gojek, Tokopedia’s merged entity GoTo plans pre-IPO fundraise
• Following the GoTo merger, should Grab buy an ecommerce marketplace?
• Overlap in Gojek and Tokopedia services suggests possible redundancy
• GoTo appoints ex-Ernst & Young exec as CFO ahead of its IPO plans
• Visual: How a decade of work led to the GoTo merger
• For more stories on GoTo, click here

HVR’s technology empowers organizations to realize their full potential with continuous, high-volume data movement between cloud-based and on-premise systems. Visit https://techin.asia/hvr to get fresh data when you need it.

Last month, Grab announced its plans to go public in the US via a merger with Altimeter Capital, a special purpose acquisition company.

Shortly after, Grab unveiled an investor presentation that revealed previously closely guarded financial details.

On this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia industry analyst Simon Huang dives into the deck, parsing through what it says - and doesn’t say - and what it may indicate for the future of the Southeast Asian super app.

More information on today's story here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-grabs-investor-presentation

• Simon Huang, Tech in Asia’s industry analyst based in Singapore

• 6 surprises from the reveal of Grab’s jealously guarded financials
• Retrace the forgotten history of Grab with this timeline
• Grab used this deck to reveal its financials to investors
• Visualizing the size of Grab
• Visual: Tracking Grab’s journey to a $40 billion valuation
• Breaking down Grab’s $40b valuation
• The superpower behind Grab’s super app?
• For more stories on Grab, click here

HVR’s technology empowers organizations to realize their full potential with continuous, high-volume data movement between cloud-based and on-premise systems. Visit https://techin.asia/hvr to get fresh data when you need it.