Startup Snapshot

When Malaysia, one of Singapore’s top sources for food products, announced a nationwide lockdown in early March, Singaporeans went on panic-buying sprees, cleaning out grocery store shelves because they feared the country’s supplies would soon run out.

In response to the situation, players in the agritech scene have ramped up production to make Singapore less import-reliant and more self-sufficient.

Tech in Asia’s Joseph Gan looks into the recent activities of some agritech startups and discusses how much of an impact they’ve had on the city-state’s food supply chain.

More information on this week's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-industry-working-ensure-singapore-doesnt-hungry

Episode Sponsor:

DigitalOcean is on a mission to simplify cloud computing so developers and their teams can spend more time building software that changes the world. Get started with cloud hosting for free with DigitalOcean at https://do.co/deepdive.

Indonesian education tech startup Zenius recently announced that it would be providing free lessons on Gojek’s app, since schools have been suspended and students have to learn from home because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Interestingly, Zenius CEO Rohan Monga used to be Gojek’s chief operating officer and head of international expansions. And he’s just one of many former employees at Gojek who have since left the ride-hailing unicorn to take up leadership positions in other companies.

How will this growing Gojek mafia affect Indonesia’s startup ecosystem? Tech in Asia’s Aditya Hadi Pratama shares Zenius’ story to find out.

More information on this week's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-growing-influence-gojek-mafia

Episode Sponsor:

DigitalOcean is on a mission to simplify cloud computing so developers and their teams can spend more time building software that changes the world. Get started with cloud hosting for free with DigitalOcean at https://do.co/deepdive.

News of layoffs at various startups and large corporations as well as small and medium-sized enterprises have been making headlines all over the world, especially as the global economy reaches critical levels due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

To shed some light on the factors driving retrenchments, Tech in Asia journalists Kenan Machado, Terence Lee, and Melissa Goh discuss how the recent job cuts at Oyo, Paktor, and CXA Group unfolded.

More information on this week's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-delving-layoffs-asian-startups

Episode sponsor:

HReasily’s easy-to-use platform enables companies to improve productivity by streamlining work processes such as payroll processing, leave management, and claims applications. Visit https://www.hreasily.com/ to learn more.

Singapore-based grocery delivery startup Honestbee was a well-loved brand. Its brick-and-mortar grocery store, Habitat, was touted to have the world’s first checkout system that required minimal intervention from shoppers, as well as the first grocery collection system that was entirely reliant on robots.

But news of Honestbee suspending operations in a number of its key markets uncovered a series of questionable corporate governance practices and a bad leadership culture.

What went wrong? Tech in Asia’s chief correspondent, Terence Lee, shares the story behind the company’s troubles.

More information on this week's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-honestbee-story

Episode sponsor:

HReasily’s easy-to-use platform enables companies to improve productivity by streamlining work processes such as payroll processing, leave management, and claims applications. Visit https://www.hreasily.com/ to learn more.

Arrive, an investment fund linked to American hip hop mogul Jay-Z through his entertainment label Roc Nation, has been making moves in Southeast Asia. Since 2017, Arrive has invested in five startups in Singapore and Indonesia, and aims to double its portfolio of Southeast Asian companies by the end of 2020, with plans to enter the Philippines and Vietnam.

What does this mean for Southeast Asia’s investment landscape? And what does Arrive have to offer startups that other investors don’t? Tech in Asia reporter Jack Ellis answers these questions and more.

Become a Tech in Asia subscriber at http://techin.asia/sub and gain access to the latest in-depth news on the tech and startup ecosystem.

More information on this week's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-jayzs-investment-fund-southeast-asia

Recently labelled by the World Health Organization as 2019-nCoV, the novel coronavirus has spread rapidly across China and the world. More people have contracted Covid-19 - the disease caused by this microbe - in a much shorter time than SARS, which became a global epidemic in 2003.

But what is the outbreak’s impact on the startup scene? Tech in Asia reporter Putra Muskita dishes the details.

Become a Tech in Asia subscriber at http://techin.asia/sub and gain access to the latest in-depth news on the tech and startup ecosystem.

More information on this week's episode here: https://www.techinasia.com/deep-dive-startups-coronavirus-epidemic

On this episode of Startup Snapshot, Tech in Asia CEO Willis Wee shares the highest and lowest moments of his entrepreneurial journey, recalling how he built the startup as well as the mistakes that led to the 2018 layoffs, and how the 10-year rollercoaster journey shaped him as the company's founder. Maria Li also chimes in to share her observations on Tech in Asia's growth after having served as its chief operating officer for the past year.

This episode on Startup Snapshot, Caecilia Chu, co-founder and CEO of travel wallet app YouTrip, looks back on the "painful failure" of her first entrepreneurial venture and shares what she learned when the incident sent her soul-searching abroad.

M17 Entertainment CEO Joseph Phua walks us through the trials and tribulations his startup faced when it became the first company in the entire history of the New York Stock Exchange to cancel its listing on the day it was supposed to begin trading and how the firm bounced back to become profitable on this episode of Startup Snapshot.

This episode on Startup Snapshot, theAsianparent founder and group CEO Roshni Mahtani shares what she learned from a failed market expansion and how those lessons impact how the business operates today, as well as what her journey as a founder has taught her about working with and hiring the right talent.