Time to style up

• 500-backed omnichannel fashion startup Pomelo partnered with social media platform TikTok for their first-ever fashion collaboration in Southeast Asia.

• The brands launched a 13-piece streetwear collection, which is available on pomelofashion.com, on the Pomelo app, and in-stores in Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.
• The #BeBoldBeYou TikTok challenge also kicked off with the launch, calling for fans to showcase their personal style.
• The most creative entries stand a chance to win the full collection of “Pomelo x TikTok” and prizes worth more than ~US$330 in total.

Robotic recruitment

• Max Armbruster, founder, and CEO of 500-backed Talkpush was featured in an interview about the pandemic’s recruitment trends.

• Before the pandemic, digital channels contributed only an additional 2–3% to yearly hire figures. In 2020, some companies went from 20% online hires to 90% in one year.
• “This trend is almost irreversible. In comparison to traditional talent acquisition strategies, the cost per hire is significantly lower for digital, once you have figured out how to deal with really large volumes,” Max explained.
• But how would candidates feel about being hired — or rejected — by a bot? Max explained that recruitment solutions that allow seamless handover from bot to human are crucial. “In this way, companies can offer the high touch approach of a human interaction, while the automation can handle high-volume, standardized processes in real time.”

Building a house of data

• 500-backed property startup 99 Group has appointed dentsu Singapore’s Happy Marketer to drive its digital marketing roadmap through Google Analytics 360. The startup’s brands include 99.co, iproperty.com.sg, SRX, and rumah123.com.

• Happy Marketer will work closely with 99 Group to transform its customer journey, enhance user experience, and boost user acquisition.
• 99 Group chief operating officer, Yan Phun, said: “Data is the lifeblood of a tech company such as ours. Our data footprint has grown along with the size of our company, so partnering with an experienced agency like Happy Marketer is a natural step in ensuring we realise the full potential of the data in our hands.”

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500 Startups is a venture capital firm on a mission to discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, help them create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. In Southeast Asia, 500 Startups invests through the pioneering 500 Southeast Asia family of funds. The 500 Southeast Asia funds have backed over 240 companies across multiple sectors from internet to consumer to deep technology. It continues to connect founders with capital, expertise and powerful regional and global networks to help them succeed.

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