World changers

• Congrats to 500-backed Grab for making this year’s Fortune “Change The World” list!
• The annual ranking showcases companies from around the globe for their commitment to meet society’s untapped needs through their resources.
• Much of the focus this year revolves around the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been a force of disruption for governments and societies globally.

• Grab — the only Southeast Asian tech company on the list — has been instrumental in helping the F&B industry through services like GrabFood and GrabMart.
• “The company already had relationships with many regional merchants through its food-delivery business. As the pandemic unfolded, it expanded its GrabMart grocery service to connect more than 3,000 food providers with online shoppers,” reads an excerpt of Grab’s feature.
• In August, CEO Anthony Tan told Fortune in an interview that the pandemic has pushed many small business owners to pivot digitally as a means of survival.
• “It’s been tremendously difficult for some of the small businesses. Many of them who weren’t on Grab had to close. This is where I believe that GrabFood and the likes of [mobile payment solution] GrabPay, a lot of these services that were seen as, maybe at one point in the early days, nice to have…today they [are] the primary source of business for many of these guys,” Anthony said.
• For more on what Grab is doing to help entrepreneurs during this period, check out its Social Impact Report here.

Boosting offerings

• Users of Malaysia-based e-wallet, Boost, have access to millions of products from thousands of merchants across Malaysia as a result of a partnership with 500-backed iPrice Group.
• As a result, users can make the most out of their online shopping experiences with a platform that compares anything from prices to delivery schedules.
• “We recognize that Malaysians primarily access Internet activities like online shopping through their smartphones and apps. Therefore, it is part of our strategy to bring price comparison content to enhance the services of Super Lifestyle Apps like Boost,” iPrice Group Executive Vice-Chairman & Co-Founder David Chmelar said of the tie-up.

• For merchants on Boost, the partnership will help to drive more traffic to their brands.
• The Boost announcement came just after the e-commerce aggregator received a fresh round of Series B investment from JGDEV, the corporate venture capital arm of Phillipine conglomerate JG Summit Holdings.

The expansion continues

• 500-backed Aerodyne Group continues its ambitious expansion plans by setting a new entity in Kazakhstan.
• Aerodyne Caspian is a result of a partnership between Aerodyne Group and two Kazakh-registered drone and logistics companies — AT&T LLP and A Service Group LLP.
• In a press release, Aerodyne says the new venture will offer an end-to-end solution to clients by combining smart drone technologies with powerful AI-based data analytics.

• “We are delighted to offer our strong support to Aerodyne Caspian with an aim to disrupt and uplift the Kazakh drone market. Aerodyne’s solutions are already delivering significant performance improvement and cost optimization in 35 countries across the world and now we are excited to provide additional value to forward-looking enterprises across Central Asia,” said Kamarul A Muhamed, Aerodyne Group Founder and Group CEO.
• Aerodyne is certainly showing no signs of slowing down. In July, the company announced a collaboration with Associated British Ports (ABP), a leading port owner and operator in the UK. Earlier this month, it entered Latin America through a partnership with Mexico-based renewable energy provider, Ecopulse.

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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.

This post is intended solely for general informational or educational purposes only. 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. and its affiliates (collectively “500 Startups”) makes no representation as to the accuracy or information in this post and while reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that the information herein is accurate and up-to-date, no liability can be accepted for any error or omissions. All third party links in this post have not been independently verified by 500 Startups and the inclusion of such links should not be interpreted as an endorsement or confirmation of the content within. Information about portfolio companies’ markets, competitors, performance, and fundraising has been provided by those companies’ founders and has not been independently verified. Under no circumstances should any content in this post be construed as investment, legal, tax or accounting advice by 500 Startups, or an offer to provide any investment advisory service with regard to securities by 500 Startups. No content or information in this post should be construed as an offer to sell or solicitation of interest to purchase any securities advised by 500 Startups. Prospective investors considering an investment into any 500 Startups fund should not consider or construe this content as fund marketing material. The views expressed herein are as at the date of this post and are subject to change without notice. One or more 500 Startups fund may have a financial interest in one or more of the companies discussed.

500 Durians

Born in Silicon Valley. Raised in Southeast Asia.

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