Shroom for sustainability

• Vegan, cruelty-free leather that isn’t synthetic? 500-backed startup Mycotech Lab (MYCL) has just the thing for you.
• Launched in 2016, MYCL cultivates mycelia (a type of fungus) as a substitute for animal-based leather. Currently, MYCL’s materials are used by brands to manufacture wallets, watches, and shoes.

• According to co-founder Adi Reza Nugroho, every product sold by the company has a 40–30% profit margin. He added that the startup has secured orders to keep them busy until 2027.
• Because of the heavy volume of orders, the production unit is running to its full capacity. Adi shared that the startup has plans to expand its production facilities, which will enable the team to serve more customers and bring more products to the market.

Keeping it clean

• 500-backed online marketplace Carousell announced a 67% decrease in fraud rate on its platform in 2020, the lowest-ever recorded by the startup.

• In the last quarter of 2020, the rate dipped to 0.026% — this means only about two to three in every 10,000 transactions on its marketplace were fraudulent.
• How did the startup achieve this? In addition to employing artificial intelligence and digital fingerprinting technology, Carousell doubled its content moderating team’s size to ensure manual moderation speed.

Driving healthcare equality

• 500-backed super app Grab launched a region-wide Covid-19 vaccination program aimed at increasing vaccine access and education.

• The startup will roll out policies to support convenient access to the Covid-19 vaccine, encouraging its drivers and delivery partners to get vaccinated. These policies include subsidies and medical leaves.
• It will also work closely with local governments to combat misinformation and boost public confidence in Covid-19 vaccines.
• Grab aims to reach fully-vaccinated status for all Grab employees, Grab drivers, and delivery partners by the end of 2022.

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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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