Taking wing

• 500-backed drone startup Aerodyne Group announced a collaboration with Dron-e to offer drone solutions in infrastructure maintenance and agriculture in the Italian market.
• Founder and Group CEO of Aerodyne, Kamarul A. Muhamed said, “This strategic collaboration is synergistic and will allow both parties to service the US$17 billion works planned in the Italian and pan-European electricity grid segment for the next ten-year period.”
• He estimated that the Italian infrastructure inspection market was worth about US$900 million in 2020. It is forecasted to grow annually by 3% in the next 5 years.
• The startup claims that its AI-powered asset management solution, vertikaliti, lowers costs by 15% and shortens inspection times by 4x.
• Read the full story on Digital News Asia here.

Hatching a new plan

• 500-backed micro-blogging platform Koo recently launched in Nigeria. Within a week, the government and the president of Nigeria joined the platform.
• The app has since been downloaded more than 250,000 times in the country. Koo is available in 8 languages, including English, and claims over 7 million downloads in total.
• “[We] are now planning to introduce local Nigerian languages as well, which will enable wide adoption of the platform,” revealed co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna.
• He said the startup is focused on growing aggressively in India while expanding globally through its entry into Nigeria. “These experiences will enable us to launch in other countries,” he said, adding that there are countries across Southeast Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe where the majority of the population are non-English speakers.
• Read the full interview on Goa Chronicle here.

A safe and sustainable ride

• 500-backed e-scooter startup Neuron Mobility has released the findings from its rider survey, showing that 40% of its e-scooter rides have replaced journeys that typically would have been made in a car.
• An almost even split was found when it came to the type of trips that were taken on Neuron’s e-scooters. One half was for commuting, getting to appointments, and completing jobs, while the remaining half was for leisure and recreation.
• George Symes, Expansion Manager at the startup, said: “It’s really encouraging to see how well our e-scooters have been embraced in the cities that we operate in — and the data proves that they are helping to boost the local economy as it recovers from the effects COVID-19.”
• A spokesperson at Newcastle City Council added that the e-scooters also help to reduce congestion and improve air quality by displacing car journeys.
• Read the full article here.

Missed out the last Daily Markup? Go here to check it out.

You can also find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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.