Keeping on-trend

• 500-backed robo-advisor platform Bibit has hit a million users on the platform. In an interview with Sequoia India, co-founder Sigit Kouwagam shares how the startup has been helping millions of people invest their savings responsibly.
• According to Sigit, major shifts in trends in Indonesia have led to this milestone. Dropping interest rates have led people to eschew traditional checking accounts with banks and to search for higher yield investments.
• Millennials especially, he shared, are looking for more ways to grow their wealth sustainably. The ability to invest and monitor investments on their mobile phones 24/7 creates the transparency and trust they need.
• In the next four to five years, Sigit expects tens of millions of people will be exposed to the capital market, compared to only 2% of the population at present. He added that there is US$400 billion still being put into checking accounts, and he expects this wealth to shift and enter the capital market.
• Watch the full interview on Sequoia India here.

Flying high

• Founder and CEO of 500-backed drone startup Aerodyne Group, Kamarul A Muhamed, was recently awarded Technology Entrepreneur and EY Entrepreneur of the Year. In an interview with The Edge, he spoke of his journey.
• Aerodyne was initially just a division of a media company Kamarul founded in 2006. It was eventually developed into a separate entity in 2014, allowing Kamarul to pursue more focused opportunities in drone-based enterprise solutions.
• “Our customers are large corporations and we help them take care of their critical infrastructure like power lines, ports, highways and bridges and wind farms. We also do surveillance and security, which needs swarm intelligence — this means piecing together data collected by multiple drones,” he shared. He added that the startup grew from one site to 50 in just 18 months.
• After establishing a presence in the construction, oil and gas and power industries, Aerodyne is now looking into agriculture. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the world population is expected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050. To meet that demand, global food production will have to increase by 70%.
• Aerodyne is looking to boost agriculture through its proprietary super app, Agrimor. It allows farmers, agencies, and agriculture service providers to request drones and pilots for agriculture seeding, spraying, plant analysis, mapping and much more.
• According to The Edge, Aerodyne was ranked second in the world last year by Germany-based Drone Industry Insights and currently has offices in 35 countries.
• Read the full story on The Edge here.

A new home

• 500-backed Singapore healthtech startup Homage has announced its plans to set up in Melbourne as part of its expansion to Australia.
• Homage provides a holistic range of non-medical and medical solutions, including disability assessments and care planning, personal care assistance with daily activities, skilled nursing procedures, and rehabilitation services.
• Apart from direct provision of care, the startup also partners with local healthcare and community organizations to enable them to reach more people through its technology and care services solution.
• Gillian Tee, Homage CEO and co-founder said, “We wanted to start in Victoria as we see strong support and deep commitment from the State Government, municipalities, and local communities towards building better solutions in the long term care sector — what we see as opportunities for meaningful private-public partnerships that we hope to be a part of fostering”.
• Read the full article on Invest Victoria here.

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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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