Driving a diversified business

• 500-backed super app Grab was among 6 leading brands in Asia Pacific featured on BBC World News.
• In the exclusive interview, Cheryl Goh, Global Vice President of Marketing, spoke to how the startup has been responding to new business challenges in 2020.

• With its e-hailing business impacted by the pandemic, how has the super app been adapting? According to Goh, Grab has been “really fortunate” since it runs a diversified business.
• The startup’s growth in food, grocery, and parcel delivery services has helped its business.
• When the pandemic first hit, Goh shared they responded by moving hundreds and thousands of its drivers into delivery services in order to preserve their livelihoods.
• Meanwhile, Grab saw businesses suffering with the drop in foot traffic to physical stores, especially those that hadn’t yet gone digital.
• This led to a “huge interest” among brands in Grab’s merchant and advertising services, to increase brand visibility online. With the consumer data at hand, the startup has been able to work with brands to optimise their campaigns with data points such as the best operating hours and current consumer trends.
• Goh added they have been running “all kinds of campaigns”, with one of the recent ones being “Homegrown Heroes” through which they promoted 6,000 small businesses via personalized ads provided free of charge.
• This is part of Grab’s pivot to focusing on partners rather than their own products and services.
• Listen to the full interview here.

10 apps to rule them all

• “The long and arduous property transaction process” — this was the phrase used to describe the Malaysian real estate industry in a recent Vulcan Post feature.
• 3 people got together, with a simple idea to solve the problem. The result: a proptech platform called MHub, which has helped cut down the typically 9-month process into one.

• “While real estate is the world’s largest asset class, it’s also one of the slowest to adopt technology,” explained co-founder Jason Ding. “It’s because there are many different parties involved in a highly multi-regulated industry. There have been many initiatives but usually it’s been focused on just one aspect of the journey, when a holistic approach is required.”
• To create that holistic approach, 500-backed MHub built a suite of 10 apps to serve and connect key players within the industry including real estate agents, property developers, bankers, and lawyers.
• One of the values the startup brings is to act as a “neutral party”, allowing ease of adoption across the value chain. Everyone involved can then focus on their own roles.
• How has the startup been faring? MHub boasts over 80 developers, close to 90 law firms, 2,000 bankers, 4,000 real estate agents, and 10,000 users using the platform.
• The startup’s sales in the first half of 2020 has been up by 3.5X compared to the same period last year.
• Ding revealed MHub has “close to 700 projects with a total of 170k units”, adding they’ve “captured bookings for 64k units with a total Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) value of RM93 billion.”
• In the next 5 years, the startup wants to be the defacto for all property sales transactions in Southeast Asia. Immediately on their expansion map are 5 SEA countries, starting with Indonesia and Thailand in Q2 2021.
• Read the full feature on MHub here.

Going ‘Down Under’

• 500-backed drone solutions provider Aerodyne Group announced it has signed an agreement to acquire a major stake in Australia-based drone surveying and advanced asset inspection company, Sensorem Pty Ltd.

• The Perth-based company specializes in ‘remote sensing’, which simply put, refers tos obtaining information about objects or areas from a distance — in this case, with drones. Sensorem serves clients in multiple sectors in Australia, with a specific focus on the mining and agriculture sectors.
• With this investment, Sensorem will be able to offer Aerodyne Group’s solutions across Australia.
• In the announcement, it was also revealed that Sensorem’s existing management team, led by managing director, Ed Boxall, will continue to lead the company and remain as shareholders.
• “The next phase of Sensorem’s journey will no doubt benefit from this partnership with the global leader in the field of drone based enterprise solutions,” Boxall shared. “This will allow us to leverage Aerodyne’s global footprint and economies of scale, ensuring that Sensorem continues to offer an innovative and differentiated value proposition for our clients.”
• Representing Aerodyne Group, COO Rossi Jaafar said, “Aerodyne Group is excited to join forces with Sensorem, which has a strong foundation in key pillars of the Australian economy…we look forward to working with Ed and his team to super-charge the next stage of growth.”
• This news comes after Aerodyne Group’s moves to expand to the Middle East and Asia markets.
• Get more details on the announcement 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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