Giving farmers a sales boost

• Indian farmers are getting access to new channels which allow them to sell their high-quality produce to businesses & processors globally. 500-backed agritech startup FarMart has acqui-hired fruits and vegetables (F&V) logistics platform, Subjimandi.app to enable this. 
• Its goal? In addition to optimizing its logistics, the startup plans to expand its product portfolio by entering into the F&V categories.
• This move is part of FarMart’s vision to create India’s largest food supply platform.
• V.S.Vivek, founder and head at Subjimandi.app, said, “We look forward to now doubling down and focusing on building for commodity logistics with a larger canvas and faster pace. FarMart is best positioned to build the largest food supply chain company and we are stoked to now contribute to its growth.”
• Read the full article here.

The growing billion-dollar club

• Southeast Asia is home to 35 unicorns and counting, reports FinanceAsia. Among them are several 500-backed startups, including Bukalapak, Grab, and Malaysia’s first unicorn Carsome. 
•  “The start-up ecosystem has come full circle. We’ve gone from an environment of young start-ups to those pushing for growth and ending up as billion-dollar companies,” said Vishal Harnal, managing partner at 500 Global, the firm with enough foresight to have established early relationships with each.
• One of 500 Southeast Asia’s investment focus is rural digitization. The team believes that much potential lies outside metropolitan cities and these areas could contribute to further regional growth.
• “We are investing more in Vietnam and the Philippines due to potential opportunity, and we continue to invest in Malaysia because we believe it is underinvested,” Vishal added.
• Read the full story here.

Building better cities with data

• Cha-Ly Koh, founder and CEO of 500-backed Malaysian startup Urbanmetry appeared on Singapore’s MoneyFM to share how data collected by the company can help with building sustainable cities.
• Urbanmetry supplies data on property supply and demand, as well as pricing to key stakeholders such as banks, the government, and property developers.
• Their work allows them to make better decisions about where to invest and how to price homes.
•  The startup also launched NowCast, an AI-driven service for homebuyers. It forecasts the value of their homes based on machine learning from 90 city data variables, bringing better transparency, accuracy, and efficiency to the industry.
• Listen to the full interview here.