The state of privacy and big data after Covid-19.

RedDoorz launches sanitation and hygiene certification

• 500-backed RedDoorz, which is Southeast Asia’s largest online hotel management and booking platform, has launched a sanitation and hygiene certification program in Indonesia called HygienePass.
• In the current climate where cleanliness and hygiene are of utmost importance, the initiative’s end-goal is to create hygiene and sanitation standardization for the industry as preventive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• In order to qualify, a hotel has to routinely practice sanitation guidelines including constant body temperature checks for staff and incoming guests and routinely disinfecting rooms and public areas.
• HygienePass will also be introduced in the Philippines and Vietnam in due time.

How to keep well this Ramadan

• The Ramadan season is a time of self-reflection and mindfulness, perhaps even more so at this time.
• 500-backed wellness lifestyle brand PurelyB has produced a timely and well-written Ramadan guide for this season, concentrating on four pillars: Mindfulness, Nutrition & Fasting, Wellness, and Fitness.
• Throughout the guide, you’ll learn about practical tips such as how to manage nourishment during Ramadan and the natural remedies to boost immunity or when you’re slightly under the weather.
• Download the full guide here.

Grab co-founders win Nikkei award

• While studying at Harvard Business School, Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling met. After graduation they founded MyTeksi and the rest is history.
• From early beginnings as a ride-hailing platform, 500-backed Grab has expanded its business to food and grocery delivery and cashless payment solutions.

• Nikkei Asian Review honors Anthony and Hooi Ling in the 25th Nikkei Asian Prize, which recognizes the achievements of people and organizations that have improved the lives of people throughout Asia.
• Anthony and Hooi Ling are winners for the Economic and Business Innovation category.
• Our heartiest congratulations to the two!

Big data, the big question

• With most parts of the world on strict social distancing protocols, governments are relying on high-tech surveillance to contain the viral outbreak. But at what cost?

• 500 Startups’ Khailee Ng pens in his Nikkei Asian Review article that data is needed to combat the ongoing pandemic, but the world will also need reliable data protection tools kits to match.
• In his article for Financial Times Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari argued that the tech solutions introduced today will most likely stay with us longer than we think.
• For former CIA contractor Edward Snowden, he echoed similar sentiments during an interview with the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, saying that when emergency measures are passed, especially in a time of unrest, those measures will likely stay for good.

• What do you think? Will the surveillance tools used to contain the coronavirus outbreak pose a threat to our personal data and privacy post-Covid-19? Let us know your thoughts below.

We’ll be back on Monday! If you need a recap, go here for a thorough recap of this week’s Daily Markup.

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In the meantime, stay safe and stay healthy.

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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