Marketing partnerships made better 

• Marketing partners are often at the mercy of long 60- to 90-day payment terms, which greatly affects their cash flow. 500-backed martech platform Involve Asia is expanding to Vietnam to change that and more for content creators, developers, and affiliates.
• Its proprietary risk scoring system enables advertisers to weed out fraudulent activities and to ensure outcomes are paid out faster. In addition, its express withdrawal service allows marketing partners to receive payment in as quickly as 15 days, which enables them to better manage their cash flows and scale up their operations.
• Jimmy How, Founder and CEO, said, “With an e-commerce market in the country that is accelerating rapidly and high social media usage, it presents a ripe opportunity for us to help brands in the country reach their customers through our proprietary MarTech solution in a cost-efficient manner, and ultimately scale their business through partnerships with influencers, apps, and affiliate sites.”
• Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur with a presence in six countries in the region, the company has generated over US$1.4 billion in sales for its brands, with over $46 million paid out to its publishing and other partners.
• Read the full article in TechNode Global.

Time to Flex

• Cash flow issues were also plaguing a Singaporean cleaning company, Cleaning Works, until it leveraged Flex PLUS, 500-backed Finaxar’s credit line solution for SMEs.
• Many SMEs faced the challenge of having to dip into their company’s reserves to keep business afloat, particularly during the pandemic when costs were increasing and payments from customers delayed.
• “Flex PLUS helped to boost our working capital. Expanding the business at such a time was possible as the increase in available funds ensured that our cash flow was not affected,” said Farhanah Amran, Director at Cleaning Works.
• Dr Tan Sian Wee, Co-founder and Group CEO of Finaxar Holdings, explained, “We designed Flex with SMEs in mind, so that they can focus on the growth of their business while managing expenses with peace of mind. Our mission is to level the playing field for SMEs to access better financial services.”
• Read the full story in The Business Times.

Making a visible difference

• In 2009, Tuhin’s dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. During the course of chemotherapy treatments, he developed bedsores that persisted. Tuhin turned to Arun, an aerospace engineering student he met during his own studies in biophysics, for a solution to alleviate his dad’s pain.
• Together, they developed an idea they called ‘liquid skin’, which when sprayed on a wound, solidifies and accelerates healing. This solution contains cells, making it a ‘bio ink’ that can be used for 3D printing.
• This innovation eventually inspired Tuhin Bhowmick, Co-founder & CEO of 500-backed Pandorum Technologies to found the startup in 2011. Today, they are eyeing a human pilot trial to test their flagship product, the bioengineered liquid cornea, which aims to restore vision in blind patients.
• “Bioengineering is the future in healthcare,” said Arun Chandru, Co-founder & CTO of the company. “There will be a day when organs will actually be grown in the lab for transplant.”
• Watch the full interview here.