Uplifting villagers in Java with ecommerce and fintech  

• 500-backed social ecommerce startup Dagangan is currently serving 15,000 villages across 40 districts via more than 40 hubs in Indonesia. They just raised a US$6.6M Pre-Series B led by BTPN Syariah Ventura; other investors include Hendra Kwik, Co-founder & CEO of fintech startup Payfazz, and existing backers.
• The fresh funding comes after its Pre-Series A and Series A  rounds last year, after which the company recorded 5x business growth! The new capital will be used to expand its presence in more rural areas and boost its product development.
• “We have realized that in rural areas the opportunity is not just around physical goods, but also digital and financial products,” said Co-founder & CEO Ryan Manafe. “We want our users to have a seamless experience to access products from BTPN Syariah, Payfazz, and other partners in the future.”
• Dangangan is starting its next round of funding, which is expected to close by the end of 2022. “This raise is not merely runway,” Ryan explained. “Our commitment is that we want to be profitable in the next five to six years, and then IPO like a normal company.”
• Congratulations to the Dagangan team!
• Read the full story on Tech in Asia.

The future of disinfection is autonomous

• The demand for disinfection is at an all-time high. To meet this important need, 500-backed robotics startup OhmniLabs partnered with MrBioClean, a full-service cleaning company, to deploy its fully autonomous cleaning robot, the OhmniClean™.
• According to OhmniLabs, OhmniClean™ is the world’s lightest and most user-friendly high-powered UV-C disinfection robot providing hospital-grade disinfection. Its autonomous nature means that it can be deployed by a new customer simply by training only 1 or 2 team members, keeping operating costs low and enabling the ability to scale.
• In addition to deploying the OhmniClean™ in premises such as schools and senior living facilities, MrBioClean will also introduce them in grocery stores to extend the shelf life of fresh produce, and for water sanitation.
• “We designed OhmniClean so that innovative companies like MrBioClean can offer medical-grade disinfection to as many customers as possible,” said Dr. Thuc Vu, Co-founder & CEO of OhmniLabs. “Autonomy is the future of disinfection; it provides fast, simple, and effective results.”
• Read the full article here.

Fighting the war on cancer with prevention & early detection

• In Hong Kong, about one in every 6 to 7 new cancer patients suffer from colorectal cancer, and it is the second most common cause of cancer death. 
• To address this issue, 500-backed biotech company Prenetics announced a strategic partnership with New Horizon Health, a cancer screening tech company, to launch ColoClear by Circle, the first colorectal cancer screening test approved in China.
• Together, they will bring ColoClear to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, and possibly expand the partnership in Southeast Asia.
• Within the first year of launching in China in 2021, ColoClear recorded a triple-digit growth and is currently being sold in 400 hospitals.
• Danny Yeung, Co-founder & CEO of Prenetics said, “Our goal is to decentralize healthcare and bring health closer to millions of patients around the world. ColoClear has a first-mover advantage in Asia’s cancer screening market, and judging from the success of Exact Sciences success with Cologuard in the USA, we look forward to deliver rapid growth of ColoClear in the future with New Horizon Health.”
• More details here.