Making ‘proptech’ an actual thing

• “We saw digital disruptions in many other industries and we thought, why is there not enough digital empowerment in the property transaction journey?” asked Jason Ding, Co-founder & CMO of 500-backed proptech company MHub.
• In fact, the term ‘proptech’ wasn’t even startup vernacular when the team started in 2015! But after much tenacity and perseverance in optimizing the messy and stressful property transaction process, MHub realized that one solution was just not enough.
• They ended up building an entire ecosystem of apps to serve the various parties across the industry from developers and lawyers to sales & marketing teams.
• This approach worked wonders and led to their success. Today, MHub has facilitated 296,000 bookings worth US$30 billion and worked with 150 developers on close to 2,000 projects. According to Jason, they’ve covered 28.3% of all property transactions in Malaysia!
• Listen to the full podcast episode here.

Online safety starts offline

• Parents can relate to this: Children today are spending more time online — doing homework, attending virtual classes, and on screens from generally spending more time indoors.
• 500-backed edtech platform Lingokids, which runs a play-learning application with original content and educational content from Oxford University Press, surveyed kids’ device usage as well as their parents’ approach to online safety.
• In perhaps some surprising results, 1 in 3 parents let their kids download apps on their own, with no supervision! Lingokids board member, retired teacher, mother, and grandmother Suzanne Barchers recommends that parents always be highly aware of the content their children are consuming on devices, and ensure that the devices have adequate parental security installed.
• So, what can parents do? Having open conversations, installing educational apps, restricting app downloads and ad content, as well as taking an interest in their kids’ online activities will go a long way.
• Read the full article here.

SE Asia spacetech propels forward

• One of the many industries that have been upended by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is the commercial space-launch industry. Both countries are manufacturing hubs for propulsion systems, and are homes to a large pool of aerospace engineering veterans.
• So, companies and governments worldwide are turning to alternative launch providers, and one of them is 500-backed startup Aliena, a propulsion systems startup in Singapore. “We’re seeing five to seven [order] requests a month,” said Aliena’s Co-founder & CEO Mark Lim. Before the war, the company would receive just one or two requests “every few months,” he added.
• Rohit Jha, Co-founder & CEO of 500-backed superfast Internet provider Transcelestial pointed out that funding is still hard to come by for spacetech in Southeast Asia. 
• Spacetech funding and talent may not be flowing into Southeast Asia as expected, but this could push the region’s players to branch out and go international. 
• As Mark says, spacetech startups in this part of the world should reach for the sky. In fact, Aliena is currently raising a US$5 million Series A, which his team expects to close this year, to do just that.
• Read the full story in Tech in Asia.