Fresh funds

• 500-backed e-commerce aggregator iPrice announced it has acquired additional funding from JG Digital Equity Ventures (JGDEV), the corporate venture capital arm of JG Summit Holdings, a Philippine conglomerate whose portfolio spans banking, transportation, real estate, manufacturing, and more.
• This is the continuation of the group’s Series B Investment, which was announced in March this year, according to a statement.
• iPrice Group CEO Paul Brown-Kenyon tells Tech in Asia that the funds will be used to improve user engagement and its core products, in addition to expanding its reach beyond Google.

• With the help of JGDEV, iPrice can tap into the wider Filippinio consumer base. It has already secured partnerships with local companies such as RewardsMart in the Robinsons Rewards mobile app and Summit Media’s online domain PEP.ph.
• “iPrice has a unique approach. It doesn’t aim to compete with other players, but instead, it enables these players to have more channels. As a result, it connects them to more consumers. It enables consumer transactions to be deeper and wider through its comprehensive understanding of the digital economy,” said JGDEV President and CEO Jojo Malolos.
• Based in Malaysia, iPrice also operates in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Hong Kong, and has about 20 million monthly visits across Southeast Asia.

Buy a car online

• 500-backed Carsome has entered the e-commerce space to sell used cars online through a collaboration with Shopee, one of Southeast Asia’s most prominent e-commerce platforms.
• Consumers are now able to purchase an exclusive selection of used cars on Shopee’s platform.
• All listed cars come complete with car specification details and multi-angled photos. They also come with a one-year warranty and five-day money back guarantee.

• “Carsome’s key objective has always been to digitise the used car industry as much as possible to elevate the consumer experience. With “The New Way of Buying Cars” and the extension into the online shopping domain, we are focused on integrating Malaysians’ online and offline shopping experiences — growing our business as well as being able to cater to a large segment of consumers on Shopee,” said Carsome’s co-founder and group CEO Eric Cheng.
• Last month, Carsome announced the launching of a business-to-consumer (B2C) segment, offering a differentiated experience of buying used cars, in conjunction with the opening of its new flagship store, the Carsome Experience Center in Kuala Lumpur.

Japanese support

• 500-backed on-demand caregiving startup Homage has received strategic investment from Infocom, a Japan-based healthcare-software provider serving over 13,000 healthcare facilities in the country.
• Through the strategic alliance, Homage and Infocom aim to accelerate the long-term care business in Japan and APAC and provide the trusted support for rapidly growing senior care needs across the region.
• “Japan has one of the most aging populations in the world, and the problem is that we need to start building infrastructure to enable people to be able to access the kind of care services that they need,” Gillian Tee, co-founder and chief executive of Homage, told TechCrunch.

• Founded in 2016, Homage is a home healthcare services provider in Singapore and Malaysia with more than 3,000 curated care and medical professionals across both markets, servicing both consumers and healthcare organisations.
• In June, Homage launched Homage Health, a service providing telehealth consultations and medicine delivery to accommodate the needs of care recipients who may be at a greater risk of contracting Covid-19 during the pandemic.

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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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