User surge

• 3 million new merchants have joined 500-backed Bukalapak’s platform in the first seven months of the year, the Indonesia-based e-commerce company said.
• Bukalapak’s president Teddy Oetomo revealed most of the new merchants hail from smaller cities, outside of Indonesia’s bustling metropolitans.
• According to the company’s data, as reported by The Jakarta Post, the unicorn has partnered with 5.4 million warung (food stalls) and individual agents through its Mitra Bukalapak program.
• Revenue generated from Mitra Bukalapak’s offline partners makes up 30 percent of the platform’s total revenue. Launched in 2017, Mitra Bukalapak serves as a business-to-business marketplace where shop owners connect with consumer goods companies to replenish stock.

• With the Covid-19 crisis shifting consumer spending habits, e-commerce platforms in Indonesia, including Bukalapak, have been seeing surges of new users and merchants riding the digital wave.
• A survey conducted by Redseer is expecting Indonesia’s e-commerce industry to grow 50% to reach US$35 billion this year from last year’s US$23 billion.

Pilot project

• Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific and 500-backed Prenetics have announced the launch of a digital health passport.
• Travelers will be allowed to show their negative Covid-19 test results on a mobile app before boarding, which potentially can ease international travel restrictions on them, South China Morning Post reported.
• The pilot will begin on the Hong Kong-London route from October 2020. The Commons Project, a Swiss-based non profit organisation backed by the Rockefeller Foundation, is also collaborating in the project.

• Prenetics has helped signal the return of live football and cricket behind closed doors in the UK, successfully providing testing for the Premier League’s ‘Project Restart’ and the England and Wales Cricket Board.
• Through a £4 million contract with the Premier League, Prenetics has carried out over 40,000 tests for players and staff.
• It is also working with Matchroom Boxing, a leading boxing promoter, and Asia’s fastest-growing hotel business, Dorsett Hospitality International.

Virtual properties

• Property buyers in Singapore will have the chance to view listings from the comfort of their own homes, as 500-backed 99 Group’s 99.co is launching a virtual property fair with national media network Mediacorp and real estate agency PropNex.
• Happening from October 10 to December 4, The Singapore Property Show 2020 will be hosted on 99.co and feature 20 newly launched projects.
• The virtual tour will include interactive tours of listings, allowing expo goers to view properties with a peace of mind.

• “Our technology enables a rich virtual viewing experience that is much more convenient, yet no less informative than physical ones,” said 99.co CEO Darius Cheung.
• In recent news, 99 Group said it was hiring 100 staff members across multiple tech verticals to accelerate innovation in the real estate industry.
• The company has already hired tech veteran Shivkumar Krishnan — who has previously worked at Microsoft, eBay, and Grab — as CTO.

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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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