Beam, Asia-Pacific’s leading micromobility operator, announced that it has raised a Series A funding round of US$26 million. The round was led by Sequoia India and Hana Ventures with participation by Cherubic and AppWorks.

Beam is forging a new path for micromobility in contrast to the established dockless model that allows scooters to be parked anywhere on city streets.  For Beam, the future is docked. Having a “virtual docked” model that ensures riders have to park in predetermined parking spots by being incentivised through the Beam mobile app. 

“We’re grateful to our incredibly supportive investors who believe in our unique ‘virtual dock’ approach to micromobility and continue to support us through a very uncertain macroeconomic environment. I’m really excited about our new technology and its ability to reduce the problems associated with randomly scattered scooters around a city. This helps us to further improve our industry-leading vehicle retention rates, reduce operational costs, and most importantly, benefits communities by keeping city streets neater” said Beam Co-Founder and CEO Alan Jiang.

As the Beam footprint grows the operational and engineering focus will continue to be on city amenity. To do this Beam will be progressively rolling out features that are focused on keeping Beam e-scooters safe for pedestrians when parked on city streets, which also helps to minimize vehicle losses.

“Beam has to work as hard to limit the downsides of e-scooters for non-riders as they do to enhance the upside for riders. The success of any new technology depends on mass acceptance, and the quicker and better we can ensure e-scooters are used and parked where they should be, the more welcoming city residents will be. We have designed our business and our product around that insight, and it is what makes us different,” Deb Gangopadhyay Co-Founder and CTO added.

“We were very impressed with the team’s high calibre of execution. Their rider-centric approach and superior technology have enabled Beam to swiftly deploy e-scooters all across the region in a safe and sustainable manner. Moving forward, we believe the team is well-positioned to completely redefine the micro-mobility experience for millions of riders, across both Taiwan and APAC,” said AppWorks Partner Jessica Liu

In addition, Beam will use the fresh capital to support expansion across all markets with a strong focus on growing APAC’s largest mobility fleet in Korea, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Taiwan. 

Beam will continue to make the safety of riders and pedestrians its top priority by enhancing its industry-leading “Beam Safe Academy” initiative; introducing a number of online training tools, and further expanding the only real-world e-scooter rider training program in the APAC region.

Beam will also accelerate the introduction of its new third-generation e-scooter, the Beam Saturn, to all markets. Rigorously tested with the highest safety standards,  the Beam Saturn is custom-built for sharing. It features swappable batteries, an innovative aviation-grade aluminium frame, 25-centimeter tubeless safety tyres, high grip rear-wheel drive, and a dual mechanical and electronic braking system.

Beam is the only e-scooter operator from the APAC region to be officially Climate Neutral Certified. Beam worked with Climate Neutral, an independent non-profit organization, to measure its 2019 carbon emissions and offset that entire carbon footprint. To do this, Beam has invested in projects that either prevent carbon from being emitted, like renewable energy or helps to remove carbon from the atmosphere, like planting trees. As part of its commitments, Beam will continue to dramatically reduce its emissions in 2020 and beyond.

In light of the ongoing concern of Covid-19 Beam has implemented stringent cleaning and operations practices to limit the possibility of virus transmission. Shared open-air mobility, like e-scooters, remains a safe affordable transportation option as communities emerge from Covid-19 responses. 

About Beam

Beam is Asia-Pacific’s largest and fastest-growing shared micromobility company and the first micromobility company to use virtual docking to reduce city clutter. We’re on a mission to turn little drives into better rides and make cities flow better for everyone.

Shared micromobility is one of the fastest-growing industries globally, and we are leading the way in Asia-Pacific, with fast-growing operations in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia, with many new city launches underway.  

Learn more @ www.ridebeam.com

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・NBA Players Andre Iguodala, Spencer Dinwiddie, JaVale McGee, and Aaron Gordon join Samsung, Coinbase Ventures, and THE A16Z CULTURAL LEADERSHIP FUND in Dapper Labs $12M Investment round for Flow blockchain.

・Dapper Labs’ new funding comes on the heels of the company’s early success with NBA Top Shot, a new flagship application.

・Funds will be used to scale the Flow blockchain and deliver previously announced collaborations with Dr. Seuss, Warner Music, and UFC, among others.

Dapper Labs, the company developing the new Flow blockchain,  announced that it has closed $12M in new funding from investors including NBA players Andre Iguodala (Miami Heat), Spencer Dinwiddie and Garrett Temple (Brooklyn Nets), JaVale McGee (Los Angeles Lakers), and Aaron Gordon (Orlando Magic).

Other new investors in this round include Coinbase Ventures, Distributed Global, Valor Capital Group, A.Capital, BlockTower Capital, Blockchange Ventures, EONXI Ventures, Reed Company, Greenfield One, North Island Ventures, Republic Labs, L1 Digital AG and Pirata Capital.

Existing investors participating include Accomplice, Andreessen Horowitz including their Cultural Leadership Fund, Animoca Brands, AppWorks, Samsung NEXT, Union Square Ventures and Venrock, among others.

“Crypto enables entirely new possibilities for people to create and exchange value on the internet.” said Roham Gharegozlou, founder and CEO of Dapper Labs. “Flow is a new and easy to use blockchain that lowers barriers to entry and lets anyone join this new digital economy. The funding from this round will ensure Flow can scale to the size of projects appealing to fan bases as big as the NBA. Flow lets fans join the economy of their community in a way that wasn’t possible before crypto.”

In conjunction with its new funding, Dapper Labs also announced initial results from its first phase of beta testing for NBA Top Shot, its upcoming flagship title developed for the Flow blockchain. The first 500 players on NBA Top Shot have spent thousands of hours opening packs, trading moments, and completing collections together. NBA Top Shot was designed in partnership with the NBA and NBPA to appeal to mainstream basketball fans’ love of showcasing their knowledge and expressing their fandom. The experience captures the nostalgia of trading cards and the thrill of sneaker trading, but does it within a digital universe.

“Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize consumer ownership on the internet,” said Andre Iguodala, three time NBA champion, tech entrepreneur, and current Miami Heat forward. “Projects like Dapper Labs’ Flow is already driving consumer adoption, with NBA Top Shot proving the experience is not only engaging, but smooth and fan friendly.”

As fans enter into the Top Shot universe, they are instantly immersed into a world where they can discover great plays, open surprise packs of “top shots” or the best plays of the season, show off their epic collections, and trade their assets with their peers to complete sets and win challenges. New invitations to the beta are being released in waves and interested parties may sign up on nbatopshot.com, and then visit discord.gg/nbatopshot to request early access.

“Blockchain is going to fundamentally alter the financial industry and have a major impact on consumers,” said Spencer Dinwiddie, Point Guard on the Brooklyn Nets and avid blockchain enthusiast. “Flow can create the vehicle for consumers to enter the space through products like NBA Top Shot where they have fun, but at the same time create a new self-sovereignty.”

Over the past few months, Dapper Labs has announced major partnerships with Warner Music Group, Dr. Seuss Entertainment, and UFC, to build new gaming and entertainment experiences on Flow. Besides providing the stability and scalability necessary for blockchain products to support mass market adoption, Flow also provides payment rails for credit cards and cryptocurrency for consumers to use with ease.

For more information about Flow, please visit onflow.org. For more information on how to begin playing NBA Top Shot, please visit nbatopshot.com.

About Dapper Labs

Dapper Labs is the company behind CryptoKitties and the Flow blockchain as well as upcoming titles like NBA Top Shot. Founded in 2018, Dapper Labs uses blockchain technology to bring new forms of digital engagement to fans around the world. Blockchain-enabled applications can bring fans closer with the brands they love, give people a real stake in the communities they contribute to, and create new ways for consumers to become creators themselves. Publicly-announced Dapper Labs partners include the NBA and NBPA, Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, and UFC. Notable investors in Dapper Labs include Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Venrock, Google Ventures, Samsung, and the founders of Dreamworks, Reddit, Coinbase, Zynga, and AngelList, among others. Vist Dapper Labs.

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• EMQ, Asia’s leading financial settlement network, announced the close of a $20 million Series B funding round.
• The latest round of funding is led by WI Harper Group, with participation from new and existing investors including Abu Dhabi Capital, AppWorks, DG Ventures, Hard Yaka, Intudo Ventures, January Capital, Quest Venture Partners, SparkLabs Taipei, Vectr Fintech Partners, and VS Partners.
• EMQ will use the investment to further accelerate its international growth, product development and licensing activities across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

EMQ, Asia’s leading financial settlement network, announced today the issuance of $20 million Series B Preferred Shares, led by WI Harper Group, with participation from new and existing investors including Abu Dhabi Capital, AppWorks, DG Ventures, Hard Yaka, Intudo Ventures, January Capital, Quest Venture Partners, SparkLabs Taipei, Vectr Fintech Partners, and VS Partners. EMQ will use the investment to further accelerate its international growth, product development and licensing activities across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

“At EMQ, we are building a global settlement network that enables everyone to send money anywhere in the world and to any end point with a simple one-stop integration,”  said Max Liu, co-founder and CEO of EMQ. “This new funding marks a significant milestone in our next phase of strategic growth as we continue to innovate and deliver a network infrastructure that complies with regulatory requirements and streamlines the complexities in processing real-time international payments across the whole payment ecosystem. We are excited to partner with WI Harper as well as our new and existing VCs, who share our passion to make infrastructure a competitive advantage for next-generation enterprises.”

With a network footprint touching billions of people, EMQ’s flexible and scalable infrastructure eliminates unnecessary intermediaries and directly integrates to all the end-points, facilitating seamless, real-time and cost-effective cross-border settlements. Currently, EMQ ‘s network spans across Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe and North America, with access to over 80 key global markets and millions of digital endpoints. The company is currently licensed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and registered as a Money Service Business in Canada. EMQ was also accepted into Taiwan’s Regulatory Sandbox by the Financial Supervisory Commission in Taiwan.

“As digital transformation intensifies globally, enterprises today are increasingly international in scale and they will require a network infrastructure like EMQ with greater speed, more certainty, increased flexibility and transparency, to expand their business in Asia and beyond. We are excited to partner with the EMQ team to expand its market-leading position in cross-border business payments globally,” said Edward Liu, Partner at WI Harper Group.

“As we look to the future, we will continue to invest significantly towards constant innovation of our cross-border solutions and compliance capabilities, to deliver additional value to the global payments ecosystem and capitalize on the explosive growth of cross-border B2B payments market – valued to exceed US$218 trillion by 2022,” Max Liu added.

About EMQ

EMQ operates a global financial settlement network that provides a faster, more affordable and transparent cross-border settlement solution for businesses around the world, while adhering to complex regulations and compliance standards in different markets. The company’s flexible network infrastructure has been built to effectively settle any cross-border movement of capital and can be deployed across multiple vertical industries for a broad range of services, including e-commerce, merchant settlement, procurement, remittance, payroll, etc. .

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InfraDigital today announced the closing of an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from investor AppWorks. The company helps schools kickstart their digital transformation by digitizing student and financial data, automating back office processes, and facilitating online tuition payments.

Rapid Expansion across 12 provinces

This funding round follows on from their seed funding last year. They are now active in 13 provinces in Indonesia, from North Sumatera to South Sulawesi, with their platform deployed in over 350 schools serving over 165,000 students.

The startup partners with a variety of stakeholders including banks, education foundations, and government bodies to help Indonesian schools upgrade their largely analog systems. InfraDigital is also the innovator behind “Jaringan IDN”, a payments processing network established in conjunction with Gojek, Tokopedia, LinkAja, Alfamart, Ayopop, Indomaret, and many more to help educational institutions seamlessly collect tuition fees both online and offline.

Why it is important for schools

Edtech has the potential to substantially elevate Indonesia’s quality of education, while improving outcomes and overall standards of living for over 50 million students. Unfortunately, the reality is that most schools struggle with tracking even basic student data and often lack the digital tools for proper financial management and planning. The high cost of existing solutions has also inhibited widespread access to digital technologies, especially for schools in more rural areas which are often strained for resources.

InfraDigital has been actively assisting schools to address these pain points, targeting two of the most impactful areas of school management, financial operations and data transparency. Through their platform, schools are able to transition to cashless tuition collection, increasing income up to 16% in some cases. With InfraDigital, school administrators are granted full visibility into the operational health of their organization, enabling them to make smarter financial decisions and create a better student experience.

Since its establishment in 2018, InfraDigital’s solutions have been widely adopted among Tier 2 and rural area schools, with many experiencing data and financial digitalization for the first time. “Our mission is to help Indonesian schools create a seamless student experience through technology. Whether it’s in terms of facilitating online payments or streamlining back office operations, we can help schools embrace digitalization with ease. We’re currently focused on building the underlying technical infrastructure so that we can eventually layer more value-added services on top for all stakeholders involved including administrators, teachers, students, and parents. This foundation is critical in bridging the growing inequality between remote schools and urban schools, and ensuring all students are afforded a quality education despite their socioeconomic status.” says Indah Maryani, co-founder of InfraDigital.

Pandemic “accelerating” digital transformation of schools

News of the funding arrives at the height of COVID-19, which shuttered countless schools across the country and forced many of them to look towards online education. InfraDigital moved quickly to assist schools at the onset of the pandemic, reducing the cost of their online payments platform and adding a PPDB/PMB (online student registration) service free of charge while schools were forced to remain closed during the pandemic.

“The pandemic has actually pushed many educational institutions to reassess their decades old manual processes and explore digital options that optimize for efficiency, costs, and insights. Since the start of the crisis, we have seen a flood of requests to assist in multiple areas of school management, including online student registration, payments, and other digital administrative functions,” says Indah.

Future roadmap

The company is currently dedicating all its resources to assisting new and existing clients and helping them meet the added demands and complexities during COVID19 closures. Especially during this period of economic uncertainty, InfraDigital’s innovative tools reduce any friction in student payments and enrollments via PPDB/PMB, ultimately helping schools secure their finances and build a solid operational foundation.

“Schools in Indonesia have long been suffering from inefficient cash flow due to the widespread use of legacy, paper-based systems. Services like Infradigital are a win-win for both parents and educational institutions, allowing them to easily manage the tuition payment process and enhance schools’ finances and overall operational capacities,“ says AppWorks partner Jessica Liu.

Moving forward, InfraDigital hopes to expand its footprint to other regions of Indonesia and eventually become a full-stack digital solution for educational institutions. ”Longer term our goal remains the same, to provide every school in Indonesia, regardless of resources, with solid digital and financial foundations. The industry is at an early stage and we have a lot of work to do, a lot of schools to reach. We are delighted to have the continued support of AppWorks and count ourselves lucky to have an investor who shares our long-term vision,” says Ian McKenna, co-founder and CEO of InfraDigital.

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• Fabelio is one of Indonesia’s top furniture brands. It has successfully raised US$9 million as part of its ongoing Series C Round, led by AppWorks and MDI Ventures and  Endeavour Catalyst.
• Funding will be used to accelerate its domestic presence within Indonesia and Southeast Asia, as well as strengthen its technological and supply chain capabilities.
• Since its launch in 2015, Fabelio has established three offices and 20 experience centres in Indonesia, spearheaded by 82% year-on-year growth in 2019.

Indonesia’s leading new online furniture retailer, Fabelio, announced today that it has successfully raised US$9 million as part of its Series C round, bringing its total funding to more than US$20 million. The first close of the round was led by Taiwanese venture firm, AppWorks, Endeavour Catalyst and Telkom Group-backed MDI Ventures. Existing investor, Aavishkaar Capital also contributed to the fund. This round of financing will further accelerate the development of Fabelio’s supply chain network of logistics hubs and experience centres to support its domestic expansion into new regions and cities within Indonesia such as Java and Bali by November 2020. As part of this latest round, AppWork’s’ Partner, Jessica Liu will be joining Fabelio’s Board of Directors.

“After five years of scaling up and defining the fundamentals of our ‘new retail’ strategy, we are ready to accelerate our growth with this Series C round,” said Marshall Tegar Utoyo, CEO and Co-Founder at Fabelio. “We are grateful to our new investors from AppWorks, Endeavour Catalyst and MDI Ventures for their support and global expertise. Our main focus will be to improve our product categories and improve delivery times. On top of that, we will expand our sphere of influence across Indonesia by opening new warehouses and experience centres in new cities. Additionally, we are seeing more US and Chinese companies are setting up operations in Indonesia, opening up opportunities for global trade and manufacturing. These  market trends, combined with their efforts will enable us to win a larger market share in this exciting US$6.7 billion home furniture market in Indonesia.”

Founded in 2015, Fabelio offers well-crafted and high-quality furniture for the Indonesian market from local designers at attractive prices, offering free same-day delivery services and a 2-year warranty period for all its products. The company also positions itself as a bespoke B2B service for properties, providing a free interior design consultancy for those seeking to furnish homes, office spaces, hotels or restaurants. Since its US$6.5 million Series B fundraise in 2018, Fabelio has experienced exponential growth in Indonesia, boasting three domestic offices and

20 experience centres in strategic areas such as Jabodetabek and Bandung with a headcount of 430 staff. To date, Fabelio has experienced 82% year-on-year growth in customer acquisition, with more than 1,000 B2B projects ranging from residential properties such as houses and apartments, offices to retail brands such as Citraland, BRI and Jakarta MRT. Its product shipments have now reached more than 750 sub-districts throughout Java. Its unit economics have been positive since late 2017 and is on track to target profitability by 2022.

“Over the last couple of years, the trend has been crystal clear: the contribution of online sales in every vertical has been increasing in Indonesia: be it electronics, fashion, groceries or furniture. This trend has been massively accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, we recorded our highest online sales ever with figures surpassing those experienced during Indonesia’s #1 online shopping day Harbolnas on 12/12. The future of e-commerce is brighter than ever, and the simultaneous ramp-up in payments and infrastructure will support this development.” said Christian Sutardi, Co-Founder at Fabelio.

“Fabelio is building a locally relevant furniture brand for a generation of digitally native Indonesians,” said Jessica Liu, Partner at AppWorks. “In just five years, they’ve introduced world-class furniture products that have been adopted by a growing segment of Indonesians and businesses. Their customer-first value shapes a better shopping experience and becomes a category-transforming business. We are excited to join Fabelio on their mission to shape the future of Indonesian’s furniture industry.”

Winston Adi, Head of Investments at MDI Ventures, said, “We are delighted to be part of Fabelio and their stellar leadership team. As businesses are turning digital, it is very important to blur the lines between physical and digital, maintain efficiency with data, and tackle the relevant market with a highly scalable business model to gain the market lead. Fabelio is set in a unique position to check all the boxes as the perfect example to create a digital innovation in the retail industry. We believe with this investment, Fabelio will be able to tap on more business and consumers and have their furniture reachable to every household and business across local and regional markets. MDI will provide continuous support as they continue to bring innovative solutions to the market and execute its long term vision.”

EN Venkat, Partner at Aavishkaar Capital said, “Fabelio has deep networks with artisans and manufacturers from local furniture-making centres in Indonesia. Their tremendous effort in empowering Indonesian Micro-Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the inspiration behind our involvement in their exciting omnichannel furniture business, we look forward to our continued involvement with Fabelio.”

Fabelio’s primary focus for 2020 will be increasing market share through the hiring of key engineering talent, continued online marketing efforts, product development and operational improvements. It is actively seeking regional investors in Southeast Asia and China to conclude its Series C round by end-2020, enabling Fabelio to deliver on its mission of offering high-quality furniture and outstanding customer service, and in doing so, winning the trust of Indonesian customers. “Our end-goal was always to provide a better customer experience. In the two years, we see ourselves as a home & living destination that can provide our customers with all products and services related to their furnishing and interior needs. A significant portion of the funding will be invested in technology, which includes scaling up our current team of 40 engineers.” added Sutardi.

About Fabelio

Fabelio is an Indonesian-based company engaged in furniture and interior design. Founded on June 1, 2015, it provides a wide variety of furniture for living rooms, dining areas, workspaces and bedrooms. Fabelio also offers interior design services for offices and homes, as well as customised kitchen sets and wardrobe services through Fabelio Projects. Aside from selling their products online, Fabelio has 20 experience centres in the Greater Jakarta and Bandung areas, as well as service coverage to almost all areas of Java, Indonesia.

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