🇲🇾 🚀 Founder of The Week: Afrie Irham of kerja-it.com

Hello. This is micro digest, where we tell you what’s going on in Southeast Asia faster than Barney after hearing the pregnancy test results.

It’s going to be legen-wait for it-dary.

Here’s what we got for you:

• 🚀 Founder of the week - Afrie Irham of kerja-it.com

• ⛵ SEAppets

• 💰 SEA Deals - Digital Exchange DigiFT secures $10 million from Shanda Group to transform the DeFi industry

• 🖼️ AI Image of the day

• 🐣 Tweet of the day

Markets 📈

Founder of The Week 🚀

This week’s founder of the week is a fellow Malaysian - Afrie Irham!

🐣 What's your origin story?

I started getting interested in computer science (or programming specifically) when Uber first came to Malaysia (yes that Uber). I was amazed by the fact that a mobile app could change people's lives. Back then in 2016, the concept of using an app to generate income is very new (to me at least) and I was very intrigued with this app thing and started to research it more. Eventually, I decided to pursue a degree in Computer Science and that's how I started learning how to code.

Nowadays I have the same excitement with solo-founders and indie-hackers building SaaS businesses that can sustain their life. They have both money and time freedom – it's the ultimate life goal for me.

🌍 Where are you from and where are you currently based?

Born and raised in Malaysia – still based in Malaysia 🇲🇾

🚀 What's your startup/side project?

kerja-it.com (Malaysia's first tech job portal)

💻 Tech Stack 

JavaScript FTW (Next.js, ChakraUI)

📣 Marketing Stack

• Twitter

• TikTok

• LinkedIn

💰 How much are you currently making from your startup/side project? What's your MRR or ARR?

No MRR yet but my first revenue is RM59 (USD $13.15) ✊

📦 What's one product or service you wish existed?

Expense tracker app using envelop-style budgeting (currently using excel)

🌊 What's your thought on SEA?

It's very exciting to see indie-hackers like Tony Dinh 🇻🇳 and Fajar Siddiq 🇸🇬 coming from SEA that are big not just big in SEA but also globally. I think there will probably be more solopreneurs, founders, and indie-hackers that will spout in SEA region, hopefully, it can be as big as other regions like Europe, Africa, and America.

💡With all of your current knowledge and experience, if you were able to go back to being 20 yo again, what would you build?

I would say to start building an audience earlier. Audience is the currency of the internet. With an audience, you can build/sell almost anything if they were the right one.

SEAppets ⛵

1. Indorama Ventures, a Thailand-based petrochemical group is looking for acquisitions in Europe, Africa and other parts of the world to speed up growth and double its earnings. The company has enough cash and net debt-to-equity to pursue acquisitions and has made 50 acquisitions in the past two decades, with its largest being a USD $2.08 billion purchase in 2019.

2. MRANTI, DNB and Ericsson have extended their MoU to accelerate the commercialisation of 5G-enabled STIE solutions for companies in Malaysia. The extended MoU will promote awareness and adoption of 5G among businesses and contribute to the development of a 5G Experience Center. DNB will deploy Malaysia's 5G network and infrastructure while Ericsson will bring expertise to support the development of 5G-enabled technologies.

3. XAG and FarmInno (Thailand) have joined forces to introduce fully autonomous agricultural drones in Thailand, in an effort to increase productivity and quality and tackle labour shortage in Thailand's agricultural sector. The drones are powered by AI and help to save time and energy, while also being in line with Thailand 4.0. XAG has extensive experience in developing and introducing agricultural technologies, while FarmInno (Thailand) is a subsidiary of Chia Tai Group, a company with a century of experience in the agricultural industry.

SEA Deals 💰

1. SepPure Technologies, an industrial chemical membrane technology company based in Singapore has raised USD $12 million in funding to develop a highly sustainable and chemical-resistant nanofiltration solution. This technology reduces energy consumption by up to 90% and is applicable to a wide range of industries. The company is constructing a production facility in Singapore and has a pipeline of projects with top vegetable oil producers. They are confident in their technology and its potential to revolutionize the chemical separation industry.

2. DigiFT, a Singapore-based decentralised digital asset exchange has raised USD $10.5 million in a pre-Series A round led by Shanda Group, a global investment group. The funds will be used to support license applications, go-to-market plans, technology development and innovation capabilities. DigiFT was founded in 2020 with a vision to bridge centralized and decentralized finance and is the only one enrolled in MAS FinTech Regulatory Sandbox. It provides regulated decentralized finance solutions on the Ethereum public blockchain.

3. Grayscale Ventures, a Singapore-based venture capital firm has made the first close of its pre-seed micro-fund at around USD $10 million, with a target of USD $20 million. The fund is led by Nikhil Kapur and Siddharth and will invest in AI, vertical SaaS and DevInfra-based startups. They have already invested in a few SaaS companies, and their limited partners are from Japan, Southeast Asia, the US and India. According to a report from DealStreetAsia, VC firms based in Southeast Asia raised USD $4.14 billion in 2022.

4. Blockchain Founders Fund (BFF) has closed its Fund II at USD $75 million, with support from key investors, family offices and institutions in the industry. The fund will support pre-seed and seed-stage Web3 and blockchain startups and since 2018 BFF has made over 100 investments. Its venture program provides support to portfolio companies and its Expert Network connects members to resources and industry experts. BFF is a leading early-stage Web3 Venture Capital fund that invests in top-tier founders globally.

AI Image of The Day 🖼️

The Mandalorian playing the mandoline for a mandarin

Tweet of The Day 🐣

You know how they say “you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with”?

Well, it’s more like you're the average of the five content you consume the most. And this could be the podcast you listen to, the movies you watch, the books you read etc.

That’s a wrap for today. See you all tomorrow! 👋

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