🤖👨‍🔧 This Malaysian AI Company Wants to Automate How You Order Coffee

Gm and Happy Labour Day.

This is micro digest, the best SEA tech newsletter where we put your brain to work even on labour day.

Here’s what we got for you:

• 🌊 The SEA - VOX - The Malaysian AI company that automates customer service

• ⛵ SEAppets - Startup funding in SEA dipped to a two-year low in Q1 23

• 💰 SEA Deals

• 🖼️ AI Image of the day

• 🐣 Tweet of the day

Markets 📈

The SEA 🌊

Another day, another AI company getting funding.

I’m talking about VOX.

🤷‍♂️ Who is Vox?

• Not to confuse with Vox media (although a better name would help), founded in 2021 by Simone Macario, VOX is a Malaysia-based AI-powered customer service startup that helps companies automate conversational experiences with their clients

🤖 How it works?

• By employing generative AI technology and VOX’s own proprietary technology, Sharly.ai is an AI tool that assists in sorting data in documents. People can upload any paper and then query Sharly.ai inquiries concerning the paper, just like using ChatGPT

• People who want to use Sharly.ai for personal use can do so for free, those for professional reasons will have to pay USD 5/month while companies with a tailored requirement will have to ask for a quote

🔍 What Solutions does it provide?

• The company currently has 2 solutions: retail and F&B; finance and banking

  • Retail and F&B - allows customers to place orders through Whatsapp of other messenger

  • Finance and Banking - assists with account registrations, advice on personalized products, account maintenance and post-purchase support

💰 Funding

• The company has just secured a USD 250,000 investment from Silicon Valley, which will help them develop its platform for the first 50,000 users

• It is confident that its combination of Generative AI technology and a dedicated team will help them crack the global market

SEAppets ⛵

1. Blossom Finance is a microfinancing platform that connects investors with small businesses using a Shariah-compliant profit-sharing agreement. After realizing this was a relative niche market in the US, the founder started researching markets with large Muslim populations, settling on Indonesia. There are many fintech in Southeast Asia that focus on Islamic finance, and Indonesia has the most Islamic fintech companies due to its large Muslim population. Blossom Finance offers mudarabah agreements which involve a cooperative purchasing a commodity at a wholesale price for a microbusiness and sharing the profit with investors rather than charging interest.

2. Privately-held companies in Southeast Asia raised USD 2.08 billion in Q1, down 25% from the previous quarter and 52% from the same period in 2022. Singapore accounted for the majority of deals in the region but fundraising dropped by 49% from the previous quarter and 63% from Q1 last year. Indonesia's funding was particularly concerning, with quarterly deal value down by 41% relative to the previous quarter and 55% on a year-on-year basis. Thailand saw an increase in funding, and venture capital firms are expecting market correction until 2024. Profitability targets need to be met by publicly listed tech giants for sentiment to improve.

3. Quadria Capital, a healthcare-focused Asian private equity firm, has acquired a majority stake in Straits Orthopaedics, a Malaysia-based medical device manufacturer. The consortium includes the Employees Provident Fund of Malaysia and the founder of Straits Orthopaedics, TH Su, has been reappointed CEO and director of the company for five years. Quadria is currently fundraising for its third fund and is looking to invest in healthcare in South and Southeast Asia. This news comes amidst a surge in deals in the healthcare space.

4. The United States has lifted a 17-month import ban on products from Malaysian rubber glove maker Smart Glove after the company addressed exploitative labour practices. Smart Glove has implemented new policies such as repaying recruitment fees and improving workers' living conditions. Malaysian companies have come under increased scrutiny for suspected abuse of foreign workers.

C’mon Malaysia you are better than that 

SEA Deals 💰

1. Boost Holdings, a FinTech unit of Axiata Group Bhd, is considering raising USD 50 - USD 100 million in a new funding round, which would give the start-up a valuation of USD 700 million and help finance its digital banking operations. Boost already has a digital banking license from Malaysia's central bank and has disbursed over USD 2.5 billion in loans across two countries with a 90% repeat rate. In 2020, Axiata sold 21.9% of Boost to Great Eastern Holdings Ltd for USD 70 million. Boost's ecosystem includes an all-in-one app, merchant solutions, AI-based lending and a cross-border payment platform.

2. Xpressbees, an Indian third-party logistics unicorn, has received a USD 40 million investment from Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional. Xpressbees is present in 5,000 cities, serves over 20,000 pin codes and delivers over 2 million packages per day. The firm entered the unicorn club in February 2020 after raising USD 300 million in Series F funding.

3. Explico, a Singapore based edtech startup, has raised USD 1.4 million in pre-series A funding to create a more comprehensive learning platform and expand to Southeast Asia and Africa. The platform offers online classes, assessments, and subsidised bursaries for low-income families. It also uses AI and machine learning to identify students' strengths and weaknesses.

4. Virta, a Finland-based Electric Vehicle charging platform, has raised USD 94 million in a growth funding round led by a French private equity firm. The funds will be used to grow Virta's charging transactions by more than fivefold in Asia Pacific and Europe, expand into three countries in the next two years and introduce smart charging capabilities in APAC. Virta's platform is currently used by over 1,000 companies and organizations and has partnered with three companies in Asia and Australia.

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AI Images of The Day 🖼️

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Tweet of The Day 🐣

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

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