Malaysia’s Forkwell.io partners with Microsoft to host “Forkwell Coronavirus Hackathon”

Forkwell.io and Microsoft have partnered to conduct a hackathon to encourage data scientists and software developers to find solutions to the COVID-19 virus, according to a statement. Other partners of this initiative include Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Runcloud, and Sunway iLabs.

The event is to begin on Monday, March 30, at 12 PM, until Monday, April 13, at 12PM. Participants can win worth up to more than US$3,200 (approximately MYR14,050) and access to an accelerator programme to further develop ideas.

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The competition will aim to tackle both drug discovery to combat the virus as well as the prevention, prediction and containment solutions from a tech perspective.

Singapore’s ARA Asset Management acquires major stake in Venn Partners 

Singapore-based ARA Asset Management has acquired a majority stake in Venn Partners, an investment manager in European real estate private debt, according to Dealstreet Asia. The companies will now be renamed as ARA Venn, with the purpose of establishing a global real estate credit platform.

Capital will be provided by ARA in order to drive Venn Partners’s expansion in the credit market.

“The real assets credit market is viewed as a positive space to be in, particularly for participants with committed undeployed capital, and those with established track record managing government programmes,” said ARA CEO Mark Ebbinghaus.

India’s Coverfox names new CEO after reported funding struggle

Indian insurtech platform Coverfox has appointed Sanjib Jha as its acting chief executive officer (CEO) after struggling to raise funding according to Dealstreet Asia.

Jha has previously been the co-founder of growth-stage venture investor Avaana Capital and will be heading Coverfox’s operations in his current position. His role will also include mid- and senior-level leadership mentoring. He will be also be involved in optimising and streamlining the company’s resources.

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Other important hires that the company has made include Piyush Ranjan as CTO and Manish Sultania as its CFO. Coverfox provides online insurance broking services for car, bike, health, life and travel insurance and claims to have over 35 insurance providers on their platform.

Image Credit:  Headway

 

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