Notes from the editor: We are trying out something new for our Today’s Top Tech News posts! Instead of just a summary, we are providing an analysis of why these stories matter and what it means for the ecosystem. Let us know what you think of this approach.
Lightbox leads US$32 M investment in agri tech startup WayCool Foods- Press release
Chennai-headquartered WayCool Foods has raised US$32 M in a combination of equity and debt in its Series C round, the company said in a statement. The round was led by Lightbox who has also invested in food tech like Faasos along with FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, as well as its current investor LGT Lightstone Aspada. The company has also partnered with InnoVen Capital to raise venture debt as part of this round. Veda Corporate Advisors was the exclusive advisor to the transaction.
WayCool Foods a soil-to-sale model, and works with a base of nearly 40,000 farmers to improve farm income, while bringing efficiency through its direct supply chain model in South India. WayCool is developing a range of branded products and currently has brands such as Freshey’s, Kitchenji, Madhuram and Shuddha.
The company said that it will use the funds raised to automate its supply chain and build the next layer of data analytics required to strengthen supply chain efficiency. It will also develop and expand its range of value-added products to enterprise and retail customers.
WayCool will also deploy its funds to deepen and widen ‘Outgrow’, its agricultural extension program. The company has recently announced the set-up of its first Agricultural Research Station, where it will collaborate with multiple startups to bring the most relevant production technologies to its expanding farmer base.
Lightbox has deep experience in technology and brand building which can help WayCool as they move into value-added products.
WhatsApp Pay bags NPCI permission, set for phased roll out in India- Business Standard
As reported by Indian financial daily, Business Standard, WhatsApp will finally be able to roll out its digital payment platform, WhatsApp Pay, across India after securing a key regulatory approval.
A debate on data localisation had delayed WhatsApp’s ambition to launch payment services in India. It has assured the regulators that it will comply with the data localisation norms and thus the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) approval came just days after the RBI’s go-ahead.
In the first phase, WhatsApp will be able to offer payment services to 10 million users in India. After a full roll out, the company may possibly be one of the biggest payments players in the country, given that the messaging service giant counts India as its biggest market with over 400 million users.
Payments through WhatsApp were introduced to a million users as a part of the trial run in February 2018. WhatsApp started its trial run by partnering with ICICI Bank. However, the company was awaiting regulatory nod to go live. The service is based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) standard, which has been developed by the NPCI.
Fake news spreads as rapidly as Coronavirus- Straits Times
Deemed as a 21st century challenge by the director of WHO, fake news has been spreading like wildfire with respect to Coronavirus.
The ongoing spread of a new coronavirus that originated in China is not just a test of public health systems worldwide — it’s also a fight against misinformation, a Singapore minister said on Friday.
Also read: The world should wish the Singapore fake news law is Fake News
The coronavirus has infected more than 30,000 people globally and killed more than 600, mostly in mainland China. But Singapore has one of the highest numbers of infections outside of China, with 30 confirmed cases as of Thursday.
A Straits Times report also confirmed that Hong Kong police this week nabbed a part-time security guard at a shopping mall for allegedly writing on social media that multiple staff members had caught a fever and gone on sick leave. The messages “caused panic” and helped “breed paranoia”, police said in a statement on Facebook.
More than 20 people across six countries have been arrested on the charge of spreading fake and malicious rumours. The authorities in Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and Thailand have all joined China in cracking down on “misinformation” or “fake news” with arrests and the threat of jail time.
It’s all part of what the World Health Organisation calls a “massive info-demic” of informational abundance, some of it inaccurate, which makes it hard for people to find credible sources and reliable guidance when they need it.
Governments also risk censoring legitimate information in their efforts to stop rumours, which could further hurt efforts to contain the virus.
SEA digital investment climate to become more diverse, “strong” growth in most deal sizes- e27
The Southeast Asia Tech Investment Report 2019 by Cento Ventures, the venture capital (VC) firm focussing on emerging technology startups in Southeast Asia highlighted major changes in the landscape of technology investment in Southeast Asia, said an e27 article.
The report said the total amount invested in tech companies in the region in 2019 was US$7.7 billion. Despite the big number and slew of enormous deals, the total is noticeably lower than the US$12 billion recorded in 2018. The only difference is that many of the deals include smaller VC firms’ participation, showing a positive increase.
For smaller deals (less than US$50 million), they made up a new record of US$2.4 billion, up from US$1.5 billion in 2018. For larger deals, there is quite a decrease in the amount deployed compared with the year 2018, with US$5.3 billion made in 2019, compared to US$10.5 billion made in 2018.
The smallest type of deals (less than US$0.5 million and typically seed rounds) has more than doubled in number and nearly doubled in value. While for deals between US$0.5 million and US$10 million (typically Series A & B rounds) increased by just over 50 per cent in both number and value.
The follow-on funding rates also improved. The 2013 cohort shows improvement with a second follow-on round rate of 26 per cent (and a third follow-on round rate of 14 per cent). The 2014 and 2015 cohorts also show improvement – most notably the 2014 cohort where the third follow-on round rate rose to eight per cent (compared to four per cent in 2018).
–
Image credit: Marc Hastenteufel on Unsplash
The post Today’s top tech news: Lightbox leads US$32M in Indian agritech startup appeared first on e27.