Jun 29, 2020
Durians Daily #53: Petronas’ first VC investment in Malaysia; GoGet partners IKEA’s Ikano to help consumers shop on-demand; Homage’s healthcare professionals join pandemic national response
Hello, it’s Monday and here are the stories in today’s Durians Daily.
First foray
- Through its corporate venture capital arm, Petronas stepped into the VC space by making its first investment in 500-backed Braintree Technologies.
- According to the New Straits Times, Petronas Ventures entered into an agreement with the agri-tech startup which develops robotic devices and proprietary software to provide agricultural solutions like tree counting and crop health monitoring. It also converts unattended, non-revenue generating agricultural land into high-value crop farms.
- “We believe this investment in Braintree Technologies will establish the right ecosystem for a smart farming business model, capitalising on Petronas’ strong knowledge in urea and fertiliser application and Braintree Technologies’ AI and robotics technology,” said Petronas Ventures head Mohd Azli Ishak in a statement.
- Braintree was handpicked to join last year’s FutureTech, an accelerator program launched by the state-owned oil firm in partnership with 500 Startups, which helped the startup sharpen its business model and attract investors.
IKEA meatballs and curry puffs on-demand
- 500-backed marketplace for on-demand errands and deliveries GoGet announced today it is collaborating with Ikano Centres, part of IKEA Southeast Asia, to enable its entire portfolio of shopping centres in Malaysia to be accessible via the GoGet app.
- This is to launch Shop With GoGet, a feature on the GoGet platform which allows retailers to list their storefront digitally on GoGet’s app at no cost and no commission.
- Customers can select from over 300 stores from three shopping centres: IPC and MyTOWN in Kuala Lumpur and Toppen in Johor Bahru. This includes ordering the iconic meatballs and curry puffs from IKEA Restaurants.
- The service spans across a number of categories including food and beverage, groceries, fashion, pharmacies, electronics, and many more.
- For more information on the tie-up, check out GoGet’s Instagram page.
Honoring frontliners
- Gabriel, a Care Professional with 500-backed Homage, is just one of the many individuals from the healthcare startup who joined the frontlines to help combat the Covid-19 crisis in Singapore.
- Appearing in a video by DBS Bank (Homage is a recipient of the DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant), Gabriel said he didn’t hesitate to help despite worries from family and friends over his health and safety.
- With PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) provided for volunteers like himself, Gabriel was well-protected against the coronavirus as he conducted swap tests for the elderly.
- Homage co-founder and CEO Gillian Tee revealed they started initiatives for their healthcare professionals to join the national response when the pandemic began. While these initiatives were on a voluntary basis, she was pleasantly surprised by the reception.
- “I was just blown away by how many of them said, okay, yeah, come me in,” Gillian said.
- Watch the video right here.
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500 Startups is a venture capital firm on a mission to discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, help them create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. In Southeast Asia, 500 Startups invests through the pioneering 500 Durians family of funds. The 500 Durians funds have backed over 200 companies across multiple sectors from internet to consumer to deep technology. It continues to connect founders with capital, expertise and powerful regional and global networks to help them succeed.
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