On Call with Insignia returns with a new guest, Shilpa Gautam, the CFO of AwanTunai! AwanTunai is a company digitizing the traditional FMCG supply chain in Indonesia to enable low-cost, equitable financing for MSMEs, a market opportunity worth US$300B in this segment alone. Over the years, we’ve heard plenty from CEO Dino Setiawan on the journey of AwanTunai (its origins, growth amidst the pandemic-hit lending space, and its appless, proprietary approach to embedded financing).  This time...

Part 2 of our chat with Leon Yip, former Singaporean firefighter, Insignia Ventures Academy VC Accelerator Cohort 2 alumnus, and now working with deep tech startups at Hatch. Part 1 was all about Leon sharing his journey from the Singapore Civil Defense Force to IVA and finally to Hatch: https://youtu.be/p7w42vX2x_0 More episodes with IVA mentors and alumni on Academy Afterthoughts: https://review.insignia.vc/category/podcasts/iva-afterthoughts/ Insignia Ventures Academy’s Certificate in...

We are back with another Academy Afterthoughts episode, where we go on call with alumni and mentors of Insignia Ventures Academy’s programs, primarily the Certificate in Venture Capital course which is open for applications to its 7th (March) and 8th (June) cohorts! Talk to our program manager Jiaway Koh and learn more here: http://www.insignia.vc/u/calliva In this episode we have Leon Yip from Cohort 2, whose career spans firefighting to now working with startups as they develop solutions...

Our conversation continues with ⁠Todd Schweitzer⁠, CEO and co-founder of open finance solutions platform ⁠Brankas⁠. After getting a fresh introduction to how Brankas and open finance works as well as developments in the open finance revolution in Southeast Asia, Todd takes us across the world to the Middle East and what Brankas has been doing to meet the banking transformation needs of markets in the region. But first, he shares learnings from selling software to banks and working with us...

In this week’s episode of On Call with Insignia, Brankas CEO and co-founder Todd Schweitzer returns after two years (check out our first conversation with him here) with the latest insights on open finance and Brankas’ progress in driving this transformation in the region. But first, in case you’re not familiar: how does Brankas work? As Todd puts it simply, “We work with tech companies, consumer and SME apps that are looking to have financial services integrations. We also work with the...

This week’s episode, we continue our call with Qing Gui Huang, CEO of Thailand’s leading online beauty retail company.  As a beauty retailer, Konvy supports thousands of brands with a combined portfolio of more than 25,000 SKUs, through various channels, from their app to ecommerce platforms, TikTok, and offline stores. Konvy kicked off 2024 with the announcement of their latest funding round as they look to expand regionally, starting in the Philippines. In part 1 of our conversation, Gui...

This week’s episode, we go on call with Qing Gui Huang, CEO of Thailand’s leading online beauty retail company Konvy. As a beauty retailer, Konvy supports thousands of brands with a combined portfolio of more than 25,000 SKUs, through various channels, from their app to ecommerce platforms, TikTok, and offline stores. Konvy kicked off 2024 with the announcement of their latest funding round as they look to expand regionally, starting in the Philippines. In part 1 of our conversation, Gui...

#fintech #entrepreneur #podcast Our call continues with Tianwei Liu, Deputy CEO of Southeast Asia fintech group Fazz, the company behind stablecoin issuer StraitsX. In 2023’s Singapore Fintech Festival, StraitsX received in-principle approval by the MAS for the issuance of XSGD and XUSD, opening up opportunities we covered in the first half of our call with the seasoned fintech entrepreneur. This second half goes more into his learnings developing regulatory and compliance maturity from...

This week’s episode has returning guest Tianwei Liu, Deputy CEO of Southeast Asia fintech group Fazz, the company behind stablecoin issuer StraitsX. In 2023’s Singapore Fintech Festival, StraitsX received in-principle approval by the MAS for the issuance of XSGD and XUSD, opening up opportunities we cover in this first half of our call with the seasoned fintech entrepreneur.  Timestamps (00:00) Highlights (02:14) Introduction; (05:06) Impact on StraitsX; (08:43) Impact on Singapore and...

Our conversation from last week continues with Flip VP of Product Sourabh Gupta on evolving product-market fit (PMF). After getting context on Flip’s latest developments in its product journey last episode, we dive into a discussion on the practical implications of PMF evolution -- leveraging B2C advantages in B2B sales, orchestrating product development with problem statement-driven teams, and the hidden costs of product experimentation, maintenance and scale. Timestamps (00:00) Catch up...

With over 13 million users, Flip has become part of Indonesia's maturing fintech culture. But while the company started out in 2016 with a product centered around free money transfers, their product-market fit has had to evolve over the years. Flip's VP of Product & Design, Sourabh Gupta, walks us through the latest developments in Flip's product-market fit journey, with lessons for the startup PM and entrepreneur. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this conversation by subscribing to our...

We start the year 2024 with a recap of the journey of Shipper, an Indonesian technology company simplifying logistics and supply chain for all types of businesses from ecommerce to offline retail, helping them across a range of services from first-mile to warehousing and inventory management. With the significant developments in Indonesia’s ecommerce landscape this past year, we take a look at how this company has been maturing logistics and supply chain management in Indonesia, and it has a...

Join us on this call led by host Paulo Joquino, as he is joined by management and HR leaders to talk about global expansion into and across Southeast Asia: Karen Ng, Deel Expansion Leader for ASEAN, India, NASIA, Thomas Jeng, Aspire General Manager Singapore, and Olly Riches, Michael Page Senior Managing Director Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Page Executive SEA. Timestamps (00:00) Highlights; (01:33) Growing and managing a lean startup's HR function; (12:30) Scaling operations across...

Join us on this call led by host Paulo Joquino, as he is joined by management and HR leaders to talk about global expansion into and across Southeast Asia: Karen Ng, Deel Expansion Leader for ASEAN, India, NASIA, Thomas Jeng, Aspire General Manager Singapore, and Olly Riches, Michael Page Senior Managing Director Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Page Executive SEA. Timestamps (00:00) Highlights; (01:35) Introductions; (06:18) The #1 challenge when expanding across Southeast Asia;...

Join us on this call led by Insignia Ventures Partners Vice President Shefali Dodani, as she is joined by ecommerce and supply chain founders shaping the way brands are built and scaled from Indonesia to the US: Patrick Cao, one of the co-founders of GoTo Group, JJ Chai, Co-Founder and CEO of Rainforest, and Phil Opamuratawongse, Co-Founder and CEO of Shipper. Timestamps (00:00) Highlights; (01:18) Introductions; (07:39) Two Trends to look out for in Indonesia’s Brand Competitive...

Join us on this call led by Insignia Ventures Partners venture partner Timothy Lee, which features an exploration into the realities, possibilities, and limitations of integrating AI in various consumer experiences from buying cars, to buying homes, from buying FMCGs and cosmetics to buying stocks. With him are the CEOs of leading consumer platforms in the region: Carro CEO and co-founder Aaron Tan, Ajaib CEO and co-founder Anderson Sumarli, Pinhome CEO and co-founder Dayu Dara Permata, and...

Join us on this call led by Insignia Ventures Partners principal Yongcheng Ong, tapping into the minds of innovative entrepreneurs who are at the forefront of building the AI transformation infrastructure for enterprise, Appier CEO and co-founder Chih Han Yu, WIZ.AI CEO and co-founder Jennifer Zhang, and Bluesheets CEO and co-founder Christian Schneider. Timestamps (00:00) Highlights; (02:12) Introductions; (07:46) What Does AI Transformation Really Mean; (17:53) Leading The Third Phase of...

In this episode, we recap the journey of Carro, the tech company behind Southeast Asia's largest used car marketplace and end-to-end auto retail platform. Since the start of the podcast in 2020 we have covered their journey, and with eight years under their belt, we highlight sharings from Carro's leaders on the podcast over the past four years. Check out the full calls with them over the years: 2020 with Aaron Tan 2020 with Ernest Chew 2021 with Aaron Tan 2022 with Bryan Tan 2022...

Singapore’s rise over the past few decades into the port-of-call for innovation and business growth into the APAC and ASEAN region has been nothing short of a marvel. But building up and sustaining that over the years and into the future is founded on innovating the way enterprise and government work together to push forward solutions and technologies in such a way that it is safe, sustainable, and viable for business. Our founding managing partner Yinglan Tan goes on call with Liu Chen,...

Our call continues with Dayu Dara Permata and Ahmed Aljunied, founders of Pinhome, Southeast Asia’s leading end-to-end #property transaction platform for first-time home buyers. Catch up on part 1 We dive into how Pinhome uses embedded #finance to improve transactions across the entire real estate industry and how Pinhome views the confluence of various market indicators leading to the rise of #Proptech 3.0 in #Indonesia. Finally, Dara and Ahmed reflect on their thesis from three years ago...

Join part 1 of our call with Dayu Dara Permata and Ahmed Aljunied, founders of Pinhome, Southeast Asia’s leading end-to-end property transaction platform for first-time home buyers. As the CEO and CTO respectively of Pinhome return to the show this year, they share with us the latest on Pinhome’s growth, path to profitability, strategic partnerships, as well as their views on the wider property landscape in Indonesia. We also dive into how Pinhome has changed the lives of the underbanked...

Ahead of a new call next week with returning guests Dayu Dara Permata and Ahmed Aljunied, founders of Pinhome, we're recapping three years of calls with the entrepreneurs leading what is now Indonesia's leading end-to-end property transaction platform and globally one of the most comprehensive platforms for all things home. Check out the full calls with them over the years, in 2020, in 2021, and in 2022 Follow us to stay tuned for 2023! The content of this podcast is for informational...

Our call with Greg Krasnov, CEO and Founder of Philippine digital bank Tonik, continues in this episode. He shares more on his views on global fintech in today's bear market, Tonik's thesis on digital banking in the Philippines, the impact of automation on their organization. He also gives a quick masterclass on credit monetization. Check out last week's episode going behind the scenes of Tonik's approach to scaling a balanced loan portfolio Timestamps (00:00) Highlights; (01:29)...

Join part 1 of our call with Greg Krasnov, CEO and Founder of Tonik, a Philippine digital bank that hit record user and deposit growth months after launch in early 2021, and over the past year has been focused on building up a balanced, scalable loan portfolio. Greg also shares his thoughts on generative AI and how this technology will change banking. Subscribe and stay tuned for Part 2 next week! Timestamps (00:00) Highlights; (00:58) Building a diversified, balanced loan portfolio for...