Circles Life’s secret weapon to get in the black

More: Indonesia’s invite for a SpaceX rocket launch site [Read from your browser]( Daily Newsletter Hello {NAME} Google dropped the mic this year with its Year In Search recap. After 30 minutes, here’s a fun fact I learned: searches for “cranberry juice” hit an all-time high in 2020. Likely due to TikTokerr Doggface’s viral video of him glugging down the drink while skateboarding that has gotten 72.9 million views today. Slightly similar to trendsetting Doggface is Circles Life, a Singapore-based telco that has gone viral for pulling publicity stunts like vandalizing advertisements from a fictional competitor. While Circles Life’s outlandish moves have caught attention, its P/L statement remains in the red as its ballooning losses in the last two years show. But the company has a secret weapon to get it in the black. Today we look at: - Circles Life’s [not-so-secret cash cow]( to turn its losses around - Who’s who in Indonesia’s ecommerce industry - Other newsy highlights such as Indonesia’s invite for a SpaceX rocket launch site, and Shopback and RedDoorz user data allegedly put up for sale  ---------------------------------------------------------------  PREMIUM SUMMARY  Circles Life rings out the old and rings in the new Circles Life entered Singapore with a bang as the country’s first mobile virtual network operator four years ago. Since then, many copycats like MyRepublic, Zero1, Gomo by Singtel, and Starhub’s Giga have sprung up. To stay ahead, Circles Life expanded its non-telco offering but was met with mixed success. - Losses on losses: While Circle Life’s revenue increased 30% between 2018 to 2019, its losses also grew eightfold to US$50 million as it continued its expansion. Its telco business is also seeing higher user acquisition costs due to stiff competition. - Call it a day: The company’s non-telco products, such as events platform Discover that was launched in November 2018, haven’t caught much traction. It has also put its fintech plans on hold, according to sources. - Dialing up a cash cow: Circles X could be the company’s ticket to success. This software helped Circles Life speed up its entry into Australia and Taiwan, and is now being sold to interested telecom companies. XL Axiata, a telco operator owned by Indonesia’s Axiata Group, is already a client. Read more: [Circles Life bets big on secret cash cow as other efforts fall short](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  STARTUP SPOTLIGHT  Who’s who in Indonesia’s ecommerce industry Ecommerce was one of the first sectors in Indonesia that caught investors’ attention. Today, almost half of the country’s unicorns - namely, Bukalapak and Tokopedia - belong in this industry. But what other company [plays a key role]( in this market? - Too many to count: Indonesia’s ecommerce space is home to a lot of startups. So we mapped out the most important names and broke them down into 11 categories, covering everything from general business-to-consumer offerings to food and groceries. From the chart, you can see that four categories are particularly popular. - Trending number of deals: The number of ecommerce deals continues to grow. Some of the notable investments this year include business-to-business e-marketplace GudangAda ([US$25.4 million]( May) and Bukalapak ([US$100 million]( November) Read more: [The key players in Indonesia’s ecommerce industry](  --------------------------------------------------------------- IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Make wastewater clean again Singapore uses about 430 million gallons of water a day. That’s enough to fill 782 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and this amount is expected to double by 2060. This rising level of consumption is not only seen in the city-state, but globally as well. According to research from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis' Water Program, about 40% of Asia's population will face severe water scarcity by 2050. To address this issue, [Singapore-based EcoWorth]( has created a small black sponge called carbon fiber aerogel, which can absorb 190 times its weight in contaminants and 99% of waste organics from water streams. The vision of EcoWorth co-founder and CEO Andre Stolz? To tackle oil spills offshore one day. But starting up this waste-to-worth solutions company hasn’t been easy. “I would [be lying if I said] that there was no moment I felt like giving up,” says Stolz. “There were definitely a lot of challenging times during that journey, but I think giving up was not a feasible option.” Want to find out how Stolz began his entrepreneurial life in Singapore and how his experience with successes and challenges changed his mindset? You can [see the full story here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  QUICK BYTES  1️⃣ Launch in Indonesia, how bout dat? Indonesia has invited US based rocket manufacturer SpaceX to [assess the possibility]( of setting up a rocket launch site in the country. This development comes as the archipelago is holding talks with SpaceX’s founder Elon Musk regarding US carmaker Tesla’s potential investment in the country.  2️⃣ Shopback and RedDoorz user data leaked Millions of user data from cashback platform ShopBack and online budget hotel startup RedDoorz are allegedly being [sold]( on underground hacker forums. A post advertising the sale claimed to include emails and cracked passwords. Both the companies reported data breaches earlier in September.  3️⃣ Suning’s founder goes all out for Alibaba’s Taobao The founder of Chinese retailer Suning Holdings Group has [pledged all of his shares]( as well as the shares of his son Zhang Kangyang and Nanjing Runxian to Alibaba’s ecommerce platform Taobao. The pledge amounts to a total of 100,000 shares that are worth US$153 million.  4️⃣ Walmart CEO believes in Flipkart and PhonePe The US retail giant’s CEO said that Indian ecommerce firm Flipkart and digital payments business PhonePe [still have room]( for other investors and could raise money in several ways, including stock market listings. The development comes after it was reported that Flipkart is currently preparing for an initial public offering in the US to raise roughly US$10 billion.  5️⃣ Reshuffling at Kredivo’s parent company FinAccel From the start of next year onwards, Umang Rustagi, the current deputy CEO of FinAccel, will be [taking over as chief executive]( of digital credit platform Kredivo. On the other hand, Kredivo CEO Akshay Garg will take on the group CEO role, supervising Kredivo and new peer-to-peer business unit KrediFazz.  6️⃣ Solar energy gets money The Myanmar-based solar-powered products provider has [raised US$2 million](. SolarHome installs integrated solar energy and appliance units for households and allows users to “pay as you go.” The company currently serves over 35,000 homes across the country.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  FREE PREMIUM READ Alibaba takes another shot at online games: Genius move or a bad call? Jack Ma famously said that he’d “rather starve to death than live on games,” expressing his disapproval of how excessive online gaming is eroding China’s young minds. But apparently, the country’s gaming industry is too lucrative a market that not even an ecommerce titan like Alibaba could afford to sit on the sidelines. Over the past six years, Alibaba has made several futile attempts to crack the gaming market, where its archrival Tencent reigns supreme on many fronts. But in September 2019, Alibaba’s Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition mobile game became a smash hit in China, setting things in motion for the company. We’ve unlocked [this premium article]( for you to read in full this week.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  EVENTS HAPPENING - ** Live Event ** Understanding the M&A process with Singlife-Aviva Singapore merger on December 17 As we close the year, let’s look at the state of startup exits in Southeast Asia and the potential of the region’s startups for building great businesses and selling them to a healthy market. [Hear]( from Walter de Oude, founder and group CEO of Singlife, about the lessons he has learned from the recent Singlife-Aviva Singapore merger, which is valued at US$3.2 billion. *Core and Live subscribers can RSVP at no extra cost! - Magnify China 2020 on December 18 KrAsia's flagship subscriber event aims to help you better understand the evolving business landscape in Asia. This upcoming event will bring you closer to China's noteworthy startups in today's hottest industries: consumption, education, healthcare, and enterprise solutions. You can sign up for free [here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  WHO'S HIRING - [Community Executive]( at Sampingan (Jakarta, Indonesia) - [Senior Backend Developer]( at Xcidic (Jakarta, Indonesia) - [UI/ UX Designer]( at Leadbook (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)  ---------------------------------------------------------------  SHARE WITH YOUR FRIEND Share this with a friend to brighten up their day and to keep them in the loop with what’s going on in the region’s tech scene. Feel free to [drop us feedback]( if our newsletter today got you feeling smarter (or if it didn’t).  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Thanks for reading! Tech in Asia’s newsletters are handcrafted daily with love - and sometimes powered by good kopi (or tea). [ADVERTISE]( | [PREMIUM]( | [JOBS]( P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Was this forwarded to you? You can read this everyday when you sign up [here](. Don't want to receive these emails anymore? [Unsubscribe](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Today’s edition was written by Betty Chum, with contributions from Melissa Goh and Aditya Hadi Pratama. It’s edited by Eileen C. Ang. Copyright © 2020 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 51 Bras Basah Rd, #05-5061, Singapore 189554