From ashes to gold: The Indian startup that turned it around

More: Tesla crash under investigation, and Facebook’s latest mishap [Read from your browser]( Daily Newsletter Hello {NAME} My fanaticism for the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks began largely out of chance - I just picked the highest-rated team on NBA Live 08, back when I knew next to nothing about basketball - but I grew to love the team for its underdog nature. It was good throughout the 2000s, but some bad luck and terrible refereeing meant that it never got over the hump to win the title - not ‘til 2011 anyway, and oh boy, is that a sweet memory. I dare say it’s probably the only title team that all neutral NBA followers remember fondly too. Today’s premium story follows another underdog tale: An Indian startup that went from almost running out of cash to becoming a unicorn. Deepti Sri, our journalist who wrote the piece, remarks that it’s very unusual for a startup to raise money 10 years after its last round, and its story of perseverance can serve as an inspiration to founders and entrepreneurs everywhere. Today, we look at: - The [fall and rise of Gupshup]( - A “Super” startup receiving funding to help rural Indonesians get essentials at a cheaper price - Other newsy highlights such as the continuing investigation into a Tesla crash in the US and the latest censorship concerns with Facebook  ---------------------------------------------------------------  PREMIUM SUMMARY  Don’t call it a comeback What do you do when your startup is almost out of cash? Well, in Gupshup founder Beerud Sheth’s case, the answer was to grit his teeth and make an uncomfortable - but necessary - pivot. - A wrong first step: Gupshup started as a consumer-centric messaging platform, but inefficiencies in its business model soon led to a major cash flow problem - and an urgent need to change its fundamentals. - Painful pivot: The shift to an enterprise-messaging business model required the company to lay off 17% of its workforce and forced C-level executives to take pay cuts of up to 15%. - Tech is the key: Gupshup achieved profitability after doubling down on AI, chatbots, and automation to create solutions that fit its new enterprise-facing model. Read more: [How a drastic pivot saved one of India’s newest unicorns](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  STARTUP SPOTLIGHT More help for rural Indonesians Indonesian social commerce platform Super has [raised US$28 million in its series B round]( led by SoftBank Ventures Asia. Existing investors including Amasia, Insignia Ventures Partners, Y-Combinator Continuity Fund, and Steven Pagliuca, co-chairman of Bain Capital and co-owner of the NBA team Boston Celtics, also participated in the round. (I swear I didn’t force the NBA reference in the opening blurb - this was pure coincidence.) - Super purpose: The firm was started in 2018 in an effort to solve the logistic inefficiencies in the archipelago, which CEO Steven Wongsoredjo sees as the cause for higher product costs in Indonesia’s rural areas, putting its residents under financial strain. - Super funded: With the new funding, Super has raised more than US$36 million to date. It claims to be the most funded social commerce startup in Indonesia. - Super expansion: The company will use the new capital to double down on its presence in East Java and expand its operation into other provinces later this year. Interestingly, it plans to move to the eastern part of Indonesia, which still has many digitally illiterate residents.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Innovation: The key to the insurance industry’s survival As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and the same rings true for the insurance industry. While some insurance providers have pivoted their offerings to cater to the changing needs and habits of their target market in light of last year’s pandemic, others turned to insurtech startups to bolster their services. This allowed insurance players to offer predictive analytics, chatbots in place of insurance agents, and even self-service platforms where customers can choose insurance policies as if they were picking food at a buffet. With all the new strategies insurers have recently adopted to provide their services, one has to wonder what the future of insurance will look like. After all, if so much can change in one year, imagine what the next five years will bring. You can learn more about the latest innovation trends happening in the insurance industry at the [InsureTech Connect Asia 2021 conference]( which will be taking place on June 16 and 17 at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre. Leading insurance players from around the world will come together to discuss where the industry is headed to next. Get your tickets on the InsureTech Connect Asia [web page](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  QUICK BYTES  1️⃣ Tesla crash in the US being investigated The US National Transportation Safety Board is working to publish a preliminary report on a recent [Tesla vehicle crash in Texas]( in which local police said no one was in the driver's seat. Tesla has refuted the claim, saying a deformed steering wheel suggested that someone was likely in the spot at the time of the accident.  2️⃣ Facebook’s latest snafu When Facebook users tried to view a hashtag calling for the resignation of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, they instead saw a message saying that [Facebook was temporarily hiding the posts]( in order to keep the community safe. The posts were hidden for about three hours. They have since been restored, with Facebook claiming that their featured hashtag was blocked “by mistake” and not because the Indian government had asked the social media platform to remove it. This development is likely to fuel concerns about the influence that Modi’s party wields over social media, as just last weekend, Twitter hid tweets critical of various officials after receiving an emergency order from the Indian government.  3️⃣ MVS=Most Valuable Startup Byju’s, India’s online education pioneer, is [raising about US$150 million]( from UBS Group at a valuation of about US$16.5 billion. The funding will make the edtech company India’s most valuable startup. It may also attract investment from an additional backer, which may bump its fresh raise up to US$400 million.  4️⃣ Clamping down on unnecessary use of facial recognition technology Several cities in China are [tightening the enforcement of regulations regarding facial recognition technology usage]( as it has become widely used for even mundane things such as dispensing toilet paper and collecting garbage. In the city of Ningbo in the eastern Zhejiang province, the local market regulator recently fined three property firms US$38,500 each for “illegally acquiring customers’ facial information.”  5️⃣ Huawei loses ground in China’s smartphone market Vivo has claimed the crown in terms of the number of smartphone units shipped in China during Q1 2021 with a 23% share, while sister company Oppo snagged second place with 22%. Huawei, [whose smartphone sales suffered]( after US sanctions cut off key chip parts from its supply chain, fell from first place a year ago to finish third with 16%. Incidentally, this quarter is also the first time in four years that China’s smartphone market has grown, with a growth rate of 27%.  6️⃣ US$1.2m for this consumer insights startup Indonesia-based consumer insights provider Populix has [raised the sum in a pre-series A round]( from Intudo Ventures, Quest Ventures, and others. The firm, which offers a wide range of subscription-based and customized services, including brand health tracking, product launch perception auditing, and customer satisfaction indexing, will use the fresh funds to roll out new products, increase hiring in the company, and invest in marketing.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  EVENTS HAPPENING - The intersection of user experience with user security on May 6 As companies increasingly conduct their businesses online, more and more information becomes vulnerable to cyber threats. But how can a tech startup ensure that its data is safe without compromising on usability and business goals? We have invited the region’s leading tech companies to discover just how their companies manage cybersecurity attacks and align security measures with business outcomes. [RSVP for free today](. - Fast Forward with HPE, open till May 7 Got a winning enterprise solution? Get the chance to pitch it to HPE’s top enterprise customers in this program focused on helping startups accelerate innovation, create collaborative opportunities, develop business strategies, and expand their footprint beyond the APAC region. Winning digital startups will be part of an exclusive community, working alongside technology partners and industry leaders, and receive full regional marketing support for a year. [Be part of Fast Forward with HPE today]( and bring your business to the next level. - Tech in Asia Pitch Night on June 22 Are you a startup founder looking to get some feedback from experts and investors? Then join us this June as we invite six startups from across Southeast Asia to pitch to Charles Ferguson, Asia-Pacific general manager at Globalization Partners, as well as an audience of founders, investors, and professionals from the region’s top tech companies. [Sign up today]( to get your pitching slot!  ---------------------------------------------------------------  WHO'S HIRING - [Digital Account Manager - Bandung Base]( at Boleh Dicoba Digital (Bandung, Java, Indonesia) - [Business Intelligence Analyst]( at BukuKas (Jakarta, Indonesia) - [Lead Search Engineer]( at HappyFresh (Jakarta, Indonesia)  ---------------------------------------------------------------  SHARE WITH YOUR FRIEND If you're feeling generous today, help us share this newsletter with your friends and coworkers so that they can keep up with what’s going on in the region’s tech scene. Feel free to [drop us some 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]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND 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 Winston Zhang, with contributions from Deepti Sri, Aditya Hadi Pratama, and Nathaniel Jader Fetalvero. It's edited by September Grace Mahino. 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