SEA’s foodbots serve up bright prospects

This week, On the Rise looks at Singapore’s growing food robotics scene and if virtual tourism shields the travel industry in a season of layoffs. [Read from your browser]( On the Rise 🚀 Welcome to On the Rise! Delivered every Tuesday via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in emerging tech. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here](. Written by Shadine Taufik Journalist Hello {NAME} Breaking news: The robots are taking over! Well, maybe not right away, but Singapore’s getting there, though. Food robotics startups have always struggled to expand, with [Silicon Valley firms]( CafeX and Eatsa Automat finding it hard to stay afloat. Apparently, android chefs and baristas haven't exactly set taste buds tingling in the West. So it may come as a surprise that Southeast Asia’s food robotics scene seems to be growing steadily. My colleague, Tian Wen, takes a look at what's spurring this push in this week’s Big Story. The Covid-19 pandemic has shifted customer F&B preferences - contactless options seem more attractive as they're perceived to be more sanitary. Additionally, restaurants are struggling to keep up with customer demand amid labor shortages across Southeast Asia. There are over 70,000 F&B jobs in Singapore that went unfilled in April 2022, and that number could balloon 3x by 2028, Tian Wen’s notes in the premium story. Experts say that revenue in Southeast Asia’s food robotics scene could double or triple within the next few years. Early players are already making moves, and more entrants should be expected soon. Regardless, competition will be fierce in this nascent market. That aside, stories like this remind me that we’re already in the future. There’s no doubt that the digital era has redefined both work and leisure. Personally, I could spend hours behind a screen without ever being bored. It seems that companies are now testing how far consumers will go along - and evidently, holidays are in for a makeover too. How would you feel about sauntering in the streets of Spain from the comfort of your own home? In this week’s Making Waves, Tian Wen also explores the virtual tourism frontier and how digital vacations could make the travel industry layoff-proof. -- Shadine  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIG STORY [Why SEA's food bots are outshining Silicon Valley at the table]( A narrower game plan amid a favorable macro environment has set SEA’s food robotics players up for success. But they’ll have to serve more than novelty.  --------------------------------------------------------------- MAKING WAVES How virtual tourism might shield travel startups from layoffs Here’s what happened: - Travel startups have remained resilient amid a global wave of layoffs this year. - While the recent tourism boom appears shaky, virtual tourism may offer a safe haven amid market turbulence. - Potential use cases for virtual tourism beyond virtual reality tours are still underexplored. Here’s our take: The layoff blues are back, and it looks grim for startups worldwide. But not everyone might be swallowed by the tide. Tracking the bloodbath, I noticed that there were disproportionately few travel-related startups on our list of layoffs. [Layoffs.fyi]( which monitors layoffs worldwide, counts just two travel startups handing out pink slips this year so far: Sonder, a US-headquartered short-term rental platform, and Pollen, a UK-based online travel experiences portal. It’s still too early to tell if travel is an outlier to the layoff trend, but the industry's present situation is in sharp contrast to its [Covid-driven collapse]( in 2020. For one, travel is back in vogue. Singapore and the Philippines are seeing a [surge in travel bookings](. According to data from travel firm ForwardKeys, international airline bookings to Southeast Asia [also rose]( from being less than 10% of 2019 levels in January to 38% of corresponding figures just three months later. Amid rising inflation and uncertainty over Covid-19, however, a comeback for global tourism looks shaky. Rather than roughing it out on a wing and a prayer, could travel startups turn to virtual tourism as a trump card? Some investors think so. In February this year, Northzone and Lightspeed Venture Partners led a [US$20 million Series A round]( in Heygo, a UK-based livestreaming travel platform. Closer to home, Malaysian AI- and virtual reality-driven online luxury travel agent Igotopia also raised a [7 million ringgit]( (US$1.6 million) seed round in June last year. The tech does come with its virtues. Research has shown that virtual tours reach a wider audience since such products and services are [cheaper than their physical counterparts]( and are more accessible to tourists with limited mobility. The [growing number]( of active VR users worldwide could also hint at the strong potential of virtual tourism as an alternative revenue channel for travel firms. But can virtual travel really pick up where physical travel left off? If the former does take off and remain in flight, it cannot be treated as a [simple shift from “real” to “virtual”]( but should offer experiences unique to its virtual character. No industry-wide figures for profits generated by virtual tourism are available, and it’s difficult to say if virtual tourism is a viable alternative or just a band-aid solution to the problems that currently plague physical travel. Still, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Beyond vicarious travel experiences, virtual tourism may also provide testbeds for startups to tinker with new pricing strategies such as pay-as-you-want in a true-to-life setting at a far lower cost. Virtual travel companies could also advertise complementary products within virtual destinations and rake in ad revenue. Virtual travel is also part of the wider metaverse, which is capturing investor attention worldwide. Hailed as an opportunity potentially worth anywhere between [US$0.5 trillion]( to [US$13 trillion]( the metaverse is flush with investors of all stripes. Demand for metaverse-related investment opportunities could extend a rare lifeline to travel startups planning to go virtual in a capital-starved environment. There’s no telling when investor exuberance around the metaverse will die down, though skeptics warn that enthusiasm in the space is [overheated](. But as the adage goes: strike while the iron is hot. Virtual travel has an affinity to the metaverse, and the metaverse might be a game-changer for startups - and their employees - that take the plunge. Currency converted from Malaysian ringgit to US dollars: US$1=RM4.42 – Tian Wen   --------------------------------------------------------------- FYI [EFishery could be Indonesia’s next unicorn]( The Wavemaker-backed startup logged over US$100 million in revenue in 2021 - an over 10x surge from 2019, reports Tech in Asia. Founded in 2013 in the city of Bandung, the startup’s growth has been attributed to its range of products and services, which have helped protect or grow fishery businesses even through Covid-19. --------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW Check out Tech in Asia’s coverage of the emerging tech scene [here](. 1️⃣ Tessa Therapeutics, a Temasek-backed call therapy company based in Singapore, has [raised US$126 million]( in an extended series A funding round led by Polaris Partners. Founded in 2011, the company is developing next-generation cancer treatments. 2️⃣ Drone logistics company Swoop Aero has [swept up US$16 million]( in a series B round led by Main Sequence. Hailing from Australia, the startup has operated 15,000 flights in total, delivering around 800,000 medical items throughout Africa. 3️⃣ Indonesia-based Lummo has recently [laid off]( over 150 employees due to global macroeconomic conditions. The firm currently publishes two apps - ecommerce enabler Lummoshop and bookkeeping platform BukuKas. 4️⃣ Retail solutions platform Omnistream has [bagged US$7 million]( in a series A fundraise. Headquartered in Singapore, the startup helps retailers with store layout plans to optimize foot traffic. 5️⃣ Indonesian lifestyle startup USS Networks has received Tokopedia’s seal of approval, obtaining [an undisclosed amount]( of pre-seed funding from the ecommerce giant in a round led by Salt Ventures. USS Networks has 15 intellectual properties, and claims that it has been profitable since its establishment in 2019.  --------------------------------------------------------------- That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Do also check out previous issues of the newsletter [here](. Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by going to your “edit profile” page and choosing that option in our preference center. See you next week! 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