Refurbishing Indonesia's furniture industry

Check out our top articles for the week. [Read from your browser]( Top Stories of the Week Welcome to Tech in Asia's free Sunday newsletter! Get full access to our subscribers-only premium content and other insightful analysis on the big and messy topics of Asia’s tech and startup community by [registering here](. Hello {NAME} I see a lot of aspirational content about building houses on social media. The designs are appealing and contemporary, with many offering trendy minimalist concepts. Apart from showcasing house designs, these posts also usually provide recommendations for fancy or beautiful furniture. However, furniture can be too expensive or it can be hard to find exactly what we need in the market. That’s where furniture startups with innovative business models come in. In Indonesia, Monoliving offers modular furniture, which refers to premade units that can be combined or customized in different ways. With Monoliving’s services, consumers can put together furniture to suit their preferences. Another Indonesian player in this space is Bioma, which provides furniture rental services for businesses. Renting furniture can be a solution for companies that want to be asset-light, especially those implementing hybrid working. The emergence of these startups benefits consumers by giving them more choices and alternatives to owning furniture. But on the flip side, can these new approaches create a path to profitability for startups in the long term? -- [Jofie Yordan]( journalist at Tech in Asia  --------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES THIS WEEK 1️. [Furniture startups remodel Indonesia’s billion-dollar market with customization, rental options]( Firms like Bioma and Monoliving are setting themselves apart from players like Dekoruma through their innovative business models. 2. [As funding drops, will Indonesian startups turn to IPOs instead?]( Funding deals in the country dropped by over 50% year on year in H1 2023 while total investments raised plummeted by over 70%. 3. [A watch list of tech investors caught in the US-China trade war]( Following Sequoia Capital’s spinoff of its China business last month, here’s a list of US- and Europe-based investors who have stakes in China. 4. [ShopBack product lead: The one mistake senior hires must avoid at a new job]( In this talk, Isaac Tay shares some of the mistakes he made while growing the cashback platform's product team and what he's learned from them. 5. [SEA fintech sector hits funding slump in H1 23, but insurtech holds up]( Contrary to expectations, the share of pre-series A investments fell while bridge financing expanded. 6. [Vietnamese consumers still bullish on crypto]( Coming in a close second to traditional savings, crypto is Vietnamese consumers’ top investment choice for the next 12 months, a survey found. 7. [Edtech firm Refocus suspends Philippine operations amid numerous complaints]( Refocus has reportedly terminated contracts with 102 employees in the Philippines while facing accusations about illicit marketing tactics. 8. [A cheat sheet of M&As in Southeast Asia]( Need to get up to speed with SEA’s M&A scene? This one’s for you. 9. [VC funds tracker: Vertex bags $900m in first close of new fund]( Fundraising is difficult. To make things easier, we have compiled a detailed list of the most recent VC funds for our subscribers. 10. [Boom times for affiliate programs in Indonesia as Tokopedia, Shopee onboard influencers]( Dea Saufika, a Shopee affiliate, tells Tech in Asia that she has earned 100 million rupiah through the program since joining in March 2022. --------------------------------------------------------------- MYSTARTUP BOOTCAMP BY TECH IN ASIA SCHOOL  Take a free nine-week course to launch a tech startup in Malaysia Do you want to establish a startup in Malaysia but don't know how? MYStartup and Tech in Asia are looking for formidable founders to join our nine-week course, which will begin in September 2023. 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