QoreNext Secures $1.5 million in Seed Funding Round

Singapore-based QoreNext has secured $1.5 million in seed funding from Wavemaker Partners. The Data-as-a-Service provider will use the funding to advance production of its main modules and to bring its first set of data products to the market.

The company was founded by a data scientist Rahul Sahgal. His business idea was based on IP specifically carved out of Annik, the data and analytics company Sahgal founded and sold to French IT services giant CapGemini. Annik was part of a private equity-driven roll-up under digital customer engagement firm LiquidHub, which was acquired for US$500 million in 2018.

QoreNext has previously raised funding from leaders in the insights, payments, and data spaces.

"We have already had many constructive discussions with corporates that show a genuine interest in our data offerings", said Rahul Sahgal, founder and CEO of QoreNext. "In Wavemaker, we are excited to have found the perfect partner to help us get the company to the next level."

The Qore platform changes the way foundational data is produced and consumed, while the virtual collaborative aspect brings the gig-economy model into the corporate data management world. This precludes the need for armies of data stewards or editors.

 

 

Singapore's bolttech adds More Investors in Series A

 

Singapore-based insurtech bolttech's Series A has attracted more funding as EDBI and Alma Mundi Insurtech Fund, Spain (“Mundi Ventures”) joined the round. The company has raised $210 million in the extended Series A, which is led by Activant Capital Group.

This additional capital from the extended round will help bolttech enable its partners and customers with enhanced technology and digital capabilities. These investors will also help the company strengthen its presence in Southeast Asia, Europe, and its other existing markets.

Rob Schimek, bolttech’s Group Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are thrilled to welcome such high calibre strategic investors. They bring an extensive network and deep expertise in their respective markets which will help propel our growth and support our innovation for our partners and customers around the world. Together with their partnership, we look forward to accelerating our international growth and realising our vision to connect more people around the world with ways to protect the things they value.”

Headquartered in Singapore, bolttech helps connect insurers, distributors, and customers. The company makes it easier and more efficient to buy and sell insurance and protection products. The company has a global footprint that serves more than 7.7 million customers in 26 markets across 3 continents.

 

Everise to Open Digital CX Innovation Center in Singapore

The global customer experience company Everise has said that it is establishing a Digital Innovation Center in Singapore. The company is also betting big on Asia now.

The US-based company was operating in Malaysia and Japan in joint-venture, but it exited that to go into the business itself. The company is going to focus its investments in Malaysia and Japan; additionally, it will look to add 700 jobs by the end of 2021.

Everise has already recruited 600 native Asian speakers in Kuala Lumpur and Japan for its multinational clients.

"Over the past three years we have seen the opportunity to expand our services in Asia. Companies that are rapidly growing and new market entrants have demand to deliver innovative, multilingual brand experiences," says Everise founder and CEO, Sudhir Agarwal. "We also intend to open a first-of-its-kind center for innovation for our regional clients in Singapore in the last quarter of 2021."

Apart from establishing a Digital CX Innovation Center, the Everise plans to employ 100 Singaporeans by the end of year and 400 by the end of 2022.

 

Minfy Announces Singapore Operations

After winning the AWS Consulting Partner of the Year in 2020, Minfy is all set to impact its customers by establishing its Singapore operations. IT leader and pioneer Stephen Rowley has been picked to head the company's Singapore business.

With a significant presence in India, Minfy is expanding its presence in the ASEAN, the U.S. and the UK. The company's move to start its operations in Singapore is in line with the Singaporean Government's Green initiative. Minfy will cater to the customers' requirements in the country by delivering cloud innovation. It will leverage its unique mix of competencies including AWS Premier Consulting Partner, Migration, DevOps and SAP, differentiating them from existing competition.

"Minfy’s rapid evolution as a bionic organization and with Steve leading Minfy’s local presence in Singapore, we are really excited to serve our customers in Singapore and the Asia Pacific Region. Minfy will help more customers accelerate their digital transformation journey and get one step closer to its core mission," said Vikram Manchanda, Minfy CEO.

Stephen Rowley brings his remarkable experience in technology leadership and SAP implementation such as a regional implementation across 13 countries in Asia. His leadership will be crucial to Minfy for a successful campaign in Singapore.

 

Singapore Launches its Third Vulnerability Discovery Program

Singapore has announced that its agency GovTech has launched a Vulnerability Discovery Program to offer continuous reporting and seasonal in-depth testing capabilities that will tap the larger Singapore community.

"While members of the public can report suspected vulnerabilities on all Internet-facing systems through the VDP, the GBBP and VRP are only open to ‘white hat’ hackers – or ethical hackers – for testing due to the higher-value systems involved," said the GovTech blog post.

The new Vulnerability Discovery Program will offer rewards ranging from $250 to $5,000. The agency will also offer the special bounty of up to $150,000 that can cause "exceptional impact on selected systems and data."

This program with GovTech will first cover three systems: Singpass and Corppass (GovTech); Member e-Services (Ministry of Manpower – Central Provident Fund Board); and Workpass Integrated System 2 (Ministry of Manpower). More critical ICT systems will be progressively added to the program.

Ms Lim Bee Kwan, Assistant Chief Executive for Governance and Cybersecurity, GovTech, said, "Since the launch of our first crowdsourced vulnerability discovery programme in 2018, we have partnered with over 1,000 highly skilled white hat hackers to discover about 500 valid vulnerabilities. The new Vulnerability Rewards Programme will allow the Government to further tap the global pool of cybersecurity talents to put our critical systems to the test, keeping citizens’ data secured to build a safe and secure Smart Nation."

 

Indian company SuperGaming Secures $5.5 million in Series A

SuperGaming has announced that it has raised $5.5 million in its Series A round of funding. The round secured funding from BAce Capital, Dream Incubator, 1Up Ventures, Skycatcher, AET Fund, and Monish Darda.

The fresh round of funding will be used by the Singapore headquartered company to expand its team within a year. The company will help the company scale up the development of technologically advanced projects. SuperGaming is also looking to build its publishing division through this funding.

“SuperGaming’s rapid growth is a testament to the maturing Indian gaming industry backed by strong demand for newer channels of virtual entertainment”, says Roby John, CEO and co-founder. “Our aim is to utilise this fundraise to establish SuperGaming as India’s foremost gaming company. Having shown our capability of building globally successful multiplayer games, we are now expanding our world-class talent pool and accelerating development of new titles.”

Previously, SuperGaming had raised $1.3 million in seed funding. The company is currently working on a large battle royale game, which is expected to be launched early next year.

 

AWS Snowcone Comes To Singapore and Tokyo Regions

 

AWS Snowcone service has now been made available for customers in the Singapore and Tokyo regions. Customers in these regions can use the Snowcone service to deploy applications at the edge.

With this availability in AWS Asia Pacific (Singapore) and, AWS Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Regions customers can also collect data, process it locally, and move it to AWS either offline or online. Snowcone is now available in AWS Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Canada (Central), Asia Pacific (Sydney), EU (Frankfurt), EU (Ireland), US East (N. Virginia), and US West (Oregon) Regions.

For data center IT equipment, edge locations do not have enough space, power, and cooling that is needed to run applications but with Snowcone (approximately 9 inches x 6 inches x 3 inches, weighs 4.5 lbs.) this problem is solved. The service supports operation via battery for mobility and runs on 2 CPUs, 4GB of memory, and 8 TB of usable storage.

Snowcone can be setup and managed through AWS OpsHub. DataSync comes pre-installed on the device that helps move data online to and from Amazon S3, Amazon EFS, or Amazon FSx for Windows File Server, as well as between AWS Storage services.