Top Stories of The Week

Hello there ,

I recently took up baking to beat the pandemic blues. While it has been relaxing, the most difficult part was gathering the ingredients - it always seemed like I was missing a few.

A few weeks ago, I came across an app that promised grocery deliveries within 10 minutes. I hadn’t even decided whether to bake a cake or just some muffins when the doorbell rang, and voila! My ingredients had arrived.

The super-quick service was impressive and piqued my interest as a financial journalist to figure out how the model really worked.

While experts questioned quick commerce’s economic viability, they all agreed that the service was undeniably attractive to consumers. The experts have tracked the evolution of the model and incorporated bits of it into their own businesses to avoid FOMO.

It’s also worth noting that the quick commerce delivery model has not yet found its feet in the US. In contrast, when we crunched the numbers, we found that Zepto, an Indian 10-minute delivery startup that came out of stealth mode in November 2021, is close to breaking even.

While the figures are promising, the impact of the model on delivery staff can be alarming in some cases. Apart from a swathe of challenges they face in India, delivery personnel have highlighted complaints from customers for being even two minutes late on an order.

This short delivery window also forces drivers to tread India’s pothole-riddled roads at dangerously high speeds.

The model is still in its infancy in India, and we’ll have to wait and watch how it can be improved. For now, the big question remains whether these startups can balance convenience, economic viability, and driver safety.

-- Deepti Sri, journalist at Tech in Asia

TOP STORIES THIS WEEK

1. Will India’s 10-minute quick commerce model last?
The 10-minute delivery model is taking India's ecommerce industry by storm. But is it viable in the long term?

2. Indonesia’s personal finance apps see new tailwinds - and VC funding
After the rise of BukuKas and BukuWarung, some startups are hoping to follow the same trajectory by putting a consumer spin on the two firms’ B2B products.

3. Making sense of Grab’s Jaya Grocer acquisition
The deal marks a seismic shift in Grab’s ecommerce push, but its foray into the grocery space may not be a smooth ride.

4. Can Ovo, ‘shunned’ by Tokopedia, keep the crown?
While Ovo is still available as a payment option in Tokopedia, it is no longer in the most favorable position. But that may not matter in the long term.

5. Behind Ula’s entry into social commerce
Jeff Bezos-backed Ula said that the number of transactions for its social commerce feature, Teman Ula, are now at around 70,000 orders per month.

6. Women-focused fintech firm eyes $5m series A funding
Lucy plans to roll its services out in Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

7. Counting Indonesia’s soonicorns and their backers
Younger companies are becoming soonicorns faster than their more mature peers.

8. This deck helped 🇮🇳 chewable supplement firm get $6m funding
Power Gummies is a producer of bear-shaped chewable nutritional supplements.

9. Exclusive: Indonesia’s CoLearn bags more funding to wrap up $27m series A
While product diversification is a common move for startups flush with capital, CoLearn believes sticking to a certain expertise can bring big success.

10. Alibaba, Tencent’s SEA investment spree in 2021
Tencent joined 3x more funding rounds in 2021 than 2020, and both the company and its rival Alibaba are increasingly playing ball with investors in SEA.

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