The next unicorn in Southeast Asia?

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Hello readers,

Here’s something we don’t see very often: A company that tripled its revenue (🔒) in just one year. But it’s not just revenue that went up – it recorded wider losses as well.

Scroll down if you fancy a summarized read.

But first, here are your quick bytes for the day:

1️⃣ Whatsapp India lays out its digital banking plan: It will start pilot projects that offer loans, microinsurance and micropension to users. With over 400 million users, the country is WhatsApp’s largest market.

2️⃣ For the young’uns who want cheaper rides, China’s Didi Chuxing got your back. It launched a new standalone ride-hailing service that offers more affordable rates.

3️⃣ Tesla is reportedly hiring a service technician and parts adviser in Singapore even if founder Elon Musk had criticized the government for not being supportive of electric vehicles.

4️⃣ As TikTok continues to face scrutiny over data privacy issues, its parent company ByteDance has plans to double down on its newly established education technology business.

5️⃣ After the demise of Mobike, Ofo, GrabCycle,and Obike in Singapore, a new challenger has emerged: Anywheel. It has gotten approval to expand its fleet to 15,000 bicycles. On a related note, bike sharing may be useful, but it doesn’t make investment sense. We argued that powerbank sharing (🔒), though similar in many ways, could be worth your time and maybe investment.

6️⃣ You can now purchase car insurance on Amazon Pay in India.

That’s very cash money of you, Singlife

Digital life insurance company Singlife took home US$171 million in revenue in 2019. That’s almost a 300% increase (🔒) from US$54 million in 2018.

• Founded in 2014, it’s the newest kid on the insurance block, the only one to be licensed as a life insurer in Singapore in nearly 50 years.
• Comfy cash cushion: Besides raising a blockbuster US$50 million for its series A round in 2017 (with the help of this pitch deck 🔒), the company had also secured US$90 million from Japan’s Sumitomo Life last year, bringing its total capital raised to US$153 million.
• You rise, I rise: But apart from its income, Singlife’s costs and expenses have also grown, quadrupling from US$49 million in 2018 to US$219 million last year. This caused a US$27 million in total comprehensive loss after recording US$1 million in profit in 2018. But given its fast revenue growth, it looks fine for now, and the loss is just a fraction of its war chest.
• Potentially a unicorn? According to a GCA Advisor report, public insurtech companies are valued at a 2.2x next 12 months (NTM) revenue multiple. Taking that figure into account, Singlife should have a ballpark valuation of US$376 million based on its 2019 revenue. If it continues to see another 300% growth in revenue this year, Singlife could be the next unicorn from Southeast Asia.

Asia’s startup scene was going to be awesome, then Covid-19 happened