Sweet Escape, a startup founded in Indonesia that helps connect photographers with customers, is all smiles today after it announced a $6 million Series A round.

The company — which was profiled by TechCrunch last year — said the investment was led by Singapore-based funds Openspace Ventures and Jungle Ventures, with participation from Burda Principal
Investments. Existing investors, which include Beenext, SkyStar Capital and GDP Venture, also took part. The startup previously raised $1 million in seed funding.

Founded in 2017 by David Soong and Emile Etienne — whose previous startup was recently acquired by Indonesian unicorn Tokopedia — Sweet Escape was initially aimed at helping travelers to connect with photographers to take great holiday photos, and get them back quickly. Now, however, that mission has broadened and the company is billing itself as a platform to reach and book photographers.

“A photographer for every need, anywhere in the world,” said Soong, who is CEO, when I asked for an elevator pitch.

Rather than disruption, the company is formalizing the process of booking photo shoots. I can’t imagine that I’d ever feel the need to spend $300 to book a snapper while I’m at the beach, but I’m in the minority — to be fair, I don’t even use Instagram anymore — according to Soong and (COO) Etienne. Photos are high quality and help create memories, they argue, while they are also provided within just three working days — although that is headed toward just 24 hours.

Sweet Escape founders Emile Etienne (left) and David Soong (right)

When TechCrunch spoke to the company last year, it said it had served 10,000 customers and worked with more than 2,000 photographers across over 400 cities in some 100 countries. While they declined to give figures, Soong said the customer numbers have doubled over the corresponding eight months, with Indonesia and the Philippines its largest markets. Beyond consumers, Sweet Escape has begun to tap the corporate market, giving companies a platform to secure photo shoots.

Indeed, calling Sweet Escape a photo site for travelers is underselling its direction. As well as catering to corporate customers, it works closely with photographers to help them increase their business.

Aside from driving customers, that also covers photo editing, which Sweet Escape takes care of. In particular, it is working to automate much of the basic editorial process to enable its human editor to focus on tasks that require skill and expertise.

“Editing hundreds or thousands of images per day can be monotonous,” Etienne said.

The aim is for tech to automate 80-90% of editing, which is mostly touch-ups, with areas like color enhancement left to the human editing team.

Sweet Escape aims to use tech to automate many of the monotonous edits its team makes to customer photos

The efficient approach is also designed to increase turnaround time, meaning customers get photos as quickly as possible, leaving photographers with satisfied reviews and more time to focus on actually taking photos. Beyond that, Sweet Escape also wants to provide the tools and expertise that will enable photographers to develop their ability and experience in new areas.

“We want to create a platform where people can say: ‘Hey, I want to service clients in this vertical or that vertical’ and ultimately make more money,” said Etienne.

This new round was announced right after France-based Meero, which runs a photographer marketplace and editing tools for pros, became a unicorn thanks to a $230 million Series C deal. Soong and Etienne say their round closed before that news and that it was oversubscribed — meaning they had to, presumably politely, decline some VC offers — but still they are taking Meero’s success as another validation of their vision.

The company has progressed to an office in Jakarta (HQ), the Philippines, London and Singapore and a workforce of 109, with more plans for expansion. The company is eyeing offices in Thailand, Korea and Japan as part of an expansion to 200 staff, which will include a mixture of roles, including hires to the tech team.

While there is early product-market fit, the founders are aware that China and the U.S. are larger markets that may require significant investment in resources to take the business to the next level. That isn’t happening yet, but Etienne said that a Series B planned for the end of this year or early next year is when a decision will be made on tackling one of those “giant” markets directly.

“We see huge potential globally, but exactly where we are in one to three years is still a question mark,” he added.

Source: Tech Crunch Startups | Sweet Escape, a platform for booking photographers, raises M

Disrupt Berlin 2019, which takes place on 11-12 December, attracts an international community more than 3,000 people from over 50 countries. This two-day, program-packed event, focused on early-stage startups across Europe and beyond, represents an ocean of opportunity.

We want to make that ocean available and affordable to as many people as possible, so we are offering discounted Innovator passes specifically for students and nonprofit or government employees.

Here’s what you can access with your Disrupt Berlin Innovator pass.

• The full Disrupt agenda including all stages and the Startup Battlefield competition
• Interactive workshops
• Startup Alley with more than 400 exhibiting startups and sponsors
• Networking events
• The complete attendee list via the Disrupt Mobile App
• CrunchMatch, our attendee-networking platform that helps you connect with people and schedule meetings based on mutual business goals

Who qualifies for the discount? Let’s go over the details.

Students: you must be currently enrolled in a grade school, high school, college or university program or have graduated within the last six months. Sorry, coding schools don’t qualify.

Be prepared to provide a valid student ID, proof of current enrollment or transcripts at registration, or you’ll get stuck paying the full on-site price. And if you’re less than 21 years old, you may not have access to some venues. Your reduced Innovator pass costs €135 plus VAT. Tickets are non-refundable.

Non-profit and government employees: you must be current full-time employees of nonprofit organizations, federal, state or local government agencies, international government agencies or active military employees.

Nonprofit employees must provide their email address from their organization during the online registration process. Government employees must provide their valid .gov email address during the registration process.

At the Disrupt Berlin on-site registration check-in, you must show proof of current employment at your nonprofit (copy of 501c3 documentation) or government organization. Government contractors, including contractors working on government “Cost Reimbursable Contracts,” are not eligible for the government discount.

We accept the following forms of valid government ID:

• Government-issued Visa, MasterCard or American Express
• Government picture ID
• Military picture ID
• Federally Funded Research Development Corp (FFRDC) ID

If you don’t present valid nonprofit documentation or government ID at registration, you’ll have to pay the full on-site price. The discounted Innovator pass costs €295 + VAT, and tickets are non-refundable.

Students, nonprofits and government employees, don’t miss your opportunity to experience everything Disrupt Berlin 2019 has to offer at significant savings. Apply for a discounted Innovator pass today.

Source: Tech Crunch Startups | Apply for your discounted student, nonprofit and government pass to Disrupt Berlin 2019

Competition in Africa’s two-wheel ride-hail market is accelerating. Nigerian motorcycle transit startup MAX.ng was the latest startup to add funding, raising a $7 million funding round in June with participation from Japanese manufacturer Yamaha.

Based in Lagos, the company’s app-based platform coordinates motorcycle taxi and delivery services for individuals and businesses.

With the Series A funding, MAX intends to invest in its tech infrastructure, expand to 10 cities and add new vehicle classes — including watercraft and three-wheeled tuk tuk taxis. The company will also use its new funding to pilot e-motorcycles in Africa powered by renewable energy, CFO Guy-Bertrand Njoya told TechCrunch.

MAX.ng’s moves come after competitor Gokada (also based in Lagos) raised a $5.3 million round in May and announced it would expand in East Africa. Uganda-based motorcycle ride-hail company SafeBoda expanded into Kenya in 2018 and recently raised a Series B round. 

Uber’s also gotten into the motorcycle taxi market. It started offering a two-wheel transit option in East Africa in 2018, around the same time Bolt (previously Taxify) launched motorcycle taxi service in Kenya.

The on-demand motorcycle race could make Africa a reference point in the transformation of mobility. If successful, MAX.ng’s pilot to produce electric taxis powered by renewable energy could also become a global use-case.

June also brought announcements of new resources and funding for Africa’s startups. Sweden’s Norrsken Foundation — a co-working space and investment fund based in Stockholm — opened its tech fund and entrepreneurship hub in Rwanda to support ventures across the region.

Operating from a new Kigali campus, Norrsken will offer seed investments of $25,000 to $100,000 for early-stage startups in all sectors starting this year, CEO Erik Engellau-Nilsson told TechCrunch.

The fund size is still being determined, and Norrsken Kigali will extend the fund to larger series-stage investments from $100,000 to $1 million in the future.

Founders Factory Africa and South African healthcare company Netcare launched a new initiative to select 35 African healthtech startups for an acceleration and incubation program.

The partnership includes an investment (of an undisclosed amount) by Netcare in Founder’s Factory Africa, or FFA. The Johannesburg-located organization was formed in 2018 as an extension of Founders Factory in London — an accelerator that has graduated 122 startups.

The application process is now open for FFA’s new Africa healthtech program, which will accelerate five startups a year and incubate two, FFA CEO Roo Rogers told TechCrunch.

Criteria for the accelerator startups include that they have a healthcare focus, be post-revenue and have a Pan-African scope.

Accelerated startups will receive a £30,000 cash investment (≈$38,000) and £220,000 in support services from Founders Factory Africa. Incubator healthtech ventures will receive £60,000 cash and £100,000 toward support.

Founders Factory Africa and Netcare will share a 5 to 10% equity stake in each startup accepted into the program.

Africa-focused fintech startups made up the 75% of JP Morgan Backed Catalyst Fund’s 2019 cohort, announced in June. The organization plans to extend 30 additional slots (open to African startup applicants) for its accelerator program that provides up to $60,000 in non-equity venture support.

IBM launched its Quantum computer program in Africa in June in a partnership with South Africa’s Wits University that will extend to 15 universities across nine countries.

Quantum — or IBM Q, as the U.S.-based company calls it — is a computer that uses quantum bits (or qubits) to top the capabilities of even the most advanced supercomputers and “tackle problems…seen as too complex and exponential in nature for classical systems to handle,” according to an IBM release.

IBM Africa will roll out Q to Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

IBM Q, which operates out of IBM’s Yorktown Heights research center in New York, will be accessed from African universities via the cloud. Researchers in Africa interested in working with IBM Q can apply online.

TechCrunch was on location in Addis Ababa to attend Startup Ethiopia and meet with entrepreneurs and hubs in the East African nation. The country of 105 million and the continent’s seventh largest economy has the workings of a budding tech scene. The biggest hurdle for Ethiopia’s startup community is the local internet situation, with mobile and IP connectivity managed by a state-owned telecom — which occasionally shuts down the net for the entire country, including last month. The government is taking steps to break up the state mobile and IP monopoly and issue teleco licenses by the end of 2019.

The digital ventures, techies and angel investors I talked to at Startup Ethiopia were in unison on the need for better internet options. Most agreed this was step one for the country to have any chance of joining the continent’s tech standouts — such as Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa — which lead on startup formation, VC and exits in Africa.

More Africa-related stories @TechCrunch

• South African SME finance startup Lulalend raises $6.5M Series A
• Google is building a new private subsea cable between Portugal and South Africa

African tech around the ‘net

• Egypt bus-app Swvl raises $42 million for African expansion

• SA’s SweepSouth becomes first Naspers Foundry investment, banks $2.1m

Source: Tech Crunch Startups | Africa Roundup: Yamaha backs MAX, Founders Factory and Norrsken support startups, inside Ethiopia’s tech scene