Kristal.AI, an artificial intelligence-powered investing platform startup based in Singapore, announced recently the raising of a US$6 million Series A financing round that was led by Chiratae Ventures – formerly known as IDG Ventures India – a leading technology venture capital fund in India with a focus on fintech, healthtech and software as a service (SaaS) sectors, and Desai Family Office. Chiratae Ventures is a returnin
Singapore-based sustainable tech startup Lumitics announced on January 14, 2020 that it has raised approximately US$557,000 for its seed funding round, which was co-led by early stage investment fund ReadyVentures and Franck Courmont, an experienced angel investor who previously served as general counsel, Asia Pacific for the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. The oversubscribed seed funding round was also participated by Louise Daley, an experienced industry veteran currently serving as deputy chief executive officer at AccorHotels Asia Pacific, as well as Startup-O, a Singapore-based venture builder and online platform that aims to connect enterprising tech startups with market experts and venture funds. The latest funds acquired from its seed financing round brings the total amount of funding that Lumitics, formerly known as Good for Food, has raised to date to roughly US$742,000.
It is understood that both ReadyVenture’s Nicholas Cocks and angel investor Franck Courmont will join Lumitic’s board to provide experience and guidance as part of the agreement to co-lead the sustainable startup’s seed funding round. The freshly acquired funds will enable the food waste technology startup to strengthen its impact in the regional food waste ecosystem by enabling it to expand its reach to new markets, thus helping the food and beverage industries around the Southeast Asian region to improve their sustainability practices through the use of their flagship solution, Insight, an Internet of Things (IoT) smart food waste tracker. The new funding will also be used to further refine and accelerate the development of its products, as well as to capture a bigger piece of the pie in Singapore’s food waste management market.
Rayner Loi, who is chief executive officer and co-founder of Lumitics, said that although the startup’s current aim is to penetrate further into the region’s diverse food and beverage and hospitality industries, he does note the potential impact that their flagship tracker device can have on other sectors and businesses as well, such as helping schools and hospitals to better manage their food waste, as well as helping the airline industry and fast food chains to lower their food costs. Rayner added that the startup has been actively engaged with various industry entities and players, and as a result has been able to fine-tune and adapt their approach and food waste solutions to better address their concerns and needs. For instance, in regards to the hospitality industry, Rayner stated that the startup has collaborated with certain major hotel chains whereby Lumitics’ innovative food waste management solutions has been able to help them lower their food wastage by a significant amount, up to 40%. What this means is that the hotel chains are able to directly reduce their food costs by as much as 8%, which is a huge cost saving for the larger hotel businesses.
Lumitics, the sustainable startup with a focus on food waste management solutions, helps the food and beverage industry, hotel chains and restaurants to optimize their kitchens by providing a seamless, artificial intelligence-enabled smart food waste tracking solution that empowers them to make better purchasing decisions, optimize food production, preserve yield rates and refine their menus to better suit their customers’ tastes. With the latest funding secured from its seed round, backed by notable industry veterans, Lumitics certainly has the crucial support to begin positively impacting Southeast Asia’s food waste management landscape and bring about sustainable change.
g investor, having previously participated in the wealth management startup’s last publicly announced $1.85 million funding round, while Desai Family Office is a new investor in Kristal.AI. It is understood that the Series A funding round also saw the participation of certain high networth individuals with ties to the finance industry.
The freshly acquired funds will enable the digital wealth management platform company to further accelerate its global expansion plans in key markets, particularly those in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. The startup also plans to use the funds to fortify and strengthen its technology capabilities, namely the back-end. Additionally, the new funding will also be used for the development of fine-tuned and well-crafted curated strategies. Kristal.AI also announced that it plans to debut a new product or service for India, which is an important existing market for the company.
Asheesh Chanda, founder and chief executive officer of Kristal.AI, said that the current generation has brought about a new class of individuals that define their status by their cultural capital and consumer choices instead of their income. This new class, the aspirational class, are very fluid and highly mobile in their approach to life, and do not conform to the standards of living that their forebears went through. Nevertheless, even though the majority of them no longer follow the conventional route of marrying young, getting a house before their thirties, and working at the same company until retirement, the way that they invest has not caught up with their rapidly evolving and changing lifestyles. Therefore, this new generation of investors require a more personalized approach that is custom-made to suit their lifestyle choices, goals and aims, and risk profiles. However, at present only a very small group of high profile individuals and clients are able to access these highly personalized services from the banking industry. Kristal.AI aims to resolve this issue by enabling individuals from all walks of life to easily access these transformative and powerful personalized investing strategies, which are tailor-made for the new generation of global investors.
According to TCM Sundaram, founder and managing director at Chiratae Ventures, the traditional banking industry is ripe for disruptive change, and one of the largest factors contributing to that change will be the capability of financial advisors to provide highly personalized, real-time investment products and services to an increasingly evolving and fluid generation of global investors. He also noted that the digital wealth management startup is executing on that front quite well.
Currently, Kristal.AI, the wealth management and investing platform startup, has licenses to operate in the markets of Singapore, Hong Kong and India. It boasts approximately ten thousand users on its investing platform, and manages more than US$100 million worth of assets under management. The startup utilizes its proprietary genetic algorithm to recommend, build and develop investing portfolios that are customized to suit each user’s needs and goals.
