Dear Reader, welcome to 2020 and to January’s Tech Round-Up. It’s our summary of key companies, people and trends to look out for this year. Best wishes.

Fresh Thinking from North Ridge Partners:

Growth companies focus so much on customers, product and growth that there’s little time left to prepare for that next funding round or exit! Our Deal Accelerator can get you ready in as little as three days. Click here to see how it works.

The latest mantra for high-growth tech companies: Strong Momentum and Profitable Growth. Michael Gethen shares his views that investor perceptions and behaviour have evolved, and founders need to take note of it and adjust. Quickly.

And now for some reflection:

Lessons from the world of tech last year: Among the many other developments of 2019, it was the year when climate change seemed to finally break into the public consciousness.

20 metatrends for the roaring 20s: Provocative thinking from Peter Diamandis. Whether you are a believer or not, you can’t ignore him.

Alibaba’s tech brains trust sees new big trends in 2020: As the new year settles in, concerns remain about the protracted trade and tech war between the USA and China, the world’s two largest economies.

Video of the Month:

The inspiring 3-minute video shows drone technology at work, planting millions of seedlings.

News from our home ground in Asia:

Asia 2020 - from tech turmoil to SoftBank’s next crisis: “a synchronized slowdown, a raft of elections, a tech industry crossroads: 2020 promises to shake up the order of the things” according to the Nikkei Asian Review’s guide to 2020.

US billionaire rapper invests in SEA’s bustling startup scene: An American tech venture fund backed by Jay-Z is investing in the region.

Asia’s central banks are ahead in developing digital currencies: Asia’s a step ahead of other regions in developing central bank digital currencies, with China, Hong Kong and Thailand set to roll out sovereign virtual tokens as a means of payment and to better monitor money flows.

Indonesian tech champions: 10 Indonesian-headquartered companies raised more than US$25m each in 2019.

From the Scary Department

The deepfake threat: Deepfakes have been lurking on the Internet for years now. But in 2020 this powerful AI-driven technology risks becoming a weapon for misinformation and fraud.

Only about 30% of comapnies are (hopefully) prepared for a cyber-attack: Grant Thornton tell us that companies in developing markets are better prepared than their counterparts in the developed markets, but that most companies aren’t really prepared at all…

What’s the likely impact of a US cyberwar with Iran? In the aftermath of the American killing of Iran’s top general and Iran’s retaliation, many are wondering whether cyberwarfare will be next.

In other Tech News:

Highlights from CES 2020: What do you get when you mix 4,400 exhibitors over 2.9 million sq. ft, 307 Fortune 500 companies and 175,000 industry professionals in Las Vegas? CES!

Quibi, anyone? Might this new short form video streaming service from Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman actually work?

Stuff we’ve been working on:

Moula completes $20m equity raising: North Ridge Partners acted as financial advisor to Moula on its recent funding round.

Ascent Solutions completes bridge financing round: North Ridge Partners managed IOT market-leader Ascent on its recent bridge round, as part of a series of financing initiatives.

Graph of the Month:

SoftBank investees have shed more than 10,000 employees in the past few months. The land grab is rapidly being overtaken by gravity. Chart below, from The Information.

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North Ridge Partners works with technology companies across the Asia Pacific to achieve transformational outcomes through advice on strategic positioning, raising third party funding, M&A and direct investment. We’re experienced deal-makers who have built, run and sold numerous technology companies.

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