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mClinica is a Singapore-headquartered health-tech company which provides data, analytics, and patient engagement tools for healthcare organisations in Southeast Asia. In 2017, mClinica closed a USD$6.3million series A financing round, with Kindrik Partners advising the company.
Founder and CEO Farouk Meralli talked to us about mClinica’s journey to date and working with Kindrik Partners.
the mClinica story
Whilst working for multinational pharmaceutical companies, Farouk identified issues in the healthcare sector in emerging markets. Pharmaceutical companies and public sector entities (NGOs and governments) lack access to consolidated data that similar companies in developed markets have. This is particularly so in Southeast Asia where pharmacies are mainly independent owner-operated businesses rather than the large branded chains that you see in established markets.
This led Farouk to start mClinica to connect pharmacies on a common mobile platform. The company launched in the Philippines in 2013, and has since expanded to Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. By the end of 2017, mClinica had connected over 60,000 pharmacy professionals and 12,000 pharmacies on a single digital platform. This platform now addresses several challenges in healthcare including education and engagement of pharmacy professionals, pharmacy-driven patient programs, and last-mile data.
Farouk recently received the Public Health Innovator Award from Harvard University for his work with mClinica, and was the youngest ever recipient of the award.
challenges
Due to the fragmented nature of the healthcare industry in Southeast Asia, developing mClinica’s products was no easy feat. Farouk had to recruit healthcare professionals who also had expertise in mobile technology, engage with lots of government agencies and regulators, and develop products that were flexible enough to work in different health contexts. However, Farouk’s patience and vision has paid off, with its pharmacy network now reaching approximately 80 million patients per month.
The business has also been through some financing rounds and other corporate transactions along the way, which Farouk admits can be a big distraction from the day job of growing the business – like all entrepreneurs, he just wants to focus on solving real problems for end users.
raising a series A round
mClinica’s series A round was led by Silicon Valley fund, Patamar Capital (formerly Unitus Impact), and joined by UK based Global Innovation Fund, MDI Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst. Existing investors also took part in the investment round.
The cap raise was to help mClinica grow faster and enter more markets across Southeast Asia. By 2017, mClinica had a good profile in the regional tech and healthcare scene, and was known to investors. The company therefore had the luxury of picking investors that had knowledge of the healthcare space and would offer the best long-term strategic value.
In the end, mClinica was able to secure investment from well-known international investors, all of whom believed in the vision of transforming healthcare in Asia. A term sheet followed, and once a lead investor was committed, was agreed fairly quickly.
Farouk described an important aspect of the transaction was discussing the term sheet openly with all interested parties from the outset. This included existing seed investors who required careful management to avoid roadblocks later in the deal process.
working with Kindrik Partners
mClinica has worked with Lee Bagshaw since the incorporation of the business, including advising on seed funding deals with Kickstart Ventures, Spiral Ventures (formerly IMJ Investment Partners) and 500 Startups. Kindrik Partners has helped the company with other corporate and commercial matters, aside from the series A deal.
Farouk says: I believe mClinica was one of Lee’s first clients in Southeast Asia. Therefore to some extent we’ve been on the journey together in what is an exciting but challenging digital market. We feel like we’re in safe hands with Kindrik Partners. The team is very easy to work with and their VC transaction experience is second to none.
what’s next?
Since completing its series A financing, mClinica has continued to expand its pharmaceutical network, work on product development and grow its team. Right now, the focus is still on Southeast Asia, but mClinica’s products are also suited to many other developing countries worldwide.
As a transformative health-tech company operating in emerging economies, we’re proud to have been a part of Farouk’s journey to date. The digital economy in Southeast Asia will play a great role in improving healthcare delivery over the next decade and mClinica is leading the way.
[Note: The firm’s name was changed to Kindrik Partners in July 2020 and references to the firm’s previous name have been updated.]
Hong Kong-based WATI.io helps companies have personalized conversations with an easy-to-use customer engagement software tool that’s built on WhatsApp’s API. The startup worked with Kindrik Partners on their recent capital raise. We talked to co-founder and COO Bianca Ho on WATI.io, the capital raising journey, and working with Kindrik Partners.
WATI.io’s story
The company was founded in 2016 by Bianca Ho and Ken Yeung in Hong Kong. Before embarking on entrepreneur journey, Bianca worked in finance before moving to a business development role at a SaaS startup that specialised in customer support. It was there that she saw how artificial intelligence could be leveraged to augment and supercharge existing customer support teams.
“We started with an AI digital assistant for enterprises”, Bianca recalls. “Our digital assistant provided enterprises with a simple solution to chat with their clients at any time in the client’s preferred channels and language.”
From there, the company saw the opportunity of offering a similar solution to SMEs. “We saw lot of small businesses using WhatsApp as a tool to communicate with their customers. We created WATI, a no-code solution for those companies to automate the support that they were offering using WhatsApp’s Business API.”
These days the team has 40 employees across seven locations and is serving over 2,500 businesses in 54 different countries.
working with kindrik partners
Bianca was first introduced to Kindrik Partners through another entrepreneur in Singapore – Ned Philips, cofounder at Bambu. They were looking for legal advice with their pre-series A round.
“We decided to work with Kindrik because the team was really responsive, and the legal fees were affordable.” says Bianca. “They’re easy to work with, and very straightforward and fuss-free.”
on WATI.io’s fundraising journey
“We were a part of the Surge accelerator programme run by Sequoia”, recalls Bianca. “The fundraising process was relatively straightforward, since they have standardised documents that Sequoia gives to all cohort companies.”
Bianca worked with partners Chris Wilson and Lee Bagshaw from the Southeast Asia office in Singapore. “They were very quick to respond to my emails, as well as friendly.” says Bianca.
“They’re also founder-centric, which is something I appreciated. Sequoia is a big name, but Kindrik worked to let us know when things weren’t necessarily market standard in the fundraising documents, and encouraged us to ask questions to understand what we were getting into.”
Kindrik Partners also assisted WATI.io in the preparation of its employee share option scheme (ESOP).
“An ESOP is a complex thing to decide, and not something you can change every day”, Bianca says, “It can be daunting and quite complex, so having a clear explanation of the process and documents was very useful for us.”
tips for founders
When it comes to giving tips to founders, Bianca is clear. “Focus on the business first”, she says. “Understand your customers. If you are a good business with solid fundamentals, it will be easier to get the capital you need.”
what’s to come
WATI.io is continuing to pick up speed, particularly with its new injection of capital. “We are continuing to hire and grow”, says Bianca. “It’s an exciting time for us and we’re excited at what’s to come for the company.”
about Singapore Tourism Accelerator
The Singapore Tourism Accelerator is an equity-free 6-month programme for promising technology companies that power the travel and tourism industry. The Accelerator is organised by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and is managed by its appointed Corporate Innovation partner, Found8.
The cohort companies undergo a three-month accelerator program where they participate in capacity- building workshops providing insights to the Singapore ecosystem and market as well as the tourism and hospitality industry. The program is tailored to support the startups in identifying and securing a pilot partner and project to testbed their solution with. This is followed by three months of pilot implementation and execution with one of the close to 30 industry partners participating in the programme – including Singapore Airlines, Changi Airport, Marina Bay Sands, and other prominent tourism brands.
The Accelerator provides founders with an opportunity to learn critical market entry skills, pilot design and implementation skills, and fundraising strategies. The programme also offers 1:1 mentoring, expert feedback, and access to industry events. The accelerator culminates in a Demo Day attended by investors and members of the tourism industry.
The Accelerator is currently running its second cohort of 10 companies and Kindrik Partners has worked with the program as an advisor for both. Particularly in the case of startups who have come from outside the region, that can include incorporation in Singapore with a view to getting investment.
pivoting to remote-first with COVID-19
With the second cohort set to begin just as the COVID-19 situation was escalating in Singapore, the decision was made to pivot from an onsite programme to a digital-first programme.
“The global health crisis put a lot of different challenges on top of everyone’s normal workload. Now that we’re split across seven different time-zones, it’s a big ask in terms of flexibility and adaptability for the people who run the workshops. We are all now masters of Zoom,” says Katrin Miller, program manager.
kindrik partners support
presentations and office hours
In line with the move to remote-first, Sarah Yen, senior solicitor at Kindrik Partners, presented to the second cohort via webinar, covering basic corporate and commercial topics such as seed rounds and other common legal issues for growth stage companies.
The startups were also able to book one-on-one Zoom legal consultations to address any queries not covered in the presentations.
“It was beneficial to the startups to know they had access to a lawyer to address more specific questions once they were further through the process”, says Katrin.
“Throughout the programme, Sarah has been stellar to deal with. She has always made herself available to our startups and the advice she gives to help the founders is always well structured and clear.”
online templates
Founder in each cohort also have access to over 30 free legal templates and guides for startups that have been tailored to building tech companies in Southeast Asia.
“Anytime one of the startups needed a template, I always consulted the Kindrik Partners database first to see if there was something they could start working from,” says Katrin.
The templates cover common corporate and commercial agreements and resolutions used by growth startups. These include founder agreements, NDAs, and sample term sheets.
support tailored for the programme
Given the industry connections that the Accelerator offers to industry heavyweights like Singapore Airlines, Changi Airport, and Marina Bay Sands, Kindrik Partners also provides targeted assistance on pilot agreements.
“Running a pilot programme is a great way to fine-tune a solution and to approach enterprise customers”, says Sarah. “However, since there’s no real uniformity to pilot agreements, founders need to be aware of some key provisions that will shape their experience with the organisation they’re dealing with.”
Katrin agrees, adding “Some corporate partners have existing documentation around pilot programmes – but for many, it’s up to the startup to set up a legal document that seals the partnership. Kindrik Partners provided real value in educating the startups and help them understand the legalese – whether it be a letter of intent, an MOU, or formal partnership agreement.”
after demo day
fixed fees on seed funding rounds
Following demo day, Kindrik Partners is available to the cohort companies to assist them with their first institutional funding rounds. To bring more transparency to the market around legal costs, Kindrik Partners offers fixed fees for institutional seed funding rounds and some associated projects, such as ESOPs.
“We want to help founders understand the terms on which they are raising their first formal funding, to help them close the deal as efficiently as possible, and of course to ensure they are getting market terms. Providing fixed fees removes one of the biggest obstacles to start-ups engaging counsel during the funding process, i.e. concerns around creeping costs and their lawyers running the clock on each call or email query”, partner Chris Wilson says.
final words
The mentorship and guidance given to the startups has been highly valued by founders in the accelerator programme.
“It’s been a hard time to run a tourism accelerator during the coronavirus pandemic – it’s no surprise that we are the hardest hit. But we’ve noticed that many of our industry partners have stepped up and focused on innovation to give them a competitive edge when the industry recovers.”
“Having Kindrik Partners on hand to assist has been truly valuable throughout the course of the programme as our founders navigate the new normal.”
