Singapore Tech Start-up Alpha7 Raises Additional S$3.1m

·        Led by private financing, Alpha7 aims to be the CEO’s “right-hand man”

Alpha7 has also launched ‘iMap’, a proprietary business intelligence tool. iMap helps business owners generate a roadmap for growth, by analysing front and back processes, then providing recommendations to deliver productivity and growth. This is achieved through technology tools, solutions and services, based on available budgets.

The iMap tool provides business owners with solutions across a range of technology applications, spanning marketing, sales, operations, finance and human resources; apps range from Salesforce, Netsuite and Microsoft to WordPress, V-Tiger, Dollibar, Xero and Orange. Recommendations are based on existing infrastructure, priorities and budget, defining the best technology ecosystem. iMap is targeted at larger small and medium businesses (SMBs) and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), with fewer than 1,000 employees.

Lynette Seah, CEO and Founder of Alpha7 said, “Alpha7 is seeing tremendous growth in the region. Raising this additional funding is key for us to take advantage of the market opportunity, addressing the gap between a businesses’ people, processes and technology. Driven by ASEAN’s rise, we will help SMBs and SMEs from the USA, UK and Australia establish operations in Singapore and around the region.”

According to McKinsey, foreign direct investment in ASEAN is booming, with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand cumulatively attracting more foreign direct investment than China (US$128 billion versus US$117 billion) in 2013. Increased productivity through technology and labour are key for ASEAN to continue to grow, particularly around business operations.

“Our mission is to serve as the ‘right-hand man’ of CEOs, helping SMBs and SMEs scale their regional operations quickly. Key to this is filling in the COO role – one which is often vacant, necessitating the CEO and management team taking on operational tasks. Our value proposition centres on doing the COO’s job by leveraging technology,” added Lynette.

Alpha7 was established in 2014. The company is helmed by founder and CEO Lynette Seah, ex-VP of finance for Asia-Pacific at Salesforce.com. The company recently appointed ten senior advisors to its consultancy arm, Alpha7 Consultancy, helping SMBs, SMEs and growth start-ups leverage innovation and boost productivity to increase competitiveness. In January 2015, it successfully spun-out Chief Operating Officer as a Service (COOaaS). COOaaS provides COO expertise to businesses on an outsourced, part-time, retainer or project basis. It takes aim at a common pain point faced by businesses in Asia-Pacific and globally – the lack of a formally appointed Chief Operating Officer.