In its most basic sense, an IEO is a crowdfunding campaign whereby the onus is on the exchange to run most of the sale

In the current market climate, with BTC going up to $5500~ in April, it’s worth taking stock of some real numbers and how exchanges are leveraging on them for that coveted billion or unicorn status.

This is obviously not meant to be investment advice, I give better in person investment advice to accredited investors, that I can assure you.

Initial exchange offerings, otherwise known as IEOs, are the latest talk of town. In its most basic sense, an IEO is a crowdfunding campaign whereby the onus is on the exchange to run most of the sale.

While the model is not new, projects such as Top Network on Huobi Prime has attracted even a food delivery staff to open up his laptop at work to grab a coveted allocation.

With IEOs on Binance selling out in minutes and each user only getting a small allocation, is this really worth it?

Peeling back the covers, different stakeholders perceive the value of IEOs differently.

For projects

It is a great mechanism for fund raising up to US$10 million. The awareness and combined push with exchanges help projects get noticed by a larger user base, often existing exchange users.

After the conclusion of the IEO, project tokens will be open for trading nearly immediately on the exchange. This grants more predictability to the process and projects need not negotiate with each exchange after their own token offering.

The time that projects save can perhaps be put forth to other work such as development and partnerships.

For users

Should they manage to get an allocation in the sale, speculators should have high hopes of doing well on the token. Because the projects are curated and fast-tracked to listing, they can also expect faster liquidity and more attention from other parties.

Terms are also spelt out more transparently and they need not worry too much about others getting a better price than them — except the private sale or seed round investors of course. Some users employ automation to help them get their hands on some allocation.

For exchanges

IEO provides an increase in projects that want to get out there for a raise. This provides a great additional revenue stream for listing fees and value added services.

Should users know that they are offering a great IEO, there is incentive for them to be more active users and thus increasing their site engagement. Trading volumes for their exchange and whichever token they require to be used for purchase will increase as well. As many exchange have their own exchange tokens, this will be beneficial to exchange token holders.

There were many IEOs that were completed this year. Starting with BitTorrent token on Binance, many exchanges have started jumping onboard the IEO train.

Most of the main Asian-affiliated exchanges like OKEx, Huobi, Coineal, Bibox have jumped into the fray in response to the three projects conducted on Binance Launchpad.

Of the conducted IEOs, while the majority of them have hit their funding targets, there are many that have not. This tends to be projects with much less awareness on exchanges with relatively lower user traction.

They also could be projects that have not raised sufficient private sale investment prior to the IEO.

While some of the projects have raised previous rounds, there is also a readjustment to pre-sale investor lock ups that comes as terms with certain IEO listings.

Some of the upcoming projects are Matic Network on Binance Launchpad, DREP on Gate.io, Duo Network on Bitmax and Ocean Protocol on Bittrex.

The accepted contribution are usually a mix of USDT or exchange platform tokens. the models of contribution have also evolved from first-come, first-served to a ballot model.

Since it is an exchange promotional activity, the exchanges have the right to set the rules of engagement and users have to evaluate for themselves if it’s worth the effort.

Despite many of the tokens receiving huge interest and multiplying in dollar value by up to 10 times from the IEO price, we can see that trading volumes and prices decline after the initial listing.

Overall prices and attention trail down for most of these projects over the following span of 30–60 days after their IEO. The snapshot is taken of the first few well known projects conducted on Binance Launchpad, Huobi Prime, OKEx Jumpstart and Bittrex.

In the past 90 days, while Bitcoin prices have gone up by close to 30 per cent, the exchange tokens of the top exchanges with IEO platform offerings have received a huge boost.

Many of them are trading at a 90-day all-time-high with BNB even hitting its historical all-time-high. The increase in price of exchange tokens appear to be correlated with the announcement of various events such as IEOs on the platforms.

The combined market capitalization of these exchange tokens are over US$3 billion.

After the rise and fall of ICOs, alternative forms of fundraising have emerged in the blockchains space — and now you are up to date on Initial Exchange Offering strategy.

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Photo by Dmitry Moraine on Unsplash

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Constant upheaval is never good for a harmonious environment

Keeping a hold on staff is one of the biggest problems businesses in Singapore face. Research across Asia last year revealed that 46 per cent of the country’s employees expected to leave their jobs within 12 months, the highest predicted turnover across the continent.

As demand for talent grows, the balance of power has changed from the employer to job-seekers in recent years. This means that investing in your workforce can give you a real advantage in developing and maintaining a successful business operation.

Constant upheaval is never good for a harmonious environment, which is why there is such a big global drive to improve employee engagement. Happy staff are more productive, and constant recruitment costs money. It’s a win-win for any organisation.

A recently released study of technology professionals revealed that 38 per cent of employees expected to leave their current job in the coming year, which is a costly and often unnecessary expense, especially for those businesses still in their infancy. Of those who were bracing themselves for a move, 43 per cent admitted they were dissatisfied with their career progression, and 42 per cent revealed they were unhappy with the training and development opportunities on offer to them.

Developing a strategy

When almost half of the employees leaving a job blame the progression options available to them, creating clear development pathways should become a critical part of your company’s strategy going forward.
Even if you have highly qualified members of staff, do you need further investment in their development?

The answer is yes.

Talented individuals will almost always be looking to improve themselves, and a company that encourages and facilitates this will be highly valued as an employer.

In an age where your company will have a greater digital footprint for potential candidates, the importance of a reputation for fostering personal development cannot be underestimated.

It’s important that this plan is focused. Make sure that your training is relevant to the job role, rather than a scattergun approach with day courses that offer little value to the employee. If you are in doubt, speak with departments specifically before committing funds towards training.

If it’s irrelevant to them and done for the sake of ticking a box, it could actually be counter-productive and you may end up with low morale due to the backlog of work created by being away from the office.

Getting better hires

With better personal development available, you can sell your training package to candidates during the hiring process. Make sure you present it as a benefit, as that’s what the best employees see it as. They want to better themselves, and supporting and funding their development will make you stand out.

Employers in Singapore are facing a struggle to attract high potential candidates to the country, as well as keeping that talent, so being able to demonstrate a clear commitment to staff training will help you buck this trend, rather than contributing towards it.

Ultimately, there are many factors that will affect your staff’s morale. Remuneration will always figure prominently, but as a start-up, your resources will be finite. You can’t necessarily compete with larger companies in terms of pay, so it’s important to think about how you can outmanoeuvre them.

Looking at employee reviews of companies online provides a fascinating insight into how a workforce value their own development path. Criticism is often levelled at larger companies about how poor their training is, and how little room there is for progression, so start-ups have a great opportunity to raise that bar and mark themselves out against bigger businesses in the war for the best talent.

Also Read: South Korean media company invests in streaming service iflix

Focusing on your employees’ training and allowing them to develop won’t just make them happier, but it’ll make them more productive, which makes them more valuable to you. Most importantly, though, when they know that you are willing to support them while they improve themselves, they’re also more likely to stay with you in the long term.

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Also, Singtel and Go-Jek partners to offer more perks, and Curlec partners with HelloGold to launch new gold investment option

Luckin Coffee files for U.S. IPO, continues its ambition taking on Starbucks [Bloomberg]

Chinese coffee chain startup Luckin Coffee Inc. has filed for U.S. initial public offering and seeks to list on the Nasdaq under the code name LK.

The Beijing-based startup has revealed its plan to raise around US$300 million in the IPO since February. Just last week, the ‘more affordable coffee’ secured US$150 million from BlackRock and other investors at a valuation of US$2.9 billion.

Luckin Coffee first came in scene in June 2017 and has expanded into 2,370 stores in 28 Chinese cities, with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte and China International Capital Corp as its backers.

Singtel and Go-Jek join forces, offer more privileges to its users [Press Release]

Go-Jek and Singtel have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a strategic partnership that seeks to offer a variety of benefits to their respective customers and driver- partners. From May 2019, both companies will cross-market their offerings, which comprise mobile, ride-hailing, and lifestyle.

Go-Jek driver-partners who subscribe to a Singtel Combo plan will enjoy data-free usage when using their Go-Jek app, allowing them to save up to 2GB of mobile data a month. As for Singtel’s customers, they can enjoy Singtel’s latest all-digital mobile plan, GOMO (Get Out More Often), will each receive Go-Jek ride-hailing credits worth US$3.68, which can be activated using a unique code.

Also Read: Japanese, Malaysian HRtech company Grooves raises US$3M in funding

The partnership is a part of Go-Jek’s mission to lower the operating costs for its driver-partners and provide them with better earnings stability. It also marks the newest benefit under GoalBetter, Go-Jek’s dedicated benefits programme for driver-partners in Singapore, which currently features insurance, medical teleconsultation, and fuel rebates.

Curlec partners HelloGold to make direct debit payment accessible [Press Release]

Curlec, the recurring payment platform with Direct Debit solutions based in Malaysia, has announced a partnership with HelloGold, fellow Malaysian mobile gold savings platform. Both companies join forces to launch a new SmartSaver Programme.

Through the said program, HelloGold integrated Curlec’s Direct Debit solution to automate their customers’ monthly investments to increase investment efficiency and let customers set their desired savings goal to generate longer-term returns.

Both startups are part of the Supercharger Accelerator Program that drives the development of fintechs in Asia and around the world.

“The partnership with HelloGold is an affirmation of our ongoing commitment to revolutionise the way businesses and consumers approach financial services. The importance of having sufficient savings within a tough economic environment is a key driver as to why HelloGold with Curlec’s Direct Debit payment solution will help Malaysians to easily save gold via a secure and disciplined manner,” said Zac Liew, Co-founder and CEO of Curlec.

AI sales assistant Saleswhale secures US$5.3M funding [e27]

Saleswhale, AI-based sales assistant platform, announced today that it has secured a US$5.3 million Series A funding led by Monk’s Hill Ventures., joined by Monk’s Hill Ventures are GREE Ventures, Wavemaker Partners, and Y Combinator.

The company said that it will use the funding to scale and expand its teams in engineering, customer service, sales, and marketing.

The Singapore-based company targets mid-market and large enterprises. Using its proprietary AI technology, Saleswhale describes its service as supporting sales and marketing teams by automating the lead engagement and qualification processes.

Also Read: South Korean media company invests in streaming service iflix

“We believe that AI assistants will become ubiquitous in the near future for global enterprises, as C-suites recognise that automation is essential to scaling. Chief Marketing Officers and Directors today need a scalable and cost-efficient solution that delivers a return on investment, bridges the sales-marketing gap, and supports sales teams in qualifying genuine buyers,” said Saleswhale CEO and Co-Founder Gabriel Lim.
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Lifetrack Medical Systems runs a platform that enable rapid transmission, aggregation, and access of medical images from multiple sites

Singapore-headquartered healthtech startup Lifetrack Medical Systems today announced that it has raised a US$5.2 million Series A funding round led by UOB Venture Management (UOBVM) through its Asia Impact Investment Fund (AIIF).

Global tech giant Philips and existing investor Kickstart Ventures also participated in the funding round.

The startup plans to use the funding to support its international growth and build on its LifeSys medical imaging platform, which enables rapid transmission, aggregation, and access of medical images from multiple sites, including remote rural areas.

It aims to solve the problem of access to medical facility in remote rural areas, particularly radiology, by using off-the-shelf consumer hardware and consumer DSL or 4G.

Traditional radiology software (RIS/PACS) requires expensive server hardware, workstations, and high-speed bandwidth, constraining access to diagnostic imaging in less developed countries.

Also Read: Philippine medtech startup secures Kickstart Ventures funding

Lifestrack Medical Systems CEO and Founder Eric Schulze, MD, PhD, is a practicing radiologist and member of the American Board of Radiology.

In 2003, he co-founded one of the first teleradiology companies in the US, 24/7 Radiology. The company has exited in 2011 to Alliance Imaging.

Schulze then founded Lifetrack Medical Systems shortly after to “completely rethink how radiology software could be architected from the ground up.”

“We started this journey with medical imaging in emerging markets such as the Philippines where needs are greatest, resources are scarcest, and demand for high-quality affordable healthcare is growing because of the rapidly expanding middle class. Our new investors embrace that vision and mission, and we’re excited to move into this next phase with them as our partners,” he explained in a press statement.

Their platform is currently being used in over 10 countries in Asia, North America, Europe, and Africa.

Also Read: ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2017 unveils 89 regional finalists

For lead investor UOBVM, the investment into Lifestrack Medical Systems was made through its Asia Impact Investment Fund (AIIF).

With Credit Suisse as its impact advisory partner, the fund aims to support growth companies in Southeast Asia and China that address key social challenges and improve lives in low income communities.

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Image Credit: Owen Beard on Unsplash

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The company’s funding round was led by Vickers Venture Partners

Chooch.AI, training platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for visual recognition, announced that it has raised a US$2.8 million seed round led by Singapore-based venture capital firm focussed on early-stage investments in Asia and beyond Vickers Venture Partners. The round also includes funding from angel investors.

The company said that it plans to use the fund for market reach expansion and hiring additional engineers to grow the team.

Chooch targets enterprise market with its technology for a visual recognition training platform.

“Chooch’s technology, with its focus on AI training and flexible integrations, means that it can be positioned to be an end-to-end, deep learning visual AI solution, and an alternative visual solution to Google Vision or Amazon Rekognition,” said Vickers Venture Partners Chairman Dr. Finian Tan.

Chooch claimed that it can be a visual expert in any field, from aircraft engine parts to types of human faces, to counting cancer cells as well as in media, e-commerce, security, and medical industries.

Also Read: Lifetrack Medical Systems raises US$5.2M in Series A to bring radiology to remote areas

When a user presents Chooch with images or videos that contain perceptions learned by its neural networks, Chooch works by returning the metadata such as a person’s identity or model of a helicopter through object recognition and facial recognition.

By matching data in its neural network perception library acquired with machine learning, Chooch can be trained to identify features in any media, such as web-based video or images on mobile phones, live drone feeds, and medical imagery. Its API is compatible with a photo or video content from any source such as live streams, apps, web, robots, or drones.

Chooch said that it provides a full suite of computer vision services, from data to predictions. The ROI is immediate because of the increased speed of tagging images for media, e-commerce, and security companies

“We seek to make machine learning for computer vision easy to use and implement at scale to provide competitive advantages to companies who need to implement Visual AI into their processes,” said Emrah Gultekin, CEO of Chooch AI.

Some examples of what Chooch can do include facial recognition training in real time that its clients claimed as helping them to “increase revenue by five times for video advertising and reduce costs by 80 times for tagging of visual data like photojournalism”.
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