Global finance leaders have always regarded fintech as the digital force that can bring unprecedented changes to the industry. Goldman Sachs estimates the worldwide fintech pie to be worth US$4.7 trillion, and with more than 12,000 startups in different parts of the world, this number will keep increasing.

Fintech companies are gaining momentum because of the younger, affluent, and tech-savvy customers. Research by Capgemini found that 46 per cent of clients are using services from over three fintech providers, while 60 per cent financial institutions now view such companies as their potential partners.

Why is fintech thriving?

Because it facilitated the expansion of capital access to small business owners, women, minorities, and immigrants, who found fundraising to be nearly impossible before technology leveled the playing field. No segment of the customers is under-served, establishing a positive impact of fintech on the current startup scene, and fueling its growth.

Strengthening financial data security

Banks and financial organisations are facing enormous challenges when it comes to protecting sensitive data. Heavily regulated by data privacy requirements, the banks and financial institutions are under mounting pressure to be open to the consumers regarding policies and steps taken to protect from security breaches.

Organisations are investing highly in fintech because they want to eliminate their vulnerability to financial losses due to cyberattacks.

Also Read: Afternoon News Roundup: Quona Capital closes US$203M to focus on fintech companies in emerging markets

Apart from providing security to financial data, it instils convenient transactions, and this leads to flawless cash-flow and smooth operations in the financial system.

An organisation’s cybersecurity strategy must inculcate robust encryption and controlled security policies. Instead of waiting for a cyber-attack, institutions must utilise new technology tools and gain a deeper understanding of policy deployment.

Monitoring all the traffic and limiting potential threats is only possible through fintech.

Low cost of service

Fintech dramatically reduces servicing costs while providing better results. It automates all the operations or relies on human-in-the-loop computing systems to carry out functions smoothly. Fintech companies need not make substantial investments in archaic technologies such as call centres, to tend to the problems of the customers.

The company already has enough information about the customer that when they do need help or a problem arises, they are likely to know about it beforehand and have already started exercising the action plan to resolve it. Ironically, this leads to improved services, as well.

Even the new fintech entrants are adopting multi-channel approaches, and leverage the latest digital marketing tools, without paying the hefty regulation costs. As compared to banks, consumer-facing fintech companies are only seeing 1/100th of the acquisition costs and enjoy a low-friction landing.

Also Read: How is technology influencing Southeast Asia’s fintech industry in 2020

Blockchain penetration in various industries

World Economic Forum estimates that blockchain’s net worth was US$ 20 billion in 2015 and is expected to rise to 10 per cent of the world’s GDP by 2027. Almost 90 per cent of European and American banks are investing in this technology to ensure maximum security for their financial operations and transactions.

Cryptocurrencies occupy a large share in fintech market, with a lot of startups building their company around the most prominent blockchain-based currency, Bitcoin. However, the involvement of blockchain became strong because of technological advancements in the decentralised ledger.

Modern consumers look for uninterrupted control over their finances. A few years ago, a distributed system that cannot be mismatched, is not limited by the government, doesn’t charge any fee, and is controlled by the users themselves looked like a dream. Thanks to blockchain, all of this is possible now!

The app world

The biggest product of fintech is digital payments, comprising 25 per cent of the ecosystem. TechCrunch says that in 2020, 90 per cent of smartphone users will make a mobile payment. In fact, mobile payments, which is a subset of digital payments, are set to break the US$1 trillion record this year.

Despite the tremendous growth, there is still significant room for mobile payments to thrive. Given the high fee involved in transactions, most of the merchants and sellers in the US have to give up a part of their earnings. For example, a US$100 transaction will give US$97.30 to the merchant on average.

Starbucks has opted for a new approach to combat this high-fee policy. Their app allows the consumer to transfer money from their bank account or credit card to a mobile wallet, which can be used to pay for the coffee or food item.

Bringing down the volume of transactions, this eliminates the fee for the merchant.

Also Read: Big banks and fintech startups: Rivals or allies?

Increased regulations

Being among the most heavily regulated sectors in the world, governments are more concerned about regulations as fintech takes off. With the integration of technology in financial services, regulatory problems for many companies have multiplied, which is a reflection of the tech industry’s impatience to disrupt finance.

Usually, regulations can put a damper on growth for many sectors. They are indeed created to protect and control, which leads to slowing things down. Contrary to this, regulations have caused an immense acceleration in fintech, benefitting the incumbents, just like the 2018 tax laws benefited the real estate investors.

In an attempt to limit the amount of personal information available to the banks, the EU has passed the General Data Protection Regulation. Several other countries such as South Korea and Japan, where ICOs are popular, have taken the lead from this to protect the investors.

The bottom line

Over the last few years, fintech has evolved significantly yet, its penetration rates in various industries are significantly low. Despite the slow growth, 88 per cent of traditional financial organisations fear losing revenue to fintech companies in areas of personal loans, money transfers, and payments.

Given the current situation, 82 per cent of such organisations have already planned to collaborate with fintech companies in the next three to five years. Ernst & Young says that approximately 25 per cent of SMEs worldwide have adopted fintech services for financing, banking, and financial management.

Seeing the potential of fintech, it would be unwise to place your bets anywhere else. With a promising future and continuous innovation in the field, fintech has to be the right choice for you to invest and gain maximum in return.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post. We are discussing inclusivity at work and women all of March. Share your thoughts, tips and best practices on how we can make the startup ecosystem more inclusive, gender and culture diverse.

Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page.

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The exit landscape in Southeast Asia has seen a huge rise in the recent past and if you consider the current trends, it will grow higher with every year. A report by Golden Ventures suggests a huge rise in the startup exits in the region with a resounding 700 plus startup exits expected for the forecast period of 2023-2025. 

Over the years there has been a number of tech startups encouraging the exit landscape scene in Southeast Asia. But, the recent outbreak of COVID-19 has changed the exit landscape with its restrictive access to business facilities and workforce. 

Amongst the odds of supply chain restrictions and low workforce efficiency, the services sector is the worst hit with a 28.51 per cent impact due to COVID-19 hit provinces in China. The question again arises, that will the strong exit landscape of Southeast Asia backed up by the tech-based service sector sustain the momentum in a pandemic Corona hit economy?

Let us first understand the impact of three pillars of startup exits in Southeast Asia.

Acquisitions

As far as mergers and acquisitions are concerned, for Southeast Asia, local M&A over the global startups has been a resounding trend.

But, the terms of mergers and offers for acquisitions can rapidly change with the recent downfall of the global market following the outbreak. 

With over 100,000 cases and 4,000 deaths, it has caused a panic situation, creating a huge downfall across global markets. M&A depends on largely market trends and a startup’s potential growth cap, which is constantly plunging due to uncertain supplies, restrictive demand, and limited workforce efficiency. 

Also Read: Coronavirus is driving the world into an economic slump. How to cope up?

Currently, most of the intermediate product supplies are dependent on the Chinese supply for Southeast markets. So, the impact on the SEA markets due, to the Covid-19 outbreak is certainly impacting major M&A decisions.

IPO

IPO or Initial Public Offering is a way of issuing stock offerings to the public of any private corporation. IPOs are a way in which private organisations transition to public organisations through investments.

Last year, Southeast Asian markets saw 89 IPOs raised the proceeds up to US$4.8 billion with a one per cent spike over 2018. This was extremely remarkable given the fact that global IPOs took a hit last year.

Supply cut downs of the intermediate products from China can make a huge impact on private organisations going public with IPOs as the trust among the public investors can be dwindling in the outbreak scenario.

Secondaries

Secondaries or secondary buyouts have been surging in the private equity industry over the years. In recent years there are several venture firms that are increasingly investing in the secondary stocks. But, COVID-19 breakout can impact these secondary buyouts on a larger scale.

Let’s discuss how startups can thrive in these hard times!

What is the government doing?

Southeast Asian governments are cutting interest rates on their capital landing to the startups and businesses, who are incurring losses due to ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

Recently, Thailand’s government reduced its rate to one per cent because of its trade exposure to Chinese goods for auto manufacturing and Chinese tourism. Other Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia are cutting back their rates to boost local manufacturing and reduce reliance on Chinese goods.

Domestic boost

If you compare the dependency of Chinese markets for exports, the Southeast Asian market has seen a huge spike in the span of five years. As major manufacturing units, tech-based businesses and tourism dependency have been so reliant on the Chinese economy; the Corona outbreak should be seen as an opportunity to boost the local manufacturing landscape.

Also Read: Blessing in disguise: How coronavirus is helping China’s tech sector

Virtual workplaces

As much as we like it, work from home concept is now more than just an accessory in business. Tech startup CEOs and founders must consider virtual workplaces for their operational needs. Many businesses that are already in the process of developing mobile apps for their businesses can rely on freelancers or ask employees to work from home.

The need for virtual workplaces in the Southeast Asian markets needs a boost in their network intensities over several places.

Cross-discipline training

Beating the workforce deficit can also be tackled with cross-discipline training of employees. Startups can leverage this training for developing cross-discipline skills in their limited workforce. It can reduce the impact of lower employee attendance and keep the flow of work intact.

Revenue over growth

Whether you think of M&A, IPO or Secondary buyouts, like any other business decision, startup exits are driven through numbers. These numbers can be kept intact through short-term revenue-based projects that may be fruitful in the short run instead of trying to get the big fish.

For the time being, CEOs and startup entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia should focus on sustaining the pandemic outbreak than looking for a restructuring of the business model. As it may not be easy for ASEAN governments to tackle the cost behind containing the outbreak and at the same time provide a boost to the startups bearing heavy business losses.

Startups in the Southeast Asian markets need to gauge the situation that has been getting worse day by day. With the shortage of supplies, restricted flow of unfinished goods and raw materials, the sustainability of business poses a challenge.

Many startups in Malaysia and Indonesia are hopeful of foreign investments to boost their businesses, which is under pressure due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Startup exits landscape in Southeast Asia is already stronghold and few steps taken by startups and governments in the region can ensure a harmless passage of the pandemic outbreak.

Despite its impact, COVID-19 poses an opportunity for Southeast Asian startups to become self-reliant and rise above the leading markets in Asia.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post. 

Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page.

Image credit: Dimitri Karastelev on Unsplash

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Remote working offers so many exciting possibilities, from sipping Pina Colada while working on a beach to sitting next to an inspiring startup founder in a coworking space.

But in times like this, when everyone is forced to stay where they are the safest, working from home might be all you have to keep you afloat –and sane. 

At e27, we have a team mixed of remote workers all over Southeast Asia and India, and a dedicated office in Singapore for teammates based in the country. So you can say we know a thing or two about managing a remote working.

But to have a fresh perspective, we turned to our community to understand how one can be productive working from home –next to their pop and ma, their kid, and their siblings. Because they, too, are stuck at home.

The matter of communication

The first challenge to emerge is communication. You are used to sitting next to Susan, and go into an hour meeting with Simon to talk about an ongoing project. But now, suddenly, they are nothing but icons on Zoom or Google Hangout.

Issues such as connection, noisy background, and sound delay may make you feel like things are not working in your favour, but it is the perfect time to get creative.

Also Read: Why remote working is the future for startups

One of our community members pointed out a valid point regarding remote communication in working from home situations.

“I think about it in two ways: one is that interactions build trust. Other is if the related parties don’t have similar experience in things like writing and literature then their use of languages is always going to be different and it will create differences that make communication hard. The second one is often ignored, but being a reader and a writer is critical to team success remotely. The key is to listen and to over-communicate in this period.”

One community member directed us to this hilarious curation of remote-working, WFH-related tweets to @WorkWithoutPants. One tweet suggested to do a virtual coffee, which is essential to have a sense of belonging in a team –even if it is just on the screen.

Essential digital tools for WFH

At e27, the tools that help us every day are regularly-scheduled meetings on Zoom for weekly updates, Slack for daily huddle, and Hangouts for other meetings.

Another member pointed out other digital management products to use: Trello and Asana, along with Calendar and Google drive.

Other alternatives

Remote working is something that does not favour micromanagement. Micro-managing by managers are easily done when working in an office environment, but WFH would not succeed with a helicopter-style of leadership.

However, it is understandable to feel as if your team might neglect their work during their stay at home simply because you cannot see them face-to-face. This is why many people choose to stick to working on office hours despite the convenience that WFH offers.

One team member gave his take on the matter to make the setting work for both the company and the employee.

“Give each other space as you would in a physical office, but make it a point to communicate at regular intervals, to shoot the breeze if not anything, as your mileage may vary depending on working styles,” he said. 

But in a situation involving a self-quarantine, there will be limited mileage made, which left the managers in charge with no option but to practise confidence in their team and being more result-oriented.

Also Read: e27’s remote staffers sharing their work-from-home experience

Another way to do WFH without losing the productivity the office environment offers is to set a clear policy about what it means and what it takes for employees. This one is especially necessary if WFH would be something that is completely new for your team.

“With my trainees that I train for companies, I set soft deadlines and in-between, I do morning check-ins with them,” said one member. 

The age of video

“All I can tell you is that I have used video these days to communicate with my audience. It helps me come up with ideas and helps me practice communicating with people, which is the core function of my role,” said another member, who works with a Hong Kong-based VC firm, where a face-to-face meeting is needed but impossible now.

With startups being forced to get that creative juices flowing to make sure that business goes on as usual, VC firms that rely heavily on in-person meetings must resort to online calls. Our community member thinks that video is a good enough medium for now, as it helps support the meetings –which can happen two to five times a day.

Conclusion

Our community members shared that for some of them, working from home is practically the norm even when quarantine order is not enforced in their area.  

We learned that roles such as developers, content writers, and people who deal with data are the ones most adaptive to this working-from-home situation.

“I run a remote data science training company, so I’ve been 90 per cent remote from day one, so the change hasn’t been too drastic for my co-founder and me,” said one community member.

The case is also the same for half of e27’s team members, particularly the Content and Marketing team, who have been working remotely for the company. They have shared their take on their WFH lifestyle and how they stay on top of their work even with home-based distractions.

Also Read: The future of remote work is happening now, here’s how to make it work for you

Some of the top tips shared by e27’s team members are the importance of having a dedicated workspace, keeping a routine, and having a daily or weekly to-do list to make sure the team’s focus is aligned with tasks and OKRs.

Finally, the success of a remote team all comes back to clarity in communication. Not just about work but also about mundane, daily things that happen in your life that is worth sharing with teammates.

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Image Credit: Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

 

The post e27 Community shares their proven tools and tricks to work from home appeared first on e27.

Listen in to hear how Sebastian Starzynski, CEO of TakeTask, has created a system to manage tasks when you have a geographically dispersed labour force or freelance partners working for you. You can communicate with them via the mobile application. Complex tasks can be preceded by in-app training.

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This article was first published on nfinitiv.

Image Credit: Sunyu Kim on Unsplash

The post Podcast: A conversation with Sebastian Starzynski, CEO Of TakeTask appeared first on e27.

With e27 Pro pioneering feats in the startup tech ecosystem, here are 6 startups who have decided to be part of the future

At e27, our mission is simple: to empower entrepreneurs by proving them with the right tools and insights to build and grow their companies. As such, we decided to build a platform that can help bolster our efforts, nurtured by the same principles and goals that have kept the e27 brand relevant across the startup tech ecosystem.

But a platform is nothing without those who choose to maximise it. When we quietly launched e27 Pro, our community has been most supportive; offering encouragement and feedback that helped us design e27 Pro into what it is today: a membership programme that is designed to give you actionable insights, exclusive business-building programmes, and tools that enable your company’s success.

So, without further ado, we would like to introduce six startups who have signed up for e27 Pro effectively solidifying their commitment to innovation and community-building.

Riskwolf AG

Riskwolf is a white-labeling solutions platform that insures the digital economy by providing event-based product innovation. It enables re-insurers to simulate, test, launch and operate high-frequency insurance products based on parametric insurance products for individuals & SMEs cheaper and faster. Their first product is a parametric loss protection coverage against Internet outages for digital businesses in emerging markets.

Rekosistem

Rekosistem is an end-to-end zero waste management Startup that strives for a sustainable ecosystem. They improve how waste value chain works to be more productive and efficient with minimal behavioural changes. They believe through technology and innovation, there is always a way to realize a circular economy. Rekosistem — coined from combining “re” which stands for (1) reduce, (2) reuse, (3) recycle, (4) renewable, and “ecosystem” (in Bahasa: Ekosistem) — redefines end-to-end zero waste ecosystems.

Meerkats Work

Meerkats Work is a B2B business automation platform that connects workplace behavioural data to business performance. Built by a founding team of industry insiders for all service companies, Meerkats is the only software in the world that integrates business intelligence with employee engagement to empower business owners with true agility.

I Task Pte Ltd

iTask is a platform that creates the opportunity to improve the community’s living quality. With this simple platform, they want to help connect with people who are ready to work with people who need the work done. Their platform assists to help people get their tasks done in a faster and more economical way. By 2030, they aim to serve 0.4 million frequent users in Southeast Asia as well as 4 million users in the same region. iTask also targets 0.1% of the 400 million people living in urban areas to register as a frequent user, which is equivalent to 0.4 million users with an average of 15 tasks completed in a month.

Flexible Pass

Flexible Pass is the No. 1 Health and Fitness app in Myanmar that gives users access to over 80 gyms, fitness centers and hotels offering a wide variety of fitness activities in 19 different categories.

The vision of Flexible Pass is to help people in Myanmar live a healthier lifestyle by providing them with affordable and flexible fitness and wellness options.

The fitness activities that can be accessed using Flexible Pass are gym usage, boxing, indoor skydiving, rock climbing, rowing, swimming, yoga and over 80 different types of classes.

Shuttle Delivery

Shuttle Delivery is a food solution platform that connects people to restaurants in their area and gives them the option to schedule a pickup or get food delivered. The easy-to-use interface makes it effortless to browse photo menus from local restaurants, see reviews, and connect to favourites. Shuttle remembers past orders, gives smart suggestions, and integrates preferred payment methods.

Stay tuned as we unveil more e27 Pro early adopters in the coming days. Watch out for them.

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Be a member. Sign up for e27 Pro today >>>

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Are you a startup and keen to connect with these 4 funds and 160 others this April? Let us know today >>>

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