Enterprise Singapore, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today it has launched a S$12 million (US$9 million) Singapore Blockchain Innovation Programme (SBIP) to further strengthen Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem. 

Funded by NRF, this national effort aims to align blockchain technology research with the needs of the industry, to facilitate the development, commercialisation and adoption of wider real-world applications.

This initiative will engage close to 75 companies including MNCs, large enterprises and ICT companies to conceptualise 17 blockchain-related projects within the next three years in sectors starting with trade and logistics, and supply chain.

Beyond research translation, SBIP will look into blockchain scalability to enable the adoption of blockchain in environments with high transaction rates.

The programme will also support blockchain interoperability, to enable value exchange across systems and address the current challenges of siloed networks. SBIP claims it will also look to grow the tech talent pool to enable ICT companies to further tap on blockchain technologies.  

Also Read: How to scale blockchain as COVID-19 hits traditional markets

“As the architect of Singapore’s digital future, we are constantly pushing the forefront of innovation in areas such as Blockchain. As the first major industry-driven research programme, our intent is to proliferate blockchain adoption to a much broader set of industries, beyond just finance,” said Lew Chuen Hong, Chief Executive, IMDA. 

“This includes levelling up industry manpower and know-how. These efforts allow Singapore to build a strong blockchain ecosystem and establish our role as a Trust Hub,” he added.

“COVID-19 emphasised the need for trusted and reliable business systems in the new digital world. Blockchain technology helps to embed trust in applications spanning logistics and supply chains, trade financing to digital identities and credentials. The acceleration of innovative business solutions under SBIP will help our enterprises be more globally connected and competitive,” said Peter Ong, Chairman of Enterprise Singapore. 

“The programme provides exciting growth opportunities for the blockchain innovation landscape and is a significant milestone in Singapore’s journey towards becoming a trusted, digital economy,” said Low Teck Seng, CEO of NRF.

Blockchain technology is increasingly playing an important role in technological innovation, industrial transformation, and digital finance. SBIP will help companies accelerate their technology adoption and be ready for the next phase of digital evolution,” he added.

Also Read: 1 tech, 4 ways: How blockchain disrupts the education sector

Additionally, The Singapore Blockchain Ecosystem Report 2020 was launched at the Singapore FinTech Festival x Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SFF x SWITCH).

The report highlights developments and trends in Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem over the last year and showcases how the pandemic has accelerated the application of the technology. It is available for download here.

—

Image Credit: NASA on Unsplash

The post Singapore invests US$9M into programme to grow local blockchain ecosystem appeared first on e27.

COVID-19’s third wave of infections continues as the numbers rise, and the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Malaysia is potentially extended further. Since the first lockdown, more than 30,000 SMEs have been forced to close down as conditions worsen.

How does a leader focus on staying afloat whilst keeping the team motivated under such extreme pressure? Here are four lessons that I have learned in reflection from the pandemic and each other which we hope will also see us through as we brave through uncertainties leading into 2021.

Safety and security – Maslow at work

Plus Solar began in 2012 with just four employees. Fast forward, we have 150 employees, with many in the range of 25-35. In finding their career path, many of them seek purpose in belonging which was greatly challenged with the pandemic.

Image credit: McLeod, S. A. (2020, March 20). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs resounded loud and clear when the pandemic struck. The company needed to give employees a sense of safety and belonging, whilst retaining their self-esteem, in the midst of the crisis.

This was not easy but we reassured the various teams of their importance to the company’s continued function, even more so at such a pressing time.

With constant reassurance and transparency about how the company is coping, we found that employees stayed motivated in spite of pressures and continued striving towards company goals.

Also Read: How Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can improve a startup’s recruitment marketing

Close communication between leaders and team members

Adapting to working from home was challenging. It wasn’t easy to motivate 150 people remotely, especially when conditions weren’t ideal. Some employees lived in small rented rooms and some had living quarters that were crowded with family members, young and old.

To overcome the strain and stress, we kept leaders and their team members in close communications, each individual was accountable in terms of work and shared how they were coping personally. “Virtual check-ins” were done at the very least once a day and any gaps that arose were quickly addressed. 

To ensure managers also had support, accountability partners with other leaders in the company were set up and this web of support provided the encouragement everyone needed. 

When there wasn’t an immediate solution, even the ability to share the challenges and to be able to relate to another truly helped every individual to cope better. In the bigger scheme of things, this helped the team stay focused on our business goals.

Organisational agility to address business pain points

It was pertinent that the organisation remained agile. In doing so, company goals were revised in light of the limitations the pandemic presented. Realistic goals were put in place by including the voice of the employees. 

A month into the lockdown, we organised a virtual annual conference with all 150 employees. Here the goals were discussed and mapped out. 

To ensure the goals were doable remotely, with a relatively young team of digital natives, we rolled out several webinars via Zoom to engage with our audiences and provide timely business solutions to the market. We also organised free “energy clinics” which saw us generating many enquiries for solar solutions. 

With businesses cash-strapped, we had to come up with agile solutions for our client.  One such solution was the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) financing model, where consumers pay nothing upfront and buy electricity at a lower rate from investors, were attractive propositions that helped us achieve some of our goals.

The interest for PPA has since increased 500 per cent, as many businesses were keen to reduce energy cost and this proved as a successful direction.

We also accelerated our digitalisation efforts by developing an in-house Energy Performance Management System (EPMS) called Source. In short, it acts like a Fitbit for buildings, helping businesses save energy, turning it into dollars. Some of our success stories include Shell MarkMaju Corporation and Tan Kiat Huat Fishery who managed to save a minimum of 20-25 per cent of their respective energy demand.

Also Read: 3 ways meditation will save your life in a challenging time

The Net Energy Metering (NEM) 2.0 was another attractive scheme that we encouraged businesses to adopt. Through it, adopters saw every KiloWatt of excess solar energy generated in residential, commercial or industrial settings offset from their electricity bills, at a “one-to-one” basis. In other words, MYR100 (US$32) worth of excess in solar energy generated is equivalent to MYR100 (US$32) reduction in monthly TNB bills.

We look forward to the NEM’s next iteration, NEM 3.0. We are confident that, with similarly attractive returns, NEM 3.0 will drive not just the solar industry but also deliver savings for all businesses, while playing a bigger role in the economy and contributing to Malaysia as a whole. 

Ultimately, we strive to identify business pain points based on the economic outlook and challenges. To address some concerns business owners have with operational expense (OPEX), we provide an ecosystem which combines hardware and software for them to control their business’ energy costs.

Seize every opportunity

What we have learnt is never to be comfortable in our own skin – but to seize every opportunity to learn – both professionally and personally. 

It is still our mission to build a positive environment for talent to grow, innovate and impact the energy revolution. More than anything, the pandemic has reminded us of this goal and kept us rooted in it and kept us rooted to it.

I am inspired by their dedication and believe that there are better days ahead with trust, respect, teamwork and persistence. Swimming in uncharted waters becomes possible when people build a net of resilience and strive together.

–

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: +SOLAR

The post How to use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to drive resilient leadership in 2021 appeared first on e27.

FazWaz has raised an undisclosed amount of investment in an acceleration funding round led by CAV Investment Group, an investment company for Simon Baker, ex-CEO REA Australia and ex-Chairman of Mitula.  

Other investors include 500 Tuk Tuks, Aries Capital (Indonesian family fund), and Alpha Founders Capital. The startup has been 100 per cent bootstrapped in the first four years of its operations.

According to the company’s funding announcement, this money will go towards investing in marketing, data and technology that ultimately will drive FazWaz brand awareness and grow its market share. 

FazWaz is a real estate platform which provides brokerage services to make the process of buying, selling, or renting a property easy. The company’s vision is to make buying a property as simple as booking a holiday.

Also Read: PropertyGuru further expands footprint in Malaysia with the acquisition of MyProperty Data

“We live in an on-demand, digital-first society where users want efficient access to products and services at the click of a button. The real estate industry is no different and users are demanding a better online search and offline service experience. As a mission-driven business, the funding and expertise brought on in this round of investment move us closer to our goal of empowering consumers to make more efficient and informed real estate decisions,” Brennan Campbell, founder of FazWaz, commented. 

The Bangkok-headquartered startup which launched in 2015 claims to have over 500,000 customers per month and is one of Thailand’s top three property websites. It has also made its mark outside of Southeast Asia, with Cambodia being its latest launch in November this year. 

“Thailand’s proptech scene is seeing an exciting amount of activity with two well-known major M&A deals in 2020, one being for Kaidee and another being Hipflat. At the same time, a large amount of investment pours into startups tackling the fragmented real estate market. FazWaz re-envision the real estate sales process with technology. We are excited to back FazWaz as they now enter into the next significant phase of growth,” Johannes von Rohr, General Partner at Alpha Founders Capital said.

On being asked about how COVID-19 has affected the startup, co-founder Paul Trayman said that the pandemic has been a huge catalyst in terms of pushing forward consumers towards digitisation.

He also revealed the company’s plans to launch Thailand’s first instant AVM (automated valuation model) that will provide an instant and accurate valuation for a property online within a few seconds. 

Image Credit: FazWaz

The post Proptech startup FazWaz raises funding to globalise real estate e-transactions appeared first on e27.

Chia Hock Lai (L), President of SFA and Mr Khor Hock Seng, President of LIA Singapore

Report on China’s computer vision industry

The story: South China Morning Post (SCMP) released its inaugural Computer Vision (CV) Report as part of its China AI Deep-Dive Series.

More about the report: The report provides insights, investment theses, and future market analysis of this surveillance-dependent sector and ambitions to discover new emerging applications of CV.

“Having survived the US-China technological rivalry in 2019, CV unicorns in China face major challenges with an increasingly saturated market for surveillance applications,” said John Artman, SCMP’s Technology Editor.

Summary of the report:

• Growth opportunities for CV include:

  • Security: As the overall penetration rate of CV remains low, CV companies are expanding their offerings to a wide range of security solutions.

  • Healthcare: Regulatory change has widened the market for medical imaging.

  • Autonomous vehicles: While fully self-driving cars have yet to be achieved, some players have managed to profit on existing technologies.

  • Finance: The insurance sector is emerging as a major user of object recognition technology.

  • Retail and marketing: CV is in great demand amid stalling sales growth and declining productivity. Major use cases include cashier-free shopping and store traffic analysis.

• Despite the previous high growth of its CV market, China has yet to take the lead in CV, currently lagging behind the US in key areas, including hardware, talent and patents.

• Privacy concerns over facial recognition are growing in China. Besides, China’s CV industry still needs to work on reducing its reliance on underlying algorithms from the US, convincing its best and brightest to develop their ideas at home, and overcoming its dependence on manually-labelled data.

4 Nordic fintech startups enter SEA

The story: Four Nordic fintech startups have been selected to join the UNDP and Copenhagen Fintech Impact Partnership Program to amplify the sustainable tie-up between Southeast Asia and the Nordic region.

More about the story: The four companies will be working together with the partners to rapidly identify and prototype potential commercial and sustainable partnerships in the region.

“The four startups have the potential to contribute to financial inclusion and the sustainable transformation of societies using tech solutions,” said Stine Kirstein Junge, Head of SDG Accelerator for SMEs, UNDP’s Nordic Office.

Meet the 4 startups:

Earthbank: Delivers enterprise carbon, green digital banking and ESG services to funnel billions into regeneration.

Agroclimatica: An agroclimatic platform that aids financial institutions in identifying and quantifying the risks and opportunities associated with agricultural credits, insurance and investments.

Normative: Simplifies sustainability by making the environmental and social cost of every purchase in our economy transparent.

Matter: Makes it easier for investors to understand and report the sustainability impact of investments through intuitive software solutions. Matter empowers investors to make their capital work for people and the planet.

MOU signed to progress insurtech and fintech in Singapore

The story: The Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and the Life Insurance Association Singapore (LIA Singapore) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) earlier today, on the sidelines of the Singapore FinTech Festival 2020.

Also Read: How insurtech is changing the game in Southeast Asia

More about the story: Both parties will collaborate on the development of the life insurance and insurtech talent pool and expertise through mentorship programmes and deep-dive workshops. They will also join hands in establishing industry-specific reports, market research and whitepaper publications focussed on life insurance and insurtech.

Khor Hock Seng, President of LIA Singapore said, “The early digital transformation initiatives life insurers initiated years ago enabled us to service and stay connected with customers when circuit-breaker measures took effect in April 2020. Amid the pandemic, life insurers have accelerated their digitalisation efforts to future-proof their businesses; harnessing innovation to drive product innovation and optimise the end-to-end customer experience.”

—

Image Credit: Singapore FinTech Association

The post In Brief: Report on China’s computer vision industry; MOU signed to advance fintech and insurtech appeared first on e27.

We recently announced the first ten new investors to join Connect and we promised that there’s more.

Well, here’s a new batch of investors that you can connect with through e27 Pro Connect.

Cadence Venture Capital
Stages: Seed, Pre-Series A/Bridge, Series A
Verticals: Finance, Insurtech, Marketplace
Investment range: USD 500K to USD 1M
Straight from Cadence Venture Capital: Convergence Ventures is an early stage technology venture fund focused on investing in Indonesia. Led by our partners Adrian Li and Donald Wihardja who are seasoned entrepreneurs with extensive operating experience in Internet businesses in emerging markets, we seek to back exceptional founders by leveraging our experience, network and resources to empower them to build long lasting and impactful businesses for Indonesia and the South East Asia region. 
Connect with them

Convergence Ventures
Stages: Angel/Pre-Seed, Seed, Pre-Series A/Bridge, Series A
Verticals: Advertising, Agency & Consulting, Consumer, E-commerce, Enterprise Solution, Media, Mobile, Software as a Service, Travel
Investment range: USD 100K to USD 1M
Straight from Convergence Ventures: Our focus is on investing in companies with a mindset of collaboration ahead of isolation, specialization ahead of generalism, and scalability ahead of immediate profitability. We invest in Seed and Series A stage investments and we believe in helping the region of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. We know that there’s potential in SouthEast Asia and we want to invite you to be a part of it!
Connect with them

Fatfish
Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
Verticals: E-commerce, Mobile, Software as a Service
Investment range: USD 25K to USD 1M
Straight from Fatfish: Fatfish Internet Group Ltd (‘FFG’) is a Southeast Asian and Australian based Internet venture investment and development firm. FFG partners with entrepreneurs to help them build and grow Internet businesses via a co-entrepreneurship model. Our unique “seed-to-exit” approach makes FFG a strategic partner that provides the funding, resources and platform to hasten the growth of promising technology businesses.
Connect with them

Gethen Capital
Stages: All
Verticals: Advertising, Agency & Consulting, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cleantech, and various more
Investment range: USD 2M to USD 30M
Straight from Gethen Capital: We work with entrepreneurs and investors across the Asia-Pacific region to create successful outcomes in capital funding and mergers & acquisitions transactions. Our own experience as founders and investors, our sector expertise and our large network of relationships means we bring results to your journey.
Connect with them

Also read: Why David Gowdey of Jungle Ventures believes exits should be led by founders

Javelin Startup-O Victory Fund
Stages: All
Verticals: All
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Javelin Startup-O Victory Fund: Top 5 winning startups are selected every quarter to be included in JSO Victory Fund Portfolio. The portfolio startups are from across A.I., Fintech, IOT, SaaS & Enterprise software domains. They get access to seed-level funding in under 10 weeks and involved support from 40+ global experts & serial entrepreneurs for venture building.
Connect with them

Mountain Partners Southeast Asia
Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
Verticals: Agency & Consulting, E-commerce, Entertainment, Finance, Information & Communications Technology, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Media, Mobile, Platform, Software as a Service, Travel
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Mountain Partners: We are a global company builder with headquarters in Switzerland and regional hubs around the globe and currently hold more than 100 investments in our core sectors: E-Commerce & Digital Services, Technology & Security, Payments & Fintech. We create value for our stakeholders through our proven and focused business model: identification and incubation of promising ideas, growth and finally internationalization to high-growth markets
Connect with them

TH Capital
Stages: Seed, Series A
Verticals: Agritech, E-Commerce, Finance, Gaming, Internet of Things
Investment range: USD 50K to USD 250K
Straight from TH Capital: TH Capital is a platform that empowers and accelerates ventures with capital infusion, business consultancy, strategic mentorship and strong networking opportunities. We have a keen interest in exciting, emerging technologies that we believe will inspire industry wide innovation, improve way of life and sustain the human condition.
Connect with them

ThinkZone Ventures
Stages: Seed, Series A/Bridge
Verticals: Artificial Intelligence, Education, Finance, Healthtech, Logistics/Supply Chain, Medtech, Platform, Sharing Economy, Software as a Service, Transportation
Investment range: USD 50K to USD 1M
Straight from ThinkZone Ventures: ThinkZone Ventures is a Vietnam-based venture capital firm dedicated to investing in ambitious tech startup founders and helping them to scale regionally and globally. Besides ThinkZone Ventures, we also have supporting activities including ThinkZone Innovation Lab and ThinkZone Accelerator
Connect with them

TNF Ventures
Stages: Seed, Series A
Verticals: All
Investment range: USD 100K to USD 500K
Straight from TNF Ventures: TNF Ventures (TNFV) is founded by investors and mentors who started this as a passion project to help local startups succeed. They feel that there are many talents locally but few had succeeded because they did not have the right connections to help them to go-to-market, they did not have people whom they can discuss their business challenges with and they did not have guidance in business model development.
Connect with them

Also read: Ryan Chew of Tribe: Why startups should pay attention to the environmental, social, and governance side of their business

Ventureast
Stages: Series A and above
Verticals: Biotech, Cybersecurity, Consumer, E-commerce, Healthtech, Internet of Things, 
Investment range: Not specified
Straight from Ventureast: The Ventureast credo simply put is, “We Differentiate, You Win”.  Backing this is a team and network with deep expertise in domains ranging from semi-conductors to drug discovery, from infrastructure to consumer goods, from cleantech to mobility, thus bringing together the widest capability in India. The Ventureast family of funds – Ventureast Proactive Fund, Ventureast Life Fund and Ventureast Tenet Fund feature a wide investor base consisting of institutional investors from across the world.
Connect with them

Watch out for more announcements of new investors joining you can directly connect with through e27 Pro Connect.

—

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

The post Get ready! Here is part two of our active investors list in SEA appeared first on e27.