The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), others unveil US$6M scheme to support fintech startups

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), along with Singapore FinTech Association (SFA), AMTD Group and AMTD Foundation, have jointly announced a S$6M (US$4.2M) package MAS-SFA-AMTD FinTech Solidarity Grant to support fintech companies.

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It will add on the S$125 million support package announced by the MAS on April 8 for companies in the financial sector.

The grant aims to help fintech companies maintain their operations and encourages them to continue innovation and growth.

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer of MAS, said, “There is a surge in demand in the financial services industry around the region for solutions to address the need for remote digital services amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Fintech firms have a great opportunity to step up actively during this period to provide these solutions. The Business Growth Grant will help fintech firms offset their costs.”

Facebook partners with Fave to help local businesses in Singapore

Social media giant Facebook has partnered with Southeast Asia’s mobile payments and rewards platform Fave to help Singaporean businesses affected by COVID-19.

Through this partnership, Facebook (and Instagram) will use its platforms to provide social media users with Fave’s digital gift cards (e-cards) from local businesses operating under Singapore’s circuit-breaker measures, with a special focus in retail, hospitality, and food and beverage (F&B) sectors.

Currently, around 400 local businesses in Singapore like Crave, Jollibean, Nippon Home and Pixie Nail Spa have signed up for the e-cards.

“By joining forces with Facebook and Instagram, we aim to extend support to local businesses further with utmost speed and urgency. Our partnership will accelerate our local businesses’ ability to adapt and digitalise while providing a much-needed income boost to keep them afloat during these challenging times,” said Ng Aik-Phong, MD of Fave Singapore.

SESTO Robotics launches disinfectant robot to address the urgent need for better hygiene

Singaporean robot company SESTO Robotics has launched a dual-function autonomous mobile disinfectant robot SESTO HealthGUARD to address the urgent needs of hygiene during COVID-19.

The robot will be valuable not only to ensure clean facilities but will also help to maintain social distancing.

The robots can be set up via a tablet or laptop and can be used to clean large surfaces more efficiently through its multi-nozzle sprayer.

“Our self-navigating, fully-autonomous SESTO HealthGUARD is ready for round-the-clock thorough facility disinfection. Applying our knowledge in deep-tech and robotics, the team at SESTO Robotics hopes to accelerate public health and safety with innovation and technology,” said Ang Chor Chen, CEO of SESTO Robotics.

Alpha Startup Digital Accelerator announces winners of its first batch

Malaysia’s first Digital Accelerator programme, the Alpha Startup Digital Accelerator (ASDA), has announced three startups out of 15 as the winner of its first batch, they are – BlueDuck, Internspoon and Nanobar.

The three companies have been awarded around US$14,000 [RM 60,000] in total to kickstart their business ideas.

BlueDuck is a prop-tech startup which saves property investors time and money by automating expensive manual processes with cloud-based solutions and flat fee services.

Nanobar is a small vending machine, appropriate for any hotel room countertop, to help online brands have a physical store through spot purchasing in-room.

Internspoon is an internship platform that matches interns to employers.

Singaporean startups join Scaler8 for long-term opportunities in Germany post-COVID-19

Six deeptech startups operating in the medtech and AI have joined Scaler8, an expansion programme that helps Singaporean companies expand to Germany, with the goal to produce and scale solutions to fight against the virus.

They are:

TeleMedC: A remote diagnostics medtech startup for eye diseases.

Biorithm: A wearable device that enables continuous and automated monitoring of fetal and maternal heart rates.

Also Read:  Roundup: Samsung-backed HR-tech startup Swingvy launches in Taiwan; Filipino ride-hailing firm Angkas pivots to deliveries

Cognicept: Focuses on efficient robot communication via human-in-the-loop (HITL) error handling with tele-robotic networking technology and human remote operators.

dDriven: Creates live, cross-functional digital replica of business and manufacturing operations using its no-code platform

Attonics Systems: Bridges gaps between high-end spectroscopy and industry demands for intuitive, mobile and affordable sensing solutions

RADICALi: Provides an intuitive and user-friendly system for compliance teams to collaborate remotely and manage workflows

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Image Credit: Mike Enerio

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Singaporean deeptech company Dathena has told e27 that it has closed a US$12-million Series A financing round, led by early-stage VC firm Jungle Ventures.

Other investors in the round include Caphorn and SEEDS Capital, an investment arm of Enterprise Singapore.

Dathena will use the capital for R&D and hire staff across sales, marketing, and customer success functions in New York City.

It also plans to expand its co-sell partnership with Microsoft into the US, helping Azure Cloud and Microsoft 365 customers to automate data protection and comply with data privacy regulations.

“Our mission is to build trust in the digital world even as companies navigate these challenging times and are inundated by torrents of data from exponentially multiplying sources,” said Christopher Muffat, Founder and CEO of Dathena.

“This Series A funding round will help us accelerate our product development and go-to-market efforts, giving more companies the chance to benefit from our flexible, cost-efficient, and uncompromising data security solutions,” he noted.

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The data distress

Numerous companies today are facing security challenges, especially during the pandemic, as cybercriminals have been reportedly ramping up attacks on businesses. This indicates that there is a strong need for enterprises to protect sensitive data and information.  

While several companies move their services to the cloud, new security methods are required to mitigate the risk to protect against corporate and reputational damages.

Citing the findings of IT security firm Check Point, Channel Asia recently reported that advanced persistent threat (APT) specialists are persistently targeting countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Brunei.

To address this issue, Dathena promises to deliver efficient, cost-effective data security, privacy, and compliance for clients operating in highly regulated spaces, using its patented artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

Also Read: Singaporean deep tech company Dathena eyes North America growth with new HQ launch

Founded by risk management expert Muffat, Dathena uses Machine Learning and AI tools to help companies prevent data loss, govern data, and meet employees’ demands for cloud-based tools.

The company claims that it has delivered up to 99 per cent accuracy in data classification, coupled with an 80 per cent reduction in information security operational costs, for clients in fields such as financial services, healthcare, and Defence.

At present, it has more than 200,000 users across a range of industries and has established its presence in Singapore, Thailand, France, Switzerland and the US.

Previously, Dathena raised an undisclosed funding round in March 2019, led by MS&AD Ventures, with participation from existing investors CerraCap Ventures and Demetis.

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Image Credit: Dathena

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Singapore’s quantum computing software startup Entropica Labs snags US$1.8M

Entropica Labs, a quantum computing software solution that is based in Singapore, announced that it has taken home S$2.6 million (US$1.8 million) in seed funding led by deep tech investor Elev8. Joining the round are government-owned deep tech investor SGInnovate, early-stage enterprise and deep tech venture capital (VC) firm Wavemaker Partners, Japanese software enterprise group TIS Inc, talent investor Entrepreneur First, family-owned heritage business Lim Teck Lee Group -chaired by Razer-backer Lim Kaling, VC firm V1 Capital, and US-based quantum computing startup Rigetti Computing, also participated in the round.

According to The Business Times, Entropica plans to use the funding to expand its technical team and continue the development of its proprietary software architectures as well as gaining greater access to a growing number of quantum computing systems.

Quantum computing is yet to reach large-scale adoption and to do so, users and researchers will need an extensive software layer analogous to the one that exists for conventional computers. Entropica offers the software to its users so it can give access to processors that are capable of solving problems that even the most powerful supercomputers cannot tackle.

Revolut welcomes new Singapore’s CEO, CCO, and Head of Growth into its team

Global fintech company Revolut has welcomed into its leadership team in Singapore a new Chief Executive Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Head of Growth shortly after announcing Martin Gilbert as Chairman of its Board, who previously sat on the MAS International Advisory Panel until early 2020.

Revolut appointed James Shanahan as Chief Executive Officer, responsible for growing Revolut’s local business and expanding into wider Asian markets. Shanahan joined Revolut in March 2020 and was previously Chief of Staff for Railsbank Technologies in SE Asia and Chief Operating Officer for Singlife.

Also Read: Revolut integrates with GooglePay for more seamless user transaction

Further reinforcing Revolut’s leadership team, Rayson Tan has been appointed Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Risk Officer, and Head of Legal at Revolut Singapore. Tan is a career Compliance and Risk professional with 20 years of financial services experience in some of the world’s largest financial services firms with a past stint as Managing Director in the Compliance & Regulatory Affairs department at Credit Suisse.

A seasoned executive with close to two decades of experience, Pam Chuang has been appointed as Singapore’s VP of Growth. She previously held leadership positions in financial institutions of all sizes across Asia, most recently as VP of Sales & Partnerships at GoBear, whereas part of the pioneer team she was instrumental in scaling GoBear across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

IDN Media acquires Demi Istri Production, launches IDN Pictures

Millennials and Gen Z-targeted online media IDN Media has acquired an independent film company, Demi Istri Production, and has launched IDN Pictures.

Demi Istri Production was founded in 2013 by Director ​Fajar Nugros and Producer ​Susanti Dewi​. After the acquisition, Fajar Nugros and Susanti Dewi will join IDN Media to lead ​IDN Pictures​.

By launching IDN Pictures, IDN Media is committed to continuing its vision to democratise information and become a one-stop content platform for Millennials and Gen Z in Indonesia.

Winston Utomo, Founder & CEO, IDN Media said: ​“Today we proudly announce the launch of IDN Pictures that marks the new beginning of IDN Media’s journey in the film industry. Through IDN Pictures, we want to continue our commitment to our vision: to democratise information and to become a one-stop content platform for Millennials and Gen Z. I am very excited to work together with Fajar Nugros and Susanti Dewi. I am confident and optimistic that under the leadership of Fajar and Susanti, IDN Pictures can become the leading film company in Indonesia that will bring positive impacts and inspiration to society.”

AnyMind Group launches cloud manufacturing platform AnyFactory

Marketing technology, entertainment technology, and HR technology company AnyMind Group, has announced the launch of AnyFactory, a cloud manufacturing platform that connects individuals and businesses with factories across Asia.

Also Read: AnyMind Group closes Series B funding at a total of US$21M

Starting with apparel and cosmetic manufacturers, the objective of AnyFactory is to help individuals and businesses produce a wide variety of products within the shortest amount of time at the best price and quality, instead of mass-producing a single product in that same amount of time.

Initially, AnyFactory will be rolled out to AnyMind Group’s direct-to-consumer business line, leveraging on a customer pool of social media influencers and talents. The platform will ease the production process and enable influencers to design, source and produce their own branded-merchandise.
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Picture Source: IDN Media

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Indonesia-based online beverage retail Kopi Kenangan announced that it has raised US$109 million of Series B funding led by existing investor Sequoia Capital. It also welcomes new investors including B Capital, Horizons Ventures, Verlinvest, Kunlun, and Sofina, as well as the company’s first institutional investor Alpha JWC Ventures.

The company plans on using this round of funding to strengthen its operations in Indonesia, launch new products, invest in technology to better serve its customers, and protect employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kopi Kenangan was founded in 2017 and has since filled a market gap between the high-priced coffee served at international coffee chains, which is priced out of reach of most Indonesians, and the instant coffee sold in the country’s many street stalls. Kopi Kenangan’s approach of offering recipes that cater to local tastes and its ‘new retail’ model combining the online and the offline world was its main selling point, allowing customers to order its locally sourced coffee blends ingredients through an app.

“The hospitality industry is facing the biggest existential crisis of our generation,” Edward Tirtanata, Co-founder and CEO of Kopi Kenangan, commented on the COVID-19 situation, “It’s hard to tell when the sector will return to normal but when it does, it will look very different. As a growing startup, we are adapting quickly to the challenge through contactless commerce and uncompromising hygiene standards throughout our stores.”

Also Read: [Updated] Indonesian coffee chain Kopi Kenangan raises Series A extension from Jay-Z, Serena Williams’s VC firms

In addition to the latest fundraising, Kopi Kenangan also has added to its portfolio a commitment to help local F&B entrepreneurs with technology, investment, and mentorship through the food accelerator program Digitarasa. Kopi Kenangan has set up a new training academy for baristas and workers in the F&B sector to re-skill themselves for a changing landscape.

To help accelerate Kopi Kenangan’s growth, Eduardo Saverin, Co-Founder of social media company Facebook, will be joining the Board of Directors, bringing in his versatile and transformational leadership to the team.

The new funding follows Kopi Kenangan’s US$20 million Series A round in June 2019 led by Sequoia Capital and its seed round in 2018 led by local investor Alpha JWC. In December 2019, Kopi Kenangan also announced an expansion of its Series A round with additional investment from Arrive, a Roc Nation company, Serena Ventures, world-renowned basketball player Caris LeVert, and Sweetgreen CEO & Co-Founder Jonathan Neman, amongst others.

Going forward, the company plans to offer a wide range of food and beverage products from local merchants as well as its cloud kitchens. It also plans to expand across neighbouring countries post-pandemic with stores in Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia.

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Image Credit: Kopi Kenangan

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Malaysian venture capital firm-cum-accelerator NEXEA has launched an initiative, called DigitalSME, which aims to enable small and medium enterprises (SME) to transition into the digital age with the help and support of tech startups.

Through the programme, SMEs will be able able to operate digitally beyond their physical stores, breaking limitations and barriers to the market and adhering to the required protocols in light of the current pandemic.

For this initiative, NEXEA has united with its portfolio companies and other partners, including Hauz (cloud-based workforce management company), RedDino (e-commerce solutions provider), Lapasar (B2B procurement marketplace firm), and co-working space provider Common Ground, among others.

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According to Ben Lim, Managing Partner of NEXEA, while changing business models and transition to e-commerce are the flavour of the day, most SMEs are at a loss on how to transition their current business to the web smoothly.

“When it comes to changing business models, from our experience at NEXEA, a lot of complex validation and transitions need to take place. This is where we find that SMEs will benefit the most invalidating and transitioning their business models — by leveraging the services provided by these tech startups,” he said.

“While the Malaysian government sees a possible 2.4 million job losses and RM2.4 billion in daily economic losses during the movement control order (MCO), we also note that Vistage (a leading CEO group) did a survey with top 750 CEOs in the country to show that over 50 per cent of their businesses intend to change their business model,” he further added.

In order to become a part of this initiative and utilise the resources,  Malaysian SMEs can sign up via NEXEA’s website.

Since inception, NEXEA has invested in over 35 startups. It also continues to invest in startups via its Corporate Accelerator programme 2020.

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Image Credit: NEXEA

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MoneyMatch and Ripple partner to improve payment for Malaysian SMEs

Malaysian fintech startup MoneyMatch has partnered with blockchain company Ripple to enhance payment services for Malaysian SMEs, according to Tronweekly.

In the interview with Tron, MoneyMatch founder Adrian Yap admitted that because of their small company size, the partnership with Ripple would be beneficial for SMEs due to their presence in 120 markets around the world could.

“Banks typically focus on larger customers who are sending higher volume transactions and can afford higher fees. SMEs don’t have much choice other than to accept these same rates, which adds to the cost of dealing with foreign suppliers. We worked with Ripple to create an improved cross-border payment process that offers these customers better rates and faster transaction times,” said Yap.

Draper Startup House launches online platform to match startups with investors

Draper Startup House has launched an online platform called Draper Startup House Ventures to match startups with investors from around the world, not confined to the Draper Venture Network.

Through this platform, startups can submit their pitch decks to the Draper Venture Network to help founders raise funds beyond physical borders.

The platform is currently live and is open to startups of all sizes.

Headquartered in Singapore, Draper Startup House is a hostel chain specifically for founders to assist them in their journey of entrepreneurship. It was recently rebranded from Tribe Theory to Draper House on January 2020.

Indonesian crypto exchange Tokocrypto receives investment from Binance

Indonesian crypto exchange company Tokocrypto has received an undisclosed amount of funding from global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, according to Businesstimes.

Also Read: How getting digital transformation right can help businesses get through a pandemic.

The company has said that it will use the added capital for hiring, marketing and customer support. Moreover, the company has revealed plans to launch new products in Indonesia.

“We are using these funds to set up remote offices in different parts of Indonesia … As of now, we plan to remain in Indonesia and to tap in this market,” Tokocrypto chief executive Pang Xue Kai said.

According to the CEO, the partnership with Binance will be beneficial for the company as it plans to leverage its technical expertise to offer customers a more secure experience.

“This partnership is something that will be very beneficial for Tokocrypto. Binance has the technical expertise, and we will be leveraging on that so that we can protect our customers’ assets with a very high level of confidence.”

Tokocrypto claims to have an average daily transaction volume of about US$700,000.

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With the conception of a new startup tech platform that seeks to push boundaries for startup growth, the team behind e27 Pro had to study the various pain points that come with rendering one’s startup vision into a reality, all in the hopes of finding the best possible solutions.

Ultimately, we narrowed it down to three overarching challenges: the lack of access to the right investors, the lack of access to tools and insights, and the lack of exposure to a larger tech startup network.

e27 Pro was specifically designed to address these specific problems with its slew of features, combining our extensive experience as a community leader and our mission to empower the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem.

In order to help startups access investors that best fit their products and services, the Pro membership platform offers e27 Connect — a feature that allows startups to directly connect with 169 investors in the Asia Pacific who are actively looking for startups to support.

With a 91% response rate among participating investors who received requests to connect with startups, 84% of which responded within the first two weeks, startups stand to gain a better shot at securing funding with e27 Pro.

Moreover, we believe that startup founders have a lot on their plate and that while it is necessary to stay updated with the latest news and trends circulating in the startup tech community, it can be hard to keep track of these things when you’re running a whole company. This is why in order to arm startups with the right tools and actionable insights, the Pro membership also comes with the e27 Ecosystem Roundup.

The e27 Ecosystem Roundup is a bi-weekly update that collects and curates the most important news and trends from the community in order to provide founders with streamlined access to information.

With content carefully curated from 50 reputable news sites delivered straight to your email, startup founders get to access unique insights without having to go through the trouble of sifting through the vast amounts of information available on the web.

Not only that, but Pro members get access to our special and exclusive Fundraising Widgets that let the world know that you’re fundraising. Visible on both your company profile page and the e27 homepage, it’s perfect for getting in the radar of investors who could help you grow.

With all these exciting features and more, we hope to do our part in empowering startups in the community, ultimately pushing beyond boundaries when it comes to business growth.

Join e27 Pro

Be a part of the Pro community and sign up for an e27 Pro membership today! You may visit here for more details.

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As companies and employees around the world adjust to new ways of working, new types of stress are emerging. Feelings of isolation, detachment from colleagues, a lack of routine, trying to keep children busy, and being unable to ‘switch off’ as the lines between our private and work lives begin to blur.

While working from home might start as a novelty, it also presents new challenges, which many employees may not be prepared to manage. As a leader, it is important to look for new ways to provide your people with surety, consistency, and routine – especially when the world outside is in chaos.

For Singaporeans, who wear hard work as a badge of honour and are used to 12-hour days in the office, the risk to personal wellbeing and company productivity during these uncertain times is even higher.

If you combine the fact that a staggering 92 per cent of working Singaporeans already report feeling stressed (according to the 2019 Cigna 360 Well-Being Survey), a new home-work environment could present the perfect storm to increase the pressure employees feel further.

Here are five easy changes any business leaders can implement to reduce the likelihood of employee burnout while maintaining performance during these challenging times.

Also Read: Singaporeans wish to continue working from home post Circuit-Breaker, says survey

Encourage mini-breaks

Stepping away from the desk for even five minutes helps aid relaxation and focus. Danish students who were given a short break before taking a test achieved significantly higher scores than their peers who didn’t get any time to relax.

Encourage employees to step away from their desks, spend time in the kitchen making coffee or snacks as they would in the office, or take short breaks on their balcony or garden. Importantly, encourage them to eat a proper lunch away from their desks.

Offer tailored work-life balance approaches

In Cigna’s study, Singaporean women reported higher stress than men, largely due to the dual responsibility of family and work. The report found that women are ‘putting family first and themselves last’, while 59 per cent of them feel that workplace wellness programmes need to better address the needs of each gender.

During this period of uncertainty, these feelings of dual responsibility may be heightened. To address this, encourage an open dialogue with your employees about how they are balancing being at home with their families. As the old adage goes – a problem shared is a problem halved.

Also, ask your employees what you can do to help them balance their time so that they can tailor their priorities and tasks to best suit their personal home-work circumstances – rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Also Read: Work-from-home or work-from-office, which is better?

Measure outcomes, not time

One of the vortexes we get sucked into in high-stress work cultures is presenteeism, the pressure to appear hard-working by arriving early or burning the midnight oil. In the current climate, this will manifest itself differently, but as a leader, it is important to view performance more broadly.

Consider an approach that includes employee feedback, goal attainment, and skill growth as measures of an individual’s contribution and overall performance. Culture Amp’s platform was intentionally designed to enable organisations to assess and drive employee and team performance holistically across a company.

To aid outcomes, employee feedback is tailored, equipping leaders, managers, and employees with actionable insights to improve workplace cultures and individual performance based on scientific data of what is truly going to motivate employees.

To build a high-performance culture while reducing employee stress, ignore superficial overtime and clock-punching, and base your measurements on an employee’s entire contribution to the company and its goals.

Set limits on email and contact hours, and lead by example

The pressure to respond to emails outside of work hours is a major contributor to an ‘always on’ culture. With so many global companies operating in Singapore, this further increases the expectation of employees to be available out of work hours and on the weekend to account for correspondence with colleagues across international time zones.

Thankfully, a little boundary setting can go a long way. Ensure the whole company practices courteous consideration of time zones when booking meetings. Ideally, find a ‘sweet spot’ when all participants are already at work, and if this is not possible, introduce a policy of alternating out of hours calls to share the load.

Also Read: A founder’s guide to successfully working from home

Similarly, set standards around screen-free and email-free time and give your employees permission to switch off. To do this effectively, be an example. When business leaders stop checking their phones and making requests outside of work, employees will feel encouraged to follow suit.

Introduce short meetings and block out days

Endless meetings can wreak havoc with time management and create the need for people to work overtime to get their actual job done. In today’s climate, employees face an even higher risk of meeting burn out. Few would argue that many meetings are inefficient, and at times unnecessary.

Try to limit time in meetings and keep them focussed. Also, consider setting a ‘block out’ day every fortnight when no one is allowed to schedule meetings or events to give employees time to catch up. Doing this in the current environment will help to boost morale and reduce work stress.

There is no rule book when it comes to supporting employees through a global pandemic. We are all learning new ways of leading, working, and living our lives. But reducing work stress does not require major organisational change.

Making small, personalised changes that enable employees to balance work and home, measure the true drivers of employee engagement and performance, and lead by example in ‘switching off’, can make a big difference. 

For a free COVID-19 pulse survey please visit www.culturefirst.com/resilience

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The roaring ’20s was the era of wealth, tech innovation, and cultural movement. The Gatsby-like lifestyle that is quintessential of this decade came with economic prosperity and an uninhibited way of life.

And uninhibited it was, with consumerism being at an all-time high. Combine this with a surge in technological innovation, and you could see television-sets, radios, and cars in every household. Between all this prosperity and the ending of the First World War, what remains forgotten is the pandemic that infected a third of the world’s population – the Spanish Flu.

Looking back at 1918 towards the end of World War I, influenza caused more deaths than the war that led to it. The disease started off with a hundred soldiers. Six months later, 14,000 cases were reported and a month after that hundreds of thousands of cases were reported. With no vaccines or antibiotics against the disease, the only solution was quarantine, use of disinfectants and limitations on public gatherings.

Towards the beginning of 1919, the flu began easing out. But again what remains forgotten amidst all the hype around the Roaring ’20s is the severe economic downturn that preceded this time, sometimes called The Depression. The unemployment level rose from four per cent to 12 per cent, while the GNP fell by 17 per cent. Then, in August 1921 the economy started recovering and actually grew by 42 per cent in the 1920s.

If history is the best predictor of the future, will we see a return of the roaring ’20s? And if we do, what will that world look like?

Also Read: How can legacy companies future proof themselves post-pandemic?

Consumerism

We don’t need to look very far to see consumerism already infiltrating the economy. In China, the day the luxury brand Hermès opened its store in Guangzhou after lockdown, it saw US$2.7million in sales. This was the largest single-day shopping a single boutique in China has ever seen. Several malls and restaurants saw queues with some actually seeing a waitlist of three to four hours. The reason behind this “revenge spending” is nothing more than pent up demand from the lockdown and an interesting phenomenon called shibal biyong.

Shibal biyong is a Korean expression popular among millennials. It means impulse purchases such as a US$20 coffee or an expensive dress after a particularly difficult day at work or at home. These purchases are non-essential but make people feel better about a bad experience in their lives.

This desire to buy things and experiences would also be especially enhanced after the pandemic when people realise that their future can be uncertain. It may take some time for people to actually start spending straight after the pandemic depending on the economic condition.

But I believe that when the economy starts recovering there will be a shift in the mindset of people towards living an uninhibited life, similar to the Roaring ’20s where everyone was seen buying new cars, appliances and stylish clothing for the first time in history. This decade saw a total 300 per cent increase in the number of cars on the roads and the first million-dollar advertising campaign.

Innovation

With the lockdown and disruption of everyday life because of COVID-19, we are seeing a wave of digitisation around us. And this digitisation will not be a COVID-time only affair. Once people get used to the convenience and ease of digital services, there is no going back.

Also Read: Lessons from a travel tech startup founder on navigating the pandemic-stricken business landscape

This impact of digitisation can also clearly be seen reflected in the stock market. In January of this year, the FAANG stocks accounted for 14 per cent of the S&P. By April alone, these stocks jumped up to accounting for 24 per cent of the S&P index. This shift towards innovation through digitisation is similar to what was seen during the Roaring ’20s.

Healthcare is one major area where we are seeing innovation. The obvious advancements have been the use of telemedicine and telehealth globally. Apart from that, we are also seeing AI being explored as a means of diagnosis, envisioning, and curing COVID-19. The widespread use of these developments will create a lasting shift in the healthcare industry.

This is similar to the 1920s, where several monumental advancements were made in the field of healthcare, which is still being used today. These ranged from simple innovations like Band-Aids (1920) to bigger discoveries like that of insulin (1921).

Process automation is another area that is seeing a rapid change. Robotics and artificial intelligence have already started being used in factories. Supply chains that were previously part of the unorganised sector are now moving towards digitisation at a rapid pace to maximise efficiency. Similarly, in the 1920s Henry Ford popularised the Model T Assembly Line that moved from the then-traditional to a more automated process of mass production.

Communication is also seeing a shift from the perspective of machines. There has been a surge in Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication during COVID-19. This is attributed to the rise of the contactless economy. Facial recognition and location tracking are becoming increasingly acceptable and will continue to do so as we head towards a more IOT-centric world. The 1920s also saw a shift in communication. The difference was that it was a Human-to-Machine (H2M) form of communication through the means of televisions and radios.

While this list of innovations is by no means exhaustive, we can clearly see that there is a shift happening in the world that was similar to the 1920s.

Also Read: Fixing what is broken: What organisations can learn from the pandemic

As someone who believes in drawing lessons from history, I believe that it is important to look at the light at the end of the tunnel. If the world was able to move past the Spanish Flu and the Great Depression only to see unprecedented growth, we will not only be able to move past COVID-19 but also be able to reap the innovations that were necessitated during this time.

There will be some changes that will happen during this time that will change our lives drastically. The only thing we can do is keep our eyes open while going up this roller-coaster and get ready for the ride that will be the next Roaring ’20s.

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Biotherapeutics startup Hummingbird Bioscience extends its Series B funding, closes US$25M from SK Holdings

Hummingbird Bioscience, a Singapore-operated biotherapeutics company that focusses on the discovery and development of new breakthrough therapies, has closed an extended Series B funding round of US$25 million led by SK Holdings, with participation from existing shareholders including Heritas Capital and SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore.

This brings the total capital raised through financing activities and strategic partnerships to more than US$65 million to date. Hummingbird said it will use the new funds to accelerate the development of new candidates into clinical trials and strengthen the scientific and research and development capabilities.

“Hummingbird is building a strong portfolio of promising new therapies that we believe can deliver very meaningful benefits for patients across a broad spectrum of disease. These new funds give us further resources to develop our early-stage pipeline, and support the clinical development of our lead programs,” said Dr Piers Ingram, Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder, Hummingbird Bioscience.

Decentralised Finance (DeFi) provider startup General Protocols raises over US$1M in seed funding round to develop bitcoin-based DeFi products

Singapore-based Decentralised Finance (DeFi) provider General Protocols closed more than US$1 million in funding, which the company said will be used for the development of DeFi products based on Bitcoin Cash (BCH). According to an article in Read Cash, the funding came from cryptocurrency trader Marc De Mesel and BCH thought leader Molecular.

General Protocols said that it plans to grow its Bitcoin Cash (BCH) smart contract derivative product AnyHedge, scale its engineering teams, and expand its operations globally.

Also Read: Indonesia detains ex-MatahariMall Chairman over alleged money laundering

General Protocols also welcomed Rosco Kalis from Pandacash, who’s also the creator of a smart contract scripting language CashScript during a stint in Bitcoin.com. It also welcomes Marcel Chu -a former PR and Feature Editor in Bitcoin.com- into the team, who will build and manage business relationships and also develop the critical pool of demand for both sides of the AnyHedge contract.

Ex-Matahari Mall Chairman Emirsyah Satar to face eight years jail time for bribery, money laundering

Ex-chairman of Indonesian e-commerce Matahari Mall who’s also the former President Director of commercial airlines Garuda Indonesia Emirsyah Satar has been sentenced to eight years for receiving bribery from British engineering company Rolls-Royce in connection with the procurement of aircraft parts and from European aviation giant Airbus in connection with aircraft procurement and money laundering.

As reported by The Jakarta Post, Satar received his sentence during an online trial on Friday, May 8. The Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Satar after finding him guilty of accepting US$3.4 million in bribes and laundering US$5.9 million related to aircraft procurement. In total, Satar has received five separate occasions of bribery.

The court has also fined Satar US$67,000 and ordered US$1.5 million in restitution.

The anti-graft body also named former Garuda engineering and management director Hadinoto Soedigno and former Garuda executive project manager Agus Wahjudo as Emirsyah’s co-conspirators under the bribery charge.

The KPK accused Emirsyah of laundering Rp 87.4 billion through multiple channels and also implicated Soetikno Soedarjo, the former president director of the diversified retail holding company PT Mugi Rekso Abadi who is guilty of bribing Satar as well as contributing to the money laundering committed by the former Matahari Mall’s Chairman.

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