M17 Entertainment secures US$26.5M for expansion

Taipei-based live technology and entertainment content company M17 entertainment limited has announced US$26.5 million in Series D funding from Vertex Growth, Stonebridge Korea Unicorn Venture Fund, Innoven Capital Singapore, Kaga Electronics, and ASE Global Group, according to PRNewswire.

The new money will be used for growth in Japan as well as expansion into markets such as the US and the Middle East.

Established in 2015, M17 currently has offices in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and the US, and employs around 500 people worldwide.

Also Read: Stream Wars: The Rise of Live Streaming with Kevin Lin (Co-founder, Twitch) and Joseph Phua (CEO, M17 Entertainment)

“M17 provides a virtual stage for performers to explore what is possible both artistically and financially by allowing them to showcase their talent and interact directly with fans everywhere in real-time. This new funding allows us to continue our mission of empowering artists around the world, through our online live streaming and social commerce platforms,” said Joseph Phua, CEO of M17.

Lazada, Alumak partner to provide merchants with working capital during the lockdown

Singaporean e-commerce company Lazada has announced a partnership with Jakarta-based fintech startup Alumak to provide working capital to online merchants affected by COVID-19, according to a company statement.

The focus of this initiative is to help sellers keep their businesses afloat and empower them during the lockdown.

A loan of up to US$5,000 will be provided to business owners, who sign up via Alumak’s website. Upon approval of the application, capital can be directly drawn down.

This initiative will be open to online sellers who have been in operation for at least six months on Lazada.

“During times like this, we are focusing our efforts to support the economy through our sellers. The cooperation with fintech companies like Alumak enables our sellers to get access to funding and keep their business going. Hopefully, with empowered sellers, we will be able to help the Indonesian economy bounce back faster as SMEs and e-commerce sellers are the foundation of the economy,” said Haikal Bekti Anggoro, Vice President of Traffic Operations at Lazada.

gojek partners with Pluang to allow users to trade in gold

Indonesian ride-hailing super app gojek has launched an online investment product called GoInvestasi, according to KrASIA. 

Through GoInvestasi, users can trade in gold without much effort. It claims to offer gold with “the lowest fees and highest returns”, and has already been certified by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

Carousell brings in former Redmart executive as its new Vice President of Growth

Singapore-based C2C marketplace Carousell has appointed former Redmart executive Penny Cox as its Vice President, Growth.

She most recently served as the Senior Vice President of online supermarket firm Redmart. Prior to this, Cox was Strategy Manager of UK-based online grocer Ocado .

In her new position, she will be responsible for leading the company’s growth and marketing strategy.

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: Singapore’s Hummingbird Bioscience closes US$25M Series B-plus round led by SK Holdings

“As a general marketplace, there are distinct tracks for user journeys on Carousell – buying an old mobile phone is very different from looking for a new place to live. With my category-based expertise, I will help us to focus on these diverse customer journeys to understand how we can best cater to our users’ needs,” she said.

Carousell has a diverse range of products in around 29 categories, including cars, lifestyle gadgets, and fashion accessories.

Register for our next webinar: AMA with founders of Cocoon Capital

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JobHopin, a startup that offers an Artificial Intelligence-powered online recruitment platform in Vietnam, has secured US$2.45 million in Series A round of financing, co-led by SEMA Translink (South Korea) and KK Fund.

Mynavi Corporation, Edulab Capital Partners (Japan), NKC Asia (Japan), and Canaan Capital (China), besides several angels, including the CEO of Vietnam’s second largest investment bank HSC and the CEO of Forbes Vietnam, also joined the round.

JobHopin has previously raised US$710,000, which brings its total fundraise to over US$3 million since inception.

Founder and CEO Kevin Tung Nguyen told e27 that JobHopin would use the capital to “continue to invest in our product development especially for our Bunny machine learning on better decision making and recommendations”.

Started in 2017 by Nguyen, JobHopin has developed an AI search and recommendation platform, called Bunny.

Recruitment is a function that affects more than 570 million workers in Southeast Asia. Yet, the process has remained largely unchanged despite technological advancements in the corporate world. The average white collar job in the region takes 49 days to fill, while 34 days is more typical of software developer roles.

Also Read: What we can learn from the Great Depression about a post-pandemic world

JobHopin proposes a model for solving systemic inefficiencies in the recruitments space.

Its tool offers real-time market data analysis, such as salary, supply level of active/passive talents, hiring demand and candidate-matching services with Machine Learning models trained by behavioural data from verified recruiter users.

The platform can be plugged into Massive Online Open Courses, online testing services and third-party job listing portals.

On top of this, Bunny also offers a fee built-in applicant tracking system, which it claims to have a reach of over 1.4 million unique candidate profiles analysed from online databases of over 12 million white-collar professionals and over 2,000 enterprise clients in Vietnam, as an early testing ground for product refinement.

Starting with Vietnam, JobHopin aims to expand its tool to Southeast Asia’s 60 million knowledge economy workers, affecting 108 million job placements annually in the region.

“There is this innate human desire to job hop, and develop their careers by following new intellectual challenges and professional purposes. Our desire is to make work more meaningful, to connect with one another,” said Nguyen.

“As an AI-first startup, our team makes these connections happen at scale, faster and easier via Bunny, our deep-learning matching platform,” added Yuan Le, Product Head.

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Image Credit: JobHopin

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If you’re like me, it seems like the phrase “impact investing” is everywhere these days – outside of COVID-19, it has become this year’s must-have investment strategy. Unleashing the power of money for good has suddenly become the rage.

New investment funds with an impact focus are launched weekly, not just in the US but in Australia, Singapore, China, and beyond. Celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Matt Damon, and Serena Williams are investing in companies that are “doing well by doing good”.

Even the asset management and private equity big boys such as Black Rock, Goldman Sachs, and KKR have launched funds focusing on impact investments in the past year.

But it wasn’t always this way … In fact, just a few years ago, for civilians not working in the investment world or at specific NGOs, impact investing was a euphemism for charity or signified investments in companies that did good things but didn’t make any money.

This was certainly my view. But rather suddenly, that’s not the case anymore.

So what’s changed?

Also Read: What is Impact Investing?

What is impacting investing?

Let’s begin by defining what impact investing is. The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) succinctly defines impact investing as “investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return”.

This is a small but important difference from impact investing’s predecessors – socially responsible investment (SRI) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) – which focus primarily on philanthropy and/or companies avoiding doing harm. Neither of these is bad by any means, but they are different from impact investing’s twin goals of:

• Deliberately deploying  capital to address specific social or environmental objectives, AND
• Generating financial returns.

Lately, this specific focus has struck a chord amongst corporate, institutional, and individual investors. In their latest global survey, GIIN estimates that US$502 billion in funds were deployed in impact investments by the end of 2018, roughly double the amount from the previous year. As we enter the new decade, there’s no reason to think this trend is going to change – we can count on more capital being deployed with an impact focus.

So, again, why the sudden change? I believe this shift is due to the recent convergence of three key elements:

Awareness

First is awareness. Over the past few years, (almost) all of us have grasped the size, scope and urgency of the problems we’re facing on the planet. It’s not just rising temperatures, but it’s rising water levels, radical shifts in weather patterns, lack of clean drinking water or air to breathe, diminution of species, dying bees, decimated koala populations and plenty more.

Also Read: Key to success: Digitising customer communication and investing in a multi-channel approach

And it’s more than just a Greta Thunberg moment, we are all increasingly aware of the nearly eight billion people living on our planet and their subsequent impact. And as a response, rather than dismay and resignation, more people and institutions are looking at ways they can actively help.

Common plan of action

The second element was the establishment of a common plan of action: More specifically the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed upon by the members of the United Nations in late 2015. The SDGs, as they’re known, set quantitative and qualitative targets and delivery timelines for impact-focused action through 2030.

From eradicating poverty (Goal 1) to ensuring the availability and management of clean water access (Goal 6) to combatting climate change (Goal 13) and others. The SDGs – and their associated targets and actions – provide a common roadmap and paths for tackling many of the world’s biggest problems.

These goals provided a well-needed definition and framework, moving us from confusion over what we can do to a set of defined paths for action. In short, the SGDs provided a focus or framework for action, an organised methodology.

This doesn’t diminish any of the important work done prior to the SDGs, it’s simply that by establishing these goals, the UN has helped to focus and standardise the problem and solution sets so they can be addressed by more people globally.

Also Read: Chua Kee Lock of Vertex Holdings: “Early-stage investing will remain a robust asset class for the foreseeable future”

And this has been surprisingly effective. Unlike many previous multinational proclamations, the adoption and subsequent application of the SDGs have become business planning requirements for a broad spectrum of users. From cities to countries to universities, large corporations, SMEs, etc., a cursory glance shows that project planning, budget allocation, and product design are taking these guidelines into account.

On a more personal scale, I see this in my work with Asian startups looking for investment and pitching at competitions. I’d say half the 400+ early-stage companies I reviewed over the past year in Southeast Asia have indicated which SDG(s) they are addressing in their business plans and company pitches.

Not as investor-attractive buzzwordy add-ons (“Now with Blockchain!”), but as an integral part of their solution and product offering. This is new; you didn’t see this a couple of years ago.

Measurement

The third component of this new impact model is measurement. Until recently, impact investing had suffered from the lack of an effective way to measure success.

While we’re all familiar with financial statements and how they can help us understand the financial health of a company, there was no corollary for impact investing.

In order to become viable on a large scale, impact investing needed the equivalent of what the Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (or GAAP) were for accounting. A global methodology of measurement and evaluation that could provide investors with a needed way to understand if their investments in clean air, gender equality, or education were successful.

Also Read: Uplifting Asia’s rural poor: entrepreneurs make an impact in their own way

One such solution has been developed by GIIN and partners over the past decade. Called IRIS+ it combines commonly accepted impact performance metrics with implementation guidelines to measure the effectiveness of impact initiatives.

That’s a bit of a mouthful, but ultimately the goal of IRIS+ is to provide a generally accepted impact evaluation system – the impact version of GAAP – which in turn can help pave the way for additional impact investments.

The combination of these three elements – awareness, action, and measurement– is key to the recent surge in impact investing.

Our collective heightened awareness of the problems at hand, the tight focus of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and a generally accepted impact measurement tool like IRIS+ give us the framework upon which we can start to build and fund companies of impact; that both do well and do good.

What to expect ahead

As of this writing (April 2020), the COVID-19 pandemic is still making its first circumnavigation of the planet – affecting the lives of millions, upsetting economic systems, and generating new political and public health problem sets.

Obviously it’s too early to predict what our lives will look like in six or 12 months, much less make predictions on long term investment trends. But, in my view, investing with an impact focus will become much more the norm in the coming years.

The virus has forced us to look at our global inter-dependence in ways we haven’t done previously – how the virus moves across borders, how information and assistance have flowed from country to country, how so many of us are more aware of what’s going on in countries other than our own. A cursory view of the situation through the SDG lens proves this: Access to health care and medical treatment? SDG 3. Sanitation for virus prevention? SDG 6. Home-based education? SDG 4. And so on …

It’s easy to see, using this lens, how problems brought to light by COVID 19 can become the catalyst for new companies with new solutions, anywhere in the world, with funding that could easily be termed “impact investing”.

It’s not at all a stretch to think that some of these solutions can grow into viable – profitable – companies while addressing some of the major issues we now face. And, I believe, that’s what impact investing is all about.

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Have you collected reward points at a store to be a gold member? Or, have you completed your profile on a website because you wanted the progress bar to reach 100 per cent?

Brands ‘gamify’ in this manner to motivate you for completing tasks.

And what is this gamification thing?

The human body releases a chemical called dopamine upon experiencing satisfaction or pleasure. “Gamification” is leveraging the human need of wanting to compete and facilitating the release of dopamine to increase engagement, participation, and loyalty.

An awesome benefit of gamification is that it can help you get more work done.  Hence, companies across the globe are using gamification applications to increase the productivity of their employees. You, too, can utilise gamification techniques to your advantage.

How can you use gamification during the current COVID-19 crisis?

If you’re an organisation leader, you can encourage your employees in isolation to use gamification as it will make them feel relaxed.

Also Read: How to use the psychology of gamification to grow e-commerce sales

See, the current turmoil is bound to make your employees feel stressed. Gamification, with its fun element, is a great stress buster. It helps in calming down the nerves and can act as an effective remedy in these testing times.

All you need is to use gamification effectively to get the desired results.  

In this article, I will tell you five ways to increase the productivity of your employees by applying gamification techniques. However, first, let’s get down to the basics.

Before you begin gamification, you need the consent of the participants. Otherwise, you won’t reach your desired goals. In their research on using games to create a positive experience at work, Ethan Mollick and Nancy Rothbard found three essential factors.

• Consent: Your employees need to acknowledge and be aware of the fact that they are playing a game
• Legitimation: They must understand the rules of the game
• Sense of Individual Agency: They need to believe that the game is fair

Once you’ve taken care of these aspects, you can start designing gamification mechanics based on your goals. 

Are you seeking changes in employee behavior or skills? Then tread accordingly.

Now let’s look at the five ways you can use gamification to improve employee engagement and productivity.

Also Read:AI, gamification fitness app publisher OliveX secures US$1M investment from Tony G

Gamification is a great motivator

As per studies, 95 per cent of employees enjoy using gamified systems. Employees who enjoy their work are motivated to work harder and perform better. Also, enjoyment in the workplace keeps your staff happy, which increases their productivity.

Also, gamification, through its competitive element, inspires your employees to strive for better results. The game design elements – points, leaderboards, badges – motivates them to perform by satiating their psychological needs of recognition, achievement, and appreciation.

Hence, instead of using the traditional approach of brainstorming sessions, companies are increasingly using gamification to motivate their employees. For instance, when technology giant SAP wanted to motivate their sales professionals, they used Roadwarrior, a gamification app.

The app simulated client meetings and took real examples and data on customer needs. While playing the game, the sales professionals had to answer client questions accurately. They earned badges and competed against each other and hence were better prepared to tackle complex sales meetings with clients.

It also provided sales professionals with a better understanding of what to expect and helped them succeed in their meetings.

Gamification increases employee engagement

Due to its gaming mechanics and fun element, gamification increases the participation of your employees, resulting in improved engagement and productivity.

Also, gamification increases employee engagement in your organization as they can check the results of their work immediately. Hence, they can make changes in their efforts and remove hindrances, resulting in real-time engagement.

Also Read: 3 reasons why cryptocurrencies and gamification go hand-in-hand

For example – The salesforce software at Lawley Insurance was not being updated by its employees, which resulted in a messy forecast and incorrect reporting. Lawley instituted a two-week challenge where employees could earn points for updating their files, logging their phone calls, and scoping out prospects.

According to Concur.com reports, “The contest was responsible for generating the same amount of Salesforce activities in two weeks as had been created in the prior 7 ½ months.”

Gamification improves performance management

Performance appraisals go wrong when your employees feel you do not appreciate their good work. Gamification recognises their efforts by rewards and recognition in the form of badges, points, or leaderboard achievements. 

A typical corporate set up requires you to follow three significant steps for managing performance measurement of your employees – goal setting, performance tracking, and feedback.

With gamification, you can set goals for your employees with data. Data is measurable, and hence, you can judge the performance objectively. 

For example, stating that your employees need to participate in innovation is subjective. However, if they have to save US$500 through innovation to earn a badge point, it results in a more measurable goal setting. It is a trackable and target-oriented methodology.

Also Read: Are gamification tactics used by Uber really unethical or beneficial for driver, rider, and company alike?

Gamification apps track the performance of your employees by checking their behaviour and skills using embedded analytics and automated reports. At the time of their performance review, with the help of an online record in your gamification app, all the achievements and tasks completed by them are readily available. 

Hence, you can review their performance more effectively. You will also come to know how well an employee did in comparison to his peers from the number of badges he has received. When your employees receive such an objective, transparent, and data-backed feedback, they can work on improving their performances.

Gamification helps in better time management

When your employees are motivated and engaged, they are more efficient, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and less customer inquiry, which in turn saves time. 

Gamification also saves the time of managers in the performance management of your employees by streamlining their goal-setting and feedback. So, the senior leadership in your company can concentrate on other priorities. Ultimately, that translates into time savings. Time savings result in better time management and hence, improved productivity.

Additionally, gamification increases the efficiency of your employees by helping them stay focussed, and hence, consume less time to complete their work.

One such app that uses gamification to increase employee focus is Forest. In it, they would plant a “seed” to block a chunk of time (say 30 minutes) to focus. That seed would become a tree and eventually an entire forest if they worked for those chunks of blocked time (30 minutes) without leaving the app.

However, if they leave the app in the blocked time, the tree will die. This visual representation of the focus of your employees improves their efficiency and productivity.

Gamification elevates learning of employees

Designing gamified solutions that address the learning preferences of your employees, ensure that they retain knowledge and apply their learnings. As a result, their performance improves, and productivity increases. 

Also Read: XOXOEngage keeps millennial employees engaged and happy through gamification

NTT Data, a premier tech firm, leveraged gamification techniques for solving the issue of identifying and developing future leaders. Internally, NTT constructed an Ignite Leadership Game that gave its employees the chance to experience leadership situations.

They had to display management competencies in these situations, and they received feedback through comments, badges, and level progress. This information was also visible to the organizational leaders, and it helped them identify high potentials.

The first year the Ignite Leadership Game rolled out, 50 employees took on leadership roles, and 30 new ideas were developed by employees, generating US$1 million in revenue in total.

The initial learning experience of an employee in your organization, during onboarding, can also be improved through gamification. 

Employees who undergo a structured onboarding experience are 58 per cent more likely to remain with a company for at least three years. Using gamification in your onboarding process can contribute to greater engagement, and therefore greater retention.

A responsive learning environment motivates your employees to add to your organization’s knowledge base, which you can use for better training of your future employees. You can design such an environment by using gamification in your onboarding process. 

Gamification is here to stay.  Harnessing the passion of your employees in gaming activities and linking it with your desired objective, can boost the productivity of your organization. 

However, the future of gamification depends on how well you use it. Rather than putting it as “an extra,” it is time for you to invest in this tool, the results will soon follow. 

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Register for our next webinar: How to future proof your supply chain

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.

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It is not erratic to say that we have witnessed one of the major value destructing events in recent history with WeWork IPO fall out. The decimated value, in this case, an estimated US$35 billion is comparable to the value lost in the Enron scandal.

The WeWork story is a cautious reminder that — irrational exuberance will be punished brutally and you will not see it coming in both public and private markets.

WeWork’s failure is not an indication that every other tech unicorn is overvalued. There are exciting companies such as Stripe and Airbnb which will get their money’s worth in due course.

At the height of the negative press around WeWork, I wrote about the product-market fit and the positive aspects of the we-work-as-a-business.

The more interesting question that comes now is, what is a better business model for coworking startups?

Firstly, here is the current business model of WeWork.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news: WeWork appoints property veteran Sandeep Mathrani new CEO

Asset heavy, platform light

In this model, the company leases real estate long term and rents it out for the short term. The model is essentially an arbitrage opportunity and is hardly new.

The main risk in this model is the long term lease obligations with the supply side.

Whenever there is a slow down in the economy and there is no demand from the renters, the company has to essentially keep paying lease obligations with no revenue coming in.

This is the fundamental problem that no public or private investor could address how co-working is positioned to overcome.

WeWork’s implementation of this model has another unique problem. They have a skewed selection of demand with startups being 50 per cent of the customer base, who are first in the line to take a hit when a slow down happens.

This model also lacks another major key aspect, it is not a platform.

There is a nuance of what platform means here, it is not an internet marketplace that is bringing in producers and consumers together and facilitating more and efficient transactions that would have otherwise not been possible. But it could be a platform as we will see below.

There is a better version of a co-working space model — Asset light, platform heavy.

Also Read: Why the We in WeWork matters

Asset light, platform heavy

In a new model, coworking companies will need to go asset light. Meaning instead of leasing spaces from the real estate owners, they need to just focus on being a platform for workspaces connecting producers (real estate owners) and consumers (those who need workspaces to rent).

The new model should be singularly focused on creating tools and services to ease and increase existing and new transaction types for workspace needs. It should be more about orchestrating the workspace platform and less about leasing spaces from owners for the long term.

The platform should be about encouraging and enabling small real estate players to get access to scaled demand and quality they lack currently.

The new model will eliminate the ultimate deal maker of a company such as WeWork — the long term lease obligations.

It should be a combination of what Airbnb does with home space in the US and what Oyo (an Indian Startup which acquired Hooters Las Vegas) does with Hotel space in India.

By truly being a workspace platform this model enables venturing into providing access to new workspaces. Where there will be new types of producers (supply side) and consumers (demand side) who are yet to be served.

Also Read: Today’s top tech news: WeWork nabs US$1.75 billion funding from Goldman Sachs, living another day

Some examples would be:

• Bring existing podcasting studios online on to the platform. This will give consumers looking to start podcasts access to a great studio for a couple of hours a week.
• Bring in existing music recording studios on to the platform and democratise access of start of the art equipment to ambitious upcoming artists with limited or no access to capital.
• Bring in new real estate providers who are willing to provide could kitchens and give them to consumers who want to create a food delivery business without opening a restaurant.
• Bring in Editing Studios to the platform and give the aspiring editor a chance to develop skills using state of the art equipment.

The new model gives a long run-rate for co-working space startups to create a sustainable long term business. It has all the advantages of a usual marketplace while avoiding the overhang of lease obligations. The risk is now distributed to the real estate owners and not centralised to the coworking space company.

Future

There is an opportunity with flexible workspace solutions like WeWork. The model has a flaw and needs to be corrected and innovated with the new trends in individual sovereign careers.

Both Oyo and Airbnb have the right experience and synergies to explore the new business model, and I predict they will enter this business in the next two years.

P.S. Airbnb will enter the coworking space business. Because what is an ideal coworking space company look like? It looks like an Airbnb which has workspaces listed on it.

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Register for our next webinar: How to future proof your supply chain

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Cashlez becomes the first Indonesian fintech startup to be publicly listed, strategising expansion

Cashlez Worldwide Indonesia has become the first home-grown fintech startup to be listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

As per a The Jakarta Post report, the startup will use more than half of the IDR87.5 billion (US$5.8 million) raised from the IPO to acquire IT firm Softorb Technology Indonesia as part of its expansion strategy, while the remaining funds will be used as the company’s working capital.

The company has managed to increase its initial public offering (IPO) price from IDR350 (US$0.23) to IDR384 within four minutes of opening the trade.

Cashlez President Director Tee Teddy Setiawan said that the firm plans to increase the number of its small and medium enterprises (SMEs) merchants using its platform.

“Cashlez is helping SMEs digitise amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” the company said in a press statement.

BCB Blockchain joins hands with JustCo to accelerate innovation

Singapore-based Building Cities Beyond (BCB) Blockchain has announced a partnership with workspace provider JustCo as part of its efforts to “accelerate innovation, strengthen communities, and bring forth collaborative opportunities”.

The collaboration kickstarts the BCB’s plans to expand further into the Asia Pacific (APAC) market with its smart city solutions.

The first area of the partnership will see JustCo support BCB’s workspace and event requirements in the Asia Pacific, where JustCo has over 40 centres in eight cities.

The co-working space company will offer preferential rates and incubate startups under the BCB ecosystem to promote collaboration and support innovation for the smart city solutions provider.

Also Read: Smarter cities: How blockchain can transform urban planning

In return, BCB will build events and enrichment programmes — including workshops, mentorship, seminars, accelerator programs, and competitions such as hackathons, that JustCo’s community can take part in.

BCB and JustCo will look to kick off these initiatives post-pandemic. In the meantime, BCB will look to enhance its digital transformation efforts by embracing virtual events.

Indian B2B insurtech startup MetaMorphoSys receives funding for SEA expansion

Pune-based B2B insurtech startup MetaMorphoSys ha announced that it has received an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from Delhi-based early-stage VC fund Good Capital, as reported by Inc42.

Rahul Khanna, Co-founder and Managing Partner of venture debt fund Trifecta Capital, also participated in the round.

MetaMorphoSys said it will use the funds for product development, business expansion to Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asia countries.

MetaMorphoSys is a SaaS-based on-demand digital insurance platform founded in 2016 by insurance veterans Amit Naik and Kewal Vargante with the goal of addressing the business and technology challenges of the global insurance industry.

Its platform allows legacy insurance businesses to plug into critical products that take time, effort, and capital to build such as motor, travel, personal accident, property, home, life, health, low ticket, and episodic insurance products.

The firm covers the entire value-chain, from customer acquisition to engagement, and provides a suite of products, including product configurator, underwriting, claims, recommendation, and AI/ML sales analytics engine among others.

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Because of the rapid spread of COVID-19, business leaders across all industries collectively learned the utmost value of fast solutions.

Suddenly, operations are in limbo, worker safety is compromised, remote work policies are needed, and with a drastic shift in consumer spending, many companies are still looking for alternative revenue streams.

But just because a business needs a solution fast, doesn’t mean it should be hasty. Hasty solutions tend to be haphazard and may even cause more problems than they solve.

As soon as possible, businesses need innovative ideas, and more importantly, evidence these concepts work. Getting insights into your solution early is the best way to avoid spending months developing—or worse, using—a concept that does not work.

Fortunately, there already is a proven methodology for cutting down months of effort into just five days: Design Sprints.

A Design Sprint is a five-day process to tackle a business problem. The methodology was originally developed at Google Ventures and is gaining increasing popularity in the tech community because of its focus on design thinking, innovation, and speed.

Also Read: An introduction to running design sprints for startups and enterprises

Over and over, Design Sprints have led to innovative solutions. A fine art marketplace startup, Twyla, used a Design Sprint to improve its customer experience, swapping the standard 30-day return policy with a US$30, 30-day trial, charging the full price only if the customer keeps the art.

The delivery app, Favor, found ways to increase hourly earnings for their runners, and decrease runner frustration. Adobe used a Design Sprint to align the mobile strategy of its many products and apps.

The Design Sprint team should be diverse, including product designers and other professionals adding additional perspectives and levels of experience to the process. Everyone clears their schedule for the week and each day of the sprint is focused on just one step of user-centric product development.

Day 1 – Map: Identifying the problem, defining key questions, and determining a goal

Day 2 – Sketch: Individual brainstorming and sketching different ways to solve the problem

Day 3 – Decide: As a group, reviewing and deciding which concept will move forward

Day 4 – Prototype: Create a visual and tangible way to test the solution with users

Day 5 – Test: One-on-one user interviews to gather feedback and determine your direction

After the Design Sprint, the company should be ready to debrief and invest resources into the solution. But there’s just one problem: we’re still in the middle of the pandemic.

Also Read: An introduction to running design sprints for startups and enterprises

Design sprints involve a lot of in-person collaborative activities. Whiteboards, Post-it Notes, and Sharpies are mainstays, and sitting in the room with your team for five straight days feeds the collective creativity.

On one hand, Design Sprints might be the answer to finding the solution you need. But on the other hand, remote Design Sprints need to be treated a little differently in and of themselves. Now that I’ve been through a few virtual Design Sprints, I have tips to make it work.

Tweak the schedule

Remote Design Sprints are going to take a bit longer. People have more distractions at home than when they’re in a room together. It takes longer to read the room and make sure everyone is on the same page. And unlike a typical Design Sprint where the team gets up and moves around the room, a virtual Design Sprint expects the team members to stay chained to their desks.

Adjusting to these circumstances, we have scheduled our Design Sprints across several mini-workshops with homework in between.

One bonus we have found with this format is that it’s now possible to loop in team members around the world because travel is not an issue and it is easier to accommodate different time zones.

Pick the right tech

Taking the conference room, whiteboard, and sticky notes online is going to require a few different tools. We haven’t found an all-in-one platform for virtual Design Sprints, but there are a few tools that stand out.

Also Read: The lean UX design method that will make a real difference

MURAL and Miro are virtual whiteboards with digital stickies. Both allow collaborative work in real-time. We prefer MURAL because of a few of its advanced features. We also use Figma for real-time collaborative digital prototyping. And Zoom is our preferred virtual meeting platform because the team can divide up into breakout rooms. Be sure to ask everyone to turn their camera on to facilitate the in-person atmosphere!

Plan and Prep

Whether your Design Sprint is in person or virtual, there are always logistics to figure out, but it does take more effort with a remote team.

It doesn’t take long for someone to get acquainted with sticky notes and whiteboards, but virtual Design Sprints require everyone to use the same digital collaboration tools. We start with the expectation that it is the first time everyone has used a tool and build in time and resources for onboarding. Throughout the sprint, deadlines, and deliverables should be clearly defined and we’ve found it helpful to have handouts and other materials ready to send out.

Putting in the work ahead of time or hiring a facilitator will free you up to focus on solving problems. The extra effort is worth it to make sure everyone is on the same productive page from day one.

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This journey of coping with the household chores and managing work at the same time is a reality that we have to accept while we continue staying home. Every small change makes a difference that affects our productivity. Also, with the kind of news we receive about the pandemic every day, it is a bit challenging to focus on things and stay effective!

To optimise your creativity and productivity, DevX along with Appmatic organised a webinar on Staying Effective during WFH. The meetup touched on the points where you could stay effective while working from home.

As these two words –work and home– don’t generally come up together, it may seem difficult to sync both initially. The panel discussion focussed on helping you achieve that by simple yet effective ways to work from home.

The e-meetup that took place on Saturday, April 18, witnessed speakers from different domains and backgrounds talk upon points on how to literally maintain the work-life balance.

Our panel members for the webinar were Hardik Mistry (Founder at Appmattic), Rahul Banker (Technical Support Engineer at OptinMonster), Madhav Reddy (Founder at RedMad Learnings LLP), Nitya Kumar (Head of Design at NUMA Bengaluru), Prachi Durge (Team Lead at AVDEVS Solutions Pvt. Ltd.), and moderated by Dipa Rajput (Community Manager at DevX).

After the introduction of the speakers, the session moved forward to the main topic of the webinar. Focusing on how WFH has affected different people in different formats, Hardik Mistry mentioned how different techniques and ideas would help those working from home during the lockdown.

Also Read: e27 Community shares their proven tools and tricks to work from home

Rahul Banker insisted upon the best methods to apply for effectiveness. He also mentioned how certain routine tips could prove to be beneficial at such times.

Nitya Kumar focused on how to overcome the micro problems during WFH? In addition to that, how different strategies would work out.

Prachi Durge gave her views on how to deal with the lockdown situation overall. Also, how you should make the most of it and take this as an opportunity.

And finally, Madhav Reddy shared his insight on various advantages, concerns, tips, and guidelines to improve productivity during WFH. This followed by a series of questions that came dropping in from the participants as well.

How to avoid distractions during WFH?

On this, Rahul mentioned how he feels that social media, considered one of the biggest distractions, is not a problem if not used excessively. He also mentioned the fact that you must schedule your work and set a timer for your work to avoid those distractions. He insisted on setting up your workflow routine which will help you in staying productive and effective.

Further, he added, that you can indulge yourself with these distractions during the free hours. Proper time management makes a major difference. Lastly, he mentioned to focus more on your work priorities and set them accordingly.

Also Read: 8 steps you should take in order to work from home effectively

Addressing the same question, Hardik mentioned about his daily routine and schedule.  He focused more on planning your work daily so it becomes a smooth process. You must also keep verifying the work done to know how much has been accomplished. He further added that a dedicated space for work is a must. Setting up DND for the distractions from social media would be of great help.

How can someone manage a business that requires physical presence?

Madhav took to this question and pointed out two important things: Firstly, companies can use social media platforms to showcase their services, products, or designs to the clients if they are the kind of businesses that require physical presence. Secondly, they can use e-mails to communicate and send their designs to the clients as an when needed.

Nitya also gave her opinion focusing on two points. First is the physical presence and the other is to meet clients. Both of these are important to any business. She mentioned how technology can be helpful in meeting the client’s needs and fulfilling their requirements during such times. She also focused on how decision purely depends upon the behaviour of the clients and their feedback.

Lastly, she also mentioned that we must be well prepared as to the change we are going to see in the customers’ needs and expectations.

How effectively can people invest in developing new skills?

Discussing this question, Hardik suggested various ideas such as interacting with different people, learning new things to improve something that is needed upon, identifying new things, and understanding how it affects you and in what ways will it prove beneficial for you. He also emphasised on the importance of giving equal time to work and family and to consider this as an opportunity to be clearer about your goals.

How can you track if your team’s productivity?

Prachi was of the opinion that it is very important to organise inter-team meetings from time to time. Scheduling your work with your team needs to be done as an when needed. Daily calls and planning are essential to staying updated with their work. Also, taking regular feedback from the clients about the work must be mandatory.

Also Read: Is your new work-from-home culture stressing your employees?

How to manage the sleep schedule while working from home?

As per Rahul’s opinion maintaining a strict schedule for your work helps you manage your sleep schedule also. Distributing the teamwork makes it an easier task.

Some useful time management tools and techniques mentioned by Madhav were Trello, Google Planner, Sticky Notes, and other similar online tools. But the main factor remains the same – Discipline! Distributing your work into multiple set of tasks helps in time management.

He also mentioned that spending time with yourself refreshes you, instrumental music can also be of use to take a quick break and refresh your mind. Also, a Lockdown Learning Approach helps in exploring and learning new things.

What are the activities to stay motivated to work amidst this boredom?

Addressing this, Nitya mentioned that it always differs from person to person. Learning new courses, cooking recipes, some motivation from social media would definitely help in creating productivity. She also mentioned that you must do something that brings you joy; that will help you stay motivated. Also, fresh air makes you energetic in many ways.

Whereas, Rahul’s way of staying productive is to keep himself physically active. Exercising keeps him active and motivated and also in some ways will help you in breaking the monotony and staying energetic the entire day.

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

Concluding the entire session, the speakers shared some highly effective methods to balance working from home. The numerous suggestions and ideas could be summed up as follows:

• Self-discipline is a must
• Stay as much organised as possible while working from home
• Adapt the digital opportunities and do more quality work
• Keep brainstorming for ideas
• Read some good books to reduce the stress
• Get out of your comfort zone and push your limits
• Identify new clients & get in touch with them online
• Use the time to reflect upon your goals
• Avoid fake news and rumours
• Consider the positive out of every situation possible
• Experiment new things and be creative in your work

To further listen to the views of our panelists on effective ways to WFH, here is the sneak-peek.

Let’s make the most of this time and utilise the lockdown (or rather staying home safe) into new opportunities to reflect upon how we can improve our work.

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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.

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Mental wellness startup Safe Space introduced their video conferencing feature about the same time the circuit breaker measure was implemented in Singapore in April, as an effort to tackle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Like startups operating in other Southeast Asian countries during the global health crisis, the company is called to do their parts by providing pro bono mental wellness consultation services to frontline health workers.

This step is especially crucial as experts have warned against the rise of mental illness as the next pandemic, as an aftermath of the current global health crisis.

As a preventive education and tele-therapy platform for mental health, Safe Space noted a shift in their user base that coincides with the rise of the pandemic.

“There has been an unfortunate new flow of audience who needs someone to talk to,” co-founder and CEO Antoinette Renee Patterson tells e27 in an interview.

Since the appearance of the first COVID-19 case in Singapore in January, Safe Space has seen a 64 per cent increase in user growth. While the platform’s users are mostly female by the time of its launch in March 2019, at the moment there is almost a 50-50 balance in gender.

Also Read: Why Khailee Ng puts mental healthcare support as key to successful founders-investors relationship

The majority of its users are career-minded Millennials who are also concerned about the affordability of mental healthcare services.

“As a solution, we partner with insurance companies to ensure that users can continue with their care,” Patterson says.

Running a startup in times of crisis

Marketing a product or service in times of crisis is a tricky matter. Companies have to balance between ensuring that their business stays afloat and being sensitive to the challenges faced by the customers.

On the other hand, startups need to ensure that there are no missed opportunities, as with the case with these major e-commerce platforms in Vietnam. But they also do not want to be seen as if they are milking these opportunities.

Prior to COVID-19, the startup was helped by word-of-mouth marketing as done by their families and friends. They also utilise social media platforms and events to advertise their service.

“We did a lot of workshops to bring the therapists together and educate the audiences,” Patterson says.

But as their user base grows, Safe Space finds the need to start investing in paid advertising.

So, in their opinion, what are the keys to find that balance?

“We always put our clients and therapists first, so we try to write it in their perspectives … so that we can avoid being hard-sell,” Patterson explains.

Also Read: Leaders, it’s time to talk about mental health

Based on personal experience

The history of Safe Space began after co-founders Patterson and Navaneeth Sreekandan discovered the challenges that Singaporeans are facing in securing mental healthcare providers.

As professionals in the advertising industries, both of them felt the need to “speak to someone that is not a family or friend” to help them deal with stress. But in addition to being embarrassing, finding a therapist was also a difficult process that forces them to search and make phone calls, one-by-one.

“We decided to create a platform that basically simplifies the process … by matching a person to a therapist in real-time,” Patterson says.

The startup is currently fundraising for its seed stage funding round. Currently run by a small team of three, Safe Space is looking forward to growing its team members to help them get more therapists on board.

“When we started in 2017, there was barely any coverage on mental health in major media platforms. But today there is always something … from the use of TCM for mental health to how to identify anxiety,” Patterson closes.

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Image Credit: Safe Space

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Fintech has changed the landscape of investment and capital financing. Given the global scope of decentralised finance (DeFi), one of the biggest challenges faced by the industry involves fragmentation in regulatory frameworks.

This is an opportunity for regulators to establish policies that are conducive to growth and innovation. 

For technology providers, this is also an opportunity to collaborate on solutions that ensure compliance across global jurisdictions and standards. In a whitepaper, the World Economic Forum has cited the need for policymakers to establish standards in regulation that will encourage innovation and growth.

This entails a higher level of collaboration between technology firms and regulators, as well as cooperation among the companies involved. Such collaboration will encourage wider adoption of fintech services, and it has the potential to improve the levels of capital flow, utilising innovative mechanisms for investment and finance.

“The biggest challenge I feel is the lack of regulation or regulatory clarity in many jurisdictions. This has also led to jurisdictional arbitrage,” says Ian Lee, Founding Team and Lead Investigator at Merkle Science, a Singapore-based deep-tech startup that provides comprehensive monitoring solutions for the security of digital assets. He adds that “the lack of regulatory clarity has also been one of the biggest barriers preventing institutional money from getting involved in the space.”

Also Read: Morning News Roundup: Cashlez becomes the first Indonesian fintech firm to debut on country’s Stock Exchange, plans to raise US$5.8M

Regulatory standards need to support growth and innovation

In any financial system, regulatory frameworks are established to improve trust through transparency and adherence to standards. This is geared toward protecting consumers and investors.

Having clarity in global regulation and compliance enables better collaboration and innovation in the ecosystem. “Businesses could focus on the innovation of technology without being afraid of law enforcement if the developers and entrepreneurs comply with the applicable rules,” says Sheldon Xia, Founder and CEO of BitMart, a global trading platform. “Investors’ and users’ rights could be protected not only by the code of rule but also the regulation in real life.”

By ensuring transparency, compliance leads to improved trust in technology platforms and the ecosystem.  “Regulation and compliance transform to transparency and trust. The more we can observe how these products work and how they are managed internally, the better,” says Hendrik Henrikson, Chief Business Development Officer of PARSIQ, a platform that provides automation solutions for businesses to manage their internal workflows, mitigate risks, and provide flexibility in working with blockchain data. 

Tech companies need to collaborate with regulators

Establishing regulatory frameworks will require better cooperation and collaboration between regulatory bodies and technology companies. This is necessary to arrive at solutions that promote both compliance and innovation. Regulators should not be seen as a challenge to innovation. Rather, they should be seen as collaborators.

“Strong support for regulation and compliance is in the best interests of developers and innovators. Regulators will need to have a pulse on the need of the industry in order to create rules that address the most pressing needs,” says Kenny Au, Founder at Elevate Ventures, a Hong Kong-based technology venture firm. “For example, in many jurisdictions–which in Asia include Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong–regulators have established sandboxes to insulate their main financial systems from potential externalities, but there needs to be more collaboration done in order to achieve scale.”

Also Read: 5 reasons why 2020 is the right time to invest in fintech

For one, there needs to be better communication and information exchange in the ecosystem. “More collaborations need to be made among the stakeholders, and the information needs to be shared and exchanged in a wider range,” says BitMart’s Xia. “We have witnessed in the market that some VC-funded projects went insolvent prior to the launch of the product due to very limited real needs in the market.”

Such collaboration will enhance the flow of capital. “Exchange of information, mutual integrations and bringing accessibility to regular users” are necessary for addressing the needs of the ecosystem, says PARSIQ’s Henrikson. He adds that “access to capital and increased transparency will remove borders from access to financial products, promoting financial liberty.”

The takeaway

Solutions that enable compliance through transparency and intelligence will play a significant part in ensuring trust in the ecosystem. The right tools will enable financial institutions to conduct a comprehensive analysis of fund activity and movements. “With products being secure and transparent, I see that there are more chances for these types of products to be accepted by existing authorities,” advises Henrikson.

In addition to collaboration, there also needs to be more visibility and education concerning the ecosystem for FinTech. Such awareness helps legitimise new technologies, leading to improved recognition, knowledge, and acceptance from the market.

In conclusion, standardising regulatory and compliance frameworks will encourage larger capital flows into technology projects and the digital asset ecosystem as a whole, thus improving access to capital and further enhancing innovations.

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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.

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