Year: 2020

2020 opened with major fintech companies vying for digital banking licenses, especially in Singapore. After Grab and Razer, Ant Financial followed suit.

Digital banking is at a tipping point in the Asia Pacific region and the financial services industry needs to be prepared for a transformative year ahead.

Here are the five trends, I think, will dominate the scene.

Fintech companies partnerships will become the norm
Banks face a choice as we enter the 2020s: they can either innovate and restructure business models, providing new services and products to improve their value chain or become commodity players, specialising in a particular area.

Partnering with fintech companies will be key going forward.

Also Read: Think like a fintech company: How banks can capitalise on the digital banking revolution

The industry experience and trustworthiness of traditional banks combined with the agility and innovation of fintech companies will allow banks to create more compelling customer experiences and remain relevant in the coming years.

Data intelligence will drive competitive advantage
Data intelligence will be a key competitive differentiator. This is evident not just in banking, but across other industries.

For example, the recent acquisition of Fitbit by Google has given the tech-giant access to a huge source of anonymised health data.

Similarly, banks hold a wealth of customer financial data. The challenge is how best to use it effectively. While agile challenger banks and fintech companies are already experimenting here, traditional banks remain behind the curve.

Data intelligence will be a key focus as they aim to personalise their services and become more embedded in customers’ lives.

Regtech will take centre stage
The way large banks handle regulatory compliance is overly complex and costly. Many are hamstrung by legacy systems.

In 2020 I expect to see a drive to deliver efficiencies in this area. Challenger banks are already partnering with cloud-based technology providers to handle KYC, customer verification and other regulatory requirements.

This approach is critical in keeping costs low. Incumbents need to transform and simplify the myriad of systems they have in place to perform tasks like customer verification, and to agree on common standards.

Only then can they can embrace regtech and benefit from the associated efficiency savings.

Consolidation among challenger banks
It’s not sustainable for challenger banks to continue losing money in the pursuit of customer acquisition. The race is on.

Incumbent banks are playing catch-up as they launch new digital services, while challenger banks will be looking to sell the higher-margin loans or insurance products. Not all challenger banks will survive a downturn.

I expect consolidation in the form of mergers and acquisitions over the coming year.

Use of hyper-connected devices will continue to grow
The uptake of smartphones, voice-activated assistants, the Internet of Things and edge computing will continue to grow.

Also Read: AI and data will be the future of the M&A banking industry (Why I decided to merge with Finquest)

“BigTechs” such as Amazon and Google are working to roll out voice-activated devices across households as possible, making them a potential interface for all kinds of things in the future, including conversational banking.

This may not yet happen in 2020, but phase one is just about getting users familiar with the technology and its capabilities.

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You may think, “Podcast is media.” Maybe you’ve considered advertising your new product on a podcast or getting on someone else’s podcast for publicity, but you’ve never thought of doing an original podcast for your brand.

Or perhaps you’ve jumped on the bandwagon of podcasting, but after the initial excitement, you start to lose sight of the value of this venture.

Whether you are a multinational corporation or a three-people startup, podcasting can be a powerful tool for your business development. Let’s dive into ways tech companies are using podcasts to grow their business.

Maintain company culture and employee engagement

Indonesia’s first Super App Gojek has a podcast. The Go Figure podcast is hosted by Gojek (ex) CEO & Founder Nadiem Makarim and features Gojek leadership team and investors. Podcast conversations cover macro issues within entrepreneurship, business, and society.

With Makarim taking the lead, each episode shares the growth journey of Gojek with a transparent and aspirational message. The success of Gojek lies in its “Challenger Culture.” Through the authentic conversations recorded in Go Figure podcast, Makarim is able to communicate and maintain the startup mindset of Gojek culture.

Foster Community

What do Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM have in common? They all provide cloud computing solutions and all have a podcast dedicated to that.

The podcasts serve as channels to communicate the latest updates and conference messages, keeping cloud users engaged with each company’s latest offerings.

In a rapidly advancing and collaborative space like cloud computing, keeping your community of users up-to-date and fostering communication is crucial. The big tech companies recognise that and leveraging the power of podcasts to build their communities.

Establish thought leadership

Maintaining a consistent podcast builds the authority of a brand. Andreessen Horowitz, a leader in the Silicon Valley VC space, differentiates their brand with their original a16z podcast and 16 minutes on-the-news podcast.

Also Read: Andreessen Horowitz’s lessons for Asian VCs and founders

The podcasts feature analysts from the firm and their ecosystem partners or thought leaders discussing tech and cultural trends, news, and the future. This helps in amplifying the brand voice and developing their unique perspective.

Recruit

Booking.com is not only interested in your next travel destination.

It is interested in Natural Language Processing, image recognition, and innovation. To help recruit talent in those areas, the company started Booking People podcast.

Recruitment is a difficult and costly task for every company, but podcasts can help to reduce that cost.

In the podcast, employees share the projects they are working on and work culture; senior leadership comments on macro-level issues and mindset they look for in talents.

Podcast conversations go deeper than job descriptions, giving job seekers a better idea of what it is like to work for the company.

Build an ecosystem and acquisition

If you are a new player in the industry, podcasting can help you get meetings and clients. Having your brand original podcast gives you the opportunity to invite industry experts, partners and clients to sit down for a meaningful conversation.

It also becomes the best opportunity to invite potential partners and clients for a chat. We see that with startups like Offerzen (South Africa based tech job marketplace) and AgThentic (Sydney based agtech consulting firm).

The podcasts cover topics relevant to their specific industries, featuring conversations with guest experts. Offerzen podcast has episodes with HR leaders at Microsoft and Google, significantly uplifting the credibility of their content and brand.

Create brand awareness 

Most tech companies have good products but don’t tell good stories. If you don’t have a library of content and an editorial team, you can choose to sponsor bigger conversations in your industry.

Also Read: The podcast fever: why are listeners tuning in more frequently than ever?

For instance, Slack has a branded podcast “Work In Progress” that tackles work-related issues such as fulfillment, identity, and happiness. Each episode features stories of people who found meaning in their work.

Slack wants to showcase its company philosophy and culture, creating brand awareness through podcast stories. The end of each episode features a unique client success story, serving as native advertising for Slack.

Promote client success stories

Nothing sells your product or services better than authentic client success stories. Shopify recognises the power of giving a voice to its successful users, letting every one of them be an authentic brand ambassador.

Each week Shopify Masters podcast invites successful e-commerce entrepreneurs to share their experience and advice for growing an online business on Shopify.

The podcast experience gives successful merchants some limelight, promoting their store at the end of each episode. More importantly, it promotes an aspirational message that small business owners can find success through Shopify.

Podcasts shouldn’t be limited to media or PR. Instead of finding the right podcast to advertise your products, start your own brand original podcast to recruit, sell, influence, and engage. Start by identifying the talking points your brand wants to own: they could be macro-level issues or technical know-how. Gather your partners and clients to talk about these issues that you deeply care about. Leverage the voice of industry experts. There you have it: your brand original podcast featuring your unique brand voice.

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Thailand-based fintech company Lightnet has raised US$31.2 million in a Series A funding round from six conglomerates, according to a press statement.

The financing round was led by UOB Venture Management, Seven Bank, Uni-President Asset Holdings, HashKey Capital, Hopeshine Ventures, Signum Capital, Du Capital and Hanwha Investment and Securities.

The fresh funds will be used to strengthen Lightnet‘s investment in the blockchain technology on the Stellar Network, and towards building a better financial mobility network.

Lightnet’s core strengths lie in bringing remittance settlements to the lowest cost across the Asia Pacific. The fintech company aims to target largely the unbanked migrant workers, who rely on costly substitutes such as SWIFT in major Southeast Asian markets.

The platform also provides cross-border services such as B2B payment, conditional payment, trade finance, cash management, and escrow.

The company plans on launching three solutions BridgeNet, LiquidNet and SmartNet that will be fundamental to the core of the business.

Also Read: 3 things startup founders can learn from Elon Musks Thailand cave rescue drama

“The main platform has been completed, and the first transaction is slated for Q1 2020. In addition to the potential 500,000 cash agents across our ecosystem, Lightnet will integrate with several renowned payment and remittance partners such as MoneyGram, Seven Bank, Yeahka, Ksher across Japan, South Korea, and several other Southeast Asia nations to ensure successful activation of our ecosystem,” said Lightnet Chief Executive Officer Suvicha Sudchai.

Lightnet’s Vice Chairman, Tridbodi Arunanondchai, has also expressed strong anticipation for growth saying that “in three years, Lightnet will facilitate over US$50 billion worth of annual transactions through our industry-leading partner network.”

The fintech company aims to disrupt the trillion-dollar US dollar global remittance market as it aims to target the large unbanked population that exists in SEA.

“We launched Lightnet to offer low-cost and instantaneous financial inclusivity and mobility to the four billion lives across Asia Pacific — all powered by Stellar’s fast, scalable, and sustainable blockchain technology,” said Lightnet Chairman Chatchaval Jiaravanon.

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Image Credit:  Hanny Naibaho

 

 

 

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Coworking spaces are the face of the working zones in the modern world. These places are an attempt to change the trends of how employees react to work and office spaces.

Traditional office spaces are slowly getting wiped off from the picture as not just the new but also the established players are preferring to own office space in a coworking zone.

The environment around acts as a driving force to generate the results that you expect from your institution. Hence coworking spaces today are built with this mindset.

They provide an office that guarantees to have a positive impact on the employees. Apart from that different organisations are provided with the option to configure their office space in accordance with their ideals. Such opportunities help you stand out among your peers hence it strengthens your brand name in the market and it says a lot about your work ethics.

We have discussed a few points that must be kept in mind while choosing an office space for your institution, so let’s dig in!

At first, we will discuss the problem you may face while finding a suitable office space for your organisation.

Different interest

It is unlikely that you end in a group of like-minded people. There is always a possibility to meet individuals with different skills, interest, and mindsets which may turn out to be either a positive experience or a bitter one.

In the case of the latter, one should try and ignore such people and focus on their productivity.

Discomforting timing

There is a possibility that the timings of the coworking zone may not suit you as different people align themselves according to different timing schedules which may pose issues for the others.

Also Read: Coworking space: why it’s the most startup thing ever

Hence, in that case, an organisation must check this parameter before ending up into a shared workstation.

Lease terms 

Another bothering aspect of the coworking zone is the leasing terms. It is a fact that almost all the shared workstations in a big city demand high rent. The terms may be flexible or stringent depending on the terms and conditions hence an organisation must thoroughly study the terms and conditions before renting a place for their office.

Space

Every institution must be aware of what are the requirements of their organisation especially the startups. Space should neither be more than required nor it should be less. It should also be expandable in case the number of employees increases in the future.

Location

Reachability is one of the key factors that must be considered while renting a coworking space. Location matters when you think of setting up an office for your organisation as it strengthens your reach in the city, strengthen your brand value among your peers, offers convenience to the employees while commuting and maintains a reputation among your clients.

Hence how easily an office space is accessible matters.

Amenities

Another major factor to be kept in mind while you are on a hunt for a suitable office space. Amenities are the backbone of a coworking space. They offer convenience and comfort to the organisation which is yet another reason why coworking spaces are preferred over a traditional office space.

Also read: How coworking is reshaping the workforce

Therefore an organisation must study the amenities offered by a coworking zone and whether they align with their requirements or not should be checked.

Connectivity

Nothing works without the internet today. The entire country is digitalising then why not the coworking zone. Every workstation needs a stable internet connection which is required for the smooth working of numerous tasks in an organisation.

Companies should always go for a coworking zone that provides them with a seamless connectivity of the internet with which they can easily connect to an outstation client with ease hence helpful in expanding the customer base of a company.

The reputation of the space owner

Sometimes overlooked while choosing a coworking space, I would suggest you better not do this. Reputation is an important aspect as a reputed builder will be responsible and will be aware of the requirements of its customers.

He will make sure to provide you with the best services to build a sense of trust which is essential in a professional relationship.

A wise decision taken for your organisation is likely to generate a positive impact not just for your employees but also for your business. Therefore a coworking space to chosen with utmost precision.

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A study finds that Malaysia’s corporate boardrooms lack diversity in gender and age representation.

Board members are predominantly male at 73 per cent while females comprised only 27 per cent, reveals the study, titled ‘Detailed Analysis on Malaysia’s Top 100 Companies Board Composition’ by private investment firm RHL Ventures.

The results also show that 95 per cent of directors are aged 40-plus (with most aged in their 50s and 60s), and only 5 per cent of directors are aged below 40.

The research assessed 873 directorships from Malaysia’s largest companies (based on market capitalisation on Bursa Malaysia), whereby examinations were made into their gender and age diversity, education, career and other related experiences.

Also Read: RHL Ventures launches accelerator programme for startups in emerging technologies in Malaysia

Malaysian firms need to restructure their board compositions to enhance their corporate governance, effective monitoring and decision making.

The research also finds that most directors are experienced working in government-linked companies (GLCs) and institutions, such as the Employee Provident Fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Bank Negara Malaysia, Permodalan Nasional Berhad and the Petronas group of companies.

Most directors, at 74 per cent, are currently serving on the boards of at least two companies, while 88 per cent have served in their positions for at least two terms.

In terms of ethnic diversity, most directors consist of Malays and ethnic Chinese Malaysians, followed by ethnic Indian Malaysians and foreigners from countries such as Singapore, Japan and Australia.

However, diversification between Malay and ethnic Chinese is exceptionally equal, accounting for 41 per cent and 42 per cent on board compositions respectively.

While most directors have experienced working in Malaysia’s top corporates, it was observed that many at 58 per cent did not have overseas exposure in their career progression, around 42 per cent have this as either an employee, a company board director or both.

Nevertheless, overseas exposure was found in education as many went to institutions such as Cambridge University and the University of London. Another popular destination was Harvard University, with 73 attendees. However, most of the enrolled in Management Programmes instead of Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees.

It should be noted that the most common educational background for directors is the University of Malaya, with it accommodating 145 of the 873 directors assessed.

Also Read: RHL Ventures launches US$24.3M sector-agnostic fund to invest in Malaysian startups, SMEs

“Malaysian company boards remain highly conservative. Many prefer industry captains who have spent much of their career in the nation’s biggest corporates, which could explain the low board’s diversification,” said Raja Hamzah Abidin, Managing Partner, RHL Ventures.

“With the dawn of a new decade, this composition should open up to welcome leaders outside the conventional demographic. We need to see fresher ideas and perspectives injected into our nation’s top companies,” he added.

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The competition in the startup ecosystem is aggressive. And the early stage for a tech startup is one of the hardest phases for their business. The team might be incomplete, the product needs refinement and you are sourcing funds and resources.

Therefore, it’s right from the early stage that you need to keep track of every penny and save as much as possible to grow your venture. 

In this article, I’m going to discuss five tips for a tech startup to save money.

Without further ado, let’s dive in:

Avoid renting an office

You don’t need a posh office on the seafront right from the beginning. Instead, go for a shared workspace or home office. 

It will help you save a considerable amount on rent, overhead expenses, and even electricity bills.

You can even rent a coworking space for the moment or set your war-room in a corner of your house. But, avoid renting a dedicated office. It might not be fully utilised. 

You can choose to work remotely too, syncing with your team members over the internet.

Buy used equipment

You can save a handsome amount by buying used equipment instead of brand-new ones. 

Second-hand office furniture used devices, and other electronic equipment will often cost only half of their original price, while still working fine. So, find out ongoing auctions, newspaper classifieds or markets which deal with used goods.

Also Read: Can overfunding kill a startup?

However, you need to ensure that electronic equipment – laptops, mobiles or other gadgets, you buy, come with the latest technology. Outdated devices will affect your performance and upgrading them can be a costly affair. 

So, take precautions when buying used equipment.

Adopt BYOD Work Culture

Adopting a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) work culture can save you a significant investment for your tech startup. You won’t need to purchase laptops and smartphones for each member, and you also may not have to get enterprise licenses for different apps and software.

Also, your teammates will find it more productive to use their own devices and preferred software when possible. 

However, if data security is a cause for concern, you can put everything on the cloud. Cloud storage and cloud applications aren’t only secure but also are cheaper than regular applications.

BYOD work culture along with a cloud-based work environment can save you a lot of pennies. 

Negotiate with vendors

Negotiation is an art, and you have to learn it by heart. There’s no shame in asking for discounts. And you’ll be amazed to see that many vendors will oblige to your request.

Before accepting a quote, check the rates of other players in the market. Some will have a promotional offer rate while others will give a discount on bulk buy. You can also get substantial discounts if you settle for a longer contract period.

Local businesses might provide additional discounts if you buy from them regularly. You can even save money by paying the entire amount in cash, instead of asking for a credit. 

Vendors are often open for negotiation, so go for whichever option gets the work done.

Track your money

An accountant is essential if you’re looking for opportunities to save money.

Although having an accountant might seem like an added expense, but hiring one at an early stage can help you be on the right track. 

Also Read: Sealing the deal: How to get the upper hand at the negotiation table

In addition to helping with your financial reports, an accountant can also offer expert guidance on budgeting and capital allocation. After all, you can’t afford to spend money mindlessly. Here is a good resource to compare accountant prices to get the best deal for your tech startup.  

Optimum use of available resources is of prime concern and an accountant helps you with that.

By avoiding to pay for an office or new equipment, you can have a considerable saving without affecting the day-to-day proceedings of your tech startup. The BYOD culture, careful negotiation, and an accountant will further strengthen your cash reserves.

What about you? Do you want to share any other money-saving tip for a tech startup? Please leave it in the comment section. I’d love to know about it.

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French video games company Ubisoft has announced the fifth season of its Entrepreneurs Lab programme.

The call for projects for both tracks, blockchain and social entertainment, is open until March 1, 2020.

Entrepreneurs who wish to apply will choose between the Paris location at STATION F, the biggest startup campus in the world, and the Singapore location at Infocomm Media Development Authority’s innovation space, PIXEL.

The programme, which began in 2017, aims to support startups creating innovative products and services. Led by Ubisoft Entrepreneurs Lab, it offers a collaboration model based on mutual contribution with no equity involved, where startups benefit from the mentorship of Ubisoft executives and gain access to a wide range of experts across the entire company.

Also Read: French video games company Ubisoft expands its startup programme to Singapore

The programme aspires to explore two trends further — social entertainment (socially inclusive, empowering, positive and accessible experiences) and blockchain (enhance players’ experience with new forms of interactions and features).

“Social entertainment is an area we want to further explore both for players and viewers of Ubisoft content. Together with talented entrepreneurs across a range of entertainment fields (music, video, live shows, etc.), it’s our desire to contribute to creating the most engaging, fun and creative entertainment experiences of tomorrow,” said Catherine Seys, Programme Director at Ubisoft Entrepreneurs Lab.

“As for blockchain, we strongly believe that the technology has yet to unveil all it has to offer. It is our fifth season exploring, and there are still so many paths we have not ventured into,” she added.

Ubisoft is a creator, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and services, with a portfolio of known brands such as Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Tom Clancy’s video game series, Rayman, Far Cry and Watch Dogs.

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SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son and Grab CEO and Co-founder Anthony Tan met Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo about a potential investment in the country’s new capital city East Kalimantan, according to a KrAsia report.

East Kalimantan has a new concept revolving around smart cities, green initiatives and Artificial Intelligence development.

Also Read: Ubisoft launches fifth season of its startup programme in Singapore, France

According to a Grab spokesperson, the meeting discussed potential areas of collaboration, including developing smart cities, with green initiatives across Indonesia.

On a previous trip in August last year, Son had met the President in Jakarta and declared Softbank would invest US$5 billion in various projects, including electric vehicle development.

Earlier this week, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the Co-ordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and investment, suggested that SoftBank would invest around US$25 billion in the new capital city for the next five years.

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Zied Tayeb (CEO & founder of MyelinS) is a researcher on brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and neuroprosthetics at the Technical University of Munich. The co-founders worked with Zied Tayeb in different projects before starting MyelinS. They first developed an open-source software “Gumpy” for BCI.

Intriguingly, this software technology has gained momentum and popularity since its unveil and many researchers worldwide are using it.

After they met Dr. Sabri Mekaoui, he quickly recognised the tremendous potential of such innovation to be used for space exploration and he advised the team to investigate this direction.

Inspired by this idea, the team has been working alongside for more than a year on reshaping the idea and the innovation towards cutting-edge solutions for space robotics and they developed the beta version of the software MyBrain.

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This article was first published on nfinitiv.

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Vickers Venture Partners, a Singapore-headquartered global early-stage VC firm, has led an over US$11-million Series A funding round in UK-based Emergex Vaccines Holding.

Emergex is a biotechnology company that develops set-point vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases.

Professor Thomas Rademacher, CEO and Co-founder of Emergex, commented: “These new funds will support us to achieve some significant value-enhancing milestones as we progress our lead vaccine candidates into clinical development.”

Founded in 2016, Emergex focuses on developing vaccines that prevent virulent diseases such as Zika, Dengue Fever, Ebola and even pandemic Flu. Its T-cell vaccines elicit different responses than traditional antibody-producing vaccines, eliminating allergic, autoimmune or antibody-mediated side effects.

Also Read: I could never be the largest fund, but I can be the best performing: Dr Finian Tan of Vickers Venture Partners

Its underlying platform technology enables rapid development of vaccines to entire families of pathogens, compared to traditional approaches that can take years to develop and scale vaccines for single pathogens.

As per the deal, Dr. Finian Tan, Chairman of Vickers, will join the Emergex Board as a non-executive Director. He said: “With today’s rising global population, the risk posed by infectious diseases is greater than ever before. As such, it is vital that we value and pursue innovation to ensure we have effective healthcare options.

We see great potential in Emergex’s technology as it allows vaccines to be produced quickly, administered easily and sold at a fraction of current prices. We believe that this would revolutionise the entire world of vaccines and increase access to a larger number of people around the world,” Tan added.

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