Singaporean startup fintech firm Friz lands six-figure funding; Investors are Y Combinator, Iterative VC, 500 Durians, and 500 TukTuks; Friz is a financial platform for freelancers in SEA that leverages data insights to provide credit cards, personal loans, insurance, savings, and investments in a timely and affordable manner. More here

How Sustenir Group makes sustainable farming possible in the island nation; The indoor farm uses methods like controlled environment agriculture, vertical farming, and hydroponics to grow kale, strawberries and more; The indoor farming facility has sensors operating 24 hours to provide the company with data on the health and status of all its plants. The parameters used include humidity, temperature, and light. More here

Digital art NFTs are all the rage — but they’re horrible for Mother Earth; Because they depend on a blockchain, NFTs use a lot of energy; Most creators still use Ethereum; This involves an energy-intensive computer function called mining; Specialist mining computers take turns guessing the combination to a digital lock (a long string of random digits). More here

Bank of Thailand gearing up for digital currency tests; The central bank says it will begin testing use of its retail digital currency for the general public in Q2 2022, before fully implementing it over the next three to five years; A retail CBDC is a digital form of money issued by a central bank comparable to physical banknotes; It can be used in financial transactions both online and offline. More here

Thai edutech startup Conicle bags US$3mn Series A; Investors are InVent, 500TuksTuks, Stormbreaker Venture and Stundi; Conical’s learning management platform help organisations enhance employee capabilities and efficiency; Its ConicleX offers a “cloud university” where employees can learn skills including business acumen, data analysis and personnel management. More here

MDEC grants US$2.5mn to 50 SMEs and enterprises in Malaysia; Through MDEC, the government has been actively offering grants to spur innovation, support creation of new intellectual property, and increase adoption of business automation to positively contribute towards growing Malaysia’s digital economy. More here

CEO of Indonesian P2P lending startup is in police custody over gun-related incident; In a video, Restock CEO Muhammad Farid Andika was seen aiming a gun from his car at women who were standing in the middle of a road; Restock issues working capital loans to MSMEs; In 2020, it raised US$1mn from Tunas Nusantara Kapital, Silverbacks Ventures, others. More here

Taiwan’s Appier aims to follow Tokyo IPO with global growth; Appier went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday after raising US$130mn in an IPO; As a public company, Appier faces the difficult task of meeting high growth expectations and achieving profitability. On Tuesday, it said it expects to generate US$105mn in revenue this year, up from US$84mn in 2020, while operating losses will slightly widen to US$14.9mn. More here

Grab Financial Group (GFC) has sold 100mn+ insurance policies across SEA since the service was launched; In the last six months, GFG has launched multiple financial services products for consumers, such as micro-investment, third-party loans and buy-now-pay-later products; This includes its first micro-investment solution, AutoInvest – offered by GrabInvest — a solution that allows users to invest small sums of money while spending in Grab’s ecosystem. More here

Why customer education plays an important role in Wise’s international expansion plan; The company aims to solve the problems of high fees and currency mark-ups on foreign exchange transaction by building a platform that provides “instant, convenient, transparent and eventually free” international remittance. More here

How to optimise email deliverability for a digital-first world; Your email deliverability rate decides whether you can send at scale without being marked as spam; A few key criteria influence the rate: your reputation as a sender, email engagement, content quality, and infrastructure. More here

OpenSys launches digital payment solution X-Kiosk for underserved; X-Kiosk allows customers to conduct payment services for themselves (or behalf of other users) as the kiosk can be used for prepaid reloads, e-wallet top-ups, SIM card replacement, SIM card purchasing, bill payments and loan repayments. More here

Hanoi, Vietnam unveils AI centre; In the long term, the AI Centre will serve as the place to connect domestic and international AI operators to deploy basic research and to create “Made in Vietnam” core technologies; The aim is to accelerate digital transformation and boost the 4.0 industrial revolution in the country. More here

Singapore-based researchers develop daylight harvesting smart device; Authorities are looking at the feasibility of digging deeper underground to create new space for infra, storage, and utilities; Demand for round-the-clock underground lighting is therefore expected to rise in the future. More here

MSMEs empowered by cloud-based kitchens in Indonesia; Local companies are quickly embracing cloud technology to cut their cost of operations; The government is at the forefront of the development of cloud data centres and virtualisation technology in the country; They aim to deploy consolidated, distributed data infrastructure with strong disaster recovery capabilities. More here

Knowing when your startup should go all-in on business development; BD is rarely, if ever, the solution to succeeding in a crowded industry, differentiating an offering or delivering a truly exceptional customer experience; But standing up an effective BD operation that brings in sustainable revenue and helps validate product-market fit can be the difference between survival and failure for a startup. More here

Don’t hide behind ‘best practices’ for business success — experiment!; Relying on best practices does not guarantee success; As we saw in 2020, what used to be best practice in 2019 was pretty irrelevant; And this year is another new story yet again when it comes to customer behaviour. More here

Australia funds innovation in Vietnam; Aus4Innovation is a 4-year collaboration between the two countries; In 2018-22, they are together exploring emerging areas of technology and digital transformation, trialling new models for partnerships between public and private sector institutions, and strengthening Vietnamese capability in digital foresight, scenario planning, commercialisation, and innovation policies. More here

Mobile money good, but carries potential risks: Vietnamese economist; If we don’t manage them well, there will be a situation of the telecom network operator abusing people’s accounts, says Dr. Cấn Văn Lực, chief economist of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam; The second risk is related to technical and IT infra; If the infrastructure is unstable, it can make mobile money users feel insecure, while technical errors can even cause loss of money. More here

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Wrapping up the financial year is always tiring. Welcome to a brand new financial year which our contributors have opened with a lot of hope in the fintech sector.

From the future of digital currency to when will SEA fully accept crypto; from marketing tips from former Gojek CMO to brand building via storytelling– we had a packed week.

Catch up on some of the interesting contributions from our community. If this inspires you to share your views, join the gang and submit a post.

Can fintech partnerships solve the challenges of micro and small businesses? by Sirish Kumar, cofounder of Telr

“For decades, these small-medium enterprises or warungs in Indonesia have been forced to exist outside formal financial systems that were never designed to be inclusive. While many small business owners do not want to be recognised to avoid declaring income or paying taxes.

For the vast majority, however, it is the absence of a meaningful financial infrastructure that prevents these cash-based businesses from participating. Avoiding it, however, poses certain challenges; challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, and challenges that outweigh the perceived savings.”

To market, to market

How SMEs can get their digital ducks in a row for 2021 and beyond by David Fairfull, CEO and cofounder, Metigy

“SMEs have the opportunity to diversify and digitise their brick and mortar businesses by uncovering a new way to reach local customers. In signing up for the package, SMEs can tap into any of the four online partnered marketplaces to sell their products while also gaining access to services offered by the platforms. This includes content development, product listing, channel management, fulfilment services and advertising.

Beyond providing financial assistance, this package can help SMEs understand and apply digital marketing as well as improve proficiency in implementing effective digital campaigns. These skills enable SMEs to build long-term capabilities and generate greater consumer awareness of their brands and products.”

Ex-gojek CMO Piotr Jakubowski reveals the 3 things that marketers should stop doing today by Enricko Lukman, cofounder of ContentGrow

“Jakubowski is a familiar name among marketing veterans in Southeast Asia. He was the CMO of super app gojek from 2016 to 2018, where he helped build the brand into a household name. During his two and a half year stint at the now decacorn, gojek saw staggering business growth from five million monthly orders to more than 100 million.

Jakubowski shares three common content marketing pitfalls that practitioners today should try to avoid.”

Let your brand be a storyteller, not a seller: 6 marketing storytelling tips by Dana Kanchan, Digital marketing consultant and author

“Many companies struggle to tell good stories and build meaningful connections with consumers. To tell a story is not much of a challenge. To tell a great story is the art you must master well to make an impact.

After assisting many companies in the US and the Asia Pacific in marketing storytelling, I understood one key thing – great stories are only told by brands that do care about the people they create their products for. The common good must be a basis. Otherwise, the story will lack a “soul” and cannot make an influence.”

Paying with digital money

Tesla is now accepting bitcoin. Are crypto payments the future of business? by freelance journalist, Luke Fitzpatrick

“Cryptocurrency has become wildly popular, with bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, having its value skyrocket in the first few weeks of 2021 and being bought by companies like Tesla. Despite all of this, it is not overly common for businesses to accept bitcoin payments for their products and services, but why?

For many, there are concerns about setting up the payment infrastructure to accept cryptocurrency. Business owners are usually aware of how to set up debit cards and PayPal payments on their websites, but no idea how to set up bitcoin payment options. This is because bitcoin and other cryptos are stored in a different way than fiat currency and many do not know where to start.”

How e-KYC aggregators are the future players in the data supplier market by Nouamane Cherkaoui

“The existence of data governance, a strong internal process, and specific tools to serve a single vision of third party data –used on the client onboarding and during the KYC reviews– must go through the construction of an industrial and centralised approach to digital data processing.

Indeed, offers from data providers are still highly segmented. Banks are forced to use several solutions to cover the regulatory requirements and meet the needs of their business lines. Consequently, the huge number of utility providers and market solutions may result in higher costs for banks processing, rather than reducing them.”

Will Southeast Asia become a dominant force in the digital currency space? by fintech enthusiast, Kay Banzon

“In contrast to the US situation, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies did not immediately get a warm welcome in Southeast Asia. In 2017, Singapore issued a warning and expressed uneasiness with the rise of Bitcoin. In the same year, Vietnam banned the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as methods of payment. Also in 2017, Indonesia declared Bitcoin payment as illegal.

Things have changed over the years, though. Many countries in the ASEAN bloc have already enacted policies and legislation that somehow legitimise the use of digital currencies. Most countries still do not consider Bitcoin and crypto as legal tender, but they have adopted rules that legalise digital currency in other forms of financial transactions.”

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

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

The post From our community: Fintech-SME collaborations, marketing tips from ex-Gojek CMO and more…. appeared first on e27.

Over the past quarter of 2021, the e27 Memberships team has been working tirelessly to bring onboard a prestigious list of Experts onto the platform. These Experts come from varying areas of expertise from different industries and verticals.

The goal of the e27 Experts Program is to create a platform for mentors and coaches to share knowledge with their fellow peers and members within our e27 ecosystem through private one-on-one sessions.

We hope to equip every aspiring individual with relevant mentorship, useful feedback, and open up more partnership opportunities for everyone to up-skill themselves and attain their individual goals. Experts bring important skills, experiences, lessons learned, and partnerships that have a massive impact on the growth and success of every individual, and therefore, the entire ecosystem itself.

How does it work?

1. Interested users will need to create an e27 profile with basic information, send a “Request to Connect” to their preferred Expert, and add the reasons why they want to get connected with the Expert
2. Experts can then decide whether to accept the connection request (Experts can view all pending requests via the e27 Connect Dashboard here)
3. Upon approval, e27’s main role will be to facilitate the first connection with an introductory email between both parties to begin conversations from there
4. e27 will not be present to moderate in any of the sessions but will be more than happy to assist if there are any other queries or issues faced during the entire process.

*Note that the format for communication does not have to be via an online call or physical meet-up and can be done via a text message or email depending on the Expert’s preference and User’s particular needs

How to get started?

Simply sign up for an e27 PRO membership or try it for free by registering for our trial membership here to access an unlimited number of requests for connections!

If you’re an aspiring Expert looking to position yourself as a thought leader to thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of users and build key relationships with our ecosystem leaders and partners, sign up here now.

Happy connecting,
e27 Memberships Team

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Over the past quarter, the e27 Memberships team has been working tirelessly to bring onboard a prestigious list of Experts onto the e27 platform. These Experts come from varying areas of expertise from different industries and verticals.

The goal of the e27 Experts Program is to create a platform for mentors and coaches to share knowledge with their fellow peers and members within our e27 ecosystem through private 1:1 sessions.

We hope to equip every aspiring individual with relevant fundraising mentorship, useful feedback and open up more partnership opportunities for everyone to up-skill themselves and attain their individual goals. Experts bring important skills, experiences, lessons learned, and partnerships that have a massive impact on the growth and success of every individual, and therefore, the entire ecosystem itself.

Check out these 5 verified Experts that you can request to connect with for advice, mentorship, and other partnership opportunities:

Anil Joshi
Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures
Business development | Start-up funding | Strategy
Anil is the Founder and Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures, a leading Venture Capital Fund focusing on early-stage investments in tech-focused companies. He has been one of the pioneers of angel investments in India as head of operations and President at Mumbai Angels, leading Angel Investment forums in India. Anil’s experience includes corporate management functions in medium and large organisations, early-stage investment in start-ups, project management, joint ventures and business development.

Anil has helped close over 100 venture-financing deals. He serves on the Board of 5 companies and is involved with various incubation centres as a mentor in India as well as internationally. He is very well respected and valued in the start-up fraternity and is drawn upon by entrepreneurs for advice and strategic direction. Mentoring start-ups is his passion and he advises Governmental and industrial bodies on the same. Apart from investments, Anil is a very active participant in start-up events as a speaker or panellist, both in domestic and international circuits.

Sign up here and Connect with him

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Benjamin Wong
Co-founder & CEO at Kinobi Asia
Growth Strategy | Marketing | Private Equity
Benjamin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kinobi, a career platform for Asia’s 200 million young people to job explore, job prep and job switch (https://kinobi.asia). Previously, he was in investments, covering private equity, debt and real estate across Asia, Europe and US in a global boutique multi-family office and an Asian megafund. He believes in building companies with robust enterprise valuations that create an impact for the communities it serves. Throughout his life, he has built several communities around his passions – in mentoring (The Mentoring Circle), horology (Atomos Watch Club) and academia (Cogito Collective). He can be seen interacting with the young gentlemen at Singapore Boys Home, which he makes it a point to prioritise.

Sign up here and Connect with him

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Ellen Goel
Head of Entrepreneurship Programme at Singapore University of Social Sciences
Entrepreneurship Education | Lean Startup Methodology | Venture Building
Ellen has 7+ years of experience as an entrepreneur and enabler. She had her own company in the events industry and joined the Singapore University of Social Sciences in 2017 where she became the Head of the Entrepreneurship Programme. Having launched an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, called Impact Startup Challenge, an incubator in partnership with Alibaba Cloud, a Venture Builder in partnership with Enterprise Singapore and a series of startup events and workshops, Ellen is passionate to groom the next generation of impact entrepreneurs.

Sign up here and Connect with her

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Karun Arya
VP Group Corporate Affairs at Oriente
Angel Investing | Communications and Policy | Fintech
Karun is currently Vice President of Group Corporate Affairs at Oriente where he leads the design and implementation of all corporate brand strategy, public policy, and stakeholder engagement efforts for the group and its companies globally.

Karun’s also an avid angel investor and startup advisor and has a keen interest in sustainability. Previously he’s worked at Discovery Networks International, Uber, and Rolls-Royce. He has a BSc in Communications and Business from Boston University.

Sign up here and Connect with him

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Michael Lints
Partner at Golden Gate Ventures
Fundraising in SEA | Cap Tables | SEA Exit Landscape
Michael’s entrepreneurial spirit kicked in when he started an IT managed services startup with 2 friends. The startup got acquired by a data and telecom company in The Netherlands. After his entrepreneurial journey, Michael wanted to spend more time giving back to the community. He was asked to join the Economic Development Board Rotterdam as a vice chairman and chairman of the Young Economic Development Board. Apart from working with great young minds it also helped Michael build an extensive national and international political and corporate network.

In 2007, Michael founded his own venture fund focused on Dutch’s small and medium-sized enterprises to help them with capital financing, development, and relevant support and strategy. In 2013 Michael got acquainted with Golden Gate Ventures and moved his family to Singapore to join Golden Gate Ventures. Initially as a Venture Partner in 2013 to help with fundraising, strategic partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions. Michael has helped raise over $60M USD for Golden Gate Ventures and its portfolio companies and is now a Partner at Golden Gate Ventures. In 2018 Michael joined the Kauffman Fellowship program in the US, which focuses on up and coming leadership in the venture capital industry.

Sign up here and Connect with him

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Happy connecting,
e27 Memberships Team

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Photo by fauxels from Pexels

The post Meet these 5 verified Experts that are ready to connect with you appeared first on e27.

One hundred and thirty million.

That is the number of adults within Indonesia who do not use traditional bank accounts to access financial services such as loans and credit cards. Instead, they utilise fintech services such as digital wallets and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending to fulfil their financial needs.

With over 360 registered fintech companies within Indonesia, the growth of the industry is well documented. However, the financial data of their customers is often stored in silos and not exchanged.

This creates a significant problem for both companies and consumers, as the former lack the necessary information to confidently offer loans and other financial products for the latter. As consumers are unable to access the right financial products to help improve their financial wellbeing, a financial divide is created.

With ‘Open Finance‘, such an issue could be easily solved.

Open Finance is the unbundling of financial data and services to allow companies and consumers to securely leverage their data and obtain a clearer picture of an individual’s financial footprint.

This creates a mutually beneficial relationship for both consumers and fintech companies, as the consequent unlocking of access to more suitable financial products help accelerate financial inclusion and narrow the divide.

Welcomed by consumers

With an open exchange of information, fintech companies can better gauge a consumer’s current financial situation by analysing his/her credit and income data. 

Also Read: How startups can aid Southeast Asia’s Open Banking landscape

This allows companies to offer hyper-personalised solutions that are tailored to the financial needs of consumers. Crucially, this grants the unbanked population access to financial products that they would previously have had no access to without Open Finance.

Besides, the concept of Open Finance promotes fairer pricing. With increased transparency between financial products such as insurance premiums and credit loans, it is easier for consumers to compare prices and features of similar products.

This will help them get more value from their providers and combat scenarios where they are unaware that they are overpaying for a poor product. The increased competition would lead to better products at more competitive prices, with the ultimate winner being consumers themselves.

Open Finance also drives increased financial inclusion by encouraging better financial management. Consumers can have full access to their digital financial footprint, gaining a better understanding of their overall financial position — from spending habits to monthly payments for insurance premiums. 

By being constantly aware of their digital finances, consumers can improve their financial wellbeing, accelerating financial inclusion.

A case in point of how Open Finance can benefit everyday individuals can be found within the gig economy. With gig workers accounting for 56 per cent of Indonesia’s labour force, they represent a sizeable portion of the local workforce.

However, CB Insights had reported that gig workers without a regular income stream often face difficulties obtaining loan approvals or other banking services through traditional financial institutions such as banks. 

This stems from the fact that gig platforms store the financial data of their workers on their platform by embedding them within native digital wallets.

Previously, this data was not exchanged with external financial institutions, hindering them in assessing the suitability of gig workers for loans and other financial products.

However, with Open Finance, financial data from gig platforms are securely aggregated from different financial platforms to assist companies in better identifying gig workers and providing them with suitable financial products.

Benefits for fintech platforms

With open finance platforms like Finantier facilitating the open exchange of financial data, companies can offer an individualised pre-filled signup process for each prospective customer. This reduces the friction needed to onboard and provides an improved customer experience.

Besides, it helps fintech companies minimise operational costs and risks. By accessing financial data such as the income level and credit history of users, companies can better understand the financial position of their clients and generate better credit scores.

Also Read: Finantier secures funding from Y Combinator for its Open Finance platform

This results in higher approvals and lower defaults, helping companies reduce costs while increasing revenue. Open Finance also enables e-KYC (electronic know your customer). With e-KYC, fintech companies can digitally identify their customers to streamline verification processes and reduce fraud. 

Companies can also leverage increased access to user data to develop data-driven processes and offer tailored solutions for consumers. For example, insurtech companies can make use of Open Finance to gain visibility of the historical financial data of customers, allowing them to generate a more accurate risk profile and offer appropriate risk-adjusted premiums. 

Furthermore, it enables the removal of intermediaries as various services, including payments and claims, are seamlessly embedded into the platform, resulting in better engagement and lesser drop-offs.

Financial equaliser

Ultimately, Open Finance democratises access to financial services, benefitting both consumers and fintech companies. It levels the playing field for consumers and helps drive financial inclusion within the country. 

Access to equal financial services should be a right, not a privilege. Open Finance is making this statement a reality.

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This post was originally published on Finantier’s blog.

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

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

Image credit: anthoni askaria on Unsplash

The post What is Open Finance and how can it help Indonesia’s unbanked? appeared first on e27.