Remember the good old days when you had to split the bill with friends using cash?

That was a common sight in Singapore just a couple of years ago but so much has changed since then. Today, most of us go about our day without the need for our wallets. From digital banking to stocks investing, everything can be easily done with a few taps on our handheld devices.

Over the years, decentralised finance (DeFi), a blockchain-based technology, has transformed many lives in miraculous ways. Individuals who were unable to apply for loans from traditional financial institutions can now make micro loans through decentralised finance systems.

Businesses with no real capital are now empowered to finance their projects using digital assets. Small-time traders and artists can also easily sell and trade artworks using digital currencies that are becoming increasingly valued in the real world. And the list goes on.

Whether we like it or not, DeFi has been and will continue to disrupt the fintech industry for years to come. Even as blockchain becomes increasingly useful for both individuals and businesses, few of us actually understand it enough to take enough advantage of it.

However, even as someone who has no interest in dabbling with digital assets, taking the effort to understand this new technology may improve the quality of your life and career in unexpected ways.

Lucky for you, I’m here to help you out. Read on to learn more about the untapped potential of DeFi systems outside of the crypto world.

The DeFi space is a notoriously unfriendly place for non-tech people like us to navigate. I often find it a pity that sophisticated systems built by talented software engineers get lost in translation when it reaches the average consumer. While the technology may be impressive, what matters at the end of the day is whether mass adoption by the public is possible. If we don’t even understand it, how can we be a part of this technology renaissance?

Fortunately, this problem has an easy solution. As a start, let’s dissect some of the financial jargon into not-so-intimidating terms together.

Blockchain

Blockchain is a database that records information in a way that makes it impossible for anyone to cheat the system. While traditional financial systems have someone in charge who can make edits to transactions without anyone else knowing, this cannot be done on the blockchain as every change gets tracked and recorded in the system. The unique feature of blockchain is that it is decentralised, meaning that no one is in charge of it, and it is run collectively by the people who use it.

DeFi

DeFi is a blockchain-based form of finance that does not rely on central financial intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges or banks to offer traditional financial instruments, and instead utilises smart contracts on blockchains. Smart contracts are self-executing contracts that enable users to buy and sell amongst one another without the need for a central authority.

Digital asset-backed loans

These are loans between users in which one user uses digital assets as collateral to borrow money (called borrower), and another user lends their digital assets (called lender). Digital assets could be cryptocurrencies and tokens that are accepted by lending platforms as collaterals.

Now that we are armed with some basic knowledge about DeFi and its current implementations, let’s dive deeper.

The problem with DeFi

For the longest time, DeFi systems have only been used within the crypto community. Businesses that do not possess digital assets were unable to make use of DeFi systems to finance their projects.

As a result, SMEs that do not have the capital or assets frequently lose out to big companies who own real assets which can be posted as collateral for monetary loans from banks and investment funds.

Also read: How the decentralised finance movement is gaining momentum in Asia

One of the biggest issues with DeFi is that the products and technologies that crypto companies develop do not actually have real world implications. Because DeFi systems trade exclusively in digital assets, there currently exists an unbridgeable abyss between the crypto community and the rest of the world.

In the end, just as traditional businesses cannot harness the potential of DeFi, the crypto community is also limited in their ability to make impactful investments on real-world projects.

Thankfully, many global companies are warming up to the idea of accepting cryptocurrency as a legitimate mode of payment in recent years. For example, PayPal just rolled out a new “Checkout with Crypto” function that allows users to convert their Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or Bitcoin Cash to US dollars, which PayPal then uses to pay merchants.

As a major digital wallet with 377 million active users, PayPal’s move towards digital currencies is an important one that enables the crypto community to easily make real world transactions.

ShuttleOne: DeFi in the Real World

Closer to home, ShuttleOne, a DeFi blockchain company that offers blockchain-based finance services to real businesses, recently financed the first batch of electric vehicles (EVs) to replace SMRT’s entire taxi fleet for commercial use in Singapore. The financing of this first batch of EVs makes ShuttleOne the first decentralised finance company to fund real businesses using blockchain technology.

The ShuttleOne network harnesses the power of AI and blockchain to offer real asset-based loans to businesses using capital from smart contracts innovation. Their proprietary blockchain technology that is licensed by Global eTrade Services (a subsidiary of Crimsonlogic), CALISTA Finance powered by ShuttleOne, is able to tokenise real-world trade assets to store in the chain and can be easily verified by parties within the supply chain logistics platform.

This provides full transparency of the entire supply chain and credit scoring for financing services. Last year, ShuttleOne serviced more than 4,000 merchants and managed over US$3,500,000 of trade financing – a solid proof that DeFi companies are more than capable of bridging the gap between DeFi solutions and real businesses.

Can DeFi do more?

The successful partnership between Singapore government-linked companies and ShuttleOne marks a milestone for both Singapore and the blockchain finance industry as one of the biggest and most progressive use cases of decentralised finance service in real-world projects. As part of the Singapore Green Plan 2030, Singapore has set aside S$30 million for EV-related initiatives over the next five years.

Through 2020, Insurtech investment in Singapore quadrupled from S$35million to S$125 million, signalling tremendous potential for insurance innovation in the space. This presents an excellent opportunity for more DeFi blockchain companies to provide critical support and innovative solutions for government and business initiatives in the near future.

With the continuous adoption of 5G technology and smart city solutions, DeFi is poised to play bigger roles in financing real world solutions in the years to come. Today, as one of the world’s leading FinTech hubs and a global gateway to Asia, Singapore is well positioned to lead the charge towards the next technology revolution through blockchain innovation.

DeFi can definitely do more. At its infancy, DeFi is already making a positive impact on real world businesses and projects. We are now sitting on the crux of a digital revolution with blockchain technology paving the way, and I believe it is only a matter of time before the world realises the untapped potential of DeFi.

ShuttleOne was the first, but it definitely won’t be the last.

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Disruption is a taboo word to many businesses and industries. But when used in the context of entrepreneurship, I don’t see it as something to fear, instead I see it as an opportunity.

I would go further to say that if there are no changes in the ecosystem and disruption in business models, the opportunities for entrepreneurs are limited.

The road to success is never completely smooth; obstacles and setbacks are common and expected. Instead of seeing these disruptions as the end of our journey, we can choose to learn the lessons they are trying to teach us.

I’m no stranger to disruption. In fact, I’ve faced it a few times. I’ve gone from being a pioneer and market leader to tethering on the brink of bankruptcy because market conditions didn’t align. I’ve even disrupted myself and killed top-performing products because I felt they didn’t have good long-term prospects. Once you see disruption as an opportunity, everything changes. Developing that mindset takes practice but it can be done.

Be accountable and identify gaps

In 2001, I was running an internet service provider PoP (Point-of-Presence) business and had run into losses as free ISPs entered the business. Following that experience, I saw the potential for data centres to expand our offerings but I hadn’t taken into account how prohibitive the bandwidth costs would be.

This made it impossible to compete with similar offerings from the US and the UK. However, I embraced the setback and set my mind to learning everything I could about the bandwidth market.

The insight I gained was invaluable five years later when the Internet revolution went into full swing in India. I noticed that it was now a much more favourable environment for data centres and falling bandwidth costs was a factor in my observation.

I believed strongly that demand would rise for data centre services and chose to go bigger than I did before to anticipate future needs. Today, CtrlS is Asia’s largest-rated four data centre, and we serve some of the largest customers around the world, including 60 from the  Fortune 100 list.

Be adaptable

The biggest advantage that an entrepreneur can have is the ability to adapt. Market conditions will change all the time. Sometimes an initial idea doesn’t pan out as well as you expected due to internal or external factors.

Entrepreneurs shouldn’t be afraid of pivoting to another business model to adapt to that disruption and may even discover new niches in the process.

However, do your research to ensure that the shift makes sense and has considered all factors, otherwise you risk losing focus.

We launched Cloud4C before public cloud became a widely accepted reality. We had to work hard to convince CIOs in India but we persisted because I firmly believed that the public cloud revolution was due anytime.

Those were difficult few years but our persistence led us to a global expansion of a scale we had not imagined. Today, Cloud4C operates in over 25 countries and is a partner to all the major hyperscalers, especially in the emerging economies.

Focus on problem-solving to improve sustainability

I don’t believe in starting businesses to ride on trends. Building a viable product is all about solving a business need now and in the future. Entrepreneurs absolutely need to consider what the future might look like and how their business will fit in, which will also make it resilient to disruption.

That level of insight is honed through many hours of research, valuable conversations and personal experience. Research reports only tell you what has been, not what will be.

Also read: Entrepreneurship in a pandemic: Seeking success through economic turmoil

I’ve always prioritised solving a business need, then working towards making the business viable. It seems like an obvious stance to take but many entrepreneurs make the mistake of focusing too much on the bottom line at the expense of building a good product.

If your product or service adds value, it will naturally be profitable. For Cloud4C, I only had one or two relationship managers per continent – clients were coming to us because they were interested in how our product could help them.

Build a team that shares your vision

Every entrepreneur knows this – having a good team that is aligned with your vision can make or break your business. But a team of believers is not the same as a team of yes-men. The former may challenge and question you but they will do their best work for you because they believe in what you’re trying to achieve.

On the other hand, the latter will only tell you what you want to hear. Without challenge, there can be no growth but you must also be walking in the same direction.

Before I launched Cloud4C, I wanted disaster recovery (DR) to be one of our offerings. The marketing team at the time objected because they didn’t think anyone would want disaster recovery in the cloud. I ended up hiring new marketing people who debated my stance with me, saw the merits and were willing to back me with a workable plan.

Years later, disaster recovery is one of our most-asked-about services and the global DR-as-a-Service market is anticipated to hit US$21.2 billion by 2025.

We now live in a moment where some of the major disruptions of the era have all happened within a very short time. Attitudes and approaches to our existing way of life are changing drastically. Digitalisation is nearly synonymous with business survival.

It’s a truly exciting time to be an entrepreneur and such an opportunity only arises once a lifetime. I urge all entrepreneurs to arm themselves with insight, have faith in their vision and jump in. If you fall, you can always get up again – and do it better.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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Telkomsel injects US$300mn more into Gojek to further grow Indonesia’s digital lifestyle sector; The two firms will explore more opportunities to integrate their digital services, with the aim of delivering greater value to consumers, partners and businesses; Telkomsel had invested US$150mn in Gojek in November 2020.

Scrutinising the remarkable tale of this teenage Forbes 30 under 30 inductee; An investigation by TechInAsia finds inconsistencies in Team Labs’s funding and financials; The Singapore-based startup’s US$9.8mn fundraise claims from US-based Grand Canyon Capital without even a single f2f meeting between the two firms remains sketchy.

Axiata-owned ADA rakes in US$60mn from Softbank to develop AI-driven digital marketing solutions; ADA will also invest the funds in content analytics, automation of content creation and build data platforms that predict consumers’ insights; Post-deal, Softbank will own 23.07% shareholding of ADA at an enterprise valuation of US$260mn.

Thailand’s Brooker Group to invest US$48mn into decentralised projects; They include 15-plus high-growth companies, including Binance, Uniswap, Enjin and Filecoin; This new direction to digital assets DeFi and dApps will eventually make up approximately 50 per cent of the group’s total assets.

Malaysian drones services firm Aerodyne adds Japanese investors to its cap table; Investors are Real Tech Fund, Kobashi Holdings and ACSL; The capital will help Aerodyne expand its agri drones service Agrimor, globally, especially to India, Indonesia and Thailand.

NGC Ventures launches US$20mn fund, invests in decentralised exchange Dexlab; It is a strategic investor that aims to accelerate the growth and development of key blockchain projects in the Solana ecosystem; This is one of the five strategic investment funds that will bring US$100mn of new capital to the Solana ecosystem.

Tonik raises US$17mn in an iGlobe-led round to scale its neobank services in Philippines; Other backers are Sequoia India, Altara Ventures, Insignia, Citius and Baring Vostok Capital; Tonik claims to have secured US$20mn in retail deposits within just a month of its public launch in March 2021.

Vietnam’s Sky Mavis receives US$7.5mn Series A to scale its top blockchain game Axie Infinity globally; Investors include Libertus Capital (lead), Collab + Currency, Blocktower Capital and 500 Startups; Axie Infinity is a virtual world full of fierce, adorable pets, called Axies, which can be battled, collected and used to earn an income.

HashMix raises US$3mn funding to roll out its mining power NFT in June; Investors include HashKey Capital, Kenetic Capital, GBV Capital, LongHash Ventures, and Fenbushi Capital; HashMix aims to democratise and activate the mining economy by introducing a decentralised universal marketplace for various mining capacities using the NFT tech.

UglyFood in talks to raise up to US$1mn seed funding, looks to close the round by Aug; The startup operates in the fruits and vegetables space by selling excess/ugly produce, and creating content on sustainability; In addition to groceries, UglyFood also operates in three other categories: workshops, comics and games.

atato raises US$1mn to help financial institutions build blockchain-based digital assets solutions; Investors include Zipmex Asia, SOSV, and angels; Atato’s products help companies create, store and manage digital assets in compliance with the Southeast Asian digital assets regulations.

EduSpaze partners Colombian VC studio to help Asian edutech startups expand into LatAm; The Latin Leap partnership also aims to provide strategic and commercial support for Asia’s edutech startups to capitalise on the global growth momentum; It is also aimed at helping drive deeper co-operation between the Latin American and Asian tech ecosystems.

Alice Labs eyes SEA expansion after raising US$500K seed funding; Investors are Anchorless Bangladesh (lead) and HOF Capital; Alice Labs develops smart tools and conversational artificial intelligence solutions that manage and automate customer service for e-commerce and online businesses; The company’s core product, MyAlice, enables businesses to streamline customer service, making it more efficient and customer-friendly.

Givaudan and Bühler open Protein Innovation Centre in Singapore; The Centre combines the pilot technology of Bühler’s extrusion and processing equipment with Givaudan’s new culinary facilities and its world-leading expertise in flavor, taste, ingredient, and product development; At the Centre, customers can develop high-quality products suitable for Asian culinary applications at scale.

Indonesian Shariah fintech market is 5th largest in the world; Reports also noted that millennials dominate borrowers on the platform; Indonesia’s Shariah fintech market size is US$2.9bn; The first rank is Saudi Arabia with US$17.9bn, followed by Iran (US$ 9.2bn), UAE (US$ 3.7bn, and Malaysia (US$3bn).

China’s digital currency is coming — other major economies need to follow suit; The digital yuan is a version of the normal Chinese currency deployed on a blockchain, which is the tamper-proof online ledger technology that underpins digital coins like bitcoin and ethereum; The digital yuan bypasses the need for these banks; There is no service fee, unlike these payment alternatives, and in theory the speed of payments can be even faster.

Look beyond Singapore: Why Kuala Lumpur is an emerging tech hub alternative; At about 16mn, Malaysia has a significantly larger workforce than Singapore’s 2.3mn, and its employees are also nearly as proficient in English; With more than 32 million people, Malaysia also has an incomparably larger population of digital consumers.

When paying it forward doesn’t pay: It’s time for startup mentorship events to step up; Volunteering your time and energy in startup events and programmes is great, but here are three red flags to look out for to avoid wasting your time and making sure you’re really paying it forward.

Better workforce management leads to greater customer satisfaction. Here’s how Google did it; Learn how Google put the right people, in the right places, at the right times, for a better customer experience.

The hybrid work model will outlast the pandemic. But will one model fit all?; One hybrid model doesn’t fit all and forcing it to work across the entire organisation will lead to decreased productivity and poor employee experiences.
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Singapore may be a regional financial centre and expat haven but it is not the only choice. I believe Kuala Lumpur has many advantages that make it the best place in Asia to grow a technology company.

At Juwai IQI, we believe in Kuala Lumpur so much that we chose to build our 1,000-person technology and data team there instead of in the nearby Merlion City. We have already begun hiring and are fitting out the new space we will grow into. We plan to move in during the first quarter of 2022. 

Nor have we regretted our decision for a moment. While Singapore is well known for a range of startups, I believe Malaysia has more long-term potential and does more to encourage tech companies that can help it fulfil its ambitious plans to make its workforce one of the most highly skilled and gainfully employed in Asia.

For example, our technology team has received a warm welcome from the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation. Our investment falls under the government’s MyDIGITAL initiative, which aims to attract investments worth MYR70 billion in digitalisation by 2025.

Government support is helpful, but no technology business would base their decision on where to operate on this factor alone. The truth is that Malaysia is already on its way to becoming one of the most important technology hubs in Asia.

At about 16 million, Malaysia has a significantly larger workforce than Singapore’s 2.3 million, and its employees are also nearly as proficient in English.

With more than 32 million people, Malaysia also has an incomparably larger population of digital consumers. Most technology companies need a market like Malaysia because they depend on scale to achieve profitability. Singapore just can’t offer comparable benefits. Nearby Indonesia is larger, true, but Indonesia is also a more difficult environment, due to poor logistics and its highly unbanked population.

Malaysia has an advantage over competing locations from further afield. Simply put, if you want to operate or sell in ASEAN, you need to be based in Malaysia or another ASEAN member. This is especially important since the signing of the world’s largest free-trade agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in November of 2020. When RCEP comes into force, it will encompass about one-third of the world’s population and nearly that much of its GDP.

Just look at some of the numbers. 

Mobile penetration has ramifications for any technology company due to its impact on growth in social media, contactless transactions, online retail, digital currency, smart devices, on-demand services, 5G usage and the adoption of super-apps like WeChat, Gojek and Grab. Southeast Asia is home to 400 million mobile users. (By comparison, the US has just 276 million.)

In terms of internet users, Southeast Asia overtook all developed countries as long ago as 2017, the year in which the region passed the US. Germany, the UK and France (combined) fell behind in 2014, and Japan did so more than a decade ago, in 2010.

What’s more, new research reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic spurred rapid growth in digital adoption. In Malaysia, a survey conducted in August and September of 2020 found that 36 per cent of digital consumers are new. (Similar results are reported across Southeast Asia.)

Also read: The Malaysian tech ecosystem is blooming; here’s what it looks like

It is no surprise that Malaysia has given birth to successful technology companies such as car-sales portals operator iCar Asia, Netflix competitor iflix and ride-sharing giant Grab. Their successes are one reason that private tech funding is soaring.

This leads to announcements such as the recent news from Malaysian private equity firm Creador, which sees excellent demand for its latest US$680 million fund, which will be invested in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian nations.

Realities like this make Malaysia an ideal environment for technology companies. Nor am I the only person who thinks so. 

Also read: Malaysia as springboard to the ASEAN: A tech pass for global entrepreneurs

Microsoft recently announced plans to establish its first datacentre region in Malaysia, which will enable it to locally deliver cloud services. Microsoft’s move will create some 19,000 jobs in Malaysia. The company has also announced plans to train one million Malaysians in digital skills over the next two and a half years. 

Technology employers, take note. Malaysia offers the kind of high-quality, high-skill and rapidly growing workforce that any technology company needs. If I had to name one other city in Asia where it makes sense to establish a technology team, it would be Shanghai. The Chinese powerhouse also has a highly skilled workforce, although good English skills are less common than in Malaysia.

That is why besides our Kuala Lumpur global research and development headquarters, Juwai IQI has made Shanghai our base for Chinatech R&D.

A presence in both markets gives you roots in two of the deepest beds of technology talent in the world.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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

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Revere VC raises US$1.35M seed funding

The full story: Revere VC, a San Francisco- and Hong Kong-based asset management firm, announced the close of US$1.35 million seed round, with participation from strategic equity investor AngelList, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin and Thailand-based Siamrajthanee Group/SeaX founder Nattaphol Vimolchalao.

The plans: The funds will be used to provide institutional investors a more holistic way to invest in venture capital, while bringing themes of productisation and curation to the asset class.

New products: Revere VC has also announced the launch of its flagship products and services — ‘The Portal’, a curated VC platform, and its inaugural fund strategy ‘Prime Access Fund’.

Thailand’s Property Flow raises US$700K

The full story: Thai SaaS proptech platform Property Flow has secured US$700,000 led by Swedish VC firm PropTech Farm, with participation from Seven Peaks Software.

Also Read: Thailand’s Brooker Group to invest US$48M into Binance, Uniswap, other DeFi projects

The plans: 

Property Flow has been initially focusing on the Thai market, and is now looking to further strengthen its position in Thailand as well as internationally through strategic partnerships.

What is Property Flow?: For small to medium size real estate businesses, the Property Flow Platform provides an end to end turn key solution, including everything from access to inventory, listing management, CRM and real-estate websites as a service.

Any person that has an interest in becoming an agent, or that is an agent can get started on Property Flow by signing up online, and within hours have access to inventory and all tools required to start doing a real-estate business.

Jim Rogers joins foodtech firm Life3 Biotech’s Board of Investors

The full story: Rogers, one of the most respected and successful names in international investing, has a more than 50 years record of spotting the next big developments and movements in business and society.

Together with George Soros, he co-founded the legendary Quantum Fund, one of the most successful hedge funds in history, and was one of the first Western investors to get into the China stock market, back in the 1980s.

Also Read: Look beyond Singapore: Why Kuala Lumpur is an emerging tech hub alternative

He was also the creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index.

Life3 is the first alternative protein company that he is advising. 

Aleta Planet forms JV with Fooyo

The full story: Singaporean cross-border payments firm Aleta Planet’s joint venture with software developer Fooyo is aimed at offering digital marketing and e- commerce solutions to meet rising demand from Singapore businesses preparing for the reopening of the China market.

The joint venture, AP Studios, will develop digital tools that will help merchants provide a richer, more interactive payment experience as well as engage their customers through the popular WeChat marketing platform in China.

With AP Studios, Aleta Planet, which is already connecting merchants to the UnionPay network in China and in 179 markets globally, will be able to offer a comprehensive and seamless marketing payment solution to these merchants.

Who is Fooyo?: It creates web and mobile apps to help users navigate tourism, retail and hospitality services. It is the developer behind the MySentosa app which allows users including many Chinese tourists, to access real-time information about the island resort. It also created the MuslimSG app, Chongqing Tourism Pass and Hongya Cave crowd monitoring solution.

Zipmex to facilitate luxury condo purchase with cryptocurrency

The full story: Zipmex, Southeast Asia’s leading digital assets exchange, announced today that it has partnered Thailand’s One.Six Development, the company behind the ultra-luxury condominium The Strand to facilitate cryptocurrency payments on Zipmex’s platform.

Also Read: Zipmex snags US$6M in an oversubscribed funding round to expand its digital assets exchange

The partnership comes on the heels of Zipmex facilitating Asia’s first Lamborghini and Tesla purchases using bitcoin. It also tracks a larger global trend of property sellers accepting the world’s most popular cryptocurrency as an alternative to fiat currency.

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Image Credit: Life3 Biotech

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impress.ai, a Singapore-based AI chatbot for hiring, has raised US$3 million in a pre-series A funding round led by Summit 29K.

Seeds Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, also participated in the round.

This development was first reported by TechInAsia.

The AI startup will use the newly raised capital for product development, hiring, and expansion across Australia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

One of the biggest complaints of job seekers is that employers don’t respond to their requests. However, very often it can be physically daunting for hiring managers to respond to each and every request.

Also Read: What will the next wave of VC investment in HR tech look like?

Founded in 2017, impress.ai seeks to solve this problem through its chatbot, which allows hiring managers to interview, engage and shortlist candidates quickly.

To make the hiring process even easier, the bot conducts structured interviews using techniques from Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

The company told TiA that it reached its operational break-even point in May last year.

In 2017, impress.ai had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from the Javelin Startup-O Victory Fund, a Singapore-managed seed capital fund.

The global human resource management market size had been valued at US$16.01 billion in 2019 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 11.7 per cent from 2020 to 2027.

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UglyFood, a food waste management company based in Singapore, is in discussion with three investors to raise its first round of seed financing of up to US$1 million, a top company executive told e27.

The capital being raised will be used to fund the foodtech startup’s marketing and outreach efforts, mainly for its games section.

“We expect to close this (fundraising round) by August this year,” said General Manager Sean Goh.

Also Read: Bringing innovation to the table: Why foodtech is the next frontier in Southeast Asia

UglyFood was founded in 2017 by Lee Zhong Han, Yeo Pei Shan, Foo Lin Geng, and Augustine Tan — all in their 20s — with a mission to eliminate food waste and revamp the food ecosystem. Its aim is to make sustainability a part of people’s everyday lives.

The startup operates in the fruits and vegetables space by selling excess/ugly produce, and creating content on sustainability.

In addition to groceries, UglyFood also operates in three other categories: workshops, comics and games.

As for workshops, the company hosts negotiation and educational workshops for companies and schools. Currently conducted in person, the venture is moving this virtually to expand its addressable market.

UglyFood also creates comic content(by its in-house designers team). The aim is to educate about food waste in a fun and lighthearted way. The company gets corporate sponsors for this project, and it also works with companies to create specific messages.

“The mobile game, Uglyfood Matchwars, will be launched this month. It is a multiplayer puzzle game that teaches players the difference between perfect, ugly/blemished and spoiled produce. The aim is to encourage and nurture environmentally friendly behaviors, through repetitive learning in gameplay,” shared Goh.

Geographic expansion is also on the anvil for UglyFood, with markets like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam on the list of the first phase. “These are important agricultural countries in Asia. Singapore is just a sandbox for us and the potential is outside the city-state,” said Tan, who co-founder at UglyFood.

Speaking of the main challenges facing the industry, Tan explained that the food and beverages industry has been slow in adopting technology and is filled with traditional businesses that prefer to stick to their usual ways. Much of the supply chain is still human-intensive.

“There’s a saying ‘if it works, why change it’. Though there’s been progress in digital adoption due to the COVID-19 spread, there’s still a long way to go. With government efforts and the public becoming more aware, their view on clearing excess supply has taken more of a priority,” Tan concluded.

Also Read: Foodtech startup Next Gen Foods shares the secret behind their successful expansion, fundraising

In Southeast Asia, food waste management — which has many facets and branches– is relatively a new industry. Among the early players, TreeDots is probably another player, whose product comes close to that of UglyFood’s.

TreeDots is basically a wholesale distributor of surplus and imperfect food supplies in Southeast Asia. It leverages on technology to better match supply and demand and streamline transactions.

It helps suppliers recover cost from perfectly edible, imperfect and unsold inventory, and to assist food service providers and households in sourcing for affordable food supplies.

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Image Credit: UglyFood

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GROW, a Singaporean accelerator programme aimed at driving change in the global agrifood system, has unveiled the second cohort of its latest initiative, the Impact Accelerator.

Out of the 10 selected startups, five hail from Southeast Asia.

Set to run virtually, the programme will provide teams with the necessary support they need to scale up rapidly and create lasting positive change across the globe.

Selected startups will be given US$100,000 in cash and US$100,000 in-kind investment on founder-friendly terms.

They will also benefit from coaching, mentor support, expert sessions, peer learning, and access to industry networks.

GROW is supported by impact partners, including UNDP Global Centre, Grow Asia, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, and Toniic.

Also Read: Meet the 20 agtech startups pitching at Rabobank’s Food Loss Challenge Asia

“Each of the companies selected for the Impact Accelerator embodies this mission and brings a unique solution to the table. We are thrilled to welcome these 10 exciting companies into the family and look forward to working closely with them to scale new heights and create lasting impact,” said John Friedman, Executive Director at GROW.

Here are the five Southeast Asian startups in the cohort:

Biteback Biotechnology (Singapore)

Insect bio-refinery converting agro-industrial waste into a healthier drop-in replacement for palm oil, biofuels and other functional ingredients.

Braintree Technologies (Malaysia)

Robotic farming-as-a-service that transforms unattended land into agricultural spaces, raising smallholder incomes and reducing greenhouse gas and chemical emissions.

Green Rebel (Indonesia)

A plant-based protein brand that uses local ingredients to create clean-label meat alternatives with distinct Asian flavors.

Mayani (Philippines)

An agritech e-commerce platform helping smallholders access new customers and markets while digitising the supply chain to improve incomes and reduce food loss.

Seadling (Singapore)

Produces functional ingredients for pet, aquaculture and animal feed manufacturers from sustainably farmed seaweed.

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EduSpaze, a Singapore-based edutech accelerator, has announced a partnership with Latin Leap, a Colombia-based VC studio.

This is aimed at providing strategic and commercial support for Asia’s edutech startups to capitalise on the global growth momentum.

Furthermore, it will also help drive deeper co-operation between the Latin American and Asian tech ecosystems.

Singapore has consistently sustained top rankings in the global education field and is recognised to have one of the best education systems in the world.

In contrast, Latin America continues to lag behind in terms of educational outcomes and hosts some of the world’s weakest education systems.

As much as 50 per cent of students in the LatAm region do not reach the basic PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) proficiency levels and are on average three years behind the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in components such as reading, math and science.

Also Read: Meet the 7 startups from edutech accelerator EduSpaze’s second cohort

In light of these concerning statistics, there is a dire need for innovative edutech solutions to strengthen the local system and ensure that these Latin American children and adolescents are able to access quality education.

“One of the most crucial challenges that Latin America faces today is the lack of access to quality education. The region has one of the world’s weakest education systems and grapples with high levels of inequality,” said Laura Gomez, General Partner of Latin Leap.

“In times of unprecedented change, when the next 100 years will see the equivalent of 20,000 years of progress, Latin America’s usual strategy of catching up is not sustainable and faces the threat of becoming irrelevant. The only way is to anticipate and leapfrog the region. Innovative edutech solutions from Asia can help the region close this gap and enhance access to quality education for all,” Gomez added.

“Both EduSpaze and Latin Leap are aligned in investing our resources in purpose-driven companies that can create a strong educational impact. EduSpaze will help identify pedagogically-driven Southeast Asian edutech companies with a proven market fit and is able to similarly implement needs-based solutions that can drive effective and meaningful education for Latin Americans,” added Alex Ng, Managing Director of EduSpaze.

“Latin Leap would thereby provide the much-needed access and network for the startups to capture new opportunities, internationalise and build a stronger global edutech innovation ecosystem,” he shared.

Founded in 2019, EduSpaze is managed by seed capital firm and startup incubator Spaze Ventures, and supported by Enterprise Singapore.

Its accelerator supports companies that address sector-specific challenges within the education industry and provides selected startups up to S$500,000 (US$376,950) funding, mentor support and an environment for pilot project implementations.

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Axiata Digital Advertising (ADA), a Malaysia-based digital marketing solutions company, has secured US$60 million in funding from SoftBank Group.

Post the investment, the Japanese telecom group will own 23.07 per cent shareholding of ADA at an enterprise valuation of US$260 million.

With the newly raised capital, ADA aims to continue the development of its AI models, with a primary focus on precision targeting for the marketing industry.

In addition, ADA will also invest the funds in content analytics, automation of content creation, and build data platforms that predict consumers’ insights that help drive business decisions.

SoftBank said in a statement that it will make ADA a core to its digital and data marketing arm.

Founded in 2018, ADA is a group company of Malaysian telco giant Axiata. ADA designs and executes integrated digital, analytics and marketing solutions to help businesses gain market insights, optimise cost and reach and acquire customers.

Also Read: Mosaic Solutions raises US$1.5M to provide data analytics, inventory management solutions to SEA’s F&B industry

So far, the company has a footprint across nine markets in South and Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and South Korea.

“We believe this alliance between SoftBank and ADA will reshape the digital marketing and data landscape in the Asia Pacific region. This move is part of our Beyond Carrier growth strategy as we seek to expand beyond the traditional telecommunications business. By combining our diversified solutions and technologies with ADA’s expertise, we expect we can both generate significant synergies,” said Daichi Nozaki, Head of Global Business Division, SoftBank.

“The post-COVID-19 norm is a digital-first economy, which ADA has been successfully building towards. The capital and business alliance with SoftBank will further propel ADA’s analytics, data and AI digital marketing solutions for the benefit of our customers across the region,” added Srinivas Gattamneni, CEO of ADA.

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