Quincus, a Singaporean startup that provides an enterprise SaaS platform for the supply chain industry, today announced the second close of its ongoing Series B funding round.
AEI HorizonX, the corporate VC arm of aeroplane honcho Boeing, led the round. It was joined by existing investors UP.Partners and GGV Capital.
Established in 2014 by Jonathan E. Savoir and Katherina-Olivia Lacey, Quincus provides the logistics industry with a machine-learning-enabled platform that optimises and automates shipping operations. Companies can automate manual tasks and maximise resources across supply chains using its technology.
The startup has worked closely with several household e-commerce, logistics, airline, and freight brands in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Headquartered in Singapore, Quincus has a presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, Vietnam, the UAE, the UK, and the US.
AEI HorizonX was formed in 2017 and provides early-stage companies with access to resources and opportunities. Quincus marks its first investment in a new company under its management by AE Industrial Partners, a PE firm specialising in aerospace, defense and government services, space, power & utility services, and speciality industrial markets.
Beckett Jackson, a director at AEI HorizonX, said: “With our deep experience in current and future air platforms, AEI HorizonX and Boeing will create a unique partnership with Quincus to explore the future of cargo delivery. We look forward to working closely with Jonathan and his entire team.”
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In celebration of the upcoming Philippines Startup Week, we are thrilled to announce that we are working with QBO to provide startups access to investors in the region through e27 Pro.
Philippine Startup Week 2021
Philippine Startup Week 2021 (PHSW21) is the country’s large-scale collaborative initiative to showcase the Filipino startup community in a week-long event. Made possible through the partnership between the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade & Industry, Department of Information and Communications Technology, and QBO Innovation Hub.
Philippine Startup Week 2021 (PHSW21), with this year’s theme “Beyond Recovery: Filipino Startups Redefining Opportunity”, is happening on November 15-19, 2021. The 5-day virtual conference will be held via an online platform that will enable attendees to learn, interact, network, and collaborate remotely. The conference sets out to highlight the various sectors and entities contributing to the growing Philippine startup ecosystem.
The conference features five specialised tracks designed to target relevant topics and audiences from the different startup ecosystem stakeholders: Discover, Develop, Collaborate, Invest, and Showcase.
Through pitching competitions, learning sessions, expo booths, main summits, investor programmes, and various community events under the five unique tracks, the Philippine Startup Week provides a platform for innovators to celebrate the Filipino startup community and the key players contributing to the growing Philippine startup ecosystem, educate more people about the potential of the startup ecosystem, and explore synergies and connect with relevant stakeholders from across the country and beyond. For more information and to get PHSW21 tickets, visit www.phstartupweek.com.
Venture Pilipinas: The Startup Venture Fund Pitch
The Startup Venture Fund, which will be launched during Philippine Startup Week 2021 by the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Development Company, is one of the programmes created under the Philippine Innovative Startup Act. This particular fund is meant to provide rising startups with the resources they need to grow further, scale-up, and potentially expand into the international market. The way it works is that the National Development Company will match the investments of selected investors in homegrown startups based here in the Philippines, ultimately giving the startups a greater chance at success.
In line with the launch of the Startup Venture Fund, the inaugural Venture Pilipinas: The Startup Venture Fund Pitch is happening on November 19, 2021, from 4 – 7 PM at the PHSW21 virtual stage. The event is set to showcase ten (10) high-growth startups from various industry verticals, and the pitch will be conducted similarly to Shark Tank—with the founders encouraged to bring their A-game to their presentation as they battle for the chance at highly coveted mentorship hours led by esteemed potential SVF Partners. The ten (10) participating startups include:
Agro-DigitalPH, a digital solution focused on raising farmers’ incomes through end-to-end sustainable value chain solutions.
CEREBRO, a ready-to-use eLearning solution aimed at reducing faculty workload and improving the quality of online teaching.
Dirt Bag, an on-demand laundry service that is easy on the lifestyle, easy on the budget.
Farm Box, a social enterprise that provides support and assistance to the local farmers by helping them have access to quality farming essentials and agricultural solutions.
JazzyPay, a FinTech startup that provides affordable and accessible digital payment solutions for traditional businesses.
Mosaic, a cloud-based restaurant management solutions provider that supports the F&B industry by helping businesses maximise profits, improve top-line sales, and streamline operations.
OMG!, a technology-based startup that provides customers everything they need from their favourite brands in as fast as 30 minutes.
Shoppertainment Live, a startup focused on bridging brands with customers and helping shoppers understand products more through real-time engagement, reviews, and entertaining live demos.
Tangere, a tech-based startup that provides a more efficient and current way of market data gathering, making market research more accessible with real-time actionable insights.
Wela, an end-to-end system that automates school processes while providing real-time data access to parents and students.
Opportunities to build your investor network
Over the past couple of months, we have served over 3,000 connections between startups and investors through e27 Pro’s Connect feature.
In this new normal, there is a distinctive lack of ability for different parts of the Southeast Asia tech ecosystem to reach out to each other.
We used to have thousands of offline activities happening monthly, connecting various local and regional ecosystems, connecting startups, corporates, governments, and investors. Even our very own Echelon used to bring in more than 10,000 people over two days to achieve these meaningful, often serendipitous, connections.
This is a real pain, especially if you are new to the ecosystem and do not have existing networks that can introduce you to new ones. Online webinars and conferences temporarily alleviate this issue, but we find that the startup ecosystem requires more.
e27’s mission has always been to empower entrepreneurs with the tools to build and grow their companies. With e27 Pro, we’re going back to our roots and helping startups with their fundraising by providing a platform that allows not only discovery but a tool to begin conversations with investors and update them on their progress.
With over 300 verified active investors on the platform, e27 Pro members have in their reach the ability to find, connect, and engage with investors that are right for them (not a Pro member yet? Start here).
Get the chance to connect with QBO
QBO is onboard e27 Pro, and members can reach out directly to them via Connect.
Any e27 Pro member can simply visit QBO’ profile and click the Connect button to get the ball rolling.
About the organisers
QBO Innovation Hub: QBO (‘ku-bo’) is an innovation hub or a platform for the start-up community to collaborate, develop talents, and grow. We believe in the vision of Filipino start-ups changing the world. We provide startups with support and resources through events and capacity building programmes and focused interventions designed to improve access to markets, knowledge, capital, and talent. Created in 2016 through a partnership between IdeaSpace, J.P. Morgan, DOST, and DTI, QBO has been an active player in creating a competitive start-up ecosystem in the Philippines. For more information, visit www.qbo.com.ph.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI): The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is the agency of the Philippine government responsible for realising the country’s goal of developing globally competitive and innovative industry and services sectors that contribute to inclusive growth and employment generation in the Philippines. For more information, visit https://www.dti.gov.ph.
National Development Company (NDC): The National Development Company is the Philippine’s leading state-owned enterprise investing in diverse industries, serving as an effective catalyst for inclusive growth. For more information, visit https://www.ndc.gov.ph.
(L-R) Homebase co-founders Phillip An and JunYuan Tan
Homebase, a proptech company in Vietnam, has attracted US$30 million in equity and debt funding from a host of investors, including Y Combinator and its CEO Michael Seibel, Partech Partners, Goodwater Capital, Ace and Company, Emles Advisors and Foundamental.
Existing investors VinaCapital Ventures, Brian Ma (co-founder of Divvy Homes), Troy Steckenrider III (ex-COO of Zerodown), and Darius Cheung (founder of 99.co) also co-invested and were joined by operators and executives from SoFi, Opendoor, Republic, Microsoft, Instacart, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and Binance also joined.
Southeast Asia is the world’s fastest-growing real estate market. However, it has become one of the least affordable as it takes longer than two decades for the average millennial to save up for their first home in Vietnam. Even during COVID-19 lockdowns in Q3 2021, average landed property prices grew about 3-17 per cent YoY, according to global real estate consultancy CBRE.
Traditional bank mortgage options now require a loan-to-value ratio of up to 50 per cent with 13 per cent yearly interest rates. This, coupled with growing property prices, has increasingly placed homeownership out of reach for anyone other than high net-worth individuals with stable incomes.
Started by JunYuan Tan and Phillip An, Homebase aims to make homeownership accessible across Southeast Asia by providing an alternative to traditional mortgage financing.
Its flagship co-investment product buys homes upfront for clients, allows them to move in and buy back anytime. Clients can fully buy out when they are ready, or walk away and cash out their savings.
How it works:
Clients choose any home they like, or Homebase can recommend an agent to help find one,
Homebase then buys the home in cash; clients need to make a minimum 20 per cent deposit,
Clients can move in, renovate, or rent out their home as they wish,
Each month, clients deposit a fixed amount that builds their home savings; there’s no rent, interest, or other monthly fees,
At any time, clients can choose to fully buy out their home when they’ve deposited 100 per cent of the pre-agreed price; or, they can walk away and cash out their savings.
Its mission is to empower homeownership for 100,000 families across Southeast Asia.
Less than a year ago, Homebase announced the closing of a “seven-figure USD” pre-Series A round from investors, including VinaCapital, Class 5 Global, Pegasus Technology Ventures, 1982 Ventures, and Antler.
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She Loves Tech, an international non-profit committed to closing the funding gap for women entrepreneurs, has launched a US$10 million early-stage accelerator fund co-managed by Teja Ventures, reportsTech In Asia.
She Loves Tech Global Fund will fund up to US$100,000 in pre-seed and seed round of 100 women-led firms over three years. There are no specific requirements regarding the location or industry of startups.
As stated at Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) 2021, Microsoft Asia will join hands with She Loves Tech in a multi-year partnership spanning 15 countries in Asia to contribute towards inclusive economic growth.
Following the collaboration, Microsoft will support an Azure-powered digital platform to facilitate connections at scale between women entrepreneurs, VCs and angel investors worldwide.
As per a press statement, She Loves Tech startups will also get access to Microsoft’s cloud environment, technology tools and security solutions to pilot born-in-the-cloud innovations and “scale from idea to unicorn.”
In addition, Microsoft’s global ecosystem of industry experts will bring into the fold deep technical and co-selling expertise to support faster go-to-market and a community for mentoring, skilling and funding for startups.
Learning content on MS Learn and LinkedIn Learning will also be incorporated into She Loves Tech’s curriculum.
Launched in 2015 and based in China and Singapore, She Loves Tech is an acceleration and community platform for women in technology. It aims to unlock over US$1 billion in capital by 2030 for women-led businesses.
She Loves Tech holds an annual global competition catering to early-stage, female-founded startups in 50 countries. To date, its startups have raised more than US$250 million post-competition.
“By helping over 10,000 women entrepreneurs gain access to funding, a global network, and support from other women founders from around the world, we hope their success will indirectly contribute towards creating 100,000 jobs across local economies in Asia,” said Leanne Robers, co-founder of She Loves Tech.
The pandemic has further exacerbated the disparity in salaries and access to funding for female founders. Funding to female founders dropped 31 per cent last year, compared to a 16 per cent dip for ventures run solely by males, according to PitchBook. Women-led startups in Southeast Asia even attracted only 0.9 per cent of total capital raised in the region in 2020.
However, there is a global trend of investors who are betting on female founders, who took in US$46.3 billion in funding in 2019, according to data from PitchBook. That’s more than twice the number a year before and more than 15 times that in 2010.
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Rapid innovation in financial services in Singapore has spurred the nation into becoming a regional fintech hub. Known as The Asian Silicon Valley, Singapore is home to many fintech, holding more than 40 per cent of the regional market share.
This number is expected to continue upward as more fintech, including crypto companies, pour in investments.
Singapore is becoming a hotspot for global crypto companies with its crypto-friendly regulations, investor-oriented climate, and evolving licensing regime.
They have quadrupled in number since 2017, resulting in a vibrant yet highly competitive environment that fuels growth and innovation.
As such, for crypto companies planning to launch and expand their business in Singapore, being aware of the current landscape is crucial to helping them thrive.
Understanding Singapore’s cryptocurrency market
As of January 2020, the Payment Services Act (PSA) requires all-digital payment token providers (DPT), including cryptocurrency trading platforms, to be registered and licensed.
The act streamlines payment services under single legislation and calibrates regulations according to the activities’ risks by adopting a modular regulatory regime.
Recently, Singapore issued its first licenses to a cryptocurrency exchange, a bank and a fintech player to operate as a fully regulated virtual asset service provider (VASP). These “in-principle” approvals being given are reflective of the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies.
Singapore is undoubtedly beginning to embrace crypto— evidenced by Coinhako’s massive 1000 per cent jump in trading volume in the first eight months of 2021, compared to the whole of 2020. Our trading volume is expected to cross the ten-billion-dollar mark by the end of this year.
Overcoming the cryptocurrency stigma
Even with Singapore’s innovation-friendly climate, helming a cryptocurrency business in Singapore comes with its set of unique challenges.
Most notably, banking remains a hurdle for crypto businesses. They are often subject to extensive due diligence or immediately classified as high-risk businesses because of the nature and risk factors of crypto trading.
Most crypto platforms rely on third-party solutions to facilitate their transactions.
As of April 2021, the combined peak daily trading volume of three prominent cryptocurrencies quoted in SGD (Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP2) amounted to only two per cent of the average daily trading volume of securities on the Singapore Exchange 2020.
This shows that cryptocurrencies are still seen as highly volatile assets as their value is not tied to economic fundamentals.
The central bank, too, has increased surveillance of crypto businesses to identify suspicious platforms and is constantly raising public awareness on the risks of trading in crypto.
Entering a new market as a crypto player
Entering a new market should be done the right way. The first step in becoming a crypto player is ensuring compliance with the local laws and regulations. Having a sense of security is important to crypto users.
One factor driving them to regulate crypto players is the rise in scams while trading on peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto platforms. These platforms allow individuals to exchange cryptocurrencies directly on their terms, hence the high risk involved.
On top of being compliant and ensuring the best security, offering a user-friendly platform is essential.
Ensuring the platform offers users a robust variety of cryptocurrencies is crucial – meeting the demand for tokens in the crypto market and minimising the risk of trading in a single currency.
Apart from that, enabling users to trade in local currency, giving pricing, withdrawal options, security, and the number of coins available for trading is vital in creating the most conducive crypto exchange environment.
Crypto players can widen the appeal of cryptocurrency and expand their user demographics by tapping into different industries, sports, financial institutions or even technology and media.
Coinhako recently unveiled its venture into e-sports, with sponsorship for Mobile Legends team ALMGHTY, an up-and-coming Singapore e-sports squad.
Approximately half of the sponsorship value is paid in Ethereum, marking Singapore’s first cryptocurrency funded e-sports sponsorship.
With supportive regulations growing in Singapore and the country’s innovative approach to cryptocurrency trading, users are increasingly assured of safe trading platforms.
For Coinhako, complying with the PSA to acquire the necessary licenses remains a top priority. It continues to solidify its position as a leading cryptocurrency service provider in Singapore and the Asia Pacific.
By offering multiple locally preferred payment methods, including S$ bank transfers and card payments, Coinhako can provide a seamless and simplified trading experience for its users.
As the industry evolves, assuring the security of trading platforms while ensuring user-friendliness will be crucial. The success of crypto trading lies in the technology and the country’s regulations and advisory, which allow for its widespread acceptance.
Moving forward, crypto businesses need to innovate their services and roll out new offerings to remain relevant in Singapore’s highly competitive market.
Crypto trading’s demand and appeal will only expand if it is seen as practical and relatable in day-to-day activities.
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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.
Kilo, a Vietnamese B2B e-commerce platform that connects wholesalers with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), has received US$5 million in pre-Series A financing.
The round is co-led by California-based Altos Ventures and Australian VC firm January Capital, Techcrunch has reported. Existing investor Goodwater Capital, Ascend Vietnam Ventures, Decisive Capital Management, Ratio Ventures, and other angels participated.
Kilo will use the fresh capital to grow the team and add new features, such as financing, logistics and self-service e-commerce store creation for the MSMEs.
Founded in 2020 by e-commerce veteran Narayan Kartick, Kilo is a one-stop-shop supporting local SMEs’ digitalisation with shopping and management tools. It enables them to save costs and reduce risks through optimising inventory turnover, offering a diverse assortment of products, and leveraging transparent pricing.
Kilo also assists shop owners on multiple sales channels, including Kilo’s app, Facebook and Zalo, an instant messaging app with 62 million users in Vietnam.
Before founding Kilo, Kartick held the role of CBO at e-commerce giant Tiki that is eyeing a US IPO, and the former vice president of Seoul-based Coupang, which also made its market debut on the NYSE in March.
Kilo boasts that it has grown the net merchandise value by 320 times since launching in October 2020. As stated on its website, the startup taps into an ~US$180 billion retail consumption space in Vietnam, with small retailers covering 80 per cent of the market.
The e-commerce space is ripe for an explosion in the region, with Vietnam’s TIKI and Indonesia’s GoTo eyeing IPOs while snagging sizable deals earlier this month.
Last week, Vietnam’s B2B e-commerce platform Telio secured US$22.5 million in a pre-Series B round led by VNG Corporation. Last week, Society Pass became the first Vietnamese company to complete a traditional listing on the US stock market.
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Vietnamese company Society Pass, which provides a data-driven loyalty platform, has launched a US$26 million initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US.
The company, which offers about 2.8 million shares of common stock for US$9 per share, started trading under the ticker symbol “SOPA” on November 9, 2021. The offering is expected to close on November 12, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.
With this, Society Pass has become the first Vietnamese company to complete a traditional listing on a stock market outside of its home country.
“As an acquisition-led technology company, this milestone marks the beginning of our next phase of growth as we expand beyond Vietnam into other parts of Southeast Asia with particular focuses on the Philippines and Indonesia. Our Nasdaq IPO and access to public markets allow us to connect investors to some of the fastest-growing retail e-commerce opportunities in the world,” said Dennis Nguyen, founder, chairman and CEO.
Society Pass was supposed to hit the bourses in early October. However, it shelved the plan for unknown reasons.
According to DealStreetAsia, the company and Nguyen were facing lawsuits from former employees, who claimed compensation and bonuses of US$690,000, besides the company shares. Society Pass, however, made counterclaims for several millions of US dollars, citing the former employees’ breach of contract.
Founded in 2018 by Nguyen, Society Pass operates multiple e-commerce and lifestyle platforms across its key markets. Its business model focuses on collecting user data through the regular circulation of its universal loyalty points. It connects consumers and merchants across multiple product and service categories fostering organic loyalty.
As of September, Society Pass had had over 1.5 million registered users and over 3,500 registered merchants and brands.
Two months ago, the firm relaunched Leflair that it acquired in June this year after the luxury e-commerce brand filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Before the acquisition, Leflair generated over US$10 million in sales y-o-y and was ranked amongst the top 5 e-commerce platforms in Vietnam. The addition of Leflair complements Society Pass’s two other existing businesses: SoPa, an online ordering and loyalty platform, and #HOTTAB, a POS service provider specialising in payment infrastructure, loyalty management and joint marketing programmes for merchants.
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Image Credit: Society Pass
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In this episode, we speak with Gabriel Engel, CEO and Co-Founder of Rocket Chat, a fast-growing Brazilian enterprise messaging platform born through open source. We cover a number of topics relevant to international expansion from the benefits of having a distributed team to serve a distributed customer base, the importance of creating physical space that represents the values of the company and how common values can help you connect across cultures and geographies.
This episode is sponsored by our partner, ZEDRA. Learn more about how the ZEDRA team can support you in expanding to new markets.
With this deal, the Singaporean firm looks to deepen its presence in Thailand by expanding its medication delivery services to 38 provinces by the end of Q1 2022.
This deal will add one million more consumers to Doctor Anywhere’s platform. Before the acquisition, its active user numbers stood at 1.5 million in Southeast Asia.
The company also expects its Thai revenues to grow by more than 5x in the next two years
Both brands will operate in tandem in Thailand and retain their existing core functions while harnessing key resources and know-how to develop new product features for users. The combined network has more than 1,000 medical professionals and partners across diversified specialisations, including paediatrics, cardiology, urology, gynaecology, and orthopaedics.
Jaren Siew, CEO of Doctor Raksa, said: “The regional exposure of Doctor Anywhere will bring immediate scale, strong B2B relationships, and tech capabilities to Doctor Raksa. This will help us to provide an even better product offering for our patients, doctors and employees.”
Surangkhana (Nicky) Surapaitoon, GM of Doctor Anywhere Thailand, said: “The acquisition brings key learnings for us to localise our services to meet growing in-market needs and engage with our users. The information exchange between two competent teams will help us build an effective omnichannel telehealth model for the country.”
Established in 2016, Doctor Raksa offers online doctor consultations, electronic prescriptions, electronic medical summaries, pharmacist consultations and prescription refills. It has over one million users.
Launched in 2017, Doctor Anywhere is an omnichannel healthcare company that aims to make healthcare accessible and efficient for everyone. Its digital platform bridges gaps in the healthcare ecosystem through technology and innovation, enabling users to manage their health effectively through its mobile app.
Doctor Anywhere is currently available in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The group also recently announced the establishment of regional tech hubs in India and Vietnam.
To date, Doctor Anywhere has raised US$104 million. It also comprises a US$4.1 million Series A round, anchored by Kamet Capital Partners, in 2018.
Its other backers include Novo Holdings (Denmark), Philips, and OSK-SBI Venture Partners (Malaysia), EDBI, Square Peg, IHH Healthcare, Kamet Capital, and Pavilion Capital.
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So naturally, the next step would be to demystify NFTs and DeFi since such innovations illustrate crypto’s most compelling use cases.
I recognise how technical Web3 is. Innovation takes place on a day-to-day basis. Acronyms keep popping up (e.g. gm, ngmi, irl, ser, mn, fren, etc.). It’s hard to keep up with all communities out there.
That’s why I am putting together the web3 series. To introduce the most popular use cases. Why people are so excited about the decentralised web, and the technology’s incredible potential.
Let’s review the promise of web3 again: open, trustless, and permissionless network:
Open – web 3.0 is built on the blockchain, most often from open-source software by a community that operates transparently.
Trustless – because there is no need for third parties to interfere. Eliminating slow transactions and higher rates.
Permissionless – as there is no need for authorisation from governing bodies.
On the one hand, web2 connected the world and solved various problems across communication, travel, transportation, food deliveries, healthcare, and many more.
On the other hand, it concentrated power in the hands of a few corporations.
A month ago, a good friend of mine got de-platformed from an investment app. He did not receive any explanation why. That’s just bizarre.
Even the last American president got de-platformed from all major social media platforms. It’s pretty scary to think that your investment account or digital identity can be taken down overnight.
Decisions like what features will be prioritised. Who collects revenue or how data is secured falls into the hands of a few people.
Facebook is perhaps the best example of an influential corporation that keeps on making poor decisions. Despite its resources, great talent, and public scrutiny.
Web3 promises to solve such problems through decentralisation. Meaning, rather than having a group of people make important decisions, we can have communities incentivised through tokens to police, grow, and develop the products they are building.
The most popular use cases of web3 are Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Bitcoin and Ethereum have ~44 per cent and ~20 per cent market share of all cryptocurrencies. While Ethereum has a lower market share than Bitcoin, it offers many more use cases.
DeFi and NFTs have emerged as solid streams of innovation. In turn, today, almost everything in crypto is built on Ethereum.
Which begs the question, what are NFTs and DeFi?
NFTs
There is so much to cover here, but let’s start with the basics. First of all, let’s define what a token is.
“Tokens give users property rights: the ability to own a piece of the internet,” says Chris Dixon, Partner at a16z.
BTC and ETH are fungible tokens. Fungible tokens are interchangeable, similar to the US dollar. Each dollar bill is nearly identical to another dollar bill.
If you buy 10 shares of Google from your broker, you don’t care which 10 shares you received. They are all ‘mutually interchangeable’”
On the other hand, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique. You can think of them as web3 media assets. The most popular use case of NFTs today are pieces of art, but it can be a lot more.
Music, code, tweets, gifs, access passes, digital identities, domains, game’s character skins, and even this very essay that I am writing can be converted into an NFT through a platform like Mirror.
To understand all the hype, we need to go back to 2008 and review an essay by Kevin Kelly titled “1000 true fans”. The thesis of the article is simple.
The internet has enabled micro-communities like never before. You do not need millions of followers to make a living. All you need is 1000 true fans.
“A true fan is defined as a fan that will buy anything you produce. These diehard fans will drive 200 miles to see you sing; they will buy the hardback and paperback and audible versions of your book; they will purchase your next figurine sight unseen; they will pay for the “best-of” DVD version of your free YouTube channel; they will come to your chef’s table once a month.”
NFTs are enabling creators to monetise directly with their fans. In the past, artists needed to rely on labels, publishers, or all kinds of different intermediaries to make money.
Today, NFTs enable direct transactions with one’s audience.
Moreover, NFTs can have a code attached to each media piece. In turn, smart contracts can be programmed to facilitate royalty fee collection from secondary sales.
There are three reasons why NFTs are an excellent deal for creators:
Fewer intermediaries – marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible will indeed continue to exist. Yet, they will be constrained in how much the third parties can charge.
Granular pricing tiering – you can slice and dice different pricing tiers. That allows creators to capture a lot more of the demand.
Marketing costs are decreased to nearly zero – crypto exhibits powerful network effects. Think about BTC and ETH, or even most other tokens. All tokens grew to over a trillion-dollar market cap in aggregate with almost no marketing spend. When each of us owns a token, we are incentivised to spread the word. Skin in the game + network effects = exponential growth at low cost.
Let’s take a look at a few real-life examples of popular NFTs.
Another popular category is collectables, which represent a set of assets. Perhaps the most popular ones are the CryptoPunks (lowest price US$292K) and Bored Ape Yacht Club (lowest price US$115K).
Last but not least, play-to-earn games have been getting a lot of attention, especially in markets like Vietnam and the Philippines, where NFTs have enabled play to earn games.
That innovation is attracting a lot of people in emerging markets. After all, some people can make more money from playing such games, rather than having regular jobs.
While art and games are the first categories getting popular, I expect to see many more. Think of Unstoppable Domains building NFT domains.
Or perhaps, Audius developing a decentralised Soundcloud-like platform where artists can mint their songs into NFTs.
We are in the early days of NFTs, and I am excited to see all the following innovations.
DeFi
When speaking of finance, I am referring to saving, lending, and exchange of value. The core objective of DeFi is to replace traditional intermediaries.
DeFi applications achieve that through freely accessible, autonomous, and transparent software.
“Imagine a global, open alternative to every financial service you use today — savings, loans, trading, insurance and more — accessible to anyone in the world with a smartphone and internet connection.” — Sid Coelho-Prabhu, DeFi at Coinbase Wallet
Perhaps that sounds very ambitious at first glance, so let’s take a look at some numbers. While DeFi is a relatively new concept, Ethereum, the backend platform for most DeFi applications, settled about US$1.5 trillion in transactions in Q1 2021.
Source: Ryan Watkins, Research at Messari.io
Starting with Bitcoin, which unleashed the first widely adopted and highly secure digital store of value. Next, Ethereum brought the innovation of smart contracts and Dapps.
This was followed by a wave of ICOs that were predominantly unsuccessful but produced valuable lessons, which were then leveraged to build what DeFi is today.
“With DeFi, anyone in the world can lend, borrow, send, or trade blockchain-based assets using easily downloadable wallets without having to use a bank or broker. If they wish, they can explore even more advanced financial activities— leveraged trading, structured products, synthetic assets, insurance underwriting, market-making— while always retaining complete control over their assets.”– Marvin Ammori is the chief legal officer of Uniswap Labs
Perhaps the most exciting feature of DeFi is the permissionless and transparent nature of the technology.
Permissionless
Anyone can contribute to building on DeFi platforms like Uniswap or Sushiswap. No central authority has the power to revoke access.
No matter your gender, ethnicity, age, wealth, or political affiliation, you can use DeFi applications (as long as you have an internet connection and smartphone/laptop). That was unheard of up until the first use cases of DeFi.
Transparency
Given the nature of the software being source-available or open-source, anyone has access to it. Meaning, people can quickly review the code and associated capital.
All transactions are recorded on a blockchain. Third parties can build a business around auditing, investigation, or analytics purposes.
As in the case of Bitcoin, if you are located in a developed country and have access to a robust financial system, DeFi might not sound attractive. New complex technology that can manage your money sounds scary.
But think of all people in underserved communities around the globe. Decentralized finance offers access to payment services for billions of unbanked people.
Setting up a crypto wallet and transferring money to your family through DeFi Dapps is often a lot easier than securing a bank account in emerging markets.
Even for me, as an expat that earned higher than the average salary in Indonesia. It took me two years before I could open a bank account.
Now let’s take a look at some of the most popular Dapps in the DeFi space.
Compound – borrow and lend.
Lend your crypto and earn interest in it.
Deposit your crypto as collateral and borrow against it.
Uniswap and Sushiswap – automated token exchange.
Trade popular tokens by using your existing wallet.
Become a liquidity provider by supplying crypto and earning a share of the exchange fees.
Pooltogether – no loss savings. A no-loss game where participants deposit the DAI stable coin on the platform. At the end of each month, one lucky participant wins all the interest earned. Everyone else gets their initial deposits back.
Although it’s not perfect, DeFi has built a reputation as the new open financial system. Of course, nothing artificial is flawless, and there will be some trade-offs. But it’s undeniable that decentralized finance is aiming in the right direction.
Additionally, contrary to the common belief, the percentage of identified illicit activity in crypto as a percentage of total crypto activity from 2017 to 2020 was less than 1 per cent.
Compare that with the estimates of illegal activities in the economy as a whole, and you will arrive at 2 to 4 per cent of global GDP.
Thus, the laundering of cash in crypto remains relatively small compared to our current system.
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