Mark Zuckerberg made the headlines when he said in June that Facebook would become a “metaverse company“, or strive to build a “maximalist”, interconnected set of experiences straight out of sci-fi.

Gamers also seem to be excited about metaverse, with NFT-driven games like Axie Infinity or CryptoKitties gaining popularity. It indicates the play-to-earn economy is becoming a global phenomenon.

As for metaverse, you can imagine it as a single, persistent and connected virtual environment shared by everyone (in the form of a “digital avatar”). Non-fungible tokens (NFT)-based games are the pioneering version of this metaverse.

“Virtual identity has become an extension of our physical identity as we spend so much time on the Internet for shopping, socialising, etc.,” said TJ Kawamura, partner at Republic Realm. “I think the metaverse is a natural evolution to that.”

Based out of the US, Republic Realm is a digital real estate investor in the metaverse. 

This evolution of the metaverse goes along with the bubble-associated NFTs, or programmable blockchain-based records that uniquely represent digital arts such as videos, music, or goods.

The Google Trends data shows that NFTs are gaining steam, with global interest jumping 426 per cent in August 2021. Experts consider this a stepping stone for the not-too-distant metaverse, where digital assets can secure their scarcity and values through verifiable randomness.

Also read: The art of blockchain: What is the NFT craze all about?

Realising this future, investors are betting big on this with hundreds of millions of dollars. For instance, Republic Realm recently bought virtual land in the Decentraland metaverse for a record US$913,000 in June. 

So far, Republic Realm has acquired more than 1,700 parcels across eight metaverses, including Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, and Somnium Space.

Earlier in April, Epic Games, the owner of the famous battle royale video game Fortnite, raised US$1 billion from a slew of investors to pursue its metaverse ambition.

It is not unrealistic to anticipate an alternative universe that simulates a new reality amplified from the existing one. Ready Player One sci-fi novel’s OASIS — a virtual universe where people stay to escape the real problematic world in 2045 — is the nearest example of this concept.

“It is still early days for the metaverse,” Janine Yorio, managing director at Republic Realm, told e27. “However, we believe a convergence of fundamental shifts in technology, society, socialisation, gaming, and retail provide significant tailwinds for mass metaverse adoption and development”.

People are working to achieve this goal step by step. Developers still need more time to break down the technical hurdles to set up the immersive system with augmented reality and virtual reality (VR/AR) applications and troves of hardware production.

But can you afford to miss this dream-come-true opportunity? 

Here are some of the roles that you could take when jumping on the bandwagon.

A player in a digital in-game world

Gaming has always paved the way for adopting various revolutionary technologies, from Pokémon Go with AR to Farmville with social media (Facebook) or simple digital card games that get you accustomed to PC.

Axie Infinity, Animoca Brands, or Fortnite are some prominent players bridging the gap between millions of people and the immersive digital experience of a future metaverse.

Within these in-game environments, people are not only attracted to the gameplay as a recreational activity, but they can also socialise with other people, create their own assets, trade them and earn real-life money.

This, however, comes with a challenge to build an appealing play-to-earn model, especially when a portion of players only go to NFT-based games for financial gains.

Tin Nguyen, the founder of blockchain game Sipher, said that there were case studies of some crypto native games which had acquired millions of users too fast but then went out of tokens after few months.

“The most important part is it has to be a game that is fun to play. It has to be a game that attracts people because of the experience you’re providing and not because of the token or some financial value that you’re giving them for just grinding game,” said Nguyen in a recent event on the future of NFT sales in the metaverse.

Sébastien Bisch, general manager of Novaquark, the developer of sci-fi massively multiplayer online (MMO) game Dual Universe, speaks of another challenge: the limited types of virtual experience in the modern games industry — a step away from a truly unified, persistent game world of a metaverse.

“Very few games have tried to propose a unified, persistent game world for all players. Even when they did, the scalability was extremely limited with a cap to the number of players able to play in the same area,” said Bisch, as cited by gamesindustry.biz.

Fortnite, for instance, has to spread users across different servers and therefore does not bring everyone to the same virtual place of an in-game event as we expect with an ideal parallel universe.

A worker in “a level playing field”

CoinDesk recently reported that a Filipino earned around 10,000 PHP (US$206) per week from playing Axie Infinity around the clock and considered earning SLP (Axie Infinity’s in-game utility token) as his full-time job. He then inspired 100 more people in his local community to play since the pandemic deprived people of their jobs.

Metaverse Filipino Worker (MFW) then becomes a new career option in the country. The metaverse turned into a workplace that people could reach with a smartphone and an internet connection.

“People are making more money than they would in their local economies,” said Kawamura of Republic Realm. “That’s creating a level-playing field when it comes to being able to make money from anywhere.”

But what’s truly disruptive is that as metaverse leverages decentralised blockchain ledger and NFTs to ensure ownership and scarcity of digital assets, the artist community can now take full credit for their works. The community can easily trade them to global audiences and move the digital product from one metaverse to another without losing their commercial copyrights.

“It’s something that our art world has struggled with — their licenses and royalties,” said Yorio. “This idea of being able to trade things with a ledger tracking their legitimacy and making sure that they’re not counterfeit makes a lot of sense.”

Virtual artist Hiroto Kai created NFT art and digital clothing and sold them to the in-game players in the metaverse of Decentraland. In July, Sony Music Entertainment teamed up with the global gaming platform Roblox to help recording artists reach and monetise new audiences from Roblox’s 199+ million monthly active players.

As metaverse economies leverage the interaction between traditional cash economies and a digital in-game economy, people can now rely on that to put food on the table.

Another topic that might transform the work of various professionals worldwide is how the omniverse employs the laws of physics to control factories, buildings, and infrastructures in the real world. 

Omniverse is a simulation and collaboration platform that constitutes the foundation of the metaverse.

Manufacturing giants BMW Group and NVIDIA are on track to set new standards of virtual factory planning with these omniverses. They will employ a range of planning data and applications and allow real-time collaboration between virtual omniverse and physical facilities with unrestricted compatibility.

A consumer in an immersive business scenario

Over the past year, brands such as Gucci, Vans, Stella McCartney, Burberry, Coca-Cola, Netflix and Warner Bros have all set their foot on the metaverse ground to create brand awareness among younger users.

“This generation grows up doing things just like we are now interacting in Zoom. They’re more accustomed to immersive experiences when they use the Internet,” said Yorio. “The companies that fail to adapt will be left behind because the next generation of consumers is going to expect to find new products and their favourite old products in these immersive environments.”

Imagine walking down a street and seeing a Burberry accessory; you buy it, and then it appears with your avatar in a metaverse game. The same applies when you purchase an item in your metaverse game. There are entirely no boundaries between the physical world and a virtual universe.

Just as how the Internet arrived 25 years ago, it is high time for any consumer product/airline/hotel company to think about what metaverse means for their businesses.

Some are worried that when big shots such as Facebook publicly announce plans to build out their version of the metaverse, they will trounce any of the various companies building their ones.

“However, crypto is all about giving the representation back to the people; that is its core ethos,” noted Yoiro. “Decentralisation is what people are drawn to, so there may be pushback against a big player getting involved in the space.”

Yorio added that many metaverses utilise what is referred to as a DAO — a decentralised autonomous organisation. These act as the media for decision-making and can be joined by regularly contributing to the specific DAO’s community.

In the end, you are the one who would choose the role you play in the imminent metaverse, and your participation and engagement would define the development of this parallel world. 

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Image Credit: Republic, Decentraland

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Society Pass, a data-driven loyalty platform in Vietnam, today announced the closing of its Series C funding round.

The details of the money raised and investors remain undisclosed.

The funding will enable Society Pass to acquire new growing e-commerce brands in Southeast Asia, with Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines among its priority markets, with several deals in the pipeline for 2021.

“This new funding will allow us to replicate our success in our target markets and our ongoing aggressive M&A initiatives in the pipeline,” said founder, chairman and CEO Dennis Nguyen.

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.

Also Read: Society Pass acquires Vietnam’s luxury e-commerce brand Leflair that was closed last year

Society Pass claims it has amassed over 1.5 million registered users and over 3,500 registered merchants and brands.

Separately, Society Pass announced the relaunch of 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 programs for merchants.

It builds on the fast-growing e-commerce opportunity in Vietnam, one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing e-commerce markets, valued at US$13.2 billion and expected to grow steadily until 2025.

According to the Digital 2021 Global Overview Report by HootSuite & We Are Social, Southeast Asia is sporting a 69 per cent internet penetration rate with 9.6 per cent YoY growth, and South Asia with a 42 per cent internet penetration rate with 9.1 per cent y-o-y growth.

Both regions stand to see tremendous growth, with Google, Bain, and Temasek estimating Southeast Asia internet economy GMV reaching US$309 billion by 2025, while RedSeer Consulting estimates the South Asia internet economy to touch US$250 billion by 2025.

E-commerce and online travel are expected to take the lion’s share of this growth. Society Pass plans to expand its market presence by harnessing the untapped potential of South and Southeast Asia believing that developing countries are only now experiencing a surge in digital adoption, with large potentials for future growth.

Society Pass capitalises on the rapidly developing earlier stages of the internet economy in the region, spanning verticals such as F&B, beauty, travel and lifestyle.

The post Vietnam’s data-driven loyalty platform Society Pass closes Series C, relaunches Leflair appeared first on e27.

While COVID-19 catalysed ASEAN’s digitisation, the upward trajectory of the region’s digital economy was already apparent before the pandemic – on track to cross a whopping US$300 billion by 2025. 

What’s the lifeblood of this digital economy? Data. With more than 40 million people coming online for the first time in 2020 alone, it is no surprise that ASEAN is one of the most data-rich regions in the world. Data as a resource is abundant and will only continue to grow in this region.

Many organisations have leveraged this data to become more resilient amidst the uncertain economic climate. They are stepping up investments in core data competencies across business intelligence, data engineering, data science, and machine learning.

Yet, few organisations have laid the proper groundwork for a truly data-driven business model in getting ahead with these technologies.

According to recent research from MIT Technology Review, just 13 per cent of organisations worldwide ‘excel’ at delivering upon their data strategies. Another study finds that anywhere from 60 per cent to 73 per cent of all data goes unused.

Without adequate data strategies, businesses miss massive opportunities to understand their customers better, offer high-value products, streamline operations, and more.

If it is so critical to succeeding in the long-term, why are so many organisations effectively using it— or worse, struggling even to get started entirely?

It’s not too late for organisations to catch up.

To provide the optimal performance and capabilities that will drive your organisation forward, organisations can look to these three technology pillars to create the foundation for a successful, transformative data strategy. 

Modernise your data architecture

To set your organisation up for data-driven success, reevaluate your data architecture. In the past, different use cases demanded other data structures. For example, business intelligence typically requires data warehouses— a collection of data structured and filtered for particular purposes.

Other use cases, like data science or machine learning, required separate data lakes — or extensive collections of unstructured, raw data. Over time, organisations will adopt more solutions or add onto existing ones, creating a messy and expensive network of applications that don’t always work well together.

Networks like these are difficult to maintain and prevent separate data teams from collaborating with a single source of truth, limiting an organisation’s ability to get the most value from data. 

A fast-growing trend in the industry is to rationalise existing, complex architecture to streamline the ability to gain new insights. With over half of respondents in Asia-Pacific and Japan either searching for or implementing a new data platform to address current data challenges, more so than any region. What type of platform should they adopt?

Rather than incorporate several disconnected solutions for different use cases, look for an open and modern data architecture that can grow with your organisation. Architectures that allow all data teams, from marketing to data engineers, to work with it and collaborate on a central platform — no matter the use case — will accelerate innovation faster for the entire organisation. 

Build your tech stack in the cloud(s)

While it was initially considered a nice-to-have, cloud is now the foundation for modernising and successfully scaling data management. The shift towards the cloud has steadily gained momentum since its introduction in the early 2000s, exploding in recent years as the de facto approach to building modern platforms.

It provides more excellent storage, computing ability and interoperability, making it an obvious choice for most enterprises. 

2020 may have best highlighted the many benefits of the cloud. When companies closed offices because of the pandemic, cloud-based technologies like Zoom and Slack helped teams seamlessly work together when they couldn’t access on-prem solutions.

The shift is likely to stick; most significant enterprises in Singapore have begun to use some form of cloud storage, and investment in the public cloud is expected to grow rapidly over the next five years, from US$1.5 billion in 2018 to about US$3.6 billion in 2023.

Even further, many data and technology leaders go as far as to say that it’s not enough to think about cloud in the singular sense but rather about building for a multi-cloud environment. As the adoption of cloud-based technology grows, many data teams are now looking for solutions that can move across major clouds like AWS, Azure and Google Cloud if needed.

Typically they understand a multi-cloud capability can provide their organisations with several benefits: the flexibility to run workloads anywhere, easy integrations when bringing on new solutions or businesses that use other cloud providers, and the assurance that they can comply with regulations down the road.

Embrace open source and open standards

As data architectures evolve, the value of open-source and open standards will only increase. Open source is already top-rated; RedHat found that over two-thirds of IT leaders in the Asia Pacific use open source for infrastructure modernisation.

The region is also ahead of others in tapping open-source for AI and machine learning workloads, with 51 per cent using open-source software in those projects today compared to 48 per cent in the US and 45 per cent in EMEA. 

Open source has several advantages. It prevents teams from building tricky solutions in-house from scratch, which eats up resources; it usually comes at little to no cost, and it’s tried and true— solutions have been thoroughly adopted and vetted by many, meaning fewer headaches for your IT team down the road.

It also offers complete transparency and visibility into source code and discussions surrounding it. Your team will know how bugs are addressed, while proprietary software may not disclose bugs or common problems experienced by others. Even more, open-source brings with it an entire community of those encountering the same challenges and working toward the exact solutions as you.

These technologies further complement cloud-based platforms, helping enterprises quickly roll out the latest innovations even with a strapped budget. Embracing open data formats also helps fend off vendor lock-in, delivering the flexibility that will allow organisations to more easily share data securely across systems and tools, from wherever their it lives.

As data becomes increasingly integral to your organisation’s success and growth, the technology you put into place can either enable that growth or hinder it.

Together, these three pillars of technology— modern data architectures, multi-cloud, and open source— will establish an IT ecosystem that not only supports your data strategy and solves for business needs, but future-proofs your organization to take on whatever challenges may come.

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One of the biggest challenges in the workplace is employee burnout. Most of us are not strangers to stress and fatigue caused by work, but these have been made even more apparent with Covid-19. A recent report by job portal Indeed showed that 52 per cent of all workers are feeling burned out, 9% higher than pre-pandemic levels. 

It comes as little surprise, then, that mental health in the workplace is one of the key issues that all organisations have to tackle. While work can be good for mental health, a poor working environment can lead to problems in the long run. 

For example, harassment and bullying are both commonly reported problems, and lack of rest due to overwork is also harmful.

Fortunately, in recent times, there has been more emphasis placed on the importance of mental health in the workplace. This is partly due to the rise of work-from-home arrangements and the blurring of lines between individuals’ personal and professional lives. We see this in how China’s controversial ‘996’ culture — working from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week — has come under fire for ruining work-life balance.

Also read: Finding product-market fit with the power of product analytics

For fast-growing startups that are pursuing growth, this is even more crucial.

While there is nothing wrong with striving for speedy and exponential expansion, steps must be taken to prevent employees from burning out. Both employees and leaders must take active roles in ensuring the overall mental wellbeing of the organisation.

This is why corporate wellness platform Mindfi held a webinar addressing this specific issue on 13 August 2021, 1-2 pm SGT. Titled “Startup Success: Building your team’s mental wellbeing”, the webinar had three prolific panellists who shared their thoughts on mental wellbeing on both personal and professional levels. 

The panellists were:

• Anita Sadasivan, chief wellbeing officer at MindFi
• Jeffrey Tiong, chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of innovation intelligence platform, Patsnap
• Michelle Alphonso, CEO and co-founder of cloud computing consulting company, PointStar Consulting

The webinar was moderated by Mohan Belani, CEO of e27.

Exacerbated by COVID-19, mental wellbeing takes a front seat

Before diving into the organisational level, the webinar kicked off with each panellist sharing their personal challenges with mental wellbeing and what approach they took to address these challenges.

As a mother of two very young children, Michelle had to take care of her family while managing many organisational changes within PointStar. 

“The last year, we had a lot of changes to make because of the Covid-19 situation,” she said. “So I think it was all piling up.”

However, she found that creating clear boundaries between work and home helped her deal with the stress. Every month, she also finds time to step back and take stock of what is happening in her life.

Both Jeffrey and Anita shared their stress management tips as well. As the founder of a startup that recently achieved unicorn status, Jeffrey is no stranger to stress and finds time to exercise and get enough sleep in order to alleviate it. For Anita, she engages in a daily gratitude practice at the end of each day and tries to do a different activity every weekend, like going to the museum.

The discussion then moved toward mental wellbeing on the organisation level. 

Michelle shared that while issues surrounding mental health in her company had always been around, they were never brought to the surface nor obvious to management until Covid-19 struck. With lockdowns and work-from-home as the norm, on top of company expansion, she noticed that stress was escalating among employees.

Her trigger point, she said, was when she found out that three of her staff had sought professional help for depression and anxiety without her knowing. This incident led her to take mental health much more seriously.

Jeffrey echoed Michelle’s points, citing Covid-19 as a key reason for employees’ mental health deteriorating. For example, some of his staff had to deal with loved ones passing away. 

Once he realised that mental health had to be addressed, Jeffrey started putting measures in place. They started by engaging speakers to share about mental wellbeing and launching an open hotline so that those who need help have a channel to turn to.

Also read: Connect with these X-PITCH 2021 startups through e27 Pro

Similarly, Michelle put programmes in place for her staff at PointStar. For example, the company started using Mindfi to keep track of employees’ mental health in an anonymous way, which made them feel safe and more comfortable sharing about their wellbeing. Employees also went for anagram training to understand each other’s personality types, reducing friction between their working styles.

Anita affirmed that Jeffrey and Michelle’s experiences were not uncommon. The key, she said, is to ensure that there are preventive measures in place.

“Even if you are depressed or anxious, you can do early interventions,” she explains. “You address it early on, and it doesn’t escalate.”

Another key challenge that the panellists agreed on was fostering a culture of being open about mental wellbeing. People in the United States and Europe are generally more receptive to speaking about mental health compared to those in Asia. 

Ultimately, both employers and employees have a part to play. For example, individuals can find what stress management activities work best for them, while companies can push for more awareness and education by organising talks and webinars that tackle the issue.

“At the end of the day, everybody needs to take responsibility for their own wellbeing, but organisations can help by giving them tools and resources,” says Anita.

Overall wellness as a key driver for performance

MindFi is a corporate mental health and wellness startup that aims to help enterprises build productive workspaces. 

Specifically, it provides services like a dedicated app, analytics and recommendations for human resource teams, and learning and development masterclasses on topics like mindfulness, resilience, and teamwork.

MindFi strongly believes in making positive changes in people’s careers and everyday lives by helping them prioritise mental wellbeing through a variety of innovative methods. Ultimately, their mission is to empower people to achieve peak mental performance.

Among other initiatives, the team aims to generate impact by providing self-care recommendations, 24/7 guided support, and educational masterclasses held by their behavioural coaches.

For example, the MindFi app helps employees build sustainable habits, access video classes and audio courses on mindfulness, and track their progress. Employers can also implement a ‘mind challenge’ for employees to clock ‘wellness minutes’ by completing exercises on the MindFi app.

Also read: Gearing up for the new normal: What do VCs want and how can startups ace their funding applications

MindFi’s latest initiative, the webinar ‘Startup Success: Building your team’s mental wellbeing’, complements the company’s overall mission of building a strong culture of mental health support in corporations. 

The company recently secured US$750,000 in a pre-seed fundraise that includes investors such as iGlobe Partners and M Venture Partners and was selected for Y Combinator’s Summer 2021 programme. They have also onboarded Erica Johnson, co-founder of unicorn startup Modern Health, as an executive adviser to accelerate the company’s growth in Asia-Pacific.

From February to August this year, MindFi has tripled its headcount and customer base. The company boasts more than 30 enterprise clients throughout Asia and 68 per cent of employees have reported improved mental wellbeing within one month of using MindFi’s app.

For more information regarding the event and other similar projects being spearheaded by MindFi, visit https://www.mindfi.co/  and watch the full webinar here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by MindFi

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

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KitaBeli, a consumer-facing social commerce platform based in Indonesia, has extended its Series A financing round.

Co-founders of India-based e-commerce platform Meesho and VC firms, including Indonesia’s Kopi Kenangan Capital and the US-based Banana Capital, also participated, reported Tech In Asia.

With the fresh funding, KitaBeli plans to expand its operations across the archipelago while strengthening its current presence in 10 cities in Indonesia, including Jakarta, Solo and Malang.

The extension follows its US$10 million Series A round led by Go Ventures. East Ventures is another investor in KitaBeli.

Also Read: RateS snags Series A to expand social commerce platform to tier 2, 3 cities in Indonesia

Launched in March 2020 by four co-founders, KitaBeli offers a mobile app that enables users to buy daily essentials, ranging from fast-moving consumer goods, fresh produce, beauty, electronics and other household items.

The startup optimises the “team-buying” model, where users can receive discounts and benefit from lower prices by sharing information with their friends and neighbours.

KitaBeli’s model combines the best practices of Chinese e-commerce Pinduoduo’s group-buying network and the community leader ecosystem of high-growth companies in China and India. It manages to drive cost-effective growth in rural Indonesia through its scalable user acquisition strategy.

Unlike other social commerce models that utilise agents to sell in their communities, KitaBeli’s users could place orders directly on its platform with free shipping, one-day delivery, daily deals and 24×7 online support. 

The startup then leverages its partner-based delivery network, where individuals within the community earn commissions for performing last-mile delivery of ordered items.

KitaBeli sad it has witnessed robust growth in tier 2-4 cities across Indonesia and aims to leapfrog more capitalised players in the market.

In Indonesia, the gross merchandise value (GMV) sold through B2C marketplaces reached over US$30 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach US$ 83 billion by 2025, according to Statista. 

Last year, the country also secured the largest e-commerce revenue among the tiger cub economies, including Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Shopee, Tokopedia, and Bukalapak together hold the largest market share in the archipelago.

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Image Credit: KitaBeli

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Product-market-fit (PMF) is “the only thing that matters” — that’s a widely quoted line from a superstar venture capitalist, Marc Andreesen. For early-stage startups, the million-dollar question about finding PMF, therefore, is: how do you know if your product is a hit? The easy answer is: when your customers use it.

But the reality is a bit more complicated than that. It’s more than just tracking if your customer uses your product. It’s also seeing which customers use it, how they use it, knowing what compels them to keep using it, and if your product is used the way you intended.

When we talk about what PMF is and how you can measure it with product analytics, the key question for startups looking to measure PMF is: how to use your data to improve your product into one that customers find valuable.

These questions around PMF were discussed in-depth during a learning session moderated by Casie Millhouse, Co-Founder of Element XR, in conversation with Rafael Loh, Solutions Consultant APAC at Mixpanel. Rafael started the discussion by pointing out that “most companies are sitting on a gold mine of product data and don’t have the analytics tools to make it useful.”

Product analytics help startups better understand how valuable your product is to your users. At the end of the day, Rafael says we are “all building products for someone — users!” The dilemma faced by most early-stage startups that are on a journey to find PMF is how to measure PMF when they haven’t found it yet.

Rafael said, “since every startup has a different journey, the need for product analytics evolves according to the stage of the journey.” Basic product analytics needs are around analysing user acquisition and conversion analytics.  As the product matures, startups need to build a data stack to collect and connect more data sources for a more comprehensive view of how people engage with their product, to better inform product decisions. In the final stage, organisations build a culture that is data-driven and must continually ask questions to verify product development decisions.

Also read: Connect with these X-PITCH 2021 startups through e27 Pro

“You need to attract the right users so you can get more data,” said Rafael. “It’s really about analysing usage at the start to find out where users are coming from, who they are, why they drop off, at which stage they drop off, and you might want to compare conversion rates between users and time periods” he added.

Data thus becomes the fuel for iterative product development and experimentation: as product teams release new features, they will need advanced product analytics with the right tool to know if these new features are indeed having a positive impact.

Rafael also explained that making it easier for product teams to get the right answers to make development decisions is even more crucial when a startup is finding PMF since it allows startups to experiment quickly and adjust their offerings based on these insights.

To the question of whether data collected from concept sales or test pilots are viable for finding PMF, Rafael said that this data can “never be 100 per cent but it does give a good idea of how the customers see your product. It gives you your first direction.”

The key learning about PMF is that it always changes — customers change, products change, and business models evolve to adapt to changing market conditions. The time needed to move from using basic to using advanced product analytics to measure PMF differs from business to business.

Why do product teams still struggle to prioritize features and measure their impact?

With so much data at their disposal, Rafael thinks that many product teams are still not confident that they have the right analytics to make decisions around product development. Rafael points out that this often has to do with startups trying to answer product and user behaviour questions with tools that don’t quite do the job.

Some startups try to use marketing analytics to answer questions about their users, but it cannot address key questions around customer engagement and retention such as: why and how customers are dropping off, where they are dropping off, and how much time passes between activation and drop off. Knowing what users do and why they stick with your product is the key to measuring PMF.

Startups are also often attracted by codeless analytics, but a lot of no-code tools are not as precise and lead to poor data tracking. On the other end of the scale, in-house solutions using BI tools like Tableau or SQL are often slow to implement and require technical knowledge. Mixpanel’s self-serve analytics balances these two approaches and offers both depth and flexibility with the right ease of use. “Mixpanel does not require teams to have the technical knowledge and they are empowered to get the precise metrics they need without the need to rely on technical teams”, said Rafael.

Also read: Gearing up for the new normal: What do VCs want and how can startups ace their funding applications

Having an Audience that Cares: Why PMF matters

The reason why PMF matters is that “if you address a market that wants your product then you will succeed, even if your company does not have the best product features or best business model.”

According to Rafael, finding PMF is about identifying features you need to build, having an audience that’s likely to care, and the right business model required to entice your customer to buy the product. That’s why most startups fail, as they tend to address the wrong market or have a product when there is no market need.

“Finding PMF is never a straight path,” Rafael explained. “Combining intuition with being data-informed can dramatically increase your chance of success in reaching PMF. This helps you to get to the point where you’re making products that people want, turning over a profit, and building a sustainable business.”

Common myths about product-market fit

Rafael said that the most important metrics to measure PMF are engagement and retention metrics. “If we look at engagement and retention, it’s never a one-time journey — you might acquire millions of users but retention and engagement, in the long run, is what determines PMF. The question startups must continually ask is: is my product useful for users?”

Rafael addressed some of the common myths that have sprouted around PMF, including:

• PMF is always a discrete, big bang event: finding PMF is never something that happens in a single moment in time.
• It’s patently obvious when you have PMF. It takes time to understand. Finding PMF is a subtle process that needs to be understood as a continuous process.
• Once you achieve PMF, you can’t lose it. It is possible to lose PMF.
• Once you have a PMF, you don’t have to sweat the competition: Rafael cited the case of Airbnb which lost a large amount of business after the COVID-19 hit. They recognised the loss of PMF and changed their product to include digital experiences. While they did suffer losses, the company was able to quickly adapt to find a new PMF. It shows that PMF is not something that will continue forever or can be taken for granted.

Rafael was asked who is responsible for monitoring PMF in a startup. PMF is never always the sole responsibility of the product manager even if they do have visibility into every aspect of the product and business. Product teams need feedback from leaders, marketing teams, and customer teams because these teams on the ground know what is happening in the real world and can provide a full view of what is happening in the market.

What does product-market fit look like?

You can spot some of the classic signs of a product with good PMF, such as, when there is visible excitement among potential customers and there is a genuine buzz when they hear about the launch or look at your product even in the pre-product launch stage. Typically, people are willing to queue for early access to the product.

Post-product launch, PMF is mostly visible from how users stick around and engage with the product. Users are disappointed if your product goes away, and the product organically sees exponential usage and growth.

Cost-efficient growth is also a healthy sign of a product finding PMF: when customer acquisition costs are consistently lower than customer lifetime value, it means that customers are clamouring for your product.

While the above signs are a good representation of PMF, Rafael added that PMF can also be considered analogous to user retention for product teams.

PMF means retention, user activation, and habit-forming

User retention is a very good indicator of PMF. Even for startups with exceptional customer acquisition numbers, active users quickly drop when user retention is not there. For a product where the natural frequency of the typical use case is more than one month, the product enters the “forgettable zone”, and you must re-acquire the customer.

PMF is about defining that habit-forming moment that shows that users are likely to become engaged. Teams looking to find PMF should focus on defining these moments for their products. That is why companies like Slack or HubSpot define this habit-forming behaviour in terms of “x out of y days in which the product has been used,” said Rafael.

Also read: These 3 Taiwan startups are looking to expand in Southeast Asia

Therefore, product enhancements should be done to increase retention and engagement metrics. Rafael said product development should be about asking “is the new feature allowing users to stay in the product and get a better experience?”

Rafael pointed out that a key aspect of Mixpanel is that it allows you to see if new features help in retaining users. “We need to know if a new feature is helping customers find more value in the product. This is one way to find PMF. The second way is to look at reverse or negative metrics. If they cannot find what they are searching for they will churn out and leave,” he continued. The idea is to look at potential reasons you are not retaining users, he explained.

Key takeaways on finding PMF

Finding PMF is a milestone that makes fundraising easier. VCs will be knocking on your door the moment they see a PMF. Rafael said that PMF can be discovered in a scientific and repeatable way. It is closely linked to retention, and you can find it by understanding the “Aha” moments and habit-forming moments to define and optimise your activation funnel.

Finally, leveraging strong product analytics tools like Mixpanel, can help you gather measurable and actionable insights to guide you along this journey of finding PMF. To listen to the full discussion between Casie and Rafael, click here to view the full webinar.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Mixpanel

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PouchNATION, Singapore-based SaaS guest management and contactless payment provider for venues and events, has wrapped up an undisclosed bridge funding round from a slew of venture capital firms including SOSV, Artesian, Found Ventures, and Huashan Capital. 

Existing investor Traveloka also joined, besides other unnamed angels.

The round comes on the heels of an unknown amount of convertible notes from SOSV and IndieBio this May, as noted on Crunchbase.

The company has also not disclosed any of its fundings so far. It is also said to be under discussion to raise additional funding round to expand its SaaS system outside Asian boundaries and pursue a global strategy.

According to the press statement, the startup will use the new capital of the bridge round to accelerate its expansion of contactless SaaS hospitality platform as many tourist destinations are reopening in Southeast Asia.

Also read: PouchNATION is changing the game in crowd management tech

Founded in 2012, PouchNATION offers an all-in-one cashless and guest management solution for venues and events using near-field communications (NFC) wearable technology. 

It boasts that the solution helps clients digitise operations and increase guest spend by 30 per cent on average. 

PouchNATION’s newly-launched contactless hospitality platform offers a contactless experience for visitors staying in hostels, hotels, resorts, and theme parks, improving the hygiene standards when travelling. 

Guests are handed an NFC wristband upon arrival that serves as a digital identity, door key, and cashless wallet all in one. This allows visitors to purchase food and beverages as well as redeem breakfast vouchers without having to touch them.

“[Due to the pandemic], many hospitality providers are embracing contactless technology to guarantee higher hygiene standards for their guests,” said Ricardo Santos, PouchNATION’s VP of Growth. “We’ve always felt that faster adoption of technology can play a big role in providing a better experience for the hospitality industry.”

Since the onset of the new contactless hospitality platform, the company claims to have won some high calibre clients including Collective Hospitality, Asia’s hostel company and fourth-largest globally. 

Prior to tapping into the hospitality sector, PouchNATION has operated two verticals PouchEVENTS and PouchVENUES as a cashless payment wristband for events in 2014.  The use of NFC technology enables organisers to manage crowds process payments, collect data, as well as offer events and recreational venues space in Asia.

With operations in seven Asian and Australian nations, the firm is said to have clocked over two million guests and US$100 million in transaction value.

In 2019, the company secured its Series B round led by Traveloka and joined by SPH Ventures. In early 2020, PouchNATION announced another amount of funding from the Indonesian online cinema tickets platform TIX ID.

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Image Credit: PouchNATION

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Traveloka explores IPO option after SPAC merger plans falls through
The Indonesian tech giant had earlier suspended merger talks with Bridgetown Holdings amid a broader souring of mood at Wall Street towards SPACs; The US market will offer Traveloka access to a global, experienced investor base and greater liquidity to finance its regional expansion plans.

Spenmo bags US$34M to grow its smart corporate cards, automated bill payments biz in SEA
Investors include Insight Partners (lead), Addition, Alpha JWC, and Salesforce Ventures; Spenmo offers payables software that brings internal spend management, corporate cards, automated bill payments, approval workflows and accounting reconciliation into an integrated view.

Alpha JWC hits first close of US$300M Fund III
The Indonesian VC is likely to close the fund at US$400M in the next couple of months; A final close at US$400M will make the largest seed to Series B vehicle in SEA; IFC is one of its investors; CTBC Venture Capital has also committed US$3M to the fund.

Evermos lands US$30M Series B to take its e-commerce platform for halal products to new markets
Investors are Asia Impact Investment Fund II (lead), IFC, MDI Ventures, TMI and Future Shape; Evermos claims to have generated micro-entrepreneurship opportunities for 100K+ active resellers across 500+ tier 2 and 3 cities and regencies.

OY! Indonesia bags US$30M Series led by SoftBank Ventures Asia
OY! is engaged in money movement and provides financial infrastructure, both for online payments and offline/cash payments; It acts as a bridge for all economic players, ranging from consumers, business owners, fintech, and banks.

Crescendo-backed Singapore logistics startup mulls US listing
Qxpress, a pan-Asia cross-border logistics company whose investors include a firm backed by Peter Thiel, is weighing an initial public offering in the US as soon as next year; The potential public offering could bump the Singapore-based firm’s valuation to between US$500M to US$1B.

iPhone co-inventor-backed insurtech unicorn bolttech adds US$30M to Series A
Investors are EDBI and Alma Mundi Insurtech Fund; The additional capital will help bolttech further enhance technology and digital capabilities and strengthen its presence in Southeast Asia, Europe, and its other existing markets.

Dagangan nets US$11.5M led by Monk’s Hill to supply FMCG to underserved rural communities in Indonesia
Investors are Monk’s Hill (lead), MMS Group, K3 Ventures, Spiral Ventures, and PnP; Dagangan distributes 20+ private-labelled products, such as rice, brown sugar, and snacks items, and has 20K+ active users that manage over 3,000 SKUs.

Emerging Vision nets US$4M to expand online spiritual wellness services beyond Singapore
Investors are Lightspeed and unnamed angels; Emerging Vision allows users to receive interactive live-streaming consultations with credentialed astrologers, tarot readers, life coaches, and mentors from the comfort of their homes.

Guest management and contactless payment provider for venues and events PouchNATION raises bridge funding
Investors include SOSV, Artesian, Found Ventures, Huashan Capital, and Traveloka; It aims to accelerate the growth of PouchNATION’s contactless hospitality platform as many tourist destinations are reopening in SEA.

SoftBank co-leads US$210M round of ex-Lazada CEO’s luxury marketplace Vestiaire Collective
The startup, helmed by Lazada founder Max Bittner, plans to use the fresh capital to expand in new markets including Asia, as well as develop its technology; Vestiaire recorded an over 150% jump in the number of orders from Asia Pacific in the last 12 months.

iVS rakes in US$3.2M led by Tin Men Capital to expand its video ad platform beyond SEA
Other investors are Kickstart Ventures, Vulpes and SG Innovate; The video advertising enablement platform will use the investment to foray into new territories in the Asia Pacific, namely Japan and Australia.

DiMuto raises US$2.3M in Series A to scale up product development
Investors are The Yield Lab Asia Pacific, SEEDS Capital, PT Great Giant Pineapple, Patrick Vizzone, Ocean Crest Investments, and Asia Capital Pioneers Group; DiMuto uses blockchain, cloud, IoT and AI to create combined visibility between the movement of goods and money on DiMuto Platform.

Komunal lands US$2.1M Series A to boost financial inclusion in Indonesia through neo rural bank services
Investors are East Ventures (lead) and Skystar Capital; Komunal enables societies nationwide to access the highest possible government-guaranteed deposit rates from rural banks in any region without visiting the bank.

SGRecycle bags US$1.4M from Tai Hing Group
SGRecycle is a network of SGRecycle stations placed around Singapore; It allows contactless recycling of paper waste by combining built-in sensors and cloud technology; The stations allow the general public to receive cash incentives or merchant vouchers when recycling waste paper.

Report: Asia takes lead as home of unicorns among emerging startup ecosystems
Asian startup ecosystems are now worth US$1.1T in terms of Ecosystem Value or about 30% of the global total; In general, the Asian startup ecosystems continued to rise in the ranking with Tokyo climbing up from #15 to #9, Seoul from #20 to #16, Shenzhen from #22 to #19, Bengaluru from #26 to #23, and Hangzhou from #28 to #25.

‘At the early stage, valuing startups can be more art than science: Kuo-Yi Lim of Monk’s Hill Ventures
The most crucial consideration is arriving at a valuation that will set the company up for success; This often means managing dilution on the founders’ ownership while ensuring that the valuation is supported by fundamentals that the company can meet, he says.

Meet the startups from the latest batch of Singapore Tourism Board accelerator programme
Consisting of both local and global companies, these startups are working together with travel and tourism industry players in Singapore to help them revive their businesses –which have been hit heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deconstructing digital banking: How it can cater to the underserved in Malaysia
Despite the flurry of activity, there are three burning questions at the heart of the digital banking industry in Malaysia — ‘where is the path to profitability for digital banks?’, ‘can and will digital banking truly serve the underserved?’, and ‘what differentiates a digital bank from a conventional bank?’.

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Image Credit: Traveloka

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Global participation in the gig economy has grown rapidly over the past few years. Freelance service platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork are among the first visionaries that introduced the world to the potential of the gig economy and remote working.

According to an APAC Workforce Insights Survey by Persolkelly in 2018, 61 per cent of Generation Z tends to look for contract-based roles instead of permanent full-time roles, with 60 per cent of respondents valuing flexible working.

The gig economy is here to stay and will only continue to grow. A recent survey by Microsoft shows that 41 per cent of the global workforce is considering leaving their current employer over the next year, among which millennials account for 54 per cent.

Many of them are poised to embrace the “YOLO” mentality to work as freelancers instead of loyally staying at the same company for years on end.

As the pandemic has reshaped the global economic landscape, workers are now looking for greater flexibility, autonomy and work-life balance, with more free time to pursue their life goals.

The startup dilemma: how to scale up?

The pandemic has also accelerated the pace of digital transformation. Industry leaders have recognised the importance of digital innovation and reimagined how their businesses work with new strategies and solutions.

Startups are an important stakeholder of the digital ecosystem, as they can become industry disruptors who drive innovation. However, most startups are currently facing struggles to scale up as they lack the necessary support or capabilities.

B2B buying dynamics have also shifted rapidly over the course of the pandemic. Sales representatives only have roughly 5 per cent of a customer’s time during the purchase journey as customers can now conduct research and gather information independently through digital channels.

Traditional B2B sales channels such as cold calls or emails have reached a bottleneck, whereas many cancelled exhibitions and seminars over the past year have greatly reduced exposure to potential clients, leading to lower conversion rates and sales opportunities. Without successful scaling up, it will be challenging for these companies to grow.

Also Read: Dinner date with data: How F&B retailers can use retail data to drive sales in a post-pandemic world

Coming next: On-demand virtual salesforce

To win in this B2B sales environment, companies have to be strategic in providing customers with specific and pertinent information that can cater for their needs.

With the new normal economy and ways of working post-pandemic, digitalising sales models has become increasingly important for companies to maintain their market competitiveness. To do so, companies should consider forming their own virtual sales force and leverage the ever-growing gig economy. 

Virtual salesforce refers to activating a network of people who have genuine customer relationships and know-how along with product knowledge, a sales mindset and sales capabilities. Companies can leverage the customer relationships of virtual sales forces to create sales opportunities and business referrals by offering rewards.

While the concept of virtual sales has been very popular in western countries, it still remains in the primary stage in Hong Kong and APAC markets. Studies suggest that the global demand for virtual sales forces will increase by at least 30 per cent due to their extremely high flexibility and wide application.

Virtual sales can push past the limitations of traditional sales channels. While the effectiveness of cold-calling and cold messaging is fading, a skilled virtual sales force is able to create sales opportunities by making use of their interpersonal networks, dramatically increasing cost efficiency. 

Compared to a full-time in-house sales team, a virtual sales force can provide companies and startups with higher scalability and flexibility. Take Hong Kong as an example, where the base salary of a salesperson is around HK$15,000. The bigger the team, the higher the scale of the operational expense.

When sales and marketing departments reach a bottleneck in terms of manpower, headcount, and efficiency, companies can consider expanding their sales force through virtual sales platforms as an effective way to cut down hiring costs by at least 50 per cent on average.

Companies in any industry can also then more adequately plan their payroll finances and dynamically expand their sales team at any time based on performance.

A fairer gig economy

The post-pandemic economic recovery lies in digital transformation and the growing gig economy cannot be ignored. The gig economy provides great benefits for both employers and employees, but a lack of all-around regulation and benefits has failed to provide a safety net for gig workers. This affects the future development of the gig economy ecosystem as a whole. 

Public and private sectors should collaborate closely while legislation has to keep pace with the gig economy’s growth in order to foster a more rapid recovery. Government officials can kick start conversations with different stakeholders to ensure fair and transparent terms of engagement for both employers and employees, while companies can explore the possibility of providing tailored benefits and insurance packages for temporary and contract workers.

In the long term, all sectors should work towards an all-around portable benefits system that provides gig workers with regulated benefit offerings and retirement plans in order to help ensure gig workers’ self-sufficiency over the course of their careers.

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