eFishery, a digital cooperative for fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia, has completed a US$90 million Series C round of financing, co-led by Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Sequoia Capital India.

Its existing investors Northstar Group, Go-Ventures, Aqua-Spark, and Wavemaker Partners also returned to co-invest in this round.

Also Read: Go-Ventures, Northstar Group co-lead eFishery’s Series B round

eFishery will use the money to scale up its platform, strengthen its digital products, and expand regionally, targeting the top 10 countries in aquaculture, such as India and China. It aims to acquire one million farmers in three to five years. “This funding will gear us to hire aggressively, especially for engineering and product development talent. We aim to recruit a thousand new employees this year,” Gibran Huzaifah, Co-Founder and CEO of eFishery said.

Based in Bandung, eFishery provides tech alternatives to traditional farming methods to improve outcomes for fish and shrimp farmers. It offers an end-to-end platform providing farmers with access to (i) technology, (ii) feed, (ii) financing, and (iii) markets.

Since launching in 2013, the company claims to have deployed thousands of smart feeders, serving over 30,000 farmers across 24 provinces in Indonesia.

eFishery’s latest suite of cutting edge products includes eFarm, and eFisheryKu app. eFarm is an online platform that provides farmers with comprehensive and easy-to-understand information about their shrimp farming operations. At the same time, eFisheryKu is an integrated platform where fish farmers can purchase their farming supplies, such as feed, at competitive prices.

Farmers can also apply for a loan through eFund, which links fish farmers directly to financial institutions. A key component of eFund is Kabayan (pay later).

Also Read: eFishery, Shiok Meats co-founders on MIT Technology Review’s list of emerging innovators from APAC

To date, more than 7,000 farmers have been supported by this service, with the total loan approved exceeding US$28 million.

Since its Series B round of funding, eFishery has grown its headcount 3x, with more than 900 employees now onboard. Prior to this, it had raised a pre-Series A round in 2015 and a US$4-million Series A round in late 2018.

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Crowdo, a Singapore-headquartered neobank for SMEs, has attracted S$8 million (~US$5.9 million) in pre-Series B investment in convertible notes.

The financing was co-led by existing shareholders Gobi Partners and iVest Capital (a Southeast Asia-focused family office), alongside SEEDS Capital (the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore).

Along with this, Crowdo has also bagged debt financing from Singapore-based Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) through its WLB4Climate, the fourth issuance in its innovative Women’s Livelihood Bond Series.

The fresh capital injection will enable Crowdo to expand its ESG (environmental, social and governance)-driven financing products for underserved SMEs. It will launch a new ESG financing product this month targeting women-led enterprises with a plan to disburse up to S$16 million (US$11.8 million) during 2022 alone.

“One of our flagship products will deliver up to US$50 million in financing to women-led businesses and companies over the next few years to promote gender equality and increase women’s access to financing,” said Crowdo CEO and Co-Founder Leo Shimada.

Also read: How debt financing, crypto, SPACs keep the climate-tech funding momentum in SEA

Founded in 2017 by Shimada and Nicola Castelnuovo, Crowdo offers two online platforms to digitise SMEs’ operations to boost productivity and understand and access financing and banking products.

“Crowdo is already catering to under-served SMEs in emerging markets and wants to boost our social impact with specially-tailored financing products with ESG impact in mind,” added Shimada.

So far, Crowdo claims to have disbursed over S$100 million (~US$73.8 million) in financing since its S$1.4 million Series A round. The startup said it recorded a 5x monthly revenue growth rate during 2021.

Crowdo is licensed by the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) for digital lending in Indonesia and registered with the Securities Commission Malaysia.

In Malaysia, where Crowdo offers equity financing to high-growth startups, it closed 2021 having facilitated close to S$10 million (US$7.4 million) in equity investments.

In Indonesia, it has formed multiple alliances with digital banks, multi-finance institutions and conventional banks, offering its tech-driven acquisition and onboarding infrastructure and artificial intelligence-driven credit assessment technology for SME funding.

Also read: The journey ahead: Singapore startup ecosystem becoming Asia’s Silicon Valley

Crowdo boasts of achieving group profitability since mid-2020.

According to a McKinsey report, the share of consumers in Asia–Pacific emerging markets actively using digital banking increased sharply from 54 per cent in 2017 to 88 per cent in 2021. Meanwhile, the digital adoption rates among consumers in developed Asia–Pacific markets have remained stable at approximately 90 per cent.

 

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2021 was a landmark year for the growth of the voluntary carbon market. There has been a boom in demand for carbon credits– mainly driven by corporations setting net-zero targets in the face of consumer scrutiny.

According to Ecosystem Marketplace, the value of the global voluntary carbon market topped US$1 billion in 2021.

What was formerly a buyers’ market is now in the seller’s hands, driving project development financing, which will be particularly important for projects innovating to deliver negative emissions above and beyond net-zero targets.

While the growing demand for carbon credits signals the market is moving towards maturity, key issues continue to plague the voluntary carbon market, notably the lack of standardisation and transparency, ensuring that the credits are of high quality. This translates to retail mark-ups and low-quality credits without clear provenance or credibility.

Not only did 2021 show enormous growth for the voluntary carbon market and steps towards more excellent market governance through the global Taskforce on Scaling the Voluntary Carbon Markets, headed up by UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney.

Also Read: COVID-19, the environment, and the tech ecosystem: what opportunity is available out there for us?

This private sector-led initiative has over 250 member institutions representing buyers and sellers, standard setters, financial sector participants, market infrastructure providers, civil society, international organisations and academics.

It is a clear step to acknowledge that market participants must work together to create a mature and trustworthy marketplace that has a real global impact on decarbonisation.

Of course, one cannot discuss the carbon markets in 2021 without mentioning COP26. Some might have hoped for a watershed moment, but instead, COP26 provided little clarification beyond the ratification of Article 6.

This means that the Paris Agreement is now fully operational– giving certainty to market participants as countries look to update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

As net-zero targets continue to be at the forefront of consumer expectations of corporations, big corporations will have to engage more thoroughly in the voluntary carbon markets.

Multinational organisations are in the strongest position to participate in the voluntary carbon market, offset their emissions alongside reduction practices, and create a positive impact on a global scale.

Also Read: Fireside chat: Racing to net zero with the voluntary carbon market

Cyberdyne tech exchange in 2021: A year of transformation

This year, Cyberdyne Tech Exchange (CTX) as a business has seen an enormous transformation, gaining two new licenses from the Monetary Authority of Singapore,  a Capital Markets Services Licence and a Recognised Market Operator licence– solidifying its position as a regulated digital asset exchange.

CTX also sold the first tranche of a new asset-backed Carbon Neutrality Token (CNT), which resolves one of the most challenging aspects of carbon credit trading– the ability to properly account for and track carbon credits using its proprietary protocols and blockchain technologies.

Using this technology, market participants can be certain the credit is of high quality, tackling the issue of double-counting that plagues the voluntary carbon market.

CTX’s Chairman, Dr Bo Bai, received the Entrepreneur 100 Awards accolade from the Singapore Association of Trade and Commerce, acknowledging CTX’s achievements and contributions to the industry, community and nation.

The company also recently signed an MoU with BSI China (of the British Standards Institution Group) on implementing carbon neutralisation and green financing standards on CTX.

The agreement includes BSI carrying out the carbon footprint verification and certification for listings on CTX’s platform and the promotion and implementation of green finance standards.

All these support the Green Finance Action Plan of the Singapore Green Plan 2030 and the ultimate goal of net-zero by 2050.

CTX will continue to leverage innovation and technology to enable organisations of all sizes to enhance their sustainability goals.

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PropertyScout, an online marketplace for buying, renting and selling residential properties in Thailand, has raised US$2.5 million (THB 82 million) in a pre-Series A round led by Hustle Fund. 

AngelCentral, Swiss Founders Fund and Asymmetry VC joined the round. Proptech angles, including Simon Baker (former CEO of REA), Marc Stilke (former CEO of Immobilien Scout24), and Brian Ma (founder of San Francisco-based proptech unicorn Divvy Homes), also co-invested.

Ma invested through his Iterative accelerator programme.

Besides, returning individual investors from the seed round also participated. They are Tim Marbach (Asia Venture Group), Jakob Angele (Foodpanda), Ross Veitch (Wego), JJ Chai (Rainforest, ex Carousell, ex- Airbnb), Zenos Schmickrath (ex-HMlet), Kiren Tanna (Una Brands and ex-Rocket Internet), Amarit Charoenphan, and Gokul Rajaram (DoorDash).

Bangkok-headquartered PropertyScout will utilise the capital to enhance its technology platform with artificial intelligence and expand into property sales. It also has plans to double the size of its product and tech team in the coming months.

Co-Founder and CEO Mario Peng said PropertyScout would scale quickly into other Southeast Asian markets once the platform and processes are optimised and validated in Thailand. This will be followed by a Series A funding round.

Also read: The world of proptech and its fate in a post-pandemic world

PropertyScout was founded in 2019 by Peng (who earlier co-founded and sold a Singapore-based online travel platform), Salita Kamnerdsiri (CSO), and Marco Barth (COO). Barth also serves as a startup mentor at Silicon Valley-headquartered early-stage startup accelerator Plug and Play Tech Centre.

The proptech startup aims to build a real-estate platform in Southeast Asia for hassle-free transactions and rentals of homes. The firm says it owns one of the largest portfolios of frequently updated and available rental properties in Bangkok alongside over 300 co-broker partners and in-house property consultants.

Despite the pandemic-induced market setback, it boasts of achieving a 15x growth from Q1 2021.

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Image Credit: PropertyScout

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Singapore-based Carb0n.fi, a blockchain solution providing carbon offset NFTs, has closed a seed financing round of US$600,000 led by cryptocurrency VC firm Owl Ventures.

The co-investors include blockchain VC firm Blockseed Ventures, Lancer Capita, Antler Singapore, a prominent Chinese family investment office in Dubai, and CryptoFOMO.

The round also included an angel consortium of 13 fintech and crypto individuals, including Byron Grigoratos.

The funds will allow Carb0n.fi to strengthen its blockchain platform and accelerate product development.

The funding round was completed in the lead-up to Carb0n.fi’s initial dex offering (IDO) on the CardStarter launchpad scheduled for January 19th, 2022.

Also Read: Bambooloo on creating everyday low carbon footprint products that save the planet

Carb0n.fi is an ASEAN-focused blockchain solution firm aiming to establish a carbon-zero world for the people, by the people. It combines investments, allows its users to reap the benefits from these investments, and at the same time contributes to environmental sustainability all at once.

Its platform allows users to put their crypto to work and be rewarded with carbon offsets and the project’s governance token $ZRO. For this, the firm leverages DeFi 2.0 to enable ownership of a new asset class in the form of carbon offset NFTs. Doing so will allow users to track and estimate their carbon footprint and offset it on time.

Users can also buy and sell carbon offsets on Carb0n.fi’s offset exchange and benefit from discounted transaction fees by holding $ZRO.

According to Carb0n.fi Co-Founder and CEO Bree Yek, the lack of transparency, double spending and high barriers to entry are some challenges faced by companies and individuals when trying to properly access carbon trading markets. In addition, there are also few existing incentivisation mechanisms in place to increase the participation levels for carbon-reducing activities. “Carb0n.fi was set up to change this. We believe that DeFi naturally incentivises good actors and is an efficient way to own new and growing asset classes, including carbon offsets.”

“Our fundraising is the first step to making carbon markets accessible for a lot more projects and contributing to the fight against the climate crisis,” she added.

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