Funtap, a Vietnamese tech company specialising in IT, entertainment and games, has announced the launch of a US$10-million blockchain-focused fund.

Funverse Capital will back startups working on blockchain-enabled apps in GameFi, DeFi (decentralised finance) and other potential projects.

The fund will write a cheque of up to US$1 million while also providing mentorship and accelerator programmes.

“Blockchain and NFT (non-fungible tokens) are great motivations for the coming generation of Internet products and services,” said Adam Bui, Founder and CEO of Funtap. “Funtap is now ready to contribute to the growth and acceleration of the emerging tech industry.”

Also read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Founded in 2015, Funtap has grown from a game publisher to a digital service ecosystem of games, digital content, payment, and finance solutions.

As stated on its website, Funtap’s games have made inroads into ten overseas markets, including Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, besides Vietnam.

The firm claims to serve 42 million customers worldwide, with over 70 mobile games published and localised in five languages.

Vietnam’s blockchain market has been ripe for an explosion since the massive success of Sky Mavis, the gaming unicorn behind the well-known play-to-earn game Axie infinity.

Last April, Funtap picked up over 30 per cent stake in local digital payment firm 9PAY for a “seven-digit US-dollar” investment, DealstreetAsia reported. This transaction helps expand Funtap’s game-related offerings to 9PAY’s e-wallet.

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Image Credit: Funtap

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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued new guidelines barring digital currency token (DPT) companies and cryptocurrency service providers from promoting their services to the general public in the island state.

This means DPT firms won’t be allowed to run their ad campaigns in public areas such as public transport vehicles/venues, public websites, social media platforms, broadcast and print media, or on automated teller machines (ATMs).

The amendments are yet to come into force.

Also Read: ICYMI: Singapore just gave a nod of confidence to cryptocurrency

The new guidelines also discourage service providers from engaging third parties, such as social media influencers, to promote DPT services to the general public.

DPT service providers include payment institutions, banks and other financial institutions, and applicants under the Payment Services Act (PS Act). The services involve the buying or selling of DPTs or facilitating their exchange. 

The central bank’s move is to protect consumers from trading DPTs without knowing cryptocurrencies’ high risk and speculative nature.

The Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and SFA Payments Group (SFA-PG) welcomed the move. 

“Opening the doors to innovation also requires a system of checks and balances to be put in place before consumers gain full awareness and understanding of the new tools,” said Shadab Taiyabi, President of SFA. “[It] does not signal a shift in Singapore’s approach to DPT’s. Rather, we see this as further evidence of Singapore’s long-term commitment to the industry.”

For years, Singapore has consistently established itself as the fintech hotbed of the world. Its Payment Services Act (PSA) offers a regulatory guideline for companies handling activities ranging from digital payments to trading tokens such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. The law hands the MAS with supervisory powers for cybersecurity risks, money laundering, and terrorism financing.

Also Read: Singapore’s new payments law is a boon for the crypto community

However, last September, MAS ordered the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange platform, Binance.com, to stop its services in the country as it was regarded among 699 companies that the MAS has not regulated.

 

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Many are talking about The Great Resignation; or as LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky puts it, The Great Reshuffle: the largest ongoing talent migration in history. This is especially true for Gen Z, the newest entrants to the workforce.

Having grown up in the shadows of the 2008 financial crisis, amidst economic shifts in Southeast Asia and a global pandemic, this new generation is driving to forge their own path. 

Against this backdrop, the rising generation is rethinking how and why we work. With The Great Reshuffle, we’re seeing more and more of Singapore’s youngest workers eschewing traditional trajectories and instead choosing to venture into entrepreneurship.

In fact, 61 per cent of Entrepreneur First (EF) Singapore’s most recent founders – like Jackett’s Rachiket Arya and Avni Agrawal from SixSense – have spent less than four years in the workforce before founding their own company.

A collective burnout

There’s a growing sense of discontent in people’s work-life– with millions around the globe now leaving their jobs. So much so that in 2021, “How to start a business,” topped “How to get a job,” in Google search queries.

Recent turbulence has Gen Z searching for more meaning and purpose to the work they do, and a path of true authorship, not only ownership. Their definition of success has evolved beyond titles and compensation, and they’re increasingly motivated by career autonomy and financial control.

Also Read: A woman among women: 27 female-led startups in SEA that are going places

EF has seen this first-hand with 85 per cent of our latest cohort having less than six years of working experience, before deciding to work for themselves. 

Financial gains are the biggest driver for 65 per cent of aspiring entrepreneurs surveyed– but it’s not only about the money anymore. This rising generation is valuing autonomy as equally important as financial gains in influencing them to launch their own startups.

Their focus on autonomy extends beyond personal flexibility and decision-making, but rather a chance to shape products, industries and a future to their imagination. 

This rang true for Natalie Doran, who left her secure role in a previous company to co-found security monitoring software platform, Lytehouse. For her, gaining flexibility has been the most important aspect of building her own business:

“Flexibility isn’t about work hours and location, it’s the flexibility of the role and the company itself. Anyone in a startup has the power to transform the lives of their customers, shape the product, even change the direction of the whole company in a single day,” she said.

It is the impact that a startup can have in revolutionising the status quo that motivates the entrepreneurs, which goes beyond financial gains. 

Building a better world

Gen Z is on a mission to do things differently. They believe in their individual power to drive broad-scale change, often challenging convention to do so. Contrary to popular belief, passion is no longer the most important ingredient to building a successful startup, falling to the fourth important driving force in a business.

For younger entrepreneurs, the most important trait is problem-solving, against a backdrop of making meaningful and sustainable change. We see this in EF’s portfolio consisting of startups tackling hard, real-world problems that reflect emerging trends in the areas of fintech, food & agriculture, education, entertainment and cleantech – all sectors that are in need of improvements in this climate. 

Also Read: 5 lessons from 5 years as a millennial entrepreneur

We also get a sense that Gen Z is responsive to the world around them. Emerging entrepreneurs are solving for disruptions in production, demand, supply chain management, and shifting consumer trends – caused by the systemic vulnerabilities of the food industry that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed.

Food & Agriculture, the most visible area that needs growth, is a topic most Singapore founders are intent on addressing. An increasing number are working on streamlining the steps taken for food ordering and delivery, food science and developing new crops, robotics and automated farm management.

All around the globe, more leaders and future founders are championing sustainability to protect our ecosystem and preserve natural resources for generations to come.

We see this trend here in Singapore, where startups like ESGnie are using AI to enhance in-house ESG research capabilities and ensure that investments aren’t being greenwashed, and Green Li-ion who are pioneers in lithium-ion battery rejuvenation with a novel, patented technique which increases rejuvenation efficiency by 200 per cent.

Innovation is further bolstered by the Singaporean government’s commitment to R&D with the RIE 2025 plan. This plan invests S$25 billion over the next four years into talent development and mission-oriented research (amongst other priorities) to future-proof technology growth and delivery starting in Singapore, but built for the world. 

The role of the Singapore startup community

These motivations are a window into why more are actively pursuing the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship.

In recent years, we’ve seen Singapore’s venture and startup ecosystem begin to flourish – and most recently, seeing regional juggernauts list on the NYSE and NASDAQ has lit inspiration for aspiring founders.

Singapore now boasts a strategic position in the top five ecosystems for startups in Asia with a growing pool of active investors entering the region from abroad.

Also Read: 27 Singapore tech startups that have made us proud this year

Twenty-three per cent of the aspiring entrepreneurs believe the support of strategic investors and venture builders is the important factor to establishing a startup, just after self-motivation. In fact, it is this support that helps accelerate growth and provide leverage, especially in the earliest stages of growth and uncertainty. 

The support needed goes beyond the capital. Undoubtedly, financial support is still critical in building up momentum, but this rising generation of founders believe that it’s a candid advisory from trusted counsel that helps them achieve their goals. Being connected to other ambitious technologists can help to accelerate this journey.

For Phasio co-founder Harry, his team found the support of exited entrepreneur and EF Venture Partner Teik Guan Tan critical when building up their momentum, “we felt that we can be vulnerable with him, yet we also know that he will hold us to account. The importance of support such as this cannot be overstated,” he said.

Collective burnout, the motivation to fix ongoing issues in the world and the ever-prevailing support of the venture ecosystem in Singapore are seen as meaningful drivers for change in growing a more robust generation of founders.

No longer fulfilled by the status quo, more Gen Z aspiring founders are proactively forging their own path.

These emerging founders have all the necessary components to build right here in Singapore – and they are beginning to see and create their own future now.

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Malaysia-based content aggregator Newswav has scored RM6 million (US$1.43 million) in a new Series A funding round led by OSK Ventures International (OSKVI).

Newswav will use the capital for user acquisition, strengthening its leadership in the content aggregation space and diversifying its revenue stream. A portion of the funds will be used to enrich its content, drive user engagement, expand the creators’ platform, and scale up its in-house adtech capabilities.

CEO Swee Wai Hoow said: “Content consumption patterns and preferences have transformed significantly over the past decade and were further accelerated as a result of the pandemic. We see changes not just from the type of content that users are consuming, but also the amount of time they spend online, especially on their mobile devices.”

“By working closely together with news and content publishers as well as individual content creators, we’ll be able to furnish richer, more relevant and relatable content to our users and at the same time deliver additional traffic and ad share revenue to our content partners. We aim to be the only content aggregator platform that Malaysians will ever need,” Swee added.

Also Read: Malaysia-based OSK Ventures International invests in fintech TurnKey Lender

With a mobile-first focus in mind, Newswav launched its mobile app in 2017. With over two million installations, Newswav has more than 15 million average monthly visits across its mobile app and website combined.

The firm provides content in three different languages (English, Malay, Chinese) and three different formats (articles, videos, podcasts) for audiences.

The portal aggregates about 200 publications and content creators, including well-known publishers such as The Sun Daily, SCMP, Malay Mail, The Edge, Sinar Harian, BFM, The Vibes, Daily Express, and World Of Buzz.

Newswav claims it registered a strong revenue performance in 2021 with up to 3x revenue growth compared to the year before.

Newswav’s other investors include BFM Capital and YYC Ventures. It currently has close to 30 employees.

“Newswav has created not just a popular content distribution platform but also a way for its media partners, independent journalists and third party contributors to monetise their content with a win-win revenue sharing model,” said Malek Ali of BFM Capital.

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The Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Center (MaGIC) and Deloitte are working together to help bolster the agriculture sector towards rapidly adopting cutting-edge technologies, including multiple drone use cases and artificial intelligence (AI), to thwart the threat of a global food crisis. With the world’s increasing population disrupting agriculture supply chains, aggravated further by the COVID-19 pandemic, MaGIC and Deloitte have identified not only an increased need to address challenges in the food security space, but also opportunities for tech solution providers to develop new and unique innovations that can be adopted by the agriculture industry.

This year, the two institutions collaborated on a roundtable discussion called the Agriculture/Agritech Roundtable and a thought leadership paper titled the “Emerging Tech & Innovation in Malaysia’s Agricultural Landscape” to highlight technological solutions for pressing agriculture issues that have the potential to impact millions of lives. The roundtable initiative seeks to highlight the urgency of solving problems in the agriculture space and the need to have all hands on deck — particularly tech companies that already possess the tools needed to help bolster and embolden food security.

Khalid Yashaiya, Acting CEO of MaGIC, said that without intervention from new innovations, the world will soon face a food security crisis of unprecedented scale. Rural communities tied to the agriculture sector are especially fragile, having already suffered from loss of income and livelihood during the pandemic.

“The agriculture sector has been impacted by high market demand, higher production costs due to their dependence on imported goods, declining productivity and revenue, and other challenges which have led to losses in earnings. Despite this, the agriculture sector has a high potential of becoming a major contributor to the increase in shared prosperity and food resources to the world’s 9.7 billion population by 2050,” he added.

Malaysia and Agritech Solutions

Khalid highlighted that as it is, Malaysia is abound with solutions anchored on looming issues in agriculture. The country is not lacking when it comes to innovators, from manufacturers of agriculture drones to developers of solutions that enable farmers to sort high quality vegetables, ready to take on the challenges faced by the sector.

“This is why it is crucial for the government and its agencies to encourage and facilitate this growth,” he said, adding that MaGIC empowers innovative startups by developing a vibrant and sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem in Malaysia and accelerating their commercialisation journeys.

Also read: Harnessing the power of AI to help improve gastric cancer detection

Justin Ong, Executive Director of Deloitte Southeast Asia and Innovation Leader of Deloitte Malaysia, further said that today’s Industry 4.0 offered the perfect opportunity for agriculture players to adopt mature technologies that boost productivity and efficiency. Startups, being the source of new technologies, will be the locomotive of change.

“The agriculture industry is traditionally labour-intensive. This gives rise to many opportunities for innovative solutions and digitalisation. With their outside-the-box thinking, unconventional way and readiness to adopt new technology and business models, startups disrupt the industry with ideas that close the gap and increase productivity,” he said.

What’s sprouting in Malaysia?

Drones, Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, and online sales platforms have emerged as crucial innovations for agriculture. Malaysia already has homegrown startups focused on deploying those technologies, as these three startups exemplify.

Braintree Technologies

Braintree Technologies is a local startup that offers drone-as-a-service for plantation mapping, evaluation, design, and planning. The drones run on AI-powered computer vision algorithms that increase precision and automation leading to optimal yield and cost-efficiencies.

“We build agriculture robots at Braintree Technologies. Right now, we are focusing our solutions for the oil palm & chilli industries. We are building chilli-picking robots and pest-control robots.  We offer our solution as Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) and our clients pay us per hectare of the job done by the robots,” said Arif Makhdzir, Founder and CEO of Braintree Technologies.

Additionally, the increasing use of technology can make the sector more interesting to high-skilled youth. “My plan is to see a new generation of farmers who are less than 40 years old and they earn lucrative income by just operating their automated farm from anywhere in the world from their phone,” he said.

Makhdzir finds that MaGIC’s roundtable initiative is a great platform to hear the perspectives of different parties from varied backgrounds like big plantations, startups, and government, with the hopes of turning the discussion outcomes of the discussion into actual National Agrofood Policy. “I think it benefits us to have the point of view from varied backgrounds and if we can collaborate to create a better ecosystem,“ he concluded.

Langit Collective

Innovations are equally necessary on the consumer side. Langit Collective tackles challenges related to market access by connecting indigenous rural farming communities with consumers via online sales platforms. 

Lilian Chen, Co-Founder and CEO of Langit Collective, said that the startup aimed to “create an alternative economic model for rural indigenous communities by revaluing their existing agriculture produce”.

Langit Collective further empowered farmers through data collection and food chain transparency. The Food Prints Initiative is the startup’s brainchild to achieve food integrity and enable consumers to learn more about the source of their rice. “With the scanning of a unique QR code, consumers will be able to get access to the overview information of where, and who farmed the packet of rice they purchased,” she noted.

Also read: Fast Forward with HPE!: Helping startups grow through community support

Chen expressed that MaGIC’s roundtable is a great attempt to bring all the different stakeholders involved in agriculture to further understand each other’s challenges in the industry. She hopes that this would lead the way to a more holistic approach in agriculture.

“In our constant pursuit in improving methodology, precision, and the need to control the environment to produce food or commodities, we become more siloed and our focus skewed only towards solving food security issues,” she said. “I hope there is more awareness about regenerative agriculture that focuses on rebuilding ecosystems, biodiversity that regenerates the soil (carbon sequestration) whilst producing food.”

Initiatives like this could be a great step for a more collaborative environment that brings better awareness and better solutions, not just to food security issues but other related issues as well. “It can be a powerful tool to solve environmental problems whilst solving food security issues,” Chen concluded.

Planting seeds for the future

Braintree and Langit Collective are two of the country’s budding startups whose innovations can help revolutionise the agriculture space. With these startups leading the charge and supported by reputable institutions like MaGIC, the country can inspire stronger and more collaborative efforts to help foster a more sustainable food system.

Collaboration and fostering a healthy ecosystem for innovations are fundamental for future developments in agritech. According to Justin, coopetition, or the collaboration between competing businesses, which in this case are corporates and startups, will lead to positive outcomes that will reshape the industry.

“While it is natural for businesses to be wary of new entrants in the market, we believe that many opportunities are there to be realised if traditional players work together with startups,” he pointed out.

Also read: China Mobile International hosts mCloud Carnival 2021

The government continues to play a key role by encouraging startups to hatch innovations in the market. The Malaysian government has created the National Technology & Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) to give space for startups and technology companies to test run their solutions. Khalid mentioned that the sandbox in agritech would bring about insightful case studies that become benchmarks on how the government could form regulations that promote innovations. 

“NTIS ensures that Malaysia doesn’t just adopt but create and commercialise solutions using emerging and advanced technologies. It moves products along the technology readiness tranches in an expedient manner, from ideas to invention and implementation — and onward to commercialisation” he added, emphasising the role of agriculture, food, and water as key socio-economic sectors.

With an agritech industry strengthened by the support of a startup ecosystem whose unique innovations in technology can help yield better and more efficient food production, Malaysia and the rest of the world can look forward to a more bountiful future.

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

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