Cryptocurrencies have become far more accessible in 2022. There are over 300 million crypto users now, and the number is growing day by day. As a result, a variety of apps are being introduced to make digital assets easier to use.

Many users take advantage of mobile crypto wallets to protect their funds, manage their portfolios and observe market movements. But there is so much more to what crypto apps are capable of. For example, crypto savings apps allow you to earn passive income.

With this in mind, we compared four popular crypto earning apps: YIELD App, SwissBorg, NEXO, and Celsius. Each one offers specific features that are best suited for different needs.

YIELD App

YIELD App is a digital wealth management platform where crypto investors and users can earn on their crypto. It allows users to earn up to 18 per cent Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on popular assets and stablecoins including USDT, USDC, ETH, and BTC.

The app uses its automated and proprietary portfolio allocations tools, research, and wealth management techniques to generate high returns. In a nutshell, YIELD App offers a simple gateway for BTC, ETH and stablecoin holders to earn the highest yields offered by a crypto savings app.

YIELD App can be particularly useful for those who seek simplicity and high earnings under one app. Like other apps, the auto-compounding feature helps interest earnings to stack up automatically. Crypto is volatile by nature. For those who prefer stability, the app offers one of the highest APYs for stablecoins.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

SwissBorg

SwissBorg is a crypto investment platform that supports nine cryptocurrencies, each with varying yields. The platform’s Smart Yield feature balances optimal risk, return and user experience all in one place.

SwissBorg offers two types of accounts: Standard and Premium. Standard accounts can earn up to 12 per cent APY, while Premium accounts can further maximise the rate. The APYs change more frequently compared to other apps, requiring active attention to understand the most updated rates. This app caters more to advanced users who have sufficient knowledge of the inner workings of crypto.

To activate a Premium account, users must obtain 50,000 CHSB and stake for 12 months. During this period, the tokens are locked meaning that users won’t be able to withdraw or exchange them. Compared to other apps, users should take note of the relatively high requirement to unlock the APY boost, which can be beneficial depending on other specific factors.

NEXO

NEXO is a cryptocurrency interest account and lending platform. The app offers up to 17 per cent APY for a wide range of digital assets, including BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, EOS, XLM, TRX, and XRP. A key differentiator is that the app pays out interest every day, as opposed to weekly on other apps.

Once you set up and deposit funds, the app will automatically calculate your interest earned daily and deposit it directly into your account. Then, all you have to do is sit back and relax. Similar to SwissBorg, accounts in the platform are divided by tiers. However, the level of your tier depends on the ratio of NEXO against the balance of other assets in your portfolio. Users need to make sure their current ratio qualifies for their desired earning rates.

You can also choose to receive interest in-kind or in NEXO. Earning in-kind means that you will receive the earnings in the same asset that you deposited with. Earning in NEXO means you will receive the equivalent value of your earnings in the app’s native token.

Also Read: You’re not really diversifying your investments by buying altcoins

Celsius

Celcius is a crypto wealth management app that allows users to earn interest from their digital assets. The platform supports more than 30 cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, UNI, LINK, USDT, USDC and many more. Celsius offers one of the most flexible options for altcoin holders.

Rewards are calculated every Friday. On Mondays, you’ll get your interest automatically into your wallet. If you choose to get your reward in CEL (Celcius’s native token), your weekly payout can go up to 25 per cent more.

On top of the large number of assets available to deposit, the platform does not charge any withdrawal fees. This is ideal for users who frequently withdraw their assets or earnings. The app offers more options for those who hold many types of assets under their belt.

The future of passive earnings

As the digital asset space is rapidly growing, investing in cryptocurrency has never been easier. Crypto earning apps are at the forefront of revolutionising the standards of passive income. Now, even those with little technical knowledge can make passive crypto earnings a reality –-a classic example of making your money work for you.

Note: None of the contents above is financial advice

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The content was first published on The Human & Machine.

Image Credit: The Human & Machine.

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Singapore-based True Global Ventures 4 Plus (TGV4 Plus) has invested US$3 million in Enjinstarter, an IDO (Initial DEX Offering) launchpad for metaverse and blockchain gaming projects.

The Singapore-based startup will utilise the money to expand its operations and foray into other complementary business verticals, including metaverse innovation, game publishing and venture building.

Launched in early October 2021, Enjinstarter has helped more than 30 projects launch. Some notable projects that Enjinstarter has supported include Defina, The Killbox and PathDao, some of which have delivered 24-53x to investors from their public IDO price.

Also Read: “We want to facilitate organisations’ Web3 transition from bits to atoms”: Brinc CEO Manav Gupta

Besides issuing tokens, Enjinstarter also helps game developers offer innovative ways to raise capital and fund their projects by selling virtual items such as NFTs. The platform also offers an incubation programme supported by an accredited partner network to provide projects with end-to-end support for developing sustainable strategies and launching successful campaigns.

True Global Ventures’ investment will help Enjinstarter build a stronger ecosystem offering through an integrated portfolio approach with the support of some of TGV’s partners and portfolio companies.

True Global Ventures is globally reputed for being the backers of Animoca and Sandbox, which has earned them a reputation for being a leading web3 investor and innovator.

“We are at the start of what I believe is the tipping point where Metaverses, Play-to-earn and GameFi go mainstream, which is to have traditional fun gaming experiences plus the concepts of Finance & Fintech blended into a singular user experience. I believe that Enjinstarter is the right place and the right time to help companies who would like to build up their resources and communities as quickly as possible so that they can get to the right market quickly,” added Kelly Choo, Partner of TGV4 Plus.

True Global Ventures 4 Plus invests in serial entrepreneurs in over 20 cities. The company is a distributed fund in cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Moscow, Stockholm, Paris, Madrid, Warsaw, New York, San Francisco, and Vancouver.

Also Read: Next blockchain unicorn will be from gaming: Dusan Stojanovic of True Global Ventures

Last November, True Global Ventures invested US$10 million in The Sandbox, an open NFT metaverse platform and a unit of Animoca Brands.

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US Airways, W.T. Grant, and Blockbuster are three companies from different eras and industries but they have one common link: all three failed and were eventually shut down due to poor customer service.

• Before US Airways was purchased by America West in 2005, the airline slashed its customer service budget resulting in the mishandling of numerous complaints, angering customers to the point that the company eventually filed for bankruptcy.
• T. Grant was an American retail institution for 70 years until 1976 when the company filed bankruptcy; at the time, the W.T. Grant bankruptcy was the second-largest in U.S. history. During the 1960s and 70s, the company ignored that middle-class Americans were moving to the suburbs, failed to adapt, effectively telling customers they were wrong and was eventually shut down.
• Blockbuster, a once-dominant video rental chain shut down half of its stores and was auctioned off to the Dish Network in bankruptcy primarily because they charged outrageous sums for late fees and cared little for what their customers wanted.

The key lesson here is that customer service and engagement are the fundamental units of any business across all industries at all times. A growing, engaged and happy consumer base is the ultimate requirement for any business to survive, scale and grow.

Using AI to help businesses with customer engagement

Today, in the digital decade, there is no dearth of brands. With SMEs, startups and enterprises sprouting like mushrooms across the world, customers have numerous choices. Therefore, engagement becomes even more important. Gartner research backs this theory and suggests that a marketing engagement strategy should heavily consider what existing and potential customers need throughout their purchase journey. This is where Tokyo-based RevComm is helping businesses. Founded in July 2017, RevComm focuses on issues in phone sales and customer support as well as success. RevComm’s MiiTel, a cloud IP-phone, which is powered by a conversation intelligence platform helps increase sales conversion and customer satisfaction rates while decreasing education & communication costs.

Also read: Can agritech solve the world’s growing food security problem?

“MiiTel enables companies to solve the so-called “black box” problems in sales and customer success by recording, transcribing, analysing talk and listen ratio, interruption, talk speed, call transcriptions, etc. and visualising “what” and “how” sales and customer success staff are talking with customers. At the same time, staff can self-coach and improve their sales/support skills by themselves based on these quantitative ratings, leading to higher closing rates,” shared Yuiichiro Sasaki from RevComm’s global division.

Next stop: Southeast Asia

The sales and customer support staff play very important roles in the success of any business. They lead sales by understanding customers’ pain points, answering questions, handling objections and challenges. However, despite the vitality of their roles, there is still no way to determine the reason behind the variation in their performance. This is because conversations between sales and/or customer success staff and customers are in so-called “black boxes” meaning there is no record of their interactions on the phone or in online meetings, and therefore no way to evaluate them. MiiTel helps managers to understand situations in sales and customer success solving “black box” problems, leading to an increase in sales.

They have managed to build a strong presence in Japan since their launch in 2017. RevComm has acquired more than 27,500 paid users in a short span of three years. Today, approximately 80 million sales calls are made via MiiTel in Japan. They have customers in a wide range of sectors, including banking, IT, tech startups and large corporations.

Also read: AMATELUS is ready to launch multi-angle video streaming technology in Southeast Asia

This challenge is extremely relevant in Southeast Asia where human resource is arguably one of the biggest problems. MiiTel enables sales and customer success staff to improve their communication skills by providing them insights based on data. This also helps reduce training costs. As such, RevComm is now looking to expand and establish a presence in Southeast Asia through Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) with a keen focus on Indonesia, and other countries in that region

“We believe our contribution to self-coaching and reducing education costs is very valuable for corporate management in Southeast Asia,” said Yuiichiro.

Find out more about RevComm here: https://miitel.revcomm.co.jp

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Following up on the launch of TokoLaunchpad Version 2.0 in 2021, Indonesia-based Tokocrypto collaborated with BRI Ventures –through its Sembrani Wira Akselerator initiative– to launch Tokocrypto Sembrani Blockchain Accelerator (TSBA). This programme is meant to empower blockchain and tokenisation projects in the country.

Tokocrypto CEO Pang Xue Kai named the collaboration a milestone for the company as it successfully gained the trust of a CVC under a leading state-owned bank in Indonesia. He hopes that this accelerator programme can help develop the ecosystem and create a positive impact on the Indonesian blockchain and startup ecosystem.

“We hope that this collaboration will accelerate the development of Web3 initiative and the growth of metaverse ecosystem, especially since we already have two growing venture capital funds: Sembrani Nusantara and Sembrani Kiqani which focuses on investments in non-fintech sectors,” BRI Ventures CEO Nicko Widjaja in an official statement.

The accelerator and its criteria

Through TSBA, the two companies intended to form an accelerator programme that provides an extensive module specially designed to launch blockchain projects and startups to the global stage. This programme includes the various aspects of developing the blockchain technology itself, the economic values or tokenomics, team culture formation, mentorship/guidance for listing and fundraising.

The programme requires participating startups to have secured at least an early stage funding. The company is also required to develop its own blockchain technology or have a working product or a white paper.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Markus Liman Rahardja, VP of Investment dan Business Development at BRI Ventures, who was also present during the MOU signing in Bali on January 20, highlighted the two aspects of fundraising that will be the focus of BRI Ventures: crypto and venture fundraising.

The VC firm itself has invested in more than 18 fintech and non-fintech startups and launched two venture funds that included the participation of Grab Ventures, Celebes Capital, Mahanusa Capital, Buana Investment, Pulau Intan, and several family offices.

The Sembrani Nusantara fund, which was launched in early 2021, had invested in several agritech startups such as Sayurbox, new retail sectors such as Haus!, Brodo, Yummy Corp, and logistics sector such as Andalin. The Sembrani Kiqani fund, which was launched in early 2022, is focussing on D2C and metaverse.

Providing a hub for crypto enthusiasts

In 2021, Tokocrypto launched several initiatives to develop the crypto asset ecosystem in Indonesia. Starting from launching its own token TKO in April, NFT marketplace TokoMall in August, to supporting the Bekind movement in developing various CSR programmes through TokoCare.

With the launch of TSBA, Tokocrypto officially introduced T-Hub in Batubelig, Bali, as an educational and social platform to develop the crypto ecosystem in Bali. The startup has previously launched a similar concept in Senayan, Jakarta.

As a legitimate crypto asset marketplace, Tokocrypto believed in its obligation to facilitate any activities that can potentially develop the crypto asset community. “One of the ways for blockchain and crypto assets to grow in the industry is through bridging connections. This is why Tokocrypto aims to facilitate the growth of crypto assets amidst the traditional finance system,” Kai said.

Also Read: We want to facilitate organisations’ Web3 transition from bits to atoms: Brinc CEO Manav Gupta

Outside of TSBA, there are already several startups or projects that are participating in TokoLaunchpad. Some of it included Play it Forward DAO, Avarik Saga and Nanovest. Kai also named more than 15 startups and projects that are currently in talks to join the initiative.

The registration for the TSBA accelerator will be closed on February 10 with shortlisted participants to be announced on February 14. The programme itself will kickstart on February 21.

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The article was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Kristin Siagian for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

Image Credit: DailySocial

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Animoca Brands attracts US$360M to grow open metaverse, make strategic acquisitions and investments
Investors include Liberty City Ventures, 10T Holdings, C Ventures, Delta Fund, and Gemini Frontier Fund; Animoca’s products include games ranging from hyper-casual to hardcore and collectibles, utility tokens, and e-sports titles.

“We want to facilitate organisations’ Web3 transition from bits to atoms”: Brinc CEO Manav Gupta
Brinc CEO believes under all the hype, Web3 will be a secular shift in how people come together to create enterprises and solve problems; The Hong Kong-based accelerator recently raised US$130M led by Animoca Brands.

Quadria Capital injects US$90M into Con Cung to build super app for Vietnamese mothers
Con Cung’s offerings include over 2K SKUs of products such as milk powder, diapers, bottled nutrition and vitamins, equipment, and baby fashion; It operates 600 stores in 45 provinces and towns and plans to expand to 1,000 stores by the end of 2022.

Lummo (formerly Bukukas) raises US$80M, to foray into other SEA markets
Investors include Tiger Global, Sequoia India, and CapitalG; Lummo was started as a bookkeeping app for MSMEs; While it currently operates in the social commerce space, it is eyeing more markets such as Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.

BurdaPrincipal leads Filipino BNPL platform BillEase’s US$11M Series B round
Other backers are Centauri, 33 Capital, and Tamaz Georgadze; BillEase app also offers personal loans, e-wallet top-ups and popular wallets like GCash, PayMaya, Coins.ph, GrabPay, and ShopeePay.

Vietnam’s games publisher Funtap launches US$10M blockchain fund
Funverse Capital will back startups working on blockchain-enabled apps in GameFi, DeFi (decentralised finance) and other potential projects; It will write a cheque of up to US$1M while also providing mentorship and accelerator programmes.

Mio banks US$8M Series A to empower Vietnamese women via its social commerce platform for fresh produce
Investors include Jungle Ventures, Patamar Capital, GGV Capital, Venturra, and Hustle Fund; Mio fulfils 10K daily orders to tens of thousands of households via its agent network and delivers directly from the farm to the table in less than 16 hours.

B2B e-commerce startup Dropee scores US$7M Series A
Investors include Vynn Capital, HCL Capital, Resolution Ventures, and LKF Capital; Dropee connects suppliers with SMEs in real-time; It leverages AI and predictive analysis to forecast which products will be on demand at local retailers.

Infinity Force scores US$5.5M seed funding led by Animoca to provide infra for global P2E communities
Other investors include JUMP Capital, Sky Vision Capital, OKex Blockdream Ventures, and MEXC; Infinity Force provides end-to-end SaaS encompassing guild creation, NFT asset lending, player recruitment and training, performance management, payment automation, and data analytics.

HERE Technologies leads UNL’s US$4.5M funding to ‘pixelise’ the physical world
UNL offers a library of plug-and-play geospatial solutions that help businesses in e-commerce to last-mile and smart city space; HERE is a location platform for navigation and mapping owned by the consortium of German carmakers Audi, BMW and Daimler.

Sky Mavis co-founder backs Ancient8’s US$4M seed round to democratise access to metaverse
Co-investors include Dragonfly Capital, Pantera Capital, Hashed, Animoca Brands, and Sipher; Ancient8 is building a DAO that develops a community and software platform to enable everyone to play and build the metaverse while earning rewards.

Funding roundup: StaffAny raises US$3.4M in Series A, MyRobin.ID closes pre-series A
StaffAny is a workforce management solution that connects HR and operations within organisations, whereas MyRobin provides on-demand, pre-screened, blue-collar workers in Indonesia.

BRI Ventures, Tokocrypto launch first blockchain accelerator
The Tokocrypto Sembrani Blockchain Accelerator targets post-seed startups working on blockchain and tokenisation technology; Potential participants should be involved in fields like centralised or decentralised finance, impact projects, P2E systems, or NFTs.

True Global Ventures pours US$3M into IDO launchpad Enjinstarter
Enjinstarter is a blockchain gaming, metaverse, and entertainment-focused launchpad for IDOs and initial NFT offerings; It supports creators and game developers by enabling them to build and develop their blockchain and digital asset strategies.

Vietnam’s EV startup Selex Motors banks US$2.1M to ramp up in-house vehicle production
Investors include Touchstone Partners, ADB Ventures, and Nextrans. Selex Motors owns patented technologies to develop and manufacture smart electric motorcycles, battery packs and battery swapping systems.

East Ventures leads seed round of Indonesian mental health app Riliv
Benson Capital, Sankalpa Ventures, and Teja Ventures also participated; Riliv has developed an app that offers online counseling and meditation services for people dealing with mental health issues.

Malaysia’s content aggregator Newswav scores US$1.43M led by OSK Ventures
Newswav provides content in three different languages (English, Malay, Chinese) and three different formats (articles, videos, podcasts); The portal aggregates about 200 publications and content creators, including The Sun Daily, SCMP, and Malay Mail.

Oxford, Cambridge graduates’ startup GuruLab raises US$1M to pair qualified tutors with learning analytics
Singapore-based Wright Partners and other VCs invested; GuruLab aims to give each student the tailored help to improve their grades through a data-driven approach.

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As COVID-19 has forced the world to slow down, it has pushed the fashion industry into a new and confronting reality. With retail shops forced to close, cancelled orders up to and down the supply chain and a decreased consumer appetite for shopping, the fashion industry has had to take stock.

Its ethical and sustainability issues have been more exposed than ever alongside a consumer awakening that the traditional linear model of “take-make-waste” is no longer feasible. 

The need for fashion to become more circular has never been more apparent. According to the Global Fashion Agenda and Boston Consulting Group,  an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste is created annually from the fashion industry and is estimated to increase by about 60 per cent between 2015 and 2030.

By 2030, the anticipated total fashion waste is 148 million tons, that’s equivalent to 17.5kg of fashion waste for each person globally.

The emergence of resale platforms has greatly improved the lifespan of products and helped to derive considerably more value from produced goods, however, for true circularity to be achieved it needs to start with the design phase. 

Over 70 per cent of environmental impact occurs at the design stage of a product meaning waste and pollution are the results of design flaws. Choosing and sourcing the right materials for production is the first step when designing for sustainability.

The rise of fast fashion has led to the increased adoption of synthetic materials as they are cheap to produce and durable. However, these materials are produced from fossil fuels and are currently unrecyclable.

Worse still when these fabrics are blended with another fibre making it incredibly hard to separate again into recyclable materials although extensive research and practice by the Hong Kong Research Institute for Textile & Apparel are easing this process.

Also Read: How consumers are prioritising sustainability beyond the single lens of eco-friendly products

A common misconception about recycled polyester is that it comes from preloved polyester clothing, however, it is made from plastic bottles and can in fact be detrimental to the circular economy as it impedes the ability for old plastic bottles to be recycled into new ones. 

Design with end in mind

Product designers need to research and select the best natural fibres for their products. Its carbon output and recyclability need to be as important as its form and function. Determining the carbon output of each material can be difficult as, for example, cotton is grown differently across the world due to different conditions and climates.

However, there are a number of platforms, such as the Higg Index which was created by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, that is trying to improve transparency and credibility to carbon emission figures. A longer-term sustainable solution needs to be found to replace fashion’s dependency on these cheap to produce fibres.

Innovative companies, such as Pangaia, have developed brand new fabrics with the same qualities of synthetic fibres but made out of natural ingredients such as eucalyptus and seaweed. These promising developments however have yet to scale.

Product designers also need to design with their end of life in mind. How can the product’s lifespan be maximized? After its first owners, can it be reused? Or perhaps recycled or upcycled? Encouragingly we have seen a huge rise in afterlife repair services.

Luxury brands, such as Hermes and Brunello Cucinelli, have been going back to their traditional values and offering customers repair and restoration services. Patagonia, a leader in sustainable fashion, has the largest repair facility in North America completing 50,000 repairs a year, and actively encourages customers to avoid buying new when they can just be fixed. 

Digitalisation and resale

Advancements in technology and blockchain are another key component to building a circular fashion ecosystem. Blockchain allows brands to assign a unique code to products at the start of production.

This code is time-stamped, secure, and trackable allowing for the whole product’s supply chain to be recorded from the sourcing, the materials and dyes used, the fabrics, right up to when the product hits the shelf, and then beyond.

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

Such transparency and traceability will force brands to take greater accountability over their design and production.

Once a product sells, the technology doesn’t stop there. Digital authentication platforms will drive resale onto an even greater scale. A product’s unique code will guarantee authentication as consumers will be able to track its production from the start. It will also propel circularity as a product’s ownership will be able to be tracked as it is passed on from one owner to the next.

Pricing will be made more efficient as its original RRP and history will be recorded and resale platforms will generally be able to benefit from improved database management and customer engagement. So revolutionary is this technology that rival fashion houses LVMH, Prada Group, and Richemont decided to come together and launch the Aura Blockchain Consortium.

The single blockchain solution allows consumers to trace and verify a product’s historical data, proof of ownership, warranty, and maintenance service record leaving them with an exclusive product certificate.

Resale is a crucial part of facilitating the extension of a product’s lifespan and dramatically reducing carbon emissions. If everyone bought 1 used item instead of a new one, we would save nearly six billion lbs of CO2e4.

Since our founding in 2016, Retykle has recirculated more than 150,000 items of clothing to date, saving 407,100 lb of carbon and 313 million litres of water!

Brands have a huge opportunity to incorporate resale into their customer offering. By partnering with resale platforms, it provides them with greater control over how their goods are represented on the secondhand market and can also improve customer loyalty and desirability. 

The last part of sustainable design is end-of-life reinvention. Rather than ending up in landfills, can products be broken down into their individual materials and reconstructed with other recycled waste into something brand new again?

Regeneration is a key component to refuelling our nature’s ecosystem and not continually draining resources.

If all our waste can be repurposed then demand for virgin materials will be greatly reduced. Designing with the end in mind is the way forward for an industry in peril. 

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Malaysia-based B2B wholesale e-commerce startup Dropee has completed a US$7 million Series A round in equity and debt financing.

The round was led by Vynn Capital, which invested US$341,000 in Dropee in a seed round three years ago and later joined the startup’s US$1.3 million Y Combinator-led round in 2020.

Returning backer Brama One Ventures also joined, alongside new investors including HCL Capital, Resolution Ventures (a VC that focuses on fintech companies in Southeast Asia), and LKF Capital (corporate VC arm of Lan Kwai Fong Group), among others.

The proceeds will be used to expedite Dropee’s financing product offerings for wholesalers and retailers over the next 12 months by working with strategic partners, including regional banks and non-banking financial institutions.

“We’re doubling down on helping micro and small local businesses to adopt digital solutions. This way, they can bring down their operating costs, have more access to financing support and increase their business longevity,” said Lennise Ng, Co-Founder and CEO of Dropee.

Also read: 25 notable startups in Malaysia that have taken off in 2021 

Founded in 2016 by Lennise Ng and Aizat Rahim, Dropee offers brand owners and wholesalers a one-stop solution, including O2O B2B order management, automated payment collection from customers, and hassle-free paperwork processes.

It also has tools to compare suppliers, prices, and products easily, all on one platform, simplifying the decision-making process through greater transparency. Other features revolved around procurement and supply chain ecosystem management.

On top of its SaaS and marketplace businesses, Dropee has also expanded its product line to support loan and financing deployment.

So far, Dropee has made inroads into Singapore and Indonesia, besides Malaysia. It claims to have supported over 80,000 SME businesses to procure wholesale inventories in its marketplace, annually totalling more than US$100 million in transaction value.

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Image Credit: Dropee

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KILDE nets US$350K to introduce new alternative investment products

KILDE, an investment platform regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has closed a US$350,000 bridge round.

The financing was joined by serial angel investors, including Murat Abdrakhmanov, Adil Nurgozhin (Co-Founder of UMAY Angels Network), and Olzhas Zhiyenkulov (Founder of Tesla Capital and CEO of Paladigm Capital).

KILDE will use the proceeds to pursue the strategy of becoming a private tech-enabled supermarket for alternative investments — any investments outside of traditional asset classes such as stocks, bonds, or cash.

KILDE will also focus on introducing new investment products that provide hands-off regular income to customers in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Also read: SEA tech founders playbook: A to Z of becoming a fundraising legend (Part 2)

Credit funds, family offices, and high net-worth individuals often use KILDE to discover and invest in high-yield income-generating assets, including private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, private debt, real estate, infrastructure or natural resources. 

Certain alternative assets better target environmental and sustainability goals by enabling access to credit and supporting specific green and socially inclusive projects.

KILDE claims to have recorded a rapid 10x growth in the last quarter of 2021. 

Riliv closes seed funding to expand mental health services in Indonesia

East Ventures has announced a seed investment in Riliv, a mental health service startup based in Indonesia.  

The co-investors are Benson Capital, Sankalpa Ventures, Teja Ventures, Telkom Indonesia (through the Indigo Acceleration programme), and Angel Investor Shweta Shrivastava. 

This investment will be used to expand Riliv’s mental health services to a broader range of sectors, such as the general public who need integrated health services and industries specific to providing access to mental health personnel for employees. 

Also read: How to tackle employee mental health to build a resilient workforce

Founded in 2015 by brothers Audrey Maximillian Herli (CEO) and Audy Christopher Herli, Riliv provides integrated mindfulness content and online counselling services through an application.

The startup claims its user base has grown by up to 400 per cent during the pandemic, both from workers and general users such as students and housewives.

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Vietnamese smart mobility startup Selex Motors JSC has raised US$2.1 million in a seed funding round led by Touchstone Partners.

ADB Ventures, the venture investment arm of the Asian Development Bank, and Korean VC firm Nextrans also participated.

A press note said Selex will use the proceeds to expand its R&D operations, strengthen the in-house manufacturing capacity of vehicles and battery packs at its new factory in the Hanoi area, and start deployment with early customers.

With its new production facility established, the company also plans to expand into other Southeast Asian countries.

Selex was founded in 2018 by CEO Nguyen Nguyen, Chief Mechanical Engineer Hai Nguyen, and Chief Software Engineer Quang Nguyen. It owns patented technologies to develop and manufacture smart electric motorcycles (EMs), battery packs, and swapping systems.

The startup taps into the underserved B2B market (particularly the last-mile delivery for the logistics sector) with its environmentally friendly and cost-effective solutions.

Also read: The growth of electric vehicles is saving the planet, one trip at a time

The EMs, purpose-built to serve the logistics sector, can transport heavier and bulkier loads than passenger bikes converted for the function. They are equipped with proprietary IoT technology and modern fleet management capabilities to improve productivity further.

Selex claims it offers the products at competitive prices and helps in significant cost savings, including 50 per cent maintenance costs and 25 per cent on fuel costs.

The company has electrified delivery fleets and set up battery swap points for delivery giants such as Viettel Post (a leading parcel courier in Vietnam) and Lazada Logistics (a logistics arm of e-commerce giant Lazada).

According to the National Traffic Safety Committee, Vietnam is home to roughly 50 million motorbikes. It is regarded as the fourth-largest motorbike market globally (behind China, India, and Indonesia).

Each year, these motorbikes burn approximately US$5 billion worth of gasoline and contribute half of the vehicular carbon emissions.

“There are few larger or more urgent challenges facing the world today than climate change, and Selex has identified an unserved and growing market where it can make an impact,” said Tu Ngo, general partner at Touchstone Partners.

Bloomberg reported that the global EV market will total more than 90 million vehicles by 2030, while vehicle ownership of all types across Southeast Asia is predicted to grow more than 40 per cent by 2040.

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In 2020, India became the world’s largest processor of real-time payments, handling close to 41 million transactions in a day, ahead of China and South Korea. This grew by 30 per cent in 2021—India’s digital transformation results from public infrastructure created by the UPI.

However, to capture the full potential, this digital journey needs to run alongside an open data framework that encourages innovation and connects new customers with the financial system. India has made progress but has yet to unlock the full power of open financial data: that needs to change.

Research conducted by Flourish Ventures and McKinsey & Company shows that broad adoption of open-data ecosystems in India could result in a four to five per cent increase in GDP by 2030.

That potential gain– far higher than in developed economies such as the US, European Union or the UK – underlines the importance of financial inclusion as an engine of economic growth.

An open-data regime, which allows the consent-based sharing of users’ financial data, benefits the financial system.

Individuals and small businesses benefit from improved access to financial services, greater convenience and more choice. In contrast, financial institutions gain from a more efficient system, more business opportunities, and better management of risk.

Multiplied benefit

In India, the potential economic benefit is multiplied because so much of the population is underserved by the traditional banking system. Although 80 per cent of Indians have bank accounts, millions of those are inactive, and many small businesses cannot access formal credit.

Also Read: Southeast Asia should capitalise on open data dividend to boost GDP. Here’s why

The International Finance Corporation in 2017 calculated that the finance gap for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in India was US$230 billion, equivalent to 11 per cent of GDP.

The other big benefit comes from the removal of red tape. McKinsey and Flourish found that automating know-your-client (KYC) processes could save MSMEs in India 175 million hours a year.

More data points would also speed up access to finance. Even after the onboarding process is complete, credit decisions still take several weeks: the average turnaround time for MSME loans from public sector banks is 31 days, according to the Reserve Bank of India.

Open data could also eliminate fraud costs amounting to 4 per cent of annual banking revenues, giving more lenders the comfort to support the sector.

Positive momentum

Happily, India has taken some important steps in the right direction. The introduction of the Aadhaar ID card and the development of the IndiaStack framework – a public infrastructure ecosystem facilitating standardisation of information storing and sharing – has slashed the need for paper checks.

That has reduced banks’ retail KYC verification costs to as low as 30-40 rupees per transaction from up to INR1,000 previously.

Further improvements are on the way. The RBI has also created an account aggregator framework that allows for a consent-based, faster and more efficient sharing of information between financial institutions.

The system is expected to become fully operational later this year: the first licences were handed out in 2020, and beta testing is already underway with public and private sector banks.

A Central Identities Data Repository– designed to remove the need to access multiple sources to verify government data– is also under construction.

Also Read: What is the next frontier for lending in India

When it comes to financial inclusion, the growing adoption of the Bharat Bill Payment System for digital utility payments holds great promise. Volumes in July reached a record INR94.88bn, more than double the INT37.07 billion processed in the same month last year, according to NPCI data.

As more customers pay their bills electronically, they create payment records that can help them gain access to formal credit – even if they have no other credit history.

In the US, a study by Experian found that including utility data could transform 20 per cent of “thin file” credit customers– or those less likely to gain credit– into “thick file” customers who are more likely to do so.

In India, where a far higher percentage of the population has no formal financial records, access to utility data would be even more important to potential lenders.

McKinsey and Flourish calculated that increased access to credit using alternative data could raise India’s credit-to-GDP ratio by 1.3 per cent— or the equivalent of US$80–US$90 billion of GDP– by 2030.

New platforms

India’s open data framework has already given rise to a new breed of apps and fintech platforms. By aggregating data from multiple sources, companies like Credflow can help small businesses manage their payment cycles. ZestMoney can offer buy-now-pay-later services by connecting retail consumers with lenders. API providers like YAP are helping to streamline the system.

There is more to be done. The Flourish and McKinsey research found that some 60 per cent of the potential value from open financial data is already accessible, highlighting the value of government investments in digital infrastructure. However, to capture the full value, India needs to allow innovation in financial services to blossom.

It is still too hard to set up a business, and India’s financial system is ill-equipped to use these new data sets fully. Banks focus too much on secured lending, and the cost of borrowing for small businesses and end consumers remains prohibitively high.

To capture the opportunity outlined in the research by Flourish and McKinsey, India’s banks and new lenders will need to rethink their approach to unsecured lending.

The RBI has acknowledged that years of mandated lending to the MSME sector have not produced enough progress. Greater innovation in how small business loans are evaluated, underwritten and managed can open up the Indian financial system to a new generation of customers.

An open data environment can enable that process – and accelerate India’s economy.

The article is co-authored by Tilman Ehrbeck, Managing Partner, Flourish Ventures.

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