Singapore- and Hong Kong-based Better Bite Ventures has announced the launch of a US$15 million fund to support startups developing climate-friendly meat, dairy, egg and seafood alternatives in Asia.

Its anchor investors are leading impact investors, growth-stage fund managers, family offices, and food and tech entrepreneurs from Asia, the US and Europe.

Better Bite Ventures, which invests primarily at founding, pre-seed and seed stages, has already backed ten companies in the region. Fund I plans to back a total of 20-30 ventures.

Also Read: Alt.Flex.Eat: Flexitarianism is the flavour of the SEAson

Better Bite Ventures was founded by General Partners Michal Klar and Simon Newstead, who have a combined 20 years of experience in the plant-based sector and a track record of investing and venture building in food and tech.

Klar was previously Head of Product and Customer Experience at Allegro (first tech unicorn in Poland, acquired by Naspers) and previously held a top role at Naspers. At the same time, Newstead is an entrepreneur-turned-impact investor who held senior positions at mobile game company Frenzoo and vegan confectionery company Bite Society.

According to Klar, while many alt-protein funds exist worldwide, most of them focus on Western startups. “Better Bite is the first to invest only in startups based in Asia Pacific. We believe the time has come for Asia to have its own dedicated fund for alt-protein, just like it has happened with VCs in other sectors,” Klar told e27.

The VC fund claims it follows a simple, fast, transparent decision process and founder-friendly terms. “Having been founders ourselves, we know how helpful having truly supportive investors can be. Being responsive with founder-friendly terms, a lack of red tape and a focus on long term sustainability, we aim to be a trusted partner right from the start,” said Newstead.

Also Read: Shiok Meats backer Aera VC hits US$30M first close for climate-tech investments

According to Better Bite Ventures, the opportunity for impact and growth is significant. A Johns Hopkins University analysis shows that alternative protein products could save up to 93 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions, 89 per cent in water and 98 per cent in land use, compared to conventional animal proteins.

As per Boston Consulting Group, these new products could reach a size of over US$290 billion by 2035 (11 per cent of the overall protein market), with two-thirds of consumption coming from Asia Pacific. While these are still early days for alt protein in this part of the world, there are plenty of early proof points that consumers embrace the products. “For instance, our portfolio company in Indonesia has been able to partner with major brands like Starbucks, Domino’s, Pepper Lunch and IKEA, building plant-based meat products for them. One of the products at Starbucks became best selling food item in the first month,” Klar shared.

Also Read: Shiok Meats wants to bring cruelty-free shrimp products to your dining table with its US$12.6M Series A

In addition, major chains are launching plant-based options across the region. For example, Burger King offers plant-based whoppers in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, and Korea.

“Of course, there are challenges. One of the main barriers is affordability. These products still need to get much cheaper to attract mass-market consumers. They are on the right trajectory as they scale up, but it will take some time.” Klar further added that local startups have an obvious advantage over international products with extra costs related to import.

Speaking of the trends in the alt-food market, Klar commented that a wave of plant-based seafood startups is emerging in the region. Early days were defined by milk and meat replacements, but more and more startups are working on alt-seafood products these days. “And this is very important in Asia, the world’s largest seafood market. We have already invested in some alt-seafood startups and hoping to support many more.”

Also Read: No animals were harmed in the making of this ‘meat’ burger

Below are the short descriptions of the companies Better Bite Venture has invested in so far:

• Blue Canopy (China): develops mass-market alt protein ingredients using biomass fermentation.
• CellX (China): a cultivated meat startup
• Change Foods (Australia): reinvents cheese with precision fermentation technology
• Fable Food Co: transforms mushrooms into meat, co-founded by Michael Fox and Jim Fuller, headquartered in Australia
• Green Rebel Foods (Indonesia): plant-based meat and dairy startup
• Me& (Australia): addresses a large human milk and infant nutrition market with cell-based technology
• Meatiply ( Singapore): develops cultivated poultry
• Next Gen Foods (Singapore): owner of the plant-based chicken brand TiNDLE
• Umami Meats (Singapore): addresses sustainability issues of seafood by developing cell-cultured fish,
• An unnamed stealth molecular farming startup.

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Centralised crypto exchanges had a historic run in 2021, overseeing more than US$14 trillion in trading volumes. This value represents a 689 per cent growth rate as opposed to trading volumes in 2020. What’s more, both centralised and decentralised exchanges experienced exponential growth rates during this period, with the latter overseeing over US$1 trillion in trading volumes during the same period. The figure represents an 858 per cent enormous growth rate from 2020.

These statistics show a growing number of crypto users, fueled by various Web3 projects proliferating to the mainstream. However, launching a new digital asset comes with various challenges, among them the tricky price discovery process. Price discovery is the process wherein market participants decide the fair market value of the new asset as soon as the actual trading begins. For decentralised exchanges (DEX), it is riddled with competing market forces and bots that makes price discovery unfair.

Fortunately, the emergence of innovative price discovery mechanisms are solving this problem–smart enough to outsmart pesky trading bots.

Why bots hurt the entire trading experience

AMM (Automated Market Maker) bots have littered the current DEX landscape, ruining the trading experience for real users. These automated systems connect users to exchange digital assets on a DEX, without an intermediary. No banks or brokers handling your assets.

Bots always claim the available amount of new assets in a trading pool before any human trader can make a move, for example. Before any trader can click through to get their swaps in, faster automated bots will “front-run” the human trader.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

The AMM’s technical design by nature creates non-transparency for the end-user. For the underlying blockchain network powering the AMM, it also creates unnecessary congestion as bots pile in their swaps in a short amount of time. The project’s reputation then gets tainted during the process, despite not being responsible for the bot’s malicious actions. In the end, harmful bots gain everything while honest traders gain nothing.

For these reasons, there is a need for a better price discovery mechanism that fosters open and fair DEX trading environments, to ultimately drive further mainstream adoption.

Combining the best of both worlds

One of the innovations that have been long overdue in the DeFi space is the Dexalot Discovery solution. It is the first of its kind to enable transparent asset trading launches on Avalanche, the fastest smart contracts platform in terms of finality time. With this feature, traders can now stay ahead of bots and mitigate price manipulations. “This innovation leverages central limit order books (CLOB) on Avalanche network to fight bot manipulation, and bring transparency back to the traders. We combine the battle-tested CLOB model used by major financial exchanges, with blockchain’s transparency in order to benefit both experienced and new traders,” says FireStorm, Advisor of Dexalot.

Dexalot’s decentralised exchange means that the users’ assets are only controlled by the user, thus eliminating any manipulation risks by the exchange itself. At its core, Dexalot allows anyone to trade more confidently with higher transparency of what goes on behind the scenes when trading crypto assets.

Remedy with the Central Limit Order Book (CLOB)

The CLOB built on Avalanche is fully transparent and dynamic, giving traders the liberty to set their desired prices and execute trades only at their desired price. Similarly, users can enter limit orders and avoid expensive trades that might hurt their positions. In other words, you won’t get a surprise trade because you won’t buy for higher, or sell for less than what was intended. A checkmark for confident trading.

“We are solving these core problems by introducing a fully on-chain CLOB that merges perfectly with blockchain technology. With the best features from centralised and decentralised exchanges, we are bringing a user experience that balances security, mitigates manipulation, and enhances trading confidence,” says Dexalot Co-Founder and CTO Cengiz Dincoglu.

Also Read: NFTs provide new ways to handle IP management, empower content creators: Inmagine CEO Warren Leow

Hands-on experiences for novel solutions

DeFi and crypto platforms can be quite complex for new users. Blockchain is still a relatively new technology that is still penetrating the mainstream. That said, it helps if projects incentivize users to get hands-on experience with new solutions to fast-track wider adoption.

“To help traders get hands-on experience with this new feature, we encourage our communities through gamified battles. This simulates real price discovery and order book trading sessions, for traders to test their skills with mock assets,” says Tim Shan, COO of Dexalot.

Discovering innovation in the crypto markets

Smarter price discovery is a feature that will change the trading game in many ways by vesting fairness back to the user. From transparency, a blockchain-based Central Limit Order Book, to a smooth user experience, a typical trader has much to explore and gain.

“Decentralised finance has certainly created a plethora of exciting new opportunities for projects as well as their communities. However, the other side of the coin is also true: the rapid pace of innovation brought about new challenges associated with price discovery manipulation. To continue the much-needed innovation that DeFi is driving, we are actively educating traders on solutions like Dexalot Discovery. This is an important step to ensuring a far more transparent and fair DEX environment,” concludes Nihat Gurmen, Co-Founder and CEO of Dexalot.

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This content was first published by The Human & Machine

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• The salaries of software engineers reached an all-time high after increasing by up to 32 per cent.
• The 90th percentile of software engineers is paid as much as 3x more than those in the 10th percentile.
• 9 of the 15 most searched companies pay 25 per cent above the market median.
• Companies should allocate resources to growing and retaining talents besides recruitment.

The Tech Talent Compensation report, published by tech talent platform NodeFlair and Asia’s top venture capital firm, Quest Ventures, highlights that the tech talent war continues to intensify in Singapore as companies compete with each other with jaw-dropping salary offers.

The report uncovers the tech talent salary black box and empowers tech talents and employers by analysing more than 30,000 data points from NodeFlair’s proprietary database and in-depth interviews with founders and engineering leaders.

“Recognising the gravity of the global tech talent squeeze and its impact on Singapore and Asia, the team went on a mission to diagnose the pain points for tech talent and hiring entities,” says James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures.

“Salary is identified as the largest push and pull factor, and the reason responsible for failed job placement.”

Tech salary is at an all-time high

In the last twelve months, the average salaries for software engineers reached an all-time high after increasing by up to 32 per cent.

For example, the median base salary compensation for a junior software engineer is SG$4,750 (US$3,532.45).

Mid-level and senior software engineers, it increases to SG$6,500 (US$4,833.88) and SG$7,500 (US$ 5,577.22) respectively; and at a lead level, it reaches SG$9,000 (US$6,692.67).

Meanwhile, at the 90th percentile, the median base salary can be as much as 3x more than those in the 10th percentile.

For instance, junior software engineers at the 90th percentile have gone up to SG$7,500 (US$5,577.22). Mid-level and senior software engineers can command SG$9,500 (US$7,064.48) and SG$11,500 (US$8,553.12), respectively; it is not surprising that lead software engineers can cost an eye-popping base salary of SG$15,950 (US$11,861.70).

Also Read: How I went from an Android developer to CTO of a Vietnamese e-commerce

“We try to stay competitive to attract tech talents, and we do it through two components: cash and equity,” says Ashish Awasthi, CTO of Series C startup Homage and previously held the role of Vice President at Lazada and Redmart. “We understand that employees should feel valued and compensated for their skills and contributions.”

The rise of tech salary is not slowing down anytime soon

Amongst the reasons why talents are looking for new opportunities, it is not surprising that a better salary package is the top reason (65 per cent).

“Salary ranks higher than other reasons like their desire to work on new technologies, work-life balance and growth opportunities.,” says Ethan Ang, CEO and Co-Founder of NodeFlair.

“While companies can, and will, work on the non-compensation aspect to attract talents, the easier way out in the short term will be to increase their hiring budget, especially when they are on a hiring spree.”

Furthermore, in 2021, investors poured US$30 billion into blockchain and cryptocurrency because of the growth and demand for Web3 technologies.

Due to the shortage of blockchain engineers, companies have adjusted their hiring strategy by hiring software engineers interested in picking up blockchain development instead, further intensifying the competition for these tech talents.

“I am interested in your company, but…”

If talents are not interested or applying to your company despite your company’s recruitment effort, you are probably not alone.

The report noted that the top 15 most searched companies include the likes of homegrown tech firms like Shopee and Grab, as well as foreign tech giants Bytedance and FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google).

These companies have two things in common– they pay well above the market median and have above average Glassdoor ratings.

Also Read: From sommelier to AVP of Customer Success at a tech unicorn: Lessons from my career journey

Most of these companies pay more than 12 per cent above the market median; 9 of the 15 pay 25 per cent above the market median. 

In addition, 14 out of the 15 companies have Glassdoor ratings above the median of 3.8; and 5 of them have ratings that are at least 75th percentile of 4.2.

There is more to talent management than just recruitment

As the talent war over engineers intensifies, companies should be prepared to face shorter average tenures and higher turnover rates amongst employees.

Talent churn in engineering functions is more than a one-off recruitment cost to replace the lost headcounts – it is much more expensive as the company has to replace those who left and onboard new members into the team.

The report remarks that while many companies allocate most of their resources on recruiting talents, few have invested equivalent effort resources into talent development and retention.

NodeFlair CEO Ethan Ang shared that at a turning point, the tangible and intangible costs of recruiting talent can be too high for a company if it does not have a strong culture in place to retain these talents. 

Quoting Gibson Tang, Lenskart SEA Engineering Lead, from the report on how companies can retain top talents, “Having learning opportunities and being able to work with great developers are what I would consider as factors. The immediate environment that tech talent is in plays a big part in whether they will stay or leave.”

“Companies need to invest in leaders who can grow and retain these talents through non-compensation means, such as enforcing a higher quality engineering culture and creating a better developer experience,” Ang added.

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Singapore-based healthtech company MiyaHealth has secured SGD6.5 (US$4.8) million in a pre-Series A financing round led by ST Engineering Ventures, the venture arm of ST Engineering, and Elev8.

Several prominent unnamed angels also participated in the round, bringing the startup’s total capital raised to over US$6.7 million.

“Healthcare is now at a place of unprecedented progress as the ongoing pandemic and rapid digitalisation continues to drive tech-first innovations throughout the industry. Nonetheless, even with such technological advancements, it’s important that we never lose sight of what truly matters in our healthcare efforts — the patients,” said Dr Ramesh Rajentheran, CEO and Co-Founder of MiyaHealth. “MiyaHealth stands ready to optimise the healthcare experience for all patients.”

Founded in 2019, MiyaHealth helps patients choose affordable healthcare, manage their chronic illness, and improve the patient experience. It leverages artificial intelligence, predictive analysis, and optimised data infrastructure to create the optimal patient experience.

Also Read: What telemedicine and Health Tech holds across SEA amidst COVID-19

MiyaHealth offers two flagship product suites:

1. MiyaPayor: a single platform that incorporates AI-driven claims processing, provider network management and predictive analytics to reduce healthcare costs for payors
2. MiyaPatient: a patient navigation platform that includes a predictive and personalised system that helps patients with chronic diseases cope with their daily challenges.

Its upcoming product, MiyaProvider, will help improve the patient experience in hospitals and clinics.

To date, MiyaHealth has partnered with over 3,000 medical providers and 12,000 physicians for its flagship platforms, which includes a partnership with a leading Indonesian hospital group.

The startup said in a press statement that it will use the capital raised from the latest round to accelerate its product development and expansion plans. This includes introducing MiyaPayor to Indonesia, deploying MiyaPatient in Europe, and launching its first MiyaProvider solution across Malaysia in the next quarter.

It will also be expanding its headcount across its Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta offices.

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South Korean startups secured a record US$10.3B in 2021

The story: South Korean startups received KRW 12.28 trillion (~US$10.3 billion) in funding in 2021, up 192 per cent compared to that of 2020, reports Startup Recipe. This is also the highest amount of investment ever poured into the country’s startups, with a total of 1,272 deals throughout the year.

Key sectors: Consumer tech, bio/healthcare, and software attracted the most investments, while fintech and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) were the most popular investment areas. Softbank Vision Fund injected the largest amount.

Emerging trends: Keywords that symbolise South Korea investment trends of 2021 include non-face-to-face, digital transformation, generation MZ and lifestyle, and the fourth industrial revolution. Luxury, fashion, used (resell), and last-mile delivery platforms emerged rapidly in 2021. Metaverse and blockchain (NFT) also caught investors’ interests. 

Also read: 15 South Korean startups set to pursue the Southeast Asian market

The most funded company of 2021 was Yanolja (~US$840.2 million), followed by Kurly (~US$231.4 million), Viva Republica (~US$386.5 million), TMON (~US$256.2 million), and Ruiid (~US$168 million) followed in the top 5.

Kurly, Karrot, NPIXEL, Zigbang, and Dunamu are five companies that joined the unicorn club in 2021. It took an average of seven years for these companies to become unicorns. 

Wavemaker Impact joins hands with UNDP to support sustainable tech firms

The story: Climate tech venture builder Wavemaker Impact (WMI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have joined hands to support the development of scalable and sustainable technology companies.

The plan: Under the three-year partnership, UNDP will offer WMI training, tools and support, covering practical impact measurement and management frameworks. These will help evaluate and elevate WMI’s social and environmental impact at the level of individual companies, investment portfolio and the firm.

Climate action, affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, and industry, innovation and infrastructure are the four sustainable development goals (SDGs) of focus.

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

UNDP has developed special SDG Impact standards for various asset classes, including PE/VC funds, and operates a dedicated network of Impact Venture Accelerators (UNDP IVA) that integrate impact aspects in incubation and acceleration of ventures.

India’s MediBuddy snags US$125M Series C

The crux: A digital healthcare platform MediBuddy offers a care platform for its users to consult specialist doctors, order medicines and book lab tests from the comfort of their homes.

Investors: Quadria Capital, Lightrock India, Bessemer Venture Partners, India Life Sciences Fund III, Rebright Partners, JAFCO Asia, TEAMFund LP, FinSight Ventures, InnoVen Capital, Stride Ventures, and Alteria Capital.

The plan: MediBuddy will further invest in customer awareness, hiring, strengthening technology platforms, including data science capabilities, clinical research, and product development. The startup is also expanding its footprint across India, including Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns.

Also read: How Asian governments are leading digital health promotion

More about MediBuddy: Founded in 2000, MediBuddy provides a healthcare subscription plan, covering unlimited specialist doctor consultations for the user and the family. The startup’s customers include corporates, whose employees will have access to multiple healthcare benefits provided by MediBuddy.

 

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Kristal.AI is looking to ”Shopify” wealth management as it expands to the Middle East and India with its unique technology platform. e27 spoke with Asheesh Chanda, Co-founder and CEO at Kristal.AI for a discussion of what makes their proprietary technology and wealth management team stand out in the marketplace for personal wealth management services.

Age of digital transformation

Asheesh feels that private wealth management services are increasingly becoming digital as companies like Kristal.AI apply technology to innovate new engagement models. “Wealth management has been a human-intensive business. While the managers used tools for risk management, personal finance, and KYC, their customers rarely had an experience that tech-driven. Technology was used mostly to deliver services but not personalise services,” explained Asheesh.

The biggest issue, according to Asheesh, is that without digitally enabled service models, personal wealth managers are limited in their capability to deliver individual and personalised services to multiple customers.

“Now, customers are asking for real-time access to their portfolio and ability to make their own investment decisions,” he continued. With tech-savvy customers demanding digital access to monitor their wealth investment portfolio, “this has made many wealth managers invest in building their own customer portals,” explained Asheesh. “But this is not easy, as they lack resources and the knowledge of technology providers,” he added.

Also read: Sagri: Bringing agriculture to the future and sustainability to the forefront with satellite data, AI, and GRID

Management fees have been reducing over the years, as advisors play on fees to attract new clients to them. To make the economics work, they acquire multiple clients, but this makes it hard for them to offer personalised services to their clients. Hence, they are investing in tech to be able to provide a consistent experience to all their clients. But this is easier said than done as most advisors or wealth managers lack the resources or the skill set to build a tech interface for their clients.

That is where Kristal’s platform comes in. As a digital proprietary wealth management platform, Kristal.AI can offer a single platform that solves all the digital needs for private wealth managers. Asheesh states that “Kristal is trying to be the digital platform for wealth managers with all the tools like risk management, trade execution, financial planning, and CRM integrated into a single offering. We are trying to Shopify the wealth management space.”

Achieving growth through Channel Partners

When Kristal entered the India market in early 2020 with the model used in Singapore, they realised they were competing with personal financial advisors rather than private banks. In a market that is driven by long-standing relationships, these financial advisors had already earned the trust and confidence of their clients. Weaning these clients away was hard and time-consuming. Partnering seemed a better way to move forward. Kristal believed that in India where clients have high trust in their personal wealth managers, joining hands with these advisors as channel partners to leverage and combine that trust with the tech capability of Kristal is the right growth strategy.

Also read: How Geotab continues to reinvent the transport industry through tech

This is where Kristal focused its channel partner strategy — helping traditional family wealth managers onboard their clients to their digital platform. The strategy has been an unqualified success since Kristal launched its Channel Partner business in mid-2020. In 12 months since launching their ‘Shopify’ model, partners and clients already account for 10% of the AUM on Kristal and represent the company’s fastest-growing business segment. Kristal has onboarded more than 75 family offices and wealth managers, managing around $10 billion in client assets.

Asheesh explained how they work with partners: “Wealth managers subscribe to our product free of cost and onboard their clients on the Kristal.AI platform. Partners can customise their fee models and product offerings based on client needs. Kristal charges a certain platform fee and passes the balance to the partners.” Aligning with the established practices of traditional wealth managers, Kristal provides them with an all-inclusive tech platform.

Empowering personal wealth managers

Traditional wealth managers are thus empowered to continue to operate their traditional fee models and product offerings while focusing on achieving scale through client acquisition. “Kristal saves them from making investments in tech and allows them to spend their time acquiring and servicing clients,” says Asheesh. Apart from saving them the cost of building their own technology platform, Kristal’s platform enables partners to deliver a private banking experience that is more transparent and personalised, thanks to its AI-enabled advisory.

For Kristal’s channel partner customers, the offering continues to provide the same benefits: investors will be able to access institutional products just like those offered by private banks but at a lower investment ticket size. “As a customer, you can get access to the widest range of premium investing products and advisory services at super low ticket size. There are zero account opening and account maintenance charges,” adds Asheesh.

Also read: Imagining communities: building localised digital experiences with CiPPo corporation

A channel partner growth model nicely aligns with the overall mission of Kristal.AI to democratise private banking and get institutional products within the reach of more investors. As partners experience the benefits of working with clients on Kristal’s technology platform, the company hopes that more and more financial advisors will recommend Kristal.AI to their clients. This model will allow Kristal.AI to rapidly grow within the large and affluent segment of HNWI clients based in India and the UAE and realise its vision to be among the top 10 wealth managers of Asia

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Kristal.AI

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‘Create2Earn’ metaverse Chillchat bags US$1.85M led by Solana Ventures

“Create2Earn” metaverse Chillchat has secured US$1.85 million in a seed funding round led by Solana Ventures.

Several blockchain gaming and Web3 investors participated, including FTX Ventures, Animoca Brands, Griffin Gaming Partners, A&T Capital, YGGSEA, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Diamond Hands Ventures, and the PKO Investments syndicate.

The funding will be utilised to expand Chillchat’s product and growth teams to further develop its Web3 tools, channels and infrastructure.

Founded in 2019, Chillchat is a pixel art gaming metaverse that runs on the Solana blockchain. Its “Create2Earn” virtual world focuses on user-generated content that players can quickly and easily create in the form of non-fungible-token (NFT) characters, pets, worlds — all on mobile or browser — and instantly buy, sell, or trade with other players.

Also read: More than hype: 3 reasons why NFTs are here to stay 

Chillchat creates a first-generation digital community of limited 1,500 “Origin” characters. These handcrafted and animated Origins will spawn all future Chillchat characters.

The startup’s unique tools include Pixel Editor for players to create and mint NFTs, World Builder to build new worlds, and World Scripting to convert self-built worlds into fully functioning games.

Singapore’s M-DAQ buys B2B cross-border payments provider Wallex

M-DAQ, a Singapore-based fintech firm facilitating cross-border transactions with forex (FX) solutions, has acquired Wallex, a B2B cross-border payments provider with licenses in Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore. 

In addition to the amount paid for the complete acquisition, M-DAQ will inject fresh working capital to accelerate the Wallex business.

“M-DAQ will be the upstream FX provider to supply Wallex with the necessary liquidity it needs to run its core payments business,” said M-DAQ Founder and Group CEO Richard Koh. “This B2B2B2C business model is an ecosystem of businesses that complements each other, reduces duplication, increases efficiency, and ultimately reduces transaction costs for the end clients, as economies of scale are materialised.”

M-DAQ clients can utilise Wallex’s versatile electronic tools for funds transfers through its existing currency corridors, further improving reporting accuracy and regulatory reporting requirements.

Also read: The next fintech innovation will be a customer-led phenomenon

Founded in 2016, Wallex offers services in more than 180 countries. Businesses can benefit from advanced multi-currency solutions to collect payments via virtual accounts and hold funds in a digital wallet.

Wallex also supports fintech firms in Asia to build cross-border offerings tailored to their customer needs with customisable APIs.

Uzbek fintech firm IMAN nets US$1M seed round to foster BNPL in Muslim-majority markets

Uzbekistan-based Islamic fintech startup IMAN has closed its US$1 million seed round led by Singapore- and US-based institutional investors, alongside some unnamed angels.

The backers are Battery Road Digital Holdings, Tesla Capital, Uzcard Ventures, MyAsiaVC, Le Mercier’s Capital, Block0, Vector Crypto Capital, and IT-Park Investments.

The investment will help IMAN scale its technology to integrate seamlessly with retail partners, both online and offline, to provide finance in seconds across Uzbekistan.

The startup also plans to aggressively roll out partnerships with merchants across all sectors, including beauty & fashion, FMCG, and services, and explore opportunities in other Muslim-majority markets in early 2023.

Founded in 2020, IMAN offers IMAN Pay, a “halal” buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) solution catering to Muslim-majority markets, and IMAN Invest, which allows people across the world to fund consumers’ purchases directly at the point of sale.

Via the two products, IMAN said that it provides halal BNPL and builds halal funding sources for such service. In this way, IMAN Invest finances profitable projects offline at IMAN Pay outlets. Profit is then is divided between the partner investor and IMAN every three months.

Also read: The rising era of buy now, pay later in APAC

The startup boasts that its halal BNPL has now connected to more than 100 merchants offering goods and services across consumer electronics, household appliances, sports, healthcare, and education.

Besides, IMAN Invest has also clocked more than 30,000 active users and managed US$1.2million from more than 1,000 retail investors based in over 60 countries.

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Singapore-based Princeton Digital Group (PDG) has closed an over US$500 million equity investment, with Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company leading the round with a US$350 million injection.

Its existing shareholders, Warburg Pincus and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.

The funds will enable Princeton Digital Group to deepen its presence in Japan, India, Singapore, China, and Indonesia and accelerate its expansion plans into other markets.

Established in 2017, Princeton Digital Group invests, develops and operates internet infrastructure. It serves internet and cloud companies and financial institutions with scalable internet infrastructure and data centre services.

Headquartered in Singapore with a presence and operations in China, India, Indonesia, and Japan, Princeton Digital Group operates a portfolio of 20 data centres with over 600MW of secured capacity and spanning five countries.

Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi, CEO (Real Estate and Infrastructure Investments) at Mubadala, said: “PDG is a leading data centre infrastructure platform operating in an attractive market with strong tailwinds and catering to rising demand from the hyperscale segment and more broadly Asia’s digital economies. We look forward to working with PDG to capitalise on the growth opportunities and create a sustainable, long-term value creation.”

In 2020-21, PDG had raised nearly US$600 million. This included a US$230 million from China Merchants Bank in April 2021 and a US$360 million round led by Ontario Teachers in October 2020.

Asia is one of the fastest-growing data centre regions globally, driven by solid market fundamentals such as a large base of internet users, the growth of digitalisation, high levels of data usage and an increasing tech-savvy young population.

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I had spent two years working as a French language teacher for high-school students. In love with languages and the process of learning, I dreamt of being a teacher since childhood and considered this profession a perfect fit for myself.

Later, I’ve given up teaching for pursuing copywriting, working as a ghost and an essay writer for college students between whiles.

Now, I’m a professional copywriter and guest contributor, currently blogging at Bid4Papers and freelancing as a content creator. I do data research, content writing, repurposing, and distribution.

Why I decided to make the change

I loved the actual teaching. But when I chose this profession, I forgot about one tiny detail: introversion!

All collaboration and social interaction behind the class was hard to handle: noisy kids, regular talks with parents, — let’s face it, far from all agree with a teacher’s feedback, arguing rather than listening — group work… They all drove me nuts.

Stresses and burnouts were not long in coming. And the time is ripe for my disillusion with a teacher’s daily routine. Every time I went to the class, I thought I couldn’t deal with the school environment anymore. It was a kind of work depression, with all physical and mental problems that it implies.

The moment of truth

It was my boyfriend who helped me drive home to reality. One day, after I came back from school nervous and willing to ‘kill those who invented parents’ evenings,’ he said, “It’s just not your thing.”

And it was that very moment, after two years in school, when I stopped and thought first about what was MY thing, actually.

I took a seat, a sheet of paper, and a pen; I wrote down my hard and soft skills to see what work I could do that would fit my inwardness as well. I even checked different coding boot camps in Chicago, believing in the power of cross-skilling and IT for my future career.

Also Read: Beyond burn out: Why you should also celebrate the pursuit and not just wins

But long story short, writing appeared to be the best option to try.

How did I go about making the shift?

It was a game-changer that led me to a successful career as a content architect in love with neuro-copywriting. And it allowed me to beat the impostor syndrome and reach (finally!) a work-life balance.

Once I left my school job, I started looking for freelance writing opportunities. I had two problems that day: I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything besides academic writing, and I was strapped for cash.

So, I joined the team of writers at Bid4Papers, who helped students with academic papers. It wasn’t an entirely kosher activity, but it helped me network, polish my writing skills, and take the next step toward professional copywriting and ghostwriting.

My mistake was to consider this work something terrible and unfair.

I didn’t work on building a personal brand and promoting my writing services because of that. And it cost me tons of nerves, portfolio absence, and problems with self-identification.

Hundreds of my articles were live online without my name in bylines. It led to difficulties with getting freelance offers – people wanted to see my work, but I couldn’t provide them with anything worthy.

But once I’ve managed my self-presentation, I already had enough background and skillset to ask fair charges for my services.

The most challenging thing about shifting to a startup

I was leaving my comfort zone of a nerdy academic and stepping outside some of my inner principles.

It was more like a struggle with my demons, my one-sided vision of education, and my rose-tinted glasses about noble people in a business world. But thanks to this struggle, I was able to adapt my knowledge and skills to the market demand.

Also Read: Why I left Silicon Valley to build a coding boot camp in Singapore

Online courses, webinars, niche blogs, and conferences on copywriting and digital marketing were (and are!) my best friends to stay tuned, polish my skills, and get inspiration for new writing projects.

Also, I am lucky to work with professional editors who are strict but fair to say something like, “It’s bulls**t, revise it all!” or “Your grammar sucks, go and re-read Strunk’s Elements of Style!” They don’t allow me to relax and stop learning.

The biggest lesson

There’s no pure black or pure white in this world. To succeed, you need to develop emotional intelligence and adapt to that grey reality.

Don’t stop learning and trying new things. Even if it seems useless or controversial at first, every skill you have will come in handy one day.

If you feel uncomfortable with your career, it’s never late to make a turn. Yes, it’s scary. Yes, you will doubt. And yes, many will try to dissuade you.

But it is better to take the risk than spend years doing something that doesn’t bring comfort and harmony with your inner self.

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Image Credit: helloimnik

The post From teaching to a writing startup: Why and how I’ve pivoted my career appeared first on e27.

Urbanmetry, an AI-driven city and property data company in Malaysia, has closed its pre-Series A round of US$2 million led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.

The Kuala Lumpur-headquartered startup will use the money to develop intelligent data products and platforms to serve end consumers in the property and mortgage markets. A portion of the capital will be used to build out its product, technology, data, and business development teams, as per a press note.

Urbanmetry is a property data company that harvests, cleans, and analyses large amounts of city data through artificial intelligence and proprietary algorithms to extract trends and patterns in the built environment.

It offers this data to public and private sectors to create a more efficient and transparent property market, improve city planning, and shape a sustainable urban environment.

Also Read: Monk’s Hill Ventures head of talent’s guide to startup jobs search in Singapore

“For years, our engineers have been building in-house AI and data-powered solutions to help banks, government, and property developers better quantify risks and opportunities in the real estate market. However, the data gap is detrimental to both key industry players and individual homeowners alike. In the future, our team plans to push the technological envelope further to better fund homeowners and build sustainable cities for our shared future,” said Urbanmetry CEO and Founder Koh Cha-Ly.

Urbanmetry boasts over 150 corporate clients in the region, including UEM Sunrise, Kuok Group, RHB Bank, and the World Bank. Clients partner with Urbanmetry to conduct their due diligence and analysis of the housing and property market before making multimillion-dollar investment decisions.

In addition to providing data and insight to institutional clients, Urbanmetry also offers products for the homeowner. To assist homebuyers in making their mortgage commitment, Urbanmetry has launched Nowcast. This AI-driven service helps homebuyers forecast the value of their homes based on machine learning from 90 city data variables. Nowcast reports are available through banks in Malaysia to mortgage applicants today.

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