OMO Group launches Diamond Protocol, raises funding from Tokocrypto, others

The platform: Southeast Asia-based crypto investment platform OMO Group announced the launch of its codeless, modular vault protocol Diamond Protocol. It aims to enable a decentralised ecosystem where traders from the traditional financial world and the crypto native population can work together.

The funding: Undisclosed.

The investor: Tokocrypto, IVC and Perpetual Protocol.

The company: In addition to Diamond Protocol, OMO Group also owns Coinomo (mobile app for retail investors) and OMO Finance (wealth management account service for high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors).

Evie Zhang, CEO of OMO Group, explained, “Through Diamond Protocol, we want to build modular derivative hedging vaults so that other traders can use our protocol and build their strategies on-chain to earn yields for themselves and other on-chain users without the need to write any line of code. Our traders in OMO Finance, on the other hand, will provide some initial trading strategies to get the ball rolling and once the investment vaults stabilise and have enough history of sustainable returns to show for it, we will offer them to our Coinomo customers too. This way, we are building a cycle that can spin on its own and morph into a self-driven, ever-growing organism.”

Glife Technologies invests in PanenID, Yolek

The companies: Singapore-headquartered food and agritech company Glife Technologies acquires a controlling stake in PanenID, a Bali-based farm-to-table startup that directly connects hotels and restaurants to farmers, and Yolek, a HORECA distributor with over 30 years of experience in plant-based distribution and retail.

The plan: The strategic investment into the two companies signals Glife’s intention to move to the next stage of its growth plan – expansion into key neighbouring markets.

Also Read: Meet the 22 notable startups that have brightened up the Filipino tech ecosystem 

More about the partnership: Caleb Wu, Co-Founder and Deputy CEO of Glife Technologies, commented, “Both Indonesia and Malaysia are vibrant communities within the food and agriculture space. We recognise the immense potential for us to tap on given the large agriculture market. The strategic partnership will allow us to bring the best of Glife’s technological solutions beyond Singapore’s borders and we are extremely excited to connect with more farmers and restaurants within the region. PanenID and Yolek are valuable partners in this journey as we tap onto their local domain knowledge to bridge
the gaps within the food value chain and strengthen our regional network.”

Filipino VC firm Mad Ventures leads 7-figure pre-seed round for US-based Elloe

The funding: Undisclosed

The company: Elloe is a US-based social e-commerce startup focused on Kenya and emerging markets. Co-founded by Owen Sakawa, Abhijay Rao, and Aaron Madolora, Elloe is an AI-powered, social commerce platform that allows merchants to buy and sell products online across any messaging platform. Its technology increases sales and profitability of businesses by simplifying operations, logistics, payments, and marketing within a centralized merchant portal. The subscription service is especially helpful for micro-SMEs who wish to sell their products and services online without having to pay high commissions to non-essential third parties.

The plan: The new funds will give Elloe sufficient runway to grow its local Kenyan operations and fuel expansion into the Philippine and Southeast Asian markets well into 2023 and beyond.

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Image Credit: OMO Group

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In the first of my two-part series, I introduced Tokyo’s startup and innovation ecosystem by sharing the why, and four key stakeholders that you need to know. If you’re now convinced or have been considering the market already anyway, then here’s my sharing of the how revolving around three Cs: consult, culture, commitment.

These are also the key learnings and insights from my recent participation in Invest Tokyo’s flagship programme: Access to Tokyo (A2T) Famtrip 2021. 

Consult the government

For startups in AI, blockchain, robotics, AR/VR, IoT, Fintech, and data related technologies, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) provides free consulting services tailored to your company’s needs and requests, to accelerate your expansion into Tokyo and Japan.

Support services include (but are not limited to) market analysis, go to market strategy, identifying potential business partners, and financial forecasting.

Some of the companies that have benefitted from this include San Francisco-based Tellus You Care, New York-based Symphony Communication Services, London-based Revolut, and Singapore-based SWAT Mobility. 

For companies who are thinking about establishing a presence in Tokyo, key considerations could include business development and operations, relocation and residency of some key staff from HQ, as well as the (financial) regulations there.

The Business Development Centre Tokyo (BDCT) provides services ranging from business support, living support, and financial support for foreign companies and entrepreneurs.

Then when you’ve decided to enter the market, the Tokyo One-Stop Business Establishment Centre (TOSBEC) will help foreign companies with corporate administrative procedures, such as incorporation, taxes, social security, and immigration.

Also Read: How this Tokyo-based startup is protecting e-Commerce merchants against fraudulent orders

Know the business culture

As the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Tokyo, it is important to assimilate the Japanese way of Business. Here are some important Japanese sayings that represent the traditional culture, which is also common in the business context.

Nagai mono niwa makarero	Loosely translates to “Resistance is futile”, suggesting to go along with the popular decision, or not go against any influence/authority.
Goh ni ireba goh ni shitagae	An expectation to go with the flow of the Japanese way. Conflicts are seen as immature, and a disruption to the group’s harmony.
Nemawashi	A semi-formal decision making process by going behind the scenes to fully understand all the facts, and get everyone to “officially” agree, before signing off
HONNE to TATEMAE	The concept that nobody can express their true feelings and opinions, always preferring to defer to the “model answers”, until the relationship is built on trust and confidence.

As a generalisation, the decision making process with the Japanese is less objective or value-oriented, but more problem-solving oriented. This means that there must be a perfect understanding of the whys, the issues, the facts, and the root cause go through the Nemawashi process before the decision is being made.

Tokyo requires commitment

Every new market requires focus and commitment for your business to succeed there, and Tokyo is no different. In fact, given the comprehensive support from TMG’s programmes, as well as the attractiveness of the market itself, commitment to Tokyo should be relatively easier compared to other new markets that you’d experience.

During a Q&A session with Gen Uehara, Head of Asia Pacific at Symphony, he explained some examples of their commitment to Tokyo, such as

• The localisation of your product is not good-to-have, but a must.
• You must be patient with your go-to-market strategy in Tokyo
• It is recommended to hire a local leader, as opposed to parachuting someone from HQ and expecting him/her to do it all by themselves.
• Striving to be “mainstream” is important, by managing word-of-mouth within your target industry/sector, and public relations with the media strongholds like Nikkei.

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With digital assets catching the imagination of the young generation globally, traditional VCs will turn to crypto projects to place their bets on in the future, according to Nicole Zhang, Investment Director at Binance Labs.

“It is difficult to predict the future, but what I’ve observed so far is that all the large traditional VC funds are hovering over crypto and web3 [projects]. The reason is that crypto is the right way to channel the audience,” she said in an interview with e27, on the sidelines of the Binance Blockchain Week concluded in Dubai last week.

Referring to a study conducted by Forbes in the US, which found about 40 per cent of young Americans make only crypto investments nowadays, she said: “It is a significant number, and it has alarmed traditional VCs. They realise they need to grab the heart of the younger generation because they’re the future.”

Binance Labs is the investment and acceleration arm of Binance, a global leader in crypto and blockchain. It has accelerated and invested in more than 100 startups/projects. Its notable investees include Forbes, Sky Mavis (Axie Infinity), and Coin98.

Also Read: Sky Mavis raises US$150M led by Binance to reimburse users hit by Axie breach

The crypto giant invested from its balance sheet in the initial years (from 2018 to late 2021). But afterwards, it formed a separate fund and raised funds from several Limited Partners (with Binance being the biggest LP). Zhang said that the firm plans to make more than 200 investments, covering early-stage and late-stage incubation projects and over-the-counter deals.

Zhang, based in Singapore, also talked about Binance’s ongoing conflicts with different governments across the world. In the past year or so, the company came under global scrutiny and had faced licensing issues in many countries, including Singapore. She said the firm is working to iron out the differences with governments. “My colleagues had to move from country to country to talk to the authorities. It is about how you understand the regulations [in respective countries], and we are learning fast. And we need to abide by the rules, reform ourselves, and we want to be friends with every single country.”

“Our team has been actively finding the know-how to get the proper licence and collaborate with different regulators. The governments also seek collaboration opportunities with us. We run a famous incubator, and governments want to co-incubate with us and find some projects that can help them do more crypto projects. It essentially contributes to their GDP,” the Binance Labs Director mentioned.

She further said that web3 games are gaining strong adoption in Southeast Asia. Referring to the growing popularity of Axie Infinity and YGG games, Zhang said NFT games are an excellent way to incentivise participation. Sky Mavis, for example, has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in venture funding from notable VCs and is popular in countries like the Philippines.

“Axie Infinity is easy to get your hands on and addictive. The game has encouraged the participation of people who have relatively more free time. The entry barrier was quite low at the beginning. We witnessed a lot of gaming guild uprisings, especially YGG, which comes from the Philippines. They have good capabilities in organising player groups. It was a good model, making Axie Infinity an astonishingly successful project,” said Zhang, who previously headed sales, marketing and IT development at Singapore Press Holdings.

Web3 games are also gaining a lot of traction in Vietnam. While we see growing adoption of metaverse games in the west, the Southeast Asian region is also catching up, particularly in Vietnam. “Surprisingly, because of the success of the likes of Axie, we see strong adoption of metaverse games in Vietnam. The Vietnamese community is diligent and has a strong learning urge. The passion and involvement of users for web3 in the country are crazy,” she concluded.

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Ideas hold so much potential. The discovery of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, for example, shows just how far back the idea for helicopters, submarines, and even contact lenses had begun — begun but not developed until centuries later, presumably due to the lack of various kinds of resources at the time.

We still see this in modern times. In research institutes, universities, and even private laboratories, the seeds of science and technology that could potentially change the world are born. But it would take a lot of time, effort, and resources for these ideas to sprout and grow into practical applications.

As such, many of today’s innovations and discoveries are relegated to the back seat. Instead of maximising their potential and being able to materially impact lives today, great ideas either take forever to be realised or simply fizzle out.

This is the challenge that TECH PLANTER was built for.

Also read: How these four startups are changing the game in health and well-being

TECH PLANTER is a platform by Leave a Nest specifically designed to discover and nurture deep tech ideas by giving innovators access to resources that could help turn them into businesses.

It was launched in 2014 in Singapore and, by the end of 2018, covers six countries in Southeast Asia, supporting 948 teams 358 startups across the region by 2021.

Initially a seed acceleration program, TECH PLANTER has evolved to become a platform that tackles deep issues in the region, working with a series of partners to help develop and support startups working on deep tech.

Providing the unique support that deep tech requires

While interest in deep tech startups is increasing, resources and support are still a challenge, especially in the early stages. For starters, deep tech generally takes longer to productise, needs substantially more resources, and often requires talent with specialised skill sets. Because of this, startups in this space have difficulty finding partners and investors who are willing to play the long game.

Leave a Nest understands these challenges which is why they came up with TECH PLANTER to bridge gaps in the deep tech space.

TECH PLANTER is a long-term programme and does not have a set timeframe, unlike usual accelerator programmes. The Leave a Nest team discusses with the participating startups the specific needs they have so that the support they get is tailor-fitted to ensure that each startup gets the resources they need to move on to the next stage of their development.

Apart from mentorship and coaching from experts to help startups brush up on their ideas and figure out the initial details on how to productise them, the strength of TECH PLANTER is that it’s not simply a programme but an ecosystem. From idea development to prototyping, and even funding, TECH PLANTER has built an ecosystem of communities they could work with to create the right mix of resources that would support deep tech startups.

Also read: Five ways startups can improve their customer engagement

It brings together different communities like governments, universities, IP strategists, manufacturers and factories, and even VCs to achieve this. The collaboration between startups and these networks of stakeholders determines the right mix of resources needed to help deep tech startups take the step to being able to implement their solutions.

Such was the case of iVET, a Thailand-based startup that aims to improve the lives of handicapped pets. Through TECH PLANTER, they are able to meet and collaborate with a local manufacturer in Ota City in Tokyo to create prototypes for their pet wheelchairs.

Another innovator benefitting from Tech Planer is CRUST Group, a Singapore-based foodtech company that aims to address food waste by upcycling surplus ingredients. The company received funding from investors that include Leave a Nest Singapore, Glocalink Singapore, Ales Global, and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital (MSIVC). This support helps CRUST Groupo develop new products upcycled from food waste, as they expand to and create more partnerships in Japan.

Helping support long-term partnerships to solve deep issues

TECH PLANTER also works with corporate partners, the majority of which are in Japan, who have technologies and infrastructure available that they can use to collaborate with startups to achieve mutual goals.

An example would be the partnership between Singapore-based Crown Digital and JR East, formerly the national railway company that is now working on developing the areas around train stations. TECH PLANTER was able to support the collaboration between the two companies and help Crown Digital to expand and bring their robo-barista in various places in Japan.

What TECH PLANTER has in common with other accelerator programmes is that it features a demo day. However, the purpose of TECH PLANTER’s demo day is not just to showcase a prototype or a finished product, but rather for the startups to meet and find the right partner that would help them move on to the next stage, at whichever stage in the development process they may be currently in.

Also read: The work of the future is hybrid. The office of the future is virtual

By joining TECH PLANTER, deep tech startups will have access not only to training and mentoring support based on their specific needs, but access to Leave a  Nest’s network of communities that could help them either through collaborations with local and/or Japanese corporations, prototyping support, expansion opportunities, and even potential investments.

Leave a Nest Singapore is currently looking for deep tech teams to join TECH PLANTER 2022. Early-stage startups, pre-startup teams, or individuals working on deep tech solutions are invited to join. Mature startups and SMEs seeking collaborations are also encouraged to join.

If you have solutions in deep tech with potential applications in manufacturing, robotics, IoT, AI, agritech, biotech, healthcare, medtech, foodtech, marine-tech, ecotech, and more, you can click here to learn more and join.

You can also view the TECH PLANTER online info session here.

TECH PLANTER in the Philippines

Application Deadline: 3/18 Closed

Demo Day: 5/14

TECH PLANTER in Indonesia

Application Deadline: 3/25 Closed

Demo Day:5/21

TECH PLANTER in Singapore

Application Deadline: 4/1

Demo Day:5/28

TECH PLANTER in Vietnam

Application Deadline: 5/13

Demo Day: 7/9

TECH PLANTER in Malaysia

Application Deadline: 5/20

Demo Day:7/16

TECH PLANTER in Thailand

Application Deadline: 5/27

Demo Day:7/23

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Leave a Nest

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

 

The post Turn tomorrow’s great ideas into today’s reality with TECH PLANTER appeared first on e27.

While running a startup has the advantages of having better professional agility and the unique opportunity of churning out innovative solutions, the competition is tough and sales cycles can pose significant challenges, especially for enterprise-facing startups. 

Sales landscapes continually evolve, with new buyer preferences and channels emerging, including virtual interfaces. The importance of building business-to-business partnerships and trust as part of business strategy is crucial to unlocking growth for smaller-sized technology companies. If you are looking for a much-needed push to boost your startup, several experts share tips and insights in this field. e27 spoke to two startups to learn the ropes around doing business with large enterprises.

Building business-to-business partnerships

Brett Doyle, founder and CEO of Mosaic Solutions, a restaurant operating system geared for the food and beverage industry explained, “B2B deals are established via relationship-building and being able to show the value that can be provided when working collaboratively.”

Doyle added, “Large enterprises can become strong validation points and channel partners for startups. We are able to help solve our partners’ pain points via our tech solutions — and, in doing so, work with them to provide us access across their respective networks. This consolidated access to potential clients is a real game-changer for us, especially given the efficiencies it helps to drive across sales and onboarding.”

Emphasising the importance of building B2B partnerships and how participating in enterprise-driven programmes that enable this has boosted their business, shared Siddharth Upadhyaya, Director for Strategy and Sales at Versafleet, a Transport Management Software solution.

Also read: 5 exciting startups are here to surprise you with their unique ideas

Siddharth elaborated on the experience of his team in being able to successfully leverage SAP assets. “Being a startup, the team has its own set of challenges and having access to the SAP ecosystem through the SAP.iO programme has been the rocket fuel to us. It indeed has opened the gateway to the world of speed-connect and also enables us to demonstrate the power of our solution at a global level.

According to Siddharth, not only has it helped Versafleet with being able to present their solution to large enterprises (and subsequently working with them as their solution partner). “It has helped us to go beyond the regional tag to a global solution.”

Siddharth further shared that his experience collaborating with SAP has enabled his team to build key business buddy relationships with the SAP team, one of the largest global software companies. “What we get is support and collaborative power. This power could be enhanced by getting to know the SAP team members from other regions too, which will not only help the startups in expanding their horizons and networking with newer clients, but it will also provide visibility of the best practices from the respective regions. It would not only strengthen the go-to market plans, but it would also help us build a more robust work culture and revisit the processes, thereby empowering sustainable growth.”

Navigating a new selling landscape

SAP APAC and E27 have an upcoming webinar series to provide deeper insights for B2B startups on ways to navigate a new selling landscape. Entitled, “Let’s Make a Deal: How to Do Business with Large Enterprises”, various international experts will be providing insights on how to do business with large enterprises. It will tackle topics around customer validation, growth marketing, and securing more B2B deals.

Panellists for the upcoming session include Jonathan Tan, Managing Director of Unabiz Singapore, Quah Zheng Wei, CEO of Accredify, Gita Amelia, CEO of Atola and founder of Everhaus VC, Badai Tanmizi, Investment Manager at Qualgro, and Aaron Ang, SAP Head of Midmarket Southeast Asia.

Some of the speakers have shared teasers of what they will be presenting in the upcoming webinar. Jonathan Tan, the Managing Director of UnaBiz Singapore will be sharing about the Sell-To, Sell-Through, and Sell-For models in B2B engagements, and outlining respective considerations for both large enterprises and startups for each collaboration.

Also read: What will the work in 2030 (and beyond) look like?

He will also share more insights on the importance of understanding the organisational DNA of large enterprises, how to plan for success from the beginning of the partnership, and how to create more business value as the partnership deepens so that a stronger collaboration and transformation within teams, processes, and operating models can take place.

Quah Zheng Wei, the CEO and Co-founder of Accredify, will share his experience with B2B engagements in Southeast Asia, which includes working with large enterprise clients and government partners. He will also discuss key negotiation principles that has enabled him to build mutually beneficial partnerships with enterprises.

He shared, “when you’re at the table, you must be ready to negotiate with uneven bargaining power. Find your internal champion. Having the right person rooting for you is more important than the budget, product fit, or anything else when it comes to doing business with a large enterprise. Focus on collaboration instead of sales. Sometimes, teams have budgets to co-develop solutions rather than buying them wholesale.”

Also read: Turn tomorrow’s great ideas into today’s reality with TECH PLANTER

Zheng Wei also explained that “when you’re at the table, you must be ready to negotiate with uneven bargaining power. Find your internal champion. Having the right person rooting for you is more important than the budget, product fit, or anything else when it comes to doing business with a large enterprise. Focus on collaboration instead of sales. Sometimes, teams have budgets to co-develop solutions rather than buying them wholesale.”

Other areas of discussion for the upcoming webinar will include how buyers’ expectations have recently changed post-COVID and the drivers of this shift, how to engage with large enterprise buyers, and how to accelerate the sales cycle to drive growth.

For B2B startups looking to gain more insights and expertise in better enterprise selling, register for the “Let’s make a deal: How to do Business with Large Enterprises?” webinar here.

For e27 X SAP programme series inquiries, please contact joel@e27.co or selma@e27.co

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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

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

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

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