When most people think of on-demand in the Philippines, they think of goods. On-demand companies ferry everything from products, parcels, groceries, and food from point A to point B to simplify consumer life.

Through these services, we are spared the hassle of commuting through the nation’s infamous traffic to shop at our nearest mall, deliver paperwork on our own, or wait in line at the hottest new eatery. 

While these services are absolutely necessary, there are already more than enough providers catering to them. If you need any evidence that the market is saturated, just go to any stoplight in the country.

There will be an enormous diversity of delivery drivers, some even wearing pieces of uniform from two different organisations (presumably as they changed citizenship to pursue better incentives, or because they switch between the two platforms depending on demand).

In short, we don’t need another uber of X, these problems are already competitively addressed by a multitude of local and multinational organisations.

All across the world and indeed Southeast Asia, consumers are already experiencing the benefits of the next stage of on-demand: information. Instead of pressing a button and someone comes to your physical location, you press a button and someone assists via an interface. The knowledge these resources brings is arguably as important to consumers, if not more so than anything you could physically deliver to them. 

Take, for example, the case of telehealth in Singapore. Organisations like Homage bring 24/7 opportunities for telehealth appointments with doctors. These consultations can save the person a potentially risky trip to the hospital (at a time when the threat of COVID-19 still persists) and give them critical health information.

The same applies to pretty much every sphere of knowledge work, including everything from online education and professional development to legal assistance and professional consulting of every stripe.

If knowledge is power, knowledge now is even more powerful. We can act on the information sooner, producing a greater return in the form of time, money, or other resources.

On-demand for everything

As entrepreneurs, we owe it to consumers in the Philippines to give them this instant access. 

But this space is still emerging in the Philippines. The most mature on-demand space in the country is arguably telehealth (in large part due to the fact we’re in a public health crisis), and that is still only relative to the other analogous industries.

Also Read: Disrupting new business and consumer engagement models with location-based NFT technology

Evaluated in its entirety, this space is still effectively a blue ocean for businesses and entrepreneurs. We have significantly more demand than we do supply. 

Our organisation, First Shoshin, has entered this space as well, via JojoCare. We provide on-demand access to lawyers, doctors, educators, and other knowledge workers, professionals, and specialists, via any internet-enabled device.

It would be necessarily impossible for us to address every aspect of on-demand knowledge, and so I would like to see more players enter this space. 

This call may seem counterintuitive, but collectively we can address some of the assumptions our industry still faces. For example, some Filipinos are still wary of interfacing with professionals on this level, believing that in-person interactions bring a higher quality of service.

Together we can establish a standard of excellence that contributes to overall market education about these digital services. The overall message? Digital is as good as in-person.

Filipinos are also tactile shoppers, even when it comes to services (for instance, we like reviewing brochures when making purchasing decisions or flipping through reports when evaluating results).

Together we can create best practises for how we can most closely approximate these tactical experiences across digitally-enabled devices. And there are some Filipinos who may be open to these solutions but don’t have the digital literacy skills needed to avail of them.

As an industry, we can band together to help educate more Filipinos, in the same way, that early on-demand delivery services collectively built up a pool of digitally-savvy drivers through patient, hands-on education. 

All in all, there’s more we can do as an industry than we can do on our own as any single organisation. And in the end, it’ll be the consumer, the person we should hold up as our guiding light, who will benefit.

This person will be able to more efficiently access the knowledge he needs to improve health outcomes for him and his family, make better decisions about his career or business, gain more knowledge, and all in all, live a better life.

The headlines of the on-demand economy may be dominated by famous tech companies and hot startups, but it’s this unnamed customer who will always win when a broader world becomes accessible at the push of a button.

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Indonesian insurtech startup Qoala has announced a Series B fund-raise of US$65 million led by Tara Reeves of Eurazeo, a European investment firm.

Several existing investors, including Flourish Ventures, KB Investment, MassMutual Ventures, MDI Ventures, SeedPlus and Sequoia Capital India, also participated. New investors in the round are BRI Ventures, Daiwa PI Partners, Indogen Capital, Mandiri Capital Indonesia and Salt Ventures.

“We will continue to invest in scaling up Qoala’s reach in our core markets. We will also focus on enhancing our technology and product experience to greatly reduce the hurdles to accessing insurance which are still very significant,” said Harshet Lunani, Founder and CEO of Qoala.

Launched in 2018 by Lunani and Tommy Martin, Qoala distributes retail insurance products to consumers for car, bike, home, and health through its omnichannel platform.

Qoala claims to have acquired over 50,000 insurance marketers and is supported by over 50 insurers to sell insurance from multiple insurers while managing pre-sale and post-sale services. It also provides several innovative micro-insurance products through partnerships with Traveloka, Redbus, DANA, JD.ID, Shopee, Kredivo and Investree, among others.

The startup said it grew 30x since its US$13.5 million Series A fundraise led by Centauri Fund, a joint venture between funds from South Korea’s Kookmin Bank and Telkom Indonesia.

Also Read: Why Asia’s insurance industry is poised for collaborative disruption

Last year, Qoala expanded to Thailand by acquiring local insurtech platform FairDee. Qoala also has a presence in Malaysia.

“Insurance penetration in Indonesia is currently only 2 per cent, far behind the global average of 6 per cent, with most consumers just beginning to understand the value of insurance. Hence, there is plenty of room for growth. In the next decade, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia are amongst the top 10 fastest growing global markets for insurance,” added Harshet.

“Qoala is the only insurtech with licenses in three Southeast Asia markets, and with this new round, we are optimistic about sustaining our growth momentum. Our business in Thailand has also grown 3x since we joined forces with FairDee in February 2021, which gives us confidence in our expansion capability,” added Qoala COO Martin.

Furthermore, Qoala aims to add over 250 employees this year. In parallel, it also plans to grant employees equity compensation and give them the right to acquire shares to strengthen their ownership in the firm.

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While blockchain has understandably been intrinsically linked to cryptocurrency and digital asset trading, it has much broader implications and potentially impacts the wider financial industry.

Among both modern and traditional finance operators, blockchain has the potential to revolutionise existing systems by creating platforms that are more efficient, cost-effective, transparent, and secure. 

However, even though contemporary blockchains are relatively young and by existing standards a more secure technology, there are already innovations within this space that will set the new standard for security in the blockchain, including the inclusion of AI technology into the blockchain. 

Accelerating security concerns

To better understand why AI will be a critical component in the evolution of blockchain technology, we have to look at two significant drivers that are accelerating the need for greater security.

Firstly, we’re seeing the adoption of blockchain in more critical systems across the banking sector and a variety of industries. As these systems are vital to an organisation, they present themselves as prime targets for threat actors and cybercriminals, particularly as these threat actors continually look for vulnerabilities within a single organisation and weaknesses along an entire supply chain. 

Secondly, given that blockchain is just starting to be widely adopted, organisations that adopt blockchain will likely look to scale or modify the use of their blockchain systems. While blockchain technology is, by its nature, scalable and flexible, these changes over time do present a security risk.

To illustrate this, we use the analogy of a fish tank. 

Typically when you first get a fish tank, there is a specific use case in mind, i.e. a particular volume of water, a specific type of fish, salinity, temperature etc. However, over time, the use of the fish tank might change, the volume of water may vary, and it may go from warm salt water to cold freshwater.

Also Read: These Artificial Intelligence startups are proving to be industry game-changers

All these changes add up and can create flaws in the tank, eventually leading to a structural failure. For blockchain technology, the more changes happen to the system, the more likely a critical security vulnerability will be introduced.

How AI-enhanced blockchains address security concerns

So how does AI come into play? Coming back to the fish tank analogy one last time, infusing AI into blockchain technology creates a self-healing tank that adapts as the usage of the blockchain changes and scales. It will allow the blockchain solution to continually scan for any security or operational flaws within a system and fix them automatically. 

In addition, AI in blockchain also goes beyond just ensuring the security and integrity of its platform, the pattern recognition capabilities of AI also have the potential to spot anomalies and potential fraudulent or suspicious activities that happen on the blockchain.

This can lead to faster and more accurate detection of illegal activity and have implications, particularly for the finance sector, as we continue to see an evolution of KYC and compliance requirements. 

Overcoming barriers to adoption

Despite a growing understanding of the benefits of blockchain, many still struggle with accelerating the adoption of the technology within their organisation. There are three key considerations that most companies should consider to address this.

Firstly, senior leadership buy-in is critical to set the company’s pace. As with most new technology, support from leaders requires providing them with education on the mechanics of the technology and the business benefits (along with the costs) in quantitative terms. In addition, it’s also essential to include less quantifiable benefits, including improved employee experience and greater security. 

Secondly, there will also be some critical decisions from a technology perspective, including whether to use a private or public blockchain. Both systems have their benefits and, with AI technology, are secure. But generally speaking, companies that require a greater degree of compliance should consider private blockchains, given the greater degree of control they can have. 

Also Read: Crypto and beyond: A guide to blockchain networks in Asia

This also ties into integration with legacy systems, and like with more technological innovations, a rip-and-replace approach is unlikely to be an economically sound choice, particularly for larger enterprise companies.

For companies of this size, they can explore how blockchain can be integrated with existing systems, both from a legacy and cross-functional perspective. Having a more “gradual” strategy can also help reduce concerns around security and interoperability. Of course, for smaller or younger companies, there is the opportunity to leap-frog this transformation and be blockchain first. 

Lastly, companies need to address the skills gap. Blockchain, as a whole, is still a relatively emerging technology. As a result, the people with the skills required for it are in short supply and the resources needed for talent acquisition can prevent some organisations from adopting blockchain.

To work around this skill gap, one possible way forward is to partner or collaborate with specialist technology partners that will be able to support them on their transformation journey. 

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Singapore-based venture capital (VC) firm Good Startup today announced that it has closed its Good Protein Fund I at US$34 million.

The fund saw the participation from investors including Vijay Goradia, Founder and Chairman of Vinmar International; Harris Komishane, former Head of Finance and Strategy for Fidelity Investments; and Professor Bala Vissa, INSEAD Professor of Entrepreneurship.

From this fund, Good Startup has already invested in 21 companies out of its target of 35 companies.

Examples of the companies that they have invested in included Eat Just, The EVERY Company, SuperMeat, VitroLabs, and TurtleTree.

Founded in 2021, Good Startup is a VC firm with the mission to remove animals from the food system to minimise environmental footprint.

Also Read: ‘Meat’ing the needs of the alternative protein space in Singapore

Aside from funding, the firm aims to actively work with its portfolio companies across a range of operational areas, including IP protection, organisation design, hiring and fundraising strategy.

It also aims to serve as a bridge between the growing alternative protein ecosystems in North America and Asia.

“The funding support from our latest round empowers us to continue our work at a greater scale. We are now in a stronger position to ramp up our stakeholder engagements and facilitate deeper ecosystem connections in strategic cross border corridors, such as those between Asia and North America,” said Gautam Godhwani, Managing Partner of Good Startup.

A recent study projected a 25 per cent rise in alternative protein consumption, equivalent to approximately US$1.7 billion for plant-based meat alternatives across the Asia Pacific region by 2025.

In Southeast Asia, startups that are working in the alternative protein included OFF FOODS in Indonesia and Cricket One in Vietnam.

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In its research on Web3 Safety & Compliance, published ahead of its Web3 report, US-based blockchain data platform Chainalysis revealed that illicit DeFi transactions has risen steadily over the last three years in terms of both raw value and also as a share of all transaction value.

The value stolen from DeFi protocols has been trending up since the beginning of 2021, reaching its highest-ever levels in Q1 2022, driven by hacks of the Ronin Bridge and Wormhole Network, the report detailed.

It also highlighted that these increases happened particularly in two areas: theft of funds through hacking and abuse of DeFi protocols for money laundering.

“While cryptocurrency-based crime remains an important problem to solve, especially given that rising overall transaction volumes mean the raw value of illicit transactions is still growing, illicit activity has become a less prominent part of the overall cryptocurrency ecosystem over the last three years. However, DeFi specifically appears to be going through the same growing pains that cryptocurrency as a whole was previously, with illicit activity rising over the last two years,” the research stated.

It further explained that DeFi protocols have accounted for an ever-growing share of all funds stolen from cryptocurrency platforms since the beginning of 2020 and lost the vast majority of stolen funds in 2021. As of May 1, DeFi protocols account for 97 per cent of the US$1.68 billion worth of cryptocurrency stolen in 2022.

Also Read: The unrealised importance of DeFi in fixed-income securities investments

Who is behind all of these criminal activities? According to the research, a significant number of crypto stolen from DeFi protocols had gone to hacking groups associated with the North Korean government. This was the situation even in 2022 when the North Korean hackers had stolen over US$840 million –and the research did not shy away from the possibility that these groups were also responsible for hacks on other platforms.

DeFi and financial crimes

Another form of crime activities that had been reported to affect DeFi protocols are money laundering. Interestingly, the research once again dubbed the North Korean hackers as the culprit behind it.

An example of this crime activity happened in 2021 when Lazarus Group used several DeFi protocols to launder funds after stealing more than US$91 million worth of cryptocurrency from a centralised exchange.

“So far in 2022, DeFi protocols have become the biggest recipient of illicit funds, taking in 69 per cent of all funds sent from addresses associated with criminal activity, compared to 19 per cent in 2021. One reason for this is that DeFi protocols allow users to trade one type of cryptocurrency for another, which makes it more complicated to track the movement of funds — but unlike centralised services, many DeFi protocols provide this ability without taking KYC information from users, making them more attractive to criminals,” the research explains.

Another type of criminal activity that the research highlighted was wash trading. It is defined as a form of market manipulation in which a seller is on both sides of a trade or selling an asset to themselves in order to create a misleading perception of that asset’s value or liquidity.

Another form of wash trading were performed in order to collect reward tokens given out by NFT marketplace instead of inflating the value of any particular NFT.

“Wash trading is relatively easy to do with NFTs as some NFT trading platforms allow users to trade by simply connecting their wallets to the platform, with no need to identify themselves. One user could easily control multiple wallets and trade NFTs between them, and no one could know unless they took the time to analyse the wallets’ transaction histories,” it explains.

Also Read: With a US$18M seed funding round, Treehouse is ready to bridge financial inclusion gap with DeFi

“This type of wash trading scheme isn’t victimless. For one, the NFT marketplace is being tricked into paying out rewards for phoney activity. NFT collectors throughout the market are also potentially being tricked into thinking that this NFT marketplace has more transaction activity than it really does, and the same goes for the NFT collection the wash traders are using for their transactions.”

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