If we were to look into the future, I believe that it is one where blockchain technology wraps around most existing businesses. The potential is immense, leading to improved processes and capabilities and transparency of how transactions are lodged.

The quick definition of blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger that can facilitate the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. Therefore, almost everything significant or has business value can be tracked and traded on a blockchain network.

Lendor is a circular platform for tech devices. Whether consumers want to rent the latest technology or end-of-life devices, Lendor has something for everyone on any budget with a flexible schedule.

This meant that we were serving B2B and B2C customers, managing thousands of transactions yearly on short term rentals and long term leases and partnering with multiple merchant partners. It is currently still on Web2 hosted on cloud-based servers.

Sustainability concerns

Moving Lendor from Web2 to Web3 has always been on our minds since 2018 when we were awarded the second runner up in Dsion Blockchain startup challenge in 2018. 

As an impact-driven tech startup in the circular economy space, it was difficult to consider blockchain as a viable technology one or two years back. Our focus on solving SDG goals 11,12 sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production meant that tracking carbon savings and/or output is a key metric.

Also Read: 13 years on since the birth of Bitcoin, it’s now blockchain’s time to shine

Ethereum, the most popular platform for DApps, was great from a technology standpoint, but each transaction with Ethereum is equivalent to running a refrigerator for 35 days. We want to have all the good work we have done in circularity and carbon savings be completely negated by the technology we have chosen to use.

Blockchain technology is fundamentally bad for the environment due to the nature of cryptocurrency mining through Proof of Work (PoW), where miners have to compete against each other to solve complex problems through the utilisation of high-power computers.

It requires the use of significant energy resources. PoW rewards miners with the greatest computing power, which inevitably burns more greenhouse gasses to facilitate additional processes.

Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake

In the last two years or so, the idea of Proof of Stake (PoS) emerged within the community that allows miners to pledge a “staked” digital currency where they validate transactions.

The benefits of Proof of Stake (PoS) are that it requires less energy, is more secure and is scalable. The ecological footprint is also lower, making it more feasible for startups to adapt this into their systems and solutions in the near future. 

Ethereum, through this shift in consensus from PoW to PoS, allows energy consumption to be reduced by 99.5 per cent, which is scheduled to happen by the end of 2022. The PoS aims to fix many common issues with the PoW system. Other popular staking systems to build DApps include Cardano, Solana and EOS.

Moving from Web2 to Web3

For a startup or business to adopt blockchain technology, the various chains, protocols, and consensus, must be sustainable not just on a cost per basis but also have the potential to solve a major pain point for the industry.

Also Read:‘Blockchain could’ve eased the lives of many people fleeing the Russia-Ukraine war’

At Lendor, how we plan to leverage this technology would be for us to have this information being sharable and made transparent for our vendors and customers where they can be granted and allowed access to this information stored on the ledger.

The benefits of having a blockchain network could also be to track orders, payments, accounts, productions, logistics, and much more. The members that are all on our network are thus able to see all the details of transactions from end to end, leading to better processes, and transparency, and leading to lower attrition rate. 

Another example would be that business partners who are seeking out a short-term rental partnership are now able to look at the transaction movements through Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and would be able to identify to see if our merchant partners have the quantity and inventory models to support their rentals, and how best it could be to facilitate their requests and commercial needs.

These partners who are operating on a global level could also work together with Lendor to further facilitate higher ticket size and bulk quantity movements through the implementation and introduction of smart contracts where parameters and definitions such as duration of use, the annual contract value, renewal rates, attrition percentage could be pre-set.

We also seek to work closely together with our partners to incorporate this process to create further efficiencies with the verticals that support our circular platforms, such as insurtech, logistics, procurement, and accounting, to name a few.

We are excited at how the blockchain landscape will develop in Singapore and Southeast Asia for the next decade and think that there is tremendous potential for impact and climate tech companies to take the bold move to Web3.

I look forward to speaking with experts in this space to enlarge my circle of competence further and connect with industry leaders.

This post was co-written by Tay Han Jie.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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Every entrepreneur has to make many legal decisions, often without solid access to advice around what their best options are. That’s why I invited Cassady Toles, a licensed corporate lawyer based in California with national and global legal experience.

In this heavily focused episode on legal issues, we covered important topics like:

– What is the best strategy when starting a company?
– How to know where to incorporate it?
– How do you protect co-founder relationships?
– How to handle marital divorce?
– When should you prepare a Shareholder Agreement?
– What are Classes of Shares?
– What are NDAs and are they actually useful?
– What is the Employee Agreement + ESOP?

Also Read: Why SEA’s startup ecosystem is making a strong case for legaltech

If you don’t see the player above, click on the link below to listen directly!

Acast
Apple
Spotify
Stitcher

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This article about managing wealth for entrepreneurs was first published on We Live To Build.

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Before making a decision, you must first understand the common problems encountered in hiring overseas talent and starting overseas branches/subsidiaries.

First of all, in order to set up foreign entities, you will need legal support from a lawyer and accounting firm. Setting up a new entity overseas can also take you more than six months before you can start hiring local talents.

You are also mandated to invest in a certain amount of capital, generally, it’s quite a large sum of capital. If you fail to comply with local labor regulations, it will put your business at risk and in crisis.

Furthermore, you must manage all payroll employee accounts internally. When it comes to payroll transfers, it’s never just about paying the employees. Employers must strictly abide by local tax regulations to avoid severe penalties from the local authorities.

Finally, you must understand the local labour laws of each country. Where each country has different labour laws and risks that need to be paid attention to carefully avoid breaking any law otherwise you might put your business at risk if your company doesn’t comply with the local laws.

Also Read: 3 tips for tech startups to navigate their business expansion into Tokyo

All in all, the number of resources needed to operate the overseas hiring process can be very resourceful, not very cost-efficient, time-consuming, and complicated. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. If a business entity is considering starting an overseas subsidiary.

These are a few references for evaluation:

Business scale

If you are not sure about the market stability of the country but would like to test the water, it is recommended to use an Employer of Record (EOR). It allows employers to expand their cross-border team in a cost-efficient manner before investing a huge sum of resources to start a foreign entity.

If the company has gradually expanded to a certain size and when a foreign entity has been fully established, Slasify can assist in transferring employees from the Employer of Record (EOR) to the internal company payroll to ease the transition process.

Competitive market

When entering a foreign market, as a business entity or employer, you might find your competitors to be in the same market as you. Therefore, it is likely to become a war for talent.

When you need to get talents onboard with your company as quickly as possible, Employer of Record (EOR) is the perfect solution to help you get up and running quickly while continuing to plan for your future brick-and-mortar company.

This process can be implemented at the same time while your foreign entity is being set up. This strategy can help you acquire fast and ensure the retention of golden talents. Build a better workforce plan, and think outside the box when it comes to recruiting!

One-to-many market layout

If you have not yet decided on a certain target market (e.g. you are planning to enter the European market yet haven’t clearly decided on which countries yet), using an Employer of Record (EOR) is a good strategy because it will allow you to explore as many possibilities as possible in a more cost-efficient manner, while saving you the hassle of setting up branches in various countries.

Also Read: Is the Southeast Asian market ripe for foreign startups?

Business entities can also utilise this method to thoroughly plan and strategise on establishing multinational foreign entities as this will allow them to assess the market. With Employer of Record (EOR), business owners don’t need to waste internal resources on taking care of human resources management (HRM) matters.

Conclusion: From zero to hero

There is no absolute right or wrong in setting up a foreign entity or using the service of an employer of record (EOR). Either alternatives are suitable to fast-track your business growth. However, it is important to assess the suitability of each option depending on the company’s current operation, scale, and resources.

Employer of Record (EOR) applies to companies of all sizes (with a certain degree of acceptance for the company to be open for remote/hybrid employees).

If you are a start-up team that wants to make a first attempt or a multinational company that already has several foreign entities looking to expand into a more global market, it will take a lot of time for business development and operation management.

In the process of setting up an independent foreign entity, time, resources, and opportunity to start hiring could have gone wasted. It is recommended to choose reliable, experienced, and compliant EOR services to become your best business partner to expand your horizons!

If you want to accelerate your business expansion, Slasify provides employer of record (EOR) services, integrating large and small matters of multinational employment on a single platform, which will best assist your business and cross-border team expansion.

If you are considering expanding your team overseas in the long run, it is more beneficial to establish a foreign entity. With Slasify, our goal is to create a new pattern of barrier-free global labour relations. The expansion of multinational talents and teams is no longer the prerogative of multinational companies. We provide SMEs and start-ups to expand business overseas and the opportunity to enter foreign markets.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

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There are several reasons why Southeast Asia could potentially be the next hotbed for Decentralised Finance (DeFi). In an opinion piece published by Forkast, Michael Conn, CEO, Chairman & Co-Chief Investment Director at Zilliqa Capital, the region’s relatively high level of unbanked population, combined with its “burgeoning” rate of digital literacy, provides plenty of opportunities for DeFi platforms to seize.

“DeFi’s model of peer-to-peer engagement and inventiveness has created a significant opportunity for the making of real-world solutions to the challenges that exist of giving people a proverbial ‘seat at the table’,” he writes.

“The possibilities for financial inclusion alongside the accretive upside that these types of businesses generate mean that throughout the ASEAN and Indian region entrepreneurs, technologists, investors and innovators are working side-by-side to create open markets that can truly help everybody.”

In recent years, we have begun to see several DeFi platforms making waves in SEA through their innovation, funding announcement, and groundbreaking insight into the future of finance. In this listicle, we compiled a list of such platforms –but we believe that these companies would not be the last.

In fact, we expect to regularly update this list as we dig deeper into the Web3 space in the region. But let us start with these 13 companies:

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Alpha Venture DAO

Formerly known as Alpha Finance Lab, Alpha Venture DAO’s mission is to become an innovation lab that pushes ground-breaking products that maximise returns for cryptocurrency holders.

In October 2020, it announced a partnership with SCB 10X, the venture arm of Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank. The partnership is aimed at bridging the gap between traditional banking and emerging financial technology with a new suite of DeFi products under the umbrella of Alpha.

Ape Board

Earlier in May, Coindesk wrote about on-chain data platform Nansen acquiring decentralized finance (DeFi) portfolio tracker Ape Board for an “eight-figure” sum –putting it upward of US$10 million.

Ape Board lists over 375 protocols across 33 blockchains, including Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Solana and Polygon.

Avalanche

According to a Daily Hodl report, crypto analyst Cred said that two Ethereum challengers –Solana and Avalanche– could move hard and fast during the next bounce in digital asset markets.

“These coins do well on bounces because participants are conditioned to buy names they know and like when they’re ‘cheap’ at a time when there’s no new altcoin narrative to ride …,” the analyst wrote in the Technical Roundup newsletter. “Even more colloquially, if you’re going to gamble on Bitcoin and Ethereum direction, might as well punt some Solana and Avalanche as they’ll likely rip harder if you’re right (and also nuke you harder if you’re wrong).”

BHO Network

Formerly known as Bholdus, the BHO Network is built on BHO Chain (BHC-20), a foundational and critical component of the BHO Network in enabling the development of a complete ecosystem based on blockchain technology.

In a statement, the Singapore-based company describes its mission as to enable innovations not only from new projects with breakthrough ideas in this space, but also to support any company that sees blockchain as a solution to achieve intensive margin from current operations.

It also aims to bring that support to all verticals including supply chain, media and entertainment, identity and credentials, healthcare, trade finance, financial services, government, digital assets, and retail.

Also Read: To infinity and beyond: Why 2022 will be the year of Web3

Cake DeFi

Cake DeFi described itself as a platform that aims to provide access to decentralised financial services and applications by enabling users to generate returns from their crypto and digital assets. It offers three options to generate cash flow and passive income: Lending, Staking and Liquidity Mining.

In March, the company announced the launch of Cake DeFi Ventures with US$100 million in earmarked capital.

Coin98

In January 2022, Binance Labs announced a strategic investment in Coin98 that will enable the platform to contribute to building DeFi infrastructure on Binance Smart Chain (BSC).

As a platform that builds a full suite of DeFi products, Coin98 introduces itself as Multi-Chain & NFT Super App. It allows users to swap, stake, borrow, lend, invest and earn crypto in one platform, and is constantly developing its DeFi ecosystem.

According to a blog post by Binance, Coin98 aims to build an NFT Marketplace, token launch platform, AMM on Binance Smart Chain, and make DeFi on BSC accessible to everyone.

DeZy

Launched in 2021, DeZy enables users to convert their cash into dollar-denominated stable coins, which are deposited across a range of DeFi protocols. It was started by four co-founders Eric Dadoun (CEO), Harald Lang (CTO ), Sharmini Ravindran (CMO ), and Simon Landsheer (strategic advisor). The company aims to empower people to “achieve meaningful savings, income growth and wealth accumulation” by simplifying decentralised finance.

In February, it attracted a US$2.2 million Pre-Series A funding round led by Leo Capital with participation from Iterative Capital.

MM.Finance

MM.Finance has the largest ecosystem on Cronos with its DEX, Yield Optimizer, NFT, Algo Stablecoin, and DTF.

Earlier in May, according to a CoinDesk report, the platform suffered a front-end exploit that allowed hackers to siphon out more than US$2 million in CRO tokens from users. To handle the situation, MM.Finance issued a statement that the losses will be compensated and reimbursed.

Sipher

In an interview with e27, Sipher explained how they are able to win high-profile VCs’ hearts even before its blockchain games hit the market.

“We were determined that our games should be what they are actually meant to be — fun. So, we came up with a business plan and presented it to several regional investors. We were lucky that they all shared the same opinion and even recommended us to big investors in the west. The rest is history,” recounts founder Tin Nguyen.

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

Sky Mavis

Known as the company behind the popular game Axie Infinity, Vietnam-based Sky Mavis recently announced a US$150 million funding round led by Binance with participation from Animoca Brands, a16z, Dialectic, Paradigm, and Accel Partners.

Things have not always been so smooth for Sky Mavis. In March, its Ronin validator nodes were compromised, resulting in 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5M USDC drained from the Ronin bridge. The funding round that they announced in April –combined with their own balance sheet funds– was meant to reimburse all the users affected by the hack.

Summoners Arena

Summoners Arena, which was founded in Vietnam in May 2021, is a role-playing game (RPG) that aims to redefine user experience in the blockchain gaming space. In an interview with e27, founder Hung Tran explains that it integrates traditional and blockchain gaming elements to provide a multi-layered experience for players to participate in immersive gameplay and experience true ownership over gaming assets while earning digital assets.

To date, Summoners Arena has raised US$4.25M from Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Onechain Technology, and GuildFi, among others.

Treehouse

Treehouse aims to transform on-chain data into meaningful metrics to help decentralized finance (DeFi) investors make informed financial decisions. In March, the company secured a US$18 million seed funding round.

Led by an undisclosed large fintech investor, the funding round included the participation of notable names such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Binance, MassMutual Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Jump Capital, GSR, Wintermute, Do Kwon of Terraform Labs, and senior executives from SoftBank Vision Fund.

The company managed to secure this funding round just 11 months since its founding.

3moji

In a recent interview with e27, 3moji explained how its upgradable and composable NFT avatar system will transform how NFTs are used in games and across the metaverse.

“3moji is all about expression. This DApp (decentralised application) — a P2P app that operates autonomously on the blockchain — allows Web3 users to customise their avatars over time and purchase and combine different NFT accessories,” explains founder Shivek Khurana. “In a nutshell, we bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3 cultures, and profile pictures are just the tip of the iceberg.”

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Investment in deep tech startups has increased by 165 per cent from 2020 to 2022.

But while deep tech startups are enjoying increasing attention from investors, there are still some challenges both for the startups and the investors to address. For example, startups in the deep tech space are generally seen as riskier due to longer gestational periods and higher R&D investment.  

From the perspective of the startups themselves, deep tech startups are also particular about the investors they engage with — and for a reason.

“With the market flush with liquidity, the biggest challenge is finding the right investors with aligned vision, who can understand the industry and more importantly visualise how the technology transforms the industry,” said Alan Lai, founder and CEO of Singapore-based AI-powered food fingerprint platform Profile Print. “We met many financial investors who may not fully comprehend the technology and have little experience in the B2B space.”

Walter H. Gunzburg, founder and CTO of biotech startup Austrianova, echoes this sentiment. “We are a platform technology company with a business to business (b2b) commercial model. This appears to fall outside of the remit of many investors, many of whom still like the classical biotech company model of taking one or more lead products and then burning cash during the R&D, pre-clinical and clinical phases, in the hope that one product will make it to the market.”

Also read: Behind the scenes of oVice: a leading remote work solution

Keith Tan, CEO of robotics company Crown Digital, shared “our biggest challenge was most VCs in this region don’t invest in hardware startups. As a full-stack startup, we design and build the hardware and software, as well as develop a successful business model — challenging tasks for a bootstrap startup during our initial days. We had to get all this done with minimal resources.”

In addition, the development stage for deep tech startups is different from other sectors not just in the length of time but also in the process. This means that deep tech startups need to find other creative ways to get the resources they need.

“[We have moved] to a model in which we generate revenue from day one by working with multiple partners on multiple projects. Our partners pay for our work, as well as the big-ticket items such as clinical trials,” added Gunzburg.

What deep tech startups need, Lai says, is support beyond the money. “[Deep] tech startups cannot afford to bring in investors who are not able to add value beyond pure capital.”

Leave a Nest: funding, expertise, and network

With the vision of “Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness”, Leave a Nest aims to support startups that aim to use cutting-edge technology to solve the world’s problems. One way in which is providing funding for startups, particularly in the deep tech space.

Having been founded by and made up of researchers, Leave a Nest adopts a long-term perspective when it comes to supporting startups and developing technologies. This is reflected in how they engage with the startups that they fund, by first understanding the deep technology behind it and taking time to know the founders. 

“What we value working with Leave a Nest is…more importantly the ability to understand our business and provide useful guidance to help us grow,” said Lai.

“The startup ecosystem in Japan is still at its nascent stage and often, Japanese corporates may not fully understand the roles and responsibilities from the corporate’s standpoint when it comes to startup investing. This is where the Leave a Nest team really brings value in supporting and communicating with both parties to find the best solution,” shared Tan.

He further explained, “this requires strong networking, matchmaking capabilities, and staying close to the startup — hearing their challenges and providing solutions. Leave a Nest with its wide network of investors and partners has been really beneficial to Crown’s entry into the Japanese market and the way they have provided support to Crown has been like a family.”

Also read: 5G tech? All eyes on Taiwan

How Leave a Nest supports startups is through a multi-pronged approach. In terms of funding, Leave a Nest — with the help of two investment vehicles — offers check sizes ranging from 1 to 3 million USD (Real Tech Holdings) depending on the startup stage. Leave a Nest envisions having a deep tech investment support system that does not only support at an early seed stage (Through Glocalink Singapore and Leave a Nest Capital), but also nurtures them so that Real Tech Holdings can do follow on investments at a later stage.

Apart from funding is the equally important support they gain from Leave a Nest itself and its network of researchers, innovators, investors, and corporates — aspects that Austrianova found valuable and suited to their needs.

“They were (and are) professional, efficient and friendly. It is always a real pleasure to meet with them and discuss ideas, take part in the events they organise,” said Gunzburg. “They also have provided us with advice, particularly on the Japanese market and have even introduced us to two leading Japanese companies as partners/clients. As a result of their efficiency, the whole investment process was quite fast and extremely well organised.”

Leave a Nest investment vehicles

Leave a Nest funds startups through two investment vehicles: Glocalink Singapore (GLSG) and Real Tech Holdings (RTH).

Glocalink Singapore is an investment company comprised of Leave a Nest Co., Ltd., Euglena Co., Ltd., FTV Labs, and Kobashi Holdings Co., Ltd. that aims to provide seed funding for startups focused on agriculture and food technologies.

Led by a group of seasoned serial entrepreneurs with backgrounds in biotech, agricultural machinery, education, and food and technology, Glocalink Singapore offers early-stage startups much-needed funding as well as additional support via their network of corporations, technologists, and investors.

Their portfolio includes startups with a wide range of solutions like increasing agriculture productivity, decreasing food waste, and developing robotics in food production. 

Real Tech Holdings is a VC fund established jointly by Leave a Nest and biotech company, Euglena, with the aim of providing support for deep tech startups that offer solutions for life science, aerospace, robotics, agriculture, medical devices, marine technology, electronics, energy and new materials.

Also read: Three leading B2B digital disruptors win 2021 Fast Forward with HPE

Because Real Tech Holdings focuses on startups that aim to address some of the world’s most pressing problems, they also work in close cooperation with governments, corporates, and municipalities to be able to accelerate and maximise the implementation of these solutions.

Their portfolio includes startups with solutions such as the development of medical devices, food culture, and drone solutions for infrastructure inspections.

Through Glocalink Singapore and Real Tech Holdings, Leave a Nest is able to offer early-stage deep tech startups both funding and support from development to implementation.

For more information, you can visit the site.

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

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