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

—

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

—

Image Credit: superohmo

The post Protecting yourself and your company with Cassady Toles appeared first on e27.

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.

–

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

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post What business owners should know before setting up foreign entities appeared first on e27.

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.”

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: sidelnikov

The post Meet the DeFi platforms that have made waves in Southeast Asia appeared first on e27.

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.

– –

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 Deep tech startups gain multi-pronged support from Leave a Nest appeared first on e27.

In the past few years, the fintech industry has seen exponential growth. The rise of mobile banking, digital payment methods, and the continuing shift toward e-commerce have all contributed to this rise.

Fintech is a broad category that includes various financial services software applications built around the internet and mobile devices.  These services are often referred to as “digital banking” or “financial services software.”

The future of the fintech industry is unpredictable. It’s changing rapidly, and we can’t even begin to imagine the implications of where this is heading. Let’s take a look at the latest trends in the fintech industry.

Blockchain

Blockchain is a technology that was used initially to support cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Today, this technology has grown far beyond cryptocurrencies and is being applied to many different fields in the fintech industry.

Blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that records transactions and other information securely, verifiable, and permanently. Blockchain has great potential for financial inclusion.

For example, blockchain can allow people who don’t have enough money to open an account at a bank to borrow through mobile devices or online. It also offers greater transparency than traditional banking systems and can help prevent fraud.

Blockchain isn’t going away anytime soon either. It’s expected to grow exponentially as more organisations adopt this technology.

AI and Machine Learning

AI and Machine Learning are the driving force behind fintech innovation today. The ability to automate processes is an important part of this technology and is often viewed as a way to eliminate human error, improve productivity, and increase efficiency. This AI allows companies to automate various aspects of their business.

Also Read: How this homegrown fintech is helping Singaporeans with alternate investing

For example, AI is used in the banking industry to automatically identify trends in spending that may indicate fraud or even identity theft. This can be done by analysing trends in spending patterns over time, looking at specific locations where certain types of transactions occur, or even checking for unusual patterns in credit card transactions. 

Another use for AI is predicting future customer behaviour based on past information. Fintech businesses are building predictive models that help them see how likely a customer will churn or switch providers based on what they’ve observed from social media and other online sources.

The model can then be used to suggest personalised offers and sales campaigns that might entice the customer to stay with your company for a longer time.

The rise of Robotic Process Automation

Robotic process automation (RPA) is the future of fintech. This software helps organisations speed up their business processes by replacing human labour with advanced computer programmes that can complete tasks faster than humans. These software applications are built around the internet and mobile devices and have become increasingly popular in recent years.

The rise of RPA has had a significant impact on the way businesses do business. It’s helping them reduce costs and increase efficiency, staying competitive in the global marketplace without compromising quality or customer service.

RPA is a big win for businesses, but it could also be a big win for fintech, which has seen its share of both chaos and growth over the past few years.

Peer-to-peer finance

Peer-to-peer finance is a type of digital banking that helps people borrow and lend money to other individuals or organisations.

For example, Venmo allows you to transfer money to friends easier than ever before. This method of transferring money has gained popularity because it’s easy and convenient, and it’s integrated directly into the social media platform.

However, this payment method is not limited to just social media outlets. Peer-to-peer finance can also be found on other platforms like eBay or Etsy.

Platforms for fintech startups

One of the most recent trends in the fintech industry is the rise of new platforms for startups. With these platforms, companies can have their products and services easily accessible to users. Platforms like Apple’s App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft’s Windows Store make it easy for entrepreneurs to reach a global audience.

Also Read: How the global growth of fintech defies age and gender

57 per cent of app developers are on-board with this trend and plan on developing their product or service on a platform different from their previous one.  Additionally, major fintech companies like Amazon and Google are also getting into the game. Both Amazon and Google now offer software development kits (SDK) that allow developers to build apps around their respective ecosystems more conveniently.

This is just another example of how platforms are helping startups expand their horizons by providing access to audiences they didn’t have before.

Summing up

The future of the fintech industry is bright. The possibilities are endless in this rapidly changing industry.

From new advances in technology to increasing global demand, the future looks promising for companies within the fintech space. It seems like everyone these days is talking about fintech, so why not launch your own company?

Many opportunities are available, and it’s never too early to start planning. Take a look at our infographic that summarises some of the latest financial services software industry trends and our thoughts on what’s coming next!

–

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

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post The future of fintech: The latest trends in the industry appeared first on e27.

Singapore-based venture capital firm Jungle Ventures today announced a US$600 million close of their Fund IV with US$450 million in the main fund and US$150 million in additional managed commitments, bringing its total Assets Under Management (AUM) to over US$1 billion.

In a press statement, the firm said that the fund was an oversubscribed one with an initial target of US$350 million. This update followed the firs close of the fund that it announced in September 2021.

It included over 50 per cent of commitments from existing investors such as Temasek, IFC, FMO, and DEGto. New investors such as Mizuho Bank and StepStoneGroup also participated in the fund.

With Fund IV, Jungle Ventures said that it aims to strengthen this position while continuing on its ‘concentrated portfolio’ building approach, by making a projected 15-18 key investments across India and Southeast Asia.

Out of this fund, it has made investments in companies such as Vietnam-based digital bank Timo, Singapore-based enterprise solution Sleek, India-based D2C consumer electronics brand Atomberg, Vietnam-based healthcare and insurance platform Medici, Indonesia-based social commerce enablement platform Desty, social-crypto-community platform for women Eveworld, social commerce platform Mio, and SaaS platform inFeedo.

Also Read: David Gowdey of Jungle Ventures: Why we will see an IPO from SEA in the next 12-18 months

e27 has reached out to Jungle Ventures to understand more details about their plan with the fund.

Founded in 2012 by Amit Anand and Anurag Srivastava, Jungle Ventures was launched with a US$10 million debut fund and has since grown its AUM 100 times in 10 years.

With a focus on Southeast Asia and India, the firm implements a strategy that allows it to “pick category winners predictably and consistently”.

Its portfolio included Kredivo, Livspace and Moglix –all three of which were seed to unicorn investments by the firm. Apart from these companies, it has also invested in various categories including vertical e-commerce (Pomelo Fashion, Sociolla, Reddoorz), social commerce (Citymall, Evermos, Mio), fintech/insurtech (LeapFinance, Vayana, Turtlemint), B2B enablement (Kiotviet, Deskera, Waresix), electric vehicles (Datbike), SaaS (Builder.ai, BetterPlace) and brand aggregators/D2C brands (Believe, Hypefast).

Jungle Ventures has recently promoted Yash Sankrityayan, Sandeep Uberoi, and Manpreet Ratia as Managing Partners of the firm to join the firm’s leadership team of David Gowdey and the Founding Partners Amit Anand and Anurag Srivastava.

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

Image Credit: Jungle Ventures

The post Jungle Ventures makes US$600M close for fourth fund, targets up to 18 key investments appeared first on e27.

You may be familiar with Torrent Systems, a software that allows anyone to download and share their files with a decentralised network free of cost. Torrent works on an honour system; if you download a file, you are expected to share the file with others in the network.

However, many users don’t follow this honour system as they don’t see any economic benefits for doing so, so it defeats Torrents’s very purpose.

The advent of cryptocurrency and blockchain-powered decentralisation has changed this scenario. Now, decentralisation comes with a lot of economic and other benefits for participants.

In the crypto industry, the area that deals with the economic benefits for participants in a decentralised network is called cryptoeconomics. This discipline seeks to solve user coordination problems through economic incentives and game theory.

A crucial element in decentralised networks

In a nutshell, cryptoeconomics is a discipline that studies the protocols that govern the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services in a decentralised digital economy. It combines cryptography with economics, allowing for the coordination of the behaviour of network participants. Cryptoeconomics is crucial while building decentralised networks as it eliminates the need for a trusted third party to align participants’ incentives.

Also Read: Cryptocurrency, money laundering and KYC: Why are regulations important?

Traditionally, decentralised networks rely on cryptography to verify data transactions and provide economic incentives to encourage participants to behave in a certain way. It is achieved through a process called mining, where the miners who successfully validate a block of transactions receive bitcoins in rewards. This approach encourages miners to act honestly, making the network more secure and reliable.

Crypto mining, however, involves solving a complex mathematical problem based on a cryptographic hash algorithm.

What are hashes?

Hashes tie together blocks, creating a timestamped record of approved transactions. They are also used in the computational puzzles that miners compete to solve.

One of the consensus rules governing crypto transactions is that a Bitcoin can only be spent if a valid digital signature is generated from a private key. Bitcoin’s security model is also built around penalties and barriers to entry. These rules were introduced to prevent malicious actors from potentially taking control of the majority hashing power, a process known as a “51% attack“.

Nevertheless, gaining control of the hashing power is not easy and is prohibitively expensive; it costs nearly US$2 billion in hardware and electricity to do so.

These requirements and rules make Bitcoin immensely popular and successful even ten years after its invention by Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto foresaw people’s future thought processes and made assumptions about how they would react to specific incentives.

Nakamoto also made the cryptographic protocol rigid to make it easier to reward miners. There exists a symbiotic relationship between miners and the Bitcoin network. Without miners, there would be no confidence in the blockchain records. This relationship gives us confidence about Bitcoin’s future.

Cryptoeconomic Circle theory

In cryptoeconomic, a theory emerged recently to show how value flows through different participants in a crypto network. This theory, known as cryptoeconomic circle, was published by Joel Monegro, Partner at Placeholder Capital.

The cryptoeconomic circle (see the diagram) represents the three network participants — miners (supply), users (demand), and investors (capital). Each group exchanges the flow of value via a scarce cryptoeconomic resource called tokens.

The relationship between miners and users is relatively straightforward — miners are compensated for their work via tokens used by the users. Creating a network based on a mining setup makes sense as long as the costs of a decentralised system are outweighed by the benefits of having a distributed supply side (low cost of production, higher reliability, etc.).

As per this theory, the third participant — investors — has two vital roles: funding the cost of developing new technology, and 2) supporting the network by supplying financial capital to miners.

Monegro further divides investors into two: traders (short-term investors) and holders (long-term investors). While traders create liquidity for the token so that miners could cover operational costs, holders capitalise on the network for growth by supporting token prices.

Also Read: Cryptocurrency is a notoriously volatile field. Is it possible to generate a stable income?

Traders are a direct form of value transfer. On the other hand, miners sell earned tokens in the open market to cover their costs and reinvest profits. Holders is an indirect transfer of value in miners’ balance sheets rather than their income statements.

The cryptoeconomic circle focuses on understanding how networks operate and exchange or capture value.

Conclusion

As discussed above, cryptoeconomics as a discipline is crucial in decentralisation, especially in times of blockchain rage. It has broad implications, from supporting the first major cryptocurrency to forming the foundation of the next stage of digital currencies.

By educating ourselves on previous cryptoeconomic successes and pitfalls and staying up to date on the latest cryptoeconomic research, we can glimpse what the next major crypto networks may look like. However, we still have a long way to go to achieve ‘cryptoeconomic literacy’.

—

Copyright: slonme

The post What is cryptoeconomics and why is it a crucial element in decentralised networks? appeared first on e27.

The world and customers are constantly evolving. The pandemic has changed the way service businesses operate. Even as the world started to open up, consumers’ buying behaviour and habits have changed due to being cooped up at home for two years.

Consumers are willing to pay for goods online and are also willing to pay for services before coming down to a physical location. 

Businesses that do not adapt to bringing their products or services online and changing their marketing methods will be left behind. The days of running an advertisement on social media and getting prospects to meet face-to-face to sell them a service are outdated, ineffective, and expensive.

The biggest benefit of marketing and selling services online is working less and making more profits.

The traditional way of marketing and selling services are as follows:

• Step 1: Advertise online to gather leads
• Step 2: Call and capture a prospect’s information
• Step 3: Arrange a face-to-face meet up
• Step 4: Conduct a face-to-face sales presentation to educate and sell the services
• Step 5: Follow up manually to close sales

Each step requires optimising a moving part that bears an additional cost and increased drop-off rate. This process is not efficient.

However, choosing to sell and fulfil services online translates to fewer fulfilment costs, rental costs, and increased ability to serve more customers.

Also Read: 5 video marketing trends that marketers can leverage in 2022

Even traditional service businesses such as spas, facials and wellness centres can benefit from getting customers online.

As they can get customers to pay for their services beforehand, this greatly helps them manage their cash flow and secure sales as early as possible, therefore covering their advertising costs and effectively scaling their advertising campaigns faster. 

Here are two simple key points on how we did it: 

Using education content videos as a filter

Most businesses would educate their customers about their services before selling them their offerings.

For example, a facial parlour educates customers about their unique extraction methods before selling them a complete facial package. Before selling them a personal training package, a fitness company educates its customers about their unique weight loss methods. 

These are usually done during the sales process in a one-on-one setting where it is time-consuming and not the right fit for unqualified prospects.

Instead, we at Ascend Marketing help these businesses educate 100 to 1000 people in 30 to 90 minutes by creating advertisements to promote a free educational video or a free live event using an online sales funnel. This can easily be set up in 30 minutes and done at scale or even automated.

The educational video content will function as a filter to sniff out interesting prospects and encourage them to book a video call.

This will help save time and resources doing outbound calls and increase closing rates as business owners speak to customers who are genuinely interested.

These high-quality prospects are also more willing to make a purchase right after the video call and before physically coming down. 

Also Read: Circles.Life marketing head Delbert Ty shares their viral campaign recipes

We also help business owners seamlessly set up payment pages, issue invoices and collect payments through integration to a payment gateway.

Strong automated follow-up systems

The fortune is in the follow-up. In today’s market, consumers prefer to be contacted on their terms and timings, and some might prefer text messages while others prefer emails. Many dislike outbound phone calls unless they are informed ahead of time.

With this in mind, we strongly recommend having automated nurture sequences such as email marketing and text marketing. The beauty of such sequences is that they are automated. Business owners only need one series of messages and automatically set it up for all prospects. This ensures a consistent sales experience.

The automated sequences we have in place are behavioural-based, meaning different sequences are sent out based on what the lead does.

For example, if a lead did not book a call, they will be sent a reminder sequence to encourage them to book a call. If a lead did not sign up, they will be sent a nurture sequence to educate them on the sales process and eventually sign up for our clients’ services.

As these sequences are automated, new leads are nurtured 24/7 into becoming paying customers. These automated sequences will reduce manpower costs and human errors.

As a result of having done many successful marketing campaigns for varying clients from different niches in the past, Ascend Marketing have created template emails and text sequences for any business owner to use for their own business. They can deploy these templates, clone and have automated follow-up campaigns ready to go.

–

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

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post How can businesses double their revenue in a post COVID-19 world appeared first on e27.

Global venture capital firm Antler has committed to investing US$100 million in early-stage startups in the Southeast Asian region.

The funding is expected to fuel the expansion of more than 300 new companies in Southeast Asia over the next four years.

Antler has invested in over 127 companies in the region to date. Among its investees are XanPool (open financial C2C software), Reebelo (a marketplace for affordable and sustainable tech devices), Appboxo (super-app), Sampingan (a blue-collar workforce platform), Airalo (global eSIM marketplace), and Homebase (a proptech startup).

It will continue to focus on high-growth industries and invest in founders in multiple geographies who are launching the defining companies of tomorrow.

Since its launch in Singapore in 2018, Antler has expanded its global network of offices. It recently established operations in Vietnam and Indonesia.

Also Read: Antler closes over US$300M, to provide follow-on capital for its portfolio startups

Jussi Salovaara, Co-Founder and Managing Partner Asia at Antler, said: “Southeast Asia is a breeding ground for innovative startups, and we want to give exceptional founders the investment, support, and expertise they need to realize their visions from the earliest stages. It is our ambition to help unlock and accelerate technological innovation in the region, and we are excited about the positive impact the founders we enable and invest in will create over the coming decade.”

In October 2021, Antler Singapore announced the close of over US$300 million in funding from Schroders, Vækstfonden, and Phoenix Group. Early that year, Antler said it would invest US$100 million in Indian startups over the next four years. The fund will support exceptional founders from the idea stage all the way to Series A and B.

Southeast Asia’s internet economy is poised to reach approximately US$360 billion by 2025, according to the latest e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company. Technology is permeating into the region at an accelerated rate and Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystem is showing signs of maturity as 14 unicorn tech companies reached a US$1 billion valuation in 2021.

—

Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.

The post Antler to invest US$100M in Southeast Asia’s early-stage startups by 2025 appeared first on e27.

Pakistan startups, the last massive untapped opportunity in the world
After two decades of uncertainty and confusion, Pakistan’s tech startup ecosystem appears to have finally found its feet; In 2021, a record US$352M was raised by 50+ startups, statistics by consulting agency Invest2Innovate shows.

The collapse of UST and LUNA was devastating, but there is still hope for crypto
What exactly happened doesn’t really matter; What really matters is that when something bad happened, Terra couldn’t handle it; What really matters is that an undercollateralised, algorithmic stablecoin will fail no matter how long it succeeds.

Zilingo creditors recall their loan due to unfulfilled obligations
This prompted the firm to hire an independent financial adviser “to explore options for the company,”; This comes at the heels of CEO Ankiti Bose’s suspension amid a probe on an alleged accounting mishap.

Indonesian SaaS firm Mekari bags US$50M in Money Forward-led round
Founded in 2015 by the name of Sleekr, the company rebranded itself as Mekari following successive M&A actions with four SaaS peers, including Talenta, KlikPajak, and Jurnal; It currently has more than 35K clients and 800K active users.

Merah Putih fund secures first close at US$300M
The fundraising milestone comes less than six months after the government launched the vehicle in December last year; Merah Putih was set up by the government in partnership with the VC arms of some state-owned enterprises.

Temasek tops up Amazon, Pinduoduo stake
The investment firm boosted its holding in the two firms by over 15%; It first revealed its purchase of Amazon shares in 2017 and Pinduoduo shares in 2020; Temasek earlier trimmed its interests in Airbnb and Lumen Technologies.

Elon Musk mulls Indonesia visit for investments after talks with Widodo
President Joko Widodo reportedly invited Musk when they met on a Space X site in Texas; The president’s camp said that the Tesla and Space X boss is “hopefully” eyeing November for the trip.

SG
Software security provider GuardRails scores nearly US$4M in funding
Investors include Sequoia’s Surge Ventures, Cocoon Capital, and SingtelInnov8; The GuardRails software runs security scans in the background and provides real-time alerts of important vulnerabilities once it is integrated into a workflow.

B Capital co-leads US$2.8M round of Indonesian personal finance app Finku
Global Founders Capital and Trihill Capital also participated; Finku allows users to track their transactions across several bank and e-wallet accounts and gives them real-time insights into their expense behaviour.

Binance CEO slams Terraform for lacklustre response
Terraform Labs, the company behind plummeting stablecoin TerraUSD, has not responded to Binance’s request to restore the network, burn the additionally minted token Luna, and recover the UST peg.

Elon Musk says US$44B Twitter deal on hold
Twitter, in a filing earlier this month, had estimated that false or spam accounts represented less than 5% of its monetizable daily active users in the first three months of the year.

—

Copyright: ivanbabydov

The post Ecosystem Roundup: There’s still hope for crypto despite the UST, LUNA crash; Is it worth investing in Pakistani startups? appeared first on e27.