OnPoint, an e-commerce enabler in Vietnam, has secured US$50 million in a Series B round led by SeaTown Private Capital Master Fund, a fund managed by SeaTown Holdings, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings.

According to a press release, this is the largest private fundraising round in Southeast Asia’s e-commerce enabler industry in the last five years.

The company will use the new fund to continue expanding its e-commerce enabling ecosystem, strengthening talents and capabilities, and developing emerging technologies with a data-driven approach.

In addition, the partnership will allow OnPoint to tap into SeaTown’s vast networks and experience in the digital economy and consumer sectors across the region and globally.

SeaTown recently invested in the CrownX Corporation and Golden Gate Group in Vietnam.

Also Read: Why Vietnam is a ripe market for new-age banking

Tran Vu Quang, Founder and CEO at OnPoint, said: “Our goal is to create impactful values for the ecosystem by constantly innovating and developing sustainable, seamless customer-centric solutions. SeaTown is a valuable partner for us, given their long-term vision and a wealth of experience in the global digital economy.”

Since 2017, OnPoint provides a one-stop solution that enables consumer brands to accelerate their online growth on multiple channels, including e-commerce marketplaces, social media platforms and brand-owned websites. Its capabilities encompass all aspects of the e-commerce value chain, ranging from the set-up and operations of brands’ online stores to managing digital marketing campaigns, customer services, warehousing and order fulfilment.

Since its Series A round in 2020, the company has focused on developing proprietary technology to integrate and coordinate a network of service partners, utilising data and automating processes to streamline their operations.

Its digital marketing campaign management tool, Galaxy, leverages the power of big data, AI and machine learning. OnPoint has also launched OctoSells, a SaaS product to help SMEs merchants manage online stores “seamlessly”.

OnPoint’s client portfolio includes more than 150 brands from numerous categories such as health & beauty, fashion, mother & babies, electronics/home appliances, pharmaceuticals, digital products, FMCG, pet food, etc. Its notable clients include L’Oreal, Shiseido, Unicharm, P&G, Unilever International, Nestlé, LG, Panasonic, Mondelez, and so on.

“OnPoint’s vision is to ultimately become a platform that impacts all participants of Southeast Asia’s e-commerce economy from brand owners, merchants, service providers to consumers, generating valuing for its employees and shareholders,” added Quang.

OnPoint’s Series B funding round was advised by Rocket Equities.
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My involvement with a real cult began when I was an ignorant 19 years old, I was involved in a real cult for three months during my year-long student exchange in Japan. Initially, I thought I joined a “bible study group” and was looking forward to making friends and improving my Japanese by studying the Japanese bible. I did not know that I joined a cult until I got into the inner group and saw many red flags.

Some red flags include “inner circle members” telling me that the “head pastor went to jail and was framed”, and noticing in “church-wide” events (>5,000 people) that the cult has >80 per cent female members.

Later, I found out that the head pastor went to jail for raping women. Armed with verifiable evidence that only the inner group could have, I got into trouble with the cult because I started pulling all my friends out, and telling them to pull their friends out too.

Overnight the “international church” of 50+ international students literally dropped to zero, and for a while, the cult leaders were physically after me.

Did curiosity kill the cat?

Curiosity probably killed me then, and it wasn’t fun. I am thankful that a cat has nine lives.

Nonetheless, that experience really kickstarted my deep interest in human nature, parasocial relationships and communities. I have always been fascinated with communities that have cult-like elements because it’s so interesting to observe and study what intrinsically motivates people.

Most importantly, because I’ve been in a real cult before, I could empathise deeply with people who are drawn to cults or heavily involved in communities with cult-like elements.

And nope, people do not join cults because they are dumb. People join cults/cult-like communities because we are human. As human beings, we all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves eventually.

And as human beings, there are always emotional vulnerabilities that could be exploited by the wrong people (deep need for approval/ permission, porous boundaries, lack of fulfilment of emotional needs).

Also Read: How can you build a living, thriving community around your SaaS product?

Indeed, all cults are strong communities, whereas not all strong communities are cults.

Cult vs cult-like: What’s the difference?

• A cult is “closed”. It restricts your freedom and makes you feel like you cannot/have no other options to turn to. The strongly associated emotions are guilt and shame.

The cult social system is engineered to exploit the emotional vulnerabilities of people. When your brain is so wired with many positive reinforcements that you cannot get elsewhere (the initial “love bombing”), it is very difficult to fight against these chemicals if you’re unprepared.

• A strong community with “cult-like” elements is open. You’re always free to leave it, and the community should empower you enough so that you don’t want to leave it, even though you can.

There is also a sense of gratitude to it, that you have received so much support from this community that you want to give back.

10 cult-like elements to strong communities

The following list shows 10 characteristics of a cult.

Strong Web3 communities with cult-like elements demonstrate some of these characteristics to lesser degrees:

• There is a charismatic leader and/or a chief thought architect unique to the community. The group displays an excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth.
• The leadership dictates (over Twitter in the Web3 context) how members should think, act, and feel. Usually, this is worked into and reinforced by the mission, vision and slogan of the group. The group has a polarised and strong “us-versus-them” mentality.
• The group feels that they are elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and its members. There is always a “saviour’s mentality” involved in their narrative, that they are superior beings on a special mission to “save” humanity from something. In the Web3 context, this could be liberation from nine-five work, financial slavery, etc.
• The leader is not accountable to any authorities, particularly in an accepted culture in the Web3 “decentralised” and “non-Doxxed” context.
• The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members participating in behaviours or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group. Or, in the Web3 context, members justify the actions of their leader even after they have been rugged.
• The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and control members. Often this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.
• There is a strong evangelism arm, and evangelists are usually empowered with bullets/ convenient and repeatable narratives of the project. The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members into the said communities, particularly common in Web3 spaces where people ask their friends to buy the NFT/coin.
• The group is preoccupied with making money, particularly common in Web3 spaces for speculators and flippers.
• Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities, also not uncommon in Web3 communities.
• The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They identify themselves with the project, believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave or even consider leaving the group.

Also Read: Unstoppable pioneers of Web3: 16 women spearheading the change

Strong communities: Engineering cult-like elements

Web3 is all about communities. Therefore, it is important to know how to build a strong community, and we could always refer back to how successful cults do it.

Megachurches are strong communities. Salesforce and Apple are strong tech communities. Duolingo and Starbucks are strong B2C communities too. All of them have cult-like features as well.

So, when it comes to communities with cult-like features, here is a possible system:

• Step #1: A strong community with cult-like features have a strong vision, mission and slogan that seem to solve the seeker’s practical problems. It does the “hook” with positive reinforcements and promises, which include: consistently being a reliable source to providing direct solutions and information to solving your practical problems.

On top of that, it also provides emotional value: companionship (if you are lonely), peace of mind (if you’re facing constant stress/ anxiety), initial physical safety (if you do not have a physical safe space), or an implied life/ romantic partner (if you are looking for a meaningful connection).

The initial goal for all prospects to join the open community is to ensure that they always get their practical problems solved. Yet, the more they interact with the community, the more emotional needs they meet as a byproduct.

• Step #2: Existing community managers and other community members are then encouraged to attend to the prospect constantly, to make sure the positive reinforcement + psychological/ biological feedback loop persists.
• Step #3: Next, existing community members will invite these prospects to attend an exclusive function (“for selected people only”).

The frequency gets higher and higher as the prospects show a willingness to attend more of such functions, in the lack of other activities that meet their practical and emotional needs.

The goal is to keep the mind in a constantly engaged state and to keep reinforcing the feedback loop of meeting both practical and emotional needs.

• Step #4: For community members who want to continue this positive feedback loop of meeting both practical and emotional needs, they will intrinsically want to step up.

The self-talk is in the forms of:

• • “I want to continue to do X so that I can continue to get positive reinforcements, if not more”; or
  • “If I don’t do Y, I will not get the positive reinforcements anymore”.

• Step #5: At this point, prospects’ decisions on their levels of commitment to the community will reach an equilibrium. Prospects are free to step up their commitment, maintain the status quo or leave (if they lose interest or have all their problems solved).

Therefore, as seen from the above possible system, it means that positive reinforcement and the consistent practical + emotional solving of community members’ problems are absolutely critical.

Practical implications to Web3 marketers

So what’s the big deal?

Also Read: The 27 Web3 startups in Singapore that show crypto is more than Terra Luna and stablecoins

The point here is that if Web3 is all about people, communities and ecosystems, then it might be wise to learn how to build strong communities. To make the thought process more robust and thorough, it might be wise to continue to experiment with thought paradigms that guide the building of a community.

I believe evangelism and brand advocacy all start from brand values. The point is to define what your community stands for, and more practically, what it does not stand for.

I’ll also love to hear your thoughts on this topic, how do you think we can engineer a strong community- with cultish elements for your particular project?

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Populix, a consumer insights platform in Indonesia, today announced the closing of a US$7.7 million Series A financing led by Intudo Ventures and Acrew Capital.

Altos Ventures and Quest Ventures also joined the round.

Populix will use the money to recruit product and tech engineering experts to enhance data collection efforts, better meet more clients’ needs, and bring on marketing and regional expansion roles.

The company also plans regional expansion to neighbouring Southeast Asian countries by 2023.

Founded in January 2018, Populix provides “comprehensive” research and data collection for businesses, institutions, and individuals to make more informed business decisions through quantitative and qualitative studies. It claims to offer a pool of over 300,000 authentic, verified, and highly targeted respondents throughout Indonesia that are readily available, providing quick and reliable responses that illuminate the preferences, habits, and opinions of Indonesian consumers.

Also Read: Populix raises US$1.2M to provide businesses with valuable insights on Indonesian customers

For experienced research buyers, Populix offers comprehensive datasets on a subscription basis that track different generational groups in Indonesia. The initial datasets focus on Indonesia’s Generation Z, with plans to launch a Millennial-focused data set in Q4 2022 and new subpanels that include niche categories like car-owners, working professionals, and other respondent profiles.

Each dataset contains thousands of data points containing consumer consumption, online behaviour, lifestyle habits, emerging trends, and opinions and thoughts.

For mass audiences, Populix offers Poplite, a pay-per-use SaaS research platform that allows anyone to build surveys and collect targeted and actionable business intelligence. With Poplite, clients can choose from available templates depending on their business size or stage, specify target respondents based on their demography and launch a study on the platform or choose to build the survey from scratch.

Since 2020, Populix claims it has worked with over 1,500 clients ranging from Fortune Global 500 companies, governments, and major Indonesian conglomerates to SMEs, academics, and individuals.

“Consumer insights is a space traditionally dominated by large players with services often out of reach for many business owners. Populix shows that new business models can emerge in unexpected places and uproot preconceived notions of what consumer insights can do for businesses by adapting to the unique contexts of Indonesia,” said Theresia Gouw, Founding Partner, Acrew Capital.

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If you look at the world’s biggest data breaches and hacks, it highlights how cybersecurity has become a global phenomenon and that every individual is at risk.

As the world moved towards a hybrid workplace, Singapore quickly experienced a staggering 145 per cent surge in cyberattacks, with an average of 1,123 organisations in the manufacturing industry alone facing an attack every week last year.

According to Proofpoint’s annual Voice of the CISO Report, hybrid working policies and cloud tools made organisations more agile and resilient. But it also made them more vulnerable to cyber threats. For example, as much as 44 per cent of CISOs in Singapore are reportedly seeing more targeted attacks in 2022 since enabling widespread remote working.

Ransomware, supply chain attacks, personal information leaks, and crypto exchange hacks are widely recognised as the most frequent attacks in the region. As a result, the report unsurprisingly revealed that the region has a much higher risk perception of 64 per cent compared to the reported global average of 48 per cent. But how did we get here?

Why is the number of cyber-attacks increasing in Singapore?

The increment of the attacks results from two areas. The first aspect is that cybersecurity is growing in complexity more than ever before. More systems and processes are digitised via software solutions as we progress towards a more digitally connected region. As a result, more software means more vulnerabilities, which also implies the possibility of an increased number of attacks.

New software developments and delivery paradigms have led to the rise of further attacks, for example, software supply chain attacks grew by 300 per cent last year. These attacks typically target open-source and third-party software that technology teams often use as building blocks for their own systems.

The advent of cryptocurrency has made cyber-attacks more profitable. We increasingly see ‘ransoms’ demanded and paid for without traceability. Cybercriminals who have received ransom payments in cryptocurrency are increasing their funds and resources to launch even bigger attacks on critical infrastructure.

Also Read: Best cybersecurity practices for startups to stay ahead of the curve

The second aspect is the inconvenient truth that although cyber-security awareness is growing, it’s struggling to keep up with the pace at which the landscape is evolving. For example, when faced with a phishing attack, most people now know that they should always check the sender before responding to an email or message. But the recent OCBC phishing scam highlighted that attackers were one step ahead by assuming the bank’s identity.

Although most organisations understand the cyber risk, robust cyber security doesn’t come for free or cheap. It can be challenging for boardrooms to see the value of signing off another project.

But news that even the Singapore government is increasing its cybersecurity allocation from 2.4 per cent to 8 per cent of its IT budget shows things are beginning to change. Unfortunately, the bad news is that there is also a big gap for cybersecurity expertise between the supply and market needs, making security goals hard to reach.

Prevention is always better than cure

According to a recent threat landscape report by CyberArk, around 80 per cent of organisations in Singapore experienced ransomware attacks last year. To prevent these challenges, enterprises need to address the issues discussed in this article, and it doesn’t have to cost a small fortune.

For example, raising awareness and promoting cybersecurity training and education is one of the simplest yet most effective ways of improving security.

Security teams that set up processes on a national and global level will help enhance the cybersecurity knowledge of Singaporeans. In addition to this, the adoption of automatic tools can help teams keep up with the fast pace of software development. It’s also becoming imperative to augment the gap posed by limited security experts. But the bigger question is, what are the best tools?

Opting for the best tool in the region

While training, awareness, and other initiatives will deliver results over time, organisations should be taking charge of security by leveraging easily accessible, state-of-the-art tools built on sound scientific research.

For example, Thompson, Scantist’s Software Composition Analysis tool, is one such option trusted by multiple government agencies and businesses.

These tools provide greater visibility over building blocks such as open-source and third-party components used by software teams.

Also Read: There is a concerning lack of cybersecurity talent. Here’s how to tackle it

In doing so, it enables them to monitor and mitigate software supply chain security risks closely. As a result, this approach can play a critical role in reducing the risk of data breaches by as much as 25 per cent.

Businesses large or small can seamlessly integrate the solution into existing software development and delivery workflows and receive customised security reports based on their internal risk assessment and external compliance needs.

Some of these solutions often include a free tier allowing enterprises to explore the capabilities on offer before worrying about securing a budget for features that they might not need.

The journey towards a cyber-safe nation

While increased investment in cybersecurity measures is needed, it’s not a problem that you can throw money at and tick a compliance box. Instead, our journey to becoming a cyber-safe nation for all begins with smaller steps such as building simple processes and using easily accessible security tools.

Raising awareness and the promotion of cybersecurity training and education remain critical. When combined with the right tools, it helps businesses minimise hacking incidents without overloading their technology teams or costing a fortune.

These suggestions are just a handful of tips that make up the bare minimum needed in a fast-evolving and increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape.

For enterprises of all sizes, a cyber incident and a subsequent loss of reputation and shareholder value are inevitable. There is no avoiding the fact that cybersecurity has become everyone’s business, and if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

So, what role will you play in building a cyber-safe nation?

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Developing economies need one resource above all else: electricity. Over recent decades the expansion and development of electrical infrastructure i.e., power grids, has resulted in the increased use and emissions of Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6), the world’s strongest greenhouse gas.

This is because of SF6’s common use in switchgear, grid-scale switches that are key hardware components found throughout the electrical infrastructure. However, soon this could be a thing of the past.

Electricity plays a vital role in both developing economies and improving living standards. We have seen this to a great extent in China and India, particularly in recent years.

Right now, more than half of global energy consumption takes place in the Asia-Pacific region, where around 85 per cent comes from fossil fuels. However, 10 per cent of the population across the region still lacks access to electricity, and many more rely on traditional biomass methods, such as wood combustion, for heating and cooking.

To address these problems, as well as those posed by rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, energy demand is rising. Because of this, I believe considerable opportunities exist to avoid the long-term lock-in of energy technologies and infrastructure which exacerbate the problem of climate change.

It is vitally important that rising electricity demand is met by renewable and low-emission energy sources. However, we should not overlook other factors such as the infrastructure used to transport that energy: transmission and distribution grids are two examples.

For energy transition to be truly successful, we need to ensure that the whole energy system is ‘green’ and not solely focus on energy generation itself.

Business not as usual

Young climate technology companies have a vital role to play as it is increasingly clear from a climate perspective that the ‘business as usual’ model is no longer viable. We need fresh thinking to develop innovative technologies that will help us reach an energy system free of harmful greenhouse gases.

Also Read: How carbon in the metaverse can help solve the real-world climate crisis

The energy sector is notoriously conservative. From my experience, established players tend to be sceptical of new ideas and technologies. This is where climate tech companies can demonstrate that sustainable innovation is not only important from a sustainability perspective but can also have a positive effect on a company’s bottom line.

When my daughter Matilda was born in 2015, I developed a much clearer life perspective. I wanted to see a future for her where the energy we use every day does not destroy our planet. This played an important role when I decided to join my Co-Founders in starting Nuventura five years ago.

My first in-depth encounter with sustainable energy generation was when I studied nuclear engineering at the technical universities in Aachen, Germany, and Gothenburg, Sweden. Surprisingly, fission, fusion and renewable energies were all bundled under ’alternative’ energy generation, even as recently as the early 2000s!

I realised that I did not believe fission to be a viable ‘bridging technology’ for the energy transition; renewable energies could be the only solution. I spent the next five years as a consultant, advising companies about capital efficiency in the renewable energy sector. I also consulted on energy efficiency optimisation in the heavy industries sector.

In 2014, I started my first company. It was not energy-related, but it wasn’t long before I missed working in that space. In 2017, I decided to hand over operations to a new management team, and joined my Co-Founders Manjunath Ramesh and Nikolaus Thomale, after they showed me how much impact we could have, particularly in helping to reduce the energy sector’s use of SF6 by developing switchgear technologies which replace the extremely potent greenhouse gas with dry air, essentially normal breathable air, without any moisture.

What is SF6?

Greenhouse gases are synonymous with any conversation surrounding the energy sector and climate change. Despite it not being very well known, Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) is the world’s strongest, with a global warming potential (GWP) of 25,200.

This means that one kg of SF6 is equivalent to 25,200 kg of CO2. The European Union banned SF6 for most applications in 2014, but this did not extend to the energy sector due to a lack of alternative options at the time.

More than 80 per cent of all SF6 produced is used in the energy industry as an insulating medium for gas-insulated switchgear (GIS). Switchgear is a key component found within all electrical infrastructure. They function like a grid-scale light switch – they turn different sections of the grid off and on.

SF6’s emissions are currently at an all-time high, with global annual emissions (close to 8,000 tons) equating to the yearly CO2 emissions produced by around 100 million cars. To make matters worse, in a business-as-usual scenario, the use of SF6 is expected to grow by more than 75 per cent by 2030.

Furthermore, though recycling of used SF6 is common, it is normally not destroyed because of the difficulty and cost associated with this destruction. Therefore, it can reasonably be expected that all SF6 that currently exist and that will be produced in the future will persist for thousands of years, whether in gas-insulated switchgear equipment or, ultimately, in our atmosphere.

Due to SF6’s environmental impact, regulators such as the European Commission and California Air Resource Board (CARB) are expected to phase out its use in the energy sector by 2031. The Chinese government has also begun an evaluation of SF6’s role in the energy sector. It’s for these reasons that sustainable alternatives are urgently needed.

Also Read: Climate tech is in a chicken-and-egg situation in Southeast Asia

Nuventura offers such an alternative. We have developed the world’s first medium voltage (up to 36 kV) GIS which replaces SF6 with dry air. We’ve done this while maintaining the qualities which make SF6-GIS attractive around the world, compact physical dimensions, high reliability, and low maintenance requirements.

Innovation challenge

Climate change is arguably the biggest innovation challenge humanity has faced. We have limited time to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach net zero by 2050. ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) industries and climate tech will be vital in the development of current and future technologies to make this transformation possible.

For example, Indonesia plans to manufacture 600,000 electric vehicles and 2.45 million electric motorcycles by the year 2030, according to the ASEAN energy outlook for 2022. According to the same report, Southeast Asia’s energy requirements are expected to rise by 60 per cent by the year 2040. So, it is no surprise that companies in this space are attracting growing interest from investors.

As countries around the world continue to experience the negative effects of climate change, this is only likely to accelerate. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report published earlier this year, repeated calls for drastic action. This was echoed in Glasgow’s COP26.

It cites a plan for countries and businesses to work closely together to accelerate the adoption of affordable climate technology around the world.

This increased focus on ESG in private markets is leading companies and investors to adapt their strategies, along with emerging regulations such as the European Union’s ‘Fit for 55’ plan, which targets reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent by 2030.

Many companies have also made public commitments to net-zero and have set science-based targets. Moreover, multibillion-dollar mega-funds are increasingly being channelled into climate tech.

However, one alarming aspect we’ve experienced within the venture capital space, that should be highlighted, is that VCs remain trapped in fund structures and life cycles associated with Tech (Software) companies.

Climate and deep tech, especially hardware, can’t be assessed by the same KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) as software companies and consumer-oriented companies such as e-commerce.

VCs must be able to invest taking into account longer-term horizons. They should not demonise CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) as they do today and must accept that software alone will not save our planet. Many VCs are very vocal about this and repeatedly highlight it, but only a fraction of them act accordingly.

I plan to devote the rest of my professional life to fighting climate change. Part of my motivation is that I just love engineering! Being able to invent new technologies that solve real physical problems is a genuine privilege.

I also see climate change as the single biggest problem for most species (humans included) on our planet. So, if what I love to do can help to solve the many challenges posed by climate change, why not do it?

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Flash Coffee has recently closed another funding in the Series B1 round. A company representative confirmed this information when contacted by DailySocial; however, the company declined to mention further details. It is said that the closing of the B2 round will soon follow, potentially turning the coffee chain startup into a unicorn.

From the data that has been submitted to the regulator, a number of investors were involved in the B1 Flash Coffee round. The funds raised amounted to more than US$30 million, catapulting the company’s valuation to US$175 million and cementing them in the centaur ranks.

Previously, Flash Coffee secured a US$15 million Series A funding in 2021. White Star Capital led this funding, followed by a number of other investors, including DX Venture, Global Founders Capital, and Conny & Co.

Flash Coffee’s Founder & CEO David Brunier revealed back then that the company intended to expand to 10 countries in the Asia Pacific by targeting 300 new outlets or three new outlets every week.

Brunier considered the retail coffee outlet market in Indonesia as very attractive and has excellent room for growth. In addition to the high population, the upper-middle-class segment has a thirst to try new products; coffee consumption per capita also keeps increasing.

Also Read: Flash Coffee raises US$15M to take on the likes of Kopi Kenangan in SEA

Flash Coffee was founded in January 2020 and has outlets in Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. The company claimed that the majority of Flash Coffee outlets have been profitable, demonstrating the success of their business model.

Based on information on its website, there are currently around 82 Flash Coffee outlets spread across the Greater Jakarta Area. Flash Coffee remains attractive to coffee lovers even during the pandemic.

The growth of coffee tech

In the last two years, technology-enabled coffee shop platforms have received substantial funding. Starting from Fore Coffee, Janji Jiwa, Jago Coffee, and Kopi Kenangan.

Even though the F&B business has been under a lot of pressure during the pandemic, a technology-based (O2O) approach allows these coffee chain startups to survive and accelerate their business. One of them is the grab-and-go concept —using an application, users can place orders and make payments to be picked up at the nearest outlet. The platform is also taking advantage of the available food delivery service in the market to support its operations.

According to research (MIX, 2020), 40 per cent of young coffee customers in Indonesia are starting to switch to grab-and-go outlets. This demand is encouraged by the shifting behaviour from instant coffee consumption, as consumers want a higher quality drink –paired with complimentary snacks. The products sold on average are in the middle price range — below premium coffee, but above instant coffee.

Also Read: This made-in-Singapore robotic coffee barista will receive you at Japan’s train stations ahead of Olympics

The presence of the application is not solely for transactions but also as a medium to increase user retention through a series of loyalty-based promotional programmes and activities. Moreover, app traffic becomes useful data for studying user habits and trends to be later translated into product and service innovations.

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The article was written by Yenny Yusra for DailySocial.

Image Credit: Flash Coffee

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Unstoppable pioneers of Web3: 16 women spearheading the change
While men still dominate in the nascent metaverse, women creators in Web3 are now leading the path and rising to the top.

Singapore crypto exchange Bybit to cut up to 30% of workforce
The firm is “building smaller but more agile teams” to improve efficiency, with role and function reviews taking place starting this week; Bybit has grown its workforce by 300% since 2020, swelling its ranks to 2,000 employees.

Singapore’s crypto hedge fund 3AC considers asset sales, bailout
3AC invested about US$200M in Luna but the sum was effectively wiped out when TerraUSD and Luna both became worthless in mid-May; The two cryptocurrencies lost a total of US$60B in market capitalisation last month.

Crypto payments firm TripleA secures US$4M led by Razer’s VC arm
The MAS-licensed TripleA helps businesses increase their revenue by enabling crypto payments and payouts; Its clients include e-commerce merchants, retailers, game providers, PSPs, fintech, marketplaces and tech companies.

Crypto platform Finblox caps monthly withdrawals at US$1.5K amid 3AC turmoil
The firm has also paused reward distribution on its platform, including those for referrals and deposits. It has disabled creating crypto addresses for new users.

Kakao Games partners with blockchain-based Mythical Games for Asia push
The deal will see Mythical integrate Kakao’s affiliate Boranetwork, a Layer 2 and proprietary blockchain ecosystem, into its operations; US-based Mythical will also join Bora’s governance committee to boost P2E gaming in Asia.

Philippines, Vietnam study feasibility of CBDCs
The spread of Alipay, WeChat Pay and similar Chinese apps has raised monetary authorities’ interest in CBDCs; The Philippine and Vietnamese central banks’ partners in the feasibility studies will include Japan’s Soramitsu, which helped Cambodia develop Bakong.

Ampverse launches Web3 business division following Series A funding
In March, it raised US$12M Series A funding; Ampverse owns prominent e-sports teams in SEA, and it also operates a talent division and fan-driven products and gaming merchandise.

Zilingo founders propose to buy out shareholders, incorporate new entity
If the proposal goes through, it would mean that former CEO Bose – who was fired from Zilingo last month – will return to the company; The proposal comes ahead of a board meeting to decide the company’s future.

Singapore’s office design firm Space Matrix buys Indian B2B marketplace Pursuite
The acquisition will allow Space Matrix to offer a more seamless office design process by leveraging Pursuite’s e-commerce platform; It also plans to employ AI and ML technology to mine design data and provide insights for its future projects.

Singapore e-commerce roll-up firm Rainforest bags US$45M
Investors include Canopy Tropics, Monk’s Hill Ventures, Insignia Venture Partners, and January Capital; Rainforest’s annual revenue climbed over US$30 million in its first year of operations, and the firm said it will be profitable by the end of 2022.

Indonesian virtual restaurant firm Dailybox raises US$24M
Investors include Northstar Group, Vertex Growth, and Vertex Ventures SEA & India; Dailybox has over 150 outlets in more than 20 cities; The firm will use the money to expand across the country and add more F&B brands.

Govt-backed Startup Studio Indonesia alumni snag US$22.7M funding
Since its launch in 2020, 65 startups have joined the SSI programme; About 30-40% of participants in each batch receive seed or pre-seed capital following the completion of the programme.

Nium’s SOCASH acquisition valued at US$12.5M
The deal provides an indirect exit to SOCASH investors, who will get to own Nium shares; The SOCASH SPV is 38.4% owned by Vertex Ventures SEA & India; Other shareholders include Glory Ltd, SC Ventures, and SPH Ventures.

Flash Coffee raises Series B1 round
The funds raised amounted to US$30M+ catapulting the company’s valuation to US$175M; Data shows a number of investors participated in the round; It operates around 82 outlets in the Greater Jakarta Area.

Indonesian social commerce enabler Desty raises funds in Square Peg-led round
The undisclosed raise followed a US$5M pre-Series A round held in November 2021; Desty helps creators, influencers, and merchants promote and sell their products.

F&N leads F&B automation startup ROSS Digital’s US$3M Series A+ round
ROSS Digital will use the money to accelerate product enhancements, expand into Thailand and Malaysia, and scale the team; It will partner with F&N to implement and distribute its suite of robotic, automation, digital and AI solutions in SEA.

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Social and copy trading tools are relatively new in the cryptocurrency scene. Basically, their trades are reflected in your account. Their profits are your profits and their losses are your losses.

Such tools are simple to use and have all the features that any trader will need. How would DeFi and social trading work together? Let’s look into it now.

Community-powered DeFi protocol Pollen aims to shake up the asset management industry with its bold attempt to really put the community in the driving seat, led by top-performing traders that emerge from the community.

As the first really tangible step to making that happen after two years’ development and several months of testing involving 7,000+ beta users, Pollen has now launched its trading simulation product after 99 per cent backing in a 100K strong community vote in line with Pollen’s merit-based DAO structure.

But in a growing market for social trading globally how does it stack up against existing startups in the space, such as eToro and League of Traders?

The mainnet launch is designed to create a community of crypto traders, so-called ‘Pollinators’ which in turn will identify a talent pool of the top performers. These users will provide the trading insights to power the asset-backed Pollen Indexes.

How it works is that Pollen Virtual enables traders to try out their trading strategies in a safe sandbox environment, based on staked tokens, in a portfolio composed of assets available on Pollen with the ability to rebalance the proportion of each asset to improve performance in real-time.

In turn, this encourages traders to compete in a leaderboard to earn reputation points and PLNs. Those less willing to risk their tokens can delegate them to the best performers for an 80% share of the trading profits.

Pollen’s social model fits a post-Terra DeFi world, where the trust is put in the decentralised community rather than the founders. Of course, the downside is the gains are not going to be crazy DeFi gains where you stake a dollar and have a million in your wallet in a couple of days!

Instead, as Agova explained, the aim of Pollen is to bring some much-needed balance to DeFi and reduce the risk, reduce the volatility through indexes. “DeFi for grownups. It’s DeFi if you’re not necessarily crypto savvy, but an average person with some disposable income that wants to get into DeFi but can’t get into DeFi.”

The virtual assets users allocate in their Pollen Virtual portfolio (with the protocol based on the Avalanche and Ethereum ecosystem) represent real assets, meaning that they rise and fall depending on each asset’s performance in real life.

Also Read: What lessons can crypto investors draw from the Luna, UST episode?

However, there is no exposure to the underlying assets in the Pollen Virtual portfolio: they are purely simulations, with only PLN earned or burned depending on the portfolio’s performance. The Pollen Virtual protocol actually has two tokens available to users, the PLN is the native token, and vePLN is what they call the “voter escrow token” which users obtain when they lock their PLN.

While you can earn PLN as a reward you cannot earn vePLN, as a locked token, it simply allows you to earn rewards up to 20 per cent more. However, to add a gamification element you can lose vePLN as a result of poor performance of your trading activity.

How eToro compares

In comparison one of the market leaders eToro offers is the ability to see how other investors and traders manage their crypto portfolios which allows you to take advantage of their tactics.

In addition, eToro provides a service called copy trading which automates the copying of the best-performing investors. A third layer of social trading is access to forums where traders can discuss their strategies.

In a way similar to Pollen eToro also offers a virtual trading account. However, a key difference is that you don’t need to buy eToro’s own token to participate, instead, you use US$100,000 in fake money so the quality of the learning is probably not as great as with Pollen where you can lose PLN and reputation ranking for poor performance.

Bethany Garner of Forbes Advisor in reviewing eToro confirmed that it lets users buy and sell more than 60 crypto assets and offers its own crypto wallet for users to store their tokens.

Plus, as well as the social trading tools. “Anyone, even those who aren’t users, can visit eToro and gain access to lessons on investment terms, interpreting the markets, and different types of assets through the eToro Academy.”

That educational support is certainly lacking from Pollen currently, but no doubt will be something they’ll want to develop once the asset management service launches later in the year.

Gamifying trading

A neat twist on the social trading concept is the leading social trading service in Asia League of Traders, a crypto app that runs a leaderboard similar to Pollen, where the best performers are rewarded.

League of Traders has ‘doubled down’ on social trading by gamifying crypto trading with features including real-time leaderboards, monthly competitions, and trader profiles, transforming trading into a social, competitive experience. Each user’s profile includes a growth chart, token distribution pie chart, volatility risk assessment and current positions which allows speedy insight into one’s portfolio’s strength.

Also Read: Singapore’s crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital looking for a bailout: Report

And unlike Pollen, which works as a closed ecosystem, or eToro which aims to make money from your crypto purchases, using the app you can link your portfolios across different exchanges to see their performance aggregated in one place. Like eToro however you can also click on the profile of top traders to check out their portfolio, with the option to copy another account.

Barrister and Attorney at Law at BlockchainLex.io, Brian Sanya Mondoh, said, “In my view, the delegation of tokens to make profits by delegators is likely to interact with the Howey Test, as there is an investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the efforts of others.”

Mondoh added that crypto regulation is rapidly underway with many DeFi protocols presented as real risks to consumers, businesses, national security, and the financial system. The recent Terra collapse is still fresh in our minds and has further highlighted the need for appropriate regulation to help mitigate consumer, market integrity and financial stability risks,” he added.

Anndy Lian, Chairman of BigONE Exchange said Pollen was a great example of what DeFi can offer following the Terra collapse. “The risky returns offered by Terra’s Anchor Protocol proved that you need to base DeFi on sound first principles, a decentralised offering which empowers users rather than encouraging them to take unsustainable risks.

“I’m impressed by Pollen’s careful stepped approach to their social offering driven by community-led adoption and testing to get it right. I particularly like the fact that anyone can create their own asset pools, and then turn successful indexes public, and earn tokens. But of course, for the newcomer, a service like eToro or League of Traders has a lot to offer where you can learn from the best traders.

“And while eToro like Pollen wants you to stick to its ecosystem I like the flexibility of League of Traders, aggregating your traders under one roof, while also gamifying the experience through the regular trading competitions. Clearly, the social trading market in crypto is only going to grow further in the future, as Web3 is the perfect architecture for a networked decentralised people-led approach to trading and investing.”

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In 2017, Bartolome Bordallo struggled with his cryptocurrency portfolio owing to a lack of trading knowledge. But he quickly realised he was not alone in facing this situation. It occurred to him that a platform connecting users with expert investors could address this problem.

That was the starting point for Zignaly, an online platform that connects everyday consumers with the world’s top, proven crypto investors in a trusted, facilitated system.

“We started with a bare-bone ‘signal providing platform’ aiming to turn signals into trading actions. This concept caught on, with several investors and expert traders signing up on the platform, giving birth to a passionate and thriving community,” Bordallo told e27.

Founded in 2017 by Bordallo (CEO), David Rodríguez (CMO), and Rafay Gadit (CFO), Zignaly is an expert-managed social investing marketplace. It allows consumers to reap the expertise, leverage, and scale of top traders and funds handling their trading in return for a portion of shared profits.

Also Read: The way of the DAO could be the future of work

“The platform has evolved and innovated the social investment space, initially with the copy trading solution and further refining it with a profit-sharing solution (built upon the Binance broker programme),” he added.

Anyone can sign up on Zignaly.com, connect to one of its top traders, and earn staking rewards on their ZIG token holdings in a few clicks.

The startup claims the platform provides “unprecedented” access to new sources of funds and followers for professional traders and funds.

According to the company, over 300 professional traders currently serve over 430,000 users on the platform who have allocated over US$125 million in crypto assets.

Limitless opportunities in SEA

Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most poverty-stricken and underdeveloped regions, which means unequal opportunities for millions of people. Zignaly sees tremendous opportunities to effect a change here.

“We envision a world with financial freedom for all, and in this regard, Southeast Asia is one of the most important markets for us, and we continue to work on expanding there,” Bordallo stated.

“The idea is to get the word out to regional investors on how they can avail multiple streams of passive income from Zignaly. Whether leveraging on our profit-sharing service providers, earning those staking yields on the Zignaly vault, or one of the other products, Zignaly can help elevate the people living with financial constraints,” he explained.

The firm has onboarded several ambassadors from Southeast Asia who will soon share their stories with the community.

Launching ZIG DAO

Close on the heels of its US$50 million funding from Luxembourg-based GEM Global in March, Zignaly announced its foray into DeFi (decentralised finance) with the launch of ZIG DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation).

With ZIG DAO, said Bordallo, Zignaly unlocks the power of its platform and community to extend the range of Web3 investments available to include crypto investing without the constraint of centralised exchanges, NFTs, metaverse real estate, DeFi staking and LPs.

“Why stick to just trading when money managers can help you get the best of yields, make a killing in NFTs or turn up a profit on those S&P500 synths? All that is achievable only if we venture into DeFi, and here we are taking our first step towards our vision to remove boundaries from your investment portfolio,” he shared.

Moreover, the company has always taken community feedback seriously; most of its products are thoroughly vetted and tested by its power users before reaching the community. “Community-driven governance has always been at the forefront of our strategy since the ZIG coin was launched. With the ZignalyDAO, we empower the ZIG token holders with their say in project governance,” he maintained.

Also Read: The Shark Tank of Web3: How this DAO is bridging the funding gap for women founders

He also added that combining new DeFi features with a community-driven roadmap will enable new forms of social value exchanges between people, groups and organisations (large and small). It will empower self-formed hedge funds, decentralised marketplaces, and crypto & Web3 investment consulting.

“Imagine creating your own hedge fund with friends. ZIG DAO allows that. Also, it enables you to participate in a decentralised marketplace curated by expert traders, fund managers, and crypto investors with transparent reputation stats and track records. Plus, people can collaborate freely around a passive investing model where both sides are incentivised to share the profits,” he went on.

“Other than this, if you’re good at crypto investing, now you can offer your expertise to Zignaly’s community members without creating your solution for managing the accounting of what belongs to who or having to market your services,” he said.

Bartolome has set a growth target of US$10 billion in total value locked (TVL) and 100 million+ monthly transactions by Q4 2023. He believes that the ZIG.DAO, utilising the ZIG token, will generate US$3 billion or 30 per cent in returns from the targeted TVL annually. “This projection stems from Zignaly’s plans to expand investment options far beyond just trading. Zignaly will integrate many vehicles such as DEXs, yield farms, NFT market platforms, and lending/borrowing platforms.”

Zignaly vs DEX

On the difference between investing via Zignaly and via a decentralised exchange (DEX), Bordallo said that while the former allows crypto investors to leverage the expertise of pro traders, a DEX has no pro traders for users to look up to.

“There is always someone to look after your financial interests at Zignaly. At the same time, you’re on your own on a DEX. On a DEX, only the fittest survive, and the weak are liquidated. On the other hand, the fittest lead at Zignaly, while those not well-versed with investments follow them,” he elucidated.

In addition, Zignaly provides a one-window solution to a user’s investment needs. “While DEXs cater to the users’ need to swap tokens or add liquidity to pools, Zignaly goes above and beyond,” he said. “Be it portfolio management via the marketplace, staking on Zignaly vault, NFT whitelist raffles, or investing in IDOs on the ZIGPad, we cover it all, with the ZIG token empowering our products.”

Besides, he added, Zignaly is more secure than DEXes. It has multiple layers of security; users do not have to worry about hacked wallets and honey pot schemes on Zignaly.

Zignaly has a global team with over 35 members across 15 different countries. It has users from around the globe, including Turkey, Europe, Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the subcontinent.

“Our mission has always been about more than just broadening access to alternative assets; it’s about a passive income revolution for everyday investors. Rather than agonising over every trade or consulting so-called ‘crypto influencers’ for help reading the tea leaves, Zignaly empowers everyone to profit off the investment moves made by experts with transparent performance histories,” Bordallo concluded.

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There is a revolution in the e-commerce market: Direct-to-Consumer (DTC). Without knowing what DTC means, you might have already been aware of one or more DTC brands. Within the Asia Pacific, Omnidesk in Singapore and Benithem in Malaysia are prime examples.

DTC refers to merchants that sell directly to their customers instead of going through wholesalers, marketplaces or retailers, and it is growing at a pace like never before.

We are looking at DTC e-commerce sales in the US projected to reach US$175 billion by 2023, a 56 per cent growth from 2020. In India, the market is forecasted to multiply three-fold from 2020 to 2025, reaching a projected US$100 billion in sales.

There is a very good reason why DTC is growing so quickly. DTC players sell directly to the end consumer, bypassing third-party retailers, offering a slew of benefits that make it very attractive and lucrative for both ‘well-established’ and upcoming retailers operating in SEA.

This provides larger profit margins, greater control over the brand image, and the ability to tailor payment solutions specifically to the preferences of the unique and local markets they operate in, thereby improving consumers’ shopping experience.

As the e-commerce landscape in Southeast Asia heats up with 75 per cent of the population going online and a digital economy set to double to US$363 billion by 2025, the time is ripe for local merchants to look beyond their borders and expand into the wider region.

Also Read: Can Singapore truly become a cashless society with payment 3.0?

Bearing that merchants are playing in a crowded marketplace, those looking to grow their business must move fast and embrace new ways of operating to stay ahead of the curve, and payments are an integral part of the plan.

Challenges to tackle

DTC merchants fresh to the game face unique challenges, unlike unestablished brands when expanding into new markets. Given economies of scale, the high transactional and FX fees, and complexities in sending and receiving payments in multiple foreign currencies, they may not have the resources to manage multi-currencies.

Delving deeper into the specific regional challenge of transacting within each unique market, risk and regulations is another area where merchants must grapple with unexpected and foreign challenges and compliance.

When expanding into new markets and tailoring specific payment solutions to the preferences of their target audience, they have to consider offering local payment methods to cater for their new market growth and encourage customer conversions.

Lastly, as with any new business starting out, a major challenge would be access to working capital. It not only acts as a float when supporting daily operations but also enables businesses to capture fast-moving opportunities in a highly dynamic space.

This includes advertising to a wider audience, venturing into new markets and scaling the business further, all of which require funds.

Unifying commerce by consolidating payment

Shaping a growth plan for a DTC business involves expanding into all digital and in-person channels that customers frequent.

Underscoring this plan is the inclusion of a holistic payments strategy that not only provides customers with choice at checkout but also enables the business to: enable cross-border selling (i.e., local payment methods, multi-currency accounts, language capabilities); achieve consistent payment experience across channels; consolidating funds across the marketplace and direct sales channels; and above all, ensure seamless integration of the payments solution with their channel or e-commerce platforms.

Powering payments, then growth

It may prove to be overwhelming to a business that is starting, so having the option to partner with an established payments provider can help these businesses tackle the initial challenges, such as making mass payouts at scale to their sellers, freelancers and suppliers all over the world in the currency and payment method of their payee’s choice.

Also Read: Why smart businesses will prioritise smart payments acceptance

Ideally, payment processes such as cross-border mass payouts, receiving funds and making payments to suppliers, multi-currency accounts, FX optimisation, payment acceptance for direct-to-consumer, and accessing working capital can be synced on a secure single platform for a snapshot view of all their monies.

In all, the empowerment of a payments provider is integral in future-proofing the business to connect in the global digital economy and ensure a customisable, integrated and seamless payments experience.

A prime example of a DTC player optimising a partnership to deliver solutions by embracing a streamlined and unifying process to manage payments is Shoplazza.

They recently announced a partnership to integrate checkout solutions into their web stores to start accepting payments directly from customers worldwide, consolidate their funds across its marketplace and direct sales channel, and use their funds to pay for business expenses such as digital advertising.

This collaboration in the financial solutions space has created greater financial inclusion by removing barriers and complexities to entry to cross-border digital payments for merchants and consumers.

Getting payments right is a pivotal step to empowering independent brands in the region to capitalise on evolving consumer habits in a post-pandemic world and drive business agility.

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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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