Una Brands, a multi-channel e-commerce aggregator in Singapore, has closed its US$30 million Series B financing round led by White Star Capital and Alpha JWC Ventures.

The firm will use the capital to double down and fund acquisitions of high-quality e-commerce brands across home & living, mother & baby, and beauty & personal care categories.

Additionally, Una Brands will continue to invest in developing its in-house proprietary technology infrastructure.

Also Read: Ex-CEO of Rocket Internet Asia launches new e-commerce venture Una Brands with a US$40M seed round

Founded in 2021 by e-commerce veterans and a senior management team, Una Brands acquires and grows well-loved and enduring e-commerce brands with a geographical focus across Southeast Asia, Australia/New Zealand, China, and the US.

Since its beginning, Una Brands has acquired and operates over 20 e-commerce brands across six countries. It has also built its technological, operational and growth platform to acquire, operate and scale brands across e-commerce channels, such as Amazon, Shopify, Shopee, Lazada, and Tokopedia.

The company has built its proprietary technology infrastructure and on-the-ground presence in strategic locations to enable this cross-channel platform.

Last year, Una Brands acquired ErgoTune and EverDesk+, two top ergonomic furniture brands in Southeast Asia. It expanded these homegrown brands into Australia and grew revenues by over 40 per cent in less than a year.

The startup claims it has an annualised revenue of over US$50 million and is expected to achieve group profitability by the end of 2022.

CEO Kiren Tanna said: “The e-commerce landscape, particularly in Southeast Asia, with a more than 600 million population, has tremendous secular tailwinds. The funding has further strengthened our balance sheet and cash position as we look to continue to acquire great brands and invest in our technological advantage moving forward.”

“Una Brands has built out a multi-platform capability that no other aggregator has, catering not only to sellers on Amazon but also Shopify and on local platforms such as Lazada, Tokopedia and Shopee,” commented Nick Stocks, General Partner, White Star Capital.

Also Read: Una Brands nets US$15M Series A to acquire new e-commerce brands in Asia

The aggregator has 200+ employees in six offices across Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, India, and China.

Since its inception, Una Brands has raised close to US$100 million. Its other investors are 500 Global, Kingsway Capital, Presight Capital, 468 Capital, and Claret Capital Partners.

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Echelon 2022 aims to provide intimate and focused discussions on key topics and business matching services to facilitate business-driven connections during the two-day event. e27 will curate and invite key stakeholders of startups, investors, corporates, and ecosystem enablers to drive towards fruitful business outcomes at Echelon.

The 2022 Echelon edition will be co-located with SWITCH at Resorts World Sentosa from 27 to 28 October 2022. Learn more here. 

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Just as blockchain technology is disrupting the financial sector, so too is it revolutionising the gaming industry. In Q1 2022 alone, investors have poured more than US$2 billion into blockchain games. 

Meanwhile, esports continues to grow, with global revenue already reaching US$1.38 billion in 2022. In fact, the esports audience is estimated to be 532 million people worldwide.

When gaming meets finance

The growing popularity of blockchain games has given rise to the buzzword GameFi, which is a portmanteau of “game” and “finance”.

Unlike traditional video games, GameFi offers economic incentives to players in the form of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which is why the term play-to-earn was born.

This is in stark contrast to traditional gaming, where players only get virtual items such as in-game gold, armour, weapons, and so on, which have no value outside the game.  

Esports and evolution

Meanwhile, esports helped traditional gaming evolve by turning video games into spectator sports. Game designers must now also keep in mind the audience watching the esports competitions.

For instance, how can they make the gameplay easier to understand and follow? What kind of fresh content can they release to keep interested in the game alive and make it more engaging?

Esports has also introduced gaming to a new audience, who might not have started out as gamers, but who enjoy watching the tournaments and cheering on their favourite teams. 

Blockchain as a game changer

Now, blockchain gaming is, in turn, revolutionising the esports industry. For one, the esports industry is currently fragmented, with different game publishers, game developers, and esports organisations running their own tournaments on different platforms. With blockchain, however, esports can have a decentralised platform that will bring together all stakeholders.

Also Read: A Founder’s journey from sewing machines to blockchain gaming

Moreover, the use of blockchain will also increase trust in esports because of the transparency of the platform, which allows everyone to see what is happening. Not only that but also cryptocurrency will enable secure payment systems and in-app purchases. 

These are just some of the benefits that blockchain technology brings to the table for esports. 

Beyond Web3 bubble

One big challenge, however, is whether GameFi can grow beyond the cryptocurrency space and attract traditional gamers and even non-gamers. 

“Perhaps it’s building out the gaming experience or creating new openings for non-crypto-native players to enter the space, but there’s a range of opportunities and challenges for builders and gamers,” TechCrunch noted in this article. 

After all, the main reason players fall in love with a game is because it is fun. Sure, esports is a competition, and pro gamers are out to win cash prizes and attract sponsorships. But they would not have become interested in the game in the first place if not for the fun factor. Nor would the audience want to watch esports tournaments if the games were boring.

A tale of two game developers

What we will see in this space are two parallel developments: blockchain game developers that will try to make their games more fun and traditional game studios that will try to embrace Web3 and integrate blockchain into their games. 

Both will face challenges, and blockchain gaming startup Playfix was founded precisely to help developers overcome these. Playfix offers a platform for easily building, launching, and growing web3 games and NFTs. By providing all the APIs needed to build a web3 game, from tokens to NFTs to wallets, developers don’t have to worry about the technology. Instead, they can focus on what they do best: making fun games and delighting their players.

So get ready, gamers. With blockchain gaming, esports is about to level up again.

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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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Singapore-registered KinderPass, a behavioural health platform for children, has secured US$500,000 in a pre-seed investment round.

Goodwater Capital, Momentum Capital, Better Capital, SuperMorpheus, and Rebalance Angel Community are the investors.

The startup will use the funds to launch video-based multilingual detection modules, build a proprietary parent education platform, expand its clinician network, and partner with pre-schools and schools to reach more families.

Many children face developmental differences, delays and disabilities. One in five children has dyslexia, ADHD, autism, speech delays, or anxiety. India ranks highest on the list of kids with developmental disabilities and years lived with disabilities.

Studies show that holistic and sustained progress happens when parents are aware and get the right tools at the right time to help kids at home. That is what KinderPass provides.

Launched in early 2020 by Sumedha Khoche and Shireen Sultana, KinderPass aims to transform paediatric behavioural health through online therapy and personalised support for developmental delays, learning difficulties and behavioural issues.

Also Read: How these five startups are changing the game in health and well-being

The mobile app empowers families through a personalised programme that entails (1) interactive 1×1 sessions that teach kids and parents, activities and techniques to use in real-life situations and (2) weekly practice activities, games and worksheets that help them reach goals faster.

KinderPass has a network of 50+ child experts (speech therapists, teachers, occupational therapists, psychologists, behaviour therapists etc.) who have helped families across over 75 cities, from Delhi to Dubai, Bengaluru to Balrampur.

The multilingual app is currently accessible in Hindi and English and claims to have crossed 1.2 million downloads. Six new languages will be added soon.

The app has over 1,500 skill-building modules and 50+ assessments. So far, KinderPass has enabled thousands of assessments and live sessions.

“Developmental screening and early intervention are not the norms, and most developmental delays go undetected or unaddressed during early years and surface as ‘learning difficulties’ or ‘behaviour problems’ at school. We want to change this”, the company said in a joint statement.

In 2021, KinderPass graduated from Rebalance’s early-stage accelerator programme and received support from T-hub, WE-hub, Jio BuildforBharat and Action for India.

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Echelon 2022 aims to provide intimate and focused discussions on key topics and business matching services to facilitate business-driven connections during the two-day event. e27 will curate and invite key stakeholders of startups, investors, corporates, and ecosystem enablers to drive towards fruitful business outcomes at Echelon.

The 2022 Echelon edition will be co-located with SWITCH at Resorts World Sentosa from 27 to 28 October 2022. Learn more here. 

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FTV Labs, a Singapore-based field service management startup, has secured US$1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Origgin Capital and Mitsubishi Electrics ME Innovation Fund.

GHV Accelerator and Plug and Play Indonesia also participated.

This fresh capital injection will enable the company to accelerate its product roadmap and fuel growth in key verticals, such as construction, manufacturing, marine offshore and renewable energy across the Southeast Asian region.

Founded by CEO Kelvin Ong, FTV Labs owns and operates the field service management solution KEGMIL. It helps accelerate the modernisation of legacy industries with labour-intensive field services, primarily in Southeast Asia.

Also Read: Meet the 6 companies you can connect with at Echelon 2022

Digital transformation remains a key challenge for companies that operate in labour-intensive sectors, such as construction, logistics and manufacturing. Workers on the ground still manage records manually, with paper accounting for many of these work records.

The KEGMIL software solves these issues by digitising and automating inefficient spreadsheet and paper-based workflows, enabling field service companies to enact timely data-driven insights.

Origgin Capital is the VC arm of Origgin Ventures, a deep-tech venture creator. Origgin focuses on investing and commercialising defensible patents from universities and research institutes. The venture co-creation approach provides the initial capital and hands-on support to create deep-tech startups, guide them to initial success and create value for our stakeholders.

Since 2017, Origgin has spun off more than 30 deeptech startups from partner universities, such as NUS, NTU, Harvard and ETHzurich.

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The rising popularity of the Web3 space means investors are flocking to invest in companies in the space, but Vickers Venture Partners does not follow through.

In a written interview with e27, when asked about why the firm is not enthusiastic about the Web3 space, Chairman and Founder Dr Finian Tan replies, “The simple answer is that it doesn’t meet our criteria.”

The criteria that Dr Tan speaks about centered around its ESG & Sustainability efforts focus.

“When we started our ESG journey in 2008, it was primarily a negative screening process where we did not invest in ‘bad’ companies. Our OB markers included the so-called ‘sin stocks’ such as gambling and companies with poor HR policies (e.g. the use of child labour),” he writes.

“Today, our starting premise is that our capital should not just avoid ‘bad’ companies but also push humanity forward somewhat. Hence our ESG & Sustainability efforts focus on the theme of Funding a Better World. This is reflected in the portfolio companies we invest in, and is in line with the efforts we have taken since 2019 to incorporate the assessment of impact (aligned with the UNSDGs) in addition to the assessment of sustainability risks and other material ESG factors.”

In conclusion, the firm believes that deep tech companies are the ones that are “most likely” to help solve some of the most pressing global issues today. As a result of this thought process, Vickers Venture Partners says that at least 80 per cent of its fund has been allocated to relevant innovation in the tech industry.

Also Read: Deep tech startups gain multi-pronged support from Leave a Nest

To better understand its focus on the deep tech space, in this interview, Dr Tan reveals the characteristics that the firm is looking for in a potential investment and the kind of support that Vickers Venture Partners can provide to the company while busting some myths on deep tech investment at the same time.

Deeper into the deep tech scene in Southeast Asia

As a firm, Vickers Venture Partners does not specifically focus on Southeast Asia, but they have begun to see more deep tech startup activity growing in the region. Some of the deep tech companies that it has invested in are based in Singapore.

“When looking at opportunities, we generally look at emerging technologies based on scientific discoveries or engineering innovations in expanding fields such as biotech/healthcare, AI, and nanotechnology. And these technologies are seeking to tackle some of the world’s fundamental challenges. We typically come in and invest in these companies when they have already developed a proof of concept and need funds to scale,” Dr Tan says.

Despite the community of deep tech startups in SEA countries such as Singapore, the deep tech sector is not exactly a fan favourite in the region.

“Deep tech companies are usually built around a novel technology that offers breakthrough advances over existing solutions in the market. Taking these technologies from ‘lab to market’ requires substantial capital carrying high risk,” Dr Tan explains.

However, he also stresses that this is the case with venture investment in any vertical.

“We would like to think that deep tech investments reduce the number of risks because it involves a solution to a known and ready problem, whereas a general venture capital investment might involve a solution that doesn’t yet have a problem,” Dr Tan points out.

Also Read: Japan is looking for deep tech startups to collaborate with

“For example, we didn’t know we needed a TikTok until there was one. Furthermore, there is often a winner-takes-all in the consumer space. In the deep tech space, market risk is reduced to a minimum and focussed risk to the technology where it is possible to mitigate it with good technical understanding and foresight,” he continues.

Innovation that excites us

When looking at a potential investment, Vickers Venture Partners considers several criteria that include:

– The technology: A breakthrough product that does not currently exist in the marketplace
– Market risk: The product has to service a large market with known and ready demand
– Intellectual Property (IP): The product’s IP can be protected

In its portfolio, Dr Tan names several innovations that the firm finds to be “really exciting” that includes medtech innovations such as the next-generation x-ray systems developed by Lumitron Technologies that are capable of ultrahigh­-fidelity imaging (1000x more resolution) and ultra­-low dose radiography (100x less dose).

“They’ve achieved this by developing a new laser technology that shrinks the capabilities of a football field-sized synchrotron, onto a tabletop device. This could be a paradigm shift for medical imaging and cancer therapy but also has other applications in non-destructive evaluation and mining,” Dr Tan says.

The firm has also invested in RWDC Industries (which has developed a product to replace petroleum-derived plastic materials) and Eavor Technologies (which has developed a geothermal energy solution that has the advantage of no fracking, no GHG emissions, no earthquake risk, no water use, no produced brine or solids, and no aquifer contamination).

“Others like Emergex Vaccines are on the cusp of developing synthetic universal vaccines that reinvent the way vaccines are currently developed and administered and AWAK Technologies has a portable dialysis machine which will improve the quality of life for chronic kidney disease patients everywhere,” Dr Tan says.

Also Read: How to build deep tech startups across borders

What is next

During this pandemic, Dr Tan says the firm has been busy raising its US$500 million plus capital for its latest funds, the SPACs, and co-investments into their portfolio companies.

For 2023, Vickers Venture Partner aims to focus on taking its portfolio companies across their respective milestones and proving out the original thesis of the investments.

“The world will go through a very rough period ahead, so we are bracing ourselves to assist our companies through these challenging times. But we are optimistic that as long as our tech proves out as expected, we will be able to make the impact we set out to make. 2023 is going to be a very interesting year for Vickers,” he closes.

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Image Credit: Vickers Venture Partners

The post Why Vickers Venture Partners go with deep tech investments to solve world’s biggest problems appeared first on e27.

Echelon 2022 happens in a month and the team at e27 is looking forward to meeting you at Resorts World Singapore for two days of business-building meet-ups, discussions, and activities.

From panel discussions and fireside chats at the main stage, to roundtable discussions, open networking, and 1-to-1 business matchings, Echelon 2022 is designed to help companies achieve favourable business outcomes by connecting attendees with decision makers of various companies across various industries.

This is made possible with the support of our amazing sponsors who would help us make your Echelon 2022 experience valuable and productive.

And they are looking forward to meeting you there! Here are six companies you can connect with at Echelon this year:

Aiven

Aiven provides managed open source data technologies on all major clouds. Through Aiven, developers can do what they do best: create applications. Meanwhile, we do what we do best: manage cloud data infrastructure. Aiven is e27‘s preferred cloud database partner.

Meet Aiven at Echelon! Sign up to schedule here.

Sendbird

Sendbird believes conversations are at the heart of building relationships and getting things done. As such, we built the world’s most proven conversations platform for mobile apps across chat, voice, and video. Industry leaders like Reddit, DoorDash, and Hinge use Sendbird to drive increased transactions & loyalty for hundreds of millions of users every month.

Meet Sendbird at Echelon! Sign up to schedule here.

Also read: 2022 invite-only edition: Echelon is focussing on business matching and sustainable growth

CleverTap

CleverTap is the modern, integrated retention cloud that empowers digital consumer brands to increase customer retention and lifetime value. CleverTap drives contextual individualization with the help of a unified and deep data layer, AI/ML-powered insights, and automation enabling brands to offer hyper-personalized and delightful experiences to their 1200+ customers in 60+ countries and 10,000+ apps.

Backed by leading venture capital firms, including Sequoia, Tiger Global Management, and Accel, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in Mumbai, Singapore, Sofia, São Paulo, Bogota, Amsterdam, Jakarta, and Dubai.

Meet CleverTap at Echelon! Sign up to schedule here.

AppsFlyer

AppsFlyer helps marketers make good choices for their business through innovative, privacy-preserving measurement, analytics, and engagement technologies. They empower 12K+ brands and 10K+ tech partners to have meaningful customer relationships.

Meet AppsFlyer at Echelon! Sign up to schedule here.

Also read: Apps UP 2022: A platform for today’s leading mobile apps to shine!

Equinix

Equinix is the world’s digital infrastructure company. Digital leaders harness our trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure that powers their success. We enable our customers to access all the right places, partners and possibilities they need to accelerate advantage. With Equinix, they can scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value.

SAP

SAP is one of the world’s leading producers of software for the management of business processes, developing solutions that facilitate effective data processing and information flow across organisations.

At SAP, our purpose is to help the world run better and improve people’s lives. Our promise is to innovate to help our customers run at their best. SAP is committed to helping every customer become a best-run business. We engineer solutions to fuel innovation, foster equality, and spread opportunity across borders and cultures. Together, with our customers and partners, we can transform industries, grow economies, lift up societies, and sustain our environment. #TheBestRun

Meet SAP at Echelon! Sign up to schedule here.

Also read: Get Privy for secure digital ID solutions

Echelon 2022 aims to provide intimate and focused discussions on key topics and business matching services to facilitate business-driven connections during the two-day event. e27 will curate and invite key stakeholders of startups, investors, corporates, and ecosystem enablers to drive towards fruitful business outcomes at Echelon.

The 2022 Echelon edition will be co-located with SWITCH at Resorts World Sentosa from 27 to 28 October 2022. Learn more here. 

The post Meet the 6 companies you can connect with at Echelon 2022 appeared first on e27.

Aiello, a natural language processing (NLP) and voice AI startup based in Taipei, has received US$5.8 million in a pre-Series A+ funding round led JAFCO Asia and Wistron Corporation.

Existing investor Cornerstone Ventures also participated in the round.

“The new funds will be used to accelerate business in international markets, especially in Japan and Thailand, where we see good traction. We also plan to boost R&D and launch a new product, a ‘conversation intelligence platform’ aiming to improve corporate sales and meeting efficiency. This platform, which focuses on AI-driven voice and audio analysis and collaboration, is expected to be launched by the end of this year,” said Vic Shen, Founder and CEO of Aiello.

Founded in January 2019 with a founding team from Google, Qualcomm, and HTC, the startup offers Aiello Voice Assistant (AVA), a natural language understanding (NLU)-based solution dedicated to hospitality.

AVA drives additional hotel revenue, increases direct bookings, and encourages guest loyalty. It analyses the needs and usage behaviours of guests during their stay and extracts data which can be used to improve hotel management.

“Our data shows that AVA has reduced front desk workloads in hotels where it is deployed by approximately 30 per cent. For a hotel with 200 rooms, that represents more than 300 hours of labour time in six months”, added Shen. “According to our findings, our AI voice assistant also helps hotels increase their social media exposure by up to 10x, largely thanks to guests sharing their experiences.”

Also Read: How voice AI is revolutionising the fintech scene

The firm claims its AI solutions process more than 900,000 speeches and text interactions per month in Chinese, English, Thai, and Japanese.

Over the past six months, Aiello has won multiple international hotel contracts in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Several leading hotel brands recently signed corporate-level service contracts with the company.

This year, the number of AVA-equipped guest rooms is expected to increase an impressive 2.5x compared to 2021.

John Lin, MD of JAFCO Asia Taiwan, remarked: “Aiello is one of the few AI companies in Asia with a scalable business model. In the post-pandemic era, enterprises’ labour shortages and digital transformation are visible trends. We expect that the demand for AI and intelligent voice in enterprises will be higher and higher, and Aiello is bound to play an important role. ”

Aiello has raised over US$10 million in funding since its inception four years ago. It closed its pre-Series A round in 2021, co-lead by Chunghwa PCHome Fund I, Zylux Acoustic Corporation, and ColoplNext.

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Unlike the West, where digitalisation was relatively smooth, Asia stepped into the digital era immediately, putting all of its efforts into mobile technologies. Today, Asia is emerging as a global fintech leader. Here are some reasons behind this.

High-speed action

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Asian fintech (primarily in South and Southeast Asia) is the rapid pace of its development. This is due to a combination of reasons that complement and reinforce each other. Among the main ones are:

Population

South and Southeast Asia account for a third of the global population. It is young (median of 27.6 years for South Asia, 30.2 years for Southeast Asia), technologically savvy, and eager to expand the horizons of prosperity and consumption.

Low level of financial inclusion

In the Philippines, for example, in 2017, only 32 per cent of the adult population had an account with financial institutions (46 per cent in 2021). For comparison, North America has these figures at 94 per cent and 95 per cent.

Proximity to a COVID-19 epicentre

It was Asia that enforced the strictest pandemic restrictions, which gave the biggest boost to digital financial solutions.

State support for fintech

For many Asian countries, fintech is the only way to fulfil ambitious government objectives. These may include geographical, financial equality (as in the fragmented island Philippines), mass introduction of accounts for the low-income population (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna, India), etc. National initiatives like NFSI, created in this context, are undoubtedly one of the most powerful stimulators of industry development.

Lenient regulation

Asian state support goes hand-in-hand with lenient regulation, which is attractive both to local and foreign players (most investments in Southeast Asian fintech are foreign). Singapore, a macro-regional fintech hub, also has a positive effect, as its legislative initiatives entail changes in other countries as well (as in the case of licensing neobanks).

Also Read: How payment networks are crucial to the rising fintech movement

So what is the current state of things? Thanks to these and other drivers, today it is Asia that is emerging as a global fintech leader in terms of such fundamental indicators as fintech adoption or the volume of core investments, to name some.

Regarding the first, India and China are the world leaders with an indicator of 87 per cent, according to EY. As far as investments in fintech go, the APAC region is on its way to overtaking Europe and America, coming from the KPMG Q1 report.

While the Australian Afterpay does account for most of this momentum, the significant role of SA and SEA in this upper hand is also indisputable, given the successful rounds of Xendit (Indonesia, US$300M), Stashfin, Oxyzo and Slice (India, US$270M, US$237M and US$220M), Voyager Innovations (the Philippines, US$210M), etc.

All in one

The faster fintech develops in Asia, the brighter and richer the local digital landscape becomes. That leads to the further spread of digital financial services. Fintech solutions are being integrated into more and more areas of life, becoming more complex and capacious.

An important point to keep in mind is that, unlike the West, where digitalisation was smooth through the gradual development of a personal computer, the Internet, etc., Asia stepped into the digital era immediately, concentrating all its attention on mobile technologies.

As a result, there came an absolute climax of fintech development, also a strictly Asian phenomenon, the superapp boom. Grab (Singapore), GoJek (Indonesia), Paytm (India), Zalo (Vietnam) and many other digital platforms are definitely on the rise.

From taxi hailing to getting a visa, from paying a utility bill to dating, from online shopping to calling a plumber: the Asian population is increasingly bringing every day realities together into a single interface on their smartphones.

Of course, financial universalisation is also present in the West. However, there is another key feature that differs fintech in Asia. The existence of developed ecosystems that synergise with offline realities in Asian countries, the so-called phygital environment.

For example, they enable purchases not only through an app-integrated mobile wallet but also through a QR code attached to the product or order a pizza with fast delivery due to the vast specially designated car park. The degree of interpenetration of physical and virtual components in such environments in Asia is undeniably higher.

The list of differences in fintech may go on. Working in both Europe and Asia, for example, we know that women in the Philippines are more financially active (their share of applications for BNPL loans this year reaches 72 per cent), while Spanish clients still prefer to apply for loans via PC (only 27 per cent of applications are mobile). However, no matter how large the list of differences is, it is the level of speed of development and universalisation of the industry that remains fundamental.

Also Read: The future of fintech: The latest trends in the industry

Today we are seeing a rapid increase in the popularity of not only superapps, but also neobanking in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It relies on the same massive demand of the population for convenient and comprehensive mobile financial solutions. Alternative financial services, including those under the auspices of the Robocash Group, are also developing in this direction.

In conclusion

The current state of fintech in Asia will inevitably change. There will be new powerful drivers that will change the face of the industry.

For example, our analysts predict a restructuring of the age spread among online users in South Africa and Southeast Asia, with greater involvement of the older folk. This promises to give the development of Asian fintech a new impetus and facets of development.

There are efforts to form a single legal environment for fintech in the European Union, which may shift the global centres of development of financial technologies. The African fintech revolution is asserting itself louder and louder. The list of examples doesn’t stop here. So, the face of global fintech will go through drastic changes, and quite soon.

 –

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

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The crypto market is maturing and becoming more efficient, and one of the outcomes is that the market has become more sensitive to changes in the macroeconomic environment. This simply means it is no longer a game within a small group of crypto-natives.

Just over a year ago, the crypto market was thriving. As it became more mainstream, Microsoft, Starbucks and Wikipedia were among one of the few big firms which started to accept crypto as a form of payment method. At the same time, payment giants Mastercard, Visa and PayPal entered the scene, paving the way for greater retail crypto adoption.

In addition, institutional adoption of crypto also surged. As of date, institutional investors like MicroStrategy, Galaxy Digital Holdings, and Tesla continue to purchase Bitcoin as an asset to their balance sheets.

Furthermore, several traditional finance institutions also started to offer crypto custody services in an attempt to unlock institutional investors’ interests. Prominent players such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and DBS Bank all jumped on the bandwagon to stake their claim on their share of the crypto pie.

Many used to believe crypto, in particular Bitcoin, was an inflation hedge due to it having a fixed supply. However, the release of September’s CPI YoY and MoM reports came in at 8.3 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively, beating the forecasted value by 0.2 per cent. This weakened the argument often made by crypto enthusiasts. Bitcoin plummeted close to 6 per cent in under 30 minutes upon the news release.

Also Read: Crypto adoption steadies in South Asia, soars in the Southeast

To understand how macro factors influence the crypto market, we need to understand its underlying mechanism, such as the various macro metrics like inflation, interest rates, etc.

How do global events affect Bitcoin?

Like fiat money, Bitcoin is affected by the economies it is used in. Due to the decentralised nature of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, a correlation can be seen between its price and that of tech stocks (e.g., Meta and Apple). It is possible that investors appear to be treating crypto like tech stocks, and these digital assets can react to market influences just like equities do.

Periods of wealth accumulation and economic growth may embolden individuals to allocate to emerging asset classes like Bitcoin to generate higher-than-average stock market returns. The demand is also dependent on the appeal of alternative investments and can increase in countries where their local fiat currency (e.g.Yen Euro) is rapidly devaluing.

Presently, Bitcoin has dipped below USD$20,000 after hitting an all-time high of USD$69,000 in November 2021. Coinbase, Crypto.com and Gemini announced large-scale lay-offs amidst a sour economic outlook.

The rapid decline in the crypto market has mirrored the selloff in traditional markets triggered by rising inflation and a sharp tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. This has proven that Bitcoin and the crypto market do indeed move in tandem with traditional assets and are not a hedge against inflation as some had previously anticipated or, perhaps, hoped.

Inflation

Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time.

Many advocates of Bitcoin argue that it is a counter-inflationary asset, which means that it will not respond to inflationary pressures like a fiat currency would. This was true to a certain extent as countries like Turkey and Nigeria saw disproportionate Bitcoin adoption in early 2021 due to high inflation and lack of faith in the Lira and the Naira, respectively.

By holding Bitcoin, locals increased their purchasing power as the price of Bitcoin climbs while their fiat currency depreciates. In contrast, the opposite can be said as well. Inflation has reached 40-year highs, and to date, Bitcoin has depreciated more than two-thirds of its all-time high value.

While inflation does not affect Bitcoin directly per se, it typically leads to higher interest rates which have a trickle-down effect, ultimately causing a slump in risk-on asset prices.

There are many methods used to control inflation, and while none are definite bets, some have been more effective and inflicted less collateral damage compared to others. Today, contractionary monetary policy is a more popular method of controlling inflation, which is to reduce the money supply within an economy by raising interest rates. In doing so, credit becomes more expensive, hence reducing consumer and business spending, which results in a downturn in economic activity.

Interest rates

The Federal Reserve generally responds to inflation by increasing its benchmark interest rate. This customarily reduces the demand for speculative investment assets as debt-based securities become more valuable. This typically slows down investor activity overall by making liquidity more expensive.

It is much easier to invest in alternative assets like crypto in an epoch of cheap money and high liquidity. One of the prevailing theories on how crypto grew exponentially is that investors had idle funds and few better alternatives. These trends will likely change as the Fed raises its federal funds’ rate. This will inevitably affect the price of Bitcoin, along with most other assets.

The Federal Reserve tends to keep interest rates within the sweet spot of two to five per cent, which helps to maintain a healthy economy. However, there have been times when interest rates are well above that range to curb runaway inflation.

Also Read: Does investing in Bitcoin still make sense?

This means that the cost of borrowing is much more expensive, and there will be lesser borrowers in the market eventually. In turn, this detrudes investors’ risk appetite, inducing them to invest in safer traditional assets such as cash, high-yield savings accounts and treasury bonds.

Risk-on vs risk-off conditions

When interest rates were kept near zero from 2008 to 2016 due to the Global Financial Crisis and from 2020 to the start of 2022 due to COVID-19, investors were more willing to take on more investments in search of a higher reward.

Bitcoin has experienced a lot of volatility and price appreciation since its inception in 2009. It was trading at just US$0.09 on the 1st of January 2010. At present, that’s almost a 223,000x increase. Due to Bitcoin’s volatility, the cryptocurrency market in general is aligned with risk-on market conditions.

A risk-on environment captures positive investment sentiment where investors use their capital to purchase Bitcoin and other high-yielding instruments. Bitcoin, being the new and emerging asset class, has captured investors’ interests during the bull run. As a result, we saw enormous gains in Bitcoin in 2021.

Conversely, during risk-off conditions, investors attempt to minimise risk by investing in assets with more predictable returns. Risk-off environments can be caused by widespread corporate earnings downgrades, slowing economic growth and many other factors.

Risk-off assets like currencies and bonds have been gaining popularity of late as we see a huge de-risking event unfold. US treasury yields have been surging amidst the tumultuous market environment. During such conditions, investors seek safe haven assets as they want to avoid risk and are averse to it.

Is Bitcoin a better investment?

Due to its scarcity, similarly to gold, Bitcoin has great characteristics to act as a store of value and can eventually become a risk-off asset like gold when it is more established, and its supply dwindles exponentially due to future halving events.

It is important to bear in mind that the crypto market can be affected by a myriad of factors simultaneously. Given its present correlation with the equities market and how the price has reacted to interest rate hikes, it is crucial to pay attention to the macro environment and how the Fed is handling interest rates to make the best-informed decisions.

As an emerging asset class, Bitcoin has still outperformed many other traditional assets to date. For those with a long-term view, it could also be a good time to slowly accumulate Bitcoin in an environment where fear is abundant in the market. After all, accumulating Bitcoin at the current market price is better than buying when Bitcoin was at US$68k tops, yeah?

If you are new to digital assets, it is important to work with a fund manager with crypto experience if you need help determining when to invest. Regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Fintonia Group is a Singapore-based fund manager offering two institutional-grade Bitcoin funds, Fintonia Bitcoin Physical Fund and Fintonia Secured Yield Fund. These funds were designed with the intent to help professional investors manage the security, legal, and financial risks within the fast-growing crypto ecosystem.

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About five years ago, Bolong Chew and Gérald Chablowski, who champion social causes, realised that climate change affects those at the bottom of the pyramid the most. This underprivileged section often lacks the mobility and resources to improve their living conditions (for example, access to air conditioners), and they continue to bear the brunt of the climate crisis.

“Other than this, many people still haven’t grasped the gravity as their daily lifestyles remain relatively unaffected by climate change,” says Chew. “Hence, we felt the need to act towards climate change.”

As the duo started discussing and exploring the idea, they got in touch with ENGIE Factory. The meeting proved to be a game changer in the duo’s lives.

“As we know, the greentech industry is understandably quite opaque and hard to understand from an outsider’s perspective,” Chew says. “We wanted to change this perception through our climate-tech venture.”

Solar AI Technologies, which Chew (CEO) and Chablowski (CTO) started in 2020 in Singapore, is a solar-as-a-service startup. It seeks to make rooftop solar accessible and hassle-free for smaller, underserved property owners by providing them with zero upfront cost.

Also Read: A stroll through Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai

“Rooftop solar as a tool is already mature enough to create a positive change. However, the operational ability to drive adoption was missing, hence the decision to launch Solar AI,” explains Chew.

Solar AI was started as a data analytics company with computer vision models to automatically assess the potential and feasibility of one’s rooftop based on geospatial imagery.

Traditionally, the assessment takes up to 30 to 40 per cent of the cost of a project; it can sometimes exceed the costs of the panel installations. By incorporating artificial intelligence into the process, Solar AI can deliver much quicker and at lower costs, Chew claims.

“Over time, while we have built up these models, we felt the biggest lever for change/solar deployment is lack of trust and awareness,” says Chew. “This is why we embarked on ‘zero upfront costs’ offers to provide the customer with instant rooftop solar savings.”

The customer journey

A potential customer can use its solar simulator on Solar AI’s website for an initial assessment of one’s solar potential and electricity bill savings. An arranged remote site survey follows this to assess the feasibility of installing the panels on the rooftop.

The company will then send proposals and offers to determine the property’s suitability. Customers can then choose either its five-to-year plans for rent-to-own or direct purchase.

The firm charges customers a fixed monthly fee (usually lower than their electricity bill savings) in the rent-to-own model — a prominent model executed by sunrun in the US and Enpal in Germany.

When a customer is enrolled in the rent-to-own programme, he/she will get free daily monitoring and maintenance. It will then convert the ownership after the contract period.

If a customer decides to shift to a new location, the startup will assist him/her in transferring the service to the new homeowner.

“How much money one can save depends on the household’s energy consumption amount and patterns, the current electricity retailer and utility rate, and the number of solar panels their roof can accommodate,” Chew clarifies. A typical SP Group customer consuming 1,500kWh of electricity a month can expect to save more than S$300 each month with a 12kWp system of 30 solar panels.

Also Read: SolarHome extends its Series A with US$2M to grow the customer base of its pay-as-you-go solar solution

“We have done more than 50 projects relying on this mechanism, and we believe it is what works best for us currently,” he says.

Solar AI only utilises Tier 1 panels from popular brands and picks panels, which carry a 30-year linear performance warranty.

For the next 12 months, Solar AI will focus on Singapore. In 2024, it aims to expand to the Philippines and Malaysia.

“We have already started laying the foundation for market expansion. We have 7,000 and 8,000 monthly readers from these markets, respectively. The goal is to convert more than 5,000 properties across Southeast Asia to solar by 2025 and decrease up to 84,394 tonnes of carbon per year,” he goes on.

Funding is a challenge

Solar AI started the project with pre-seed funding of S$450,000 from ENGIE Group in 2020. However, for a highly capital-intensive business like this, this is not adequate to run the project.

Loans from large institutions and banks are the only options. However, they fund mainly large projects. “We serve smaller projects at higher volumes. So, we rely on project financing. We have S$4.5 million earmarked for our portfolios,” Chew adds.

In terms of competition, Singapore has players such as SolarHome, a pay-as-you-go solar solutions startup with operations in Indonesia and Cambodia. However, SolarHome’s primarily focuses on energy access in developing markets and primarily on off-grid systems.

“We are looking at a different customer segment; specifically customers with grid-connected systems, which we believe are a much bigger segment in the market,” shares Chew.

There are also some commercial zero upfront cost solar offers in Singapore. “These are typically limited to large projects, excluding as much as 85 per cent of viable solar properties. As a tech-focused startup, we bring down costs and are thus able to offer this programme to this vastly underserved market segment,” Chew concludes.

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