Interpol issues Red Notice for Terra co-founder Do Kwon
The development follows the collapse of the Terra blockchain, leading to losses amounting to millions; This prompted an arrest warrant issued by a Korean court for six individuals, including Kwon, for violating its capital market laws.

SG’s Golden Equator partners with Snoop Dogg’s son for Web3 fund
Golden Equator is raising up to US$50M for a Web3 fund in partnership with Dogg’s son Cordell Broadus; The Welcome To The Block Fund will target early-stage businesses, specifically, startups focused on CeFi, DeFi, and Web3 infrastructure.

DBS launches crypto trading for accredited investors
With a minimum investment of US$500, users can now trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Bitcoin Cash on DDEx; This feature is linked with DBS digibank, allowing funds of clients to be directly debited for DDEx transactions.

Binance seeks Japanese operating license
The crypto exchange, which withdrew from Japan due to a lack of a permit four years ago, now seeks a license to operate in the country in light of the pro-Web3 agenda of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

What ST Chua is looking forward to during his stint in Ikano Insight
ST Chua gives us a look into what excites him the most about his new role, where he will be leading Ikano Insight’s growth in Southeast Asia.

Foodtech firm Line Man Wongnai joins Thailand’s unicorn club
The Thai food delivery company raised US$265M Series B led by Line Corporation and Singapore’s GIC; The investment will be used to expand its service categories, recruit tech talent, and improve its tech infrastructure.

Temasek leads Chinese cloud startup Well-Link’s US$40M round
Well-Link, which counts Xiaomi and gaming company MiHoYo among its previous investors, sees this round as a doorway to expanding overseas; Well-Link looks into how its cloud rendering tech can be used in virtual reality projects.

Malaysian industrial drone firm Aerodyne raises US$30M
Investors are Petronas and KWAP; Aerodyne will use the capital to expand into Europe, Africa, LatAm, and South Asia and bring its solutions to Indonesia and India.

Philippine HR and payroll firm Sprout Solutions acquires Linnia
Linnia is a process automation platform that helps Sprout users automate repetitive HR tasks and procurement efforts; The acquisition will allow Linnia to shift its focus to building a marketplace for AI-focused APIs.

Cloud kitchen startup CloudEats raises US$7M led by Nordstar
The startup will use the new funds for regional expansion and the development of its brands; On the back of its successful Vietnam launch, the company is looking to open a third market in H1 2023.

Malaysian fintech firm Revenue Monster raises US$6.5M in PE funding
The lead investor is The SEA Capital; The Revenue Monster’s has raised US$6.5M in total funding; Its products include online store front solution À La Carte, payment terminals, and an e-commerce payment gateway.

Malaysia fintech firm Instapay banks US$4.75M
The investors are ACA Investments and Spiral Ventures; Instapay provides payment solutions in the form of an e-wallet and linked prepaid Mastercard; It also has a payroll solution that enables companies to pay employees their salaries via the Instapay e-wallet digitally.

Wavemaker General Partner Gavin Lee said to be quitting
Lee, with 8 years at the VC firm, is the longest serving member; He is currently on a sabbatical leave is re-assessing his next career move; The VC firm is also understood to have selected one or two partners.

Venturra Managing Partner Rudy Ramawy passes away
Before founding Venturra, Ramawy was the founding Country Director of Google Indonesia; He founded Venturra in 2015, along with Lippo Group Director John Riady and former Rocket Internet Managing Partner Stefan Jung.

‘Events like Echelon are important during tough times because there’s strength in unity’
When people get together, we can encourage each other to keep going and provide support, says Genesis Alternative Asia Partner Martin Tang.

A Founder’s journey from sewing machines to blockchain gaming
Blockchain gaming is here to stay; with the help of Playfix, more game developers can prepare for the future.

How to make AI accessible for businesses
With the multitude of considerations involved with AI adoption, what was deemed a task just for experts is now an essential concept for all.

—

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. e27will 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 Ecosystem Roundup: Line Man Wongnai turns unicorn, Aerodyne nets US$30M, Interpol notice for Terra co-founder appeared first on e27.

The innovation scene in Asia continues to excite, with innovators changing the way we shop, bank, consume healthcare and more.

However, one area that seems to have received less attention is the second-hand trade industry under the circular economy development model. Specifically, the recycling and reuse of phones, computers, and tablets that work but are no longer used and can be brought back into service (rather than being thrown away and wasted).

The buying and selling of pre-owned products are not new. Innovators have changed how we search for and purchase pre-owned property and cars, for instance, and of course, there is a high market penetration rate for both. However, the pre-owned electronics industry has a relatively low penetration rate even though people replace their mobile phones and laptops more frequently.

Opportunities for innovators and investors

As a Chinese company, we have seen first-hand how the market in pre-owned consumer electronics has grown and developed over the past ten years, moving from a small, scattered and disorderly sector in the early years to one that has undergone a process of specialisation, standardisation and development on a large scale.

The scale of China’s pre-owned consumer electronics transaction and service market was 79 billion yuan in 2016 but climbed to 309.5 billion yuan in 2021, and the compound annual growth rate reached 31.4 per cent between 2016 and 2021. It is expected to grow to 987.5 billion yuan by 2026, at a compound annual growth rate of 26.1 per cent from 2021 to 2026.

Also Read: How barePack and &Repeat aim to reduce waste by introducing the circular approach to food packaging

In Southeast Asia and other parts of the world, this industry is much less developed and immature and therefore ripe for innovation. There is growing pressure among policymakers and the general public to increase recycling rates and a drive among the recycling industry to do this in an environmentally and economically sustainable way.

Automation has allowed the sector to flourish

Like any industry in its early stages, there are a series of pain points that need to be addressed. A major issue in the pre-owned electronics industry is a lack of standardisation regarding the quality inspection.

In China, we had hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses, all operating independently of each other, offering second-hand electronics of varying degrees of quality, some good and some not-so-good. This created confusion among consumers and lowered trust.

Furthermore, another reason for lack of trust is privacy concerns. Data security is hugely important in China, and it is required to obey regulations which specify how operators clean up personal information left on unused electronics and protect customers’ privacy and not disclose users’ information to any third party. Technology is also needed to ensure data can be permanently erased, providing assurance and confidence to consumers.

To better protect users’ data security, we use a self-developed data removal system named AiQingChu to clear all information in used mobile phones before other quality inspection processes. AiQingChu is a targeted and exclusive privacy protection algorithm which has ADISA Certification. At present, the system has cleared the privacy of more than 10 million devices.

Next, come the quality inspection processes before the pre-owned product is sorted and stored. In China, we have developed an automatic system named ‘Matrix 2.0’ that can quickly and accurately conduct a quality inspection for targeted products at a low cost.

Aiming at the non-standardised characteristics of pro-owned electronic products, we have independently developed ‘Camera Box 3.0’, an intelligent appearance testing device incorporated with an AI algorithm; ‘007 Automatic Intelligent Detection Platform’, which can automatically check whether the function of a used phone’s receiver, screen and camera are normal; and the ‘Tianyan X-ray’, designed for identifying whether a phone undergoes disassembly and repair or replacement of its parts without disassembly.

This automatic system allows us to process millions of pre-owned electronics (31.2 million devices in 2021), quickly and efficiently transporting, sorting and inspecting electronic devices. They are then priced by a proprietary algorithm based on their service time, physical condition, depreciation, market conditions and other factors.

To date, the market of pre-owned electronics in Southeast Asia, Europe and the USA is underestimated. Many factors lead to this condition, including cost (as I mentioned earlier), as well as the difficulty of consumers in buying workable, pre-used phones and computers. There are few regulations and limited trust. These all present opportunities for regional companies to come into the market and make changes, using China as an example.

More than just business

While the business practice makes sense when it comes to the recycling of idle electronics, the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) case is even more convincing, both from an environmental point of view and a social one. This will help build a business case as investors increasingly look at ESG and other elements when making their investment decisions.

Also Read: Why GoImpact believes that education is the key to promoting ESG investment

It is important to note that ESG is rising in importance among investors. The past few years have seen record amounts of ESG investment worldwide, with US$649 billion invested in ESG-focused funds in 2021 and US$53 trillion expected by 2025. Investors are seeking innovative companies that both change industries for the better and have a positive effect on environmental, social and governance issues.

For companies in the Circular Economy, ESG and business go hand-in-hand. For instance, in July 2021, torrential rain hit the Chinese province of Henan, leading to major floods. Roads were flooded, transport services disrupted, towns were evacuated, and schools and hospitals were cut off.

The flood affected normal life for millions of people, including students from several cities. 16,800 students missed out on normal school with the fall semester disrupted by the unexpected rain. In addition to the destruction caused to the educational infrastructure, a huge amount of teaching aids and equipment were also impaired.

To help these affected schools get back on track for the fall semester, together with China Foundation for Rural Development and Pad for Hope, a charity organisation, ATRenew initiated the “AHS Charity and Love-Digital Education Aid Programme for Henan Beautiful Schools” and donated electronic teaching equipment, including 106 smart blackboards, 450 iPads, as well as office computers, printers, routers and other devices in demand, to the affected primary and secondary schools, and helped teachers’ informatization capacity construction.

In China, we have seen the pre-owned electronics sector grow from a low base a decade ago to a hundreds-billion-dollar industry, with plenty more to come. Southeast Asia is currently where we were ten years ago and is crying out for entrepreneurs to turn their attention to processing millions of pre-owned but idle devices, many of which are lying unused in people’s cupboards and desk drawers.

It’s time to enter a market that offers a perfect blend of solid business cases and environmental and social good.

–

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

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

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post The circular economy as the next frontier for Asia’s innovators appeared first on e27.

For too long, women have been underserved by mainstream companies. Thankfully, this is changing as the femtech industry across Southeast Asia leads the way with an influx of products and services being created for women by women.

While market analysts predict that the Asia-Pacific femtech market will grow at the fastest rate between 2022 to 2030, Southeast Asia’s femtech industry continues to lag behind compared to the West, making up only eight per cent of femtech firms globally. 

Despite the advancements in the technology sector, there is still much to be done when it comes to closing the gender gap in the region. Nonetheless, in today’s landscape, there’s a myriad of opportunities for femtechs to make a difference by eliminating the traditional barriers that have held women back. But to do so successfully, they must first overcome challenges commonly encountered in the femtech space.

The challenges in the femtech space

Traditionally, women’s health issues have been deemed taboo, with sexual health often stigmatised, especially in the conservative Southeast Asian region. On top of this, men continue to dominate the fields of medical research, forming a bulk of the researchers and patients in clinical trials. This approach has resulted in a one-size-fits-all approach to medical diagnosis and solutions that often don’t serve women.

Also Read: Femtech: VC interest grows as new frontier for women’s health beckons

The good news is that we’re seeing the rise of femtechs who operate with the main goal of closing gaps in women’s health. Despite this growth, a large challenge remains to bring conversations around women’s health issues into the mainstream.

Misinformation is indeed ripe, especially as women’s health conversations remain behind closed doors and are constantly fueled by old wives’ tales. In this respect, knowledge is indeed power, and technology has played a big role in empowering more women through education.

Social media, for one, is a tool we actively use at Ease, and is one similarly leveraged by other femtechs. It has been instrumental in knowledge sharing and community building for us and has helped us and other femtechs to bring educational content to more women in the region.

That said, advertising restrictions on social media have been a pain point for femtech companies globally. A study that surveyed 60 health-oriented businesses serving women and people of diverse genders revealed that Meta rejected all their ads, and half said their accounts were suspended for supposedly violating policies.

By contrast, male ads about erectile dysfunction and manscaping were allowed. As a result, femtech companies are leaning on euphemisms and emojis to conceal words that are considered high-risk by regulators. Although these ads are more successful, they unwittingly reinforce the stigma around women’s health.

We at Ease have had numerous ads banned and even our account frozen at some point for publishing advertisements relating to female sexual health and wellness, even though these advertisements did not include any explicit or suggestive content.

To resolve this issue, we tested the algorithms on the platforms repeatedly to see how they would react to certain content and avoided or censored certain words, colours, or shapes that might lead to our posts being flagged.

We also established a communication channel with relevant decision-makers within social media platforms to get their assistance when we encounter such situations. Additionally, we’ve also turned our focus to creating organic, viral content rather than relying on paid advertisements.

Also Read: Breaking the glass ceiling: These 6 women are making their marks in deep tech field

When navigating the complex rules online, companies need to understand and uphold the compliance rules that each social media platform has in place to avoid advertising bans and kickstart their marketing campaigns. However, most femtech startups do not have the luxury and flexibility to experiment with their marketing campaigns.  To bypass ad restrictions, more creative resources will need to be allocated to explore innovative ways of storytelling.

The future of femtech in Southeast Asia

Despite the challenges, the femtech industry in Southeast Asia continues to reap massive potential, with many analysts predicting tremendous growth until 2030. Although nations such as Singapore have struggled with taboo conversations around sexual health, we have seen a vast improvement over the last five years in attitudes towards female issues and the challenges that, until now, women have faced on their own.

Femtech Analytics, for example, predicts that by 2026, the Asia-Pacific region will be seeing the world’s fastest growth in women’s health apps. Modern women are no longer suffering in silence. They are taking a proactive approach to their healthcare by tracking periods, monitoring fertility, and sexual wellness while leveraging femtech solutions to identify hormonal disorders and even screen for cancer.

Rather than feeling overwhelmed by the daunting advertising restrictions that have traditionally held the industry back, femtech companies now have plenty of options to work around any obstacles in their path. There is much more to be excited about now that even social media companies actively want to be seen as a part of the solution for women rather than part of the problem.

Women’s health is much more than reproductive health. As we enter a new era of precision medicine and precision health, it is opening opportunities to celebrate our differences while taking gender-specific treatment and care more seriously. Women-centric health technology is finally bridging the healthcare gap, and we can safely predict that the Southeast Asian region will lead the way, and femtech businesses will continue to thrive.

–

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

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

Image credit: Canva Pro

The post Overcoming advertising woes and other challenges for the femtech industry appeared first on e27.

Women have always held important roles across different industries, but more so in tech where there is a constant need for fresh and innovative ideas. With more women taking on leadership roles in the workplace, industries like insurtech are ripe with growth potential, especially in the hands of talented women that can offer rich and unique perspectives. 

With a fast-growing demand to digitalise insurance since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, among other services, Southeast Asia and the rest of its neighbouring regions need to catch up with the times. Many companies in the insurance industry, however, are burdened by inflexible legacy systems and negative customer experiences.

Operationally, a talent gap, ever-changing regulatory requirements, long marketing periods, and ineffective collaborations cause companies to fall behind the competition, especially in a field as rapidly evolving as insurtech. Furthermore, high operational costs can stifle growth and undermine efficiency.

Companies like IXT are ripe for entering a market driven by the need to innovate and create solutions to modern-day issues. With what can be dubbed as Southeast Asia’s “digital decade,” there’s no time like the present to strike in terms of finding digitalisation’s place in various industries. 

With all these challenges in mind, we spoke to four female leaders from IXT to find out how to navigate the ups and downs of the insurtech world. Get to know the paths that led them to the wonderful world of insurtech and find out their vision for the future of the industry.

The four IXT team members are:

• Duyen Dang, Director of Partnerships at IXT Vietnam;
• Thuy Nguyen, Country Head for IXT Vietnam;
• Shu-Yu (Elsie) Lin, General Manager for IXT East Asia;
• Michelle Ip, VP of Strategy at IXT Asia Pacific

e27: What were some of the challenges you faced working in Tech, Elsie and Michelle?

Elsie: I have over 10 years of experience in digital transformation, enterprise system planning, and product management in the Fintech, e-commerce, and IoT sectors. Being an ex-founder of a B2B SaaS startup and having led digital transformation at a multi-national company overseeing multiple markets in Asia, I saw that Technology has traditionally been a male-dominated industry, and public perceptions of capability are frequently associated with men vs. women. Sometimes I feel that I need to work harder in order to prove myself to the people I work with and eliminate that perception gap to earn the opportunities.

Michelle: Having worked in both Tech and Business, I’ve had the pleasure of playing a variety of roles throughout the insurance value chain, from entering the Cambodian life insurance market on a greenfield basis to developing the first digital insurance platform in Hong Kong to launching a fintech start-up. I find that in Tech, both the engineering and business teams may feel that they are not understood and this affects their work efficiency and effectiveness. As a female leader, I care most about the people whom I work with and I see the importance of communication in building a great team, I do spend the extra time understanding their situations, and learning their processes and ways of doing things.

Also read: How esports is evolving with blockchain gaming

Instead of focusing on delivering projects within certain man-days, having a conversation to discuss helps breed more trust and transparency, essential qualities for building a team and delivering exceptional results. The challenge women face in Tech is leading and showing how work effectiveness and efficiency can be derived using a personable approach, and translating that value into people leadership and motivation. I encourage business users to involve other working teams and to share their business objectives, outcomes, and requirements. It helps with cross-collaboration, and this applies not just in the Tech industry but in other industries as well.

e27: How does IXT provide value back into the insurance value chain and assist companies in their digitalisation journey? 

Michelle: Countries in the Asia-Pacific are at different stages of digitalisation and, coupled with the pace of technology innovation, insurers need to understand how to map their digital transformation journey to innovate for the future. I see great value and potential in Asia, where insurance penetration is less than 5% of GDP across different countries. Insurance digitalisation is not only about putting products online or transforming or streamlining the operation but also about collaborating with ecosystems to create new ecosystems where insurance becomes an integral part of everyday and everyone’s life. IXT’s continuous improvement and development in technology (but not limited to insurance) is the key to making this happen. 

IXT’s modern core solution, with low-code/no-code UI, flexible architecture, and robust rule engine, accelerates insurance business innovations with traditional products, microinsurance, embedded, on-demand, UBI, and more. IXT can provide the technological backbone and aid insurance companies in creatively curating their desired products for better market fit. Make the technology work for you, instead of making do with technology.

e27: Why is IXT a game-changer? What excites you about joining IXT? What makes IXT different? 

Duyen: I saw the IXT demo and I found that the solution is unique in the market. Some companies just focus on the launch, and once that is done, there is no further follow-up or care for the customer. But IXT is different in that they care about the customer and their results. They also look at the customer’s back end, and I find it good for the Vietnam market. There are many friendly and supportive people at IXT that made me feel very welcome.

Thuy: I was sold on the founder’s mission. Not just do I believe in the mission, but I believe in the foundation of our product and the founder’s vision – grand, yet achievable. Many start-ups in insurtech failed in Vietnam as changes take time, and I am triggered by a desire to change the slowness and inefficiency of the insurance industry. Alex and the founding team possess the right mentality when it comes to tackling this market, and this makes it possible for us on the ground to execute it well. The team is always striving to be the best, making a difference, and finding a way to make the customer’s dream a reality.

Elsie: IXT is formed by a group of multi-dimensional professionals working hard together to drive thought leadership in product and technology innovation. It is exciting to join them and build the business with like-minded talents that carry solid domain knowledge in insurance and technology.

IXT is different in that it is not just a solution provider; it provides a triangulated value proposition of:

• Tested by insurance practitioners
• Designed based on forward-thinking technology advancements
• Updated with the latest security requirements

Michelle: IXT’s founder and the company’s vision and solutions are some of the many reasons I joined them. IXT doesn’t only aim at being a solution provider; they are a forward-thinker and a pioneer in terms of designing solutions that enable insurance providers to leapfrog to the digital front. IXT enables and inspires partners to work innovatively and quickly.

From a people and culture standpoint, IXT values diversity and hunts for the best talents in each market. With the business registered in Singapore, they have expanded in the region, and we now have representation in Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan. This also means that when companies work with IXT, they get access to a team of multinational experts that could help them with their regional digital transformation plans.

Looking forward: The future according to IXT’s dynamic team

e27: What is your vision for the industry? How does IXT help make that vision a reality?

Duyen: My vision for the industry is to improve customer experience in the Vietnam market and to provide more understanding for Vietnamese companies to innovate in their products. IXT has the technology to create embedded insurance, and on-demand insurance, such as flight delay products with claims automation, and it will be a very positive experience for customers if they can get a message from the insurance that your flight is delayed and here is your insurance pay-out. I want to be the first person in Vietnam to share this model with everyone.

Thuy: I look forward to the day when we will be able to work with every platform/ insurer in the country and bring more and more innovative products to end customers. Insurance is still something new and is not considered a necessity for Vietnamese people. I hope we can help propel the industry to a new height, making insurance accessible for everyone.

Also read: This startup aims to make rooftop solar accessible to smaller households with zero upfront cost

Elsie: My vision is to make insurance more accessible to everyone by leveraging technological innovations.

IXT can make that vision a reality through creative thinking and our advanced technology. The team comprises different domain experts, and we take special care to source the best talents in the specific domains. This gives IXT insider knowledge of various specialisations and allows us to be agile and flexible to provide a holistic assessment for every customer. We have a very experienced team and people from consulting firms, helping our customers apply strategic thinking with a collaborative approach to their digital transformation journey to achieve their desired outcomes.

e27: What would you say to women looking to enter Tech, Elsie and Michelle?

Elsie: There are 3 things that I’ve kept in my mind and that have motivated me in my career, and they are:

1) Gender is just a social framework and one that we can disrupt. The focus should be on following our heart’s desire. So long as we are truly passionate about what we want to do, we can overcome any challenges. 

2) Self-Empowerment: We must believe that we have control over our own destiny and make the most of what life has to offer.

3) Find Inspiration: For me, Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In” provided new perspectives and encouragement to consider how I should find my voice, be assertive, and speak up because I have the ability to do so. It empowers me to shift the focus from limitation to liberation, and that is strength.

Michelle: Just go for it! We should not be bound by gender, and continuous learning is a must in this ever-changing industry and environment. You need to be self-motivated to pick up new skills and knowledge. Or else, you will fall behind very quickly and what you know could be outdated very soon. Tech is a very fast-paced environment, so you need to prepare for that. You have to ask yourself if you have enough interest and motivation to work in such an environment. Lastly, Tech is a huge space. You don’t need to be an engineer to go into Tech, there is always a place for everyone. It is worthwhile to take the time to explore the right roles that are suitable for you and your skill set.

An all-in-one platform for insurtech

IXT enters the picture with strong consideration over business pain points. The business provides a one-stop-shop solution to clients looking to optimise their operations and improve their product or service rollout through the Insurance Enterprise Results Platform. 

The IXT platform enables product innovations, centralises product information, and accelerates product launches––all in one place, and with low-code configuration. Apart from these product specificities, IXT’s platform also supports multi-market, multi-currency, and of course, localised requirements, making it fit for product development — whether start-ups are planning to expand internationally or locally.

Also read: The circular economy as the next frontier for Asia’s innovators

In terms of market campaigns and improving customer reception, IXT’s platform helps businesses deliver personalised outreach, improving campaign return on investments (ROI). In addition to that, partnerships are enhanced by exploring the possibility of joint promotions or referrals. These types of innovations have spurred growth for insurance businesses and improved their partnerships and linkages.

Pioneers ushering in an exciting future

Each team member has transformed IXT into the fast-growing innovator that it is today. With all these vibrant innovators at the forefront of catalysing a smarter, more innovative future for the insurtech ecosystem — not only in the Asia Pacific but across the globe — it will be interesting to see what will come in the next years out of these ground-breaking pioneers.

For more information, visit IXT’s LinkedIn, YouTube, and page.

– –

This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by IXT

We can share your story at e27, too. Engage the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem by bringing your story to the world. Visit us at e27.co/advertise to get started.

The post Women in Tech: Female leaders shaking up insurtech in Asia appeared first on e27.

What comes first, the culture or the technology?

The answer is never clear-cut. Rather, it is a flywheel. Cultural shifts will inspire new technological innovations, which will, in turn, further shape culture. 

Over the past decade, the narrative across culture and technology in Southeast Asia has been one of decentralisation and democratisation. From 3G and 4G enabling the mobile revolution of the 2010s to the maturing creator economy of the early 2020s, culture and tech have propelled SEA in one direction – empowering individuals and communities for access, participation, and ownership across culture and commerce.

The arrival of Web3 in SEA is the latest chapter in this broader decentralisation story. Businesses looking to identify an ownable position within Web3 must first understand the anchoring narrative that meaningful opportunities in Web3 revolve fundamentally around democratisation, of access to both practical utilities and passion points. 

One key piece of technology for entry into Web3 is blockchain wallets. The region has seen positive consumer attitudes towards blockchain and cryptocurrencies in general, which has translated into the growing adoption of blockchain wallets.

Beyond its transactional functionality, a blockchain wallet essentially serves as a gateway for all of a user’s Web3 experience. It allows users to manage their blockchain-based assets, a home for NFTs, coins, and tokens and enables users to participate in various activities from using dApps to joining DAOs.

Also Read: 3moji aims to transform the way NFTs are used in metaverse with its composable avatars

There are three key opportunities that wallets present for businesses to meaningfully engage consumers in Web3:

• Wallets as commerce credentials
• Wallets as culture keepers
• Wallets as community enablers

Wallets as commerce credentials

A blockchain wallet functions as a digital identity and gives owners control over their personal information. If Web2 was about (often careless!) data sharing and brands using data for commercial purposes, Web3 and digital identities give individual owners control of their data. 

One key use case for this is driving greater inclusion across social and commercial activities. Temasek-backed Affinidi created a blockchain platform for blue-collar workers in India to store verified employment records and, subsequently, use the data to access education and economic opportunities. 

The immediate opportunity here for brands is token-gated commerce. Firstly, it unlocks new ways for consumers to derive value from their participation in passion points. A DinoPOPS NFT drop inspired by the popular Vietnamese series My Brother is a T-Rex will allow NFT holders to own the IP and will receive a revenue share from YouTube streams of the series. 

Further, token-gated commerce serves the consumer need for social status, driven by scarcity and privileged access. One recent example is the successful NFTiff drop from Tiffany & Co., which allowed CryptoPunks holders to purchase custom jewellery and digital artwork based on their NFTs. Each NFTiff cost 30 ETH (around US$48K at the time of writing), and the collection sold out in 22 minutes.

Wallets as culture keepers

In 2021, NFTs became a pop culture phenomenon. Predictably, 2022 saw a swing in the opposite direction. But the so-called ‘crypto winter’ is helping to (re)set the use-case of NFTs, one of them being a new canvas for self-expression. 

In SEA, it is giving creatives an opportunity to reinvigorate traditional art forms and celebrate the region’s culture in new ways. Diela Maharani, for example, is a Jakarta-based illustrator who partnered with SuperRare and World of Women to launch Metarupa, the first Indonesian NFT community. 

In the coming months, NFT buyers will look for a story that resonates, and that includes narratives about who they are and the culture they belong to. One brand already riding this successfully is Nike.

Spanning customisable CRYPTOKICKS, hoodies you can wear IRL and URL, and a forging system for users to acquire physical merch based on their NFTs, Nike’s creative Web3 projects with RTFKT has brought in an estimated US$185M. That makes Nike the world’s highest-earning apparel brand from NFT sales. 

Their secret to success? Fundamentally, Nike understands sneakerhead culture and leverages NFTs as a canvas to translate their passion. How will your brand empower and celebrate consumer culture across local, regional, and global stages?

Wallets as community enablers

Blockchain wallets hold a user’s tokens, which in turn enable membership in token-gated communities and access to all the related benefits – like social connections, status, and even self-improvement.

Also Read: ‘DAOs aren’t different from community-building efforts seen in Web2’

Founded by Singapore-based entrepreneur Lily Wu, WOW PIXIES is a regional DAO and NFT collection aiming to invest in women-led Web3 projects. The DAO manages an NFT vault and hosts community events that promote knowledge sharing and upskilling for women in Web3. Membership is via ownership of the WOW PIXIES token, which grants access to events and votes on DAO activities and investments.

How might your business leverage token-gated access, whether IRL or URL, to build a community around your brand and deliver on consumer needs for connections and self-improvement while maintaining aspirational clout?

Tying it together

We would argue that the term blockchain ‘wallet’ is a misnomer, as the platform offers much more than an alternative transaction method. Instead, blockchain wallets fundamentally serve as the entryway into Web3 and the next evolution of consumer culture, marked by decentralisation and deeper levels of expression, participation and ownership.

Developing a wallet strategy is therefore crucial for any business looking to enter into Web3 meaningfully. How might you get started? Consider the following questions:

• Focus on user-centricity. How might your wallet strategy add value to the consumers and Web3 communities you want to engage?
• Which wallet platform can you partner with? For example, Coinbase is a publicly-traded company that has an aggressive growth strategy in the Asia Pacific.
• How might you enable your most valued customers to hold a utility-based token? This will allow you to grant exclusive access to goods and experiences, such as airdrops of digital goods. 

This article was a condensed excerpt from the latest edition of Culture Drop, Culture Group’s quarterly publication, titled Winning in Web3: Wallets and the Next Culture Revolution. Access the full PDF here.

–

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: rokastenys

The post Web3, wallets, and winning the next culture revolution in Southeast Asia appeared first on e27.