Eastern Asia is the fourth-largest cryptocurrency market, having received US$777.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency between July 2021 and June 2022, representing just under 13 per cent of global transaction volume during that time period.

Eastern Asia has lost ground to other regions this year, having ranked as the third biggest region by transaction volume at last year’s Geography of Cryptocurrency Report. The region saw year-over-year transaction volume growth of just four per cent, by far the lowest of any region.

The biggest reason for this is likely the decline in cryptocurrency activity in China, the largest market in the region.

While it remains the biggest cryptocurrency market in the region, China saw its cryptocurrency transaction volume fall by 31 per cent compared to the previous year-long period; even neighbours like Japan more than doubled transaction volume.

As we’ll explore in more detail later, this is likely due to Chinese government crackdowns on cryptocurrency activity over the last year. 

Also Read: A look into the Chainalysis 2022 geography of cryptocurrency report

The data also shows that Eastern Asia has surprisingly low DeFi adoption. In fact, over the year-long time period we studied, DeFi made up just 28 per cent of transaction volume in Eastern Asia, less than all but one other region.

Below, we’ll explore these trends and more as we dive into what makes Eastern Asia’s crypto market tick.

DeFi drives outsized growth in Japan

As noted above, Japan’s cryptocurrency market has grown substantially over the year-long period studied, with on-chain transaction volume increasing 113.2 per cent over the previous 12 months, compared to 72 per cent for the next-closest country, 13.2 per cent for South Korea, and 31.1 per cent contraction for China. Why might this be? One reason could be Japan’s comparatively high embrace of DeFi. 

Despite having a smaller overall cryptocurrency market, Japan’s DeFi transaction volume is nearly double the size of South Korea’s at US$56.7 billion and close to China’s total of US$67.6 billion.

Chainalysis’ Tokyo-based Advisory Solutions Architect Hayato Shigekawa shared that “DEX trading has become very popular in Japan,” citing the importance of platforms like Uniswap, 1inch, and TokenIon in the country. He also discussed the popularity of NFTs in Japan, and the possibility of their future growth.

“Many have pointed out that Japan has lots of quality IP from anime, comics, and video games, which could be utilised in Web3 in the future.” Chainalysis data confirm that these services have played a big role in Japan’s DeFi market.

Interestingly, off-chain spot trading data released by the ​​Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchanges Association (JVCEA) suggests that DEX trading may be eating into trading on centralised services, which haven’t seen similar growth.

Also Read: From Moonshining to Shining – Story of Bobby Ong’s crypto data aggregator, CoinGecko

The reported trade volume on Japanese exchanges is lower than in 2020 and 2021, while the year-over-year creation of new accounts is between 30 per cent and 40 per cent in most months. One reason trading volume has shifted from centralised exchanges to DEXes could be the latter’s greater number of assets on offer.

“Centralised exchanges in Japan support roughly 60 crypto assets, and the process to list new coins is lengthy and rightly regulated,” said Hayato. Hayato also pointed out that, as of now, that list of available crypto assets includes no stablecoins. Given that, it’ll be interesting to see how Japan’s usage of DeFi changes as regulations evolve.

China’s market remains among the world’s strongest despite government bans

As discussed above, China has seen a large dropoff in cryptocurrency activity, likely due to government crackdowns. The Chinese government started by banning mining in May 2021, and by September moved further to ban all cryptocurrency transaction activity. “Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities,” the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in an unambiguous statement. 

Still, despite a 31.1 per cent dropoff in transaction volume, China remains the biggest cryptocurrency market in the region, the fourth overall in the world, and ranked tenth for grassroots adoption on our Global Crypto Adoption Index.

Plus, trading activity has even picked up in recent months. That hardly seems to reflect the total ban announced or the harsh words from PBOC officials that came along with it. 

Even mining, the first crypto activity targeted by the Chinese government and saw a huge dropoff following the ban, has made a comeback in China. That’s especially surprising given that you’d expect it to be easier for the government to pinpoint the increased power usage indicative of mining and take action.

The data suggests that in China, the anti-establishment ethos of cryptocurrency’s early days remains intact. While government crackdowns have had an effect, China’s cryptocurrency market remains strong, with healthy transaction volumes across both centralised and DeFi services. 

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Within this increasingly globalised and competitive business landscape, brand relevance is more important than ever. Companies turn to marketing strategies as they strive to make the brand stand out and enhance the desirability of their products and services against countless other competing brands.

Nevertheless, the arrival of disruptive digital technologies, combined with increasing customer experience expectations around personalised, relevant experiences, have made it more challenging for marketers to keep the brand relevant. The Internet and social media have allowed customers to have more control over how they discover and interact with different brands, share their feedback, and get inspiration for their next purchase. Social media and digital platforms can also magnify the impacts of both negative and positive publicity as a single tweet or Facebook post can go viral in a matter of seconds.

This further punctuates the importance of a brand’s online presence as brands work to give customers the best possible online experience.

The importance of building a strong online presence

There is no doubt that the Internet is taking the world by storm. This is why companies must work doubly to establish an online presence, enabling them to showcase their products and services to an unlimited number of customers as well as communicate and engage with those customers seamlessly. Moreover, according to Hubspot’s State of Marketing Trends Report 2022, social media was the top marketing channel in 2021, with Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook being the top 3 social media platforms marketers are using in 2022

There are over 2.14 billion unique online shoppers following the increased digitalisation ushered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Marketers also shared that their most common and effective digital promotional channels included social media and websites. Nevertheless, while the importance of having an online presence is widely accepted, the real challenge is to draw and sustain customer attention. With customer attention span becoming lower than ever on top of everything happening online, brands have to be easy for consumers to find, get info from and connect with, and all that can be streamlined through a functional and seamless website.

Also read: Meet the 100 nominees for Alibaba’s AsiaStar 10×10 campaign

However, building and running a website is a different struggle altogether. In the first place, the costs of building a website including web designing, functionality, domain, and hosting can range somewhere between $12,000 to $150,000 per year depending on the complexity of the requirements. Website maintenance services can also add another $400 to $60,000 per year, depending on the operation costs.

Additionally, for business owners who are not tech savvy, selecting and hiring reliable and competent web and app developers can be a huge headache particularly in light of a global shortage of software engineer supply. Once the website is set up, the owners must then continuously oversee its performance, update its content to optimise for search engines, and ensure the relevance and consistency of its brand messages and content over time. To do so, it needs another dedicated team of marketers who develop the content and tend to the customers’ online experience.

How HubSpot’s has revolutionised website creation and management

Considering the context, HubSpot was born with the mission to help businesses craft a strong online presence without breaking the bank or needing to spend a large amount of time and effort building and creating their website.

Established in 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah in the United States, after over 15 years in operation, HubSpot has grown into a leading CRM platform that provides software and support to help businesses grow better. HubSpot’s platform includes marketing, sales, service, and website management products that start free and scale to meet their customers’ needs at any stage of growth. Today, thousands of customers around the world including top multinational corporations such as Spenmo, EngageRocket, Peakflo, and grove among many others, use HubSpot’s powerful and easy-to-use tools and integrations to attract, engage, and delight customers.

Also read: Reimagining customer experience with Sendbird

Among HubSpot’s impressive offerings for customers, there are several services that stood out as the most valuable to both startups and global corporations. CMS Hub launched with the Pro and Enterprise (Apr 2020) versions meant for organisations with in-depth CMS needs, and subsequently, the Starter version (Aug 2021). Seeing the opportunity in the market, the team then launched the Free version earlier this year to equip businesses with a free and sophisticated suite of content management tools to build websites or upgrade with free hosting, visual editing features, and more. This makes it easier and cheaper than ever to design and implement remarkable CRM-powered websites.

The free CMS tools consist of advanced features such as theme library, cloud hosting, custom domain mapping, and intuitive data analytics to help create the most pleasant digital experience for customers and provide beneficial insights for businesses to improve their products and services, and target potential customers more effectively. Furthermore, the newly introduced free drag-and-drop website builder tool added significant value to HubSpot’s offerings. Thanks to this feature, marketers no longer need complex technical knowledge about coding to build the website, and they can visualise and preview the content before publishing the website to ascertain their desired look and functionality

HubSpot also goes to great lengths to ensure the security of the website with SSL certification and two-factor authentication at no additional costs.

How HubSpot empowers SMEs to thrive on the digital sphere

Since its inception, HubSpot has focused on democratising the digital sphere, facilitating businesses’ access to an online presence, moving their business operation and customer journey online, and leveraging the power of the internet to create compelling advantages. “SMEs are at the heart of Singapore’s economy and having a website is an opportunity for them to ‘share their business card’ to thousands online; aiding them to build awareness and credibility, and drive greater adoption and sales. At HubSpot, we are focused on helping companies grow better, carve new niches and better engage their customer groups,” said Simon Wong, Director, JAPAC at HubSpot.  

HubSpot’s product quality is highly proven as demonstrated by its customer satisfaction and the impressive success stories experienced by its customers. Businesses have found various applications and benefits from adopting HubSpot’s free CMS and other services to streamlining sales and marketing activities, launching more personalised marketing campaigns, integrating data, generating more leads, and increasing conversion rates.

Also read: We need to accelerate progress at the frontier of innovation

“We use Hubspot’s CMS hub to create and manage the content of our website. It is straightforward and easy to use, which means almost everyone in our company can operate it. Aside from allowing us to create a visually appealing and professional website, it is an all-in-one system that provides us with content features to help our company grow. Top it off with its comprehensive analytic features, we’re able to benchmark our performance to understand and scale TyrAds’ online presence” said Zino Rost van Tonningen, CEO at TyrAds, a performance marketing agency based in Singapore.

With a user-friendly interface, easy-to-use built-in tools, and the company’s strong desires to assist customers with the most innovative and relevant solutions, HubSpot’s free CMS Tools can usher any new startup into the digital age. 

For more information, visit the company’s website here.

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

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Despite the latest delay from Google, when it comes to the demise of the third-party cookie, it is a question of not ‘if’ but ‘when’. While the cookie has for many years been the bedrock on which online advertising is built, its phasing out should be welcome news to advertisers and publishers alike.

While third-party data allows advertisers to target a wide range of audience segments, it lacks the precision that modern marketing demands. First-party data, on the other hand, offers a scalable solution to the loss of the cookie that allows online campaigns to attain maximum reach while addressing audiences at a more granular level.

So, when it comes to media buying, working with first-party data solutions will guarantee advertisers accurate targeting at scale. In the post-cookie landscape, publishers are at the forefront of first-party data solutions.

Publishers are, in fact, in a strong position to collect first-party data thanks to their direct relationship with their audience. User IDs, on-site activity and sign-up details can be gained with user consent and provide advertisers with rich audience insight.

Despite the wealth of publisher first-party data available, it is reported that as much as 78 per cent of brands in Asia Pacific and Japan rely on third-party data for current marketing strategies, missing out on more precise targeting methods.

It is, therefore, vital that advertisers also embrace these data solutions to deliver accurate campaigns at scale. Building and implementing an effective first-party data strategy means that when the cookie does finally crumble, a solution is already in place.

Partnership with supply-side platforms

The increasingly privacy-focused media landscape has led many advertisers to consider restructuring their buying strategies in favour of cookieless browsers. But there are other methods for gaining the scale and performance required without going back to the drawing board.

One way of doing this is by partnering with a supply-side platform (SSP). SSPs help publishers manage and maximise yield from their ad inventory by making it available to many potential buyers through ad exchanges, ad networks and demand-side platforms.

Those platforms with integrated data capabilities can further help publishers harness the power of their first-party data and enhance audience segments.  In return, advertisers gain a fuller understanding of their ad buys and the audience they are targeting.

Adopting a one-to-many approach

A one-to-many approach can help brands navigate the new privacy landscape where reach and addressability are reduced. One-to-many (or one advertiser-to-many publisher) is where an advertiser diversifies spending across multiple publishers while using the same buying platform.

Also Read: 5 customer experience (CX) trends to consider in 2022

Not only does this help maintain precise targeting, as the buyer can define audience parameters with their SSP, but it also means they can deploy digital campaigns at scale across numerous publishers, formats and browsers for broader reach.

Combining an SSP and the one-to-many approach can help advertisers strike the perfect balance between scale and precision.

Leveraging private marketplaces and deal IDs

Google’s decision to remove third-party identifiers is part of a larger shift towards an ecosystem with data privacy built into its core. Tightening restrictions globally, like China passing The Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and Singapore revising its Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) act in 2021, alongside Apple’s recent iOS changes, also point towards a world that aims to protect the consumer.

With 60 per cent of consumers in APAC saying they are bothered by a lack of data privacy, there’s no doubt that the advertising ecosystem should be championing this reform. However, it does leave some questions when it comes to targeting.

Private marketplaces (PMPs) and Deal IDs can provide a viable solution as they allow for more curated and transparent media trading. In a private marketplace, publishers offer inventory packages to selected advertisers. The direct and more private nature of PMPs also means that publishers have more control over who is accessing their first-party data.

This kind of deal puts privacy first, protecting publisher data while allowing for more reliable audience segmentation, which in turn helps publishers sell their inventory at the best price. In addition, advertisers stand to gain several benefits, from better targeting to access to brand-safe inventory and, ultimately, better ROI.

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Singapore-based hospitality & travel-focused VC firm Velocity Ventures has invested an undisclosed amount in New Zealand’s enviro-tech company CarbonClick.

The startup will use the funds to boost its expansion into Asia, with a regional office in Singapore scheduled to open in 2023.

Founded in 2017, CarbonClick aims to make carbon offset simple for businesses and their customers. It provides the full details of the offset by ensuring a receipt is emailed to each customer, showing where and how their contributions have been used with a “track and trace” feature.

The startup has made inroads into the aviation, travel, and airport sectors and works with over 1,000 brands. The firm works with companies such as Etihad, Amadeus, and London Stansted Airport.

In Southeast Asia, CarbonClick currently supports Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve, a project in Indonesia’s Central Kalimantan which protects 65,000 hectares of peat swamp, avoiding more than 130 million tonnes of carbon emissions.

Also Read: Velocity Ventures to back distressed hospitality & travel startups with the new US$20M fund

“More consumers now demonstrate greater awareness around sustainability and choose airlines and travel providers that align with their environmental values. We are dedicated to ensuring our credits stand up to the highest level of scrutiny and have implemented a stringent framework to ensure that the offsets companies offer to their customers have a real, measurable impact on reducing climate change,” said Dave Rouse, CEO of CarbonClick.

Nicholas Cocks, Managing Partner of Velocity Ventures, added: “As travel rebounds, the travel and hospitality industry has many long-term assets such as aircraft and hotels where significant emissions reduction simply is not immediately possible. Carbon offsetting for such companies offers an immediate solution while transitioning to reach net zero goals. For example, airlines gradually replacing their existing fleet with more fuel-efficient aircraft can participate in voluntary carbon offsetting efforts to make a difference. Pricing the negative externality of carbon emissions and providing quality carbon offsets is vital to galvanize immediate action rather than prolong collective inertia.”

Velocity Ventures invests in growth-stage tech-enabled companies across five verticals: travel services, transportation, accommodation, F&B, and experiences. Its investments include Aigens, Food Market Hub, TableVibe, TripGuru, and Hyper Robotics.

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Hi, this is Wan Wei, CEO and Co-Founder of IKIGUIDE Metaverse Collective (IMC). Singapore Management University invited me to do a post specifically on my startup journey, so I am thankful to be able to take the time to reflect and share my journey here!

I am currently also a guest trainer at Singapore Management University Academy and lecturer at Aventis Graduate School, specialising in topics on Web3 and the metaverse. 

IMC counts NYSE-listed Nutanix, Philips, Hitachi, DBS, Crypto.com and non-profit alliance ChangemakersXchange as some of the key clients and partners in its portfolio.

As one of the leading media, education and Web3 collective in the Southeast Asian region, we work with corporations and governments to bridge knowledge and resource gaps in Asia’s metaverse industry so that they can integrate these solutions into their processes seamlessly.

Our story

Folks are sometimes curious why we chose to set up IKIGUIDE Metaverse Collective. IKIGUIDE was registered as a business entity since 2014, when I was in Finland doing my Masters in Public Relations, all the way in Finland.

Naturally, at that time, IKIGUIDE was focusing on startup consultancy and publicity. Eventually, we pivoted into metaverse and Web3-related consulting because we spotted a sweet spot we could bridge in the Asian metaverse spaces. 

Also Read: Web3 marketing: Building a cult-like community

Today, we focus on providing specialised market intelligence and education to corporations and governments related to the metaverse industry in Asia, which includes China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. We also offer strategic consulting services spanning focus groups, partnership selection, Go-to-Market strategy, and customised data analysis.

We’re fully bootstrapped and incubated by Singapore Management University Business Innovations Generator (BIG) Programme. They are currently accepting applications now, so do remember to apply!

What problem do we solve?

According to JP Morgan, the metaverse industry will present a US$1 trillion industry by 2030. Goldman Sachs predicts that the metaverse has “as much as US$8 trillion opportunity on the revenue and monetisation side”. Morgan Stanley sees US$8 trillion metaverse market in China alone.

Extensive research projects that the global metaverse market will grow from US$61.8 billion in 2022 to US$426.9 billion in 2027, representing a compound annual growth rate of 47.2 per cent. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region for the metaverse market over the next five years, with an average annual growth rate of 49.6 per cent. 

Yet, it is important to note that the metaverse discourse is currently very Western-centric. Many of us have heard of Western Big Tech companies like Microsoft doing the US$69 billion of Activision Blizzard, Facebook rebranding to Meta and then doing Horizon Worlds, or Roblox and Fortnight. 

Yet, why haven’t we heard of China’s Xirang (by Baidu) or South Korea’s Zepeto’s collaboration with K-pop girl group BLACKPINK, which led to a worldwide social media frenzy? Those are huge! And aren’t the massive populations already highly engaged in esports/gaming worlds in the Asia Pacific, the very people who will lead the mass adoption of other metaverses?

The reason for the relative lack of information and discourse is mainly because the Asian region is still highly fragmented due to language, regulatory and cultural barriers. Having said that, this is also a huge opportunity, so we wanted to do IKIGUIDE as a leading metaverse collective for the region. The three-pronged verticals that build up our collective are:

• Education
• Media
• Consulting

Why a collective?

Our IKIGUIDE metaverse “collective” community, fuelled by the willingness of our progressive and competent community members to support one another, is what we enjoy the most. It also follows the Web3 ethos.

Our collective is in its infancy, and we aim to build it with and to over a hundred engaged firms and excellent founders in Asia. Consider this collective as having the backing of many of the top founders and thought leaders in Asia’s metaverse industry, who are all net-givers in our ecosystem.

In essence, we work hard to establish open access to knowledge and resources that each of us wished existed when we started our Web3 and metaverse journeys, respectively. 

A collective is essential in a Web3 space because we are fundamentally all about collaboration, relationships and experiences, which is different from a typical Web2 closed organisation. We’re closer to running a movement over a business, where we work hard to curate members in our collective to ensure that members are community and contribution-minded.

Also Read: More than hype: 3 reasons why NFTs are here to stay 

This, however, does not mean that the entity is not bottom-line driven. It does, however, mean that the entity is the antithesis of transactional. True to the Japanese spirit of Omotenashi (表裏なし), we deeply care about the experience of each contributor and client in our collective and serve passionately as net-givers in the ecosystem.

So, a collective means that we all profit, serve each other wholeheartedly, and win together through Web3 tools like NFTs. By our ethos and design, the IKIGUIDE ecosystem is diverse, equitable and inclusive, and our core values are openness, growth mindset, and a sense of having fun together. In addition, community leaders need to have passion for their respective local communities, which is how we scale and embark on decentralisation. 

It is also important to clarify that our collective is not a cult. The key difference is that we encourage independent thinking and robust discussion within our IKIGUIDE collective, with succession and decentralisation actively planned within the design. A cult demands obedience to a single leader. 

1 + 1 > 2 in a collective due to how we leverage high-quality information and network because together we are very much stronger.

Where do we go from here?

At the moment, we are recruiting Web3 and metaverse evangelists to build our IKIGUIDE Metaverse media arm in the classic omotenashi style. So if you know any suitable candidates, please send them our way!

Personally, I am very excited about our future. If you want to be part of our movement, please feel free to join our LinkedIn Group on “Metaverse in Asia”, and our “Metaverse: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” Group. 

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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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SG’s virtual clinic and healthcare startup Speedoc snags US$28M
The investors include Bertelsmann, Mars Growth, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India; Speedoc’s services include home visits by doctors and nurses, video consultations, virtual hospital wards, and remote health monitoring.

Departures at HK’s Shopline after US$183M Joyy-led takeover
A LinkedIn search shows that most of the 80 exits took place in the first half of this year and that the firm’s top executives in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore had departed.

BRI Ventures hits final close of Sembrani fund at over US$25M
The CVC has also secured the first close of its Sembrano Kiqani fund; It is set to close its latest fund, the US$50M BVI-Fundnel Secondaries Fund in early 2023.

Founders of Kenangan, AyoConnect unveil new angel network in Indonesia
Kopital Network, which will focus on Indonesia, targets early-stage startups from all sectors, with investments as a group ranging from US$100,000 to US$1M per deal.

Meta to axe over 11,000 employees
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company had significantly increased its spending in anticipation of a “permanent acceleration” in e-commerce growth and the number of people going online; However, this didn’t play out the way he expected.

Wavemaker Impact hits first close of its debut fund
The details are undisclosed; At the time of its launch in Oct 2021, it said it targeted raising US$25M for its first fund; The climate tech venture builder has launched four new companies so far.

Former Venturra exec raises US$8M for new VC firm
Ansible Ventures, an early-stage VC firm that Valerie Van Vu has founded in partnership with Alto Partners, will invest in 15 pre-seed and seed-stage startups focusing on Vietnam.

Jobs and recruitment platform FastCo raises US$7.4M Series A
The investors include OSK Ventures, Cento Ventures, and Kairous Capital; FastCo is the company behind the non-executive job portal FastJobs and the Singapore-focused flexi-work recruitment app FastGig.

Grab digibank head Reuben Lai to exit post
Before GXS was established, Lai was the head of financial services at Grab Financial; started out at Grab in 2015, serving as chief of staff to the group CEO’s Office.

DBS Indonesia lends US$6M to auto-financing firm Broom
Broom provides car dealers with access to short-term loans with their used-car inventory as collateral; It will use the debt facility to expand to more cities in Java before the year ends and gain 5K car dealers as its clients.

Razer Fintech launches carbon-neutral e-commerce checkout solution
With the feature, Razer can help e-commerce players estimate the carbon footprint that would occur in a specific transaction and provide a traceable carbon offset for that purchase.

AI-powered SEO content creation startup WriterZen bags US$1.35M
The lead investor is Wavemaker Partners; WriterZen provides tools to help digital content creators streamline their SEO workflow and produce content efficiently and competitively.

Animal-free dairy startup Phyx44 raises US$1.2M
The investors include Better Bite Ventures, Shiok Meats CEO Sandhya Sriram, Ahimsa VC, PeerCapital, and Spectrum Impact; Phyx44 has already made whey and casein proteins, which can be used in ice cream, cheese, and baked goods.

Filipino circular economy startup Humble Sustainability raises US$750K
The investors include iSeed Ventures, Ula’s Alan Wong, and Sagar Achanta, ex-Product Leader at Amazon; Humble was started with a vision to create a community where any item can be brought back into circularity.

Binance cancels deal to buy FTX
The crypto exchange major was looking to fully acquire its US-based peer FTX; However, that deal is now off following “latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations”.

Hodlnaut assets hit by FTX debacle
The Singaporean crypto lender, which is under judicial protection after halting withdrawals on August 9, may face further losses due to solvency issues at FTX, where it had S$18.1M in assets as of October 27.

Indonesia plans to task OJK with crypto market regulation
The use of crypto assets as a means of payment is illegal in the country, but transactions for investments are allowed in the commodities market.

Japan’s NTT Docomo to set up US$4B Web3-focused firm
The development is not NTT Docomo’s first Web3 push; Earlier this year, the firm announced that it had opened up a unit dedicated to the metaverse; Qonoq was last said to have 200 staff.

Indonesia’s Stockbit rolls out crypto trading app
The company provides crypto trading services through Coinbit Digital Indonesia; The company said users can trade crypto without incurring platform fees on the app.

HashKey secures virtual asset trading license in Hong Kong
With the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong’s approval, the company said it has become the first firm to have virtual asset licenses to operate in HK and Japan, as well as a capital market services license in SG.

Listing via RTO is simpler than IPO: MoneySmart CEO
MoneySmart believes when the market is volatile, listing via reverse takeover presents an excellent opportunity for well-capitalised companies to pursue strategic acquisitions.

How climate tech startups can create an impact on green recovery
For climate tech startups, success in growing their business can begin by understanding the potential hurdles customers might face when accessing climate-friendly products and services.

Try to look at the world through a beginner’s eyes: Joey Alarilla of Playfix.io
Playfix.io’s Head of Content Joey Alarilla talks about how he is championing crypto for creators, blockchain for good, and Web3 for a better world.

Is traditional currency failing us?
Fiat money loses purchasing power over the years because goods and services get more expensive yearly, in other words, inflation; In addition, the supply of fiat currency is not fixed.

Why is the cryptocurrency market growth in Eastern Asia slowing down
While it remains the biggest cryptocurrency market in the region, China saw its cryptocurrency transaction volume fall by 31 per cent compared to the previous year-long period; even neighbours like Japan more than doubled. transaction volume.

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Vickers Vantage Corp. I, the first blank-cheque company (special purpose acquisition company or SPAC) of Singapore-based VC firm Vickers Venture Partners, has merged with Scilex Holding Company, a majority-owned subsidiary of US-based Sorrento Therapeutics.

Scilex is a revenue-generating company focused on acquiring, developing and commercialising non-opioid pain management products for treating acute and chronic pain.

Also Read: Why Vickers Venture Partners go with deep tech investments to solve world’s biggest problems

The combined entity will operate as Scilex Holding Company on November 11, 2022. Its shares of common stock and warrants are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbols ‘SCLX’ and ‘SCLXW’, respectively.

Scilex Holding Company will ring the Nasdaq opening bell at 9:30 am ET on Friday.

“We believe Scilex is a company with excellent non-opioid pain management therapies. This deal is significant in the current landscape. However, we didn’t compromise the quality of a target company in a rush to merge, and kept to our philosophy of investing in deep tech companies that can create a better world,” said Dr Jeffrey Chi, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of VCKA and Vice Chairman of Vickers Venture Partners.

“Scilex is entering an exciting phase as the resources of the public capital markets will be available to enhance our business growth and enable us to continue to fulfil our mission to address patient pain management needs,” said Henry Ji, Executive Chairman of Scilex and Chairman and CEO of Sorrento.

Jaisim Shah, President and CEO of Scilex, commented: “As a public company, we aim to accelerate our mission to increase access to prescription non-opioid therapeutics by further commercialising our two FDA-authorised non-opioid pain management products, expanding public and private payer adoption, and advancing our pipeline of innovative opioid sparing products.”

Also Read: Can SPACs avoid another reverse merger crisis?

Scilex launched its first commercial product in October 2018, in-licensed a commercial product in June 2022, and is developing its late-stage pipeline, which includes a pivotal Phase 3 candidate and one Phase 2 and one Phase 1 candidate. It aims to become the global pain management leader committed to social, environmental, economic, and ethical principles to develop pharmaceutical products to maximise the quality of life responsibly.

In October this year, Singapore-based clinical-stage biotechnology company AUM Biosciences signed a merger agreement with Delaware-based publicly traded SPAC Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. to go public in the US.

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At e27, we have kickstarted a new articles series called work-life balance to learn more about tech enablers and executives and their lives beyond working hours.

A passionate advocate of blockchain for good and using Web3 to build a better world, Joey Alarilla has helped champion the digital revolution in the Philippines and across Asia.

He is currently Head of Content of Playfix.io, the smartest blockchain game platform that provides an all-in-one solution for developers to build quickly, launch, and grow Web3 games and NFTs. He acts as its chief storyteller, community advocate, and product evangelist. By making it easier for game developers to embrace blockchain gaming, he believes that Playfix is empowering developers and helping change the lives of millions of gamers, especially in emerging economies.

He is a regular contributor of articles for e27 (you can read his thought leadership articles here). 

In this candid interview, Alarilla talks about his personal and professional life.

How would you explain what you do to a five-year-old?

Do you know how you love telling, listening to, and sharing stories with your family and friends? Well, that’s kind of like what I do.

As Head of Content, I create stories that make people aware of what my company does and how they will benefit. I also make it a point to listen to other people’s stories, befriend them, and make them part of our community.

Most importantly, I make sure that our company can help make their stories heard and that we’ll use their suggestions to improve our products and the community we are building with them.

What has been the biggest highlight/challenge of your career so far?

I’ve been a pioneer in most industries I’ve been part of, so I can honestly say that I’ve faced numerous challenges over the years.

Also Read: We can no longer adopt a cookie-cutter approach to marketing: Gunalan Ram of CINNOX

I would say the biggest challenge I overcame would still be when I became one of the pioneer editors that spun off the biggest Philippine print newspaper, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, into the biggest online news site, then known as INQ7.net, now INQUIRER.net.

I was among the few who believed in online journalism at a time when even smart people, like Bill Gates, thought the internet was just a fad. 

Traditional journalists looked down on us. People looked at me like I was crazy when I started using a Nokia N90 to record video during press conferences. I later became the Multimedia Editor of INQUIRER.net, training the company’s first batch of multimedia journalists and launching our own blog, podcast, and video networks.

So while I’ve accomplished more things since, being part of this paradigm shift and persevering despite all the scepticism and adversity remains one of the highlights of my career.

It’s also why I shrug when people say blockchain is just a fad because first, it was the internet that was supposed to be a fad and later, social media.

My motto has always been: Nothing is impossible. And I don’t see any reason to change it.

How do you envision the next five years of your career?

That’s a hard question. Zen has always resonated with me, and during the pandemic, I embraced meditation and mindfulness even more. So I try to cultivate a beginner’s mind, always trying to look at the world through a beginner’s eyes. I’m living in the moment, going with the flow, one day at a time.

That’s also how I see my career now. Don’t get me wrong. I love working for Playfix.io. I believe in the Japanese concept of Ikigai, which means “reason for living”. And I’m happy to say that joining Playfix.io has played an important part in finding my Ikigai.

Ikigai is defined as the convergence of four areas of your life:

• What you love.
• What you are good at.
• What the world needs, and what you can be paid for.

Becoming Head of Content at Playfix.io has helped me tick all four boxes of what I’m looking for in my work.

My work — not my job. Because I firmly believe that our job is not our work. Our job is what we do to earn a living. Our work is what we do that makes life worth living.

So, I’m honestly not thinking of where I will be five years from now. But I know I have found my Ikigai championing crypto for creators, blockchain for good, and web3 for a better world.

What are some of your favourite work tools?

Google Docs, without a doubt. And Google Calendar. We also rely on messaging tools like WhatsApp and Telegram. Because we’re a blockchain gaming startup, Twitter and Discord are my work tools.

What’s something about you or your job that would surprise us?

I’m not a techie, I don’t code, and I don’t build computer rigs. But I have a passion for technology and a knack for explaining it in layperson’s terms.

My career has taken me across different industries. I’ve worked for companies such as Yahoo!, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, INQUIRER.net, Lazada, Tribal Worldwide Philippines, Manulife Asia, Bank of the Philippine Islands, and yes, even e27.

The common thread is that I was always a storyteller, a digital champion, and an advocate of technology for good. And I’m glad I still am at Playfix.io.

People might also be surprised that I have literary works. I won the Carlos Palanca Award, the most prestigious literary competition in the Philippines, for my essay about my daughter and fatherhood in the digital age.

I also have three short stories published by the Philippines Graphic magazine and an essay in ANI 32, the 32nd edition of the official literary journal of the Cultural Centre of the Philippines.

Do you prefer WFH or WFO, or hybrid?

WFH. I work from anywhere, which I’ve been doing since the late 90s and early 2000s. It included writing and sending my column piece on a bus ride back from the Taj Mahal in 2006.

What would you tell your younger self?

I’d tell him not to be too hard on himself but to have a beginner’s mind and relax more.

Also Read: Dream loud, dream big and dream now: Surbhi Agarwal of Yellow.ai

I would also thank him because he hung on and brought me to where I am now. Because everything that happens to us, whether good or bad, shapes who we are and our life.

Can you describe yourself in three words?

Dreamer. Believer. Catalyst.

What are you most likely to be doing if not working?

I love reading, whether it’s books or comic books. I also love watching movies and TV shows on Netflix, Disney+, HBO GO, and other streaming platforms. And I’m a huge fan of BLACKPINK, so most likely, I’m listening to their songs, even while working.

What are you currently reading/listening to/ watching?

I just finished the season finale of House of the Dragon. I’ve also enjoyed the K-dramas, Alchemy of Souls, which has become my favourite K-drama of all time, and Little Women.

I’m reading Matt Wagner’s Grendel Omnibus Volume 1: Hunter Rose.

And, of course listening to BLACKPINK’s album, Born Pink.

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Flashback to Singapore more than 30 years ago, establishments such as incubator programmes are unheard of. Anyone who was an individual or part of a team with a conceivable idea had to embark on their entrepreneurial journey the hard way.

The 1990s rolled in, cue the comment from the late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew who then said, when Singapore’s economic growth slowed down, “In this new phase, it is people with the imagination, drive, willingness to think big and take risks to bring their ideas into the commercial marketplace, who will make the economy grow, make themselves rich, and provide jobs for our people.”

From the 1990s, Singapore, on a mission to cultivate a vibrant and friendly startup ecosystem, started to accelerate the evolution of more founders in Singapore by building networks spanning across investments, regional market access, intellectual property protection, and research and development.

With strong support from the Singapore government, entrepreneurship programmes sprung from local universities, and today, university incubators such as the Business Innovations Generator (BIG), the flagship programme of the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Singapore Management University, are playing a key role in nurturing changemakers into future trendsetters and leaders.

Business Innovations Generator incubation programme

Started in 2009 by the Singapore Management University Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SMU IIE), BIG is an intensive four-month, equity-free programme offering early-stage startups and student founders the opportunity to validate their business plans, refine their products and prep for seed investments.

Also Read: NGC Ventures backs blockchain gaming incubator and launchpad Seedify

Founders get to tap into a plethora of support networks, knowledge, and resources, including grant opportunities, world-class mentors and advisors, masterclasses, corporate perks, and access to a conducive workspace located in the heart of SMU in downtown Singapore.

Being founder-centric, BIG supports coachable individuals from within and outside of SMU who are interested in entrepreneurship and is committed to developing the SMU and overall Singapore’s start-up ecosystem. Designed to nurture entrepreneurs through knowledge transfer and a strong support infrastructure, BIG offers the following:

• Financial support: Application for government grants and co-funding opportunities such as the IIE Acceleration Grant and BIG Startup Support Grant
• Strong knowledge and support network: Strategic mentoring by IIE’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a pool of world-class industry experts who are successful entrepreneurs, VCs, angels, corporate and government agencies
• Community events: Office Hours, where startups can consult and seek advice from invited experts, Founders’ Updates, which provides startups with the opportunity to hone their pitching skills and exchange knowledge with peer founders, and Sharing Sessions, where successful entrepreneurs recount their journey and inspire current and aspiring founders
• Masterclasses: Curriculum and pedagogy designed to empower the founders with knowledge on Founder Equity, Fundraising, Founders Ethics, and Ready for Market
• Co-working space: Access to The Greenhouse, a 700sqm workspace located in SMU, in the heart of downtown Singapore
• Corporate perks: Credits from corporate partners to offset the bills when the start-ups engage the services of participating corporates, and more

As a testimony of the BIG programme’s success and reputation, the August 2022 cohort boasts 37 startups from the United Kingdom to India, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. The BIG programme’s industry-agnostic belief is also personified through the diverse nature of the latest cohort – from community and networking, healthtech, edutech, F&B, and blockchain, with sustainability as the dominating theme it makes up more than 18 per cent of the contingent.

Also Read: Entrepreneur First to discontinue Singapore programme; to focus on Europe, N America, India

Since the programme’s inception, close to 400 early-stage start-ups have been successfully incubated and collectively raised approximately S$391 million worth of funding, affirming the success that the BIG programme brings to aspiring entrepreneurs.

“The support rendered by the mentors from the BIG programme has proved invaluable in helping me take my start-up to the global stage. BIG has opened doors to new investors, paved the way for collaborative success, and fostered a wholly unique community spirit amongst its members,” says Fengru Lin, Founder and CEO of TurtleTree, a biotech company dedicated to producing a new generation of nutrition. The company, a biotech start-up producing cell-based milk and milk products, raised US$30 million in a Series A round in November 2021 to scale up its expansion, research and production plans. TurtleTree has now raised about US$40 million to date.

Another incubated startup, Workstream, the mobile-first hiring and onboarding platform for the deskless workforce, recently raised an additional US$60 million for their Series B round, bringing the total Series B financing to US$108 million.

After exiting the BIG programme in 2019, the startup maintained strong ties with SMU IIE, becoming a global partner for the Global Innovation Immersion, an overseas summer internship programme that SMU IIE runs, recruiting young talents from Singapore Management University as interns to provide them with first-hand experience in the bustling start-up world and even, the opportunity to join the company after the internship.

“We received so much assistance from BIG, from connecting to a community of like-minded people and to mentors who could help us plug specific gaps in knowledge and know-how. Workstream is fortunate to have experienced several breakthroughs, and no doubt BIG has been one of the catalysts that got us to where we are today,” says Desmond Lim, Co-Founder and CEO of Workstream.

The call for applications for BIG’s first intake for 2023 is open until 2 Dec 2023. Interested parties may apply here.

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Jobs and recruitment platform FastCo today announced that it had raised S$10.5 million (US$7.4 million) in its Series A funding round.

In the extended Series A round, Malaysia-based investment firm OSK Ventures International led the funding that raised a total investment of S$4.7million (US$3.3 million) into FastCo with participation from existing investor Cento Ventures and new investor Kairous Capital.

Cento, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology startups in Southeast Asia, participated with S$5.8 million (US$4.1 million) of funds during the initial Series A round in December 2021.

It participated in the Founder and management-led buy-out of FastCo from then SGX-listed Singapore Press Holdings.

FastCo will use the funding to support its regional expansion plan, focusing on marketing initiatives. It will also grow its sales and product development teams.

Also Read: How HackerNoon uses customer-centric approach to build meaningful new features on their platform

“We are excited to welcome OSKVI and Kairous onboard as FastCo embarks on a journey of accelerated growth. OSKVI is an established investor with seasoned experience investing in the HR tech business. Their investment is a validation of our progress since we spun off. Both OSKVI and Kairous are strategic partners who will strengthen our expansion efforts in Malaysia, where we aim to double down on the underserved B40 market,” said Julian Tan, Founder & CEO of FastCo.

FastCo is the company behind the non-executive job portal FastJobs and the Singapore-focused flexi-work recruitment app FastGig.

The company aims to improve the livelihoods of underserved and informal job seekers and deliver a data-driven unified experience for employers through its proprietary employment matching platform, catering to job markets in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Since the completion of the buy-out exercise in 2021, FastCo said that it had experienced steady growth with a registered 4.4 million jobseekers across all operating markets, with an average of 500,000 monthly active users.

The company also said that its Singapore operations yield a positive cash flow and are buoyed by positive prospects from recovering job markets. It expects to break even within the next two years.

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Image Credit: FastCo

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