For all the hype surrounding NFTs, its current concept in practice has acquired a bad rep. It’s not hard to see why, when the space is well known for one-percenters throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into cartoon monkeys and memes.

It leaves us ordinary folk wondering, what are NFTs good for anyway? Isn’t it all but speculative value– a growing bubble waiting to burst? 

The sceptic in me always believed that NFTs sold nothing but empty hype, or maybe the elusive idea of ownership at best. As a social scientist, I think NFTs perpetuate existing inequalities and elitism.

NFTs seemed to be a concept reserved only for the rich who could afford the most exclusive digital assets and the educated and tech-enabled who had the resources to create them. 

Yet, I was always open to understanding the potential of NFT technology and what it could one day offer to the world. NFT stands for a non-fungible token and can be understood as a unique, non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain.

The holder of an NFT thus has indisputable proof of ownership over the digital asset, and this has the potential to unlock a myriad of undiscovered ways in which we can interact with technology, institutions, and each other. One startup is working to explore this potential and completely transform how we can engage with NFTs forever. 

So-col, short for social collectibles, is a Singapore-based startup on a mission to make NFTs useful for everyone by harnessing its technology to transform the creator economy. It aims to build an all-in-one decentralised alternative to platforms like Twitch, Patreon, and Discord, powered by blockchain and NFT technology behind the scenes.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

This means creators get to truly own their content with drastically lowered platform fees (one of the perks of blockchain’s decentralisation– cutting out the middleman), and they don’t even need to be tech-savvy or well versed in NFTs to use the platform. The technology serves as a silent enabler in the background. 

Everyday users of the platform can support their favourite content creators by purchasing their digital creations quickly with cash or credit card. More experienced crypto users can also purchase items with their crypto wallets.

Those who have tried using blockchain apps before will know how complicated it is: setting up a new identity in the form of a crypto wallet, buying cryptocurrencies to pay for transaction fees, installing crypto wallet extensions, and the list goes on.

So-Col leverages cutting edge technology within the blockchain space to remove all of these barriers for first time users, allowing them to bridge their existing social accounts from platforms like Instagram and TikTok over to the blockchain.

Currently, only people with resources for both tech and design can create NFTs. So-CoL hopes to make NFTs accessible to all by allowing content creators to mint NFTs for close to $0 (current NFT minting on the Ethereum blockchain usually costs over US$100/mint), as well as fans and users, to purchase basic social collectibles for as low as $10.

These basic collectibles serve as passes that allow users and fans to engage directly with the content creator, based on guidelines set by creators themselves. 

Apart from basic social collectibles, it will also enable content creators to create a range of premium collectibles similar to the much-hyped IreneDAO. Contrary to popular belief and the slew of fake news, the creators of IreneDAO and Irene herself did not personally earn from the millions of dollars the passes have raked in in barely a week.

The passes are part of a DAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation. A DAO can be understood as an entity represented by rules encoded in a computer programme that is transparent and fully controlled by the DAO members rather than any central management.

When people purchase NFTs that are part of a DAO, the DAO receives all the money to be managed by the passholders as a whole. Think of it as an organisation holding a collective pool of money that can only be spent based on the community’s majority vote. 

Also Read: NFTs provide new ways to handle IP management, empower content creators: Inmagine CEO Warren Leow

The content creator often influences how communities vote. For example, Irene expressed her interest in supporting women’s charities and women-led projects, and the community is currently working on proposals to spend the money as such. 

 The creators of IreneDAO did not make any money from the sales as they gave the passes out for free as part of their proof of concept and value.

However, content creators will earn from the primary sale of their premium collectibles on the SO-COL platform.

All royalties from secondary sales go directly to the DAO, managed by members who own the pass. 

Amidst the sea of technical terms, So-Col attempts to bring the lofty, elusive concept of NFTs back down to earth. The startup does so by harnessing its technology to make sense to the everyday consumer of digital content on the internet, as well as providing a steady source of income for content creators who know nothing about blockchain.

The platform will allow creators to enforce a subscription-based model on their members, completely controlling all fees. In terms of monetisation, the startup earns 2.5 per cent from each transaction made on the platform. 

Such startups are creating a use case for NFTs beyond its current purpose as a hype piece, a speculative investment, a status symbol. Its platform will provide a tangible way for creators and users at all tech levels to come together like never before to inspire movements and build community. T

heir work offers a glimpse of what the future of NFTs and the creator economy could look like and presents the first-ever use case for NFTs that I have been convinced by– one where the rest of us 99 per cent will not get left behind.

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Astro, an on-demand quick e-commerce platform for groceries and other daily essentials in Indonesia, has secured US$27 million in Series A financing led by Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital India.

Existing investors AC Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Goodwater Capital joined. Founders and senior executives from Traveloka, Ajaib, Meesho, OYO, Swiggy, Udaan also participated in the round.

The startup will use the funds to expand its reach, serve more customers across Indonesia, and scale the team size by 3x in 2022.

In Indonesia, while groceries is one of the biggest retail sectors, the digital penetration is one of the lowest (~0.4 per cent) compared to the 10 per cent penetration of e-commerce. With the pandemic driving digital adoption, the opportunity is large with e-grocery in Indonesia and is poised to become a ~US$6 billion opportunity by 20251.

Also Read: Ex-Tokopedia AVP’s Astro attracts US$4.5M to expand ’15-min e-commerce delivery’ service in Jakarta

Recognising this and the opportunity to create value for millions of Indonesians, Vincent Tjendra, former Associate VP at Tokopedia, founded Astro in September 2021 to deliver groceries and essentials such as snacks, drinks, milk and bread to customers within 15 minutes of placing the order. The firm offers 1,500-plus SKUs at competitive prices available 24×7 on its app.

Since the launch, Astro has established over 15 hubs across Jakarta and aims to expand this network to cater to millions of Indonesians.

“There are some irrefutable truths in e-commerce, and one of them is that consumers will always want faster delivery, better selection and value pricing. The quick commerce model sits at the pinnacle of such consumer demand. With growing affluence, the Indonesian market is reaching an inflexion point in e-grocery and other consumer categories, opening up a large market opportunity,” Aakash Kapoor, VP, Sequoia India.

The company previously raised US$4.5 million in seed funding from GFC, AC Ventures, Lightspeed, and Goodwater Capital.

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An off-white sneaker, Burberry trench coat, ripped Diesel denim, day-date green dial Rolex, on a virtual body with four per cent fat– this is what my digital avatar will look like in the Metaverse.

NFT and crypto loaded … and vain!

Yeah, well, we will see.

Before my smugness ruins the read, let me switch mode in this Web2 world, and tell you, true to my profession as a marketer, I have successfully integrated all the keywords in the first paragraph for this piece.

Welcome to the grand start of a better (debatable) verse. It will be meta and decentralised. Sustainable … umm, not from the start, but we will get there eventually!

Catch Focus 22: Web3 and Metaverse

In 2020, we all witnessed unknown hysteria. 2021, sobered up with hopeful contemplation, and I anticipate 2022 will be about brands taking that blazing leap headlong into digital.

But what is the difference between the previous generation i.e Web2 vs Web3?

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Driven by three core layers of innovation: mobile, social and cloud, Web2 is the internet version as we know. An internet dominated by companies such as Facebook (now Meta), Google, Airbnb, Uber, Amazon, among others, that provide services as a swap for your personal data.

Web3 on the other hand leaps forward to be a decentralised and democratised network, that runs on the blockchain. It will allow anyone to participate without monetising personal data, on the technology pillars of edge computing, decentralised data networks and artificial intelligence.

Practical examples:

• Social media giants can redact or permanently suspend any account in the current world, but Web3’s decentralised control won’t allow it.
• Unlike now, payment apps in Web3 won’t require any personal data and can’t prevent payments.
• If down, creator or gig-economy applications affect the worker’s compensation. In the Web3 world, a decentralised, secure network of thousands of computers in the backend won’t fail to halt the system.

And Metaverse?

Metaverse (“meta” — means “beyond’) is a digital extension of our current existence within this universe. Within the Metaverse, we will live, socialise, and work – albeit virtually – going beyond the limits of our physical world.

So like the casual Friday wind-down Zoom meetings?

More than that!

During the pandemic, remote collaboration became the contingent. After almost 24 months, although we are getting better at it, it still isn’t as immersive and engaging.

Now picture this, being in a virtual – office space, gaming parlour, auditorium or a lecture hall, navigating through colleagues, friends and fellow students in a 360-degree fashion, interacting with life-like avatars of each individual?

You can do this all and more in the Metaverse powered by blockchain applications such as cryptocurrencies, content tokenization, NFTs, decentralised finance (DeFi) et.al.

So Metaverse experience in Web3 using blockchain is the future! Sounds fab, but there are challenges, right? What is the catch?

Also Read: Metaverse is around the corner and you should play a role in it

There are several challenges for this to be real and reach its full potential.

• Accessibility of advanced digital technologies: There are several technologies and standards/protocols that are commercially available to implementers, but the lack of integration in modern web browsers makes Web3 less accessible to most users. Also, being graphically intensive, both Web3 and Metaverse are heavily dependent on reliable data transmission speed, which isn’t accessible to a number of people around the world yet.
• It ain’t cheap: To bring all the required technologies to the masses, it would need heavy infrastructure investments and solid commitment from all quarters. Currently, most successful Dapps host very small portions of the code on the blockchain. This is mainly to keep the expenses low.
• Then comes education and experience: With all the novel and sophisticated technology to create an app, sure comes with a steep learning curve. Although we all know change is the essence of life, admit it – it takes a lot to alter minor life routines. Thus the upskilling part will surely be a hurdle to adoption, giving first movers a considerable advantage.
• Scalability limitations: Decentralised is great, but not as fast as we would want it to be yet. Slower propagation throughout the network obviously leads to slower adoption.
• Perception vs reality: Well, potentially, I can represent myself however I want in the Metaverse, but it may not be accurate. In this world where we struggle with online identity, body positivity and gender biases, we have to be careful around representations, especially for the sake of the young and impressionable generation. The incumbents of web2.0 warn this may lead to eroding human relationships and the society at large as we know it.
• The baggage of existing privacy and security issues: In the recent past the cumulative concerns on privacy and security by the search and social media platforms will have long-lasting doubts on future iterations of this advanced tech. Thus spilling over the controversies and criticisms on Web3 applications and the metaverse. Of course, until the new can of worms is opened as a natural side-effect of such evolution!

It is more positive than you think. Some markets—like finance, gaming, art and software—are already seeing the impacts. Others may take a few years.

As my imagination runs wild, I suppose the following should or already have made its first cut in the B2B space:

Virtual products and services

Nike, Adidas, Ralph Lauren, Balenciaga have already leapt into the world of crypto collectibles. From acquiring businesses like studio RTFKT (pronounced ‘Artifact’) have the advanced tech to enable the brand to lift their game, to launching special collections on Roblox, these fashion first movers are affirming the tech trends.

Products are obvious, but services?

Sure!

How about SLA smart contracts? No more empty promises eh! now you can back your ‘100 per cent up-time’ promise with the trust of blockchain.

Also Read: NFTs provide new ways to handle IP management, empower content creators: Inmagine CEO Warren Leow

Events galore

Heard of Decentraland? It is a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO), powered by the Ethereum blockchain. It is a community-developed, 3D virtual reality platform that lets users create virtual buildings such as art galleries, casinos, even concert halls. Host events, meetings, use your virtual property/venue as you would in the real world!

Never know, your may meet your next boss chilling at a Decentraland theme park, seated next to you and yelling at that almost 180-degree drop of the insanity rollercoaster!

Awards, loyalty and advocacy

Creator coins (explore Rally.io) are more flexible than air miles, and definitely more valuable and easily tradable than loyalty points.

Word-of-mouth is your thing? Check out – Attrace. It uses tokens to incentivize product referees and logs each transaction on the blockchain, so every click is tracked.

Charity and awareness

Plenty uses cases in this segment, especially cause these heavy techs consume resources and are not best optimized for the environment yet. What is the best way to reverse effect (other than not executing it) – charity and diverting all proceeds towards a good cause – raise awareness.

A lot of Web3 and Meta plays are very much in the novelty zone with plenty of opportunities to harvest the crazy bounties.

Warm-up to this fast-moving and exciting evolution of new immersive experiences for your audience. There is no doubt in my mind that your industry and your discipline will be re-engineered by blockchain and Web3 – the two tech visions for this decade – 2030.

Are you ready?

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Indonesia-based social commerce platform Grupin today announced a US$3 million in funding led by Sequoia India’s Surge.

Skystar Capital and East Ventures also joined.

Started in January 2021 by Kevin Sandjaja and Ricky Christie, Grupin offers an interactive, community-based shopping experience to consumers, along with the benefit of discounts on bulk consumer products. The platform helps consumers find, discover and band together to get great deals consistently while allowing them to share their experiences socially.

Through Grupin, groups of people can combine their purchases to get significant discounts at scale. Consumers also get access to different deals that are constantly adjusted based on their location, browsing behaviour, buying preference and purchasing power.

Also Read: Meet the 5 Southeast Asian startups graduating from Sequoia Surge’s sixth cohort

Grupin proactively offers new deals on new brands, produce and locally made products, creating a different discovery experience than search-based e-commerce sites.

Additionally, customers can share the best deals and products with their friends and family within the app.

To date, Grupin has sold hundreds of SKUs from packaged foods, fresh produce, baby products, kitchen utensils to electronics.

“With the proliferation of e-commerce, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers want a robust shopping experience that not only brings value but also provides engagement. At Grupin, we offer a social experience when shopping, which has been especially engaging for customers in Indonesia, as we see ingrained cultural behaviours like ‘gotong royong’, where friends come together to shop and play,” said Kevin Sandjaja, Co-Founder of Grupin.

Grupin is part of Surge’s sixth cohort of 20 companies.

E-commerce in Indonesia is rapidly growing, accounting for 20 per cent of retail sales in 2020, up from just 6 per cent in 2019, and is expected to reach US$60 billion by 2025.
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State-backed Penjana on track to close fund at US$285M in Q1 2022
Set up in July 2020 as part of the country’s national COVID economic relief strategy, the programme has already raised US$238M as of end-2021; Penjana will match US$142.8M of the capital raised by venture fund managers under the programme.

Quick commerce startup Astro raises US$27M Series A
Investors include Accel Partners, Sequoia India, AC Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Goodwater Capital; Astro delivers groceries and essentials such as snacks, drinks, milk and bread to customers within 15 minutes of placing the order.

Temasek leads US$70M Series B of Austria’s waterdrop
waterdrop encourages people to drink more water and less sugary beverages; It sells sugar-free tabs that customers can dissolve in water to add flavour; The firm will use the capital for global expansion.

Sayurbox, Eden Farm in talks to raise funding
While farm-to-table e-commerce startup Sayurbox is soon expected to close a funding round led by Northstar Group, Eden Farm is in initial discussions to raise capital by Q3 2022.

SPACs favour Singapore
SPACs have accounted for about 75% of the total listings and 98% of the total capital raised during January 22; Reportedly, SGX welcomed three SPAC IPOs, raising SGD520M during the month; The three IPOs were subscribed 7-36x reflects a strong investor sentiment.

Krungsri prepares US$212-242M for digital, innovation strategy
Krungsri will spend the capital this year on digital and innovations to expand digital banking services both in Thailand and regional markets; The plan has three core strategies: Asean enhancement and expansion, ecosystems and partnerships, and digital and innovation.

CoLearn attracts US$17M more to close Series A round at US$27M
Investors include TNB Aura, KTB Network, Binus Group, GSV Ventures, AC Ventures, Leo Capital, and January Capital; CoLearn provides children in Indonesia with an alternative to traditional offline tutoring with its live interactive classes.

How this startup is making NFTs more than a speculative investment and a status symbol
So-col is on a mission to make NFTs useful for everyone by harnessing its tech to transform the creator economy; It aims to build an all-in-one decentralised alternative to platforms like Twitch, Patreon, and Discord.

India to launch digital rupee by 2023
The move is likely to give an impetus to the participation of institutional players in the blockchain space; CBDCs will be a new form of digital cash intended to replace physical cash.

BNPL startup hoolah raises US$5.9M from ShopBack
This followed ShopBack acquisition of hoolah announced last year; Singapore-, Malaysia- and Hong Kong-based hoolah offers shoppers three interest-free instalment payments at over 2,000 merchant sites.

Social food ordering app Gobble secures US$1.3M seed capital
Investors are Beenext, Flash Ventures, Warren Tseng (formerly Uber APAC), and Siddharth Shanker (formerly Deliveroo); Gobble is tackling reduced social interaction among university students through its group ordering and food-gifting features.

Vegan ice cream firm Kind Kones scoops up US$1.1M in fresh funds
Investors include DSG Consumer Partners, Apricot Capital, Lam Soon, and Allianz Capital MD Andress Goh; Kind Kones serves all-natural vegan ice cream; The ingredients it uses in its frozen tubs include coconut, cashew, almond, and fruits.

Endeavor Indonesia unveils 10 startups selected for scale-up growth programme batch 2
The Endeavor participants, selected from 43 startups based in Indonesia/Singapore, have a minimum of US$2M+ in equity funding/annual revenue by 2021.

Thailand seeks to join the digital bank race in SEA
BOT is seeking feedback from the public for its plans for “Repositioning Thailand’s Financial Sector for a Sustainable Digital Economy” by 28 February 2022; The regulator is seeking to promote healthy competition between new fintech players and incumbent banks to drive innovation and better financial services.

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Agriculture in Southeast Asia is mostly made up of small farmers operating at subsistence levels. Exposed to inefficient, government-run marketing schemes and local markets dominated by middlemen, small farmers in this region struggle to find direct access to resources and markets.

According to Yasuo Taniguchi, CEO of LTID Co. (Long Term Industrial Development Company), alignment of buyer and farmer interests is a very important step for the agriculture sector to enhance productivity and quality, thereby leading to mutual prosperity for all stakeholders. The Japan-based startup develops digital applications that can effectively connect farmers to growing markets. The objective is to use technology to help small farmers improve their income while enabling consumers to buy products at a fair price.

Also read: Innovation and collaboration will lead Malaysia’s digital health scene into the future

LTID Co. is ramping up its investment in its current mission to build a digital ecosystem in Southeast Asia and its current focus is on the Philippine agricultural sector. Under the existing scenario, Filipino farmers are highly vulnerable to exploitative practices by middlemen, a problem common to many farming communities in Asia. Hampered by a lack of infrastructure to raise finance, transport agricultural produce, and undertake marketing activities, small farmers find it difficult and expensive to compete as they have to conduct banking and sales operations and run efficient transportation networks apart from cultivation and farming duties.

Taniguchi believes that technology can help farmers become more efficient via techniques such as dynamic pricing and credit assessment mechanisms using the power of Artificial Intelligence. “While there is a constant need for financing in the Philippine agricultural sector, the traditional business model of banks is expensive and difficult to meet especially in developing countries like the Philippines,” explained Taniguchi. “We felt that there was room for growth and a need to improve efficiency,” added Taniguchi.

Can digital platforms empower farmers in Southeast Asia?

The digital apps and services that LTID Co. is creating are built to maximise the potential efficiency in the agriculture sector, thereby increasing farmer incomes, and empowering small farmers for a better future.

AgriDrive is an online transport matching service through which farmers can easily find available drivers to help them fulfil delivery orders of agricultural products. “We are providing free smartphone application that implements fintech by providing dynamic pricing to streamline the food value chain. It uses AI algorithms to match likely sendees (farmers, etc.) with drivers easily and quickly, at low cost.”

Also read: What opportunities await global startups that are expanding to Japan

While farmers will benefit from a convenient and affordable solution to their transportation needs, drivers are expected to get more delivery orders through this application too”, said Taniguchi. Security measures are implemented such as verification through photos taken on delivery and arrival to ensure there is no scope of fraud. Additional features include reputation scoring of drivers, messaging between senders, drivers, and recipients, along with a touchless and easy to use payment system.

Their second app in development is Agri Uber, “which has the functionality to let farmers form a digital agricultural cooperative”, Taniguchi explained. Cooperative farming refers to an organisation in which each member-farmer pools together their land and labor resources so that cultivation can be done jointly. Cooperative farming can help farmers benefit from economies of scale by lowering the cost of inputs or hiring services such as storage and transport. An agricultural cooperative system enables farmers to improve product and service quality and reduce risks.

Empowering farmers through cooperatives

Taniguchi believes cooperatives hold the key to a more efficient sector and wants to help the ASEAN agriculture market become more developed by introducing the Agri Uber app that empowers farmers to digitally form agricultural cooperatives. “This will increase the income of farmers and enable consumers to buy vegetables at a fair price,” said the LTID Co. CEO.

Taniguchi believes these digital platforms can have a deep impact on agricultural markets in the Southeast Asian region. While LTID Co. believes in helping farmers, they also realise that their digital platforms need to provide value to both buyers and sellers. “The revenue produced by this platform will be shared with the farmers and we will aim for mutual prosperity while standing on the side of the farmers,” remarked Taniguchi.

Also read: 26 Japan startups eye business growth with the help of Techstars

LTID Co. has laid out ambitious goals along with the determination to continuously produce benefits to the region and bring in long term industrial development. Taniguchi announced his goal for LTID: “In 10 years, the goal is to secure a 10% share of the agricultural market, introduce agricultural cooperative services to farmers in Southeast Asia, and raise their income levels to that of developed countries. “We will aim to improve the efficiency of agriculture in Southeast Asia in one fell swoop,” Taniguchi proudly announced as the mission of LTID.

As they embark on their plan to launch their services across the region to aid their expansion in the Philippines and other countries, LTID Co. has been granted subsidies by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. In addition, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) is assisting the startup by introducing them to networking and business opportunities in the Southeast Asian markets.

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Endeavor Indonesia today announced the ten startups participating in its ScaleUp Growth Program Batch 2.

The participants, selected from 43 startups headquartered in Indonesia/Singapore (with Indonesia as the main market), have a minimum of US$2M+ in equity funding/annual revenue by 2021.

A non-dilutive accelerator programme, Endeavor ScaleUp Growth Program is an additional stage of its existing programme that supports high-impact and scale-up companies (those in the growth stage and post-Series B fundraising).

The batch 2 startups are:

1. ALAMI (financial services)

2. CoLearn (edutech)

3. Esensi Solusi Buana (enterprise software and services)

4. Finantier (financial services)

5. GajiGesa (financial services)

6. Jala Tech (aquaculture technology)

7. Nalagenetics (healthcare)

8. Raena (commerce – retail and consumer tech)

9. SATURDAYS (commerce – retail and consumer tech)

10. Sekolah.mu (edutech)

The first batch of the programme consisted of 12 startups, including Sampingan, Flip, Logisly, Evermos, and Buttonscarves.

Also Read: GajiGesa raises US$6.6M pre-Series A to provide earned wage access to underserved workers, SMEs

Founded in 1997, Endeavor is a community of high-impact entrepreneurs. Today, Endeavor’s network spans nearly 40 countries and supports more than 2,100 entrepreneurs, whose companies generate combined revenues of over US$28 billion, have created more than 3.9 million jobs, and, in 2020, raised over US$4 billion in funding.

Since starting in Indonesia in 2012, it has selected and supported 70 entrepreneurs leading 51 companies, namely founders and CEO of Zilingo, Kopi Kenangan, Kitabisa.com, eFishery, Shipper, Female Daily Network, Waresix, Cottonink, Indonesia Bike Works, Waresix, and Kargo.

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Jakarta-based CoLearn, an online K-12 live learning and homework help platform, has secured an additional US$17 million as part of its Series A follow-on funding from TNB Aura, KTB Network (Korea), and Indonesian university Binus Group.

Existing investors AWI, Sequoia Surge, GSV Ventures, AC Ventures, Leo Capital, and January Capital also co-invested.

This round brings CoLearn’s total funding raised since inception to US$34 million. The new capital will be deployed to strengthen its go-to-market strategy, enabling it to expand its paid user base in Indonesia.

Founded in 2020 by Abhay Saboo, Marc Irawan, and Sandeep Devaram, CoLearn provides children in Indonesia with an alternative to traditional offline tutoring with its live interactive classes. Students can master their STEM questions from the convenience of their homes while saving themselves time.

Also Read: How edutech is solving the global teacher’s crisis

For students struggling to understand the concepts taught at school, CoLearn provides access to the “best teachers” in the country through live interactive classes. The platform claims it offers quality video solutions with clear, concise explanations.

Since its launch, CoLearn claims to have amassed over 4.8 million users, with over 85 million questions asked to date. In 2021, the number of questions asked grew 5x with its AI-powered problem-solving platform.

CoLearn has a technology team operating out of India and UAE. The company is actively looking at expanding its team size and recruiting for data science, product, and engineering roles in these countries.

Abhay Saboo, Co-Founder & CEO of CoLearn, said: “CoLearn is not only helping students build a strong foundation in STEM subjects but also has an immediate impact, as over 80 per cent of our subscribed students have seen an improvement in their grades. With a consistent NPS (Net Promoter Score) of over 70 for our live classes and 90 per cent organic traffic of our AI-powered homework help feature, we are actively working towards changing the mindset around online tutoring with our offering that blends AI and interactivity.”

Before raising US$17 million, CoLearn raised US$10M in Series A funding from Alpha Wave Incubation, GSV Ventures and Sequoia Surge and AC Ventures.

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Since the pandemic, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have constantly been coming up with creative solutions to remain afloat and keep pace with the rapidly changing business environment. While it has been an uphill battle for some, the extended period of uncertainty in the past two years have prepared most SMEs to stay agile and innovative to weather what 2022 might bring.

75 per cent of SME leaders believe that the changes in business operations made in the past year to cope with COVID-19 will bring long term benefits, as they anticipate future consumer trends and expectations to grow their businesses. This includes the move towards digitalisation and streamlining operations, among others. 

While trial-and-error learning and adaptation have been fruitful in navigating through the pandemic, here are some trends SMEs should be honing to build resilience for what is to come or risk sinking should they choose to overlook. 

The Rise of Metaverse and NFTs

A side effect of the pandemic that is here to stay for the long run is the drastic change in corporate and personal spending habits. The fast-changing consumer behaviour requires SMEs to constantly leverage available resources to update trends and information.

It also requires brands to adapt their communication strategies quickly to convey their standings and game plan. Whether online shopping, social and environmental consciousness, the transition between work-from-home and work-from-office or even the trending Netflix series, SMEs have to remain informed and updated in the changing consumer patterns.

The rise of the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has confirmed a revolting concept of the digital world being a parallel life to real-world experiences and is here to stay. This has even called for sportswear giants such as Adidas to include both digital and physical items in their new collection.

For example, Singapore’s Central Asia & South East Asia Business Chamber (CASEA-BC) is building a gamified user experience with the first-ever metaverse-commerce, based on real-world maps, that combines VR/AR/MR gaming with online -commerce for SMEs and digital asset ownership powered by NFTs like virtual land and shops. This is something exciting to watch out for. 

Data security and data ownership revolution

With consumer needs and sentiments constantly transforming, big data provides an in-depth understanding of changing trends and predicts patterns moving forward and has grown to become an arsenal for business operations, especially sales and marketing.

As SMEs, in general, are agile and able to act relatively quickly on data-driven insights, adapting the right type of data can transform a brand to be more relevant to its target audience and stand out among its competitors. 

However, access to data can prove costly for SMEs and keeping consumer data safe and secure; especially privacy data, can be challenging and risky. With demand for data protection on the rise, a new trend that relies on decentralising user data is fast catching on.

Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) aims to put the data ownership and control back into the hands of the users and even allows users to monetise their data. This is a massive revolution in the data space. It enables data owners to control their data instead of relying on the traditional centralised organisation.

This reduces the cost and the risk of maintaining a large centralised database of users’ data for the organisation while minimising the chances of data breaches commonly found in today’s centralised systems.

Also Read: Digital transformation for SMEs, Part 1: A matter of ‘When’, not ‘If’

To curb the challenges that come with big data security, Singapore’s UKISS Security Ecosystem has launched next-generation state-of-the-art SSI technology that protects all sensitive data conveniently, by the user, for the user, making it easier for SMEs to integrate data effectively without compromising on safety.

UKISS’s patented Hugware digital wallet technology does the job of securing a user’s ID, privacy data, digital assets and even data files easy and convenient, allowing a mass-market adoption of digital security for the average consumer.

Ramp up digitalisation

The pandemic-driven digital transformation businesses went through in 2020, and 2021 is expected to continue in the coming years.

While it is no surprise that most organisations embrace a digital-first approach, SMEs are to look into more avenues to deepen their investment in digitalisation further to stay ahead of the competition in the evolving digital landscape of gamify, meta-commerce and NFTs. 

Blockchain evangelists are confident that the technology will power the next wave of digital transformation across industries. The distributed, encrypted database model has the potential to be the game-changer in the automation of business operations which includes logistics, supply chain management, data store, e-commerce and sharing as well as transaction processing.

The adoption of blockchain technology has gained momentum in the last couple of years beyond cryptocurrencies. Solution providers such as IBD Technology (Singapore) and its partners are committed to helping SMEs bridge the digital gap to bring about further growth opportunities.

On top of that, decentralised infrastructure developers such as DEER Network are also building futuristic one-stop high speed and low-cost decentralised data storage infrastructure to power the next generation of digitalisation that bridges blockchain and metaverse applications. Together, these breed of new generation technology providers can help SMEs worldwide to latch on to the fast-moving digitalisation train, which may be crucial for survival in the post-pandemic era.

The adaptiveness of SMEs in the face of challenge is by and large the core strength to hone, not only to survive 2022 but to revive back stronger.

Whether it is the changing consumer trends and sentiments or evolving technological adoption, SMEs can adapt and implement the new principle more effectively if they are flexible and open to changes.

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Social food ordering platform ‘Gobble’ has raised US$1.3 million in a seed round of investment co-led by Beenext and Flash Ventures.

Notable angels, who have backed Gobble in this round, include Warren Tseng (former RGM, Uber APAC), Siddharth Shanker (former General Manager at Deliveroo Singapore), and Abhishek Sahay (Regional Director, Foodpanda).

Gobble will use the funds to launch its platform across colleges and expand its tech and product team to scale.

The startup was founded in 2021 by Ashwin Purushottam (Founder and CEO) and Domenico Tan (Co-Founder and COO). Purushottam was previously General Manager (Special Projects) at Deliveroo, whereas Tan worked Travis Kalanik’s CloudKitchens before joining Gobble as a co-founder.

Also Read: AI foodtech startup Easy Eat rakes in funding from ex-Uber CPO, Silicon Valley veterans to ramp up Malaysia ops

Gobble is a group ordering and food-gifting platform. The app boasts a couple of unique features, including Food Feed, which lets people view and order what their friends ordered instead of scrolling endlessly through delivery apps. It also allows the user to gift food to anyone with a cheeky message. In addition, the app enables students to create a ‘Gobble Party’ and invite their friends to group-buy discounted meals.

“Through Gobble, we are building APAC’s first social food ordering platform built around food and friends. We benefit not only the end-users but also our restaurant partners through group orders,” said CEO Purushottam.

Dirk van Quaquebeke, Managing Partner at Beenext, said: “Gobble is addressing a unique market opportunity. By using highly scalable technology, Gobble will bring millions together through food. We are thrilled to partner with the team on their journey to grow and expand to new markets.”

Lorenzo Franzi, Founding Partner, Flash Ventures, added: “The team is bringing a very human and local angle to food ordering and gifting while offering a completely new experience compared to the existing food platforms.”

In a survey conducted by the Gobble team among about 100 students from NTU, NUS and SMU, it was found that 96 per cent already gift food to friends.

The social-food ordering market is expected to grow to US$4.5 billion in Southeast Asia by 2025.

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