Animoca Brands attracts US$360M to grow open metaverse, make strategic acquisitions and investments
Investors include Liberty City Ventures, 10T Holdings, C Ventures, Delta Fund, and Gemini Frontier Fund; Animoca’s products include games ranging from hyper-casual to hardcore and collectibles, utility tokens, and e-sports titles.

“We want to facilitate organisations’ Web3 transition from bits to atoms”: Brinc CEO Manav Gupta
Brinc CEO believes under all the hype, Web3 will be a secular shift in how people come together to create enterprises and solve problems; The Hong Kong-based accelerator recently raised US$130M led by Animoca Brands.

Quadria Capital injects US$90M into Con Cung to build super app for Vietnamese mothers
Con Cung’s offerings include over 2K SKUs of products such as milk powder, diapers, bottled nutrition and vitamins, equipment, and baby fashion; It operates 600 stores in 45 provinces and towns and plans to expand to 1,000 stores by the end of 2022.

Lummo (formerly Bukukas) raises US$80M, to foray into other SEA markets
Investors include Tiger Global, Sequoia India, and CapitalG; Lummo was started as a bookkeeping app for MSMEs; While it currently operates in the social commerce space, it is eyeing more markets such as Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.

BurdaPrincipal leads Filipino BNPL platform BillEase’s US$11M Series B round
Other backers are Centauri, 33 Capital, and Tamaz Georgadze; BillEase app also offers personal loans, e-wallet top-ups and popular wallets like GCash, PayMaya, Coins.ph, GrabPay, and ShopeePay.

Vietnam’s games publisher Funtap launches US$10M blockchain fund
Funverse Capital will back startups working on blockchain-enabled apps in GameFi, DeFi (decentralised finance) and other potential projects; It will write a cheque of up to US$1M while also providing mentorship and accelerator programmes.

Mio banks US$8M Series A to empower Vietnamese women via its social commerce platform for fresh produce
Investors include Jungle Ventures, Patamar Capital, GGV Capital, Venturra, and Hustle Fund; Mio fulfils 10K daily orders to tens of thousands of households via its agent network and delivers directly from the farm to the table in less than 16 hours.

B2B e-commerce startup Dropee scores US$7M Series A
Investors include Vynn Capital, HCL Capital, Resolution Ventures, and LKF Capital; Dropee connects suppliers with SMEs in real-time; It leverages AI and predictive analysis to forecast which products will be on demand at local retailers.

Infinity Force scores US$5.5M seed funding led by Animoca to provide infra for global P2E communities
Other investors include JUMP Capital, Sky Vision Capital, OKex Blockdream Ventures, and MEXC; Infinity Force provides end-to-end SaaS encompassing guild creation, NFT asset lending, player recruitment and training, performance management, payment automation, and data analytics.

HERE Technologies leads UNL’s US$4.5M funding to ‘pixelise’ the physical world
UNL offers a library of plug-and-play geospatial solutions that help businesses in e-commerce to last-mile and smart city space; HERE is a location platform for navigation and mapping owned by the consortium of German carmakers Audi, BMW and Daimler.

Sky Mavis co-founder backs Ancient8’s US$4M seed round to democratise access to metaverse
Co-investors include Dragonfly Capital, Pantera Capital, Hashed, Animoca Brands, and Sipher; Ancient8 is building a DAO that develops a community and software platform to enable everyone to play and build the metaverse while earning rewards.

Funding roundup: StaffAny raises US$3.4M in Series A, MyRobin.ID closes pre-series A
StaffAny is a workforce management solution that connects HR and operations within organisations, whereas MyRobin provides on-demand, pre-screened, blue-collar workers in Indonesia.

BRI Ventures, Tokocrypto launch first blockchain accelerator
The Tokocrypto Sembrani Blockchain Accelerator targets post-seed startups working on blockchain and tokenisation technology; Potential participants should be involved in fields like centralised or decentralised finance, impact projects, P2E systems, or NFTs.

True Global Ventures pours US$3M into IDO launchpad Enjinstarter
Enjinstarter is a blockchain gaming, metaverse, and entertainment-focused launchpad for IDOs and initial NFT offerings; It supports creators and game developers by enabling them to build and develop their blockchain and digital asset strategies.

Vietnam’s EV startup Selex Motors banks US$2.1M to ramp up in-house vehicle production
Investors include Touchstone Partners, ADB Ventures, and Nextrans. Selex Motors owns patented technologies to develop and manufacture smart electric motorcycles, battery packs and battery swapping systems.

East Ventures leads seed round of Indonesian mental health app Riliv
Benson Capital, Sankalpa Ventures, and Teja Ventures also participated; Riliv has developed an app that offers online counseling and meditation services for people dealing with mental health issues.

Malaysia’s content aggregator Newswav scores US$1.43M led by OSK Ventures
Newswav provides content in three different languages (English, Malay, Chinese) and three different formats (articles, videos, podcasts); The portal aggregates about 200 publications and content creators, including The Sun Daily, SCMP, and Malay Mail.

Oxford, Cambridge graduates’ startup GuruLab raises US$1M to pair qualified tutors with learning analytics
Singapore-based Wright Partners and other VCs invested; GuruLab aims to give each student the tailored help to improve their grades through a data-driven approach.

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As COVID-19 has forced the world to slow down, it has pushed the fashion industry into a new and confronting reality. With retail shops forced to close, cancelled orders up to and down the supply chain and a decreased consumer appetite for shopping, the fashion industry has had to take stock.

Its ethical and sustainability issues have been more exposed than ever alongside a consumer awakening that the traditional linear model of “take-make-waste” is no longer feasible. 

The need for fashion to become more circular has never been more apparent. According to the Global Fashion Agenda and Boston Consulting Group,  an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste is created annually from the fashion industry and is estimated to increase by about 60 per cent between 2015 and 2030.

By 2030, the anticipated total fashion waste is 148 million tons, that’s equivalent to 17.5kg of fashion waste for each person globally.

The emergence of resale platforms has greatly improved the lifespan of products and helped to derive considerably more value from produced goods, however, for true circularity to be achieved it needs to start with the design phase. 

Over 70 per cent of environmental impact occurs at the design stage of a product meaning waste and pollution are the results of design flaws. Choosing and sourcing the right materials for production is the first step when designing for sustainability.

The rise of fast fashion has led to the increased adoption of synthetic materials as they are cheap to produce and durable. However, these materials are produced from fossil fuels and are currently unrecyclable.

Worse still when these fabrics are blended with another fibre making it incredibly hard to separate again into recyclable materials although extensive research and practice by the Hong Kong Research Institute for Textile & Apparel are easing this process.

Also Read: How consumers are prioritising sustainability beyond the single lens of eco-friendly products

A common misconception about recycled polyester is that it comes from preloved polyester clothing, however, it is made from plastic bottles and can in fact be detrimental to the circular economy as it impedes the ability for old plastic bottles to be recycled into new ones. 

Design with end in mind

Product designers need to research and select the best natural fibres for their products. Its carbon output and recyclability need to be as important as its form and function. Determining the carbon output of each material can be difficult as, for example, cotton is grown differently across the world due to different conditions and climates.

However, there are a number of platforms, such as the Higg Index which was created by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, that is trying to improve transparency and credibility to carbon emission figures. A longer-term sustainable solution needs to be found to replace fashion’s dependency on these cheap to produce fibres.

Innovative companies, such as Pangaia, have developed brand new fabrics with the same qualities of synthetic fibres but made out of natural ingredients such as eucalyptus and seaweed. These promising developments however have yet to scale.

Product designers also need to design with their end of life in mind. How can the product’s lifespan be maximized? After its first owners, can it be reused? Or perhaps recycled or upcycled? Encouragingly we have seen a huge rise in afterlife repair services.

Luxury brands, such as Hermes and Brunello Cucinelli, have been going back to their traditional values and offering customers repair and restoration services. Patagonia, a leader in sustainable fashion, has the largest repair facility in North America completing 50,000 repairs a year, and actively encourages customers to avoid buying new when they can just be fixed. 

Digitalisation and resale

Advancements in technology and blockchain are another key component to building a circular fashion ecosystem. Blockchain allows brands to assign a unique code to products at the start of production.

This code is time-stamped, secure, and trackable allowing for the whole product’s supply chain to be recorded from the sourcing, the materials and dyes used, the fabrics, right up to when the product hits the shelf, and then beyond.

Also Read: COVID-19, the environment, and the tech ecosystem: what opportunity is available out there for us?

Such transparency and traceability will force brands to take greater accountability over their design and production.

Once a product sells, the technology doesn’t stop there. Digital authentication platforms will drive resale onto an even greater scale. A product’s unique code will guarantee authentication as consumers will be able to track its production from the start. It will also propel circularity as a product’s ownership will be able to be tracked as it is passed on from one owner to the next.

Pricing will be made more efficient as its original RRP and history will be recorded and resale platforms will generally be able to benefit from improved database management and customer engagement. So revolutionary is this technology that rival fashion houses LVMH, Prada Group, and Richemont decided to come together and launch the Aura Blockchain Consortium.

The single blockchain solution allows consumers to trace and verify a product’s historical data, proof of ownership, warranty, and maintenance service record leaving them with an exclusive product certificate.

Resale is a crucial part of facilitating the extension of a product’s lifespan and dramatically reducing carbon emissions. If everyone bought 1 used item instead of a new one, we would save nearly six billion lbs of CO2e4.

Since our founding in 2016, Retykle has recirculated more than 150,000 items of clothing to date, saving 407,100 lb of carbon and 313 million litres of water!

Brands have a huge opportunity to incorporate resale into their customer offering. By partnering with resale platforms, it provides them with greater control over how their goods are represented on the secondhand market and can also improve customer loyalty and desirability. 

The last part of sustainable design is end-of-life reinvention. Rather than ending up in landfills, can products be broken down into their individual materials and reconstructed with other recycled waste into something brand new again?

Regeneration is a key component to refuelling our nature’s ecosystem and not continually draining resources.

If all our waste can be repurposed then demand for virgin materials will be greatly reduced. Designing with the end in mind is the way forward for an industry in peril. 

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Malaysia-based B2B wholesale e-commerce startup Dropee has completed a US$7 million Series A round in equity and debt financing.

The round was led by Vynn Capital, which invested US$341,000 in Dropee in a seed round three years ago and later joined the startup’s US$1.3 million Y Combinator-led round in 2020.

Returning backer Brama One Ventures also joined, alongside new investors including HCL Capital, Resolution Ventures (a VC that focuses on fintech companies in Southeast Asia), and LKF Capital (corporate VC arm of Lan Kwai Fong Group), among others.

The proceeds will be used to expedite Dropee’s financing product offerings for wholesalers and retailers over the next 12 months by working with strategic partners, including regional banks and non-banking financial institutions.

“We’re doubling down on helping micro and small local businesses to adopt digital solutions. This way, they can bring down their operating costs, have more access to financing support and increase their business longevity,” said Lennise Ng, Co-Founder and CEO of Dropee.

Also read: 25 notable startups in Malaysia that have taken off in 2021 

Founded in 2016 by Lennise Ng and Aizat Rahim, Dropee offers brand owners and wholesalers a one-stop solution, including O2O B2B order management, automated payment collection from customers, and hassle-free paperwork processes.

It also has tools to compare suppliers, prices, and products easily, all on one platform, simplifying the decision-making process through greater transparency. Other features revolved around procurement and supply chain ecosystem management.

On top of its SaaS and marketplace businesses, Dropee has also expanded its product line to support loan and financing deployment.

So far, Dropee has made inroads into Singapore and Indonesia, besides Malaysia. It claims to have supported over 80,000 SME businesses to procure wholesale inventories in its marketplace, annually totalling more than US$100 million in transaction value.

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KILDE nets US$350K to introduce new alternative investment products

KILDE, an investment platform regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has closed a US$350,000 bridge round.

The financing was joined by serial angel investors, including Murat Abdrakhmanov, Adil Nurgozhin (Co-Founder of UMAY Angels Network), and Olzhas Zhiyenkulov (Founder of Tesla Capital and CEO of Paladigm Capital).

KILDE will use the proceeds to pursue the strategy of becoming a private tech-enabled supermarket for alternative investments — any investments outside of traditional asset classes such as stocks, bonds, or cash.

KILDE will also focus on introducing new investment products that provide hands-off regular income to customers in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Also read: SEA tech founders playbook: A to Z of becoming a fundraising legend (Part 2)

Credit funds, family offices, and high net-worth individuals often use KILDE to discover and invest in high-yield income-generating assets, including private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, private debt, real estate, infrastructure or natural resources. 

Certain alternative assets better target environmental and sustainability goals by enabling access to credit and supporting specific green and socially inclusive projects.

KILDE claims to have recorded a rapid 10x growth in the last quarter of 2021. 

Riliv closes seed funding to expand mental health services in Indonesia

East Ventures has announced a seed investment in Riliv, a mental health service startup based in Indonesia.  

The co-investors are Benson Capital, Sankalpa Ventures, Teja Ventures, Telkom Indonesia (through the Indigo Acceleration programme), and Angel Investor Shweta Shrivastava. 

This investment will be used to expand Riliv’s mental health services to a broader range of sectors, such as the general public who need integrated health services and industries specific to providing access to mental health personnel for employees. 

Also read: How to tackle employee mental health to build a resilient workforce

Founded in 2015 by brothers Audrey Maximillian Herli (CEO) and Audy Christopher Herli, Riliv provides integrated mindfulness content and online counselling services through an application.

The startup claims its user base has grown by up to 400 per cent during the pandemic, both from workers and general users such as students and housewives.

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Vietnamese smart mobility startup Selex Motors JSC has raised US$2.1 million in a seed funding round led by Touchstone Partners.

ADB Ventures, the venture investment arm of the Asian Development Bank, and Korean VC firm Nextrans also participated.

A press note said Selex will use the proceeds to expand its R&D operations, strengthen the in-house manufacturing capacity of vehicles and battery packs at its new factory in the Hanoi area, and start deployment with early customers.

With its new production facility established, the company also plans to expand into other Southeast Asian countries.

Selex was founded in 2018 by CEO Nguyen Nguyen, Chief Mechanical Engineer Hai Nguyen, and Chief Software Engineer Quang Nguyen. It owns patented technologies to develop and manufacture smart electric motorcycles (EMs), battery packs, and swapping systems.

The startup taps into the underserved B2B market (particularly the last-mile delivery for the logistics sector) with its environmentally friendly and cost-effective solutions.

Also read: The growth of electric vehicles is saving the planet, one trip at a time

The EMs, purpose-built to serve the logistics sector, can transport heavier and bulkier loads than passenger bikes converted for the function. They are equipped with proprietary IoT technology and modern fleet management capabilities to improve productivity further.

Selex claims it offers the products at competitive prices and helps in significant cost savings, including 50 per cent maintenance costs and 25 per cent on fuel costs.

The company has electrified delivery fleets and set up battery swap points for delivery giants such as Viettel Post (a leading parcel courier in Vietnam) and Lazada Logistics (a logistics arm of e-commerce giant Lazada).

According to the National Traffic Safety Committee, Vietnam is home to roughly 50 million motorbikes. It is regarded as the fourth-largest motorbike market globally (behind China, India, and Indonesia).

Each year, these motorbikes burn approximately US$5 billion worth of gasoline and contribute half of the vehicular carbon emissions.

“There are few larger or more urgent challenges facing the world today than climate change, and Selex has identified an unserved and growing market where it can make an impact,” said Tu Ngo, general partner at Touchstone Partners.

Bloomberg reported that the global EV market will total more than 90 million vehicles by 2030, while vehicle ownership of all types across Southeast Asia is predicted to grow more than 40 per cent by 2040.

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In 2020, India became the world’s largest processor of real-time payments, handling close to 41 million transactions in a day, ahead of China and South Korea. This grew by 30 per cent in 2021—India’s digital transformation results from public infrastructure created by the UPI.

However, to capture the full potential, this digital journey needs to run alongside an open data framework that encourages innovation and connects new customers with the financial system. India has made progress but has yet to unlock the full power of open financial data: that needs to change.

Research conducted by Flourish Ventures and McKinsey & Company shows that broad adoption of open-data ecosystems in India could result in a four to five per cent increase in GDP by 2030.

That potential gain– far higher than in developed economies such as the US, European Union or the UK – underlines the importance of financial inclusion as an engine of economic growth.

An open-data regime, which allows the consent-based sharing of users’ financial data, benefits the financial system.

Individuals and small businesses benefit from improved access to financial services, greater convenience and more choice. In contrast, financial institutions gain from a more efficient system, more business opportunities, and better management of risk.

Multiplied benefit

In India, the potential economic benefit is multiplied because so much of the population is underserved by the traditional banking system. Although 80 per cent of Indians have bank accounts, millions of those are inactive, and many small businesses cannot access formal credit.

Also Read: Southeast Asia should capitalise on open data dividend to boost GDP. Here’s why

The International Finance Corporation in 2017 calculated that the finance gap for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in India was US$230 billion, equivalent to 11 per cent of GDP.

The other big benefit comes from the removal of red tape. McKinsey and Flourish found that automating know-your-client (KYC) processes could save MSMEs in India 175 million hours a year.

More data points would also speed up access to finance. Even after the onboarding process is complete, credit decisions still take several weeks: the average turnaround time for MSME loans from public sector banks is 31 days, according to the Reserve Bank of India.

Open data could also eliminate fraud costs amounting to 4 per cent of annual banking revenues, giving more lenders the comfort to support the sector.

Positive momentum

Happily, India has taken some important steps in the right direction. The introduction of the Aadhaar ID card and the development of the IndiaStack framework – a public infrastructure ecosystem facilitating standardisation of information storing and sharing – has slashed the need for paper checks.

That has reduced banks’ retail KYC verification costs to as low as 30-40 rupees per transaction from up to INR1,000 previously.

Further improvements are on the way. The RBI has also created an account aggregator framework that allows for a consent-based, faster and more efficient sharing of information between financial institutions.

The system is expected to become fully operational later this year: the first licences were handed out in 2020, and beta testing is already underway with public and private sector banks.

A Central Identities Data Repository– designed to remove the need to access multiple sources to verify government data– is also under construction.

Also Read: What is the next frontier for lending in India

When it comes to financial inclusion, the growing adoption of the Bharat Bill Payment System for digital utility payments holds great promise. Volumes in July reached a record INR94.88bn, more than double the INT37.07 billion processed in the same month last year, according to NPCI data.

As more customers pay their bills electronically, they create payment records that can help them gain access to formal credit – even if they have no other credit history.

In the US, a study by Experian found that including utility data could transform 20 per cent of “thin file” credit customers– or those less likely to gain credit– into “thick file” customers who are more likely to do so.

In India, where a far higher percentage of the population has no formal financial records, access to utility data would be even more important to potential lenders.

McKinsey and Flourish calculated that increased access to credit using alternative data could raise India’s credit-to-GDP ratio by 1.3 per cent— or the equivalent of US$80–US$90 billion of GDP– by 2030.

New platforms

India’s open data framework has already given rise to a new breed of apps and fintech platforms. By aggregating data from multiple sources, companies like Credflow can help small businesses manage their payment cycles. ZestMoney can offer buy-now-pay-later services by connecting retail consumers with lenders. API providers like YAP are helping to streamline the system.

There is more to be done. The Flourish and McKinsey research found that some 60 per cent of the potential value from open financial data is already accessible, highlighting the value of government investments in digital infrastructure. However, to capture the full value, India needs to allow innovation in financial services to blossom.

It is still too hard to set up a business, and India’s financial system is ill-equipped to use these new data sets fully. Banks focus too much on secured lending, and the cost of borrowing for small businesses and end consumers remains prohibitively high.

To capture the opportunity outlined in the research by Flourish and McKinsey, India’s banks and new lenders will need to rethink their approach to unsecured lending.

The RBI has acknowledged that years of mandated lending to the MSME sector have not produced enough progress. Greater innovation in how small business loans are evaluated, underwritten and managed can open up the Indian financial system to a new generation of customers.

An open data environment can enable that process – and accelerate India’s economy.

The article is co-authored by Tilman Ehrbeck, Managing Partner, Flourish Ventures.

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Hong Kong-based startup accelerator Brinc recently raised US$130 million in a round led by digital entertainment, blockchain and gamification unicorn Animoca Brands to expand into new locations and launch new programmes and funds. 

The accelerator’s ultimate goal is to support the development of over a thousand new purpose-driven startups over the next decade. In addition, the capital will enable Brinc’s expansion into Web3, including the launch of new blockchain-focused accelerator programmes across culture, music, art, collectibles, gaming, decentralised finance and data.

On the sidelines of the deal, e27 sat with Founder and CEO Manav Gupa, who shared the details of Brinc’s plans.

Edited excerpts: 

You have just raised US$130M from Animoca and others. How and where do you plan to deploy this capital?

We plan to scale into several new locations, launch new accelerator programmes, launch new funds, grow the team.  

This capital is being split into two parts:

1. To support the growth of Brinc: This includes the development of new capabilities that support expansion into new geographical locations, the launching of additional accelerator programmes across new verticals, and establishing new teams to drive efficiencies operationally at scale.
2. To invest in accelerator deals across all programmes and invest in and grow over 1,000 purpose-driven startups over the next five years.

How is your accelerator programme different from traditional ones?

Our programme is fully remote. However, unlike other distributed accelerators, we have a wealth of live sessions with industry experts and mentors. We can cover several time zones by running a combination of fireside chats, break-out sessions and 1-to-1 sessions with experts, partners, and mentors.

Our programme has unique tools and frameworks designed to support founders regardless of their stage permitting tailored value delivery. 

We focus on technical and core technology support and pay close attention to the human element of being a founder and growing a startup. We provide expert advice on conflict resolution, founder development, hiring and scaling, leadership, and building culture. 

Also Read: Infinity Force scores US$5.5M seed funding led by Animoca to provide infra for global P2E communities

On top of these, Brinc supports founders across key business functions, such as marketing, product development (including Tokenomics and Token design), legal and especially fundraising. Graduating companies have a remarkable success rate in how fast they close their subsequent rounds.

You run two funds apart from a separate fund with partners. Can you share the details of these three funds?

We currently have three venture funds:

BrincArtesian Flagship Fund: In partnership with Artesian, we are raising a US$100 million Flagship Fund, which will invest in early-stage deeptech companies in Asia, solving fundamental problems such as food & water security, healthcare quality & access, climate change, financial inclusion and more. It will build a diversified portfolio by investing in startups through our accelerators which support commercialisation, growth and fundraising. The vehicle will provide follow-on funding to the top companies that graduate the seed and Series A programmes and give the LPs direct investment opportunities at later stages. The fund is currently backed by the National University of Singapore. 

BrincArtesian Counter Culture Fund: In partnership with Artesian, we are raising a US$50 million Counter Culture Fund that strives to counteract the inefficiencies, climate challenges and ethical concerns with mainstream animal agriculture. The fund will drive systemic change and capture a share of the growing US$1.4 trillion food sector by investing in early-stage alternative protein companies in Asia focusing on cellular agriculture, precision fermentation, plant-based analogues, and alternative dairy. 

This fund will invest in companies at the seed, Series A and Series B stages, focusing on companies located in Asia or targeting the Asia market. Brinc’s accelerators provide a range of opportunities such as TurtleTree Labs, Avant Meats, Cell X, and Shandi.

Launchpad Luna Mentor Fund: In partnership with Animoca Brands, we are raising a US$100 million Mentor Fund to invest in founders leveraging Web3 principles to build decentralised and inclusive businesses. The fund is meant to incentivise, reward and empower our network of value-add mentors by providing early, exclusive access to startups during the Launchpad Luna Program before our public demo day. 

This fund will invest in the equity and future token/NFT supply of companies that meet specific performance milestones during the programme. The fund will be governed by a DAO to incentivise participation, reward contribution and promote transparency. 

We are actively looking for strategic LPs across all three venture funds.

Animoca is an active Web3 and metaverse investor. What do you expect from this partnership?

They (Animoca Brands and its subsidiary The Sandbox, an open NFT metaverse platform) bring a wealth of experience with strong networks to the table. They are also fully committed to developing the creator economy and thus are active mentors supporting investee companies with their experience. 

Through the Launchpad Luna Accelerator, Animoca Brands and The Sandbox are helping startups with technical guidance, token architecture, and follow-on fundraising. Brinc and Animoca will also work closely to scout startups, complete due diligence, and actively create value through the programme. 

We are also exploring additional sub-verticals where we believe technology and Web3 can provide further value alignment and work to develop programmes and supportive services.

Beyond this, we are growing and connecting our networks. We have already onboarded 75-plus mentors for the LaunchPad Luna programme. Mentors currently include Sebastian Borget (Co-Founder, The Sandbox), WhaleShark, Aleksander Larsen (Co-Founder, Axie Infinity), Holly Liu (Co-Founder, Kabam), Jerome Wong (Co-Founder, EVG), Ray Liu (CEO, Bit.Country), Luna Javier (Co-Founder, Altitude Games), Dapper Labs, Binance, Solana and many others.

In a press note, you said you would expand into Web3. Could you tell me what you mean by expansion? Is it that you plan to accept Web3 companies into your programme?

We see our expansion into Web3 by developing accelerator programmes and funds across core areas:

We will invest in Web3-native companies across culture (arts, media, gaming, e-sports, entertainment, collectibles), metaverse, DeFi, DAOs, guilds and infrastructure through Launchpad Luna. We will continue to expand the scope of our investment as we bring on more exciting partners across sub-verticals like Metaverses, De-Fi, Fitness, etc.

Also Read: Animoca Brands attracts US$360M to grow open metaverse, make strategic acquisitions and investments

We will facilitate the Web3 transition from bits to atoms by helping companies in traditional sectors adopt Web3 principles, which can help coordinate and incentivise disparate groups of people to solve tangible problems. We will educate these companies on the value of community building, novel governance mechanisms and tokenomics so that more people can have skin in the game and a seat at the table.  

How does your Web3 accelerator work? Is it going to be a hybrid programme? When do you plan to launch? How many companies do you expect to join the programme?

The programme is fully online, and startups join us from all over the world. Brinc accelerators have always had an online component — before migrating to fully online in early 2019, all cohorts were half online and half in person. 

The transition to fully remote was natural and not difficult due to our existing infrastructure, in-house tools and processes. We expect to continue to improve our online programmes to make them as valuable as possible from founders from every time zone.

The first programme is underway. We invested in 30-plus Web3 startups. We expect to increase that number in the future as we add more verticals under the Launchpad Luna Accelerator. We will invest in arts, music, marketplaces, collectibles, games, DeFi, metaverse, guilds, and more for the next programme.

Web3 is still in the early days, and many critics like Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk don’t seem to have a favourable opinion on this; they say Web3 is too idealistic, and some say it is a vapid marketing campaign. What is your view?

To be an entrepreneur, you have to be idealistic. Entrepreneurs have a particular vision for the future and spend considerable amounts of time, energy, resources and funding to make that vision a reality. Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey are quintessential visionary founders, and we understand their criticisms. 

Where there is rapid experimentation and an opportunity to make comical sums of money with minimal oversight, there will naturally be people who try to take advantage of the situation. Web3 has many challenges, including marketing, mania and fraud, which require investors to be more discerning. 

But under all the hype, we fundamentally believe that Web3 will be a secular shift in how people come together to create enterprises and solve problems. Historically, venture funding came from highly concentrated pools of capital which meant startup portfolios reflected their particular geographical and sectoral preferences. 

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

Traditionally with funding, liquidity was the end goal, but with Web3, it’s available right at the start, bringing all stakeholders in as owners. Web3 provides new mechanisms of organisation, governance, community building, and incentivisation, allowing more people to have skin in the game and a seat at the table. 

We believe these new operating principles will empower the next generation of entrepreneurs, especially in emerging markets, to solve problems that reflect a global citizenry’s priorities rather than those occupying corner offices on Sand Hill Road. Innovating and driving change will be distributed and democratised.

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Image Credit: Brinc

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The post “We want to facilitate organisations’ Web3 transition from bits to atoms”: Brinc CEO Manav Gupta appeared first on e27.

Vietnam-based blockchain gaming guild Ancient8 said today it raised US$4 million in a seed funding round co-led by VC funds Dragonfly Capital, Pantera Capital, and Hashed.

The round also saw participation from a string of investors, including Mechanism Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, 3Twelve Capital, Coin98 Ventures, Kyros Ventures, Raydium, Jump Capital, GuildFi, Impossible Finance, Animoca Brands, Mirana Ventures (Venture Partner of Bybit and BitDAO), Chromia, Sipher, Smrti Lab, Folius Ventures, PANONY, Shima Capital, C^2 Ventures, and SkyVision Capital.

Other angels joining the round are Trung Nguyen (co-founder Sky Mavis), Santiago R Santos, Nick Chong, and Loi Luu (Kyber Network).

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

With this, Ancient8 intends to grow its scholar base and invest in blockchain and metaverse education to support community members to keep track of the latest advances in GameFi (a combination of games and finance).

Besides, it aims to build more GameFi tools to help newly launched games with go-to-market support and user acquisition and build more blockchain and software products to serve as the infrastructure layer for the metaverse.

The firm will continue to expand its game coverage, especially in the Solana blockchain ecosystem, and expand its user base rapidly throughout Southeast Asia.

“Partnering with our community of gaming enthusiasts and game developers, we are democratising social and financial access for the first native generation of Metaverse citizens,” said Howard, Co-founder of Ancient8.

Founded in July 2021, Ancient8 is building a Decentralised Autonomous Organization (DAO) that develops a community and software platform to enable everyone to play and build the metaverse while earning rewards simultaneously.

Employing blockchain technology, the startup provides users with a comprehensive set of products and services, including scholarships and education, community, software, and investment in GameFi. 

It allows users to borrow non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to play popular games, earn rewards, and receive instruction from experienced gamers. Users may also invest in new games and have early access to NFT and game testing for superior user rewards.

Also read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

“Innovative play-to-earn games such as Axie Infinity have changed the status quo, empowering gamers to own a piece of the games that they play and share social and financial rewards by contributing to the community, all while having fun,” said Howard. “We are excited to build the infrastructure layer for the future of blockchain gaming and the Metaverse.”

So far, Ancient8 claims to have aided tens of thousands of blockchain gamers and enthusiasts.

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Image Credit: Ancient8

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Workforce management startup StaffAny raises US$3.4M Series A

Singapore-based workforce management solution startup StaffAny has raised US$3.4 million in its Series A funding round, led by GGV Capital.

The co-investors are East Ventures, FreakOut Shinsei Fund, Far East Ventures, Farquhar Venture Capital and Slack’s former CFO Allen Shim.

StaffAny will use the investment to grow the company, expand regionally and develop new features for its workforce management solution.

Also Read: HR management platform StaffAny gets US$722K seed funding, focussing on growth

StaffAny helps businesses in the blue-collar workforce optimise operational scheduling, time tracking and HR end-of-month timesheet consolidation. It provides functions such as employee scheduling, a cloud timeclock, online leave management, real-time reports, and a connected workforce solution.

MyRobin.ID closes of pre-series A led by Accion Venture Lab, SOSV

MyRobin.ID, a workforce-as-a-service marketplace in Indonesia, has raised an undisclosed pre-Series A round led by Accion Venture Lab and SOSV.

Investible, Khoo Investment, Seedstars, Vulpes Investment Management, Brightness Capital, Astor Management, Bansea, and existing investor Antler joined the round.

MyRobin provides businesses with on-demand, pre-screened, blue-collar workers on a long and short-term basis in Indonesia. The platform tracks workers’ daily attendance and performance, and all payments are processed via the MyRobin platform. The firm charges a management fee as a percentage of the total labour cost.

Also Read: Meet the 7 graduates of SOSV-backed MOX’s 9th cohort

MyRobin also provides worker benefits like early wage access, micro-insurance, discounts on daily needs, and access to vocational training to boost retention and productivity.

Launched in August 2020, MyRobin has more than 2.8 million workers in its network.

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Image Credit: StaffAny

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What a crazy two months it’s been since my previous Web3 post. After two years of closed borders, I finally travelled to Bulgaria.

One of the many lessons I learned during the holiday is that we travel to appreciate what we have. In just 30 days, I experienced a lot of history, culture, and sightseeing while connecting with family and friends.

I am back in Singapore to continue my entrepreneurial journey with a strong sense of appreciation. Southeast Asia might have taken away some comfort but has paid dividends in growth.

Let’s kick off the year with some thoughts on what’s happening in crypto and Web3 in 2022.

My time in Europe allowed me to talk to many people across Bulgaria about crypto. While most people seem interested, a few have a basic understanding of Web3 or how crypto works. All in all, I met just a couple of experts.

The more people I talked to, I realised how early we were. Add a lot of reading on the topic, and you can guess that my perspective started evolving. While I am still convinced that Web3 will be the next major shift in tech, I also came to appreciate the current state of things.

Complimentary opposites

Most Web3 proponents tend to demonstrate strong dualities. To name a few, decentralisation is good, centralisation is bad. Bitcoin is good; fiat is doomed.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Such dualities paint concepts as good or evil. That line of thinking never resonated with me. Instead, I started to think about such concepts as complementary opposites.

Having the ability to appreciate two ideas that seem opposite brings a lot of humility. That’s especially true when thinking of Web2 and Web3. Lack of certainty makes us more humble. Avoiding dualities gives a better perspective about everything in between.

Think about it. Realistically, no one knows the future. So we cannot be sure about the effect of our actions. Significantly how whole industries will evolve, i.e. Web3 taking over Web2.

“People forget just how completely non-obvious the entire digital revolution was every step of the way.

1995: WWW will fail

2002: Google will fail

2007: iPhone will fail

2013: Facebook will fail”

– Balaji Srinivasan 

Whatever happens, there will always be tradeoffs. Humility allows us to keep an acute awareness. Which in turn enables us to navigate an ever-complex world. We need to embrace complementary opposites to nurture humility and thus become antifragile.

Also Read: HK accelerator Brinc lands US$130M funding led by Animoca Brands to foray into Web3

Any person who ever tried to change the world learned to navigate complexity. Even some of the most successful people of our times, like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, learned that you cannot impose your own will on the world at all times.

Determination does not equal foresight. Change is inevitable. But changing the status quo requires an understanding of the complementary opposites.

The great rebranding

All those reflections led me to think, where exactly is the Web3 ecosystem today?

We certainly see a lot of activity in the space. Especially across social media, funding, new startups, developer activity, and the price of major coins like BTC/ETH.

Additionally, in the last few years, crypto has gone through a significant rebrand. Moving from crypto to web3 enabled us to leave behind bad experiences like the ICO boom in 2017 and market crashes.

The rebrand seems to be working. The brightest minds are pivoting careers and joining the decentralised movement. Although crypto has been around for more than a decade, we are still in the early days.

Web3 today is in a period of exploration and sophistication.

Exploration

Under exploration, I refer to working towards identifying and building use cases. Projects that leverage blockchain while delivering consistent value. Unfortunately, while DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs have emerged as innovation streams, many remain sceptical. As with every innovation in its early days, we are experiencing a phase of skeuomorphism.

Also Read: To infinity and beyond: Why 2022 will be the year of Web3

“Skeuomorphism is a term most often used in graphical user interface design to describe interface objects that mimic their real-world counterparts in how they appear and/or how the user can interact with them. A well-known example is the recycle bin icon used for discarding files. Skeuomorphism makes interface objects familiar to users by using concepts they recognise.” – Interaction Design Foundation on Skeuomorphism.

During this phase, founders and designers are essentially adapting existing use cases. Think of Letter writing > Emails and Books/Magazines > Read-only blogs during web1. It took a long time to get native Web2 applications. Tools that enabled read and write functionality.

Only then did we see an explosion of success cases. I am referring to social media (Facebook), productivity (Notion), and crowdfunding (AngelList).

One of the famous examples of skeuomorphism in crypto is Bitclout. The platform resembles a decentralised Twitter. Yet, the difference is that everyone gets a token.

You can support your favourite influencer by buying her token. Of course, the price goes up as more people buy.

On the one hand, that’s a unique use case. A solution that directly rewards influencers without the intervention of third parties. On the other, it looks and feels exactly such as Twitter. Perhaps that’s why it did not get popular outside crypto circles.

I do not have anything against such platforms. On the contrary, I think they play an essential role. But the real value will be unlocked by Web3 native use cases, not adaptations of Web2 platforms.

Think of PoolTogether. That’s a native use case. Once you log in with your wallet, you can deposit money for a chance to win.

Each week the smart contract picks one winner. Even if that’s not you, you end up keeping all of your money. A lottery where you can either win or save your money.

Sophistication

The second biggest challenge with Web3 today is the poor UI/UX. Most projects tend to be highly technical. Hence, difficult to understand and act on. In my opinion, that holds back a lot of people from embracing Web3 and experimenting in space.

The challenge stems from how blockchain-enabled apps present an entirely new functionality. Use cases that were unseen in Web2.

During the past 10+ years, we got good at designing applications for third-party organisations. Think of apps that help us to manage our finance (banks), identity (governments and social media), transportation (Uber), and accommodation (Airbnb).

Suddenly, we have a new paradigm shift. With Web3, we manage our wealth without the need for a third party to interfere. In turn, designers struggle to address that complexity. After all, we cannot copy-paste proven best practices from successful organisations.

Also Read: The transition is now: these Web3 apps are transforming global finance

The same pattern played in both Web1 and Web2. The first web pages were ugly and hard to use. Likewise, the first versions of Uber/Airbnb/Instagram/Facebook were not great. It takes time to iron out the complexity and develop great UI/UX.

Having said that, we are seeing significant progress. If you compare any dAPPS from a few years back and now, you would see considerable improvement.

Meaning, Web3 is going through a period of increasing exploration and sophistication. Extreme ideologists speaking of decentralisation at all costs start meeting gravity. The promise of blockchain is appealing. But it will take time before we build dAPPS ordinary people can understand and use.

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