F88, a secured lending provider and insurance distributor in Vietnam, has raised US$10 million in debt financing from Lendable, marking the London-based impact debt provider’s first investment in the Southeast Asian country.

This facility comes three months after the fintech startup sold VND100 billion (~US$4.3 million) worth of bonds to individual investors and a domestic securities investment fund to fuel its expansion of pawnshops.

F88 aims to serve unbanked and under-banked individuals and MSMEs in Vietnam better with the latest funding. It plans to disburse half a billion US dollars in 2022.

Also read: All you need to know about the fintech boom in Vietnam

Established in 2013, F88 renovates the traditional pawn shop model in Vietnam’s alternative lending sector to provide borrowers credit access with inexpensive, transparent, and quick financial services.

Its offerings include secured loans, insurance, utility bill payment, money transfer, and e-wallet deposit and withdrawal services.

F88 claims to have achieved profitability since 2019 with a network of 525 shops across 60 provinces nationwide (as of December 2021). 

It has also expanded beyond F88-branded stores to bring its services throughout a network of nearly 4,000 F88 shops and stores of retailers and tech partners. 

F88 stated that it recorded a 113 per cent revenue growth and a loan book growth of 70 per cent in 2021.

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Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck our nation in 2020, local businesses continue to be greatly impacted on many fronts. According to the SME Association of Malaysia, at least 100,000 SMEs have ceased operations since the first MCO.

Not only that, Datuk William Ng, Central Chairman of Small and Medium Enterprises Association (Samenta), said many businesses that survived were either in the right industry or kept afloat by digging into savings to pay salaries and suppliers.

For many of these businesses, especially those within the food and beverage (F&B) sector, the core focus has shifted from profitability to survivability, with the need to adopt new business strategies to remain operational.

In a few months from the first lockdown, the disruption has led to over 2,000 eateries shutting down permanently. The ongoing restrictions could further affect 60 per cent of F&B operations, eventually leading to more closures.

While the outlook of the F&B industry remains uncertain, many businesses have shown resilience and adapted to the new normal – such as exploring new opportunities to source quality ingredients at reasonable prices or additional revenue streams by expanding their customer base through digital means to ensure their business survival and potentially, growth.

Also Read: How COVID-19 accelerated digitalisation in the F&B industry in Malaysia

Food disruption and cost inflation: A key disruptor to the Sector

Challenges faced by the F&B industry had happened since the first nationwide lockdown when the food supply chain encountered disruptions due to travel restrictions, market opening hours and closing of local open markets.

The supply of produce from farms have been affected by bottlenecks to meet demand, coupled with movement restrictions and dependency of the season, which has led to a decrease in food supplies.

The cost of food supplies undoubtedly plays a significant role in strategising their expenditure. Datuk Jawahar Ali Taib Khan, President of Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association (Presma), said that the price of raw materials had more than doubled since the second lockdown.

Supply cost is a key determining factor to the price of end products for consumers and how long a business can sustain through this arrangement. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), suppliers must find a flexible and resilient supply chain by mapping their stakeholders in a system, mitigating potential business impact due to supply disruptions and price inflation.

Given the current circumstances, going digital has been instrumental for businesses to regain a sense of normalcy. Having digital access provides businesses with an alternative to reach out to customers and suppliers alike.

Transforming by digital means

However, the initiative to push businesses to digitalise is not new in Malaysia. There have been many government initiatives in the past to spur digital transformation. Still, adoption thus far has been slower than expected, especially among SMEs, with only a third of Malaysian enterprises going digital. In contrast, less than a quarter has a digital team, according to the World Bank June 2021 report.

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

The emergence of COVID-19 has accelerated businesses’ ability to adapt to new and innovative strategies to remain resilient in times of crisis.

Digitalisation is crucial today as many businesses have recognised the benefits reaped during the MCO, with 40 per cent increasing their focus on online sales and 70 per cent of companies expecting their revenue to grow in 2021, according to a survey by CPA Australia.

Driving digitalisation has also been central in the Twelfth Malaysia Plan, where accelerating technology adoption and innovation constitutes one of the catalytic policy enablers that will direct the nation towards resettling the economy and achieving a high technology-based economy.

This will accelerate Malaysia’s adoption and application of digital and advanced technology to unlock new opportunities.

How this translates for the local F&B sector is that embracing digital transformation in the form of digital tools and platforms will be critical towards improving business sustainability and operational efficiency.

Businesses can reduce costs and increase their profit margins when using advanced digital technologies such as data management solutions, increasing productivity by 60 per cent, according to research by Huawei Technologies.

Bringing two digital tools together to elevate F&B businesses

Recently, F&B solutions provider Saladplate and Food Market Hub collaborated to offer a comprehensive digital platform for the local F&B sector, designed to simplify the product sourcing journey and manage business expenditure intelligently.

Platforms such as this don’t just offer businesses a digital marketplace to gather and conduct business. The proprietary AI-Powered, Cloud-Based procurement solution within the platform enables business owners to be cost-efficient and assist them in making purchase smarter decisions, which is vital during this challenging period.

This echoed the Malaysian government when it announced the Budget 2022 plan to encourage technological transformation. The allocation of MYR30 million to implement an IR 4.0 innovation hub and MYR20 million for Cradle to oversee the startup ecosystem points to the goal of centralising technology and innovation as a means of local businesses, enabling them to remain competitive during this post-pandemic Malaysia.

Also Read: How cloud kitchen startup COOKHOUSE, started amidst COVID-19, managed to win 35 F&B clients in Malaysia within a year

According to Jimmy Lai, president of CPA Australia’s Malaysia Division, 42 per cent of Malaysian businesses saw positive returns from their digital investments in 2020, and the focus on digital will likely see businesses recover quickly from the pandemic.

Din Tai Fung, an upscale Taiwanese restaurant chain, is an example of a business in Malaysia that have successfully adopted the digital platform and saw a 31 per cent increase in their year-on-year growth results in 2020.

Available digital platforms such as the one by Saladplate and Food Market Hub, amongst others, will play a significant role in driving business growth or its sustainability journey.

It is a pre-requisite in this digital age that F&B business owners should factor digital transformation in their business plan, utilising digital tools to provide them with the needed competitive edge during this period of economic recovery or thereon.

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Singapore-based live-streaming solutions provider BeLive Technology announced SGD6 million (US$4.5 million) bridge funding, led by FTAG Ventures, an investor in fintech, media, education, and mobile startups.

The funds will assist BeLive in developing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities in live-streaming. In addition, it intends to bring its live-video and live-commerce solutions to the global market by partnering with e-commerce giants, apps, and brands.

The company will also use the capital to scale its current headcount of 80 to 100 and expand local operations across international markets, such as the US, Europe, and the Middle East.

BeLive allows any website or app to broadcast live video with interactive elements such as live shopping platforms and analytics, live virtual gifting, and live trivia game shows. It has powered live streams for Zalora, Valiram Group, Rakuten Group, and Bukalapak.

Also Read: Opportunities for the live-streaming industry in Asia

The firm claims its live streams have reached more than 100 million viewers worldwide, amounting to more than 50 million hours of content.

Co-Founder and CEO Kenneth Tan said: “We’re in the midst of a direct-to-consumer revolution, with live video omnipresent in every brand’s customer engagement strategy. Our company always believed that the adoption of live video was inevitable. However, we were still astounded by the success of our customers like Trendyol, who easily rocketed past the million viewer mark in their beta live streams.”

The firm’s other notable shareholders include Singapore’s Mediacorp and current Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin.

BeLive operates from three locations across the region, including Singapore, Vietnam and Shenzhen.

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Malaysian fintech-as-a-service company Soft Space has announced a strategic partnership with Japan’s international payment brand JCB Co.

As part of this, JCB has injected US$5 million into Soft Space. The collaboration will capitalise on the Kula Lumpur-headquartered firm’s business model, technology and regulatory know-how, and JCB’s global recognition, vast alliances and brand reach.

This is part of Soft Space’s first tranche of funding, with other investments to follow in the future.

JCB owns and operates one of the largest payment schemes in Japan, supporting about 37 million merchants and 140 million cardmembers worldwide. It will expand the brand globally by leveraging its strength in Asia, especially in Southeast Asia.

To this end, JCB has targeted SEA as a strategic business enhancement region. It established its ASEAN Business Enhancement and Creation Department in Singapore last June to seek business opportunities within the region.

The partnership also aims to harness synergies between the two parties and includes the expansion of JCB’s merchant network, the establishment of card issuing solutions, and the provision of customer marketing solutions.

Other collaborative areas include enhanced merchant acceptance, mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) and transit; payment gateways; cards-as-a-service (CaaS); white label services, API platform services and technical support services.

Also Read: Square and Stripe investor Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co. invests in Malaysian fintech firm Soft Space

“Being JCB’s first investee in Malaysia assures us that we are on track to develop financial solutions that will fortify payment acceptance between Japan and SEA and benefit both regions when borders open up again. This bridge between our regions will also serve as a roadmap for us to enter other regions globally in the future,” said Joel Tay, CEO of Soft Space.

Founded in 2012, Soft Space aims to simplify the complexity of financial infrastructure and create value-added features for businesses to expand their business growth. With over 30 financial institutions across ten countries adopting its payment solutions, Soft Space is supported by MDEC’s Global Acceleration and Innovation Network (GAIN) programme and received financial support through MIDA’s Domestic Investment Strategic Fund in 2012.

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Indonesia-based solar power-as-a-service startup Xurya has completed its Series A financing of US$21.5 million (Rp 308 billion), it announced today.

East Ventures (Growth Fund), formerly EV Growth, and local investment firm Saratoga, co-led the round. Existing investors Schneider Electric and New Energy Nexus Indonesia (a smart energy-dedicated incubation and accelerator programme), also participated.

Xurya plans to utilise the capital to continue the construction of its Rooftop Solar Power Plant (PLTS), which it said witnessed a 3x growth in 2021. A portion of the money will also be used to develop technology and human resources.

Also read: Why 2021 was a landmark year for the carbon market

Launch in 2018, Xurya offers a “no investment” method with a rental system to make it easier for industry players to transition to solar energy. Its “one-stop solution” covers PLTS feasibility studies, installation, operation, and maintenance (including component replacement).

To date, Xurya claims to have delivered more than 50 PLTS projects with a multi-megawatt power generation portfolio. It caters to various industries, including manufacturing (F&B, FMCG, building materials, steel, textiles, and garments), cold storage, logistics centres, hotels, and shopping centres in various cities in Indonesia. 

Xurya counts Tokopedia, Traveloka, logistics giant MGM Bosco, and Jakarta shopping mall Plaza Indonesia among its clients.

PLTS is also one of the initiatives supported by President Joko Widodo to reduce dependence on fossil fuel energy. The government is making a serious effort to bring the new and renewable energy mix to 23 per cent by 2025 and 31 per cent by 2050, as laid out in the country’s National Energy Plan.

Also read: How debt financing, crypto, SPACs keep the climate-tech funding momentum in SEA

Formed in 2018 as a joint venture between East Ventures, Sinar Mas-backed SMDV, and Yahoo! Japan Capital, EV Growth was rebranded as East Ventures (Growth Fund) in March last year. The firm is looking to complete the final close of its second fund by Q1 2022, DealStreetAsia reported.

 

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Vietnam-based social commerce startup, ON, has received US$1.1 million in a seed funding round led by local VC firm Touchstone Partners, with participation from VC firm-cum-accelerator ThinkZone Ventures.

With this, ON intends to expand its presence locally and develop tech solutions to serve sellers’ management, delivery, and capital needs.

ON was founded in 2021 by Giang Nguyen (a former tech lead at Vietnamese ICT giant FPT), Dzung Luu (who previously led the operation at Vietnamese ride-hailing startup BE) and Minh Nguyen (former CFO of Logivan).

The startup helps entrepreneurs earn extra income by starting an online business with assistance in orders, fulfilment, returns, shipping, and transactions. Sellers on the platform use social media networks to promote an item and receive a commission. Each seller may earn up to US$300 each month, the firm claims.

Also read: A look at the future of social commerce

“With e-commerce set to see robust growth in Vietnam, we believe social commerce has enormous potential,” said Khanh Tran, Managing Partner of Touchstone Partners. “This is a very local business, and ON’s founders have the local market experience and expertise to play a significant role in driving its growth.”

Since its inception, ON claims more than 10,000 people signed up to sell on the platform, of whom 90 per cent are women. The vast majority of dealers are located in small towns or rural areas. 

According to a Google and Bain & Company report, Vietnam is predicted to be the fastest-growing e-commerce market in Southeast Asia by 2026, with e-commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) reaching 56 billion USD by 2026, 4.5 times the estimated value of 2021. 

Social commerce is a concept that first took off in China and then slowly spread to different regions in the world. In the country, social commerce accounts for around 11.6 per cent of the total retail e-commerce sales, with over US$186 billion in 2019. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global social commerce market is estimated to increase at a soaring rate of 31.4 per cent.

Last year, global investors had poured into SEA social commerce startups, including Indonesia’s Desty, Kitabeli, Super, and Segari; Singapore’s abilion and Raena; and Vietnam’s Mio.

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Borrowing has always been fuelling the growth of developing economies as corporates and even retail borrowers’ take out loans to fund expansion or other such big purchases.

In India, lending by banks and NBFCs have multiple levels of checks and balances before sanctioning the loan. A rise in NPAs (Non-Performing Assets), is making it harder for borrowers to get a loan.

There are multiple stages discussed below which the borrower has to go through during the loan application stage, right from applying for a loan to submitting his income proofs. One of the most critical stages in the lending process is credit underwriting, which involves assessing the borrower’s creditworthiness.

In this stage, the lender checks the borrower’s credit score, current debt levels, any financial frauds they have committed in the past, income, credit length, etc.

Problems with the lending system in India

After an in-depth analysis, the lender judges the borrower’s ability to repay the loan amount they have applied. Underwriting is a cumbersome process that takes a few days, even sometimes weeks or months.

The borrower’s credit score is given priority by the lenders as it tells a lot about your money management habits in the world of traditional finance. The maximum credit score in India is 900, and one has to have a credit score of at least 700 to be eligible to get the loan.

Also Read: GuavaPass co-founders new alternative lending startup Jenfi lands US$6.3M led by Monk’s Hill

If you have a credit score below 500, then there are high chances that you will face difficulty in getting a loan. This is why many borrowers are denied credit by established banks and other financial institutions in India.

Due to this a crucial loan concept called the ‘intent to pay’ and the ‘ability to pay’, are disregarded as abstract since there is no better way to measure them.

Tapping into ‘Ability to Pay’ information

Income data is not available in credit score reports given to lenders by credit bureaus like Experian, TransUnion CIBIL, Equifax, CRIF Highmark, etc. The credit score only gives you the historical repayment habits of the borrowers, thus only reflecting their willingness or intent to pay.

But, what about his ability to pay?

Income data can be extracted from APIs based on payroll data to determine the borrower’s ability to pay. Assessing the ability to pay is equally important as assessing the intent to pay. This is because, let’s say, both you and India’s richest man have a credit score of 850, indicating a very high intent to pay.

However, both your income levels are completely different and thus your ability to pay will also be different. We need income proof documents to assess this ability to pay that can be taken from payroll APIs.

Fintech to the resuce

Fintech companies have changed this dynamic completely with innovation in risk assessment in the lending process. To provide the best services to their customers, fintech companies are automating the entire underwriting process with data fed into machine learning algorithms that are super quick.

Thus, there is better transparency and no human intervention, as decision-making is data-driven and free from bias. This new technology-driven lending landscape is here to stay and rule going forward. Traditional banks are now collaborating with fintech players to harness this limitless potential of data and technology to use that data to make informed decisions.

Also Read: Matching-making for loans: Why online lending platform Lendela has set its eyes on Asia

Fintech companies are now unleashing the potential of payroll data with open banking via APIs. The lenders are now getting this data and other employment information to make informed decisions on the loan application to curb NPA frauds.

This confidential data sharing is pre-authorised by the borrower thus retaining privacy. It also helps the lenders design a repayment schedule based on the borrower’s payroll.

When the lender asks for banking data from the borrower, there are chances that the data will not be recent. On the contrary, the payroll API-based data is precise and updated to the latest minute. This accuracy and reliability of data help in credit underwriting decisions.

The lead conversion ratio is much higher in cases where payroll data is involved compared to borrowers’ banking data. Many studies conducted show that borrowers are more comfortable sharing their payroll-related information instead of their banking-related data.

Innovation in the payroll space is booming, proving it as the next frontier in the fintech landscape. Payroll attached APIs are fast, secure, reliable, efficient, and help FinTech innovators explore other use cases that deliver value to customers.

Tartan is pioneering user consent-driven payroll data exchange in India, which plays different roles in people’s daily lives behind the scenes, making their financial lives easier.

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Indonesia’s wealth tech startup Pluang announced today that it has added US$55 million more to its ongoing Series B round of financing, led by Accel Partners.

BRI Ventures, alongside existing investors Square Peg, Go-Ventures, UOB Venture Management, and Openspace Ventures, also co-invested.

Other investors who joined the round include Axie Infinity co-founders Trung Nguyen, Andy Ho, Aleksander Leonard Larsen, and Jeffrey Zirlin; ex-LearnVest CEO Alexa von Tobel; Pismo CTO Daniela Binatti; Monzo COO Sujata Bhatia; Public.com co-CEOs Jannick Malling and Leif Abraham; FalconX CEO Raghu Yarlagadda; Flink CEO Sergio Jimenez; The Chainsmokers; and Gold House.

Also Read: Pluang raises additional US$35M, bringing total funding this year to US$55M

The new infusion comes barely four months after Pluang bagged US$35 million in the round. With this, the total Series B investment raised by the company has touched US$110 million.

The fresh capital will be used to continue building its technology and expanding its offerings to more asset classes, such as Indonesian stocks and more global equities. Pluang also has plans to expand its services to other Southeast Asian countries.

Founded by Claudia Kolonas and Richard Chua while at Harvard Business School, Pluang provides easy access to micro-savings and micro-investment products in Indonesia. By logging into its mobile app, users can check or top up their accounts, make transactions or cash out anywhere anytime. Users can make micro-savings as low as ~US$0.50.

Also Read: Digital micro-savings startup Pluang raises US$3M, becomes the latest Go-Ventures’ portfolio

Pluang offers gold, US equity indices and cryptocurrencies.

Currently, the wealth tech firm claims it has over four million registered users in the archipelago. Between January 2020 and November 2021, Pluang posted a 22x growth in monthly transacting users.

Last March, Pluang announced a US$20 million pre-Series B round led by Openspace Ventures, with participation from Go-Ventures. Two years earlier, the startup bagged US$3 million in Series A funding.

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Recently, journalist Micah Carnahan published a contributed post on e27 that digs into the reason why NFTs are so widely accepted in the Southeast Asian market. In addition to its relatively low entry price, the market also has a great awareness of the digital assets relatively early, enabling it to ramp up adoption rates rapidly.

As the popularity of NFTs in the Southeast Asian market continues to soar, the market begins to see various communities launching initiatives to promote the digital asset to a wider audience.

In Indonesia, the latest such initiative includes the opening of Superlative Gallery in Legian, Bali, on Tuesday by the local NFT collector community Superlative Secret Society.

Claimed to be the first offline NFT gallery in the country, it will feature a collection of avatars of Superlative Secret Society’s artworks. These artworks are created by local artists in the community and will be available to purchase as NFTs.

“We are extremely enthusiastic about the opening and operations of the Superlative Gallery, the first offline NFT gallery in Indonesia. It is an honour for us to accommodate local Indonesian artists to participate and grow together in this era of digital assets,” says Illustrator and Superlative Secret Society Founder Moh. Arif Wijaksana in a press statement.

Following up the launch of the gallery, the community is hosting a series of events from January 11 to 16, featuring notable names in the local blockchain, NFT, and crypto ecosystems such as Tokocrypto, ID NFT and MOT.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

NFTs for everybody

In an email interview with e27, Prasetyo Budiman, CEO & Founder of Superlative Secret Society, explains that the gallery is one of the community’s ways to facilitate local Indonesian artists in their journey to understand and implement the use of NFTs.

He describes a wide array of segments as the gallery’s target audience from NFT enthusiasts, holders, local and international artists, and basically “anyone who would like to learn and understand more about how digital assets such as NFTs work.”

There are also several reasons why Bali is chosen as the ideal location to open this gallery.

“Bali is already a well-known destination with a massive base of Indonesian artists community thriving in it; residents of the island also come from different countries around the world. Our goal is to introduce the works of local Indonesian artists to international audiences,” Budiman says.

Budiman says that the gallery was designed to become a platform for artists and global NFT items collectors.

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

“All this time, we have been interacting only through online platforms. This is why the gallery is an opportunity for holders to inform and educate the general public about how NFT works, with particular focus on local artists in Indonesia,” he says. “We are hoping to contribute more to the development of digital creative industries, digital assets, and even the tourism industry through the works of local Indonesian artists.”

What is next for Superlative Secret Society

In addition to launching its first offline gallery, the community is also set to introduce other programmes to help Indonesian artists reach a wider audience. For example, they are going to display the works of Indonesian artists in Times Square, New York City, for seven days.

“We want to send out a message to the public, particularly holders and members of our community in the US. The support of our members has provided us with the motivation to provide the best, and to take part in more international NFT events,” Budiman says.

At the opening of the gallery, the community also showcased a teaser of REPUS, the second batch of its NFT collections. Some of the artworks that are being displayed in the batch already have their intellectual property rights registered and are now applying for a trade brand certification.

Superlative Secret Society entered the OpenSea platform in September 2021. Since then, the community has had 11,110 artworks avatars on board and more than 16,000 members in its Discord.

“We came from a diverse background, starting out with chats and contacts through Twitter. We have the dream to give more value to Indonesian artworks by introducing them to local and international markets. This is why we build a platform for NFT enthusiasts and start building a digital asset community … most of our members are from abroad and they are also collecting the artworks that we make,” Budiman says.

As for the future, the community wants to continue educating the Indonesian artists’ community on the advantages of NFTs. They also plan to open several pop art exhibitions in Jakarta and operates the gallery in Bali.

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Image Credit: Superlative Secret Society

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This article is part of e27’s partnership with CEO Roundtable Podcast and Asian Investors Podcast and CEO TV hosted by David Kim.

Hrish Lotlikar, founder and CEO at SuperWorld said, “About four and a half years ago, five years ago, Pokemon GO came out and became this huge world sensation. A lot of people don’t know, but it was the fastest company in history to hit a billion dollars in revenue. Back then, we thought to ourselves, what if we can build the next Pokemon GO? What if we could build a world –a place where the next 1,000 Pokemon GOs are built?”

Lotlikar previously co-founded Rogue Initiative Studios, a Hollywood film, TV, gaming, and immersive entertainment studio. He was born in India and grew up in the US. He also has spent many years living around the world in Europe, Asia and South America.

SuperWorld is a virtual world in augmented reality (AR), digitally mapped over the surface of the Earth. Plots of SuperWorld land are represented as 64.8 billion non-fungible tokens (NFT) corresponding to real-world space.

Any user in SuperWorld can explore and create AR content, engage in a virtual real estate marketplace, or buy and sell NFTs in the SuperWorld NFT Salon.

How is your platform helping people buy and sell virtual real estate? Can you walk us through SuperWorld platform in terms of customer experience? How does that work?

In SuperWorld, You can buy locations that you love, whether it’s Central Park, the pyramids in Egypt, or your own backyard. What you’re buying is the digital, or “virtual “land that covers the earth at those locations.

“Superworld” platform was established in 2017.  Can you give me some idea how virtual real property has been appreciated for the past five years?

Properties in SuperWorld are all priced as 0.1 ETH. When SuperWorld virtual real estate first launched, the price of ETH was US$200 and now the price of ETH is US$4,500.

And the price of land in SuperWorld went up significantly. So the price of some land got appreciated more than 200 times for the last three years. Properties have sold for more than US$25,000 already on the secondary market.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

What kinds of digital assets do you or your members use on SuperWorld?

The first one is Land-based on real-world earth, and others are digital assets created by individuals based on NFT such as building, music, video, podcast, arts, membership.

How are NFTs enhancing “Superworld”platform?

Alongside our AR app, SuperWorld hosts its own non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace,  the “NFT Salon,” which hosts NFT drops that aren’t just following the standard NFT formula, but give back to communities most in need, including work with indigenous peoples in the Amazon Rainforest, at-risk communities in the Caribbean, the rebuilding of Beirut, and helping to bring clean water to Flint, Michigan, just to name a few.

I’m very interested in projects that help us in our mission. Our “why” at SuperWorld is how do we build a better world?  How do we leverage technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality, blockchain, artificial intelligence?

How do we bring all these technologies together to actually improve the world and enhance humanity? Those are the kinds of questions that propel us forward.

Who are the competitors? What does set SuperWorld apart from others?

There is a variety of “worlds” out there. They are all “Metaverse” As you know, all Metaverse consists of virtual world and internet, kind of improvement of internet.

Probably, the most well-known metaverse “World” you may know are The Sandbox (CRYPTO:SAND) and Decentraland (CRYPTO:MANA). One main differentiator what we are doing on SupwerWorld vs the other virtual worlds I just named are, other virtual worlds are fully virtual but SuperWorld are mapped again on top of the real world.

We are on SuperWorld right now. Because you can buy lands around you or you can buy a location anywhere where people live in the real world. SuperWorld is the world, it is not just about NFT, digital assets, VR, AR  and AI.

SuperWorld is a movement. A movement behind SuperWorld is how to leverage technology to improve our lives and improve the real world.  We believe we are an entry point to metaverse to improve your real-world life. That is what we are doing.

Also Read: The art of blockchain: What is the NFT craze all about?

How many members or visitors do you have?  Please tell us about the acquisition of members or users at “Superworld” platform

We have more than 100,000 monthly website visitors and our average paying user spends US$3,900 in the first month.

Can you tell us about any activities that currently connect the real world and SuperWorld and what is a plan to increase that interaction going forward? 

As a platform that prides itself on building a better world “in real life” through the metaverse, SuperWorld has initiated a number of social impact projects that begin in the digital and yet have real-world impact, including our partnerships with Disaster Fighters (backed by the World Bank) to help at-risk communities in the Caribbean; Monograma, with whom we’ve partnered to increase awareness indigenous peoples in the Amazon Rain Forest; UNESCO, to help assist in the rebuilding of Beirut, in addition to partnerships with numerous other artists, companies and organizations that aim to improve the lives of others here on our physical Earth through digital mediums.

A few weeks ago, we sold members NFT, a digital asset that gave purchasers lifetime membership to a private luxury club in NY and Miami.

So buying that digital NFT they get access to a real physical place in NY and Miami, called “Custom House”.

So that is an example of how we take an activity that is virtual to provide real-world benefit, and vice versa as well.

Who are the investors of SuperWorld?

We are proud to be back by many of the top venture capital funds in the space: DraperGorenHolm, SOSV, Outlier Ventures, RedBeard Ventures, 186 Ventures, White Paper Capital, Altered Ventures, Capital Factory, Predictive Capital, and Cadenza Venture Capital.

What is your next step and vision for SuperWorld?

We are building a world that enables you to create your own SuperWorld, whatever that means for you. We are helping owners of lands and digital assets on SuperWorld to create anything anywhere and sell those digital assets anyplace in the Real World.

We are also launching “token” in SuperWorld. That token launch will enable anyone to gain currency in SuperWorld and earn a yield based on staking and voting and decision in building SuperWorld.

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

As the first augmented reality(AR) virtual world on blockchain, our overall goal is to improve and enhance the world and your personal life through AR in a fully decentralised way. Applying a combination of technologies in a user-friendly format, we enable everyone to create, connect, and monetise through content in new and unique ways.

As technologies improve across all spectrums interconnectedly, the metaverse will enable data-rich and immersive experiences across all aspects of life.

We are building a World that enables you to create your own SuperWorld, whatever that means for you.

This edited Q&A is based on the show’s original transcript. For the full interview listen to the podcast here.

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